Middle East crisis live: Trump claims ‘I don’t make bad deals’ as questions remain over negotiation progress

At a news conference in India on Sunday, the US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, scolded a BBC reporter for asking if the deadly strike on a school in Minab, Iran on the first day of the US-Israeli attack, and strikes on another 21 schools in the following weeks, was “reckless”.

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US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, took questions on Iran during a joint news conference with India’s foreign minister, Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, in New Delhi, India on Sunday.”,”caption”:”The US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, took questions on Iran during a joint news conference with India’s foreign minister, Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, in New Delhi, India on Sunday.”,”credit”:”Photograph: Manish Swarup/AP”}},{“_type”:”model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement”,”html”:”

Tom Bateman, the BBC state department correspondent, who asked Rubio about the strike, which visual analysis by news organizations has suggested was carried out by the US but the Pentagon says it is still investigating, first asked the secretary of state to reveal what the Trump administration knew about the strike on 2 March.

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On Sunday, the reporter pointed out to Rubio that, while “there’s a lot of attention at the moment on how to end this war … there is continued scrutiny on the way it began.” He reminded the top US diplomat, who is also Donald Trump’s national security adviser, that the first wave of strikes was launched by the US and Israel on “a Saturday in Iran in the morning when millions of children were at school.”

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“There is media analysis that 22 schools at least were damaged either that day or in the following weeks,” the reporter added. “What do you say to those who will accuse the administration of unleashing a reckless action because of when this war was begun?

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Rubio avoided responding directly to the question, but instead attacked the questioner for not framing the US bombing campaign as a response to what he called terrorism linked to Iran’s government.

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“I’m not going to speak to military tactics simply because that’s not my department,” Rubio said. “I will say this to you: when we when this conflict began with Iran, the goals were outlined and they were very simple. They were very clear. We were going to destroy their navy, which we’ve done. We were going to significantly reduce their ability … to launch ballistic missiles because that was the conventional shield they were trying to hide behind. And we’ve achieved that objective. And we were going to do damage to the defense industrial base so they couldn’t rebuild all of these things. We’ve achieved that as well.”

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“Those were the targets of our operation and that’s what they were targeted on,” the secretary of state said. “On the other hand, Iran likes to sponsor proxy groups of terrorists and these terrorists don’t care what they blow up. They blow up anything and everyone.”

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“This is an Iran that not long ago through their Hezbollah proxies blew up a Jewish center in Argentina and killed a bunch of people,” Rubio went on, apparently referring to a terrorist attack in Buenos Aires that took place 32 years ago, in 1994.

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He went on to describe the use of roadside bombs to kill or maim US troops in Iraq as terrorism, although attacks on soldiers do not meet the definition of terrorism used by most experts.

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“There is no nation on earth that sponsors more terrorism than Iran,” he added. “They’ve spent not they’ve spent millions and millions of dollars sponsoring terrorism and targeting individuals all over the world and including civilians.”

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“That’s what you should be asking me about,” Rubio told Bateman. “That’s what the BBC should be covering. And that’s what these other media outlets should be covering is how evil these people are in Iran and the damage they’ve done to people all over the world.”

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Donald Trump has given an update of sorts about the ceasefire negotiations with Iran and the apparent lack of detail, adding that talks are still ongoing.

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The US president wrote on Truth Social: “If I make a deal with Iran, it will be a good and proper one, not like the one made by Obama, which gave Iran massive amounts of CASH, and a clear and open path to a Nuclear Weapon.

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“Our deal is the exact opposite, but nobody has seen it, or knows what it is. It isn’t even fully negotiated yet. So don’t listen to the losers, who are critical about something they know nothing about.

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“Unlike those before me who should have solved this problem many years ago, I don’t make bad deals!”

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Iran’s Tasnim news agency said that the US government is still obstructing some clauses of the agreement to end the war, including the issue of releasing blocked Iranian assets, according to Reuters. Some details of the deal are still unknown and nothing has been officially signed yet.

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Secretary of state Marco Rubio said on Sunday that the US has served as a “beacon of hope, not just to around the world, but to individuals”, adding that his family were immigrants from Cuba.

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“They came to the one place on Earth where people like them would have a chance to truly have a better life,” Rubio said during his speech at the Freedom 250 Independence Day reception in India.

