Iran-US war latest: US forces fire at ship ‘running Hormuz blockade’ while Israel intensifies war in Lebanon – UK Times

Israeli troops have captured the Beaufort castle in southern Lebanon in their deepest incursion into the country in more than 25 years.

The Crusader-era fortress sits on a strategic hilltop near Nabatiyeh, where Israeli forces and Hezbollah fighters have clashed for days amid heavy airstrikes.

The Israeli military said troops launched an operation in the Beaufort Ridge and nearby Suluki valley to dismantle Hezbollah infrastructure and remove “direct threats to Israeli civilians”. It added that the army was prepared “to expand the operation if needed”.

Israeli forces have advanced beyond the Litani River and are now about 5km from Nabatiyeh, one of southern Lebanon’s main cities, despite a ceasefire that officially took effect on 17 April.

Lebanese prime minister Nawaf Salam has accused Israel of escalating its offensive in southern Lebanon despite a ceasefire that officially came into force last month.

Speaking in a televised address on Saturday, Salam said Israel was pursuing a “scorched-earth policy and collective punishment” by “destroying towns and villages, and forcing their inhabitants into exile”.

“This will bring neither security nor stability” to Israel, he said.

Salam also warned Lebanon was facing a “dangerous” escalation and called for “a swift and real ceasefire”.

Salam spoke after Israeli forces pushed deeper into southern Lebanon and issued new evacuation warnings for villages near the border, while airstrikes continued across parts of the south despite the April ceasefire.

Qatar has said it is against permanent transit fees in the Strait of Hormuz but is open to temporary tolls if they help restore normal shipping through the key waterway.

Speaking at the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore on Saturday, Qatar’s deputy prime minister Sheikh Saoud bin Abdulrahman Al Thani said: “Qatar and also the partners in the Gulf stated very clearly that charging fees will always impact the consumer, so we are against this.”

“But for certain times that they say they will use it for mine-clearing or some usage of the fees for a temporary time, this is something that is negotiable,” he added.

The comments came amid reports that Iran and Oman have discussed introducing a permanent toll system in the strait, which Iran effectively closed after US-Israeli strikes began in February.

With summer around the corner, soaring prices and other complications from the war with Iran are straining the tourism-dependent economies of countries in Southeast Asia, including Thailand and Vietnam.

The region’s peak tourist summer season is at risk as elevated jet fuel costs coupled with ceasefire uncertainties prompt flight cancellations and higher ticket prices.

Tourism in Asia has yet to fully recover from the COVID-19 pandemic. Now, many countries are coping with the war’s repercussions for global energy supplies and prices, which hit Asia first and hardest. Some families are pulling back on travel as visiting gas stations and grocery stores gets more expensive worldwide. Crowds have thinned at some places once synonymous with travel.

Donald Trump has said the US “shouldn’t have been in Iran” while defending strikes on the country and claiming they prevented Tehran from obtaining a nuclear weapon.

Speaking to Fox News, Trump compared the conflict to the Iraq war and said: “We did so bad. It was such a foolish thing what we did. We shouldn’t have been there in the first place.”

“We shouldn’t have been in Iran, but Iran has the capability,” he added. “If we didn’t hit them with B-2 bombers nine months ago, they would have a nuclear weapon right now and will be a whole different story. You probably wouldn’t have had Israel, but you probably wouldn’t have had a Middle East, and then where do they go from there?”

Trump also claimed the US had intentionally avoided targeting much of Iran’s military leadership.

“Their military, we sort of left it alone because we think that their military is somewhat moderate,” he said. “We’ve taken different forms of leadership out. We’ve actually left their military alone.”

US defence secretary Pete Hegseth said he was “quite confident” Donald Trump would secure an agreement with Iran, saying negotiations were moving in Washington’s favour.

Speaking to reporters at the Shangri-La Dialogue defence summit in Singapore, Hegseth said Iran “knows very, very clearly what our expectations are”.

“They’re coming in our direction and the talks have been productive,” he said. “They know where it needs to go, and I’m quite confident with our president who makes nothing but great deals.”

Hegseth also repeated that Trump would only agree to terms he considered beneficial “for our country and the world”.

“You saw it in how he’s been talking about it publicly. The goalposts haven’t shifted at all. The closer they come to that reality, the closer we’re going to get to that kind of a deal.”

He added that concerns over the Strait of Hormuz had been raised repeatedly during talks with allies at the summit, but said the US had reassured partners over the situation.

After 88 days of a widespread internet shutdown in Iran, the Islamic Republic partially restored access for some users this week.

State media described the move as the “return of the internet”, but an investigation by Independent Persian, global data and reports sent to us from across Iran suggest that users still only have limited, slow and unstable access.

Donald Trump has reportedly asked for changes to the proposed Iran agreement negotiated by US envoys, triggering another round of talks with Tehran.

The revisions focus on Tehran’s nuclear programme, its enriched uranium stockpile, and the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, according to US officials cited by Axios. One official said Trump wanted more detail on “how the US gets the material and the timing”, referring to Iran’s enriched uranium stockpile.

The proposed memorandum of understanding would reportedly extend the ceasefire by 60 days and create a framework for negotiations over Iran’s nuclear programme.

US officials told Axios they expect Tehran to respond within three days. “At the turn of the week, we hope to have something,” a senior administration official said.

The US military said it disabled a cargo ship attempting to breach its blockade of Iranian ports by firing a missile into the vessel’s engine room.

US Central Command said the Gambia-flagged cargo ship Lian Star ignored more than 20 warnings overnight as it attempted to enter an Iranian port. A US official said the ship was left adrift in the Gulf of Oman and had not been boarded by American forces.

The US military said it has now stopped six ships attempting to breach the blockade, while redirecting another 116 vessels.

Washington imposed the blockade on 17 April after Iran effectively shut the Strait of Hormuz during the war. A ceasefire has held since 7 April, but Donald Trump has yet to decide whether to approve a proposed deal to extend it by another 60 days.