War returns to Iran with Israel, US strikes

United States Central Command (Centcom) says commercial ship traffic in the Strait of Hormuz increased today, according to Al Jazeera.

“Safe passage through the international waterway remained intact today as 55 merchant ships transited, moving large amounts of cargo and more than 17 million barrels of oil to global markets,” Centcom says in a statement posted on X.

The US military continues to remain “present and vigilant” to ensure all aspects of the agreement with Iran are adhered to, the statement adds.

It came shortly after Iran announced that the vital waterway was closed, citing Israeli “crimes” in Lebanon and the US violation of commitments to establish a ceasefire.

Iran’s foreign ministry says that the agreement signed between Iran and the United States to halt the Middle East war will be “in trouble” unless its provisions are implemented soon, AFP reports.

“The other side must take the necessary measures as soon as possible. Otherwise, the entire understanding will be in trouble,” ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei says, according to the official news agency IRNA.

The Foreign Office (FO) has announced that technical-level talks will be held in Buergenstock, Switzerland tomorrow (Sunday) to follow up on the Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding.

“Representatives of the United States and Iran, along with mediators from Pakistan and Qatar, will participate in the discussions,” the FO has said in a statement.

“Pakistan will continue to facilitate the process in its role as mediator, with a view to advancing the understandings reached under the Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding.”

Lebanon’s health ministry says Israeli attacks since March 2 have left 4,057 dead, including 135 health and emergency workers, and 12,121 people wounded, AFP reports.

The ministry has also raised the toll in Israeli attacks on Friday from 47 to “a final toll of 83 martyrs and 141 wounded”, most of them in south Lebanon but also in the country’s east.

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Navy has warned vessels not to approach the Strait of Hormuz and says their security would be at risk, according to Al Jazeera.

In a statement, the IRGC Navy cites Israeli actions in Lebanon and Washington’s violation of its ceasefire commitments as the reason behind Tehran’s closure of the Strait of Hormuz.

US Vice President JD Vance says that talks to end the war on Iran are possible on Sunday, according to Al Jazeera.

Speaking to Fox News, he says US special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, are already in Switzerland for negotiations.

He adds that the US is confident it can maintain a ceasefire in Iran and claims that there is no evidence that Iran is closing the Strait of Hormuz.

Iran is sending a delegation to Switzerland to “demand the implementation of the other side’s commitments” as part of the Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), the semi-official Fars news agency reports.

“In Switzerland, we intend to press for the fulfilment of the other side’s commitments and clarify how they plan to act on their obligations,” foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei has been quoted as saying by Fars.

Baghaei emphasises that Iran has adhered to its side of the agreement, and the United States is “obligated to compel the Zionist regime (Israel) to cease its attacks on Lebanon.

“If part of the counterpart’s commitments is not implemented, the entirety of the agreement will be jeopardised,” the spokesperson is quoted as saying. “The counterpart must take the necessary measures as soon as possible; otherwise, the entirety of the agreement will be jeopardised.”

Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi has landed in Tehran and met Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, according to the semi-official Fars news agency.

Iran’s central military command has announced that it has once again closed the vital Strait of Hormuz over Israeli attacks on southern Lebanon, describing them as a breach of Tehran’s agreement with the US, AFP reports.

“It is hereby announced that the Strait of Hormuz will be closed to vessel traffic; It is noted that this first step is a response to the enemy’s breach of promise, and if the aggression continues, further steps will be planned and taken to force the enemy to comply with its obligations,” says the Khatam-al Anbiya Central Headquarters in a statement carried by state TV.

US Vice President JD Vance says in a Fox News interview that he expects to travel to Switzerland for talks with Iran soon, Reuters reports

“I expect that I will leave sometime in the next couple of days, but you know it’s always a delicate coordination dance and the diplomatic protocols,” Vance outlines.

At least 32 people have been killed in Israeli attacks across Lebanon since dawn, as Israel continues to bomb the country despite ceasefire efforts, Al Jazeera reports.

Lebanon’s National News Agency says an Israeli raid hit a house in Sohmor in the western Bekaa while a family was inside, killing four people and injuring one. A child remains trapped under the rubble as rescue teams work to pull him out.

Lebanon’s Health Emergency Operations Centre also says an Israeli strike on Qanarit, in the Sidon district, has killed at least seven people and wounded 13 others in an initial toll.

Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council Dmitry Medvedev says an agreement between the US and Iran can easily be derailed by new provocations, and that expecting peace is “rash” given that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government is “sustained by war”, Al Jazeera.

