Iran says will end Strait of Hormuz chokehold if US siege ends

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Iran shared on Tuesday a breakdown of the death toll from a deadly strike on an Iranian school on the first day of the Middle East war, state media reported.

Seventy-three boys and 47 girls were killed in the February 28 strike on an Iranian elementary school in Minab, state broadcaster IRIB and local media reported.

The attack happened on the day the United States and Israel launched attacks across Iran. In retaliation, Tehran struck targets in Israel and Gulf nations.

Twenty-six teachers, seven parents, a school bus driver, and a pharmacy technician at the clinic next to the school were also killed, IRIB said in a Telegram post.

This puts the death toll at 155 instead of more than 175 reported earlier.

A US official said on Tuesday that President Donald Trump is unhappy with an Iranian proposal because it did not address Iran's nuclear program.

Hezbollah has claimed attacks on Israeli soldiers, according to Al Jazeera, saying that it targeted an Israeli military bulldozer in Bint Jbeil, a Merkava tank in Al-Qantara, and two gatherings of troops in Naqoura.

Israeli forces have detained dozens of Palestinians in raids on the towns of Al-Ram and Kafr Aqab, as well as the Qalandia refugee camp north of Jerusalem, according to Palestinian news agency Wafa.

35 Palestinians in total were detained during the raids, which lasted more than 15 hours, the outlet said.

Iran needs guarantees against another US-Israeli attack before it can ensure security in the oil-rich Gulf, Tehran's envoy to the United Nations said Monday.

"Lasting stability and security in the Persian Gulf and the wider region can only be achieved through a durable and permanent cessation of aggression against Iran supplemented by credible guarantees of non-recurrence and full respect for the legitimate sovereign rights and interests of Iran," Amir Saeid Iravani told a Security Council session.

Lebanon's health ministry said Israeli strikes on the country's south on Monday killed four people including a woman and wounded 51 others, three of them children, despite a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah.

According to an AFP tally of health ministry figures, Israeli strikes have killed at least 40 people in Lebanon since the fragile truce there began on 17 April.

Business working with Iranian airlines risk US sanctions, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told the Wall Street Journal on Monday.

Iran's foreign ministry spokesperson, Esmaeil Baqaei, has labelled the US seizure of Iranian vessels "piracy and armed robbery on the high seas."

Baqaei's comments come after the US received a warrant to seize an Iranian linked vessel, M/T Majestic, carrying 1.9 million barrels of oil in the Indian Ocean.

"Welcome to the return of pirates - only now, they operate with government-issued warrants, sail under official flags, and call their plunder 'law enforcement'," Baqaei said.

This is the outright legalization of piracy and armed robbery on the high seas.
Welcome to the return of the pirates — only now, they operate with government-issued warrants, sail under official flags, and call their plunder “law enforcement.”
The United States must be held fully… pic.twitter.com/5xACMKs45M

— Esmaeil Baqaei (@IRIMFA_SPOX) April 27, 2026

The defence ministers of Russia and Iran have held talks in Kyrgyzstan, according to Russia's state-owned TASS news agency.

US President Donald Trump discussed a new Iranian proposal on resolving the war with Tehran with his top national security aides on Monday, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters.

Answering questions at a briefing, Leavitt did not offer an opinion of the proposal, in which the Strait of Hormuz would be opened and Iran's nuclear program discussed at a later date. But she said Trump's bottom line demands remain the same.

Trump wants the Strait of Hormuz oil transit waterway to be open and for Iran to hand over its enriched uranium.

"I wouldn't say they're considering it. I would just say that there was a discussion this morning that I don't want to get ahead of, and you'll hear directly from the president, I'm sure, on this topic," she said.

Israel's chief of staff Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir warned Monday that the country's military was likely to be fighting on multiple fronts throughout 2026, as it fights wars against Iran and Lebanese militant group Hezbollah.

"Since 7 October (2023), the [army] has been engaged in fighting in an ongoing multi-front campaign... 2026 is likely to be another year of fighting on all of those fronts," he said in a statement.

Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz warned Monday that Hezbollah's defiance would bring catastrophic consequences for Lebanon, after the militant group's leader rejected proposed direct talks between Israel and Lebanon.

"Naim Qassem is playing with fire, and the fire will burn Hezbollah and all of Lebanon... If the Lebanese government continues to take cover under the wing of the Hezbollah terrorist organisation - fire will break out and engulf the cedars of Lebanon," Katz told UN envoy to Lebanon Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, according to a statement issued by his office.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday said rockets and drones possessed by Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah remained a key threat that demanded further military action by Israel's military in Lebanon.

"There are still two central threats from Hezbollah: the 122mm rockets and the drones. This demands a combination of operational and technological activity," he said in a statement issued by his office.

France's top diplomat said Monday that Iran must be ready to make "major concessions" in talks to end a crisis triggered by the attack by the United States and Israel.

"There can be no lasting solution to this crisis unless the Iranian regime agrees to major concessions and a radical shift in its stance," Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot told a UN Security Council session.

A drone attack has targeted an Iranian opposition group west of Sulaimaniya in Iraqi Kurdistan, security sources said.

French President Emmanuel Macron said on Monday he would talk to Iranian authorities after his two-day trip to Andorra and would insist for the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz.

"We have established a coalition whose purpose is precisely to ensure security, to secure and stabilise, to demonstrate that the international community supports an opening (of the Strait of Hormuz), and so I hope that we will be able to convince the stakeholders in the coming days," he told reporters in Andorra.

Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz warned Monday that Hezbollah's defiance would bring catastrophic consequences for Lebanon, after the militant group's leader rejected proposed direct talks between Israel and Lebanon.

"Naim Qassem is playing with fire, and the fire will burn Hezbollah and all of Lebanon... If the Lebanese government continues to take cover under the wing of the Hezbollah terrorist organisation - fire will break out and engulf the cedars of Lebanon," Katz told UN envoy to Lebanon Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, according to a statement issued by his office.

The death toll in Lebanon from Israeli attacks since 2 March has reached 2,521, with more than 7,800 others injured, the country's health ministry said.

A senior United Arab Emirates official on Monday criticised the country's Gulf allies over their response to Iranian retaliatory attacks in the region following the Israeli-US strikes that launched the Middle East war.

Presidential advisor Anwar Gargash said the Gulf states had supported each other logistically in the crisis but he lambasted their political and military response.

"The GCC's stance was the weakest historically, considering the nature of the attack and the threat it posed to everyone," Gargash said, referring to the six-member Gulf Cooperation Council.

Gargash said he "expected such a weak stance from the Arab League", the 22-member organisation of Middle East and North African nations based in Cairo.

"But I don't expect it from the GCC, and I am surprised by it," he told a conference in Dubai.

Bahrain revoked the citizenship of 69 people and their families for "expressing support for Iranian attacks", the interior ministry said on Monday.

Bahrain has been among Gulf countries that were subject to attacks by Iran in retaliation for U.S.-Israeli airstrikes on Iran that began on February 28.

Global air travel remains severely disrupted, with many people unable to fly as planned after the Iran war forced the closure of major Middle Eastern hubs, including Dubai, Doha and Abu Dhabi.

Below is the latest on flights, in alphabetical order:

AEGEAN AIRLINES

Greece's largest carrier will resume flights to Tel Aviv from Athens on April 28, from Heraklion on April 30 and from Rhodes and Larnaca on May 21. Flights from Thessaloniki to Tel Aviv are cancelled until June 26.

It will resume flights to Riyadh and Amman on May 21. Flights to Beirut are cancelled until June 26, to Dubai until June 29, and to Erbil and Baghdad until July 2.

AIRBALTIC

Latvia's airBaltic says flights to Tel Aviv have been cancelled until May 31. Flights to Dubai are cancelled until October 24.

AIR CANADA

The Canadian carrier has cancelled flights to Tel Aviv and Dubai until September 7.

AIR EUROPA

The Spanish airline has cancelled flights to Tel Aviv until May 31.

