Iran sends response to US proposal via Pakistan, amid attacks in the Gulf

Oil prices opened sharply higher on Monday shortly after US President Donald Trump said he rejected Tehran's response to Washington's peace proposal, and Iran renewed threats of violence in the Strait of Hormuz.

The international benchmark for oil, Brent crude that is being prepared for July delivery, was up 2.69 percent to $104.01 a barrel.

Its US counterpart, West Texas Intermediate, rose 2.54 percent to $97.84 a barrel.

The UK and France will on Tuesday host a multinational meeting of defence ministers on military plans to restore trade flows through the Strait of Hormuz, the British government said.

"The Defence Secretary John Healey will co-chair a meeting of over 40 nations, alongside his French counterpart, Minister Catherine Vautrin, for the multinational mission's first Defence Minister's meeting," a defence ministry statement said Sunday.

The announcement came hours after Iran warned London and Paris against sending warships to the region..

President Donald Trump said Sunday he has rejected Iran's response to a US proposal for ending the Middle East war, deeming it "totally unacceptable."

"I have just read the response from Iran's so-called 'Representatives.' I don't like it -- TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE!" Trump posted on his Truth Social platform, without describing elements of Tehran's response.

Qatar’s Minister of State at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Mohammed bin Abdulaziz bin Saleh Al Khulaifi, has held talks in Doha with Gunter Sauter, the political and security affairs adviser to the German chancellor, according to a statement from Qatar’s Foreign Ministry on X.

The discussions focused on bilateral cooperation between Qatar and Germany, with both sides reviewing ways to strengthen and further develop relations.

They also addressed recent regional developments, particularly the ceasefire between the United States and the Islamic Republic of Iran, alongside broader efforts to reduce tensions and promote stability and security across the region.

Saudi Arabia has condemned the attacks reported earlier today in the territories of Qatar, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates.

In a statement, the Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs called for an “immediate halt to the blatant attacks on the territories and territorial waters of the Gulf states, and to any attempt to close the Strait of Hormuz”.

The UAE said its air defence systems intercepted two drones launched from Iran, while Kuwait reported the presence of “hostile drones” in its airspace earlier this morning. Qatar said a cargo vessel had been targeted within its territorial waters.

US President Donald Trump is set to press Chinese President Xi Jinping on Iran when he visits Beijing in coming days, a senior administration official said Sunday, as Trump seeks a deal to end the Middle East war.

Trade, tariffs and AI are also set to feature during the visit from Wednesday to Friday, during which Trump will visit Beijing's iconic Temple of Heaven, according to the White House.

"I would expect the president to apply pressure" over Iran, the official told reporters on a call, adding that the US leader has done so in previous calls with his Chinese counterpart.

The official said Trump had brought up Chinese revenue for Iran and Russia through oil sales "multiple times" with Xi, as well as sales of military-civilian dual-role goods.

"I expect that conversation to continue," the official added.

Recent US sanctions on China over the Iran war are also likely to come up, added the official.

Trump will arrive in Beijing on Wednesday evening for the visit, which he originally postponed in March due to the ongoing Iran war, Principal Deputy Press Secretary Anna Kelly told reporters.

US President Donald Trump on Sunday accused Iran of "playing games" and laughing at America for decades, but said it soon would be made to stop -- without commenting directly on reports of Tehran's response to Washington's latest peace proposal.

"Iran has been playing games with the United States, and the rest of the World, for 47 years (DELAY, DELAY, DELAY!)," Trump said on his Truth Social platform.

He also accused Tehran of "laughing at our now GREAT AGAIN Country" but added: "They will be laughing no longer!"

Lebanon's health ministry said two paramedics from the Islamic Health Committee were killed and five others wounded on Sunday in two Israeli strikes on the country's south despite a ceasefire.

As the state-run National News Agency (NNA) reported Israeli airstrikes and artillery shelling on a variety of other south Lebanon areas, Israel's army warned residents of three villages to evacuate, saying it would act forcefully against the Iran-backed group there.

Israel has kept up strikes despite a ceasefire in place since April 17 that was supposed to halt hostilities with Hezbollah, while the group has pressed on with its own attacks, mainly on Israeli troops operating in southern Lebanon but also across the border.