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Rubio’s statements sharply contrast with the Trump administration’s increasing attacks on immigrant communities nationwide. The administration has engaged in a “mass deportation” program to crack down on undocumented immigrants and has also targeted legal immigrants in the US.

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Just this week, the Trump administration announced a significant change to immigration policy by requiring green card applicants to return to their home countries to apply.

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In a post to Truth Social, Donald Trump said talks with Iran are “proceeding in an orderly and constructive manner”, adding that he has told his representatives to not “rush” into a deal because time is on their “side”.

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The US president said the blockade on Iranian ports will remain in “full force” until an agreement is reached. “Both sides must take their time and get it right. There can be no mistakes!” he wrote.

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Echoing the comments given to the media earlier by the secretary of state, Marco Rubio, Trump said Iran cannot “develop or procure” a nuclear weapon or bomb under any circumstances.

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He said the US’s relationship with Iran is becoming much more “professional and productive” and thanked Middle Eastern countries for their “support and cooperation”.

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The Israeli military has ordered residents of more Lebanese towns and villages to evacuate immediately by a “distance of no less than 1000 meters to open areas” in advance of attacks against the locations.

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The affected towns and villages are: Kfar Sir, Sir al-Gharbiyyah, al-Zrariyah, Ansar, Mazra’at Kouthariyat, al-Riz and al-Khuraib, according to a social media post by the IDF’s Arabic-language spokesperson, Avichay Adraee, who claimed the attacks are being launched due to Hezbollah violating the US-mediated ceasefire agreement Israel signed with the Lebanese state in mid April.

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Earlier, the IDF ordered the evacuation of ten villages in southern Lebanon.

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International law experts say Israel’s warnings are inconsistent and often overly broad and open-ended. Sometimes there is no warning at all before the airstrikes. More than one million people have already been displaced by the renewed Israeli war on Lebanon which started when Hezbollah launched missiles at Israel on 2 March after the US-Israeli bombing of Iran in late February.

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of smoke billow from southern Lebanon following Israeli strikes on 24 May 2026, as seen from the Lebanese town of Marjayoun.”,”caption”:”Plumes of smoke billow from southern Lebanon following Israeli strikes on 24 May 2026, as seen from the Lebanese town of Marjayoun. “,”credit”:”Photograph: Reuters”}}],”attributes”:{“pinned”:false,”keyEvent”:true,”summary”:false},”blockCreatedOn”:1779629970000,”blockCreatedOnDisplay”:”09.39 EDT”,”blockLastUpdated”:1779630406000,”blockLastUpdatedDisplay”:”09.46 EDT”,”blockFirstPublished”:1779630327000,”blockFirstPublishedDisplay”:”09.45 EDT”,”blockFirstPublishedDisplayNoTimezone”:”09.45″,”title”:”Israeli military orders residents of more Lebanese towns and villages to evacuate ahead of attacks”,”contributors”:[],”primaryDateLine”:”Sun 24 May 2026 17.12 EDT”,”secondaryDateLine”:”First published on Sat 23 May 2026 18.54 EDT”},{“id”:”6a12df988f080414a3d9a180″,”elements”:[{“_type”:”model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement”,”html”:”

According to the NY Times, the Israeli government has issued its first response to the potential US-Iran deal.

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In a written statement given to journalists, an unnamed Israeli official said Benjamin Netanyahu had discussed the agreement with Donald Trump last night over the phone.

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The NY Times reports that the official described the deal as an initial understanding about the reopening of the strait of Hormuz that would lead to further talks on a final agreement.

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The official said that Netanyahu made it clear to Trump that Israel would not be constrained in responding to “all threats”, including across the border in Lebanon.

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Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu are close allies but they also have a complicated and often strained relationship.”,”caption”:”Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu are close allies but they also have a complicated and often strained relationship. “,”credit”:”Photograph: Jonathan Ernst/Reuters”}},{“_type”:”model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement”,”html”:”

Netanyahu is said to actually want to resume the war on Iran in order to degrade the country’s military capabilities further and continue attacks on its infrastructure.

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Donald Trump, whose poll ratings have suffered in the US over the deeply unpopular war, seems more interested in reaching an agreement with Tehran, although he has repeatedly said he will resume attacks if one cannot be reached and gives often contradictory statements.

