![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/1778156290_929_6000.jpg\")
A motorist rides a scooter in Tehran near a billboard on the facade of a building depicting the strait of Hormuz with a caption in Persian reading \u201cForever in Iran\u2019s Hand\u201d. Photograph: AFP\/Getty Images<\/p>\nTrump says deal with Iran is ‘very possible’ while Iran downplays reports of peace talks<\/p>\n
Morning and welcome to the Guardian\u2019s continuing coverage of the crisis in the Middle East.<\/p>\n
The US and Iran have offered conflicting messages over the state of negotiations to end the war, with Donald Trump signalling the talks were \u201cvery good\u201d and a deal \u201cvery possible\u201d.<\/p>\n
Iranian officials, however, have sought to dampen expectations, with state media reporting that Tehran is, at most, reviewing the US\u2019s peace proposal and considering its response via Pakistani mediators. Ebrahim Rezaei, the spokesperson of the Iranian parliament\u2019s national security and foreign policy commission, said the proposal to end the war was merely an \u201cAmerican wish list\u201d and \u201cnot a reality\u201d.<\/p>\n
A motorist rides a scooter in Tehran near a billboard on the facade of a building depicting the strait of Hormuz with a caption in Persian reading \u201cForever in Iran\u2019s Hand\u201d. Photograph: AFP\/Getty Images<\/p>\n
Still, the US president struck a positive tone last night while speaking to journalists about a possible deal, with a few threats sprinkled in.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve had very good talks over the last 24 hours, and it\u2019s very possible that we\u2019ll make a deal,\u201d he told reporters in the Oval Office.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ll see whether or not they are agreeing. And if they don\u2019t agree, they\u2019ll end up agreeing shortly thereafter. That\u2019s the way it is.\u201d<\/p>\n
In an interview with US broadcaster PBS, he said there was a \u201cvery good chance\u201d of the war ending, adding: \u201cIf it doesn\u2019t end, we have to go back to bombing the hell out of them.\u201d<\/p>\n
In other developments:<\/p>\n
News of a possible deal followed Trump\u2019s abrupt U-turn on a US military operation to guide ships out of the strait of Hormuz, dubbed \u201cProject Freedom\u201d. Trump said the decision to pause the mission on Tuesday \u2013 two days after it was launched \u2013 was to give peace a chance, but NBC reported that it was suspended after Saudi Arabia refused to allow the US military to use its bases and airspace to carry out the operation. US officials told the American broadcaster that Gulf allies were caught off guard by the sudden announcement of Project Freedom, and that it had angered the leadership in Saudi Arabia.<\/p>\n
The Iranian president, Masoud Pezeshkian, told his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron, that the US\u2019s behaviour had \u201cdeviated the path of diplomacy towards threats, pressure and sanctions\u201d and that Tehran could not trust Washington. In a statement carried by the Iranian state-run Press TV, Pezeshkian said Iran had entered into dialogue with the US twice and \u201con both occasions, military aggression against Iran took place concurrently with the negotiations. Such behaviour is effectively like \u2018stabbing from behind\u2019\u201d.<\/p>\n
Iran has denied any involvement in damage to a South Korean-operated vessel in the strait of Hormuz, which suffered an explosion and fire on Monday. Trump blamed the incident on an Iranian attack, while South Korea\u2019s foreign ministry said the cause of the fire would only be confirmed after the vessel is inspected. The Iran embassy in Seoul issued a statement this morning rejecting the allegations, saying safe passage through the waterway requires strict adherence to Iranian regulations.<\/p>\n
The damage and destruction inflicted on US military sites across the Middle East during the war is far larger than what has been publicly acknowledged by the Trump administration or previously reported, according to analysis by the Washington Post. Reviewing satellite imagery, the newspaper found Iranian airstrikes have damaged or destroyed at least 228 US structures or pieces of equipment, including hangars, barracks, fuel depots, aircraft and key radar, communications and air defence equipment. The US Central Command declined to comment on the report.<\/p>\n
