LIVE TICKER -War: Tehran sets conditions for negotiations with the USA

Israel’s military says it is once again bombing targets of Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon despite a formal ceasefire. The Israeli army says it has begun targeting militia infrastructure assets in the south and in the Bekaa Valley in the neighboring country.

The Bekaa Valley stretches in the east of the country. The Israeli military has not attacked there since the ceasefire began.

Lebanese security circles said that Israel’s army had attacked places that are considered Hezbollah strongholds. Accordingly, there were violent attacks by the Israeli Air Force in several places in the south of the country. There were initially no reports of victims.

According to Israeli media, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Israel Katz and other high-ranking security officials had previously met to discuss Hezbollah’s violations of the ceasefire.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz (CDU) does not believe that the USA can end the war in Iran quickly. “Because the Iranians are obviously stronger than expected and the Americans obviously don’t have a really convincing strategy in the negotiations,” said Merz during a discussion with students in Marsberg in the Sauerland.

“The problem with such conflicts is always: you not only have to get in, you also have to get out again. We saw this very painfully in Afghanistan for 20 years. We saw that in Iraq.”

The Americans in Iran “obviously went into this war without any strategy,” said Merz.

In Iran, after massive criticism, the presidential office is justifying the internet blocks in the country. The current restrictions, which the regime calls the “Pro Internet” project, are not permanent, but merely a temporary measure in the current war situation, according to an article from the Presidential Office on X. After the conflict ends, regular access will be restored for all citizens. Iranian President Masud Pezeshkian strictly rejects “restricted Internet use for the population,” the article says.

Since the start of the Iran war on February 28, access to the Internet in the Islamic Republic has been almost completely blocked. Since then, access has been limited to the so-called “national internet”, where only websites approved by the state are available.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi is expected in Moscow for talks on Monday. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed in an interview with Russian state agencies that President Vladimir Putin wanted to meet with the Iranian foreign ministry chief. He did not give any further details. Shortly before, the Foreign Ministry in Moscow had also reported Araghchi’s upcoming visit.

Moscow and Tehran are strategic allies, but Russia is not prepared to support its partner militarily in the current conflict with the USA. First and foremost, Tehran receives diplomatic support from the Kremlin.

Just 24 hours after his departure, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi returned to Pakistan to hold further talks on resolving the conflict between Iran and the US. According to the Tasnim news agency, Araghchi will convey Iranian conditions for ending the war to the Pakistani government, which is mediating in the conflict.

According to Tasnim, these conditions include, among other things, the immediate lifting of the naval blockade imposed by the USA and the introduction of a new legal regulation for the Strait of Hormuz. Tehran is also demanding war reparations and guarantees that there will be no renewed military aggression against the Islamic Republic. Iran, on the other hand, does not want to put the nuclear dispute on the negotiating agenda, it was said.

Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon continue to attack each other despite the ceasefire in force. The Ministry of Health in Beirut said today that 7 people were killed and 24 others were injured in the latest attacks in southern Lebanon yesterday.

According to Hibzullah, its fighters attacked Israeli soldiers in southern Lebanon this morning, among others. There were several deaths. However, this was not confirmed by the Israeli army.

According to the Israeli military, three drones attacking from Lebanon were intercepted before they could enter Israeli territory. Warning sirens had previously sounded again in northern Israel. Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered the army last night to attack Hezbollah targets “intensively”.

The American military says it has intercepted a sanctioned freighter from the Iranian “shadow fleet”. The ship was stopped in the Arabian Sea by a helicopter from the destroyer “USS Pinckney” and was being escorted back towards Iran, the US regional command Centcom announced on the X platform.

The intercepted ship, the “M/V Sedan”, is one of the 19 freighters that were subject to sanctions by the US Treasury Department on Friday. The sanctions target Iran’s so-called shadow fleet, which, according to American sources, is central to Tehran’s revenue from oil and gas exports.

In the struggle for a diplomatic solution to the Iran conflict, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi is to come to Islamabad again. According to the program announced by the Iranian Foreign Ministry, Araghchi will travel to Pakistan again after completing a current visit to Oman and before continuing on to Russia, the state news agency Irna reported.

Part of the Iranian minister’s delegation returned to Tehran for consultations, it said. She was scheduled to join Araghchi again in Islamabad on Sunday evening. There was no information about the exact reason for the chief diplomat’s renewed trip.