Ghalibaf, Iran\u2019s chief negotiator, added:<\/p>\n
double quotation markThe security of shipping and energy transit has been jeopardised by the United States and its allies through the violation of the ceasefire and the imposition of a blockade; of course, their evil will diminish.<\/p>\n
We know full well that the continuation of the status quo is intolerable for America; while we have not even begun yet.<\/p>\n
![\"Iranian](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/6618.jpg\")
Iranian parliament speaker, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, led the Iranian delegation for Pakistani mediated talks with the US in Islamabad in April. Photograph: Morteza Nikoubazl\/NurPhoto via Getty Images<\/p>\n
Iran imposed a blockade on foreign shipping using the strait of Hormuz soon after the war began with a US-Israeli attack on 28 February which killed the country\u2019s former supreme leader. The US president, Donald Trump<\/a>, imposed a counter-blockade of ships using Iranian ports on 13 April.<\/p>\n Trump\u2019s so-called \u201cProject Freedom\u201d, which began yesterday, says its aim is to use the US military<\/a> to guide stranded cargo ships out of the strategic waterway. But in doing so it makes the resumption of war much more likely as Iran\u2019s military central command warned that it would strike any US naval vessel approaching the strait.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a003.05 EDT<\/p>\n Key events<\/p>\n Show key events only<\/p>\n Please turn on JavaScript to use this feature<\/p>\n The internet blackout in Iran has entered its 67th day, according to internet monitoring group NetBlocks, as the regime continues one of the longest-running national internet shutdowns ever recorded. NetBlocks said in a social media post<\/a>:<\/p>\n double quotation markThe internet blackout in Iran is now entering its 67th day after passing incident hour 1584. The digital censorship measure casts a veil of silence around the growing number of reported executions, denying victims visibility, accountability, and the basic right to be heard.<\/p>\n Senior government officials are awarded \u201cwhite\u201d SIM cards granting them access to the global internet while the vast majority of the population remains completely cut off.<\/p>\n Under pressure to alleviate the economic harm the shutdown is causing, the government is now allowing less-restricted internet access to a small number of professions, businesses and friendly media.<\/p>\n There was an earlier internet shutdown in January<\/a> during nationwide protests, which helped obscure extreme violence against Iran\u2019s population<\/a>.<\/p>\n Share<\/a> The oil price has dipped slightly this morning, after a jump on Monday.<\/p>\n Brent crude is down almost 1% at $113.41 a barrel, a day after jumping by 5.8% after the US launched an operation to reopen the strait of Hormuz.<\/p>\n You can track the latest business news here:<\/p>\n Share<\/a>Continuation of status quo ‘intolerable’ for US, says Iran’s top negotiator<\/p>\n The Iranian parliament speaker, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, said in a post on X<\/a> this morning that a \u201cnew equation of the strait of Hormuz is in the process of being solidified\u201d and warned that the continuation of the \u201cstatus quo\u201d was an \u201cintolerable\u201d position for the US to maintain.<\/p>\n Ghalibaf, Iran\u2019s chief negotiator, added:<\/p>\n double quotation markThe security of shipping and energy transit has been jeopardised by the United States and its allies through the violation of the ceasefire and the imposition of a blockade; of course, their evil will diminish.<\/p>\n We know full well that the continuation of the status quo is intolerable for America; while we have not even begun yet.<\/p>\n Iranian parliament speaker, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, led the Iranian delegation for Pakistani mediated talks with the US in Islamabad in April. Photograph: Morteza Nikoubazl\/NurPhoto via Getty Images<\/p>\n Iran imposed a blockade on foreign shipping using the strait of Hormuz soon after the war began with a US-Israeli attack on 28 February which killed the country\u2019s former supreme leader. The US president, Donald Trump<\/a>, imposed a counter-blockade of ships using Iranian ports on 13 April.<\/p>\n Trump\u2019s so-called \u201cProject Freedom\u201d, which began yesterday, says its aim is to use the US military<\/a> to guide stranded cargo ships out of the strategic waterway. But in doing so it makes the resumption of war much more likely as Iran\u2019s military central command warned that it would strike any US naval vessel approaching the strait.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a003.05 EDT<\/p>\n The Israeli military has issued more forced displacement orders for people in southern Lebanon<\/a> \u2013 this time for those in the towns of Jabsheet and Sarafand.<\/p>\n In a statement on social media<\/a>, the military\u2019s Arabic-language spokesperson Avichay Adraee said these residents should evacuate their homes \u201cimmediately and move away from the villages and towns for a distance of at least 1000 metres to open areas\u201d.