Fifth round of Lebanon-Israel talks resume as Trump announces end to Hormuz blockade

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Tuesday that Iran would not be able to charge tolls in the Strait of Hormuz as part of any final agreement with the US, saying that such an arragement would be contrary to international law.

Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem on Tuesday demanded a full, scheduled withdrawal of Israeli troops from Lebanon to make way for a Lebanese army deployment in the south following the US-Iran deal to end the US-Israeli war on Iran.

"We now have a ceasefire. The withdrawal must take place according to a timetable. Israel has no choice but to fully withdraw from all Lebanese territory, without retaining an inch," Qassem said in a televised address. "Israel withdraws and the Lebanese army deploys exclusively south of the Litani River."

The United States has announced a new mechanism to monitor the ceasefire in Lebanon, as Israeli forces killed two civilians in south Lebanon on Tuesday and wounded others, which comes as Lebanese and Israeli officials held a fifth round of talks in Washington aimed at preventing a renewed escalation along the border.

As the talks kicked off, Lebanon's President Joseph Aoun slammed Israel's invasion and occupation of the south of the country and rejected any foreign interference, hinting at Iran.

"We accept nothing less than an end to the Israeli occupation and at the same time, the fall of foreign tutelage, because our only option is our national sovereignty and our sole wager is on the Lebanese state," Aoun said.

He added that he hoped the new round of talks would help achieve "what we seek for the good of our nation and people" and "the full restoration of Lebanon's sovereignty over every grain of its soil".

Aoun's comments come as Israel's killings mark further violations of the ceasefire, despite a two-day lull that was reported to be the longest pause in hostilities since the conflict intensified in March.

You can read more about the new ceasefire mechanism in Lebanon below:

Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz ​Sharif said on Tuesday there should be no double standards regarding ballistic missiles, saying that Iran had the same right to have them as other countries.

Sharif also told reporters that there was no mention of ballistic missiles in the memorandum of understanding agreed between Iran and the United States because the issue was never on the table in those discussions.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio landed in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday, the first stop on a tour of the Gulf states hit hard by Iran's retaliatory campaign, an AFP journalist said.

Rubio is to meet Emirati leaders on Wednesday, before heading to Kuwait following by Bahrain for a meeting of the Gulf Cooperation Council, as he seeks to reassure US allies after the signing of an initial US-Iran deal last week.Rubio lands in UAE on first leg of Gulf tour

The UN's International Maritime Organization said Tuesday it will begin evacuating more than 11,000 sailors stranded in the Gulf due to the US-Israeli war on Iran.

"This large-scale operation will be carried out in close cooperation with Iran, Oman, all other coastal States in the region, the United States and the maritime industry," IMO secretary-general Arsenio Dominguez said in a statement.

"We have secured the necessary safety guarantees and have thoroughly verified the conditions for safe navigation to support these operations," he added.

US Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio told Lebanese President Joseph Aoun in a call on Tuesday that the US was following up on understandings reached in Switzerland, including plans to consolidate a ceasefire in Lebanon.

The statement, issued as Lebanon and Israel began a new round of talks in Washington, added that arrangements for a mechanism to firm up the ceasefire and monitor its implementation were still being discussed.

Denmark will take part in the international maritime mission set up by France and Britain to help re-open the Strait of Hormuz, the Danish government said on Tuesday.

"This will involve a contribution including a group of interpreters, drone capabilities, staff officers as well as the possibility of mobilising expertise in the cyber domain," Defence Minister Jeppe Bruus told reporters, declining to provide further details on the size of the contribution.

The aim is "to strengthen maritime security and guarantee freedom of navigation in and around the Strait of Hormuz and the Red Sea," according to a bill submitted to the Danish parliament which is expected to pass before the end of the week.

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun on Tuesday rejected Israel's occupation of south Lebanon and other foreign interference, alluding to Iran, as a fifth round of Israel-Lebanon talks began in Washington.

"We accept nothing less than an end to the Israeli occupation and at the same time, the fall of foreign tutelage, because our only option is our national sovereignty and our sole wager is on the Lebanese state," Aoun said, according to his office.

He also expressed hope that the new round of talks would be "decisive along the path of achieving what we seek for the good of our nation and people", namely "the full restoration of Lebanon's sovereignty over every grain of its soil".

A limited number of vessels are being allowed to pass through the Strait of Hormuz each day under coordination with Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Navy, an Iranian military source told Fars news agency on Tuesday.

The source said the number of authorised vessels varies daily depending on conditions, after what they described as a period in which the strait had been closed and no transit permits issued due to "hostile actions by Israel and alleged U.S. violations of a ceasefire agreement".

Irani announced Tuesday three days of public holidays in the capital Tehran for late supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's funeral ceremonies, state television reported.

"The farewell ceremony and prayers for the martyred leader's body will be held on Saturday and Sunday, July 4th and 5th, in Tehran's Grand Mosalla, and the funeral will be held on Monday, July 6th, and Tehran province will be off for these three days," IRGC commander Hassan Hassanzadeh, in charge of the funeral ceremonies, was quoted as saying.