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Iran has said an end to Israel’s war on Lebanon has to form part of any agreement with Washington.

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As we have been reporting, Donald Trump has said that a Memorandum of Understanding in talks to end the US-Israel war on Iran “has been largely negotiated”.

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Official details of the potential deal are scant and it remains possible that some aspects of the memo could change. But here is what we know so far about the potential agreement that could bring an end to the war.

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n
• n

  What could be included in the agreement?

n

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– The deal would involve a 60-day ceasefire extension during which the strait of Hormuz would be reopened, Iran could freely sell oil, and talks on limiting Iran’s nuclear program would be held, a US official told Axios.

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– Iran would also agree to clear the mines it deployed in the strait and not impose any tolls on ships – and in exchange, the US would lift its blockade on Iranian ports that has been in effect since 13 April, Axios reported.

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– The US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, said on Sunday that the deal could achieve “a completely open” strait of Hormuz “without tolls” if successful.

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– But Iranian media reported that the strait of Hormuz would remain under Iranian control.

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– The deal would reportedly unfreeze some Iranian assets that are being held in banks outside Iran.

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– Hostilities would reportedly be halted on all fronts, including Israel and Lebanon.

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• n

  What is likely to not be included?

n

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– A senior Iranian source told Reuters on Sunday that Tehran had not agreed to hand over its highly enriched uranium (HEU) stockpile.

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– The source said Iran’s nuclear issue was not part of the preliminary agreement with the US.

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– The statement came after the NY Times, citing two US officials, reported that Tehran had apparently expressed a willingness to give up its stockpile.

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– Even if Tehran does agree to give up some of its HEU stockpile, there has been no mention of how this would happen in practice.

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– There has also been little mention of Iran’s ballistic missile programme or the curbing of its support for its regional allies such as Hezbollah in Lebanon or the Houthis in Yemen.

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The US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, has been talking to reporters in New Delhi during a diplomatic visit to India.

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“I do think perhaps there is the possibility that in the next few hours the world will get some good news,” Rubio told the media.

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He added that “significant” progress had been made in peace talks with Iran but cautioned that this was not “final” progress. Rubio reiterated that Iran can never possess a nuclear weapon and that the strait of Hormuz has to be open to global marine traffic without tolls being charged by Tehran for safe passage.

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Rubio said:

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We have made some progress over the last 48 hours working with our partners in the Gulf region on an outline that could ultimately – if it succeeds – leave us not just with a completely open strait … and with addressing some of the key things that underpin what has been Iran’s nuclear weapons ambitions in the past.

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Rubio (pictured) attends a joint press conference with Indian foreign minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar after their meeting in New Delhi.”,”caption”:”Marco Rubio (pictured) attends a joint press conference with Indian foreign minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar after their meeting in New Delhi.”,”credit”:”Photograph: Adnan Abidi/Reuters”}}],”attributes”:{“pinned”:false,”keyEvent”:true,”summary”:false},”blockCreatedOn”:1779608125000,”blockCreatedOnDisplay”:”03.35 EDT”,”blockLastUpdated”:1779610243000,”blockLastUpdatedDisplay”:”04.10 EDT”,”blockFirstPublished”:1779608959000,”blockFirstPublishedDisplay”:”03.49 EDT”,”blockFirstPublishedDisplayNoTimezone”:”03.49″,”title”:”Rubio says ‘significant’ progress made in talks with Iran”,”contributors”:[],”primaryDateLine”:”Sun 24 May 2026 17.12 EDT”,”secondaryDateLine”:”First published on Sat 23 May 2026 18.54 EDT”},{“id”:”6a1298518f08c1daf13f3f5d”,”elements”:[{“_type”:”model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement”,”html”:”

In case you’re just joining us, here’s a recap of the day’s key news amid the Middle East crisis.

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  The US and Iran reportedly sought on Sunday to finalise an agreement to formally end the Middle East war after Donald Trump said a proposal that included reopening the strait of Hormuz was “largely negotiated”. “Final aspects and details of the Deal are currently being discussed, and will be announced shortly,” the US president posted on his Truth Social platform, without giving details.

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  Trump emphasised the deal was still “subject to finalisation”, while news reports said a draft indicated the two sides would address contentious issues about Iran’s nuclear program only after an initial pact was reached.

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  Leaders from Middle Eastern countries including Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar, Egypt, Jordan and Bahrain as well as Pakistani and Turkish representatives joined a call with Trump to discuss the deal on Saturday, the US president said.

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  Mediator Pakistan hoped to host another round of talks “very soon”, said the prime minister, Shehbaz Sharif. US vice-president JD Vance led US delegation to Islamabad in the first round of peace talks with Iran six weeks ago which ended without an agreement.

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  Trump said a separate call with Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu “went very well”.

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  The potential US-Iran agreement involves a 60-day ceasefire extension during which the Hormuz strait would be reopened, the Axios new site reported, and Tehran would be able to freely sell oil. Negotiations would be held on curbing Iran’s nuclear program, it said, citing an American official, while also saying the details were in an agreement draft and “could still fall apart”.

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drive in a street in Tehran at the weeken”,”caption”:”Iranians drive in a street in Tehran at the weekend. “,”credit”:”Photograph: Abedin Taherkenareh/EPA”}},{“_type”:”model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement”,”html”:”

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  Iran has not commented on Trump’s announcement of a deal being close but Iran’s Tasnim semi-official news agency said that under a potential memorandum of understanding the US would waive its sanctions against selling Iranian oil. It also said Tehran had not yet agreed to any actions on its nuclear program and that the potential agreement included ending the war on all fronts including Lebanon.

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  The results of the latest negotiations on the Iran war “offer grounds for optimism that a positive and durable outcome is within reach”, the foreign minister of mediator Pakistan said.

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  Former Trump secretary of state Mike Pompeo denounced the apparent emerging deal as benefiting Iran’s Revolutionary Guard and being too close to the terms Barack Obama’s negotiators struck with Iran in a nuclear agreement Trump later abandoned.

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  In Lebanon, the civil defence agency said early on Sunday its regional facility in the southern city of Nabatieh had been destroyed by an Israeli strike. The agency condemned “this attack on a centre dedicated to humanitarian and relief work”, also saying there were no reports of casualties among its personnel.
  With news agencies

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The agreement the US and Iran are reportedly close to signing involves a 60-day ceasefire extension during which the strait of Hormuz would be reopened, according to Axios.

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During that time Iran would be able to freely sell oil and negotiations would be held on curbing Iran’s nuclear program, the US news site is reporting, citing an American official, while also saying the details were in an agreement “draft” as it currently stood.

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“Those details have not been confirmed by the Iranian side, though Tehran has also indicated a deal is getting close,” the report says.

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Some of the draft details look to align with what is being reported from sources quoted by the Associated Press and the New York Times, as our full report details.

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The deal would avoid an escalation of the war and decrease the pressure on the global oil supply, Axios says, adding:

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However, it’s unclear whether it will lead to a lasting peace agreement that also addresses President Trump’s nuclear demands.”

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The report says that during the 60-day Hormuz strait reopening, Iran would agree to clear mines it deployed in the waterway and allow ships to pass freely. In exchange, the US would lift its blockade on Iranian ports.

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The report also says:

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Both Trump and the mediators have indicated the deal could be announced on Sunday, though it has not been finalized and could still fall apart.”

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In Lebanon, the civil defence agency said early on Sunday its regional facility in the southern city of Nabatieh had been destroyed by an Israeli strike.

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The Directorate General of Civil Defence said the building had collapsed and a large number of vehicles and equipment had been damaged by a “direct hit in a hostile Israeli strike”.

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It added there were no reports of casualties among its personnel, who had been moved to another location before the incident, Agence France-Presse is reporting.

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The civil defence agency condemned “this attack on a centre dedicated to humanitarian and relief work”, stressing that it was facing “growing risks and challenges” in carrying out its operations.

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Israeli strikes in Lebanon have continued despite a truce that came into effect on 17 April, with Israel saying it is targeting Iran-backed Hezbollah, which has kept up attacks on Israeli targets in south Lebanon and northern Israel.

