Trump says Iran ceasefire on 'life support' after rejecting peace proposal

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Israeli warplanes launched airstrikes on Monday evening targeting eight towns in southern Lebanon, the country's state news agency reported.

Israel has intensified its attacks on Lebanon in violation of the 16 April ceasefire. The National News Agency has reported strikes on more than 30 locations in the south and east through Monday.

The United Arab Emirates has carried out military strikes on Iran, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday, citing people familiar with the matter.

The strikes, which the UAE has not publicly acknowledged, included an attack on a refinery on Iran's Lavan Island in the Persian Gulf, WSJ said, adding that the attack took place in early April.

Reuters could not immediately verify the report.

European Union foreign ministers agreed on Monday to lift sanctions on Syria's interior and defense ministers, EU's foreign chief Kaja Kallas said.

Earlier on Monday, the EU agreed to restore trade ties with Syria, reinstating a cooperation agreement that had been suspended in 2011 in response to the Assad regime's crackdown on pro-democracy protesters.

The United States on Monday imposed sanctions on 12 individuals and entities that it said facilitated the sale and shipment of Iranian oil to China, days ahead of US President Donald Trump's visit to Beijing.

"The [Iranian Revolutionary Guard] relies on front companies in permissive economic jurisdictions to obfuscate its role in oil sales and funnel the revenue to the Iranian regime," read a statement from the US Treasury, which named several individuals based in Iran, and companies based in the United Arab Emirates and Hong Kong, as among those being punished.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused the European Union of "moral bankruptcy" on Monday after the bloc imposed sanctions on some Israeli settler organisations over violence against Palestinians.

"European politicians are coerced by their radical constituencies but sanctioning Jews for living in Judea and Samaria is unacceptable," Netanyahu's office said, using the biblical term for the occupied West Bank used by settlers and Israeli politicians.

"The European Union’s attempts to sanction Israeli civilians is a further sign of weakness and will not succeed," it added.

Iran's Parliament Speaker Mohammed Ghalibaf said Monday that Iran's military will "deliver a well-deserved response to any aggression".

His comments came after US President Trump reiterated threats against the country and said the ceasefire agreement is on "life support".

"Mistaken strategy and mistaken decisions will always lead to mistaken results ... We are prepared for all options; they will be surprised," Ghalibaf wrote on X.
 

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky on Monday discussed with the Iran war and securing Ukrainians' release from Russian captivity with UAE President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan.

Ukraine has offered its drone expertise to the UAE and other Middle Eastern countries to counter Iranian attacks.

"I was glad to hear that Ukrainian expertise is truly helping to build reliable protection for lives. We discussed continuing this work," Zelensky said on X. "I am grateful to the UAE that our agreements are being implemented on the basis of reciprocity and that Ukraine is also receiving the support it needs, including in the energy sector," he added.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit the United Arab Emirates on Friday to kick off a five-country tour in the Middle East and Europe, India's foreign ministry said on Monday.

The prime minister's visit to the region comes India comes under economic pressure from the Iran war, which has triggered energy shortages and strained its foreign currency reserves.

It will be his first trip to the UAE since the two countries signed a major investment and defence pact in January.

Modi will also visit the Netherlands, Sweden, Norway and Italy during the 15-20 May tour.

Israel's far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir denounced the European Union as "antisemitic" on Monday after the bloc imposed sanctions on Israeli settlers over violence against Palestinians.

"To expect the antisemitic union to make a moral decision is like expecting the sun to rise in the west. While our enemies perpetrate attacks and murder Jews, the European Union is trying to tie the hands of those who defend themselves," Ben Gvir posted on X.

"The settlement enterprise will not be deterred. We will continue to build, to plant, to defend, and to settle throughout the entire land of Israel."

US President Donald Trump said Monday he is still aiming for "complete victory" in the war against Iran amid growing pressure to reach a peace deal.

"We're going to have a complete victory," Trump told reporters, adding that Iran thinks "I'll get tired of this. I'll get bored, or I'll have some pressure. But there's no pressure."

President Donald Trump called Iran's response to a U.S. peace proposal a "stupid proposal" on Monday on his Truth Social platform, after calling it unacceptable a day earlier.

Trump's swift rejection of Iran's response has fueled concerns that ​the 10-week-old conflict will drag on and continue to paralyze shipping through the Strait of Hormuz. 

The Israeli military said on Monday it had sentenced two soldiers to imprisonment after one of them was photographed placing a cigarette in the mouth of a statue of the Virgin Mary in southern Lebanon.

