Iran war live: Tehran will skip talks as tensions rise over US ship seizure
- 4 hours ago
- 2 min read
Source: Aljazeera
Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson says government has no plans regarding a new round of talks after the United States seized an Iranian-flagged cargo ship in the Strait of Hormuz.
US President Donald Trump says US team, lead by JD Vance, is on its way to Pakistan’s capital Islamabad for talks.
4m ago
(15:30 GMT)
EU to widen Iran sanctions to those deemed ‘responsible’ for blocking Hormuz
The European Union will expand the criteria of its Iran sanctions to include those responsible for blocking the Strait of Hormuz, two unnamed EU diplomats tell Reuters.
“There was a political agreement among ambassadors that we indeed would change the criteria in Iran’s sanctions regime so that we could also list persons and entities that are responsible for the obstruction of the freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz,” one of the diplomats said.
A second diplomatic source said the European External Action Service would need a few weeks to prepare any new listings.
The service is in charge of placing people and companies under sanctions while the European Commission handles sectorwide restrictions.
Tehran closed the strait after the US-Israeli war on Iran began on February 28. The move cut off roughly one-fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas supplies.
In January, the EU designated Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a “terrorist organisation”, and in March, it listed Iranian officials, accusing them of human rights violations.
More than a dozen tankers sailed through the Strait of Hormuz after Iran briefly declared it open on Friday, but the ceasefire was thrown into jeopardy when the US seized an Iranian cargo ship as it maintained its own naval blockade, this one on Iranian ports.
Pakistan intensifying contact with Iran, US, indicating ‘Iranian delegation will be’ in Islamabad
Pakistani leaders have intensified their communications with Iran and the US, indicating that talks in Islamabad are likely to take place shortly, former Pakistani Ambassador to the UAE Jamil Khan tells Al Jazeera.
“Things are speeding up,” Khan said. “In the coming 24 to 48 hours, issues will be addressed, and the Iranian delegation will be there.”
Iran had placed Lebanon at the top of its list of demands, requesting that it be included in the ceasefire and, therefore, linking its negotiations with the US to Israel’s war in Lebanon, the diplomat said.
Khan said Trump “very smartly” solved this issue by creating a separate track for negotiations and thereby separating the two conflicts.
He predicted that Iran’s enriched uranium would instead be at the forefront of the next round of negotiations, including its dilution and disposal.
US military blockade redirects 27 vessels since blockade: CENTCOM
The US military’s Central Command says in a statement on X that a total of 27 vessels have been turned around or returned to an Iranian port since the US military imposed a blockade around the Strait of Hormuz on April 13.
