Yemen parties must halt actions risking return to ‘full-scale conflict’, UN says
Trump says Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon ‘in any way, shape, or form’
US President Donald Trump reiterated on Monday that Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon amid a lack of progress in diplomatic efforts to resolve the Middle East conflict.
“The number one Goal is, and always will be, that Iran cannot have, in any way, shape, or form, a Nuclear Weapon,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social.
Iran says it is near finalizing deal with Oman over plan for Strait of Hormuz shipping
Iran said Monday it is working to finalize a joint statement with Oman on a plan to manage the transit of ships through the Strait of Hormuz. Fully reopening the waterway to commercial shipping has been a key demand of the United States, but it remains unclear whether the deal will meet Washington’s criteria.
The announcement came as the 60-day negotiating period to find a peace deal between the US and Iran was expiring, with no word of an extension and both sides seemingly as far apart as they were two months ago.
Drones launched from Iran attack PM’s office in Iraqi Kurdistan, officials say
Two Iranian drones targeted the Iraqi Kurdistan prime minister’s office and the home of the autonomous region’s intelligence chief overnight, authorities said Monday.
“Following an investigation by the Kurdistan Counter-Terrorism Unit, my personal office and the home of the head of the Security and Intelligence Agency were targeted by Iranian drone attacks earlier today,” Kurdistan Prime Minister Masrour Barzani said, in a post on X.
“This is a dangerous escalation and a direct threat to the security and stability of the Kurdistan region.”
The regional Counter-Terrorism Directorate said there were no casualties in the attack.
Iran considers missing pilots to be prisoners in Qatar
Iran’s foreign ministry said on Monday it will consider three missing pilots to be prisoners in Qatar, despite Doha’s denials, until it clarifies their fate.
Tehran has said the Iranians went missing while carrying out an operation against the United States’ Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar on March 2, shortly after the outbreak of the Middle East war.
On Saturday, Iranian authorities alleged for the first time that the pilots had been captured in Qatar, after previously saying one pilot had been killed and three others were missing following their sortie.
“It is imperative to obtain clarification on their situation,” foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei told a weekly press briefing.
“Until the pilots’ situation is clarified, we consider them prisoners and will spare no effort to shed light on their fate.”
Drones attack the Kurdistan Regional Government prime minister’s office in Iraq
Two drones attacked the office of the Kurdistan Regional Government’s prime minister in Iraq on Monday, the KRG security agency said.
The attacks were launched from Iranian territory and no human casualties were reported, according to a KRG statement.
Israel’s Ben-Gvir advocates killing ’30 to 40′ people in Gaza nightly while speaking to ex-hostage
An extremist Israeli lawmaker in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition publicly advocated for killing “30 to 40” people in Gaza each night, comments that surfaced Sunday and were quickly shared by Palestinian media.
Minister of National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir made the statement while speaking to a former Gaza-held hostage, Rom Braslavski, on Braslavski’s podcast. The two were discussing Israel’s recovery from the Hamas attack of Oct. 7, 2023, when Ben-Gvir criticized Israel’s recent drawdown of strikes in Gaza.
“It’s no secret, I disagree with the prime minister,” he said. “I think targeted assassinations should be carried out in Gaza, taking down 30 to 40 every night. Not just those who pose an immediate threat — there are people there who are not worthy of life. They shouldn’t live. They’re not even people.”
Shipping via Hormuz strait slows after tanker attacks, data shows
Shippingthrough the Strait of Hormuz slowed over the weekend, data showed on Monday, following attacks on tankers, while US-Iran talks to resolve the Middle East conflict stalled.
Five commodity vessels transited the strait on Saturday, with none registered for Sunday, shiptracking data from Kpler showed, versus 31 in the prior weekend
US envoy Kushner to meet with Netanyahu after talks with Hamas on Gaza
US envoy Jared Kushner is due to meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday after holding talks with Hamas leaders in Egypt aimed at reviving a US-backed Gaza peace plan that Israel has so far rejected.
The meeting comes two weeks after Hamas endorsed the latest stage of Trump’s Gaza plan, which Netanyahu has refused to support, insisting any settlement must ensure the group is “genuinely disarmed”.
Kushner — Trump’s son-in-law — met Hamas’s new leader Khalil al-Hayya in the Egyptian Meditarranean city of El-Alamein on Sunday, sources with knowledge of the talks told AFP.
Kushner pushed for Hamas to take “concrete, verifiable steps” and relayed a message that “Gaza can never again be a source of terror for Israel”, said one source who spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the discussions.
Hamas again voiced its commitment to the plan, another source said.
