War returns to Iran with Israel, US strikes

Qatari Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani says “the hard work has started” on a final Iran-US deal, calling talks in Switzerland “very important” for laying the foundation of future negotiations between Tehran and Washington, Al Jazeera reports.

Qatar’s energy minister has said that the deadly gas plant explosion a night earlier was the result of an accident and that it would not affect the country’s exports, AFP reports.

“This will not affect in any way our exports to the world,” Saad al-Kaabi told reporters, adding that “this was an accident and not sabotage or hostile in nature”.

World leaders are “feeding” wars instead of the hungry, Pope Leo said, telling the World Food Programme (WFP) that global priorities were badly skewed, Reuters reports.

Leo, who has been more outspoken on political issues in recent months, urged governments to increase their spending to combat hunger and not subject food aid to limits based on geopolitical concerns.

“Conflicts are ‘fed’ more readily than people are nourished,” the first US pope said in a visit to the Rome headquarters of the WFP.

“This reality reflects not only operational shortcomings but also a fundamental imbalance in political and moral priorities,” he said.

Leo, who drew Trump’s ire earlier this year after criticising the Iran war, did not mention any specific leaders.

After his address at the WFP headquarters, the pope also took part in a virtual call with agency workers in several countries, including Venezuela and Lebanon.

The US Treasury Department has issued a general license for Iran, authorising the production, delivery and sale of crude oil, petrochemical and petroleum products of Iranian origin through August 21, Reuters reports.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi has met Iran’s Deputy Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council Ghadir Nezami on the sidelines of a BRICS meeting in New Delhi, Al Jazeera reports.

The 14-point US-Iran agreement embodies the “spirit of equality”, adheres to the goals of the UN Charter, and is based on the norms of international relations, the Foreign Ministry quoted Wang as saying.

Implementation of the deal will help consolidate the “hard-won” ceasefire, open new prospects for improved Iran-US relations, and contribute to restoring peace in the Middle East, he added.

“As Iran’s comprehensive strategic partner, China has always maintained a fair and objective stance, supports all efforts conducive to peace, supports Iran in safeguarding its sovereignty, security, and national dignity,” said Wang.

He also praised Tehran’s efforts to improve relations with Gulf nations and other regional states. Nezami, meanwhile, expressed appreciation for Beijing’s political support, according to the Iranian embassy in India.

Qatari Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani has told Al Jazeera that with the memorandum of understanding signed by the US and Iranian presidents, “we have reached a state of stopping the war”.

“The preliminary agreement between Washington and Tehran took great effort with our partners in Pakistan and regional and international support to create suitable conditions for negotiations,” he said.

He added that the aim of the MoU was to” stop the war and lay the foundation for further talks”.

Other issues being discussed between Washington and Tehran include Iran’s nuclear file, the status of the Strait of Hormuz and regional security.

“The initial agreement establishes an institutional framework for the ongoing negotiating process,” he said.

Two crude tankers with just under 2 million barrels of oil have sailed through the Strait of Hormuz, ship tracking data showed, in a sign that traffic was picking up following weaker flows, Reuters reports.

Separately, two supertankers, which can carry a maximum of 4 million barrels of crude, sailed into the Gulf through the strait with one of the vessels showing the Iraqi port of Basra as its destination, according to separate shipping tracking data and analysis from Kpler.

The sailings through Hormuz are still a fraction of the average daily crossings of 125 vessels before the Iran war began on February 28.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has departed Switzerland in the wake of the US-Iran negotiations, Pakistan TV reports.

Qatar’s Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani has met Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot on the sidelines of the Burgenstock meeting in Switzerland.

The two discussed the latest developments in the Middle East with a focus on efforts to “consolidate security and stability” following the signing of the memorandum of understanding between Washington and Tehran.

Sheikh Mohammed reaffirmed Qatar’s full backing for ongoing US-Iran negotiations, saying Doha supports “dialogue and peaceful means as the path to sustainable solutions” on outstanding issues between the two sides.

“He said such efforts would help deepen regional security, elevate cooperation, development, and prosperity to new heights, and accomplish the shared interests of the peoples of the region and the world,” the foreign ministry’s statement said.

The US vice president has also touched on the issue of Iran’s frozen funds.

“We wanted to make sure that we set up a process where if we ever unfreeze Iranian assets, we can ensure that Iranian money goes to help the people of Iran and not to fund terrorism,” Vance told reporters in Lucerne.

“Jared Kushner actually came up with a very interesting solution with the Qataris, where basically – again if there are any frozen Iranian assets that are unfrozen – then we have approval over that process, the Qataris have approval over that process, and then the money would actually go to buy American corn and American wheat for the benefit of the Iranian people.”

JD Vance termed the idea a “classic Trump deal”. “If they are going to get this money, they are going to make American farmer richer.”

Speaking about Lebanon, JD Vance said it was a “work in progress”.

On the “deconfliction mechanism” set for Lebanon, the US vice president said, “When things actually happen, the sides are actually talking”.

Reaffirming Israel’s right to respond, “But, we can actually have a better and more peaceful situation if Israel responds in the context of a conversation that’s ongoing between Hezbollah, Lebanon, Israel and other partners in the region.”

