Trump again threatens Iran infrastructure as he orders negotiators to Pakistan

The New Arab's liv blog on the US-Iran ceasefire and other developments in the region has now ended, and will resume tomorrow at 0900am.

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Thousands of Moroccans gathered in Rabat on Sunday to voice their support for the Palestinian cause and protest a new Israeli law that would allow the execution of Palestinians convicted of deadly attacks.

The crowd of around 5,000 people marched down the capital's Mohammed V Avenue in the centre of town, with many carrying Palestinian and Moroccan flags, AFP journalists reported.

The protest was called by the National Action Group for Palestine, which brings together Islamists from the Justice and Development party and left-wing activists.

Marchers chanted "no to the death penalty" and "no to occupation and Zionism", as well as slogans criticising Israel's conduct of the war in Gaza.

"We're sending our support to Palestinian prisoners who are threatened by this new law on the death penalty," said Aziz El Hannaoui, a member of the organising coalition.

The Israeli law makes the death penalty the default punishment for Palestinians in the Israeli-occupied West Bank found guilty of intentionally carrying out deadly attacks deemed "acts of terrorism" by an Israeli military court.

It also allows the death penalty to be applied in murder cases tried in Israeli criminal courts if the perpetrator intended to "put an end to the existence of the State of Israel".

The Israeli military published for the first time a map of its new deployment line inside Lebanon on Sunday, bringing dozens of mostly abandoned Lebanese villages under its control, days after a ceasefire with Hezbollah took effect.

Stretching east to west, the deployment line on the map runs 5-10 km deep from the border into Lebanese territory, where Israel has said that it plans to create a so-called buffer zone. Israeli forces ‌have destroyed ⁠Lebanese villages in the area, saying their aim is to protect northern Israeli towns from Hezbollah attacks. It has created buffer zones in Syria and in Gaza, where it controls more than half the enclave.

"Five divisions, alongside Israeli Navy forces, are operating simultaneously south of the forward defence line in southern Lebanon in order to dismantle Hezbollah terror infrastructure sites and to prevent direct threats to communities in northern Israel," the military said in a statement accompanying the map.

US Vice President JD Vance will lead the US delegation for talks with Iran in Pakistan, a White House official said Sunday - shortly after President Donald Trump said he would not make the trip.

Early in the day, Trump announced he was sending negotiators to Islamabad for meetings with Tehran about ending the conflict that has raged in the Middle East, with a ceasefire soon set to expire.

The president however said Vance - who led the last round of talks with Tehran in Islamabad, but came away with no deal - would not make the trip, citing security concerns.

"It's only because of security," Trump told ABC News. "JD's great."

But the White House quickly flipped the script, when asked about those comments.

Vance, special envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner will attend the talks, a White House official told AFP on condition of anonymity.

The trio were on hand last time around on 11-12 April.

There is currently no decision by Iran to send a negotiating delegation to Pakistan "as long as there is a naval blockade," Iran's Tasnim news agency reported on Sunday, citing its reporter.

Tui Cruises said on Sunday that its Mein Schiff 4 and Mein Schiff 5 ships have passed through the Strait of Hormuz.

In a statement posted on its website, the company said it had obtained approvals from relevant authorities, under careful consideration of the security situation.

It said the ships would now proceed swiftly to the Mediterranean Sea.

It did not immediately respond to requests for further details. 

Vice President JD Vance will not lead the US delegation for new talks with Iran in Pakistan, President Donald Trump told ABC News on Sunday, citing security concerns - despite top officials suggesting Vance would make the trip.

Earlier in the day, both the US envoy to the United Nations, Mike Waltz, and Energy Secretary Chris Wright had indicated that Vance would lead the round of negotiations in Islamabad from Monday.

"It's only because of security," Trump told ABC News of the reason Vance is not making the trip. "JD's great."

Defence Minister Israel Katz said on Sunday that the military had been instructed to use "full force" in Lebanon - even during the ongoing ceasefire - should Israeli troops face any threat.

"Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and I have instructed the IDF to act with full force, both on the ground and from the air, including during the ceasefire, in order to protect our soldiers in Lebanon from any threat," Katz said at a function in the occupied West Bank.

He said that the military had also been ordered "to remove the houses in the (frontline) villages near the border that served in every respect as Hezbollah terror outposts and threatened Israeli communities," Katz added.

Spain will ask the European Union to end its association agreement with Israel over alleged violations of international law, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said Sunday.

"On Tuesday, Spain's government will present a proposal to the EU that the European Union break off its association agreement with Israel", which has been in place since June 2000, Sanchez told a political rally in Andalusia.

He alleged that Israel "violates international law" and therefore "cannot be a partner of the European Union ... it's as simple as that".

French President Emmanuel Macron will on Tuesday meet with Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam in Paris, the Elysee said, as a fragile 10-day truce holds between Israel and Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah.

The visit highlights Macron's commitment to seeing "full and complete respect for the ceasefire in Lebanon" as well as France's support for Lebanon's "territorial integrity", the president's office said on Sunday.

The announcement of the visit came a day after France blamed Iran-backed Hezbollah for the death of a French peacekeeper in Lebanon.

US President Donald Trump said Iran has committed a "serious violation" of the ceasefire but still thinks he can get a peace deal, ABC News reporter Jonathan Karl posted on X on Sunday.

On the peace deal, Trump told Karl: "It will happen. One way or another. The nice way or the hard way. It’s going to happen. You can quote me," the reporter said in an X post

US President Donald Trump said in a Truth Social post on Sunday that representatives are going to Islamabad, Pakistan, "tomorrow night" for Iran negotiations.

"We’re offering a very fair and reasonable deal, and I hope they take it because, if they don’t, the United States is going to knock out every single power plant, and every single bridge, in Iran," Trump wrote.

Iranian authorities have arrested two foreign nationals in the country's northwest on charges related to the importation of Starlink devices, a local prosecutor said on Sunday, according to Iranian media.

The suspects, arrested in the city of Jolfa in East Azerbaijan province, were involved in "importing satellite internet equipment" and were arrested by security forces, Iran's Tasnim news agency quoted the city's public prosecutor as saying.

It said the two were part of "a network accused of intelligence cooperation with groups linked to the United States and Israel".

Two Iranian nationals were also arrested in connection with the case, including one who "attempted to send information to hostile satellite networks" and another allegedly involved in intelligence activities, it added.

Iran has been largely cut off from the global internet since the start of the war with Israel and the United States on 28 February.

Satellite internet services such as Starlink are officially banned in the country.

Iran will resume international flights on Monday from Mashhad airport in the country's northeast, its civil aviation authority said.

"Permission to operate international passenger flights at Mashhad Airport has been issued, starting tomorrow," state TV said, quoting the Civil Aviation Organisation.

Iranian airports have been closed since the outbreak of war with Israel and the United States on 28 February.

Turkey on Sunday accused Israel of seeking to create a "fait accompli" in Lebanon despite an agreed ceasefire, with the foreign minister denouncing "Israeli expansionism".

"The ongoing Iran-United States negotiations seem to be overshadowing this situation (in Lebanon). Israel appears to be trying to take advantage of this distraction to create a fait accompli," Hakan Fidan said.

On Saturday, Fidan said Israel was attempting to occupy new territories.

Iran’s armed forces turned back two tankers attempting to transit the Strait of Hormuz on Sunday after issuing warnings, semi-official Tasnim news agency reported, saying this came as a result of the continuing US maritime blockade on Iran.

The vessels, sailing under the flags of Botswana and Angola, were forced to change course after what the report described as “unauthorised transit” through the strategic waterway.

Iran now updates and replenishes its missile and drone launchers at a higher speed than it did prior to the war with the US and Israel, the Revolutionary Guards Aerospace Force commander said on Sunday, according to Nournews.

Israel and the U.S. launched attacks on Iran on 28 February, with one of their aims being the neutralization of Iran's missile strike force.

Majid Mousavi's statement was shared alongside an edited video of him inspecting an unspecified underground missile facility. The video also included footage of drones, missiles and launchers inside underground facilities as well as ground missile launches.

