Main PointsThe status of peace talks in Pakistan this week is unclear, with neither the United States nor Iran giving clear signs they will attendA two-week ceasefire is set to expire early on Wednesday and US president Donald Trump says an extension is “highly unlikely” If the talks proceed, US vice-president JD Vance is expected to fly to Islamabad to head up the US diplomatic delegation Israeli air strikes hit a town in southern Lebanon despite a 10-day ceasefire on MondayThe Iranian-flagged ship seized by US forces on Sunday is likely to have what the US deems “dual-use” items, security sources said Iran says the seizure of the Touska, near its coast was “unlawful and a violation” of international lawOil prices fell and stocks bounced back in early trade in Asia on expectations that peace talks will resume Best Reads
Sarah Burns – 21 minutes ago
Three vessels appear to cross the Strait of Hormuz
Three vessels – two cargo ships and a fuel tanker – appeared to have crossed the Strait of Hormuz on Tuesday as US and Iranian blockades remained in place.
The Shoja 2, an Iranian-flagged cargo vessel, transited the strait and moved into the Gulf of Oman and is now in waters off Khor Fakkan in the United Arab Emirates, ship-tracking data show, according to Bloomberg.
The progress of the ship is being closely watched after the US Navy seized another Iranian cargo ship on Sunday, the first capture since Washington imposed a blockade of the waterway last week.
The other two vessels have no clear links to Iran. The Lian Star, a general cargo ship flagged to Gambia, crossed the strait and is now sailing southeast along Iran’s coastline in the Gulf of Oman. The Ean Spir, a medium-range tanker previously named Blue Commander and with no identified owner, began sailing northeast from waters near Ras Al-Khaimah in the UAE, and is now heading south into the Gulf of Oman, indicating Shinas in Oman as its destination.
Otherwise, traffic through the vital waterway remained at a virtual standstill following a chaotic weekend in which Iran declared the corridor open before closing it again after the US declined to lift its blockade. Around 800 vessels remain stuck in the Persian Gulf.
Tankers and bulk carriers anchored in the Strait of Hormuz. Photograph: Associated Press
Sarah Burns – 50 minutes ago
Germany’s foreign minister Johann Wadephul has urged Iran to hold constructive talks with the United States in Islamabad, Pakistan.
“As we know, the US vice president is prepared to travel to Islamabad,” Wadephul said ahead of a foreign ministers’ meeting in Brussels on Wednesday.
“Iran should now take up this offer for the sake of its own people.”
German foreign minister Johann Wadephul speaks to the media upon arrival at a Foreign Affairs Council meeting in Luxembourg city on Tuesday. Photograph: Olivier Hoslet/EPA Ireland growth forecast faced upgrade but for Iran war, says Harris
Tánaiste and Minister for Finance Simon Harris has said if Iran had not been bombed, Ireland’s growth forecast would have been upgraded in its spring forecast.
“That does speak to the resilience of the Irish economy where growth is strong, there are more people in work than ever before,” he told reporters as he arrived at Government Buildings, Vivenne Clarke reports.
“We’ve got to move beyond the lazy politics of suggesting that surplus is a dirty word or a derogatory term. Thank God we have a surplus in this country.”
Harris said the spring economic forecast would include forecasts such as where oil prices stay at a high level, or where they are at an even higher level than they are currently.
“Stagflation was a risk” to the Irish economy, he said, but added Ireland had “fiscal resilience” at a challenging time.
Minister for Finance Simon Harris speaking to reporters before a Cabinet meeting at Government Buildings, Dublin. Photograph: Cillian Sherlock/PA Wire
Sarah Burns – 2 hours ago
The International Maritime Organisation (IMO) is working on an evacuation plan for hundreds of ships that have been stuck in the Gulf since US and Israeli strikes on Iran began more than seven weeks ago, according to secretary general Arsenio Dominguez.
The plan can only be put into action when there are clear signs of de-escalation, Dominguez said on the sidelines of Singapore Maritime Week. Details being discussed include an order of departure for vessels, depending on the length of time the crew has been stranded, among other factors, he added.