AIR FRANCE-KLM

Air France has suspended its Tel Aviv, Beirut, Dubai and Riyadh flights until May 3.

KLM has suspended flights to Riyadh, Dammam and Dubai until June 14.

CATHAY PACIFIC

The Hong Kong airline has suspended flights to Dubai and Riyadh until June 30 and cargo freighter services to Dubai and Riyadh until May 31. To cater for a surge in demand to Europe, it will operate extra passenger flights to London, Paris and Zurich in April. It plans to operate all scheduled flights beyond June.

DELTA

The U.S. carrier has cancelled its New York-Tel Aviv flights and delayed the restart of its Atlanta-Tel Aviv route until September 5. It said the launch of its Boston-Tel Aviv route, planned for late October, has been delayed until further notice.

EL AL ISRAEL AIRLINES

The Israeli carrier said it is continuing to gradually expand operations, and from April 27 will operate flights to about 40 active gateways. All flights to Dubai are cancelled until May 31.

EMIRATES

The UAE airline has said it is operating a reduced flight schedule, flying to more than 100 destinations.

ETIHAD AIRWAYS

The UAE carrier said it is operating a commercial flight schedule between Abu Dhabi and around 80 destinations.

FINNAIR

The Finnish carrier has cancelled its Doha flights until July 2, while continuing to avoid the airspace of Iraq, Iran, Syria and Israel. The airline only restarts its Dubai flights in October.

IAG

IAG-owned British Airways is reducing flights to the Middle East when services resume, permanently dropping Jeddah as a destination, while adding capacity to India and Africa.

It plans to reduce services to Dubai, Doha and Tel Aviv to one daily flight from July  1, and to cut Riyadh services from two daily flights to one from mid-May. Changes apply through the summer season that ends on October 24, with one Dubai service restarting on October 16.

IAG's Spanish low-cost airline Iberia Express has cancelled flights to Tel Aviv through May 31.

KUWAIT AIRWAYS

The airline resumes flights to 17 destinations from Kuwait International Airport on April 26 after authorities reopened the country's airspace. Jazeera Airways, another Kuwaiti airline, restarts service to nine destinations from Kuwait after temporarily shifting operations to Saudi Arabia.

JAPAN AIRLINES

Japan Airlines has suspended scheduled Tokyo-Doha flights until May 31 and Doha-Tokyo flights until June 1.

LOT

The Polish airline suspended its flights to Tel Aviv until May 31. It also cancelled flights to Riyadh until June 30 and to Beirut from March 31 to May 30. The airline plans to operate its winter route to Dubai in October.

LUFTHANSA GROUP

Lufthansa, Swiss, Austrian Airlines, Brussels Airlines and Edelweiss have suspended flights to Dubai and Tel Aviv until May 31. Flights to Abu Dhabi, Amman, Beirut, Dammam, Riyadh, Erbil, Muscat and Tehran are suspended until October 24.

Low-cost carrier Eurowings suspended flights to Tel Aviv until May 11, to Beirut and Erbil until May 14 and to Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Amman until October 24.

ITA Airways extended the suspension of flights to Tel Aviv, Riyadh and Dubai until May 31.

MALAYSIA AIRLINES

The Malaysian carrier suspended flights to Doha until June 14.

NORWEGIAN AIR

The low-cost airline has pushed back planned launches of its Tel Aviv and Beirut services to June 15.

PEGASUS

Turkey's Pegasus Airlines cancelled its Iran, Iraq, Amman, Beirut, Kuwait, Bahrain, Doha, Dammam, Riyadh, Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Sharjah flights until June 1.

QANTAS

Australia's flag carrier is adding flights to Rome and Paris to meet an upswing in demand for European routes. Flights to Paris will increase to five return flights per week from three and the Perth-Singapore service will increase from daily to 10 flights per week. An updated schedule will come into effect progressively for flights from mid-April and run until late July.

QATAR AIRWAYS

The carrier resumed flights to Dubai and Sharjah from April 23 and will restart daily flights to Damascus, Bahrain and Kozhikode from May 1. Qatar Airways says it is expanding its international flight network to over 150 destinations from June 16.