In Lebanon, where a ceasefire has demonstrably failed to stop the fighting between Israel<\/a> and Hezbollah, three people were killed this morning in Israeli strikes on Nabatieh south of the country, according to the official Lebanese National News Agency. The Israeli military said one of its soldiers was seriously injured by an explosive-laden Hezbollah drone in southern Lebanon yesterday. It did not say where the attack took place.<\/p>\n In Gaza, where another ceasefire appears to be fraying, an Israeli airstrike has killed Azzam Khalil al-Hayya, the son of Hamas political bureau leader and chief negotiator Khalil al-Hayya, according to senior Hamas official Basim Naim. Azzam succumbed to his injuries this morning after being struck in an Israeli attack last night in Gaza City, Reuters reported. He is the fourth son of Hamas\u2019s exiled Gaza chief to have been killed in Israeli attacks.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a004.55 EDT<\/p>\n Key events<\/p>\n Show key events only<\/p>\n Please turn on JavaScript to use this feature<\/p>\n Israel\u2019s state attorney\u2019s office said an Israeli man suspected of violently pushing a nun to the ground in Jerusalem has been charged with assault motivated by religious hostility.<\/p>\n Yonah Shreiber, 36, was arrested a day after last Tuesday\u2019s attack.<\/a> CCTV footage shows the suspected attacker, wearing a Jewish kippah and ritual tassels, chase the nun from behind before pushing her to the ground. Then, while the nun was lying on the ground, he kicked her and began to attack a passerby who tried to intervene.<\/p>\n The attack was condemned by Christian clergy in Jerusalem and came amid a growing number of incidents of abuse, assault and intimidation<\/a> against the Christian community by religious Jews in the walled Old City, home to sites holy to Christians, Muslims and Jews.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n The Israeli military said it would investigate after a soldier was photographed placing a cigarette in the mouth of a statue of the Virgin Mary in southern Lebanon.<\/p>\n An image appearing to show an Israeli soldier with his arm around the statue and holding a cigarette up to the mouth of the figure was widely shared on social media yesterday.<\/p>\n A soldier smokes and pushes another cigarette onto the mouth of a statue of the Virgin Mary in Debel, Lebanon, in this picture obtained from social media. Photograph: Social Media\/Reuters<\/p>\n Last month, an image of an Israeli soldier appearing to hit a statue of Jesus with a sledgehammer in southern Lebanon<\/a> prompted widespread condemnation after it was shared online. The Israeli soldier carrying out the vandalism and another filming it were removed from combat duty and sentenced to 30 days in jail, the Israel Defense Forces said.<\/p>\n Share<\/a>Netanyahu: Hezbollah commander killed in IDF strike ‘probably thought he had immunity in Beirut’<\/p>\n The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has issued a video statement in response to the reported killing of a Hezbollah commander in Beirut.<\/p>\n The Israeli military said this morning that it had killed the commander of Hezbollah\u2019s elite Radwan force in a strike in the Dahiyeh neighbourhood of southern Beirut yesterday, in the first attack on the Lebanese capital in nearly a month.<\/p>\n Hezbollah has yet to comment on the report.<\/p>\n In his video statement, Netanyahu said:<\/p>\n double quotation markLast night, we eliminated Hezbollah\u2019s Radwan force commander in the heart of Beirut. This is the same senior terrorist who led the plan to conquer the north.<\/p>\n He thought he could continue directing attacks on our forces and our communities from his hidden terrorist headquarters in Beirut. He probably read in the press that he had immunity in Beirut.<\/p>\n So he read – and it will no longer happen. In the past month, we eliminated more than 200 Hezbollah terrorists who acted against Israeli citizens and IDF soldiers.<\/p>\n We are doing the same thing in Gaza – eliminating terrorist cells, including yesterday.<\/p>\n I say to our enemies in the clearest possible way: No terrorist has immunity. Anyone who threatens the state of Israel – their blood is on their heads.<\/p>\n Thank you to our heroic fighters, to our intelligence personnel, to our air force. You are the best in the world. I salute you, the people of Israel salute you.<\/p>\n Share<\/a>Iran president held lengthy talks with supreme leader – report<\/p>\n The Iranian president, Masoud Pezeshkian, said he recently met with Iran\u2019s supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei, according to state media.<\/p>\n The Iranian judiciary\u2019s Mizan news agency reported Pezeshkian held a meeting with Khamenei that lasted nearly two and a half hours, but it doesn\u2019t mention in any great detail what they had discussed or when it took place. The report makes no mention of the US or its proposal to end the war.