Main Points
- Iran has reportedly given the US a new proposal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and end the war
- Iranian foreign minister Abbas Aragchi has arrived in Russia following talks with other nations over the weekend
- Donald Trump will meet national security officials today after cancelling plans to send a delegation to Pakistan for talks with Iran
- The Israeli military has begun carrying out strikes in Lebanon’s east, expanding the scope of its bombing campaign during a ceasefire
- European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen says it’s too early to lift sanctions on Iran
- Oil prices rose this morning as peace talks between the US and Iran stalled, while shipping through the strait remained limited
- Germany’s Friedrich Merz says Iran is “humiliating” the US as peace talks stall
- Trump’s God complex reflects belief in his absolute power
- Trump briefly felt spiritually close to the media. Then Musk tweeted
- How to demine the Strait of Hormuz? It is not easy
by Ellen O’Riordan in The Irish Times
The Israeli military began carrying out strikes in Lebanon’s east on Monday, expanding the scope of its bombing campaign during a ceasefire that has failed to halt hostilities with Lebanese armed group Hizbullah fully.
A spokesperson for the Israeli military said it was beginning to strike Hizbullah infrastructure in Lebanon’s eastern Bekaa Valley as well as areas in southern Lebanon. Security sources told Reuters strikes had hit near the town of Nabi Chit, near Lebanon’s eastern border with Syria.
Germany’s Merz says Iran is ‘humiliating’ US as talks stall
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said on Monday that Iran’s leadership was humiliating the United States and getting US officials to travel to Pakistan and then leave without results, in an unusually abrupt rebuke over the conflict.
Merz also said he could not see what exit strategy the US was pursuing in the Iran war – comments that underlined deep divisions between Washington and its European Nato allies, which had already been festering over Ukraine and other issues.
“The Iranians are obviously very skilled at negotiating, or rather, very skilful at not negotiating, letting the Americans travel to Islamabad and then leave again without any result,” he said during a talk to students in the town of Marsberg.
“An entire nation is being humiliated by the Iranian leadership, especially by these so-called Revolutionary Guards. And so I hope that this ends as quickly as possible,” he added at the venue in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. – Reuters
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun says he will not accept reaching a “humiliating agreement” in his efforts to bring about an end to the war with Israel.
In a statement, he says he has informed the US from the very beginning of the negotiations that “a ceasefire is a necessary first step”.
He adds that Lebanon’s south continues to “pay the price of others’ war on our land”.
The ceasefire agreed between Israel and Lebanon has been extended by three weeks, though strikes between Israel and Iran-backed group Hizbullah have continued in recent days. Hizbullah was not a part of the negotiations to bring about peace in the region.
In what appears to be an attack on the militia group Hizbullah, which says it has the right to retaliate to Israeli threats, Aoun says: “What we are doing is not treason; rather, treason is committed by those who take their country to war to achieve foreign interests.
Meanwhile, European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen says it’s too early to stop sanctions on Iran.
She said sanctions were imposed due to Iran’s suppression of its own population.
“We think the dropping of sanctions would be too early”, she said in Berlin at a meeting of the conservative CDU party and its CSU Bavarian sister party.
“We first have to see a change, a fundamental change in Iran for the dropping of sanctions,” von der Leyen added.
Israel kills three Hizbullah members
The Israeli military says it killed three Hizbullah members during operations in southern Lebanon yesterday.
In an update on Telegram, the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) says three Hizbullah fighters were identified approaching Israeli soldiers “south of the forward defence line”.
Israel has what it calls a “buffer zone” extending around 10 kilometres into Lebanese territory, needed, it says, to reduce the threat from Hizbullah.
It means around 5 per cent of Lebanon is now under Israeli military occupation.
“Following the identification, the Israeli Air Force struck and eliminated the terrorists to remove the threat,” the IDF says.
A ceasefire is currently in place between Lebanon and Israel. Hizbullah is not a signatory to the agreement, but the deal is intended to end fighting between Israel and the group.
Despite this, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ordered his troops to attack Hizbullah targets in Lebanon after suggesting the group’s actions are “disintegrating the ceasefire”.
Netanyahu set to face difficult elections after rivals join forces
Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu is facing the prospect of running against a right-wing-centrist super coalition in elections later this year after two of his most formidable political rivals combined forces in an attempt to oust him, inviting a third party leader to join them.
In a move that some analysts compared to the centre-right coalition that removed Viktor Orbán from power in Hungary, the former prime ministers – right-wing Naftali Bennett and centrist Yair Lapid – issued statements announcing the merger of their parties, Bennett 2026 and Yesh Atid (There is a Future).
