LIVE: Iran war mediators push for 45-day ceasefire amid Trump deadline

Oil prices remain at $111 a barrel this morning as investors await the outcome of mediation talks between the US and Iran.

At 7am UK time, brent crude rose 76 cents, or 0.7 per cent, to $109.79 a barrel while West Texas Intermediate is trading 0.5 per cent lower at $111.01.

The pricing moves in Asia trading on Monday were dwarfed by an 11 per cent surge for WTI and an 8 per cent rise for Brent during the previous trading session on Thursday, the biggest absolute price increase since 2020.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said they are preparing to finalise the enforcement of new operating conditions in the Strait of Hormuz.

The strategic waterway which carries a fifth of the world’s oil supplies has been effectively shut by Tehran since the start of Operation Epic Fury on February 28.

‘The IRGC naval force is completing operational preparations for the Iranian authorities’ declared plan for the new Persian Gulf order,’ the Guards naval forces said in a post on X Sunday.

They warned conditions in the strait ‘will never return to its former status, especially for the US and Israel’.

The statement came after US President Donald Trump renewed threats to strike Iran’s power plants and bridges if the vital shipping route is not reopened.

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has announced the head of its intelligence Majid Khadami has been killed in US-Israeli airstrikes this morning.

In a statement published on Telegram, the Revolutionary Guards said Khadami was an ‘esteemed commander’ who helped defend the regime for 50 years.

Khadami was appointed the head of the IRGC’s intelligence division in June last year when his predecessor Mohammed Kazemi was killed by an Israeli airstrike in Tehran during the 12-day war.

Israeli rescue teams search for missing people in Haifa

Israeli rescuers have recovered two bodies from the rubble of a residential building in Haifa after it was hit by an Iranian missile on Sunday, Israeli media is reporting.

The strike took place minutes after the military warned it had detected a new round of missiles fired from Iran.

The building was hit by a ‘direct impact of a missile’, a military spokesperson said.

Israel’s emergency service, Magen David Adom, said four people were wounded when the seven-storey building sustained a direct hit.

Israel’s Fire and Rescue Services said firefighters were searching for three missing people.

The injured included an 82-year-old man whose condition was described as ‘serious’ and a 10-month old baby who suffered a head injury, MDA said.

The UAE has said any settlement of the Iran war must guarantee access through the Strait of Hormuz.

UAE official Anwar Gargash added any deal that fails to rein in Iran’s nuclear programme and its missiles and drones would pave the way for ‘a more dangerous, more volatile Middle East.’

Gargash, the diplomatic adviser to the UAE president, told a weekend briefing that the Strait of Hormuz – the world’s most critical oil artery – cannot be weaponised, stressing that its security is not a regional bargaining chip but a global economic imperative.

‘The Strait of Hormuz cannot be held hostage by any country,’ said Gargash, adding that freedom of navigation through the waterway ‘has to be part and parcel of the settlement of any conflict with clear agreement on that’.

Gargash said the UAE wants the war to end, but warned against a ceasefire that leaves the root causes of instability unresolved.

Iran’s deputy foreign minister Kazem Gharibabadi has said Donald Trump’s threats to strike power plants and bridges in Iran could amount to war crimes.

‘The American president, as the highest official of his country, has publicly threatened to commit war crimes,’ Gharibabadi said in a post on X, citing provisions of international law that could be breached.

‘The threat to attack power plants and bridges (civilian infrastructure) is a war crime under Article 8(2)(b) of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court,’ he adde

Following Trump’s expletive-laced posts on Easter Sunday, Iran’s parliamentary speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf called the threats of targeting Iran’s infrastructure ‘reckless.’

‘You won’t gain anything through war crimes,’ Qalibaf wrote on X, adding: ‘The only real solution is respecting the rights of the Iranian people and ending this dangerous game.’

by Perkin Amalaraj, Foreign News Reporter

Iran has threatened Donald Trump with ‘devastating and widespread’ retaliations after he vowed to hit the Middle East nation’s power plants in an expletive-filled post.

The Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters – Iran’s highest operational military command unit – said early this morning: ‘If attacks on civilian targets are repeated, the next stages of our offensive and retaliatory operations will be much more devastating and widespread.’

The statement, shared by Iranian broadcasters, came after Trump’s threats to attack civilian infrastructure if the Strait of Hormuz is not opened again.

In a foul-mouthed tirade, the US leader said on Sunday: ‘Tuesday will be Power Plant Day, and Bridge Day, all wrapped up in one, in Iran.

‘There will be nothing like it!!! Open the F*****’ Strait, you crazy b*******, or you’ll be living in Hell – JUST WATCH! Praise be to Allah.’

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Iran and the US have received a plan to end hostilities that could come into effect on Monday and reopen the Strait of Hormuz, a source has told Reuters.

Pakistan has put together a framework to end hostilities and exchanged it with Iran and the US.overnight, it has been claimed.

The proposal includes an immediate ceasefire followed by an agreement to permanently end the war.

‘All elements need to be agreed today,’ the source said.

Reuters is reporting Pakistan’s army chief, Field Marshal Asim Munir, has been in contact ‘all night long’ with US Vice President JD Vance, special envoy Steve Witkoff and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi.

Under the proposal, dubbed the ‘Islamabad Accord’, a ceasefire would take effect immediately and the Strait of Hormuz would be reopened fully, with 15 to 20 days to finalise a broader settlement.

There was no immediate response from US and Iranian officials. Pakistan’s foreign office spokesperson Tahir Andrabi declined comment.

Iran and the US are in discussions about a potential 45-day ceasefire that could pave the way to ending the war in the Middle East.

According to Axios, mediators are said to be in talks over a temporary truce but sources warned the chances of an agreement are ‘slim’ after Iran rejected several US proposals in recent days.

It comes after Donald Trump yesterday delivered a 48-hour ultimatum for Iran to fully reopen the Strait of Hormuz or face having their power plants attacked.

In a foul-mouthed tirade, the US leader said on Sunday: ‘Tuesday will be Power Plant Day, and Bridge Day, all wrapped up in one, in Iran.

‘There will be nothing like it!!! Open the F*****’ Strait, you crazy b*******, or you’ll be living in Hell – JUST WATCH! Praise be to Allah.’