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Middle East crisis live: ceasefire under pressure and talks in doubt as Iran threatens to ‘retaliate’ to US seizure of ship | US-Israel war on Iran
Key events
Oil prices surge amid uncertainty over strait and peace talks
Oil prices surged on a re-escalation of hostilities in the Middle East war after Iran closed the strait of Hormuz at the weekend, just a day after reopening it.
In early trading on Monday, the price of Brent crude climbed 5.8% to $95.64 per barrel. Meanwhile, West Texas Intermediate increased 6.4% to $87.90 per barrel.
S+P 500 futures fell around 0.6% and European futures fell 1.1%. But equity benchmarks in Seoul, Taipei and Tokyo shrugged off risks to advance, with Taiwan’s shares touching a record high and the other two not far behind.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 0.8%, Japan’s Nikkei climbed 1% and South Korea’s Kopsi rose 1.4%.
However, one of the strongest notes of caution in markets on Monday came from Australia’s largest business lender, National Australia Bank, which flagged a $500m impairment charge as it expects the war to drive up bad debts.
Despite all the uncertainty, Pakistan appears to be preparing for talks between the US and Iran to proceed.
Two giant US C-17 cargo planes landed at an airbase on Sunday afternoon, carrying security equipment and vehicles in preparation for the US delegation’s arrival, two Pakistani security sources said.
Municipal authorities in the Pakistani capital of Islamabad halted public transport and heavy-goods traffic through the city.
Barbed wire was rolled out near the Serena Hotel, where last week’s talks were held. The hotel told all guests to leave.
Bahrain to review citizenship for those deemed threat to its security
Bahrain’s king has ordered a review of citizenship of those deemed a threat to the island kingdom, amid an intensified crackdown on dissent during the war in the Middle East.
According to the state-run Bahrain News Agency, Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa ordered the government to immediately take measures against “those who have betrayed the nation or undermined its security and stability”, including stripping Bahraini citizenship from those “who don’t deserve it”.
“The situation is still delicate,” the king was quoted as saying.
Bahrain, which hosts the US Navy’s 5th Fleet, has been one of the hardest hit by Iranian missile and drone attacks during the war.
Authorities in the small Shiite-majority island, which is ruled by a Sunni monarchy, have detained many people over the course of the war.
More than 5,000 killed since war began: report
Now in its eighth week, the Iran war has killed more than 5,000 people across several countries.
At least 3,000 people have been killed in Iran, more than 2,290 in Lebanon, 23 in Israel and more than a dozen in Gulf Arab states, the Associated Press has reported. Fifteen Israeli soldiers in Lebanon and 13 US service members throughout the region have also been killed.
Just to recap the latest peace talks news, and whether or not Iran will attend negotiations in Pakistan.
State broadcaster IRIB on Sunday cited Iranian sources as saying “there are currently no plans to participate in the next round of Iran-US talks”.
The Fars and Tasnim news agencies had earlier cited anonymous sources as saying “the overall atmosphere cannot be assessed as very positive”, adding that lifting the US blockade was a precondition for negotiations.
President Donald Trump ordered US negotiators to travel to Pakistan on Monday, just days before a ceasefire in the Middle East expires.
Summary
Hello and welcome to the Guardian’s continuing coverage of the crisis in the Middle East.
The shaky two-week ceasefire between the US and Iran was under further pressure on Monday morning, after the US said that it had seized an Iranian cargo ship that tried to run its blockade, and Iran said it would retaliate.
Efforts to build a more lasting peace in the region likewise appeared to be on uncertain ground, as Iranian state media said Tehran would not participate in a second round of negotiations that the US had hoped to kick off before the ceasefire expires this week.
Trump had earlier warned Iran that the US would destroy every bridge and power plant in Iran if Tehran rejected his terms, continuing a pattern of such threats throughout the war.
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Iran has reportedly rejected participation in a second round of peace talks with the US in Pakistan, citing “Washington’s excessive demands, unrealistic expectations, constant shifts in stance, repeated contradictions, and the ongoing naval blockade, which it considers a breach of the ceasefire”, according to the official IRNA news agency.
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Hours before Iran’s statement, Trump said his negotiators would arrive in Islamabad on Monday evening. A White House official said the delegation would be led by vice-president JD Vance and include Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner.
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Donald Trump said in a post on Sunday that the US marines have taken custody of a vessel that tried to get past the American blockade on Iranian ports, adding that US forces stopped the ship by blowing a hole in its engine room.