“An unstable agreement easily explodes with new strikes on Lebanon or other provocations. And that’s exactly what the Netanyahu cabinet, which is sustained by war, needs. So, expecting peace is rash,” Medvedev, a former Russian president and prime minister, writes on the Russian social media platform Max.

Lebanon’s civil defence agency says ongoing Israeli strikes on the Nabatieh district in the country’s south have killed 16 people, a day after the latest Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire announcement, AFP reports.

Civil defence personnel have transported “16 dead and 12 wounded” to hospital, a statement says, adding that the personnel have been working “since the early morning hours” in the Nabatieh district in response to “ongoing attacks targeting the area”.

US President Donald Trump has written on Truth Social that Iran “got away with ‘murder’ for 47 years, until I came along. Then it all changed. America is back!!!”

In the same post, he has sharply criticised former presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden for their handling of the Iran issue, while reiterating that Tehran has been “defeated militarily”.

The Lebanese army says an Israeli strike has killed one of its soldiers in the country’s south, despite a new ceasefire deal between Israel and Hezbollah reached a day earlier, Reuters reports.

“An Israeli enemy strike targeted an army soldier on the Kfar Rumman-Nabatieh road, leading to his martyrdom,” an army statement says, charging that “the continuation of brutal Israeli attacks aims to obstruct any solution that would allow for restoring stability in Lebanon”.

Hezbollah claims its fighters confronted Israeli forces overnight as they tried to infiltrate towards strategic hills that overlook the southern city of Nabatieh, AFP reports.

“Again, under the cover of the ceasefire, the enemy last night carried out an infiltration attempt towards the Ali Taher hills,” the group says in a statement, adding that fighters ambushed the Israeli troops and “confronted them with appropriate weapons”.

Hezbollah “declares that while it is committed to the ceasefire, it will not be lenient in confronting any enemy attempt … to expand its occupation,” the statement adds.

Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei has slammed Israeli Ambassador to the UN Danny Danon, who got into a heated exchange with the UN’s special representative for children and armed conflict, Vanessa Frazier.

Frazier attempted to interject while Danon was delivering remarks to a meeting, prompting him to yell, “You will be quiet because I am speaking now.”

Baghaei, in a post on X, has called the outburst a “shameful exhibition of arrogant defiance against reason, law, morality, and justice”, adding that it is “yet another inevitable result of the absolute impunity bestowed upon an apartheid terrorist regime by its enablers”.

“This regime continues its genocidal campaign against the Palestinian people and throughout the region with utter disregard for all civilised norms,” he asserts. “It is long past time for the world to rise and confront this grave, unprecedented threat to peace and humanity.”

Hezbollah says that although it is committed to a ceasefire, it will not hesitate to confront any attempt by Israel to seize territory in Lebanon, Reuters reports.

The group adds in a statement that it targeted Israeli troops which advanced towards an area near Nabatiyeh in southern Lebanon overnight.

Lebanese official media has said an Israeli strike on a village near the southern city of Sidon killed at least seven people, as Israel presses strikes despite a ceasefire with Hezbollah announced a day earlier, Reuters reports.

The strike on Qannarit killed “seven people and wounded 13 others, in a preliminary toll”, the state-run National News Agency (NNA) said.

Former Israeli Defence Minister Moshe Ya’alon has told Israeli Channel 12 that Israel is “paying the price for the hallucinations of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his government”, Al Jazeera reports.

He has added that the government should have entered negotiations with Lebanon since October 2024, saying soldiers have continued to be killed due to “private and partisan political interests”.

Ya’alon has said Netanyahu is prolonging the war “to keep his extremist coalition safe”, adding that Israel is approaching elections, and “if the status quo continues after that, we will have no state left”.

Israel has carried out deadly strikes in south Lebanon and Hezbollah maintained it had the right to respond, despite the US announcement of a renewed ceasefire in fighting less than 24 hours ago.

A senior Hezbollah official told Reuters the group would not allow Israel “freedom of movement” in what it called occupied Lebanese territory, adding that resistance remained legitimate while Israeli forces remained in Lebanon.

Lebanese state media reported Israeli air raids on around 20 locations, with the country’s civil defence agency saying 16 people were killed in the Nabatieh area, where an AFP photographer saw smoke rising over the city after strikes.

Another AFP journalist on the Israeli side of the border also reported multiple explosions in Lebanon, with smoke billowing behind the historic Beaufort Castle that Israel captured last month.