Keir Starmer urges Iran and US to ‘find a way through’: Live updates

Keir Starmer has urged both Iran and the US to ‘find a way through’ following failed talks in Pakistan, Downing Street said.

In a conversation with the Sultan of Oman, Starmer said a continuation of the ceasefire is ‘vital’ and that ‘all parties avoided any further escalation’.

It comes after UK Health Secretary Wes Streeting told the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg programme that it is ‘disappointing’ that initial talks to end the war in Iran had broken down without a deal.

Iran’s First Vice President Reza Aref said Tehran sought US recognition of its control of transit through the Strait of Hormuz in the collapsed Islamabad talks.

On social media, Aref said having ‘authority in the Strait of Hormuz’ and ‘pursuing compensation’ for the damage caused by the US and Israel’s strikes were ‘the rights of the (Iranian) people.’

‘This is our firm commitment to a strong Iran,’ he wrote.

Kuwait has arrested 24 people as part of an investigation into the ‘financing of terrorist entities’, authorities said late Saturday, without revealing who was involved.

A security source told AFP that five former Kuwaiti lawmakers were among those detained.

Since Iran began attacking Kuwait and other Gulf states last month as part of the Middle East war, authorities across the region have moved against individuals and organisations suspected of links to or supporting Tehran.

Kuwait’s interior ministry on Saturday did not mention any particular country or organisation but said it had ‘thwarted a plot targeting the undermining of the homeland’s security and the financing of terrorist entities and organisations.

‘The State Security Agency succeeded in apprehending 24 citizens, one of whom had his citizenship revoked, in possession of financial sums linked to illicit activities,’ it added in a statement on X.

The ministry said the financing was ‘part of an organised activity involving the collection of funds under religious pretexts… in preparation for their transfer in accordance with instructions from outside the country’.

A home has been left damaged due to falling shrapnel from intercepting a drone in the Metula area in the Upper Galilee region, Israel’s media reports.

More details are awaited.

Haji Babaei, the Iranian deputy speaker of the parliament, has been quoted by the Mehr news agency as saying that the Strait of Hormuz is ‘completely’ under Iranian control, adding that tolls must be paid in the country’s currency, rials.

‘250 members of parliament unanimously supported the Strait of Hormuz plan, and according to the leadership formula, this strategic waterway is non-negotiable under any circumstances,’ he was quoted as having said.

‘Despite sanctions, Iran’s oil exports have exceeded 1.6 million barrels, and today our country’s oil has become practically non-sanctionable.

‘The Iranian nation will not back down from its demands even an inch.’

Sir Keir Starmer lounged at a four-star boutique hotel in Valencia as Donald Trump threatened to ‘obliterate’ Iran, the Mail on Sunday can reveal.

The Prime Minister spent four days at the £200-a-night Valentia Cabillers hotel – complete with rooftop bar and swimming pool – as Trump delivered an extraordinary ultimatum warning he would ‘hit and obliterate’ Iran’s power plants if the Strait of Hormuz was not opened.

Sir Keir’s sun-soaked getaway came five years after he accused then-PM Boris Johnson of ‘appalling complacency’ for going on holiday as Kabul fell to the Taliban in 2021, declaring: ‘You cannot coordinate an international response from the beach.’

Hezbollah denied on Sunday any link to a cell accused by Syrian authorities of planning an attack on a religious figure in Damascus, saying it conducts no activity in the country.

Syria’s interior ministry said Saturday that security forces had arrested a woman attempting to plant an explosive device in front of a house belonging to an unidentified religious figure in the Bab Touma area of the Syrian capital.

Security forces dismantled the device and arrested five members of the cell, a ministry statement said.

According to initial investigations, the cell was linked to the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah and ‘its members received specialised military training abroad’, the ministry added.

But the Iran-backed movement denied the ministry’s claims on Sunday, saying they were ‘false and fabricated’.

Hezbollah said it has ‘no activity, no ties and no relationship with any party in Syria, and has no presence on Syrian soil’.

The group called on Syrian authorities ‘to conduct a thorough investigation before making accusations without evidence’.

It blamed ‘the presence of intelligence services’ on Syrian soil that it said were ‘seeking to inflame tensions between Lebanon and Syria’.

Israel has launched air raids on the towns of Haniya in the Tyre district and Shaitiya, both located in southern Lebanon.

Images have shown smoke rising in Lebanon, as seen from northern Israel, following a strike.

Federal agents have arrested three Iranian nationals in Los Angeles following a direct order from Secretary of State Marco Rubio to terminate their legal residency.

Seyed Eissa Hashemi, the son of one of Iran’s most notorious regime leaders, had reportedly been enjoying an affluent lifestyle in Southern California for years, sparking intense public backlash and widespread petitions demanding his immediate removal from the US.

Hashemi, his wife Maryam Tahmasebi, and their son had their green cards terminated.

They are now in the custody of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement pending their formal removal from the country.

Oman has offered five oil and gas concession areas to local and international companies, according to a report by the state news agency.

Iran’s Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf has issued his first official statement since the Islamabad talks ended.

In a series of posts on X, Ghalibaf said he emphasised before negotiations began that ‘we have the necessary good faith and will, but due to the experiences of the two previous wars, we have no trust in the opposing side’.

‘The opposing side ultimately failed to gain the trust of the Iranian delegation in this round of negotiations,’ he said.

‘I am also grateful for the efforts of our friendly and brotherly country, Pakistan, in facilitating the process of these negotiations, and I send my regards to the people of Pakistan,’ he added.