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The US military confirmed that the US destroyer fired “several rounds” towards an Iranian-flagged ship that was attempting to pass through its naval blockade. In a statement released on Sunday, US Central Command said the USS Spruance intercepted the Iranian-flagged Touska ship as it travelled towards an Iranian port “in violation of the US blockade.”
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The US blockade of Iran’s ports is a violation of the ceasefire agreement and is “both unlawful and criminal”, Esmaeil Baqaei, a spokesperson for Iran’s foreign ministry, said on Sunday.
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Oil prices jumped, the US dollar rose and stock futures fell on Monday as investors dealt with conflicting messages about the Iran war and news that the strait of Hormuz was closed again. In early Asian trading Brent crude futures jumped about 7% to $96.85 a barrel and S+P 500 futures fell about 0.9%. The euro was down 0.3% at $1.1735 and the yen eased about 0.2% to 158.95 per dollar.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer says the ban will give children more time, security and freedom to grow up. But how do under-16s feel?
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US midterm primaries 2026 live: results and updates as elections in Georgia and Oklahoma test Trump’s power | US midterm elections 2026
Results expected as voters cast ballots in three states and Washington DC
Fran Lawther
Voters have been casting their ballots in primary elections in Alabama, Oklahoma and Georgia – where a closely watched runoff will decide who faces off against Democratic candidates in Senate and gubernatorial races in November.
In Washington DC – a Democratic stronghold – voters were also selecting a candidate for the party ahead of November’s mayoral election.
In Alabama, a Republican primary runoff for Senate between Trump-backed Barry Moore and Jared Hudson is another test of how far Trump’s endorsement can sway voters.
These primaries are the latest test of Donald Trump’s power over the Republican party. In deeply conservative Oklahoma, Trump has given his early backing to Kevin Hern in the senate seat previously held by homeland security secretary Markwayne Mullin.
Hern has kept other potential big challengers at bay in Oklahoma, which hasn’t elected a Democratic senator since 1990, according to AP.
But a bigger test of Trump’s influence – which has usually proved potent in Republican primaries this year – may come in the crowded race to succeed outgoing governor Kevin Stitt.
In Georgia, meanwhile, Republicans will finalize their selections for gubernatorial and US senate elections.
For the senate, US representative Mike Collins and former University of Tennessee football coach Derek Dooley are the finalists for the Republican nomination. Whoever wins will challenge rising Democratic star Jon Ossoff for the seat in November.
In the Republican primary campaign for Georgia governor, Trump-backed Burt Jones was facing off against the healthcare billionaire and political newcomer Rick Jackson. Brad Raffensperger, the Georgia secretary of state and longtime political enemy of Trump, was locked out of the race when he finished third earlier in the year.
We’ll bring you the latest results and reactions as the night unfolds.
Key events
Trump’s candidate trails in early count in Republican primary race for Georgia governor
With the first 20% of the ballots counted in the Republican primary in Georgia to be the party’s candidate for governor in November, the Trump-endorsed candidate, Georgia’s lieutenant governor, Burt Jones, trails health care executive Rick Jackson by nearly 20 points: 59.4% to 40.6%.
Jackson has spent over $100 million on his campaign.
Georgia Republican Senate primary on a knife edge in early count
With 15% of the vote counted in Georgia, the race for the Republican nomination for the US Senate, to take on incumbent Jon Ossoff, is very close. Trump-endorsed congressman Mike Collins has 51.9% of the vote so far, to 48.1% for former football coach Derek Dooley, who is backed by the Georgia governor Brian Kemp. The current margin in less than 6,000 votes.
Polls close in Georgia primary runoff elections
Polling places closed at 7pm local time across Georgia, where voters cast ballots in several primary runoff races, including Republican contests to be that party’s nominee for the US Senate and governor. We will bring you updates on the vote count soon.
A trip to the Georgia secretary of state’s website is a reminder that the state’s elections are still overseen by Brad Raffensperger, the top voting official Donald Trump threatened with possible prosecution during a recorded phone call in early 2021, if he did not help the then president “find 11,780 votes”, one more than he needed to overturn his loss to Joe Biden in the state’s 2020 presidential election.
Weighed down by his subsequent unpopularity with Trump voters, for refusing to help him cheat, Raffensperger finished a distant third last month in the Republican primary to be the party’s candidate in the November election for governor.