<\/p>\n Signalling upcoming airstrikes, Adraee claimed the IDF are \u201ccompelled to act forcefully against\u201d Hezbollah<\/a>, which he said had violated the US-brokered ceasefire agreement between Israel and Lebanon that came into effect in mid April.<\/p>\n Hezbollah, which has been striking Israeli troops in Lebanon, says it will not cease its attacks on Israeli troops inside Lebanon and on towns in northern Israel<\/a> as long as Israel continued its ceasefire violations.<\/p>\n Israel has been accused of violating the ceasefire agreement many times, with strikes killing civilians and homes continuing to be demolished despite the military saying it is only targeting Hezbollah sites.<\/p>\n Under the agreement\u2019s terms, Israel was effectively given permission to continue its assault on Lebanon as it retained a \u201cright to take all necessary measures in self-defence, at any time, against planned, imminent, or ongoing attacks\u201d.<\/p>\n Smoke rises from the site of an Israeli airstrike that targeted the Lebanese village of Kfar Tibnit on 4 May 2026. Photograph: AFP\/Getty ImagesShare<\/a><\/p>\n India\u2019s ministry of external affairs said the attack on Fujairah in the UAE \u2013 which injured three Indian nationals \u2013 was \u201cunacceptable\u201d and called for an immediate end to the \u201ctargeting of civilian infrastructure and innocent civilians\u201d.<\/p>\n Officials in Fujairah \u200csaid yesterday that a \u200bfire broke \u200bout at the \u2060Fujairah Oil \u200bIndustry Zone following \u200bwhat they described as a drone \u200battack originating \u200bfrom Iran<\/a>. Civil defence teams \u200cwere \u2060deployed immediately to contain the blaze, Fujairah \u200bMedia \u200boffice \u2060said in a statement.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a002.47 EDT<\/p>\n Opening summary: US targets Iranian boats amid tense push for control of strait of Hormuz<\/p>\n We are restarting our live coverage of the US-Israeli war on Iran. The US and Iran launched new attacks in the Gulf on Monday as they wrestled for control over the strait of Hormuz amid dual maritime blockades, taking the region back to the brink of full-scale war.<\/p>\n The fresh volleys of missiles and drones came after Donald Trump launched a new effort to get stranded tankers and other ships through the vital energy and trade route that has been virtually shut since the US-Israeli war against Iran began in late February.<\/p>\n On Monday, several merchant ships in the Gulf reported explosions or fires, the US said it had destroyed six small Iranian military boats \u2013 a claim Tehran denied \u2013 and Iran<\/a> attacked the UAE with drones and missiles, setting the oil port of Fujairah on fire.<\/p>\n The US military\u2019s Central Command (Centcom) said two US-flagged merchant vessels crossed through the strait of Hormuz on Monday as US navy destroyers operated in the Gulf. Shipping company Maersk later said one of its US-flagged commercial vessels had successfully exited the strait under US military<\/a> escort.<\/p>\n Donald Trump departing a White House event on Monday. Photograph: Annabelle Gordon\/UPI\/EPA<\/p>\n In other key developments:<\/p>\n Trump warned that Iran\u2019s forces would be \u201cblown off the face of the earth\u201d if they attacked US vessels trying to reopen a route through the strait. The president announced the US operation \u2013 called Project Freedom<\/a> \u2013 on Monday to help hundreds of ships trapped in the Gulf.<\/p>\n Centcom chief Adm Brad Cooper declined to say whether he thought the ceasefire with Tehran that begun on 8 April remained in effect amid Iranian attacks in the region but acknowledged Iran\u2019s Revolutionary Guards tried to \u201cinterfere\u201d with Trump\u2019s operation.<\/p>\n Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araqchi said Monday\u2019s events showed there was no military solution to the crisis. He said peace talks were progressing with Pakistan\u2019s mediation and warned the US and the UAE against being drawn into a \u201cquagmire by ill-wishers\u201d.<\/p>\n Iran\u2019s Revolutionary Guards said on Monday that no commercial vessels had crossed the strait in the past few hours, and that US claims to the contrary were false. Iranian state media also denied reports the US had sunk Iranian vessels.<\/p>\n The UK and Saudi Arabia both called for de-escalation after Iran\u2019s attacks on the UAE \u2013 the first on the US ally since Washington\u2019s ceasefire with Tehran took effect about a month ago.<\/p>\n In Oman, two people were injured by an attack on a residential building in Bukha, on the Hormuz strait\u2019s coastline, an Omani state news agency reported.<\/p>\n A fire on a South Korean-operated vessel that had an explosion in the Hormuz strait has been extinguished, ship operator HMM said. South Korea\u2019s foreign ministry said all 24 crew on the HMM Namu \u2013 including six South Koreans \u2013 were unharmed. Trump blamed an Iranian attack.<\/p>\n International Monetary Fund chief Kristalina Georgieva warned that inflation was already picking up and the global economy could face a \u201cmuch worse outcome\u201d if the war dragged into 2027 and oil prices hit about $125 a barrel.<\/p>\n![\"Graeme](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Graeme-Wearden,-L.png\")
Graeme Wearden<\/p>\n