ROYAL AIR MAROC

The Moroccan carrier said flights to Doha were cancelled until June 30 and those to Dubai until May 31.

SINGAPORE AIRLINES

The carrier extended its Singapore-Dubai flight suspension until May 31, while adding services on the Singapore-London Gatwick and Singapore-Melbourne routes from late March until October 24 to meet higher demand.

TURKISH AIRLINES

SunExpress, Turkish Airlines' joint venture with Lufthansa, has cancelled flights to Dubai until May 21.

WIZZ AIR

The low-cost airline is delaying the return of flights to Israel until May 4, and is suspending flights to Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Amman from mainland European destinations until mid-September. All flights to Medina have been suspended indefinitely.

Russian President Vladimir Putin met Iran's foreign minister Abbas Araghchi on Monday, local news agencies reported.

Putin said Russia hoped the Iranian people will weather what he described as a "difficult period" and that peace will prevail. He added that Russia would do everything in the interests of Iran and other countries in the region, the state-run RIA ⁠news agency reported.

An unnamed Hezbollah military leader tells told Al Jazeera Arabic that the group will "return to tactics from the 1980s" and activate suicide squads to prevent Israel from establishing a "foothold".

"Large groups of suicide bombers are deployed in the occupied territory according to pre-prepared plans," the source said, in reference to the territory Israel holds in southern Lebanon.

"The mission of the suicide bombers is to engage with enemy officers and soldiers in the occupied Lebanese villages."

The US and Israel have reportedly carried out at least 240 attacks on health facilities during their military campaign  in Iran, health minister Mohammad Reza Zafarghandi said on Tuesday, as cited by the semi-official Tasnim news agency.

Around 50 hospitals and 50 emergency centres were damaged during the assault, he said.

Iran's armed forces would be the authority responsible for the Strait of Hormuz under the country's proposed law for managing the waterway, a top official said on Monday.

Ebrahim Azizi, head of the national security commission in Iran's parliament, told state television that the armed forces were already in control of the strait and were seeking to prohibit the passage of "hostile vessels".

Azizi also said the proposed law states that financial gains from the strait should be paid in the local rial currency.

At least seven ships - mainly dry bulk vessels - have crossed the Strait of Hormuz in the past 24 hours, in line with muted activity in recent days, shipping data showed on Monday, while talks between Iran and the United States have stalled.

The vessels included ships leaving from Iraqi ports and one dry bulk vessel from an Iranian port, according to ship tracking data from Kpler and separate satellite analysis from data analytics specialists SynMax.

The U.S. Central Command has redirected 37 vessels since a blockade was imposed on Iran on April 13, the military said on April 25.

Six Iranian tankers returned to Iranian ports and sailed back through Hormuz in recent days with some 10.5 million barrels of oil, according to satellite analysis from TankerTrackers.com.

Around four million barrels of Iranian oil onboard tankers sailed through the U.S. blockade on April 24, according to separate satellite analysis from TankerTrackers.com.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said on Monday he does not see what exit strategy the United States has in the Iran war, warning "an entire nation is being humiliated by the Iranian leadership, especially by these so-called Revolutionary Guards."

Speaking to students in Marsberg, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Merz said the Iranians are "obviously negotiating very skillfully" and "clearly stronger than one thought," and urged that the conflict be ended as quickly as possible due to its direct impact on Germany's economy.

The Israeli military says it has begun to strike "Hezbollah infrastructure sites" in Lebanon's eastern Beqaa region, and in additional areas across southern Lebanon.

A fragile truce has not stopped Israeli attacks on southern Lebanon, with occasional strikes in areas in al-Beqaa.

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun said Monday that direct negotiations with Israel were aimed at ending the conflict with Hezbollah, while accusing those who drew Lebanon into war of "treason" in an implicit rebuke to the Iran-backed armed group.

"My goal is to reach an end to the state of war with Israel, similar to the armistice agreement" of 1949, Aoun said in a statement, adding that "I assure you that I will not accept reaching a humiliating agreement".