<\/p>\n Women walk past a banner depicting Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei along a street in Tehran. Photograph: AFP\/Getty Images<\/p>\n Khamenei, who has the final say on all major decisions affecting Iran, including war, has not been seen in public since taking power after his father, Ali Khamenei, was killed in a US-Israeli strike on the first day of the conflict on 28 February. Apart from a few written statements broadcast on state media, there is little to no evidence showing how involved he is in day-to-day affairs.<\/p>\n Having largely vanished from public view, there has been intense speculation about his condition, with some reports suggesting he may be incapacitated. This has led to confusion over Iran\u2019s chain of command, with rumours that the country\u2019s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) is in control.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a006.57 EDT<\/p>\n Fertiliser shortages to have dramatic effect on food prices, says Duke of Westminster\u2019s firm<\/p>\n Fertiliser shortages caused by the Iran<\/a> war have driven up costs for UK farmers by up to 70% and will have a \u201cdramatic\u201d impact on food prices globally next year, according to one of Britain\u2019s most powerful property and farming companies.<\/p>\n Mark Preston, executive trustee of the 349-year-old Grosvenor Group<\/a>, controlled by the Duke of Westminster<\/a>, said fertiliser \u201cwas already quite expensive\u201d before the 50% to 70% surge in prices since the start of the Iran war in late February.<\/p>\n The effective closure of the strait of Hormuz \u2013 which Iran\u2019s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said on Wednesday could soon reopen<\/a> \u2013 has throttled global supplies of fertiliser, crucial to growing food crops.<\/p>\n Preston said that, although UK crops were unlikely to be affected this year as most fertiliser had already been used, the knock-on effect could arrive next year.<\/p>\n \u201cFarmers are not buying that fertiliser, they\u2019re sitting on their hands and hoping things will improve, which they probably won\u2019t,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Read more here:<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Here are the latest pictures from the Dahiyeh neighbourhood of southern Beirut, where rescue workers are searching through the rubble of a building destroyed in an Israeli airstrike yesterday. The Israeli military claims a Hezbollah commander was killed in the attack, the first in the Lebanese capital in nearly a month.<\/p>\n Photograph: Bilal Hussein\/AP Photograph: Anwar Amro\/AFP\/Getty Images Photograph: Bilal Hussein\/AP Photograph: Bilal Hussein\/AP Photograph: EPAShare<\/a><\/p>\n Pakistan, which has positioned itself as a key mediator in talks between the US and Iran<\/a>, has continued to express optimism at a possible deal without offering any clues at to where the negotiations currently stand.<\/p>\n The Pakistani foreign ministry spokesperson, Tahir Andrabi, would not disclose details of the ongoing diplomatic efforts but said a deal could be reached soon.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat I can tell you and this is what I have stated before that we remain positive, we remain optimist, and we hope the settlement will be soon rather than later,\u201d he told a news briefing today.<\/p>\n While the first round of US-Iran talks took place in the Pakistani capital Islamabad on 11 April, Andrabi hinted a future deal could be agreed elsewhere.<\/p>\n \u201cIf it takes place in Islamabad, it would be an honour and a privilege to host it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n In televised remarks today, Pakistan\u2019s prime minister, Shehbaz Sharif, said Islamabad remained in \u201ccontinuous contact with Iran and the United States, day and night, to stop the war and extend the ceasefire\u201d.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a005.55 EDT<\/p>\n IDF claims to have killed commander of Hezbollah’s Radwan force in Beirut strike<\/p>\n The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it has killed the commander of Hezbollah\u2019s Radwan force, the most elite unit of the pro-Iran armed group, in a strike on Beirut\u2019s southern suburbs.<\/p>\n In a statement, the IDF named the Radwan commander as Ahmed Ghalib Balut, saying he was killed in a strike in the Dahiyeh neighbourhood in southern Beirut.<\/p>\n Hezbollah has not immediately commented on the report.