Middle East crisis live: ceasefire under pressure and talks in doubt as Iran threatens to ‘retaliate’ to US seizure of ship

Israel’s defence minister, Israel Katz, said his military will use “full force” in Lebanon – even during the ongoing ceasefire – should Israeli troops face any threat from Hezbollah.

Lebanon’s military said meanwhile it has reopened a road and bridge between the city of Nabatieh and Khardali that was damaged by Israeli strikes in the south.

Meanwhile, French president Emmanuel Macron will on Tuesday meet with Lebanese prime minister Nawaf Salam in Paris, his office announced, a day after a French peacekeeper was killed in Lebanon.

Donald Trump’s decision to send US officials to Islamabad for further talks on Monday with Iran just 24 hours after Iran once again closed the strait of Hormuz will signal to Tehran that the strategic waterway remains a bargaining asset beyond parallel, writes Patrick Wintour, the Guardian’s diplomatic editor.

In his analysis, Wintour says that with the strait in effect closed, Trump has clearly examined his array of bad options and decided to try diplomacy again.

Iran’s Mizan news outlet is reporting that Iran has executed two individuals accused of involvement in a “spy network linked to Israel”.

Mizan claimed the two men were accused of belonging to a spy network linked to Mossad and had received training abroad, including in Iraq’s Kurdistan region, Reuters reported.

They had been convicted on charges including “enmity against God” and cooperation with hostile groups, and their death sentences were upheld by the supreme court before being carried out, Mizan reported.

The US has just released some more footage of the encounter with the Iranian flagged vessel, the M/V Touska.

In a post on X, US Central Command said US Marines had departed the amphibious assault ship USS Tripoli by helicopter and rappelled onto the Iranian-flagged vessel.

UK police are investigating whether a string of arson attacks on Jewish sites in London are the work of Iranian proxies, as the country’s chief rabbi said British Jews are facing a campaign of violence and intimidation.

The Metropolitan police says officers are probing fires at synagogues and other sites linked to the Jewish community, as well as an attack on a Persian-language media company.

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A police forensic officer works inside a cordon set up near Kenton United Synagogue in Harrow, north-west London. Photograph: Justin Tallis/AFP/Getty Images

No one has been injured in the blazes, the latest of which caused minor damage to a north London synagogue on Saturday night.

Deputy assistant commissioner Vicki Evans said the attacks had been claimed online by a group calling itself Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamia.

We are aware of public reporting that suggests this group may have links to Iran. As you would expect, we will continue to explore that question as our investigation evolves … I’ve spoken previously about the Iranian regime’s use of criminal proxies, and we’re considering whether this tactic is being used here in London.”

In case you’re just joining us, the US military has released footage of their destroyer USS Spruance firing at an Iranian-flagged tanker, which Iran later vowed it would retaliate for.

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US navy ship fires on vessel trying to get past blockade

US Central Command released a video of the warning message sent by the Spruance to the M/V Touska, saying it shows the moments before the Touska was seized for crossing the US-imposed blockade line in the Gulf of Oman.

“Motor vessel Touska, Motor vessel Touska. Vacate your engine room. Vacate your engine room. We are about to subject you to disabling fire,” can be heard in the video. Later, three rounds are fired, leaving smoke in their wake.

Central Command said its fire targeted the vessel’s engine room before forces seized the ship. It said Touska was headed to the Iranian port of Bandar Abbas and ignored multiple US warnings over six hours to evacuate the engine room. The Spruance then fired, after which Marines boarded and took hold of the ship.

British foreign secretary Yvette Cooper has said that any talks between the US and Iran must result in a toll-free passage for vessels through the strait of Hormuz.

Cooper is travelling to Japan on Sunday on the final leg of a diplomatic mission ahead of the US-Iran ceasefire expiring this week, which she has called a “critical diplomatic moment”.

This is a critical diplomatic moment with the end of the ceasefire looming. Further talks on a lasting settlement are welcome – they must lead to a toll-free strait of Hormuz … it is about the precedent this will set for freedom of navigation all over the world. If the wrong precedent is set, it would be deeply damaging not just for the global economy, but for global security, and that is why it is an argument we must win.”

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UK foreign secretary Yvette Cooper. Photograph: Leon Neal/PA

The strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the world’s oil normally flows, has been closed by Iran as a response to America and Israel’s strikes, and the foreign secretary has said that proposals have been circulating from Tehran to introduce tolls on the crucial waterway once the conflict concludes.

Oil prices surged on a re-escalation of hostilities in the Middle East war after Iran closed the strait of Hormuz at the weekend, just a day after reopening it.

In early trading on Monday, the price of Brent crude climbed 5.8% to $95.64 per barrel. Meanwhile, West Texas Intermediate increased 6.4% to $87.90 per barrel.

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Customers fill up their tanks at a petrol station in Hanover, Germany. Photograph: Odd Andersen/AFP/Getty Images

S+P 500 futures fell around 0.6% and European futures fell 1.1%. But equity benchmarks in Seoul, Taipei and Tokyo shrugged off risks to advance, with Taiwan’s shares touching a record high and the other two not far behind.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 0.8%, Japan’s Nikkei climbed 1% and South Korea’s Kopsi rose 1.4%.