An image widely shared online last week showed an Israeli soldier with his arm around the statue of the mother of Christ while holding a cigarette up to her mouth.

According to the military, the incident took place several weeks ago in southern Lebanon and was investigated by commanders on the ground.

"At the conclusion of the investigation, the soldier documented carrying out the act was sentenced to 21 days of military prison, and the soldier who filmed the incident was sentenced to 14 days of military prison," the military said on Monday.

In a separate post on X, military spokeswoman Lieutenant Colonel Ariella Mazor said: "The IDF views the incident with utmost severity and emphasises that the conduct of the soldier completely deviates from the values expected of its personnel."

Iran has agreed to discuss its nuclear programme within 30 days as part of a 14-point response delivered to Washington through Pakistani mediators, sources close to the US-Iran negotiations told The New Arab late on Sunday.

The sources said Tehran had shown "significant flexibility" by agreeing to discuss the nuclear file within a month, an issue it had previously refused to address at this stage of negotiations, insisting instead that it be postponed to later phases.

Read more by clicking on the link below.

Lebanon's president has urged the United States to put pressure on Israel to cease fire and stop home demolitions in south Lebanon, the presidency said on Monday, as the death toll from Israeli attacks rose.

Lebanon's health ministry said 74 people had been killed by Israeli strikes in the last three days despite a truce announced last month in fighting between Hezbollah and the Israeli military, a spokesperson said.

Tehran said it had demanded security for Lebanon as part of a proposal for ending the wider war with the U.S. and reopening the Strait of Hormuz. U.S. President Donald Trump has rejected Iran's proposal.

The Hezbollah-Israel conflict reignited on 2 March when the group opened fire at Israel in support of Tehran.

Israeli attacks and hostilities have continued since Trump declared a ceasefire on 16 April, mostly in south Lebanon, where Israel is occupying a self-declared security zone, saying it aims to guard against Hezbollah attacks.

The Lebanese health ministry spokesperson said the victims since Saturday had been killed in various Israeli strikes, including one that killed at least seven people in the southern town of Saksakiyeh.

European Union foreign ministers reached an agreement on Monday on new sanctions targeting violent Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank, as well as leading Hamas figures, European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said.

The sanctions package, which targetsthree settlers and four settler organisations whose identities have yet to be publicly disclosed,had been blocked for months by the previous Hungarian government which lost an election last month.

European governments have raised concern about a rise in reports of settler violence against Palestinians in the West Bank.

"It was high time we move from deadlock to delivery," Kallas said in a post on X. "Extremisms and violence carry consequences," she added.

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said on X the EU had "chosen, in an arbitrary and political manner, to impose sanctions on Israeli citizens and entities because of their political views and without any basis."

"Equally outrageous is the unacceptable comparison the European Union has chosen to make between Israeli citizens and Hamas terrorists. This is a completely distorted moral equivalence," he added.

Tens of millions of people could face hunger and 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 told AFP on Monday.

"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 (UNOPS) and leader of the task force, told AFP in an interview.

"We may witness a crisis that will force 45 million more people into hunger and starvation."

US President Donald Trump has threatened to launch an expanded military operation against Iran dubbed "Project Freedom Plus" after rejecting Tehran's response to a US proposal aimed at ending the war.

Here, The New Arab takes a deeper look at what it entails:

Israel's onslaught on Lebanon has killed at least 2,869 people since 2 March, the country's health ministry said on Monday. 

At least 8,730 others have been wounded in the same time frame. 

Iran's oil sector has faced issues since the start of a U.S. maritime blockade of Iranian ports, but the oil ministry has taken countermeasures, Iran's Oil Minister Mohsen Paknejad said on Monday on state TV, without specifying the measures.

"During the 40 days of war, our production didn't decrease, and the export process was favourable," Paknejad said. "Naturally, in the days following the (U.S.) blockade, we have faced challenges but measures were taken and this process continues," he said, adding "the enemy is full of delusions."

Oil prices rose on Monday after US President Donald Trump rejected Iran's terms for ending the war in the Middle East, while stocks were mixed.

Trump's repudiation of Iran's response to his latest peace proposal raised the likelihood of further violence and disruptions to oil supplies through the Strait of Hormuz.

"President Trump's swift rejection of these counter-demands underscores the wide gulf between both sides, pointing to a risk of prolonged uncertainty rather than rapid de-escalation," said Lloyd Chan at Japanese bank MUFG.

"For oil markets, this suggests a persistent geopolitical risk premium as Hormuz disruptions drag on," Chan said.

