LIVE | US and Iran exchange attacks, toughen conditions for peace deal

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 US 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 cease-fire in Lebanon is an essential condition for any agreement aimed at ending the war," Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Esmail Baqai, 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 a US. 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 Guardians' 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.