<\/p>\n Israel struck Beirut yesterday for the first time since a ceasefire took effect on 16 April. At least 11 other people were killed in strikes across the south and east, according to the Lebanese health ministry.<\/p>\n Rescue workers search through the rubble of a building destroyed in an Israeli airstrike in Dahiyeh, Beirut’s southern suburbs, Lebanon. Photograph: Bilal Hussein\/APShare<\/a>Trump says deal with Iran is ‘very possible’ while Iran downplays reports of peace talks<\/p>\n Morning and welcome to the Guardian\u2019s continuing coverage of the crisis in the Middle East.<\/p>\n The US and Iran have offered conflicting messages over the state of negotiations to end the war, with Donald Trump signalling the talks were \u201cvery good\u201d and a deal \u201cvery possible\u201d.<\/p>\n Iranian officials, however, have sought to dampen expectations, with state media reporting that Tehran is, at most, reviewing the US\u2019s peace proposal and considering its response via Pakistani mediators. Ebrahim Rezaei, the spokesperson of the Iranian parliament\u2019s national security and foreign policy commission, said the proposal to end the war was merely an \u201cAmerican wish list\u201d and \u201cnot a reality\u201d.<\/p>\n A motorist rides a scooter in Tehran near a billboard on the facade of a building depicting the strait of Hormuz with a caption in Persian reading \u201cForever in Iran\u2019s Hand\u201d. Photograph: AFP\/Getty Images<\/p>\n Still, the US president struck a positive tone last night while speaking to journalists about a possible deal, with a few threats sprinkled in.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve had very good talks over the last 24 hours, and it\u2019s very possible that we\u2019ll make a deal,\u201d he told reporters in the Oval Office.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ll see whether or not they are agreeing. And if they don\u2019t agree, they\u2019ll end up agreeing shortly thereafter. That\u2019s the way it is.\u201d<\/p>\n In an interview with US broadcaster PBS, he said there was a \u201cvery good chance\u201d of the war ending, adding: \u201cIf it doesn\u2019t end, we have to go back to bombing the hell out of them.\u201d<\/p>\n In other developments:<\/p>\n News of a possible deal followed Trump\u2019s abrupt U-turn on a US military operation to guide ships out of the strait of Hormuz, dubbed \u201cProject Freedom\u201d. Trump said the decision to pause the mission on Tuesday \u2013 two days after it was launched \u2013 was to give peace a chance, but NBC reported that it was suspended after Saudi Arabia refused to allow the US military to use its bases and airspace to carry out the operation. US officials told the American broadcaster that Gulf allies were caught off guard by the sudden announcement of Project Freedom, and that it had angered the leadership in Saudi Arabia.<\/p>\n The Iranian president, Masoud Pezeshkian, told his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron, that the US\u2019s behaviour had \u201cdeviated the path of diplomacy towards threats, pressure and sanctions\u201d and that Tehran could not trust Washington. In a statement carried by the Iranian state-run Press TV, Pezeshkian said Iran had entered into dialogue with the US twice and \u201con both occasions, military aggression against Iran took place concurrently with the negotiations. Such behaviour is effectively like \u2018stabbing from behind\u2019\u201d.<\/p>\n Iran has denied any involvement in damage to a South Korean-operated vessel in the strait of Hormuz, which suffered an explosion and fire on Monday. Trump blamed the incident on an Iranian attack, while South Korea\u2019s foreign ministry said the cause of the fire would only be confirmed after the vessel is inspected. The Iran embassy in Seoul issued a statement this morning rejecting the allegations, saying safe passage through the waterway requires strict adherence to Iranian regulations.<\/p>\n The damage and destruction inflicted on US military sites across the Middle East during the war is far larger than what has been publicly acknowledged by the Trump administration or previously reported, according to analysis by the Washington Post. Reviewing satellite imagery, the newspaper found Iranian airstrikes have damaged or destroyed at least 228 US structures or pieces of equipment, including hangars, barracks, fuel depots, aircraft and key radar, communications and air defence equipment. The US Central Command declined to comment on the report.<\/p>\n![\"CCTV](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/1497.jpg\")
CCTV captures moment man attacks nun in Jerusalem \u2013 video<\/p>\n![\"Julia](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Julia-Kollewe,-L.png\")
Julia Kollewe<\/p>\n