US going to Islamabad on Monday for Iran negotiations, Trump says<\/p>\n
Donald Trump said on Truth Social that his representatives were going to be in Islamabad on Monday night for more negotiations.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re offering a very fair and reasonable DEAL, and I hope they take it because, if they don\u2019t, the United States is going to knock out every single Power Plant, and every single Bridge, in Iran,\u201d Trump wrote<\/a>.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a008.43 EDT<\/p>\n Key events<\/p>\n Show key events only<\/p>\n Please turn on JavaScript to use this feature<\/p>\n Israeli fire on Sunday has killed one Palestinian and wounded three others in central Gaza, health officials told the Associated Press.<\/p>\n Palestinians in Gaza have reported that Israeli strikes have intensified over the past few days across the enclave. Since a fragile ceasefire deal was reached in October, deadly Israeli strikes have continued to be a constant threat in Gaza. The Gaza Health Ministry reports that more than 775 Palestinians have been killed since the ceasefire began.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n The Israeli military published for the first time a map of its new deployment line inside Lebanon on Sunday, bringing dozens of mostly abandoned Lebanese villages under its control, days after a ceasefire with Hezbollah<\/a> took effect.<\/p>\n Stretching east to west, the deployment line on the map runs 5-10 km (about 3-6 miles) deep from the border into Lebanese territory, where Israel<\/a> has said that it plans to create a so-called buffer zone. Israeli forces have destroyed Lebanese villages in the area, saying their aim is to protect northern Israeli towns from Hezbollah attacks. It has created buffer zones in Syria and in Gaza, where it controls more than half the enclave.<\/p>\n A handout graphic of a map, according to the Israeli military, shows the Forward Defense Line and the area in which they are operating in southern Lebanon, published on April 19, 2026. Photograph: Israel Defense Forces\/Reuters<\/p>\n \u201cFive divisions, alongside Israeli Navy forces, are operating simultaneously south of the forward defense line in southern Lebanon<\/a> in order to dismantle Hezbollah terror infrastructure sites and to prevent direct threats to communities in northern Israel,\u201d the military said in a statement accompanying the map.<\/p>\n Israel and Lebanon agreed on Thursday to the US-backed ceasefire in fighting between Israel and Hezbollah. The deal, which followed the first direct talks in decades between Israel and Lebanon on 14 April, is meant to enable broader US-Iran negotiations but with Israeli forces maintaining positions deep inside southern Lebanon.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Iran currently has not made a decision on whether to send a negotiating delegation to Pakistan \u201cas long as there is a naval blockade,\u201d Iran\u2019s semi-official news agency Tasnim reported.<\/p>\n Yesterday, Iranian officials reversed the reopening of the strait of Hormuz and reimposed restrictions on the vital shipping lane after the US said it would not end its blockade of Iranian ports. Iranian officials have maintained that the US blockade of Iran\u2019s ports is a violation of the ceasefire agreement.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n The US energy secretary has said that petrol prices are expected to remain high due to the fallout from the war on Iran, CNN reports<\/a>.<\/p>\n Chris Wright spoke to the network and said he believes that gas prices have \u201clikely peaked\u201d but may not reach below $3 gallon \u201cuntil next year.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cGas below $3 a gallon could happen later this year, that might not happen until next year. But prices have likely peaked, and they\u2019ll start going down,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n The national average currently stands at $4.05 per gallon, which is significantly higher than a year ago.<\/p>\n Share<\/a>White House says Vance actually is going to Islamabad<\/p>\n Within the course of an hour, the Trump administration has reversed course three times on whether JD Vance would be heading to Islamabad for the next round of Iran peace talks.<\/p>\n Mike Waltz, the US ambassador to the UN, told ABC News <\/a>that the vice president would be leading the American delegation set to arrive in Islamabad on Monday.<\/p>\n Donald Trump then came back to ABC News to say that Vance would not be going<\/a> to Islamabad because of security issues \u2013 it was too short of a notice for Secret Service.<\/p>\n The White House then told CNN<\/a> that Vance will be going \u2013 \u201cThings changed,\u201d an official said \u2013 and in fact, Vance will be leading<\/a> the delegation that includes special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, Trump\u2019s son-in-law.<\/p>\n Share<\/a>London police investigating possibile Iranian proxy involvement in attacks against Jewish sites<\/p>\n Metropolitan police in London are investigating whether a series of arson attacks against Jewish sites were carried out by Iranian proxies.<\/p>\n Speaking outside Kenton united synagogue in north-west London, the site of the latest arson attack, deputy assistant commissioner Vicki Evans, the senior national co-ordinator for counter terrorism, said: \u201cThe nature of the incidents has been similar \u2013 arson attacks targeting Israeli- and Jewish-linked premises in London.