Reuters was unable to verify the footage.

Turkey said it remained "optimistic" that a two-week ceasefire between Iran and the United States set to expire on Wednesday would be extended.

"No one wants to see a new war break out when the ceasefire expires next week. We hope ... the parties will extend the ceasefire," Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said on Sunday at the Antalya Diplomacy Forum.

"I hope there'll be an extension. I am optimistic," he said.

The Israeli military claims to have killed at least '150' Hezbollah operatives, including commanders, on the day before the ceasefire in Lebanon took effect, Israeli media is reporting.

The Israeli claimed to have struck some 300 Hezbollah sites, including rocket launchers, command centers, and weapon depots across Lebanon.

The commander of the Bint Jbeil area, Ali Reda Abbas, and other commanders, were reportedly killed, according to the military.

Yemen's Iran-backed Houthis said they are 'on high alert' to confront any 'aggression towards the Yemeni people,' the group's defence minister Major-General Mohammed al-Atifi said, Al Jazeera is reporting.

"The latest round of conflict with the Zionist and American enemy embodied the unity of fronts and proved the effectiveness of the military operations of the jihad and resistance axis against the enemy," his statement said.

The Houthis entered the US-Israel war on Iran in late March by launching multiple long-range ballistic missiles and drone attacks targeting Israel, marking a new front in the conflict.

The group also entered Israel's war on Gaza, attacking ships in the Red Sea and launching rocket fire at Israel in support of the Palestinian enclave.

US President Donald Trump has no justification to deprive Iran of its nuclear rights, the Iranian Student News Agency quoted Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian as saying on Sunday, as Washington and Tehran continue to face disagreements over nuclear issues.

"Trump says Iran cannot make use of its nuclear rights but doesn't say for what crime. Who is he to deprive a nation of its rights?" Pezeshkian was quoted as saying.

Extra security has been deployed in the Pakistani capital of Islamabad, ahead of expected US-Iran talks in the coming days as the two-week ceasefire is set to expire on Wednesday.

More police officers were seen deployed and checkpoints installed around the Serena hotel in Islamabad, the location of the highest-level of talks between Tehran and Washington since 1979.

Kuwait has condemned the attack which killed a French UNIFIL peacekeeper in Lebanon and injured three others.

In a statement, it reaffirmed "its total rejection of targeting peacekeeping forces" and said it constituted "a violation of international law". The statement also expressed "sincere condolences" to France over the loss of its citizen.

The ministry stressed the "necessity of holding accountable those responsible for this attack, renewing its full support for UNIFIL’s efforts to maintain security and stability in southern Lebanon," it added.

The soldier was killed by direct small-arms fire, French armed forces minister Catherine Vautrin said. UNIFIL said the attack occurred in the southern Lebanese village of Ghandouriyeh.

Lebanon's military said Sunday it had reopened a road and bridge damaged by Israeli strikes in the country's south, as a 10-day truce holds between Hezbollah and Israel.

In a statement, the military said it "fully reopened" a road linking the city of Nabatieh with the Khardali area, and had "partially reopened the Burj Rahal-Tyre bridge".

"Work is also underway to rehabilitate the Tayr Falsay-Tyre bridge... following damage caused by the Israeli aggression," the army added.

Israeli strikes on bridges that cross Lebanon's Litani river, which flows around 30 kilometres (20 miles) north of Israel, have largely cut off the area south of the waterway from the rest of Lebanon, according to the army.

On Friday a ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon took effect after the first direct talks between the two sides in decades, bringing a pause to weeks of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah that has killed nearly 2,300 people and displaced more than a million.

Israel's military said on Sunday that a soldier died during combat in southern Lebanon, where a temporary ceasefire had come into effect this week.

"Lidor Porat, aged 31, from Ashdod, a soldier in the 7106th Battalion, 769th Regional Brigade, fell during combat in southern Lebanon," the Israeli military said in a statement, without providing further details.

The total Israeli army death toll in the six-week war between Israel and Hezbollah was now 15, according to an AFP tally based on military figures.