What to know about the Iran war today:
o President Trump told Axios the U.S. is only "semi-negotiating" with Iran and signaled he would allow economic pressure to pile on Tehran. Iran set out new demands for reopening the Strait of Hormuz that include compensating Iran for war damage.

o Meanwhile, Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen attacked the government-held port city of Mocha late Sunday night for the second time in 24 hours. Attacks like this threaten to expand the conflict into another strategic shipping route on the Red Sea.

o Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected the U.S.-Gaza peace plan on Sunday and vowed to stay in Gaza until Hamas "genuinely" disarms. Last month, Mr. Trump hailed the plan as "historic."

1m ago
Oil prices rise with no deal in sight with deadlock on deal to reopen Strait of Hormuz
Oil prices gained close to two percent Monday as the United States and Iran remained deadlocked over a deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz to Gulf tanker and cargo traffic.

Crude prices extended gains after Iran's Revolutionary Guards warned Sunday that they would not reopen the Strait of Hormuz until Washington complied with demands including compensation for war damage.

"The Iran conflict remains a key source of concern for markets, with a lasting resolution seeming a distant prospect at this point," said AJ Bell investment director Russ Mould.

Tehran insists on retaining control of the waterway through which about one-fifth of the world's oil and liquefied natural gas passes, and wants to charge tolls for passage, a demand U.S. officials have rejected.

32m ago
Iran says Strait of Hormuz blockade cannot be lifted through diplomacy
Iran said Monday that its blockade of the Strait of Hormuz cannot be lifted through diplomacy.

Asked in a press briefing about a possible resolution to the situation in the strategic waterway, Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Esmail Baghaei said: "Diplomacy is certainly part of our struggle to safeguard our national interests. But when dealing with a side that insists on the use of force, a maritime blockade is not a diplomatic action that we can lift through diplomacy."

"Certainly, you have to use authority and military power, along with diplomacy, to prevent the United States' aggression, and that is what is being done," he added.

Iran and Oman are engaged in negotiations over the strait's future, but Baghaei said it will not reopen until the U.S. lifts its blockade of Iran's ports.

6:38 AM
Iran says Ukraine must "compensate us" for attack on Iranian vessel, has "not been convinced" it was accidental
Iran said Monday Ukraine must "certainly compensate us" for an attack on an Iranian vessel in the Caspian Sea last month, and that it has "not been convinced" the strike was accidental.

After the attack, which killed one sailor, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he didn't want to open a "new front," but that Iran had "already attacked us," referring to Tehran supplying Russia with attack drones.

Ukraine later said the strike had been a mistake.

"We still believe that we have not been convinced by the Ukrainian side's claim that this action was unintentional," Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Esmail Baghaei said Monday. "We heard what they had to say, but given the admission by senior Ukrainian officials that such an attack took place, they must certainly compensate us."

"Naturally, if they do not compensate us, we will seek compensation ourselves," he added.

5:28 AM
Top Iranian officials will only travel to mediator Pakistan under "appropriate conditions," says foreign ministry
Iranian high-level officials will only travel to mediator Pakistan under the "appropriate conditions," the country's foreign ministry spokesperson said Monday.

In recent days, multiple Iranian officials, including the minister of economic affairs and the minister of the interior, have visited Pakistan, which has been playing a mediating role between the U.S. and Iran throughout their conflict, Esmail Baghaei said Monday.

Iran has also received an invitation for Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and top negotiator Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf to visit, he said, "and whenever the appropriate conditions exist, the visit will take place."

"The main focus is bilateral relations," he added, without giving further detail on what could be discussed.

4:50 AM
Iran says Saudi-Pakistan-Turkey pact shows countries in region "cannot rely" on U.S.
Iran says that the joint defense agreement signed by Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Turkey last week "is a sign of a change in the perception of countries in the region" towards the United States.

Middle Eastern countries "have realized that security is not a commodity that can be purchased from false brokers of security," foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baqaei said at his weekly press conference Monday.

"Countries in the region cannot rely on the claim of security provided by the US as in the past," he said.

