Iranian minister mocks Trump negotiations – Live updates

The price of Brent crude oil – the international benchmark – hit $110 per barrel today, rising 2.4% following a 2.8% gain yesterday.

Meanwhile, the US benchmark, West Texas Intermediate, rose 2.1% to about $98 per barrel, following a 2.1% increase yesterday.

Iran’s foreign minister Abbas Araghchi has openly mocked Donald Trump’s claims that he is winning the war in the Middle East.

He asked: ‘So then why did he ask for negotiations? Clearly, Iran is standing up to the largest superpower in the world, and they have not achieved a single one of their objectives.

‘That is why he is asking for negotiations, and we are now considering this option.’

Russia’s ambassador to the UN has claimed Iran has the right to control who goes in and out of the Strait of Hormuz.

Vassily Nebenzia said: ‘There was an attempt to pin full responsibility on Iran as if it was Iran which attacked its neighbours.

‘In times of war, a coastal state that is under attack may limit navigation in its territorial waters for the purpose of security.’

Nebenzia also compared Western states to pirates, claiming: ‘Unlike pirates who raise their black flags with a skull and crossbones in their vessels, Western countries are attempting to conceal their lawless actions with references to unilateral coercive measures.’

The head of Israel’s Mossad has praised the spy agency’s ‘groundbreaking’ operations in the war against Iran and Hezbollah, saying it acquired intelligence ‘from the heart of the enemy’s secrets’.

‘In the campaigns against Iran and Hezbollah, we worked shoulder-to-shoulder with the IDF, on both defence and offence,’ David Barnea said, referring to the Israeli military.

His remarks were delivered during a commendation ceremony at Mossad headquarters on Monday and published on Tuesday.

‘We acquired strategic and tactical intelligence from the heart of the enemy’s secrets,’ Barnea said, adding that Mossad had ‘proved new, groundbreaking operational capabilities in target countries’.

A ceasefire in the war with Iran, which began with US-Israeli strikes on February 28, has so far held.

In Lebanon, Hezbollah drew the country into the war on March 2 by firing rockets towards Israel to avenge the killing of Iranian supreme leader Ali Khamenei by the US and Israel.

US President Donald Trump announced a ceasefire on the Lebanese front earlier this month, which has since been extended.

Despite the truce, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Monday that Hezbollah’s rockets and drones remained a key threat demanding action by the Israeli military, adding that Israel was continuing to carry out strikes.

Hezbollah has said it is responding to Israeli ceasefire ‘violations’.

Barnea said the military and Mossad had changed Israel’s ‘strategic posture’ and ‘strengthened its might’, but added that the agency would ‘not rest on our laurels’.

‘When we see a threat, we will act with full force,’ he said.

Iran said on Tuesday that the United States was no longer able to ‘dictate’ what other countries do, as Washington weighed a new proposal from Tehran on unblocking the Strait of Hormuz.

Iran has effectively sealed off the strategic waterway since early in the war with the United States and Israel, sending shockwaves through global energy markets and putting the strait at the centre of negotiations to end the conflict.

‘The United States is no longer in a position to dictate its policy to independent nations,’ defence ministry spokesman Reza Talaei-Nik said, according to state TV, adding Washington would ‘accept that it must abandon its illegal and irrational demands’.

While a ceasefire has halted the fighting between Iran, the US and Israel, talks on bringing a permanent conclusion to the conflict have been inconclusive.

The proposal being considered in Washington would reportedly reopen the Strait of Hormuz – a vital conduit for global oil and gas shipments – as broader negotiations on the war continue.

Iran’s deputy defence minister said that his nation is ready to share its defensive weapons capabilities with ‘independent countries, especially members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO).’

Reza Talaei-Nik made the bold statement at a meeting of the SCO, made up of China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, India, Pakistan and Belarus.

The IDF this morning said it has activated air defences to take down a ‘suspicious aerial target.’

It was spotted in southern Lebanon, where Israel’s military have launched an incursion.

Lebanese media, meanwhile, has reported new Israeli attacks through the morning.

IDF soldiers were reportedly firing heavy machine guns in Bint Jbeil and launched three strikes on Zawtar Al Sharqiya, both of which are in southern Lebanon.

Tehran’s embassy in London is urging Iranian expats to ‘sacrifice their lives for the homeland’ and move back to the Middle East.

Diplomats at the embassy asked ‘all brave and noble children of Iran’ living in the UK to sign up to the war effort programme ‘for the people’s defence of the land.’

It added: ‘Let us all willingly give our lives. It is better than giving the country to the enemy.’

Oil giant BP has admitted that soaring oil prices caused by the war in the Middle East have resulted in profits more than doubling.

It said in its financial results for the first three months of the year that underlying profits hit $3.198bn (£2.366bn).

This is significantly higher than the doubling to $2.7bn (£1.99bn) that analysts had expected.

A superyacht linked to sanctioned Russian billionaire and Putin ally Alexey Mordashov sailed through the Strait of Hormuz on Saturday, new shipping data has revealed.

Nord – a 465-foot yacht worth over $500million (£369million) – left a Dubai marina at around 2pm on Friday, crossed the strait on Saturday morning, and arrived in Muscat early on Sunday.

This makes it one of very few vessels to transit the blockaded shipping lane at the heart of the US-Iran conflict.

It is not clear how the multi-deck pleasure vessel gained permission to use the route. Since February, Iran has severely restricted traffic through the strait, which typically handles around one-fifth of the world’s oil supply.