However, one of the strongest notes of caution in markets on Monday came from Australia’s largest business lender, National Australia Bank, which flagged a $500m impairment charge as it expects the war to drive up bad debts.

Despite all the uncertainty, Pakistan appears to be preparing for talks between the US and Iran to proceed.

Two giant US C-17 cargo planes landed at an airbase on Sunday afternoon, carrying security equipment and vehicles in preparation for the US delegation’s arrival, two Pakistani security sources said.

Municipal authorities in the Pakistani capital of Islamabad halted public transport and heavy-goods traffic through the city.

Barbed wire was rolled out near the Serena Hotel, where last week’s talks were held. The hotel told all guests to leave.

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A police officer gestures to a vehicle at a security checkpoint near Faisal Masjid. Photograph: Akhtar Soomro/Reuters

Bahrain’s king has ordered a review of citizenship of those deemed a threat to the island kingdom, amid an intensified crackdown on dissent during the war in the Middle East.

According to the state-run Bahrain News Agency, Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa ordered the government to immediately take measures against “those who have betrayed the nation or undermined its security and stability”, including stripping Bahraini citizenship from those “who don’t deserve it”.

“The situation is still delicate,” the king was quoted as saying.

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Bahrain’s King Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa met with Adm Brad Cooper, the head of US Central Command, on 13 April. Photograph: Bahrain News Agency/Reuters

Bahrain, which hosts the US Navy’s 5th Fleet, has been one of the hardest hit by Iranian missile and drone attacks during the war.

Authorities in the small Shiite-majority island, which is ruled by a Sunni monarchy, have detained many people over the course of the war.

Now in its eighth week, the Iran war has killed more than 5,000 people across several countries.

At least 3,000 people have been killed in Iran, more than 2,290 in Lebanon, 23 in Israel and more than a dozen in Gulf Arab states, the Associated Press has reported. Fifteen Israeli soldiers in Lebanon and 13 US service members throughout the region have also been killed.

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A family mourns a relative killed in the war, at a temporary graveyard in Tyre, south Lebanon. Photograph: Louisa Gouliamaki/Reuters

Just to recap the latest peace talks news, and whether or not Iran will attend negotiations in Pakistan.

State broadcaster IRIB on Sunday cited Iranian sources as saying “there are currently no plans to participate in the next round of Iran-US talks”.

The Fars and Tasnim news agencies had earlier cited anonymous sources as saying “the overall atmosphere cannot be assessed as very positive”, adding that lifting the US blockade was a precondition for negotiations.

President Donald Trump ordered US negotiators to travel to Pakistan on Monday, just days before a ceasefire in the Middle East expires.

Hello and welcome to the Guardian’s continuing coverage of the crisis in the Middle East.

The shaky two-week ceasefire between the US and Iran was under further pressure on Monday morning, after the US said that it had seized an Iranian cargo ship that tried to run its blockade, and Iran said it would retaliate.

Efforts to build a more lasting peace in the region likewise appeared to be on uncertain ground, as Iranian state media said Tehran would not participate in a second round of negotiations that the US had hoped to kick off before the ceasefire expires this week.

Trump had earlier warned Iran that the US would destroy every bridge and power plant in Iran if Tehran rejected his terms, continuing a pattern of such threats throughout the war.

• Iran has reportedly rejected participation in a second round of peace talks with the US in Pakistan, citing “Washington’s excessive demands, unrealistic expectations, constant shifts in stance, repeated contradictions, and the ongoing naval blockade, which it considers a breach of the ceasefire”, according to the official IRNA news agency.

• Hours before Iran’s statement, Trump said his negotiators would arrive in Islamabad on Monday evening. A White House official said the delegation would be led by vice-president JD Vance and include Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner.

• Donald Trump said in a post on Sunday that the US marines have taken custody of a vessel that tried to get past the American blockade on Iranian ports, adding that US forces stopped the ship by blowing a hole in its engine room.

• The US military confirmed that the US destroyer fired “several rounds” towards an Iranian-flagged ship that was attempting to pass through its naval blockade. In a statement released on Sunday, US Central Command said the USS Spruance intercepted the Iranian-flagged Touska ship as it travelled towards an Iranian port “in violation of the US blockade.”

• The US blockade of Iran’s ports is a violation of the ceasefire agreement and is “both unlawful and criminal”, Esmaeil Baqaei, a spokesperson for Iran’s foreign ministry, said on Sunday.

• Oil prices jumped, the US dollar rose and stock futures fell on Monday as investors dealt with conflicting messages about the Iran war and news that the strait of Hormuz was closed again. In early Asian trading Brent crude futures jumped about 7% to $96.85 a barrel and S+P 500 futures fell about 0.9%. The euro was down 0.3% at $1.1735 and the yen eased about 0.2% to 158.95 per dollar.