A Lebanese health ministry statement said that Israel "directly targeted, with two strikes, two Health Committee sites", killing one paramedic and wounding three others in Qalaway, and killing another paramedic and wounding two others in Tibnin.

The statement decried what it called Israel's continued "violation of international laws".

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday urged the people of India to cut down on petrol and diesel consumption amid supply disruptions due to the Middle East war.

India is one of few countries in the region that has not increased prices of petrol and diesel for domestic consumers or rationed supplies.

But it has increased prices of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) -- a primary cooking fuel in this country -- after disruptions following the US-Israeli strikes on Iran, which led to Iran's near-total blockade of the strategic Strait of Hormuz.

"We have to reduce our use of petrol and diesel. In cities with metro lines, we should try to travel by metro...If we must use a car, then we should try to car pool," he said, addressing a gathering in southern Telangana state.

He added that restrictions on use were also necessary to save foreign currency spent on fuel imports.

"We must also place a strong emphasis on saving foreign exchange, as petrol and diesel have become so expensive globally."

Modi also urged people to resume energy-saving schemes that were in place during the Covid pandemic.

"We should prioritise work from home, online conferences, and virtual meetings again," he said.

The death toll in Lebanon from Israeli attacks since 2 March has risen to 2,846 people, the health ministry said in its latest report, adding that another 8,693 people have been wounded.

The war resumed between Hezbollah and Israel after the killing of Iran's supreme leader Ali Khamenei on 28 February, on the first day of the US-Israel war on Iran.

French President Emmanuel Macron says France has "never envisaged" sending warships to Strait of Hormuz, after Iran warned it will retaliate to British and French warships being sent to the Gulf.

Iran's stockpile of enriched uranium must be "taken out" before the US-Israeli war against Iran can be considered over, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in an interview Sunday.

"It's not over, because there's still nuclear material - enriched uranium - that has to be taken out of Iran. There's still enrichment sites that have to be dismantled," Netanyahu said in an excerpt of an interview due to air later Sunday on CBS's "60 Minutes" programme.

"You go in and you take it out," the Israeli leader said when asked how the uranium could be removed.

Iran warned Britain and France on Sunday that its armed forces would launch "a decisive and immediate response" to any warships being sent to the Strait of Hormuz, after Paris and London dispatched vessels to the region.

"We remind them that both in times of war and in times of peace, only the Islamic Republic of Iran can establish security in this strait and it will not allow any country to interfere in such matters," Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi posted on X.

Britain and France are leading efforts to create an international coalition to secure the Strait of Hormuz, but only after a peace deal between the US and Iran is secured.

US President Donald Trump has said in an interview aired Sunday that it would only take two weeks to hit "every single target" in Iran, adding that the Islamic republic was "militarily defeated."

In the interview with independent journalist Sharyl Attkisson, which was recorded last week, he also called NATO a "paper tiger" and accused Washington's allies of failing to assist in the campaign against Tehran.

"They're militarily defeated. In their own minds, maybe they don't know that. But I think they do," Trump said in the interview, before adding: "That doesn't mean they're done."

He suggested the US military could "go in for two more weeks and do every single target. We have certain targets that we wanted, and we've done probably 70 percent of them, but we have other targets that we could conceivably hit."

"But even if we didn't do that, you know, that would just be final touches," Trump said.

Iran's proposed text in response to the US focuses on ending the war on all fronts, especially in Lebanon, Iranian state media said.

The Iran-backed Hezbollah militant group has been clashing with Israel in southern Lebanon as both sides exchange fire, despite a US-brokered truce.

Syria's judiciary brought charges on Sunday against former security official Atif Najib for acts "amounting to war crimes" in 2011 against peaceful protesters in Daraa province, the cradle of the country's uprising.

Najib was the former head of political security in the south Syrian province and is accused of orchestrating a crackdown there. Washington sanctioned him for human rights abuses in April 2011, one month after the uprising erupted.

He appeared in a Damascus criminal court again on Sunday after the opening session last month in the trials of former senior figures, most prominently longtime president Bashar al-Assad and his brother Maher al-Assad, who are both being tried in absentia.