Earlier, state media said Tehran would be on holiday on July 4 and 5, while the whole country will follow suit on July 6.

US President Donald Trump said 19 millions barrels of oil flowed out of the Strait of Hormuz on Monday, and pointed to falling oil prices in a social media post on Tuesday.

Oman and Iran will study the future administration of the Strait of Hormuz and the costs to be charged for services provided, they said in a joint statement Tuesday, insisting on sovereignty over the vital waterway.

The two countries emphasised "their sovereignty and sovereign rights over their territorial waters in the Strait of Hormuz" and "agreed to maintain their dialogue on this issue through a joint working group between the two foreign ministries in order to reach agreement on the future administration of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz and the services that will be provided in this regard and the costs associated with them in accordance with international standards".

The statement followed a high-level meeting between their top diplomats in Muscat, where Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and chief negotiator Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf also met Oman's Sultan Haitham bin Tariq.

US President Donald Trump insisted on Tuesday that Iran has agreed to the allow nuclear inspections long into the future, despite statements from Iran that it not done so.

Trump also said in an early morning social media post that the United States would leave ships in the Strait of Hormuz in case it becomes necessary to reimpose its blockade of Iranian ports.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi arrived in Islamabad on Tuesday, Iran's state media reported, as President Masoud Pezeshkian also travelled to Pakistan, which acts as a mediator in talks between Tehran and Washington.

Upon their arrival in Islamabad, the pair met with Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, according to state news agency IRNA.

The Iranian foreign minister had previously been in Oman alongside Iran's chief negotiator, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, as part of diplomatic efforts.

Lebanon's Hezbollah said Israeli forces opened fire on civilians in southern Lebanon on Tuesday and that the incident was a violation of a ceasefire agreement between the two sides.

The Iran-backed Lebanese group condemned the shooting, which it said had killed two people and injured others, but did not say whether it would take retaliatory action.

Israeli gunfire in southern Lebanon killed a second person, following reports that one had been killed in Israeli fire earlier.

Israeli soldiers opened fire at a group of people near a bulldozer clearing a road in the al-Deir neighbourhood of Nabatieh al-Fawqa in southern Lebanon, Lebanon's state news agency NNA reported.

Iraq has further increased output from its southern oilfields to around 2.1 million barrels per day as more tankers line up to load crude from the country's export terminals on the Gulf, two Iraqi oil officials told Reuters on Tuesday.

One person was killed by Israeli gunfire in southern Lebanon on Tuesday, Lebanon's Civil Defence and a security source said, in the latest deadly incident to occur despite a US-brokered ceasefire last week between Israel and armed group Hezbollah.

Israeli soldiers opened fire at a group of people near a bulldozer clearing a road in the al-Deir neighbourhood of Nabatieh al-Fawqa in southern Lebanon, Lebanon's state news agency NNA reported.

Dozens of ships managed to transit the Strait of Hormuz over the weekend, according to Al Jazeera, citing data analytics company Kpler, which said that 71 ships made the crossing through the weekend period.

Israel is deliberately targeting Palestinian children in what has become a key factor in an ongoing "genocide" in Gaza, United Nations investigators charged on Tuesday.

The UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry said it had found evidence that "Palestinian children have been deliberately targeted and killed by Israeli security forces", which it called a key factor in establishing "the genocidal intent of the Israeli authorities and security forces to destroy the larger Palestinian group in Gaza".

Iran's ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva on Tuesday reported good progress in negotiations between the United States and Iran during peace deal talks in Switzerland.

"Our colleagues continue to discuss in very good talks yesterday at technical level," said Ali Bahreini, adding that two working groups will be established within the coming days to discuss the removal of sanctions against Iran, and issues related to Iranian nuclear activities.

Israel's far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has told Israeli Army Radio that the Israeli army will not withdraw from southern Lebanon "for as long as Hezbollah exists in Lebanon", according to the Times of Israel.

"There will be no Israeli withdrawal from the security zone in Lebanon, including the Beaufort Ridge, as long as Hezbollah exists in Lebanon," he said.

"It must be dismantled, it must not be part of the Lebanese government, and it must not have any military force or ability to threaten the State of Israel. Only then will it be possible to discuss new security arrangements," he added.

Iran has neither held a meeting with International Atomic Energy Agency chief Rafael Grossi in Switzerland nor plans for the UN nuclear watchdog to inspect Iran's damaged nuclear facilities, a foreign ministry spokesperson said on Tuesday.

Esmaeil Baghaei said there was no protocol for such inspections, adding that Iran would continue its current obligations as a member of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and under its safeguards agreement with the IAEA.

Technical talks between Iran and the United States in Switzerland have concluded, with negotiating groups to be set up on nuclear issues and sanctions, Iran's state media reported Tuesday.

The negotiators "decided that four working groups would be established: Sanctions Termination, Nuclear Affairs, Reconstruction and Economic Development, and Monitoring and Implementation," said IRNA state news agency, quoting Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi.