Home » US-Iran war live updates: Trump says US seized Iranian ship in Strait of Hormuz; US delegation will head to Pakistan for second round of negotiations; Tehran rejects US peace talks

US-Iran war live updates: Trump says US seized Iranian ship in Strait of Hormuz; US delegation will head to Pakistan for second round of negotiations; Tehran rejects US peace talks

written by Emily Kaine, Ellen Connolly, Adam Carey Source

Thank you for joining our continuing live coverage of the war in the Middle East.

Here’s a recap of the latest developments:

  • The US has seized control of an Iranian container ship, Donald Trump says, after it tried to evade the American naval blockade of the Strait of Hormuz. Trump said the Navy ship “stopped them right in their tracks by blowing a hole in the engine room”.
  • The US president also announced on social media earlier today that a delegation, including Vice President JD Vance, will travel to Pakistan on Monday (Washington time) for a second round of negotiations with Iran.
  • However, Iran has not confirmed that it will participate in the talks, as state media reported that no agreement had been reached to attend the meeting.
  • Trump also threatened strikes on Iranian power plants and bridges if a deal was not reached this week.
  • Shipping remains at a standstill in the crucial Strait of Hormuz as Iran continues to enforce its blockade. Two tankers were forced by Iranian military forces to turn back on Sunday.
  • Meanwhile, thousands of displaced Lebanese families are continuing to return home after a 10-day ceasefire that came into effect last Friday.

More than 20 vessels passed the Strait of Hormuz on Saturday, data from shipping analytics firm Kpler showed, the highest number of ships crossing the waterway since March 1.

Among the vessels that passed through were five cargo ships loaded in Iran with products including oil products and metals. Three of them are liquefied petroleum gas carriers with one heading to China and one bound for India.

More than 20 vessels passed through the Strait of Hormuz on Saturday.AP

Other vessels included a tanker carrying liquefied petroleum gas from the United Arab Emirates to Indonesia, as well as vessels loaded with oil bound for destinations including Taiwan, Sri Lanka, South Korea, Mozambique and Italy.

Iran reopened the Strait of Hormuz late last week, but reversed its decision on Saturday in response to a US blockade of Iranian ships.

About one-fifth of the world’s oil supply passes through the strait, which has been blockaded since the US and Israel attacked Iran in February, which pushed up fuel prices and put pressure on global supply of the fossil fuel.

With Reuters

Australia’s sharemarket is losing ground, as oil prices surge on renewed tensions between the United States and Iran, putting upcoming peace talks at risk and hitting investor confidence.

The S&P/ASX200 fell 11.6 points by midday on Monday, down 0.13 per cent, to 8934.8, as the broader All Ordinaries dipped by 8.8 points, or 0.1 per cent, to 9159.1.

Australia’s sharemarket has lost ground.Bloomberg

“Reports that the US has seized an Iranian-flagged vessel in the Strait of Hormuz have escalated tensions, while conflicting signals around negotiations persist,” Moomoo consultant Greg Boland said.

The US is pushing ahead with talks in Pakistan, but Iran has indicated no current plans to participate, criticising the ongoing US naval blockade of the strait.

The body of a French UN peacekeeper killed in southern Lebanon has been flown home to France and honoured as someone who “gave everything you had for peace in this land”.

UNIFIL Sergeant-Chef Florian Montorio was killed in gunfire on Sunday while serving as a peacekeeper in southern Lebanon, which had been under assault from the Israeli military targeting Hezbollah until a ceasefire was declared late last week.

Staff Sergeant Florian Montorio, in an image shared by France’s Chief of the Defence Staff.X/@CEMA_FR

The circumstances of Montorio’s death are being investigated by UNIFIL (United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon), which has also urged Lebanon to conduct its own investigation into the killing, which happened during an ambush in which three other peacekeepers were injured. Montorio is reportedly the fourth UN peacekeeper killed in the conflict.

French President Emmanuel Macron has directed blame at Hezbollah. “Everything points to Hezbollah being responsible for this attack,” he posted on X.

Hezbollah denied responsibility. Israel and Hezbollah have agreed to a 10-day ceasefire in Lebanon.

UNIFIL Head of Mission and Force Commander Major General Diodato Abagnara said in a service on the tarmac at Beirut’s airport that Montorio, who is survived by his wife and two daughters, had “all our respect”.

US Vice President JD Vance has welcomed recent comments by Pope Leo that it is not in his interest to debate Donald Trump about the war in the Middle East.

Pope Leo said media reporting on tension between the US President and himself “has not been accurate in all of its aspects” and that comments he made last week condemning “a handful of tyrants” for ravaging the world by spending billions waging war, and using religious language to justify war, were not specifically directed at Trump.

Pope Leo XIV answers journalists’ questions during his flight from Yaounde, Cameroon to Luanda, Angola, on Saturday.AP

“The talk that I gave at the prayer meeting for peace a couple of days ago was prepared two weeks ago, well before the president had ever commented on myself and on the message of peace that I am promoting,” Leo told reporters.