Judge Fakhr al-Din al-Aryan read out the charges at Sunday's session, part of which was broadcast on state television, as Najib stood in the docks.

"The accusations against you relate to events in Daraa province in early 2011, when the peaceful (protest) movement was met with an excessive use of force," Aryan said.

"As head of the political security branch then, you held direct and joint leadership responsibility for systematic acts that targeted civilians including killing, torture and arbitrary detention," he added.

He said abuses attributed to Najib, some of them deadly, include the arrest and torture of children due to "political writings on walls", involvement in "suppressing protests with excessive force" and "opening direct fire" on a peaceful sit-in at Daraa's Al-Omari mosque.

Iran's response to the latest US peace proposal focuses on "ending the war and maritime security", local media reported on Sunday, shortly after Tehran said it had delivered its answer to Pakistani mediators.

"It should be noted that the main focus of Iran's response to the US proposal is on 'ending the war and maritime security' in the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz," the ISNA news agency said, without offering further details.

Iran's response to the US proposal to end the war has been sent through mediator Pakistan, Iran's state-run news agency reported.

According to the proposed plan, at this stage, the negotiations with Washington will focus on ending the war, IRNA said.

Qatar's prime minister told Iran's foreign minister that using the Strait of Hormuz as "a pressure tool" would only deepen the crisis in the Gulf, the Qatari foreign ministry said on Sunday.

Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani also told Iran's Abbas Araghchi in a phone call that all parties in the conflict should respond to mediation efforts to end the war.

Al-Thani is also Qatar's foreign minister. The ministry did not say when the call took place.

Qatar's defence ministry had said earlier that a drone struck a commercial vessel in Qatari waters on Sunday, after Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards threatened to target US vessels in the region.

The spokesman for the Iranian parliament's national security commission on Sunday warned the United States against any attacks on vessels in Gulf waters, saying Iran's restraint was over.

"Our restraint is over as of today. Any attack on our vessels will trigger a strong and decisive Iranian response against American ships and bases," said Ebrahim Rezaei in a post on X.

The stern of a bulk carrier operated by South Korean shipper HMM, was struck by an unidentified object on 4 May while stranded in the Strait of Hormuz, the foreign ministry said on Sunday following an on-site inspection of the vessel on Friday.

A week ago, Seoul reported a blast and fire aboard the same vessel - the HMM Namu - in the strait, while anchored near the United Arab Emirates. No one was harmed in the incident.

Seoul was investigating the incident, and the vessel was towed to a port in Dubai after the blaze on Monday.

US President Donald Trump said at the time the incident was caused by an Iranian attack, but Iran's embassy in South Korea denied responsibility. It did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the object outside of normal business hours.

It was not certain what the object was, the ministry said, and authorities said debris would be collected at the site for analysis.

A drone attack targeted an Iranian Kurdish opposition camp east of Erbil, in Iraq's northern Kurdish region, security sources said.

These groups have come under repeated attack since the Middle East war began on 28 February.

Lebanon's health ministry said two paramedics from the Islamic Health Committee were killed and five others wounded on Sunday in Israeli strikes on the country's south, despite a ceasefire.

A ministry statement said that Israeli "directly targeted, with two strikes, two Health Committee sites", killing one paramedic and wounding three others in Qalawiya, and killing another paramedic and wounding two others in Tibnin. The statement decried Israel's continued "violation of international laws".

The United Arab Emirates said it intercepted two Iranian drones on Sunday as a fragile ceasefire in the Middle East war came under strain.

"UAE air defence systems successfully engaged two UAVs launched from Iran," the defence ministry said in a statement on X.

The head of Iran's armed forces unified command met Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei and received from him "new guiding measures to pursue military operations and firmly confront adversaries", the semi-official Fars news reported on Sunday.

The Fars report said that Ali Abdollahi, who commands the Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters, had briefed Khamenei on the readiness of the country’s armed forces. It did not say when their meeting took place.

"The armed forces are ready to confront any action by the American-Zionist (Israeli) enemies. In case of any error by the enemy, Iran's response will be swift, severe, and decisive," Abdollahi was reported as saying.