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mourner throws flower petals at the funeral of medics – killed in an Israeli strike on the southern town of Deir Qanoun En-Nahr on Friday – in Tyre, Lebanon, on Saturday”,”caption”:”A mourner throws flower petals at the funeral of medics – killed in an Israeli strike on the southern town of Deir Qanoun En-Nahr on Friday – in Tyre, Lebanon, on Saturday. “,”credit”:”Photograph: Aziz Taher/Reuters”}}],”attributes”:{“pinned”:false,”keyEvent”:true,”summary”:false},”blockCreatedOn”:1779588554000,”blockCreatedOnDisplay”:”22.09 EDT”,”blockLastUpdated”:1779595200000,”blockLastUpdatedDisplay”:”00.00 EDT”,”blockFirstPublished”:1779589482000,”blockFirstPublishedDisplay”:”22.24 EDT”,”blockFirstPublishedDisplayNoTimezone”:”22.24″,”title”:”Israeli strike destroys Lebanese civil defence building, agency says”,”contributors”:[],”primaryDateLine”:”Sun 24 May 2026 17.12 EDT”,”secondaryDateLine”:”First published on Sat 23 May 2026 18.54 EDT”},{“id”:”6a124ecb8f089865cf41bc5b”,”elements”:[{“_type”:”model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement”,”html”:”

Pakistani prime minister Shehbaz Sharif has congratulated Donald Trump on his peace efforts and said Pakistan hopes to host another round of talks between the US and Iran “very soon”.

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Sharif also said in a post on X that the US president held a “very useful and productive” phone call earlier in the day with the leaders of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Turkey, Egypt, the UAE, Jordan and Pakistan, with Pakistani army chief Syed Asim Munir also on the line.

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Sharif said:

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n

The discussions provided a useful opportunity to exchange views on the current regional situation and how to move the ongoing peace efforts forward to bring lasting peace in the region. Pakistan will continue its peace efforts with utmost sincerity and we hope to host the next round of talks very soon.”

n

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US vice-president JD Vance led a US delegation to Islamabad in the first round of peace talks with Iran six weeks ago, which ended without an agreement.

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Former Trump secretary of state Mike Pompeo has sharply criticised the apparent emerging terms of a peace deal as benefiting Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and being too close to those Barack Obama’s negotiators struck with Iran in a nuclear agreement Donald Trump later abandoned.

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Pompeo said in a post on X:

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n

The deal being floated with Iran seems straight out of the Wendy Sherman-Robert Malley-Ben Rhodes playbook: Pay the IRGC to build a WMD program and terrorize the world. Not remotely America First. It’s straightforward: Open the damned strait. Deny Iran access to money. Take out enough Iranian capability so it cannot threaten our allies in the region.”

n

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Pompeo was secretary of state and CIA director during Trump’s first term.

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The Pakistani army has said the negotiations with Iran resulted in “encouraging” progress towards a final understanding.

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The deal being negotiated was “fairly comprehensive to terminate the war”, two Pakistani sources involved in the negotiations to end the war told Reuters.

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Iran had said on Saturday that it was working towards a memorandum of understanding with the US laying out an approach to ending the war after its top officials met with Pakistani army chief Asim Munir.

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Reuters quoted sources as saying the proposed framework would unfold in three stages: formally ending the war, resolving the crisis in the strait of Hormuz and launching a 30-day window for negotiations on a broader agreement, which can be extended.

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One of the Pakistani sources also there was no guarantee the US would accept the memorandum. If it did, it would lead to further talks after the Eid holiday ended on Friday.

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On Saturday Donald Trump told Axios he expected to decide on Sunday whether to resume attacks on Iran. “Either we reach a good deal or I’ll blow them to a thousand hells,” the news site quoted him as saying.

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Hello and welcome to our live coverage of the Iran war and the wider Middle East crisis.

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Donald Trump has announced that a peace deal with Iran “has been largely negotiated”, after calls with a Pakistani mediator, Gulf allies and Israel, potentially paving the way for an end to the war launched by the US and Israel in February.

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Trump wrote that the “final aspects and details” of a “Memorandum of Understanding” are still being discussed and “will be announced shortly”, but said the strait of Hormuz will be opened as part of the deal.

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However, Iran’s Fars news agency, which is close to the powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, reported that the strait would remain under Iranian control, and that Trump’s assertion that an agreement was nearly final was “inconsistent with reality”.

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Three senior Iranian officials told the New York Times the agreement would stop the fighting in Iran and in Lebanon, and could release $25bn in Iranian assets frozen overseas, with a nuclear agreement to be negotiated within 30 to 60 days.