Any transits would follow a long-established route – the Traffic Separation Scheme that was proposed by Iran and Oman and adopted by the IMO in 1968, Dominguez said.
Iran has developed a system over the past few weeks that includes a specific route close to its coast and, in some cases, payment.
The IMO is in touch with littoral states, including Iran and Oman, and flag states to finalise the blueprint.
Sarah Burns – 2 hours ago
Over the past year, US air strikes have crippled Iran’s nuclear programme, writes Michael Crowley. Several Iranian nuclear facilities lie in ruins. And the country’s stockpile of enriched uranium – “nuclear dust”, as US president Donald Trump calls it – is thought to be buried deep under rubble.
But even after a US bombing raid last June and more than five weeks of attacks on Iran since February, one suspected nuclear site remains untouched.
Read the full piece here.
Sarah Burns – 2 hours ago
Iran military ready to deliver ‘immediate and decisive response’
Iran’s armed forces are ready to deliver an “immediate and decisive response” to any renewed hostile action by its adversaries, a senior Iranian military commander said on Tuesday, according to semi-official Tasnim news agency.
A two-week ceasefire between Iran and the US is set to expire on Wednesday. The two countries have accused each other of breaching the ceasefire and have both tightened control over Gulf maritime transit.
Ali Abdollahi, commander of the Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters, said Tehran retained the upper hand in the military field, including in the management of the Strait of Hormuz, and would not allow the US president to “create false narratives over the situation on the ground”.
Sarah Burns – 3 hours ago
Trump says he is ‘not going to be rushed into making a bad deal’
US president Donald Trump signalled he is unlikely to extend a two-week ceasefire with Iran that’s set to expire in two days, while Iran has yet to confirm it will participate in talks to end the war.
Trump said in an interview on Monday that the ceasefire expires on Wednesday evening in Washington and he is “not going to be rushed into making a bad deal”. He said the Strait of Hormuz would stay blockaded for now, and “I’m not opening it until a deal is signed.”
Iran’s parliament speaker, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, said his country would not “accept negotiations under the shadow of threats”.
The standoff underscores the uncertainty surrounding a new round of talks, even after Trump said negotiations could begin as early as Tuesday. The US president has threatened strikes on Iran’s power infrastructure if diplomacy fails.
A pause in hostilities has mostly held for two weeks after a conflict that killed thousands across the region and disrupted global energy supplies.
US vice-president JD Vance will leave for Pakistan to participate in negotiations that are set to begin “either Tuesday night or Wednesday morning”, Trump said on Monday. He is expected to be joined by the president’s son-in-law Jared Kushner and special envoy Steve Witkoff.
“There’s going to be a meeting. They want a meeting, and they should want a meeting. And it can work out well,” Trump said.
US president Donald Trump speaks during a Turning Point USA Build the Red Wall event in Phoenix, last week. Photograph: Kenny Holston/The New York Times
Sarah Burns – 4 hours ago
Trump says recovering Iran’s uranium will be ‘long and difficult’ 
Donald Trump has claimed Iran’s nuclear sites have been ‘obliterated’.
Donald Trump has said retrieving uranium from Iran will be a “long and difficult” process in the wake of the US bombing of Iranian nuclear facilities last year.
“Operation Midnight Hammer was a complete and total obliteration of the Nuclear Dust sites in Iran,” the president posted on his Truth Social platform overnight.
“Therefore, digging it out will be a long and difficult process.”
Trump has used nuclear dust to refer to Iran’s stockpile of enriched uranium but also to nuclear materials left from the June strikes.
The US president claimed after the bombardment that it had “obliterated” Iran’s nuclear programme, but it soon became apparent this was not true. The bombs had wreaked extensive damage but deep underground sites – burrowed beneath mountains in two sites in particular, Isfahan and Natanz – could not be destroyed.
In Trump’s latest post he also hit out at news outlets, saying: “Fake News CNN, and other corrupt Media Networks and Platforms, fail to give our great aviators the credit they deserve – Always trying to demean and belittle – LOSERS!!!”
The future of Iran’s nuclear material has become a key sticking point between the US and Iran in their ongoing standoff. Trump last week claimed Iran had agreed to hand over its enriched uranium to the US, prompting Iran to say it had not.
