Iran-US war latest: Tehran claims no peace talks planned as Trump envoys to fly to Middle East

Iran-US war latest: Tehran claims no peace talks planned as Trump envoys to fly to Middle East Marco Rubio and Steve Witkoff are travelling to represent the US US envoys are flying into Doha for high-level peace talks amid a renewed spate of strikes, despite claims from Tehran that no such talks have been arranged. Secretary of state Marco Rubio and special envoy Steve Witkoff will travel to represent the US, a White House official said. “IRAN HAS REQUESTED A MEETING. IT WILL TAKE PLACE TOMORROW IN DOHA!” Donald Trump wrote on Truth Social. But on Monday, Iran’s foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said no talks between Iran and the United States are scheduled in the coming days. He said that an Iranian technical delegation will visit Qatar this week, but has no relation to US officials visiting the country. Iran and the US had traded attacks in the Gulf in recent days as each accused the other of violating an interim deal signed less than two weeks ago to end their four month war. On Sunday, Iran said its naval and aerospace forces carried out a joint missile and drone operation targeting US military sites in Kuwait and Bahrain, and warned further violations would receive a “crushing response”. Earlier, the US military said it had struck Iran for the second day after a tanker was hit in the Strait of Hormuz. Trump promises farmers they will get to sell crops to ‘lovely country of Iran’ after war President Donald Trump has promised American farmers they will soon be able to sell their crops to the “lovely country of Iran” now that he has signed a memorandum of understanding to end his war. Speaking in the White House Rose Garden last Thursday, the president said: “After years of getting ripped off by other countries on trade, we’ve reduced the agricultural trade deficit, just this year, by 42 percent, opening markets to the American exports, and all over the world, we’re opening up markets for the farmers. “And we have another one, a new market, coming up. And that’s called the lovely country of Iran. It’s a beautiful place. Would anybody like to go there? “Uh, the Islamic Republic of Iran, uh, they’re having a hard time with food, and we’re gonna be taking some of their money and we’ll spend it, and we’re gonna be buying wheat, soybeans, and corn – a lot of it – and, uh, that process is gonna be starting pretty soon. It’s gonna be pretty big, too. I think it’s gonna be very big.” You can read more below: Trump promises farmers they will sell crops to ‘lovely country of Iran’ after war UAE will allow nationals to travel to Lebanon from Monday The United Arab Emirates will allow its nationals to travel to Lebanon starting on Monday, the state news agency WAM reported. UAE citizens planning to visit Lebanon must register through an official service, an emergency and support platform by the ministry of foreign affairs, before their departure, the agency added. On April 30, UAE banned its citizens from traveling to Iran, Lebanon and Iraq, and urged Emiratis in those countries to leave immediately and return home, citing regional developments. Trump says meeting with Iran this week could 'perhaps' be important US president Donald Trump told reporters on Monday that the US-Iran meeting in Qatar this week will be "perhaps important, perhaps not." It comes as US envoys fly to Doha for fresh peace talks between Tehran and Washington on Tuesday. But earlier on Monday, Iran’s foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said no talks between Iran and the United States are scheduled in the coming days. He said that an Iranian technical delegation will visit Qatar this week, but has no relation to US officials visiting the country. Watch: Protestors March Against The Iranian Regime And Football Team At World Cup Match No talks planned between US and Iran, Tehran says No talks between Iran and the United States are scheduled in the coming days, Iran's Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said in a statement on Monday, adding that an Iranian technical delegation will visit Qatar this week, but has no relation to US officials visiting the country. Tehran has not started negotiations for a final deal as these require the implementation of certain points of the MoU, which is Iran's priority currently, Mr Baghaei added. ‘Trump wasn’t victorious – it was a major defeat’: protestors inside Iran speak out Amirhossein Miresmaeili hears from unimpressed protestors within Iran who feel betrayed by Donald Trump’s promises of regime change: ‘Trump wasn’t victorious – it was a major defeat’: protestors inside Iran speak out Iran's president says $6B in frozen assets in Qatar to be released as US talks challenged Iran's president said that $6 billion in frozen Iranian assets would be released by Qatar as negotiations with the United States were challenged by attacks across the Persian Gulf this weekend. Masoud Pezeshkian 's mention of the funds appear aimed at selling the Iranian public on the interim deal, particularly as its grip on the Strait of Hormuz has been challenged by efforts to open Oman's territorial waters to both inbound and outbound traffic from the Persian Gulf. Iran's attacks and threats stopped cargo ships and tankers from moving though the strait, in which about a fifth of all traded oil and natural gas passed in peacetime, creating a global energy crisis. Read more here: Iran's president says $6B in frozen assets in Qatar to be released as US talks challenged Israel-Lebanon deal may entrench stalemate rather than end war, analysts say A security deal between Israel and Lebanon risks entrenching a stalemate rather than resolving Israel's underlying conflict with Hezbollah by tying Israel's pullout from southern Lebanon to the Iran-aligned group's disarmament, a condition regional analysts and politicians say is unattainable. At its core is a bargain few see as workable: Hezbollah has flatly rejected disarmament, and no Lebanese government has the power to enforce it. With Hezbollah unlikely to disarm, analysts say Israel has political cover to keep an open-ended military presence in southern Lebanon, which it invaded after Hezbollah fired at Israel on 2 March in solidarity with Tehran over the war in Iran. The deal leaves the Lebanese state trapped between obligations it cannot meet and sovereignty it cannot fully reclaim, the analysts say. The framework deal also collides with Lebanon’s political realities, asking a fragile sectarian state to confront the most powerful armed faction in the country despite a post–civil war system built on power-sharing rather than coercion. “This is not an agreement, it is an imposed settlement,” said a senior Lebanese politician who declined to be named. The Lebanese army, he said, was neither structured nor equipped to disarm Hezbollah, and expecting it to do so ignored both the group’s entrenched military capacity and the fragile sectarian balance on which Lebanon's stability rests. Political analysts say the imbalance is built into the agreement’s design, with sweeping obligations placed on Lebanon but no reciprocal guarantee of Israeli withdrawal. “This agreement has put all the burden on Lebanon," said Michael Young, a Beirut-based analyst, adding that it “creates a structure that allows the Israelis to remain [in southern Lebanon] indefinitely.” Fawaz Gerges, a Lebanese scholar at the London School of Economics and Political Science, said the deal was “born dead” and is structurally flawed, hinging on a condition that is impossible to meet in practice. Centcom chief meets Lebanese leader in Beirut Lebanon’s president met with the top US military commander in Beirut on Monday to discuss its agreement with Israel. In a post on social media, Lebanon’s presidency said: “During the meeting, discussions were held regarding the preparations related to the start of implementation of the framework agreement that was approved as a result of the Lebanese-American-Israeli negotiations in Washington. “President Aoun thanked Admiral Cooper for the attention shown by US president Donald Trump toward Lebanon to achieve security and stability in it, reaffirming the Lebanese state's determination to extend its authority through its armed forces all the way to the international southern borders.” Join our commenting forum Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies Comments Bookmark popover Removed from bookmarks