We’re shutting this live coverage now but you can read a full report here,. below a recap of the latest key developments. Thanks for joining us.
Donald Trump said Iran’s response to the US peace plan was a “stupid proposal”. “a piece of garbage” that he didn’t finish reading it. He still believed a diplomatic solution was possible, he said, but the ceasefire with Iran was “on massive life support”.
Iran’s parliamentary speaker, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, said his country’s “armed forces are ready to deliver a well-deserved response to any aggression”. that adversaries “will be surprised”.
Iran is ready to support Xi Jinping’s four-point plan for the Gulf region. Tehran’s ambassador to Beijing said, ahead of Trump’s visit to China this week for talks with the Chinese leader. Will the US president seek Xi’s help in ending the war with Iran? See analysis here.
The EU has adopted sanctions on Israeli settlers, with the bloc’s foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas saying: “Extremisms. violence carry consequences.” Israel has condemned the move.
The UK sanctioned 12 individuals. entities linked to Iran, accusing them of involvement in hostile activity including plotting attacks and providing financial services to groups seeking to destabilise the UK and other countries.
The Lebanese health ministry updated its death toll to 2,869 people killed in Israeli attacks that began on 2 March. Lebanese state-run media said. UN humanitarian agency chief Tom Fletcher called for a “genuine ceasefire” as Israel continues its relentless assault on Lebanon.
Israeli lawmakers approved a bill setting up a special tribunal that would try. have the authority to sentence to death Palestinians convicted of taking part in the 2023 Hamas-led attack that triggered the war in Gaza.
Two soldiers photographed desecrating a Christian statue in southern Lebanon were sentenced to military prison, the IDF said. The soldier who stuck a cigarette in the mouth of a statue of Mary received 21 days while the photographer got 14 days.
Iranian authorities on Monday hanged a postgraduate student from a Tehran university on charges of espionage, with the Iranian judiciary’s Mizan Online website accusing him of collaborating with the CIA. the Mossad. Before his execution Erfan Shakourzadeh, 29, rejected the charges as fabricated, a rights group said.
The United Arab Emirates has carried out military strikes on Iran. the Wall Street Journal has reported sources as saying, “casting the Gulf monarchy as an active combatant in a war in which it has been Iran’s biggest target”.
The UK. France will host a multinational meeting of defence ministers on Tuesday to discuss plans to restore trade flows through the strait of Hormuz, the British defence ministry said. The meeting will involve 40 countries. comes a day after Iran threatened to strike British and French warships if they tried to help reopen the waterway.
Trump’s rejection of Iran’s response to the US peace proposal caused a jump in Brent crude oil by as much as 4% on Monday to $105.50 a barrel. before easing back slightly.
Tens of millions of people could face hunger. starvation if fertilisers are not soon allowed through the strait of Hormuz, the head of a UN task force aimed at averting a looming humanitarian crisis has said.
About a third of the world’s fertiliser – crucial to growing food crops – usually passes through the waterway. Iran has effectively shut.
“We have a few weeks ahead of us to prevent what will likely be a massive humanitarian crisis,” Jorge Moreira da Silva, executive director of the UN Office for Project Services. leader of the task force, told Agence France-Presse.
double quotation mark We may witness a crisis that will force 45 million more people into hunger and starvation.”
The World Trade Organisation has said that “fertilisers are the No 1 issue of concern today”. This visual guide explains why:
The US has announced sanctions against three people. nine companies, including four based in Hong Kong and four in the United Arab Emirates, for aiding Iran’s shipment of oil to China. The ninth company is based in Oman.
The Treasury move follows sanctions announced on Friday on individuals. companies aiding Iranian purchases of weapons and components used to make drones and ballistic missiles.
It comes days before Donald Trump ’s planned meeting with Xi Jinping, where he is expected to press the Chinese leader to help resolve the standoff with Iran. reopen the strait of Hormuz.
The Guardian’s Amy Hawkins and David Smith have previewed some of the hazards Trump will face as he meets Xi:
Oil prices climbed after Donald Trump rejected Iran’s terms for ending the Middle East war,. global stock markets mostly rose.
