LIVE | Trump says talks with Iran continuing at 'rapid pace'

President Donald Trump asserted Monday that talks with Iran were proceeding apace, despite Iran's Tasnim news agency reporting that Tehran had halted negotiations in protest over Israel's offensivein Lebanon.

"Talks continue, at a rapid pace, with the Islamic Republic of Iran. Thank you for your attention to this matter!" said Trump on his Truth Social account, shortly after another post in which he claimed Israel agreed not to send troops to Beirut and Hezbollahstop its attacks.

"I had a very good call with Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu and there will be no troops going to Beirut, those that were already on their way will return. Likewise, through senior representatives I have had a good conversation with Hezbollah and they have agreed to stop their firing. Israel will not attack them, and they will not attack Israel," the president wrote in his message.

The United Nations (U.N.) expressed deep alarm Monday and called on all sides to respect the ceasefire, as Israel expanded its offensive in Lebanon and negotiations to end the war between the United States and Iran appeared to be in jeopardy.

"We are deeply alarmed by the escalation of military activities in southern Lebanon and beyond," said Stéphane Dujarric, spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres.

"We urge all actors to respect the cessation of hostilities and avoid further escalation."

(AFP) The Iranian regime's state-run press reported Monday that the Revolutionary Guard Corps, Iran's ideological army, threatened to open "new fronts" and keep the Strait of Hormuz closed in response to Israel's offensive in Lebanon.

"Iran considers that crossing red lines in Lebanon and Gaza means direct war," the state media report quoted the Guard Corps' intelligence core as saying.

The force "is determined to carry out defensive operations by taking significant actions and opening new fronts, in addition to preserving the equation in the Strait of Hormuz," it added.

On Monday night, Mohsen Rezai, military advisor to Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, posted on X that "escalation of tensions in Lebanon will not be tolerated."

"The patience of the armed forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran has a limit," he added.

Oil prices are up sharply on Monday, driven by rising tensions between the United States and Iran, following an Iranian media report that Tehran has halted talks aimed at ending the war.

About 2:00 p.m. GMT, the price of a barrel of North Sea Brent for August delivery - whose benchmark contract price was debuting Monday - was up 6.60% to $97.13.

Its U.S. equivalent, the barrel of West Texas Intermediate, with delivery in July, rose 7.62% to $94.02.

Iran suspended its indirect talks with U.S. negotiators in protest over Israel's attacks against Hezbollah in Lebanon, media linked to the Iranian state reported Monday.

"Given the continuing crimes of the Zionist regime [Israel] in Lebanon and considering that Lebanon was one of the preconditions for the ceasefire and that this ceasefire has now been violated on all fronts, including Lebanon, the Iranian negotiating team is suspending dialogues and exchange of texts through mediators," Tasnim reported.

It said Iran was demanding the "immediate cessation" of Israel's military operations in Gaza and Lebanon and its withdrawal from areas it occupied in its northern neighbour as a precondition for resuming talks.

U.S. Central Command confirmed through X that it intercepted an Iranian attack against the US base in Kuwait. The post specifies that the incident resulted in no injuries.

The European Union urged Israel on Monday to halt its military operation in Lebanon, after Israel seized the strategic Beaufort Castle and said it would resume attacks on south Beirut.

"We call on Israel to stop its military escalation in Lebanon and respect Lebanon's sovereignty and territorial integrity," E.U. spokesman Anouar El Anouni said.

French President Emmanuel Macron spoke Sunday night with his U.S. counterpart, Donald Trump, from whom he hailed his "determined efforts" to reach "quickly an agreement" with Iran, he announced Monday on X.

"I saluted the determined efforts that [Trump] is making to quickly reach an agreement between the United States and Iran, which constitutes a unique opportunity to build a new security framework associating all the actors involved, in order to allow a lasting stabilization of the region," Macron said of the telephone discussion.

Oil prices rose Monday following the exchange of attacks between Tehran and Washington and reports that both sides have hardened their stance in negotiations. Asian stock markets managed to evade uncertainty thanks to demand for stocks linked to artificial intelligence.


A barrel of U.S. benchmark West Texas Intermediate crude oil was up 4.09% at $90.83, while its global North Sea Brent equivalent was trading around $94.20, up 3.38% from Friday's close.

Iran on Monday again made any agreement with the United States conditional on the implementation of an effective ceasefire in Lebanon and accused Washington of continuing to violate the truce after overnight bombings.

"We insist that a ceasefire in Lebanon is an essential condition for any agreement aimed at ending the war," Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei told his weekly news conference, as Israel expands its offensive in Lebanon.

The United States and Iran again exchanged attacks, straining an already fragile ceasefire as negotiations between the two sides have stalled.

The U.S. military announced it had carried out "self-defense strikes" against Iranian radars and drone control centers in the south of the country over the weekend, its third such wave in just over a week, in response to the downing of U.S. drone MQ-1, it added. 

Shortly afterward, the Iranian Revolutionary Guards claimed to have struck an "air base from which the attack originated" used by the U.S. military, state broadcaster IRIB reported Monday, without specifying the location of the base.

The Guard Corps' announcement came shortly after the Kuwaiti military claimed that its air defenses intercepted "hostile missile and drone attacks," without mentioning where the attack originated from.

Iran reiterated Monday that its nuclear program is not part, for now, of ongoing talks with the United States aimed at bringing a lasting end to the war in the Middle East.

"No negotiations have taken place on the details of the nuclear dossier. At this stage, our priority is ending the war," Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Esmail Baqai said after Donald Trump claimed to have obtained assurances from Iran that it will not develop nuclear weapons.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz said Monday they ordered the army to bombard southern Beirut, a stronghold of the pro-Iranian Hezbollah movement.

In a joint statement, Netanyahu and Katz said they had "instructed the army to strike terrorist targets" in the south of the Lebanese capital, "in light of the repeated ceasefire violations in Lebanon by the Hezbollah terrorist organization and attacks against our cities and citizens."

The Iranian judiciary announced Monday the hanging of two men presented as responsible for the looting and burning of a mosque during the anti-government demonstrations that rocked the country in December and January.


"Mehrdad Mohammadinia and Ashkan Maleki, main perpetrators of the criminal arson and destruction of a [downtown Tehran] mosque were horched this morning," Mizan, the judiciary's website, published.

The report does not specify the date or place of arrest or those of their trial.

The Israeli army announced Sunday the seizure of the medieval fortress of Beaufort, a further stage in its ground advance in southern Lebanon, where Israel wants to "crush" the Shiite terrorist group Hezbollah, an ally of Iran.

The UN Security Council will hold an emergency meeting Monday afternoon focusing on Israel's widening offensive in Lebanon, diplomatic sources told AFP. The meeting was requested by France, whose president, Emmanuel Macron, said "nothing justifies the major escalation under way in southern Lebanon" and called for an end to the fighting "once and for all."

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, said that "the capture of Beaufort is a spectacular stage and a decisive turning point" in the offensive. "My instructions are to deepen and expand our control over the places that were under Hezbollah's dominance," he added.