Sarah Burns – 4 hours ago
Representatives for Donald Trump’s Board of Peace have held discussions with state-owned Dubai multinational DP World about managing supply chains and other infrastructure projects in Gaza, the Financial Times reported on Tuesday.
The talks examined whether DP World could enter into a partnership with the Board of Peace to run the logistics for humanitarian aid and other goods entering Gaza, the report said.
Sarah Burns – 4 hours ago
Oil prices fall on hopes of talks breakthrough 
Fuel prices are displayed outside an Exxon filling station in Washington, DC. Prices have risen sharply across the US since the start of the US and Israeli conflict with Iran. Photograph: Jim Lo Scalzo/EPA
Oil prices fell on Tuesday, reversing gains in the previous session, on expectations peace talks between the US and Iran will take place this week and allow more supply to flow from the key Middle East producing region.
Brent crude futures declined 54 cents, or 0.6 per cent, at $94.94 a barrel. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) for May fell $1.11, or 1.2 per cent, to $88.50. The May contract expires on Tuesday and the more-active June contract was down 76 cents, or 0.9 per cent, at $86.66.
Both benchmarks surged on Monday, with Brent up 5.6 per cent and WTI up 6.9 per cent, after Iran again shut the Strait of Hormuz, closing the key oil transport artery, and the US seized an Iranian cargo ship as part of its blockade of the country’s ports.
Sarah Burns – 4 hours ago
Vessels attempt to cross Strait of Hormuz
Three vessels – two cargo ships and a fuel tanker – appeared to be attempting to transit the Strait of Hormuz early on Tuesday as US and Iranian blockades remained in place.
The Shoja 2, an Iranian-flagged cargo vessel, crossed the strait and moved into the Gulf of Oman, but has now stopped signalling its location. The progress of the ship is being closely watched after the US navy seized another Iranian cargo ship on Sunday, the first capture since Washington imposed a blockade of the waterway last week.
The other two vessels have no clear links to Iran. The Lian Star, a general cargo ship flagged to Gambia, has crossed the strait and is now turning south toward the Gulf of Oman. The Ean Spir, a medium-range tanker with no identified owner, began sailing northeast from waters near Ras Al-Khaimah in the United Arab Emirates, and is now south of Larak island, indicating Shinas in Oman as its destination.
Otherwise, traffic through the vital waterway remained at a near standstill following a chaotic weekend in which Iran declared the corridor open before closing it again after the US declined to lift its blockade. Some 800 vessels remain stuck in the Gulf.
President Donald Trump said on Monday that the US blockade would remain in place for now. The US leader said a two-week ceasefire with Iran, which expires on Wednesday evening in Washington, was not likely to be extended. Talks between the two countries are expected to take place in Pakistan.
Sarah Burns – 4 hours ago
JD Vance to lead US delegation in Pakistan
JD Vance is expected to fly to Islamabad at the head of a US diplomatic delegation on Tuesday if Iran agrees to further talks in the Pakistani capital as the deadline for the current ceasefire looms.
The US vice-president will travel with Steve Witkoff, Donald Trump’s special envoy, and Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law – though Iran’s president warned there remained a “deep historical mistrust” of the US.
Masoud Pezeshkian said Tehran was concerned about “unconstructive and contradictory signals from American officials” and concluded they amounted to an effort to seek the country’s surrender. “Iranians do not submit to force,” he said.
US vice-president JD Vance: to travel to Pakistan for talks. Photograph: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
However, one senior Iranian official told the Reuters news agency that Tehran was “positively reviewing” its participation, amid reports that its delegation would again be headed by parliamentary speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf if Vance attends.
Ghalibaf said later that Iran would not accept negotiations with the US while under threat, adding in the post on X early on Tuesday that “we have prepared to reveal new cards on the battlefield”. He also accused Trump of seeking to “turn this negotiating table – in his own imagination – into a table of surrender or to justify renewed warmongering”.
Tehran called for an end to the US blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, while Trump repeated a demand that Iran should never be allowed to build a nuclear weapon and said he would be willing to meet Iranian leaders himself.