The move came as Netanyahu disclosed he had recently had a malignant tumour removed from his prostate, leading to questions about the timing of a disclosure that was vague on details and his wider health, with the latter now likely to be an election issue.
“We are standing here together for the sake of our children. The state of Israel must change direction,” Lapid said, standing alongside Bennett at a joint news conference on Sunday.
Bennett said the new party would be called Together and that he would be its leader. “After 30 years, it is time to part with Netanyahu and open a new chapter for Israel,” he said.
Iran’s offer to end chokehold on Strait of Hormuz’
Iran is offering to end its chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz without addressing its nuclear program, two regional officials with knowledge of the proposal said Monday.
It comes as the country’s foreign minister visited Russia, saying it was an opportunity to consult with Moscow regarding the war against Israel and the United States.
The new proposal, passed to the United States by Pakistan, likely won’t be supported by US President Donald Trump, who wants to end Iran’s atomic program as part of an overall deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and make the ceasefire permanent.
“We have all the cards. If they want to talk, they can come to us, or they can call us,” Trump said Sunday to Fox News Channel.
Lebanon says Israeli strikes killed 14 people on Sunday
Lebanon’s health ministry said Israeli strikes on the country’s south killed 14 people on Sunday, the deadliest day since a ceasefire between Israel and Hizbullah came into force over a week ago.
The health ministry said the dead on Sunday included two women and two children, adding that 37 other people were wounded. Israel said one of its soldiers was also killed.
The US-mediated ceasefire – which started on April 16th and has been extended to mid-May – has brought a significant reduction in hostilities between Israel and Hizbullah, though both sides have continued to fire at each other, trading blame over breaches.
“Hizbullah’s violations are, in practice, dismantling the ceasefire,” Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu told a cabinet meeting on Sunday, adding “we act vigorously according to the rules we agreed upon with the United States, and also, by the way, with Lebanon.”
Hizbullah said it would not cease its attacks on Israeli troops inside Lebanon and on towns in northern Israel as long as Israel continued its “ceasefire violations”.
Israeli troops are operating inside what they have labelled a “yellow line”, which demarcates a ribbon of Lebanese territory around 10km deep along the length of the border, where residents have been warned not to return.
Hizbullah drew Lebanon into the Middle East war on March 2nd by firing rockets at Israel to avenge the death of Iran’s supreme leader Ali Khamenei in US-Israeli strikes. More than 2,500 people have been killed in Israeli strikes since then.
The toll includes 277 women, 177 children and 100 medics, according to Lebanon’s health ministry.
Hizbullah attacks have killed two civilians in Israel while 16 Israeli soldiers have died in Lebanon since March 2nd, Israel says.
Iran provides a plan to reopen the Strait of Hormuz
Iran has given the US a new proposal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and end the war that includes postponing nuclear negotiations, Axios reported, citing a US official and two people with knowledge of the matter.
The plan, conveyed through mediators in Pakistan to break a stalemate with Washington, calls for extending the ceasefire so the parties can work toward a permanent end to the fighting, Axios said. Nuclear talks would come later, only after a US blockade of the Strait of Hormuz is lifted.
Pakistani mediators have given the proposal to the White House but it’s unclear whether the US wants to explore it, Axios said. Trump plans to hold a meeting in the White House Situation Room on Monday with national security and foreign policy officials, the news outlet reported.
“These are sensitive diplomatic discussions and the US will not negotiate through the press,” Olivia Wales, a White House spokesperson, said in a statement sent by email. “As the President has said, the United States holds the cards and will only make a deal that puts the American people first, never allowing Iran to have a nuclear weapon.”
Crude oil pared gains and Asian stocks extended advances in Monday trading following the Axios report, lifting sentiment after efforts to restart talks stalled. US equity-index futures erased earlier losses to rise 0.1 per cent.
Efforts to resume peace talks halted over the weekend after President Donald Trump cancelled a planned trip by his top envoys and the Islamic Republic said it won’t negotiate so long as it is being threatened.
Trump on Saturday acknowledged a new plan from Iran, saying that Iran quickly sent over a fresh proposal after he told his envoys to stand down on a trip to Pakistan for talks. The Government is exploring one-off payments toward environmentally friendly energy measures such as heat pumps and efficient cars amid the increasing political pressure of the global energy crisis, according to political correspondent Ellen Coyne.
Tánaiste Simon Harris has doubled down on a just transition from fossil fuels, even as the Government faces mounting calls to abandon its commitment to the carbon tax.
Harris has now asked officials in his department to consider payments that could be made available towards the structural costs of changing to more sustainable energy and electricity supplies.