Iran sends no delegation to US talks before truce expires

With the clock ticking down on a fragile pause in fighting, Iran said it has yet to dispatch a delegation for fresh peace talks with the United States, even as the temporary ceasefire that halted the Middle East war edged toward expiry.

Tehran and Washington have traded blame over alleged violations of the two-week truce, which is due to end by tomorrow, deepening doubts over whether diplomacy can prevent the conflict from flaring again.

At the first round of talks in Pakistan earlier this month — the most senior contacts between the adversaries since the Islamic republic was established in 1979 — analysts saw the rank of the negotiators as a sign both sides might be prepared to reach an accord.

Those negotiations, however, ended without a breakthrough. Since then, Iran has once again shut the Strait of Hormuz, and US President Donald Trump has announced a blockade of Iranian ports.

Mr Trump has accused Iran of attacking ships along the vital trade corridor it has constricted, while Tehran says the US blockade and the seizure of a vessel amounted to a breach of the ceasefire agreement.

Iranian officials say they believe the Trump administration has negotiated in bad faith and refused to retreat from what Tehran described as excessive demands.

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Iran says will show ‘new cards’ on battlefield if conflict resumes

The speaker of Iran’s parliament said the country would not take part in talks “under the shadow of threats” from the US president and warned it would “show new cards on the battlefield” if the fighting restarted.

But residents of the Iranian capital who spoke to AFP reporters based in Paris said daily life has continued to deteriorate, battered both by the government and by the fallout from war.

“This cursed ceasefire has broken us. There is no light at the end of the tunnel,” said Saghar, 39. “The situation is terrible. I don’t know anyone around me who is doing well.”

Mr Trump told PBS News that Iran was “supposed to be there” for the talks in Pakistan.

“We agreed to be there,” he said, warning that if the ceasefire lapsed “then lots of bombs start going off”.

He also told Bloomberg News that it was “highly unlikely” he would prolong the two-week truce.

By its original start time, the ceasefire would in theory run out overnight tonight, Tehran time, though in his remarks to Bloomberg, Trump suggested it would end a day later, tomorrow evening Washington time.

Oil prices fell while most stocks rose on lingering hopes for a deal to end the US-Iran war

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards warned they would target any vessel trying to move through the Strait of Hormuz without permission.

In peacetime, about 120 ships pass through the waterway each day, according to Lloyd’s List, the shipping intelligence publication.

Lloyd’s List also reported that more than 20 Iranian so-called “shadow vessels” had moved beyond the US blockade.

In one of several posts on his Truth Social platform, Mr Trump said the blockade was “absolutely destroying” Iran and declared it would remain in place “until there is a ‘DEAL’,” as Washington presses Tehran for concessions over its disputed nuclear programme.

Iranian ‘mosquito fleet’ may keep Strait of Hormuz closed

Iran’s “mosquito fleet” — a guerrilla-style maritime force that relies on speedboats and other small craft — could keep the Strait of Hormuz shut for weeks or even months, according to a former Head of the Royal Navy Strategic Studies Centre.

Speaking on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland, Kevin Rowlands said: “It’s a guerrilla force operating on water or near the water and having a maritime effect.

“It’s a combination of asymmetric capabilities, small craft. They may use missiles, they may use guns, they may use mines. They use them pretty effectively by just overwhelming and confusing those they’re fighting against.”

It is estimated that Iran’s mosquito fleet could keep the Strait of Hormuz blocked for months

Mr Rowlands, who edits the Royal United Services Institute Journal, said that while the US and Israel possess overwhelming military superiority, “that’s designed mainly to fight against peer competitors, so fight against the same kind of threat that they would pose themselves”.

He said the mosquito fleet deploys numerous types of fast attack craft — essentially speedboats that can dart out from behind an island or use commercial shipping as cover.

“They have small sort of corvette size, very small, what you may think looks a bit like a warship, but very small. They have some of those. They even have people moving around on jet skis,” he said.

“It’s a range of small, difficult to detect, difficult to engage craft, and they could have easily double figures of these things, or perhaps into three figures,” he said.

“I think this could be sustained for definitely weeks, probably months, and maybe even longer,” he added.

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Israel have carried out strikes on Lebanon since Hezbollah entered the war in early March

Second round of Israel-Lebanon talks to be held on Thursday

Hezbollah said it will stage mass funerals in south Lebanon today for 44 fighters killed during more than six weeks of war with Israel.

Israel has launched strikes across Lebanon and sent troops into the country’s south after Hezbollah joined the Middle East war in support of Iran on 2 March.

The funerals come after Israel and Lebanon entered a ten-day ceasefire last Friday, announced by US President Donald Trump.

An Arabic-language spokesperson for the Israeli military yesterday warned residents in southern Lebanon not to go back to homes they had previously been told to leave, saying it regarded Hezbollah activity in the area as a violation of the ceasefire.

Israel and Lebanon remain in US-mediated talks to extend the current truce, and Washington said last night it would host a second round of negotiations on Thursday.

“We will continue to facilitate direct, good-faith discussions between the two governments,” an official said.

Talks are unfolding with the separate two-week ceasefire between the US and Iran hanging over them, as that truce is set to expire overnight tonight with no new agreement yet in place.