Israelis protested in several cities Saturday night against inaction by their government to fight crime in Israeli society, military conscription for Haredi Jews, as well as Israel's ongoing attacks on southern Lebanon.

Protesters in Jerusalem marched toward the residency of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, as police used water cannons to disperse the gatherings.

In Tel Aviv, a smaller group of protesters called for an end to the war with Lebanon and Iran.

The demonstrations come amid growing internal divisions and months before the elections.

The explosion that was heard in Chabahar, southeast Iran, was related to the destruction of an unexploded ordnance, the Mehr News Agency said.

The head of Iran’s Unified Armed Forces Command, Ali Abdollahi, met with Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei, reported Iran's semi-official news agency Tasnim.

A large explosion was heard in Iran's southeastern city of Chabahar, Iran's Mehr news agency reported.

No further details were available.

An unknown projectile struck a ship off the coast of Qatar early Sunday morning, a UK maritime agency reported, after Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards threatened to target US vessels in the region.

The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations centre said a bulk carrier had reported being hit 23 nautical miles northeast of Doha by an "unknown projectile".

"There was a small fire that has been extinguished, there are no casualties. There is no reported environmental impact," the agency said.

Iran's Fars news agency reported, citing an unidentified source, that "the bulk carrier that was struck near the coast of Qatar was sailing under the US flag and belonged to the United States".

Kuwait's military says it has responded to a morning drone attack as the Iran war's shaky ceasefire is tested.

"At dawn today, the armed forces detected a number of hostile drones in Kuwaiti airspace, which were dealt with in accordance with established procedures," the general staff of the army said on X, without specifying the origin of the drones.

Israeli strikes killed at least three Palestinians in Gaza on Sunday, including two members of the police force, health officials said, in violence that underscored the fragility of a U.S.-brokered ceasefire.

Medics said an air strike killed one person in the Maghazi refugee camp in the Gaza Strip, while another killed the head of the criminal police force in Khan Younis, Wissam Abdel-Hadi, and his aide, according to Gaza’s interior ministry.

تغطية صحفية | رغم اتفاق السلام..
الاحتلال يغتال مدير مباحث خانيونس «وسام عبد الهادي» ومرافقه «فادي هيكل»، في غارة استهدفت سيارتهما بحي الأمل، ضمن عمليات مستمرة لاستهداف الشرطة والأمن في غزة pic.twitter.com/IDYZJq647l

— شبكة رصد (@RassdNewsN) May 10, 2026

The British military said a ship caught fire Sunday after being hit by an unknown projectile off the coast of Qatar.

The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations Centre said the attack caused a small fire on the bulk carrier, which was extinguished.

The attack happened 23 nautical miles (43 kilometers) northeast of Qatar’s capital, Doha, the UKMTO said.

There were no reported casualties, it said.

It was the latest attack on vessels in the Persian Gulf since a shaky ceasefire stopped fighting between the United States and Iran.

The Iraqi parliament has decided to summon the defence and interior ministers to ask about a report published by The Wall Street Journal that claimed Israel set up a secret base in the Najaf desert to use for its recent war on Iran, an official in Baghdad told The New Arab.

Vessels from countries that comply with U.S. sanctions against Iran will, from now, face difficulties crossing the Strait of Hormuz, Iranian Army Spokesperson Mohammad Akrami Nia said on Sunday according to semi-official Tasnim news agency.

Iranian lawmakers have said they are drafting a bill to formalise Iran's management of the Strait of Hormuz, with clauses including forbidding passage to vessels of "hostile states."

Israel deported on Sunday two foreign activists seized from a Gaza-bound flotilla, in what a rights group representing them described as a "punitive attack" on a civilian mission.

Saif Abu Keshek, a Spanish national of Palestinian origin, and Brazilian Thiago Avila were among dozens of activists aboard a flotilla intercepted by the Israeli navy in international waters off the coast of Greece on April 30.

The pair were seized by Israeli forces and brought to Israel for questioning, while the others were taken to the Greek island of Crete and released.

"Saif Abu Keshek and Thiago Avila, from the provocation flotilla, were deported today from Israel" following an investigation, the Israeli foreign ministry posted on X on Sunday.

Israel would "not allow any breach" of the blockade on Gaza, it added.