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We will bring you the latest developments, as they happen.

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The liberation of frozen assets belonging to Iran have become an important part of the US-Iran negotiations, with Iran pushing for an unfreezing of assets worldwide.

But why are countries around the world temporarily holding onto Iran’s assets?

Since 1979, sanctions on Iran have crippled its economy. Throughout the years, the justification for US-imposed sanctions has shifted. At first, the US sanctioned Iran due to the 1979 hostage crisis. But in recent years following, sanctions have been amplified over the country’s nuclear program.

The sanctions placed on Iran have prevented the country from accessing its assets, like money from oil sales, frozen by various countries.

Multiple different countries are holding Iran’s frozen assets, including Japan, Iraq, China, India and the US. Experts estimate the frozen Iranian assets are worth around $100bn.

When the US-Israel war on Iran began, Iran pushed for assets to be released before any negotiations could begin.

Now, the unfreezing of those assets seem to be key parts of the negotiations between the US and Iran. Various reports claim that the unfreezing of assets has become a sticking point in the negotiations.

Donald Trump encouraged Arab leaders to sign onto the Abraham Accords on Saturday during a conversation about the Iran deal, Axios reports.

The Arab and Muslim leaders were surprised by the US president’s request and stayed silent on the call, prompting Trump to jokingly ask if the leaders were still there.

The Abraham Accords, brokered by the first Trump administration, sought to normalize relations between Israel and some Arab and Muslim nations.

During Saturday’s call with the leaders of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Pakistan, Turkey, Egypt, Jordan and Bahrain, Trump told them that if a deal to end the US-Israel war in Iran was achieved, he would like for the nations to sign onto the accords.

Currently, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Qatar do not have diplomatic relations with Israel.

The Trump-brokered accords between Israel, Bahrain, and the United Arab Emirates, “proved to be dangerously counterproductive, with Israeli-Gulf military cooperation leading to more risky and provocative behavior”, according to a recent Foreign Policy magazine piece written by Matt Duss, an analyst with the Center for International Policy and former foreign policy adviser to Bernie Sanders.

“Far from promoting peace and stability, the Abraham Accords laid the groundwork for a new era of violence, providing political cover for genocide in Gaza and enabling a reckless war against Iran,” Duss added.

Marco Rubio scolds BBC reporter for asking about deadly strike on Iranian school

Robert Mackey

At a news conference in India on Sunday, the US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, scolded a BBC reporter for asking if the deadly strike on a school in Minab, Iran on the first day of the US-Israeli attack, and strikes on another 21 schools in the following weeks, was “reckless”.

Tom Bateman, the BBC state department correspondent, who asked Rubio about the strike, which visual analysis by news organizations has suggested was carried out by the US but the Pentagon says it is still investigating, first asked the secretary of state to reveal what the Trump administration knew about the strike on 2 March.

On Sunday, the reporter pointed out to Rubio that, while “there’s a lot of attention at the moment on how to end this war … there is continued scrutiny on the way it began.” He reminded the top US diplomat, who is also Donald Trump’s national security adviser, that the first wave of strikes was launched by the US and Israel on “a Saturday in Iran in the morning when millions of children were at school.”

“There is media analysis that 22 schools at least were damaged either that day or in the following weeks,” the reporter added. “What do you say to those who will accuse the administration of unleashing a reckless action because of when this war was begun?

Rubio avoided responding directly to the question, but instead attacked the questioner for not framing the US bombing campaign as a response to what he called terrorism linked to Iran’s government.

“I’m not going to speak to military tactics simply because that’s not my department,” Rubio said. “I will say this to you: when we when this conflict began with Iran, the goals were outlined and they were very simple. They were very clear. We were going to destroy their navy, which we’ve done. We were going to significantly reduce their ability … to launch ballistic missiles because that was the conventional shield they were trying to hide behind. And we’ve achieved that objective. And we were going to do damage to the defense industrial base so they couldn’t rebuild all of these things. We’ve achieved that as well.”

“Those were the targets of our operation and that’s what they were targeted on,” the secretary of state said. “On the other hand, Iran likes to sponsor proxy groups of terrorists and these terrorists don’t care what they blow up. They blow up anything and everyone.”

