The United States and Iran gave indications on Monday that they plan to send negotiators to peace talks in Pakistan this week before a two-week ceasefire expires in the early hours of Wednesday morning.
Iran reportedly agreed to send its negotiating team to Islamabad on Tuesday after early announcing it would not renew talks due the naval blockade imposed by the US navy on Iranian ports.
US president Donald Trump said “lots of bombs” will start going off if a deal is not secured with Iran by the end of the ceasefire.
He told Bloomberg it was “highly unlikely” the ceasefire with Iran would be extended if the sides did not reach an agreement before then, stressing that the US blockade of the Strait of Hormuz would remain in place until a deal was struck.
Tehran had earlier vowed to retaliate after US marines seized an Iranian cargo ship that tried to run its blockade.
The US negotiating team was on its way to Islamabad for a second round of talks and Tehran said Pakistan was working to lift the US blockade to facilitate more talks.
[ The Strait of Hormuz is Iran’s strongest card in peace negotiationsOpens in new window ]
A senior Iranian source told Reuters that the continuation of the blockade on the Strait of Hormuz undermines the peace talks, adding that differences over Iran’s nuclear programme remain unresolved and that gaps have not narrowed. According to the source, Iran’s “defensive capabilities”, including its missile programme, are not open to negotiation.
Iran warned that it is ready to confront the US after its “aggression” against the Iranian ship, adding that the retaliation will take place after it ensures the safety of the vessel’s crew and their family members on board.
The US military said it fired on the Iranian-flagged cargo ship headed towards Iran’s Bandar Abbas port on Sunday after a six-hour standoff, disabling its engines.
The US military said it has directed 27 vessels to turn around or return to an Iranian port since the beginning of its blockade around the Strait of Hormuz.
Iranians ride past a large billboard depicting Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei on Monday. Photograph: Atta Kenare/AFP/Getty Images
Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu said Monday that Israel “had not finished the job” in Iran. “The world already knows our determination to defend ourselves and to defend humanity from barbaric fanaticism,” he said.
The second round of talks between Israel and Lebanon is due to take place on Thursday in Washington as Lebanese parliament speaker Nabih Berri said the US was making an effort to extend the 10-day ceasefire announced by Trump on Thursday.
Lebanese president Joseph Aoun said the negotiations with Israel are “separate” from US-Iran peace talks and are designed to “halt hostile actions” and end Israel’s occupation of southern Lebanon.
The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) have warned residents in southern Lebanon not to move south of a specified line of villages or approach areas near the Litani river where its forces remain deployed in the area during the ceasefire due to what it described as continued Hizbullah activity.
A senior Lebanese politician accused Israel on Monday of widespread destruction in villages in southern Lebanon, saying the damage could constitute a war crime. Ali Hassan Khalil, a Hizbullah-allied lawmaker, said Israeli forces had carried out “varying degrees of destruction” in 39 villages, including damage to civilian homes.
Lebanese official media said an Israeli strike hit a town in the country’s south on Monday.
The state-run National News Agency said that “an enemy drone targeted the vicinity of the Litani river in the town of Qaqaiyat al-Jisr”, without immediately reporting casualties.
Netanyahu also condemned an incident in which a video showed an Israeli soldier smashing a statue of Jesus in a Christian village in south Lebanon.
“We express regret for the incident and for any hurt this has caused to believers in Lebanon and around the world,” he said. The IDF identified the soldier involved and promised that criminal charged will be brought against him. – Additional reporting: The Guardian