Iranian state media said “excessive demands” sank the possibility of an agreement, while Vice President JD Vance said he made a “final and best offer.”
Highlights
- TRUMP THREATENS BLOCKADE: President Donald Trump said that “effective immediately” the U.S. Navy will prevent ships from passing through the Strait of Hormuz, accusing Iran of extorting them. He had previously criticized Iran for blocking the critical oil shipping chokepoint.
- NO AGREEMENT IN PAKISTAN: Talks in Islamabad, where a U.S. delegation was meeting for face-to-face negotiations with Iran, has ended without agreement. Vice President JD Vance and Iranian officials both said that significant differences remain.
- IRANIAN NUCLEAR PROGRAM: Vance said after the talks that the U.S. needs a commitment that Iran would not seek to develop a nuclear weapon. “We haven’t seen that yet. We hope that we will,” he said.
- STRIKES CONTINUE IN LEBANON: Continued Israeli strikes in the southern Lebanese town of Nabatieh last week killed several people, as Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu has said he wants “a real peace agreement that will last for generations” with Lebanon.
- DEATH TOLL: Iranian officials have not released a recent death toll. The U.S.-based rights group HRANA put the total number of people killed at almost 3,400, including more than 1,600 civilians. More than 2,000people have been killed in Lebanon, and 23 people have died in Israel. Thirteen U.S. service members have been killed, and two more died of noncombat causes.
- Lebanon must ‘learn from our past,’ PM says ahead of 1975 civil war anniversary. Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam emphasized in a statement today ahead of the 51st anniversary of the 1975 civil war that his nation needs to “learn from our past.”
- Agreement will be reached , Iranian president says- The U.S. and Iran will reach an agreement if the American government “abandons its totalitarianism and respects the rights of the Iranian nation,” President Masoud Pezeshkian said on X.
- China to help Iran with air-defense weaponry
- ‘Inches away’ from resolution– Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said today that the U.S. and Iran were “inches away” from a memorandum of understanding during the weekend’s peace talks.
- He said on X of the negotiations, “When just inches away from ‘Islamabad MoU’, we encountered maximalism, shifting goalposts, and blockade.” Araghchi characterized the talks as among the “highest level” between the U.S. and Iran in 47 years; he also called them “intensive.”
- Oil prices surge after Trump says U.S. will blockade the Strait of Hormuz– U.S. crude oil soared 8%, to more than $104 per barrel. International Brent oil jumped more than 7%, to $103 per barrel. Wholesale gas prices also spiked 6%, while heating oil, a proxy for jet fuel prices, jumped 10% in early trading.
- Lebanese Red Cross paramedic killed by Israel– A Lebanese Red Cross paramedic was killed by Israel today when a drone “directly targeted” a team, the organization said in a statement.
- NBC