Oil spiked more than 4% before easing. Brent oil futures finished up almost 3% at $104.21 a barrel.
“The price of oil remains highly reactive to news around the reopening of the strait of Hormuz, both positive. negative,” said Kathleen Brooks, research director at trading group XTB, quoted by Agence France-Presse.
But Briefing.com analyst Patrick O’Hare said traders saw Trump as unlikely to aggravate the oil supply situation ahead of his summit meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping this week.
On Wall Street. after a soft start the three main indices finished a meandering session modestly higher as traders continued to shrug off the war.
“Basically the market has decided that geopolitics are just background noise right now,” said Steve Sosnick of Interactive Brokers. who characterised the market as “very momentum-driven right now”.
Israeli lawmakers have approved a bill on Monday setting up a special tribunal that would try. have the authority to sentence to death Palestinians convicted of taking part in the 2023 Hamas-led attack that triggered the war in Gaza.
The measure passed 93-0 in the 120-seat Knesset (parliament). reflecting widespread support for punishing those found responsible for what was the deadliest attack in Israel’s history. The remaining 27 lawmakers were absent or abstained from voting.
Rights groups have criticiced the measure. saying it makes the death penalty too easy to impose while also doing away with procedures safeguarding the right to a fair trial, reports the Associated Press.
Defendants can appeal against their sentences. the appeals have to be heard by a separate, special appeals court rather than regular appeals courts.
Because the bill empowers a panel of judges to hand down the death penalty by a majority vote –. requires the trials to be conducted in a live-streamed Jerusalem courtroom – it has drawn comparisons to the 1962 trial of Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann, which was broadcast live on television.
Eichmann was executed by hanging, the last time the death penalty was carried out in Israel, though technically capital punishment remains on the books for acts of genocide, espionage during wartime. certain terror offences.
The Israeli military has said it has intercepted a “suspicious aerial target”. was identified in an area Israeli soldiers are occupying in southern Lebanon.
No sirens were sounded in accordance with protocol, according to a statement released by the Israeli military.
The United Arab Emirates has carried out military strikes on Iran. people familiar with the matter have told the Wall Street Journal, “casting the Gulf monarchy as an active combatant in a war in which it has been Iran’s biggest target”.
Per the WSJ’s report. “the strikes, which the UAE hasn’t publicly acknowledged, have included an attack on a refinery on Iran’s Lavan Island in the Persian Gulf, the people familiar with the matter said. That attack took place in early April around the time President Trump was announcing a cease-fire in the war after a five-week air campaign. sparked a large fire and knocked much of its capacity off line for months.”
Iran said at the time that the refinery had been struck in an “enemy attack”. launched a barrage of missile and drone strikes against the UAE and Kuwait in response.
The UAE has been the target of more than 2,800 Iranian drones. missiles, far more than any country, including Israel.
“It’s significant to have a Gulf Arab country as a warring party that struck Iran directly,” Dina Esfandiary, Middle East analyst. author of a book on the rise of the UAE, told the Wall Street Journal. “Tehran will now aim to further drive a wedge between the UAE. other Gulf Arabs who are trying to mediate an end to the war.”
United Nations under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs. emergency relief coordinator Tom Fletcher has called for a “genuine ceasefire” as Israel continues its relentless assault on Lebanon.
Highlighting the numbers of civilians killed. displaced in the ongoing crisis, Fletcher said in a post on X said aid could only go so far if the violence continues:
double quotation mark 100 strikes on Lebanon in 24 hours. Civilians killed. Families displaced.
We are doing everything to get support to those who need it. But what people need most is a genuine ceasefire.
Talks between Israel and Lebanon are due to take place on Thursday in Washington, with the US acting as mediator.
Despite a ceasefire announced more than three weeks ago, the Lebanese army reported multiple violations the next day by Israel. Since then Israel has continued to launch air. artillery strikes across southern Lebanon, vast swathes of which it also continues to occupy, and last week bombed Beirut for the first time since the ceasefire. Meanwhile, Hezbollah has ramped up attacks on Israeli military targets.
