Iran war updates: Pezeshkian says no negotiation on ballistic missiles

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Here’s a recap of the day’s main developments:

• Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian says Tehran’s ballistic missile programme will not be included in negotiations with the US.
• US President Donald Trump insists Iran has agreed to nuclear inspections, but Tehran has rejected the claim.
• The Republican-controlled US Senate has passed a bill – largely seen as symbolic – that requires Trump to seek congressional approval before resuming hostilities with Iran.
• The UN says a ceasefire in southern Lebanon seems to be “largely holding”, as the fifth round of talks between Lebanon and Israel gets under way in Washington, DC.
• US Secretary of State Marco Rubio says the Strait of Hormuz must be opened for safe and free passage, and that negotiations on Lebanon will be kept separate from any deal with Iran.
• Oman has announced a temporary maritime corridor for ⁠vessels seeking to transit the Strait of Hormuz.

Israel deliberately targeted Palestinian children in Gaza, resulting in genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes, according to a new UN inquiry.

The report says more than 20,000 children were killed between October 2023 and October 2025. Israel rejected the findings.

Learn more in our video report:

Today’s US Senate vote marks the first time that both houses of Congress have adopted a resolution directing a president to remove US armed forces from hostilities under the 1973 War Powers Act.

Washington, DC-based group Just Foreign Policy described the concurrent resolution to end the war in Iran as a “historic antiwar milestone”.

Gregory Meeks, the top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said that the measure was binding, “regardless of what President Trump says”.

“I will explore all legal avenues to ensure that the Executive complies with the will of Congress,” Meeks added in a statement.

The UN has said a ceasefire in southern Lebanon seems to be “largely holding”, but that peacekeepers continue to observe Israeli military “ground and air activities”.

In one incident, UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said that UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) peacekeepers observed “heavy” fire from Israeli military machineguns before three shots were fired by an Israeli military tank near Biyyada yesterday.

UN peacekeepers also observed Israeli military drone activity, “apparently to monitor UNIFIL peacekeepers”, Dujarric said.

The incident near Biyyada came after peacekeepers reported that Sunday was the first day with no exchange of fire since fighting escalated between Israel and Hezbollah on March 2.

This was a sharp drop from Saturday, when peacekeepers detected “multiple airstrikes and 451 firing incidents” attributed to the Israeli military, and “20 trajectories” attributed to Hezbollah.

The UN urged all parties to “adhere fully to the ceasefire and refrain from any escalation, particularly during this delicate period of ongoing negotiations”, Dujarric said.

The US ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, and other Trump allies sought to ease Israeli concerns over tensions with Washington following a US-Iran interim deal and White House criticism of Israel, stressing that US-Israel ties remain strong despite disagreements.

Watch more in our video below:

Palestinian women are living in “catastrophic” conditions in Israel’s Damon Prison, according to a report from the Palestinian Commission of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs, cited by the Wafa news agency.

Eighty-seven Palestinian women, including three from Gaza, are currently being held at the prison.

The commission’s report found that several women suffering from serious health conditions are being denied appropriate treatment, and pregnant women are being denied basic care and necessities.

The commission also found that women are allowed only one hour per day outside their cells for recreation and showering, Wafa reported.

Behind the excitement of the World Cup have been stories of fans being denied visas and Iran’s team being forced to base itself outside the US.

Our colleagues at the TheTake hear from Boima Tucker, director of operations at Africa Is a Country:

The Republican-majority US Senate backed legislation to halt military action against Iran.

The Senate voted 50-48 in favour of the concurrent resolution, which passed the House of Representatives earlier this month.

The vote was nearly along party lines, with four Republicans joining all but one Democrat in favour. Two Republicans did not vote.

The resolution directs Trump to remove US armed forces from hostilities with or against Iran, but is likely to remain merely a symbolic vote.

National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir says the US would be “very naive” if it believes Iran will abandon its nuclear programme, hinting that Tel Aviv “may act alone” against Tehran.

“The Americans are very naive if they think the Iranians will abandon their nuclear program and cancel it, and give up their dreams of destroying Israel,” Ben-Gvir said in an interview with Israel’s Channel 7.

“It is Israel’s responsibility to confront this Iranian threat and act against it alone,” he added.

The far-right minister said “no circumstances” could force Israel to work “according to the dictates of a friend, even if that friend is truly great”.

Differences have emerged between the US and Israel over Tel Aviv’s attacks on Lebanon amid ongoing talks between Washington and Tehran to reach a lasting peace agreement.

Last week, US VP Vance caused an uproar in Israel in a rare public rebuke of the country after he slammed Israeli cabinet ministers for “attacking” Washington, which he described as the “only powerful ally” Israel had left in the world.

Israel does not appear to be happy so far. It’s not a good sign, and I don’t think it takes a diplomatic policy expert to see that it’s a concerning sign when one of the top diplomats involved, on the first day of the fifth round of these talks, is referring to them as a “train wreck”.

With that said, we are getting mixed messages from some of the diplomatic chatter here at the US State Department, with some saying that what’s happening behind closed doors in what is now the fifth round of negotiations between Israel and Lebanon is actually going quite well, that so far, it’s been a positive day.

The governor of Tehran’s central bank says that Iran could use the frozen funds released to it under its deal with Washington to buy US farm products.

But Abdolnaser Hemmati, in a video message, denied US President Donald Trump’s declaration that the agreement obliges Iran to spend the money on American exports.

Hemmati said it was true that the initial $12bn released to Tehran was to be used to buy “essential goods and medicine”, adding that this would free Iran to spend its regular funds on whatever it wants.

Trump said today that Iran’s money would be “used for the purchase of food and medical supplies, exclusively from the United States, including Corn, Wheat, and Soybeans from our great American Farmers.”

But Hemmati reassured his fellow Iranians: “That is not true. There is no such requirement in the memoranda that were signed during the negotiations. There is no obligation to buy from the United States.

“However, we also see no problem with purchasing from the United States if the price and quality of essential goods … are competitive,” he said.

Israeli troops and two Merkava tanks have been spotted in the Syrian countryside near Quneitra city.

This incursion is another violation of the 1974 Disengagement Agreement.

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Nearly 1.7 million displaced Palestinians, about 80 percent of Gaza’s population, are living with acute shortages of water, shelter and basic services, says a newly released assessment of displacement sites from the UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

It added that at least 59,000 individual shelters house more than eight people each, while around 38,500 people are sleeping in the open.

An estimated 600,000 people in the assessed sites lack sufficient access to drinking water, a spokesperson for the UN chief told reporters.

The municipality of Nabatieh announced that repair work has been completed on the main electricity service line feeding the city’s key facilities, including water infrastructure and hospitals.

It also said the “process of pumping and distributing water in all neighbourhoods of the city” will gradually return to normal as per regular schedules, prior to the fighting.

Israeli forces demolished a Palestinian home in Hebron that housed two families, including children and elderly residents, leaving them homeless, Wafa news agency reports.

Israeli forces demolished the two-storey house using heavy machinery while firing tear gas canisters at people gathered at the site, according to Wafa. Israeli authorities also issued stop-work orders for three homes near Bethlehem, saying the structures lacked Israeli-issued building permits.