Oil came off earlier highs, and Asian stocks were mixed, with Tokyo closing half a percent lower and Hong Kong little changed, but Seoul was up 4.3 percent, boosted by tech stocks.

In Tokyo, Nintendo shares plunged almost 10 percent after the Japanese gaming giant warned Friday of lower profits this year and said it would hike the price of its Switch 2 console.

In Europe, Frankfurt and Paris started lower, but London eked out early gains.

Qatar's prime minister told Iran's top diplomat Abbas Araghchi in a phone call that using the Strait of Hormuz as a "pressure card" will only deepen the Middle East crisis, the Qatari foreign ministry said Sunday.

Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani "stressed that freedom of navigation is a firmly established principle that is not open to compromise, and that closing the Strait of Hormuz or using it as a pressure card only serves to deepen the crisis", the ministry said in a statement.

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan will visit Qatar on Tuesday for talks on the Iran war, its impact on the Gulf and efforts to ensure navigational safety in the Strait of Hormuz, a Turkish diplomatic source said on Monday.

NATO member Turkey, which neighbours Iran, has been in close contact with the United States, Iran and mediator Pakistan since the start of the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran. It has called for an end to the conflict, while condemning attacks on Iran and criticising Tehran's strikes on Gulf states as unacceptable.

Fidan, who last visited Doha in March and held two separate calls with Iran's foreign minister at the weekend, will repeat Turkey's support for its ally Qatar against attacks from Iran, the source said.

He will voice Ankara's expectation for navigational safety to be ensured on the Strait of Hormuz and point to the critical need of doing so for regional security and economic stability, the source said.

Fidan is expected to "state that permanently resolving the conflict in the Gulf is the most urgent priority and exchange views on diplomatic initiatives to achieve this," the source added.

Ankara and Doha have strong ties and cooperate on a wide range of issues, from energy to defence. Turkey has a military base in Qatar and has been in negotiations with Doha about the procurement of Eurofighter Typhoon fighter jets, as part of an agreement with Britain.

The European Council said on Monday it had adopted a decision terminating the partial suspension of the cooperation agreement between the European Economic Community and the Syrian Arab Republic, thereby restoring fuller trade ties with Syria.

It said the move marked an important step towards strengthening bilateral relations between the European Union and Syria.

The decision "sends a clear political signal of the EU’s commitment to re-engage with Syria and support its economic recovery," the European Council added in a statement.

Israel's military said Monday that one of its soldiers had died in fighting near the border with Lebanon, bringing its losses to 18 personnel since the war with Hezbollah began in early March.

Sergeant Major Alexander Glovanyov, 47, "fell during combat near the Israel-Lebanon border", the military said.

He was killed on Sunday.

Israel kept up strikes on south Lebanon on Sunday despite a ceasefire, Lebanese state media reported, with authorities saying two paramedics from the Islamic Health Committee were killed.

The state-run National News Agency (NNA) reported Israeli airstrikes on more than 20 locations, including two south Lebanon villages where the Israeli army had warned residents to evacuate, saying it would act against Hezbollah there.

Israel has expanded its strikes on Lebanon in recent days, and the NNA also reported Israeli artillery shelling on several other locations in the south on Sunday.

Iran said Monday it had hanged a man convicted of spying for Israel and the United States, the latest in a wave of executions during the war with the two foes.

"Erfan Shakourzadeh... was hanged for collaborating with the US intelligence service and the Mossad spy service," the judiciary's Mizan Online website said.

It did not specify when he was executed or when he was arrested, but said he worked at one of Iran's "scientific organisations active in the satellite field".

Iran has long faced Western accusations that its satellite programme is being used to advance ballistic missile capabilities.

Mizan said Shakourzadeh had "knowingly and willingly" passed classified information to the CIA and Mossad.

Iran is the world's second-most prolific executioner after China, according to rights groups.

The European Union was expected Monday to agree on new sanctions on Israeli settlers over violence against Palestinians, the bloc's top diplomat said, as a change of government in Hungary ends months of blockage.

"I expect political agreement on the sanctions on violent settlers, hopefully we will get there," EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said ahead of a meeting of the bloc's foreign ministers.

The move in response to rising violence and settlement expansion in the Israeli-occupied West Bank had been stalled by former Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orban.

But nationalist leader and Israel ally's ouster by rival Peter Magyar now appears to have paved the way for the veto to be lifted.

EU officials said seven settlers or settler organisations were set to be blacklisted. The bloc was also set to sanction representatives from Hamas.

The occupied West Bank has been gripped by almost daily violence since the start of the Gaza war in October 2023, involving both Israeli troops and settlers.