He further said, “You’ve already seen the fruits of that. Over the past 24 hours have probably been the most peaceful that we’ve seen in Lebanon […] so this is a work in progress, but what we’ve done is actually set up the operation so it doesn’t spiral out of control in the future.”

Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar has shared that the eight Iranian fishermen rescued at sea by the British vessel MMA Valour after running aground have now been successfully repatriated, having departed from Karachi this morning.

“Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Pakistan and all concerned authorities coordinated closely with the Iranian and UK authorities to facilitate the safe transit and early return of our Iranian brethren to their homeland,” Dar said in a post on social media.

He appreciated Iran’s trust in Pakistan to handle the matter, as well as the cooperation of all stakeholders in safely returning the fishermen.

The US vice president denied that the Iranian delegation had walked out of the discussions yesterday.

“They did threaten to walk out, or at least there were social media threats to walk out, but we were negotiating well past 1am yesterday so they didn’t talk out,” he replied to a query, adding that their technical team was still in Switzerland.

“We told Iranians yesterday: when you engage in trash talk, you can’t expect POTUS not to respond and not to correct the record. When they say things that are true, the POTUS is going to respond to it. I am going to respond to it,” he contended.

However, he added, “Yes, there is a little bit of threatening and a little bit of whining, but at the end of the day, the talks continued.”

The US vice president further said that his side wanted to set up “the process for the technical negotiations that will follow”.

“Our teams, working with Iranians, Qataris and Pakistanis, made great progress yesterday. We will continue to work on technical levels with teams here in Burgenstock,” JD Vance said.

He added that those “technical negotiations are going to continue over the weeks and days to come”.

“We laid a very good foundation for a successful final deal,” he asserted. “We haven’t built the house, but we’ve laid a successful foundation to get to a good place for the American people,” Vance remarked.

“We are going to set up a structure for that (technical talks) so you can have proper political oversight,” Vance said, adding that he will be returning to the US for his other duties.

JD Vance has said that Iran has agreed to invite IAEA inspectors back into the country.

Delivering remarks in Switzerland’s Lucerne, he said, “What we’re most excited about as Americans is that the Iranians have agreed to invite IAEA inspectors back into their country.

“That is a major milestone for the American people and the first step in permanently denuclearising or permanently ending a nuclear weapons programme in Iran,” he added.

JD Vance further said the US wanted to build a mechanism for keeping the Strait of Hormuz open and set up a “coordination mechanism so we could demine the Strait of Hormuz”.

Another objective was to set up a similar mechanism for “deconflcition for the regional ceasefire”, referring to peace in Lebanon.

“If Hezbollah fires at Israel, or if Israel responds, if there are other conflicts that arise in the region, we’re actually talking to each other and figuring out how to stop the shooting, how to make the region safe, our allies and everybody else,” he elaborated.

US President JD Vance has said the US and Iran have made “a lot of great progress” on the nuclear issue talks.

Tzipi Livni, Israel’s former foreign minister and one of the country’s most prominent centre-left voices, has criticised the Israeli government’s handling of Lebanon, Al Jazeera reports.

Writing on X, Livni has said the current arrangement of a US-Iran-Qatar-Lebanon mechanism to halt IDF operations in Lebanon represented a failure that could have been avoided.

“This is terrible for Israel, and it’s happening because the government has not leveraged military achievements for security,” she says.

Livni has outlined what she said she had proposed at the time: an Israeli-led mechanism involving the US, Israel and Lebanon to enforce UN Security Council Resolution 1701 and disarm Hezbollah.

Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar “warmly welcomed” the progress achieved at the US-Iran talks in Switzerland. He congratulated Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Chief of Defence Forces and Chief of Army Staff Field Marshal Asim Munir “for their visionary leadership and tireless efforts in achieving this milestone”.

“I would also like to express my deep appreciation for the constructive spirit shown by the United States of America as well as the Islamic Republic of Iran towards the implementation of the Islamabad MoU and commend their continued commitment to dialogue and diplomacy. My deep gratitude also to the State of Qatar for its important role in the mediation process along with Pakistan,” he said.

“A team from our Ministry of Foreign Affairs will continue to remain engaged with the parties for technical-level talks for the remainder of the week at Burgenstock, Switzerland,” he added.

“Pakistan has been and will continue to play its role for achieving the goal of lasting peace and stability in the region and beyond,” he said.

China hopes Iran and the US will maintain the momentum of their negotiations and work towards positive progress, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun says, according to Al Jazeera.

Guo also expressed China’s support for mediation efforts by Pakistan, Qatar and other parties when asked about the Iran-US talks in Switzerland, the Xinhua news agency reported.

“China supports Pakistan and Qatar and all relevant parties in their mediation efforts,” Guo said.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian is reaching Islamabad tomorrow on a day-long visit, according to diplomatic sources. He is expected to hold meetings with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Chief of Defence Forces and Chief of Army Staff Field Marshal Asim Munir.

Diplomats say the talks between the US and Iran at Lake Lucerne Summit will come under discussion.