4:03 AM
Strait of Hormuz reopening dependent on U.S. ending its blockade, says Iranian spokesperson
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei said Monday the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz is dependent on the U.S. ending its blockade on Iran.

In his weekly press briefing, Baghaei gave an update on the ongoing talks with Oman regarding the future administration of the vital waterway.

The spokesperson reiterated that while the discussions with Muscat will determine the future route for shipping traffic to transit, the Strait will not reopen until the U.S. lifts its blockade on Iran.

3:40 AM
Iran insisted it was not engaged in discussion with the U.S.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told journalists on Sunday that Tehran is not engaged in any negotiations with the United States.

"Yes, there is an exchange of messages through intermediaries, but this is not called negotiations," he said.

Araghchi said there was "no possibility" of resuming negotiations until the U.S. "compensates" for its violations of the memorandum of understanding.

2:54 AM
Trump says U.S. is "semi-negotiating" with Iran
President Trump said on Sunday that the U.S. is "low-keying" negotiations with Iran and signaled a willingness to allow economic pressure to mount on the Islamic Republic.

"We are only semi-negotiating with them. We are just watching Iran with its huge inflation and the fact they have no money," Mr. Trump told Axios during a phone interview.

He said Iran is in "very bad shape" and that the U.S. blockade on the Strait of Hormuz has exacerbated the country's economy.

"It will work out. It always works out. It's like a chess game," Mr. Trump said.

2:54 AM
Iran-backed Houthi rebels strike port city on Red Sea twice in 24 hours
Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen attacked the government-held port city of Mocha late Sunday night. It was the second attack on the Red Sea coast city in less than 24 hours.

A Houthi military source told the Houthi-controlled Al-Masirah TV that the attack targeted weapons depots and Saudi troop concentrations.

A statement from the Yemeni Armed Forces posted on X said residential neighborhoods were targeted by ballistic missiles and drones in the attack, and that air defense systems managed to intercept some of the drones.

Drones and missiles were also used during the earlier attack on Sunday. The Yemeni government-allied National Resistance Forces said at least seven people - four troops and three civilians - were killed and 15 civilians were injured in that strike.

Fayed al-Noman, the information ministry's assistant undersecretary, said the attack severely damaged port buildings and piers as well as commercial goods and food supplies. The military later said missiles landed in several areas, including near a television station.

Mocha is a main port under Yemen's internationally recognized government and has been renovated to handle shipping that avoids the Houthi-held port of Hodeida.

The Houthis said they targeted military forces and warehouses.

Yahya Saree, a Houthi military spokesperson, said they also targeted an Aramco refinery in the Saudi city of Jazan with a drone in response to Saudi drones breaching Yemen's airspace over Hajjah and Saada provinces.

2:54 AM
Netanyahu vows no Gaza withdrawal until Hamas disarms
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday rejected a U.S.-backed Gaza peace plan and vowed there would be no military withdrawal until Hamas is "genuinely" disarmed.

On Sunday, after more than a week of gradually escalating criticism of the plan, Netanyahu explicitly opposed it as he faced pushback from his right-wing base ahead of elections.

"Israel rejects the 15-point document," he said in a cabinet meeting, adding that the military "will not make any withdrawal until Hamas is truly disarmed and will continue to thwart threats against our forces and citizens."

2:54 AM
Iran says strait won't open until the U.S. "corrects" behavior
Iran's politburo-like body known as the Supreme National Security Council said the Strait of Hormuz will not open until the United States "corrects its behavior," issuing new demands that could shake up talks on a deal to manage the waterway and traffic on it.

Iran's state broadcaster published the statement by the council's secretary, Mohammad Bagher Zolghadr, who is also a commander in the powerful Revolutionary Guard.

The U.S. must never threaten Iran again, the statement said, and must permanently end the war with Iran and its armed allies in the region. The U.S. must lift the naval blockade of Iranian ports and withdraw its military from the area. It also must "completely compensate" Iran for war damage, lift sanctions and "unconditionally" release frozen assets.

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