"Those who dragged us into war in Lebanon are now holding us accountable because we made the decision to go to negotiations... What we are doing is not treason. Rather, treason is committed by those who take their country to war to achieve foreign interests," he said.

US President Donald Trump will hold talks on the Iran war on Monday with his top security advisors, US media reported, as negotiations between the rival parties seemed to reach an impasse.

Barak Ravid, global affairs correspondent for US media outlet Axios, reported that Trump was expected to hold a meeting with his top national security and foreign policy team on Monday to discuss the next steps.

ABC News quoted two unidentified US officials as saying that Trump would meet with his key security advisors on Iran, adding that a new deal proposed by Tehran to resolve the conflict fell short of Washington's red lines.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Monday that it was too early to drop sanctions imposed on Iran.

"We think the dropping of sanctions would be too early," she said in Berlin at a meeting of the conservative CDU and its CSU Bavarian sister party, adding that the sanctions were in place due to Iran's suppression of its own population.

"We first have to see a change, a fundamental change in Iran for the dropping of sanctions," von der Leyen added.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer will host representatives from the Bank of England on Tuesday at a meeting of the government's emergency response committee focused on the impact of the war in Iran.

"Tomorrow I'm chairing a meeting of Cobra on the impact (of the war), bringing in people from the Bank of England, so that you can be sure we will stand by working people in this crisis," Starmer said on Monday in a speech to trade union members.

"I have to level with you about Iran, because the truth is, the economic consequences could still be with us for some time," he added, citing fuel as one example of where prices have risen already.

Iran has banned the export of steel slabs and sheets until May 30, state media reported on Monday, as the country's steel industry has been targeted in strikes during the conflict between Iran and Israel and the United States.

Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem on Monday rejected Lebanon's planned direct talks with Israel, calling them a "grave sin" that will destabilise Lebanon.

"We categorically reject direct negotiations with Israel, and those in power should know that their actions will not benefit Lebanon or themselves," Qassem said in a statement, calling on authorities to "back down from their grave sin that is putting Lebanon in a spiral of instability".

"These direct negotiations and their outcomes are as if they do not exist for us, and they do not concern us in the slightest," he added, saying "we will continue our defensive resistance for Lebanon and its people".

"No matter how much the enemy threatens, we will not back down, we will not bow down, and we will not be defeated."

The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) said late on Sunday that it had received reports that unauthorised persons had taken control of a cargo vessel the has been re-directed to the territorial waters of Somalia.

It said in a statement the incident occurred 6 nautical miles north east of Garacad, describing it as a hijack but giving no additional details.

Oil prices rose Monday while stocks were mixed with the United States and Iran no closer to ending their eight-week-old war after Donald Trump cancelled his envoys' trip for peace talks at the weekend.

Hopes that the two sides could make progress during negotiations in Pakistan were dashed Saturday by the US president, who said there was no point "sitting around talking about nothing".

Oil prices rose around two percent Monday, though lingering hopes that a deal can eventually be reached have tempered the gains.

However, Fawad Razaqzada of Forex.com, warned they could surge again at any time.

"If tensions were to escalate further, particularly into open conflict, there's a clear risk of a sharper spike," he wrote.

An Israeli drone strike on a south Lebanon village killed one person Monday morning.

The state's National News Agency reported the strike on Qlaileh in the Tyre district.

Israeli attacks on southern Lebanon have continued despite a US-brokered truce, prompting retaliatory strikes from Hezbollah.

Although the fighting has largely subsided, concerns remain that the ceasefire could collapse entirely, potentially leading to a renewed, large-scale Israeli offensive on the country.

Iran and Oman have agreed to continue consultations on the Strait of Hormuz with expert-level talks, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Monday.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on Monday blamed the United States for the failure of peace talks in Pakistan, after arriving in Russia for a meeting with President Vladimir Putin.

"The US approaches caused the previous round of negotiations, despite progress, to fail to reach its goals because of the excessive demands," Araghchi was quoted as saying by Iranian state media.

He also said that "safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz is an important global issue", as the US and Iran continue their rival blockades in the waterway.