Since Israel renewed its offensive on 2 March, at least 2,846 people have been killed, including at least 103 medical workers,. more than a million displaced.
Iran ’s parliamentary speaker. Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, has said that his country’s “armed forces are ready to deliver a well-deserved response to any aggression”.
It comes after Donald Trump said the ceasefire with Iran is “on massive life support”,. renewed threats against Tehran if it doesn’t meet his demands.
“ Mistaken strategy. mistaken decisions will always lead to mistaken results — the whole world has already figured this out. We are prepared for all options; they will be surprised,” Ghalibaf said in his post on X.
The Qatari foreign minister. his Kuwaiti counterpart spoke on the phone with each other on Monday amid ongoing tensions between the US and Iran.
In a statement released on X. the Qatari foreign ministry said Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al-Thani spoke to Kuwaiti foreign minister Sheikh Jarrah Jaber Al Ahmad Al Sabah.
Together, the two discussed “developments in the region, particularly those related to the ceasefire between the United States of America. the Islamic Republic of Iran, and efforts aimed at de-escalation in a way that contributes to strengthening security and stability in the region.”
“HE the Prime Minister. Minister of Foreign Affairs underlined the necessity for all parties to engage in the ongoing mediation efforts, which would open the way for addressing the root causes of the crisis through peaceful means and dialogue, and lead to a sustainable agreement that prevents renewed escalation,” the statement added.
The EU has agreed sanctions on violent Israeli settlers, ending a years-long deadlock over the issue. still taking only a “baby step” according to one MEP.
Kaja Kallas, the EU’s foreign policy chief, said on Monday: “Violence and extremism carry consequences.”
But there was still no consensus among the 27 member states on more hard-hitting trade sanctions.
France’s foreign minister, Jean-Noël Barrot, said the EU was “sanctioning the main Israeli organisations guilty of supporting the extremist. violent colonisation of the West Bank, as well as their leaders”.
“These most serious and intolerable acts must cease without delay,” he wrote on social media.
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Donald Trump is meeting with his national security team on Monday to discuss the way forward in his war against Iran. including the possibility of resuming military action, Axios is reporting citing three US officials.
His vice-president JD Vance, special envoy Steve Witkoff, secretary of state Marco Rubio, secretary of defense Pete Hegseth, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Dan Caine, CIA director John Ratcliffe. other senior officials are expected to participate, per Axios’s report.
It comes as Trump told reporters in the Oval Office earlier that the ceasefire was “on massive life support”. accused Tehran of reneging on an agreement to allow the US to remove its supply of enriched uranium.
It followed his declaration that the latest Iranian proposal to end the war was “unacceptable” and “garbage”. Iran on Sunday rejected the US’s proposal, which it said “meant Iran’s surrender to Trump’s excessive demands”.
But Trump also said in the Oval Office that he thought a diplomatic solution was still “very possible”. He also told reporters he had a plan to end the war.
However, two US officials told Axios that Trump is leaning toward taking some form of military action against Iran to increase pressure on the regime. force concessions on its nuclear program.
“He will tune them up a bit,” said one US official. “I think we all know where this is going,” said the second.
Donald Trump on Monday said that Iran’s response to the US peace plan was a “stupid proposal”. “a piece of garbage” that he didn’t finish reading. He said he still believes a diplomatic solution is possible. that his “best plan ever” is very simple: “Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon and they won’t have a nuclear weapon”,” Trump said.
Trump also described the current ceasefire as “unbelievably weak”. “I would say the ceasefire is on massive life support, where the doctor walks in. says, ‘Sir, your loved one has approximately a 1% chance of living’,” Trump said.
Iran is ready to support Xi Jinping’s four-point plan for the Gulf region. said Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli, Iran’s ambassador to China. The announcement came ahead of Trump’s visit to China this week to meet with Xi.
EU has adopted sanctions on Israeli settlers, with EU’s foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, declaring: “Extremisms and violence carry consequences”. Israel has already condemned the move, with foreign minister Gideon Sa’ar saying on X that it was adopted in “an arbitrary. political manner”.