“And yet as it happens it was looked at as though I was trying to debate again the president, which is not in my interest at all.”

Oil and natural gas prices soared after the US Navy seized an Iranian ship during a chaotic weekend that saw Tehran firing at vessels and reimposing controls in the Strait of Hormuz.

Brent jumped as much as 7.9 per cent, erasing most of its declines on Friday after a reopening of the key waterway was announced, while US oil jumped 7.2 per cent. European gas increased as much as 11 per cent. Tehran on Sunday (AEST) again closed the choke point, after it said a US blockade of Iran-linked ships violated a ceasefire agreement that ends this week.

President Donald Trump said the US Navy fired upon and seized the ship in the Gulf of Oman after it failed to heed warnings to stop as it left Hormuz, the first major encounter in the week-old blockade. The incident came hours after a back-and-forth over potential peace talks in Islamabad, with Trump saying he saw a chance for a deal and Iranians saying there was no “clear prospect” of an agreement.

A tanker sits anchored in the Strait of Hormuz off the coast of Qeshm Island, Iran, over the weekend.AP

“The market’s still carrying a risk premium into the deadline but just not fully committing to it,” said Haris Khurshid, chief investment officer at Karobaar Capital LP in Chicago. “If things just continue as they are, you probably see a gradual push higher to around $US105 [$147] to $US115, but with a lot of back and forth on headlines.”

The standoff over Hormuz – through which about a fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas flowed before the US-Israeli war on Iran began at the end of February – threatens to deepen the global energy crisis and is undermining Trump’s weekend prediction of a quick end to the conflict. The waterway is just one of the unresolved issues, which also include Iran’s nuclear capabilities and Israel’s ongoing invasion of Lebanon.

Bloomberg

Transport Minister Catherine King says she welcomes the prospect of another round of peace talks between the US and Iran, after Trump announced a US delegation would visit Pakistan for negotiations.

“It’s good that the US is sending Vice President JD Vance for further talks, but this is really where the best diplomatic efforts are really going to be needed to resolve this [conflict].

Transport Minister Catherine King.Alex Ellinghausen

“It’s volatile. It’s changing daily,” she told ABC’s News Breakfast this morning.

Iran has not confirmed whether it will participate in the talks, however, Iranian state media have reported.

The United Arab Emirates has begun talks with the US about a financial backstop in case the Iran war plunges the country into further crisis, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing US officials it did not identify.

UAE Central Bank Governor Khaled Mohamed Balama raised the idea of a currency swap line with Federal Reserve and US Treasury officials, including Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, during meetings in Washington last week, according to the report.

The Emirati leaders said they have avoided the worst economic effects of the conflict but might still need a financial lifeline, the officials told the Journal.

The discussions underscore the UAE’s growing anxiety that the war could harm its economy and position as an international financial centre, draining foreign currency reserves and triggering capital flight, according to the WSJ. Emirati officials haven’t formally requested a swap line, the Journal said.

The war has inflicted damage on the UAE’s energy infrastructure and blocked oil shipments through the Strait of Hormuz, cutting off a critical stream of dollar income.

Bloomberg

Despite Iran not confirming it will attend a second round of talks with the US, the military in Pakistan were making preparations.

Here’s the scene in Islamabad as US officials including JD Vance prepare to fly to Pakistan.

Police officers stand guard at a checkpoint on a road leading to Serena Hotel ahead of a second round of peace talks.AP
Army troops patrol at a road to ensure security ahead of the second round of peace talks. AP

Chalmers says he expects inflation, economic growth and unemployment to worsen.

“We do expect inflation to be higher, we do expect growth to be slower, and slower growth typically, not always but typically, means higher unemployment,” he said. “That’s what we’re dealing with to be upfront with you.”

However, he said Australia’s labour market, which has remained relatively resilient with unemployment at 4.3 per cent, would put the economy in good stead as the oil shock continues to play out.

“As we work through these consequences which are already serious and could become severe, we also have some very substantial advantages,” he said. “Our labour market is a source of considerable strength which is a good foundation from which to face all of this uncertainty.”

Chalmers says the fuel excise cut will cost the federal budget about $2.5 billion, and has kept the door open to extending it, but says the government remains committed to finding savings.

“[The fuel excise cut] will be one of the bigger new spending items in the budget,” he said. [The budget] won’t be identical to what we were considering earlier in the year, but it will be ambitious. The savings package won’t be exactly the same as we might have been thinking a few months ago, but it will still be substantial.”

Chalmers said the fuel excise tax would be “temporary in one way or another”, but said all policies would remain under review.

The government’s cut to the fuel excise will cost the budget $2.5 billion, the treasurer said. Getty Images
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written by Emily Kaine, Ellen Connolly, Adam Carey Source

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