<\/p>\n London\u2019s Metropolitan Police deputy commissioner Matt Jukes (C), deputy assistant commissioner Vicki Evans (L) and Mathew Walker (R) make a statement to the media by an area cordoned off by police, near the Kenton United Synagogue in Harrow, north-west London on April 19, 2026 Photograph: Justin Tallis\/AFP\/Getty Images<\/p>\n \u201cMost have been claimed online by the group Ashab al-Yamin (Islamic Movement of the Companions of the Right).<\/p>\n \u201cThis same group has claimed several incidents over recent months at places of worship, business and financial institutions across Europe. These locations all appear to be linked to Jewish or Israeli interests.\u201d<\/p>\n The Guardian\u2019s Jamie Grierson has more.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a011.42 EDT<\/p>\n Mohammad Ishaq Dar, the deputy prime minister of Pakistan, spoke on Sunday with Abbas Araghchi, the foreign minister of Iran.<\/p>\n The phone call included discussion on \u201cthe need for continued dialogue and engagement as essential to resolving the current issues as soon as possible for promoting the peace and stability in the region and beyond\u201d, according to Pakistan\u2019s ministry of foreign affairs<\/a>.<\/p>\n Masoud Pezeshkian, Iran\u2019s president, is slated to have a phone call with Shehbaz Sharif, Pakistan\u2019s prime minister, later today as well.<\/p>\n These phone conversations took place as Donald Trump confirmed that a US delegation would be in Islamabad on Monday for another round of peace talks regarding the conflict in Iran.<\/p>\n Share<\/a>Iran foreign ministry: US blockade violates ceasefire and ‘amounts to war crime’<\/p>\n The US blockade of Iran\u2019s ports is a violation of the ceasefire agreement and is \u201cboth unlawful and criminal\u201d, Esmaeil Baqaei, a spokesman for Iran\u2019s foreign ministry, said Sunday<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cThe United States\u2019 so-called \u2018blockade\u2019 of Iran\u2019s ports or coastline is not only a violation of Pakistani-mediated ceasefire but also both unlawful and criminal,\u201d Baqaei posted on X.<\/p>\n Baqaei also said the blockade was in violation of the UN Charter and constitutes an act of aggression.<\/p>\n \u201cMoreover, by deliberately inflicting collective punishment on the Iranian population, it amounts to war crime and crime against humanity,\u201d Baqaei said.<\/p>\n Share<\/a>JD Vance is not going to Islamabad, Trump says<\/p>\n ABC News had previously reported that Mike Waltz, the US ambassador to the UN, had said that JD Vance was going to lead the American delegation in Islamabad this week.<\/p>\n Donald Trump has since corrected that statement <\/a>to say that the vice president would not be going to Pakistan. Trump said his representatives would be in Islamabad for peace talks on Monday night, but that Secret Service couldn\u2019t arrange to accompany Vance there on such short notice.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s only because of security,\u201d Trump said. \u201cJD\u2019s great.\u201d<\/p>\n Trump had earlier confirmed to Fox News and The New York Post that special enoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kusher, Trump\u2019s son-in-law, would be going to Islamabad.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a009.34 EDT<\/p>\n Trump says ‘whole country is getting blown up’ if Iran does not accept deal<\/p>\n Donald Trump told Fox News on Sunday that this was Iran\u2019s \u201clast chance\u201d to agree to a peace deal.<\/p>\n \u201cIf Iran<\/a> does not sign this deal, the whole country is getting blown up,\u201d Trump said. The US president then reiterated his earlier point on Truth Social that the US would target bridges and power plants specifically if Iran does not sign this agreement.<\/p>\n The deal entails reopening the strait of Hormuz and making sure Iranians do not have enriched uranium.<\/p>\n Trump also made clear that he would not be \u201cmaking the same mistake\u201d that Barack Obama did with the 2015 agreement his administration made<\/a> to limit Iran\u2019s nuclear capabilities. In exchange for the lifting of some sanctions, Obama had conceded that Iran could contiune enriching its uranium for 15 years, but only at the level of purity required for a civilian nuclear programme. The agreement also included limiting Iran\u2019s stockpile of uranium to 300kg.<\/p>\n Trump withdrew from the agreement in 2018<\/a>, calling the deal \u201cone of the worst and most one-sided transactions\u201d the US had ever entered into\u201d.<\/p>\n Since then, Iran has grown its stockpile to 400.9kg of uranium enriched to 60% uranium-235 \u2013 a level that can be quickly enriched to weapons-grade \u2013 90%.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a009.26 EDT<\/p>\n Report: Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff to join American delegation in Islamabad<\/p>\n Donald Trump told<\/a> The New York Post that special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, Trump\u2019s son-in-law, will also be in Islamabad for the next round of peace talks with Iran.<\/p>\n JD Vance will be leading the delegation, Mike Waltz, the US ambassador to the UN, told ABC News<\/a>.<\/p>\n