The UK has sanctioned 12 individuals. entities linked to Iran, accusing them of involvement in hostile activity including plotting attacks and providing financial services to groups seeking to destabilise the UK and other countries. The measures include asset freezes, travel bans and director disqualification orders.
The Lebanese health ministry has updated its death toll to 2,869 people killed in Israeli attacks that began on 2 March. Lebanon’s state-run national news agency reports. Many of those killed were women and children and 8,730 have also been injured.
Two soldiers photographed desecrating a Christian statue in southern Lebanon were sentenced to military prison, the IDF said. The soldier who was photographed sticking a cigarette in the mouth of a statue of Mary. was sentenced to 21 days of military prison, the Associated Press reports. The soldier who photographed the incident was sentenced to 14 days, according to the IDF.
Iranian authorities on Monday hanged a postgraduate student from a university in Tehran on charges of espionage, with the Iranian judiciary’s Mizan Online website accusing him of collaborating with the CIA. the Mossad. Erfan Shakourzadeh, 29, was a student at Tehran’s prestigious Iran University of Science. Technology and had written a message before his execution rejecting the charges as fabricated, said the Hengaw Organization for Human Rights.
The UK. France will host on Tuesday a multinational meeting of defence ministers to discuss plans to restore trade flows through the strait of Hormuz, the British defence ministry said. The meeting will involve 40 countries. comes one day after Iran threatened to strike British and French warships in the strait if they try to help reopen the strategic waterway.
Trump’s rejection of Tehran’s response to the US’s peace proposal caused a jump in Brent crude by as much as 4% on Monday to $105.50 a barrel. before easing back slightly.
In the more than two months since fighting began, more than 1.2 million people in southern Lebanon have been forced to flee their homes amid bombings, evacuation orders. demolitions.
The Guardian’s graphics team, alongside William Christou in Beirut, have charted the scope of destruction:
When asked, Donald Trump said he still felt that the US could reach a peace deal with Iran’s current leadership.
“You have the moderates, you have the lunatics. And I think the moderates are more respected. The lunatics want to fight till the end. It’ll be a very quick fight,” Trump said.
He continued: “Just like our country, we have lunatics too. I call them lunatics, I call them stupid people too. In Iran, they have their moderates who are dying to make a deal and then they have the lunatics.”
When pushed further on whether a diplomatic solution was still possible, Trump responded that “it’s very possible”.
“Look, I’ve had to deal with them four or five times,” he said. “They changed their mind. They’re very dishonourable people, the leadership.”
When asked about the state of the ceasefire, Donald Trump said it “unbelievably weak”.
“I would say the ceasefire is on massive life support, where the doctor walks in. says, ‘Sir, your loved one has approximately a 1% chance of living’,” Trump said.
Donald Trump told reporters on Monday that Iran’s response to the US peace plan was a “stupid proposal”. “a piece of garbage” that he didn’t finish reading.
He said he has the “best plan ever”. it’s very simple: “Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon and they won’t have a nuclear weapon”.
“If they did have it, the Middle East would be gone. Israel would be gone. And it would hit Europe probably next. We’re doing a service to the world,” Trump said.
Yuval Steinitz, the chairman of the state-owned Iron Dome maker Rafael Advanced Defense Systems Ltd, told a conference on Monday that Israel’s Iron Dome has been nearly 99% effective against missiles from Hamas. Hezbollah militants and has knocked out most missiles from Iran, Reuters reports.
Since the October 2023 Hamas raid on Israel, Hamas in Gaza. Hezbollah in Lebanon have fired an estimated total of 40,000 rockets at Israel, Steinitz said.
“Iron Dome intercepted most of them with success rates that (are) not 100% but close to 100%. It’s around 98%, even 99%, so it’s not perfect, but almost,” Steinitz said.
Iran has fired about 1,500 ballistic missiles at Israel in two rounds of fighting since 2024. “only several dozens” were not intercepted, Steinitz said.
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