“This is an Iran that not long ago through their Hezbollah proxies blew up a Jewish center in Argentina and killed a bunch of people,” Rubio went on, apparently referring to a terrorist attack in Buenos Aires that took place 32 years ago, in 1994.

He went on to describe the use of roadside bombs to kill or maim US troops in Iraq as terrorism, although attacks on soldiers do not meet the definition of terrorism used by most experts.

“There is no nation on earth that sponsors more terrorism than Iran,” he added. “They’ve spent not they’ve spent millions and millions of dollars sponsoring terrorism and targeting individuals all over the world and including civilians.”

“That’s what you should be asking me about,” Rubio told Bateman. “That’s what the BBC should be covering. And that’s what these other media outlets should be covering is how evil these people are in Iran and the damage they’ve done to people all over the world.”

Foreign ministers from eight Arab-Islamic nations have condemned the actions of Itamar Ben-Gvir, the Israeli security minister, after he posted a video of detained Gaza flotilla activists.

The video showed the activists, who intended to bring humanitarian aid to Gaza, kneeling with their hands bound.

The eight nations – Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Turkey, Indonesia and Pakistan – said in a statement: “Ben-Gvir’s deliberate public humiliation of detainees is a disgraceful assault on human dignity and a clear violation of Israel’s obligations under international law, including international humanitarian law, and international human rights law.”

US secretary of state Marco Rubio told The New York Times an agreement with Iran had garnered regional support but a nuclear deal couldn’t be achieved “in 72 hours on the back of a napkin”.

His comments came after Donald Trump told his negotiators “not to rush into a deal” with Iran to end the three-month war.

Rubio said on Sunday: “We’re not kicking it till later. Nuclear talks are highly technical matters. You can’t do a nuclear thing in 72 hours on the back of a napkin.

“So right now, we have seven or eight countries in the region that are endorsing this approach, and we’re prepared to move forward on this approach.”

‘If I make a deal with Iran, it will be a good and proper one,’ Donald Trump posts online

Donald Trump has given an update of sorts about the ceasefire negotiations with Iran and the apparent lack of detail, adding that talks are still ongoing.

The US president wrote on Truth Social: “If I make a deal with Iran, it will be a good and proper one, not like the one made by Obama, which gave Iran massive amounts of CASH, and a clear and open path to a Nuclear Weapon.

“Our deal is the exact opposite, but nobody has seen it, or knows what it is. It isn’t even fully negotiated yet. So don’t listen to the losers, who are critical about something they know nothing about.

“Unlike those before me who should have solved this problem many years ago, I don’t make bad deals!”

Trouble may be brewing for the US-Iran deal as parties work to finalize an agreement. According to Al Jazeera English correspondent Ali Hashem, the US may be attempting to retreat on two key negotiating items: unfreezing Iranian assets and the extent of a ceasefire in Lebanon.

According to Hashem’s Iranian source, Israel seems to be pressuring the US to include language that would allow for further Israeli military operations in Lebanon. Iran is insistent on the ceasefire extending to Lebanon, as well.

“Tehran has informed all mediators, including Pakistan, that it will not sign the memorandum unless all clauses are fully agreed and guaranteed,” Hashem reports. “The overall picture suggests Tehran increasingly views Washington as backing away from earlier understandings reached through mediators.”

Naim Qassem, the chief of Hezbollah, said on Sunday he hoped the Iran agreement would be completed soon and include Hezbollah in the terms.

“God willing, this agreement will be finalized and there are signs of its completion, and accordingly that we too will be among those included in this agreement – an agreement of a full cessation of hostilities,” he said in a televised address, according to AFP.

Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, said on Sunday that Donald Trump said he supported Israel’s fight against Hezbollah.

US government still obstructing some clauses of agreement to end war, says Iranian state media

Iran’s Tasnim news agency said that the US government is still obstructing some clauses of the agreement to end the war, including the issue of releasing blocked Iranian assets, according to Reuters. Some details of the deal are still unknown and nothing has been officially signed yet.

Axios and CBS report that the agreement with Iran is not expected to be signed today, with an anonymous senior Trump official telling Axios there are a number of details that still need to be finalized.

The senior official also said that the Iranian government at the moment moves slowly and that it may take several days for the agreement to go through all the approvals.

The chief of the Lebanese Hezbollah group said their disarmament is unacceptable, amounting to “annihilation”, according to the AFP news service.