Raffensperger got less than half the votes of the two leading contenders who faced off in today’s runoff: the Trump-backed Burt Jones, who supported his effort to overturn the 2020 election through false claims of fraud, and a self-funding healthcare billionaire, Rick Jackson.
Peter Stone
The Trump administration is waging war on voting rights using justice department lawsuits, FBI investigations, and an executive order to limit voting by mail, moves mirroring the US president’s false claims he lost the 2020 election due to voting fraud, say election experts and ex-officials.
Since Donald Trump began his second term, numerous 2020 election denialists have been installed in key agencies such as the DoJ, the FBI and elsewhere to pursue widely discredited claims of fraud, which can intimidate election workers and voters in swing states that Trump lost to Joe Biden in 2020.
The justice department has also filed lawsuits seeking sensitive voter data from 30 states – even though, by law, states control elections – and the FBI has launched investigations into debunked allegations of voting fraud in Georgia, Wisconsin and a few other swing states that Trump lost in 2020.
Trump in late March this year issued an executive order sharply tightening mail-in voting rules, which Trump has long claimed without evidence contribute to fraud. The order gives the United States Postal Service unprecedented powers to issue new rules making voting by mail harder.
The administration’s multi-pronged push to change voting rules is under way despite laws that empower states and Congress to set election rules, sparking lawsuits from states and nonpartisan voting rights groups.
Fran Lawther
Donald Trump has a strong record in this year’s primaries so far – with many of his preferred candidates winning their primaries.
But none have faced a self-funded rival with Rick Jackson’s spending power, the AP reports. Trump has backed Burt Jones, who, as lieutenant governor, was part of Trump’s attempt to overturn his 2020 defeat to Joe Biden, and the president has repeatedly praised Jones’ loyalty.
Jackson has chipped in more than $93m of his own money to win the nomination. The 71-year-old businessman amassed a fortune from his company that provides contract healthcare personnel, and he’s used it to blanket television and online platforms with ads.
Results expected as voters cast ballots in three states and Washington DC
Fran Lawther
Voters have been casting their ballots in primary elections in Alabama, Oklahoma and Georgia – where a closely watched runoff will decide who faces off against Democratic candidates in Senate and gubernatorial races in November.
In Washington DC – a Democratic stronghold – voters were also selecting a candidate for the party ahead of November’s mayoral election.
In Alabama, a Republican primary runoff for Senate between Trump-backed Barry Moore and Jared Hudson is another test of how far Trump’s endorsement can sway voters.
These primaries are the latest test of Donald Trump’s power over the Republican party. In deeply conservative Oklahoma, Trump has given his early backing to Kevin Hern in the senate seat previously held by homeland security secretary Markwayne Mullin.
Hern has kept other potential big challengers at bay in Oklahoma, which hasn’t elected a Democratic senator since 1990, according to AP.
But a bigger test of Trump’s influence – which has usually proved potent in Republican primaries this year – may come in the crowded race to succeed outgoing governor Kevin Stitt.
In Georgia, meanwhile, Republicans will finalize their selections for gubernatorial and US senate elections.
For the senate, US representative Mike Collins and former University of Tennessee football coach Derek Dooley are the finalists for the Republican nomination. Whoever wins will challenge rising Democratic star Jon Ossoff for the seat in November.
In the Republican primary campaign for Georgia governor, Trump-backed Burt Jones was facing off against the healthcare billionaire and political newcomer Rick Jackson. Brad Raffensperger, the Georgia secretary of state and longtime political enemy of Trump, was locked out of the race when he finished third earlier in the year.
We’ll bring you the latest results and reactions as the night unfolds.
Retired British couple Jane and Alan Kelvey spoke to BBC’s Newsnight after coming into close contact with Russian frigate the Admiral Grigorovich on Tuesday morning.
“They gave out five blasts on their horn, which means, have you seen us?”, explained Jane.
“We immediately turned two degrees to port so that they could see we’d made a deliberate change, of course, which meant we had seen them,” she added.
The Russian Defence Ministry said the yacht had been on a “dangerous approach” towards the warship, and its crew fired into its path with rifles after making several attempts to contact it over the radio and after launching warning flares.
The Ministry of Defence has described the encounter as an “isolated incident” and not linked to the seizure of a Russian shadow fleet tanker in the Channel on Sunday.
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