France records hottest ever day as much of Europe endures extreme heat; ‘London is cooking,’ says UN secretary general

• Tell us: how is the heatwave in the UK and across Europe affecting you?

• Forty drown across France in heatwave and parts of Spain above 30C at night

Italy’s health ministry has declared a red heatwave alert in 15 cities including Milan and Rome on Tuesday and said the number would go up to 16 on Wednesday.

During a red alert – the highest level – the ministry advises people to eat light, stay indoors in the hottest parts of the day and sprinkle themselves with cool water.

The vice president said the move represented a ‘major milestone’ in ending Iran’s nuclear programme

According to Palestinian news agency Wafa, a high school student was killed and several other civilians were injured earlier today in an Israeli attack on a civilian vehicle in Gaza City. The Gaza health ministry says at least 1,021 people have been killed in Israeli attacks since the ‘ceasefire’ between Israel and Hamas came into effect in October 2025.

In a post on X, Pakistan’s prime minister, Shehbaz Sharif, said US-Iran talks have concluded “successfully” ⁠in Switzerland, adding that discussions produced agreement on the establishment of a “high-level committee” to provide “political oversight” of the talks which are now entering a more “technical” phase.

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• Israel and Hezbollah agree to renew ceasefire after flareup of violence

Inside the city of grief hit hardest by Israel strikes on southern Lebanon

As the procession wound its way through mounds of rubble, the crowd chanted and beat their chests, their lamentations echoed by the dull thud of shelling in the foothills just beyond the city.

Pete Hegseth said the US is prepared to reimpose a blockade against Iran if it fail to fulfil its commitments under the agreement

• Reaction: Donald Trump’s Iran deal met with anger, relief and incredulity

• Analysis: Trump’s Iran deal is result of unrealistic ambitions for an untenable war

Donald Trump had urged Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu to “stop blowing up buildings” during a phone call about Israel’s military campaign in Lebanon, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal.

The newspaper cited sources who overheard the phone conversation between the two leaders, whose relationship has grown increasingly hostile as the war raged on.

This blog is now closed – see our full report on the latest in the Middle East crisis

Trump also addressed media reports of a leaked US-Iran deal (see post at 11:57), denying claims it includes a $300bn reconstruction fund for Tehran.

“We’re not putting up 10 cents,” he said. “We are not investing and we do not have a fund.”

It’s not final. It’s a memorandum of understanding, and if I don’t like it, we’ll go back to shooting at them, dropping bombs on their head.

If I don’t like it, if they don’t behave, we’ll go right back to dropping bombs right smack in the middle of their head, okay, because they’ve misbehaved for 47 years.”

Benjamin Netanyahu rules out Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon despite initial US-Iran deal expected to be signed on Friday

• Full report: Trump declares deal ‘all signed’ as G7 leaders try to tie loose ends

• Trump hails Iran deal that fixes nothing except a problem his war caused

The agreement between the United ⁠States and Iran should allow for the “immediate reopening” ⁠of the ⁠Strait ​of Hormuz, EU Commission President Ursula von ⁠der Leyen said on Monday.

“The priority now is ⁠its swift and full implementation ​by all parties,” ‌von der ‌Leyen said about the ‌announced deal.

This blog is now closed – see our latest full report on the Middle East crisis

Iran’s official Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) has cautioned against media speculation about a potential memorandum of understanding to end the war, particularly on claims regarding the strait of Hormuz.

IRNA reported that Iran will not surrender its control of the strategic waterway and the US will have no role in its future management.

Contrary to some bizarre claims in the media, Iran in no way makes a commitment in this text to hand over its management or to restore the strait of Hormuz to the state before the military aggression of the US and Israel. The only point mentioned is the normalisation of transit through the strait of Hormuz upon the end of the war, the establishment of maritime security by the coastal states, the end of the illegal blockade, and the removal of threats to commercial shipping by the US and Israel. At Iran’s request, the US will have no role whatsoever in the future management of the strait of Hormuz. It has been made clear that the future administration of the strait will be based on an Iranian initiative and proposal, within the framework of a matter pertaining to the countries of the region. In this framework, discussions about the future of the strait of Hormuz will not take place even in negotiations after the signing of the agreement, and Tehran will directly resolve this issue in talks with Oman.”

US president claims signing will probably happen in Europe at the weekend; Iranian foreign ministry says it will not compromise on ‘red lines’ in negotiations

• Full report: Trump says US and Iran on verge of signing peace agreement

Three Indian seafarers were killed in a US attack on an oil tanker earlier this week, India’s shipping minister, ‌Sarbananda Sonowal, said.

“It is deeply unfortunate to learn of the tragic incident aboard the Palau-flagged MT Settebello. Sadly, three Indian seafarers initially reported missing are now confirmed dead after bodies have been located and identified,” he wrote in a post on X.

The Middle East is being pulled deeper into crisis & the consequences reach far beyond the region.”

This live blog is now closed. For the latest, read more of our coverage on the Middle East conflict here.

Iranian media is reporting that there were no immediate casualties following apparent Israeli strikes on the Karun petrochemical plant in Mahshahr, a city in Iran’s southwestern Khuzestan province.

According to the Fars news agency, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said they responded to what they described as an American-Israeli strike on the Iranian petrochemical site by launching a missile attack on a similar plant in the northern Israeli city of Haifa.

IDF says it struck military targets in fresh attacks launched after Donald Trump called Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu urging him not to strike back

• Full report: Iran launches missiles at Israel

Donald Trump also aggressively pushed back against claims that he broke a key campaign promise to keep the US out of new foreign conflicts.

“Well, well, first of all, I didn’t guarantee no war,” Trump said during the Meet the Press interview. “Why would I have built the strongest military in the world?”

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• One killed and 63 hurt in Iran attack on Kuwait airport as Trump says ceasefire talks ongoing

The Kuwaiti defence ministry said it intercepted 13 ballistic missiles and 17 drones launched by Iran today.

A drone and missile attack on Kuwait’s international airport killed one person, which Kuwaiti authorities identified as an Indian national. It is the first reported death in a Gulf state since the US and Iran agreed to a ceasefire in April.

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has meanwhile threatened to strike Beirut and says IDF will continue operations in southern Lebanon

• Iran suspends all peace talks in protest at Israeli offensive in Lebanon

The exchange of strikes between the US and Iran reflects the fragility of the current ceasefire, which has seen repeated violations even as American and Iranian officials try to negotiate a deal to extend it.

Iran has maintained its chokehold on the strait of Hormuz, disrupting global energy supplies as a fifth of all oil and natural gas traded once passed through the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf. The US continues to enforce its own blockade on the strait, as it pressures Tehran to reach an agreement.

The US military said it carried out strikes on Monday against targets including boats attempting to lay mines and missile launch sites

• US strikes Iran missile sites and mine laying vessels

Iranian supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei said on his Telegram channel that Gulf powers will no longer be a shield for US bases and the US will no longer have a safe haven in the region, as Tehran and Washington discuss a framework to end their three-month-old war, Reuters reports.

The post follows overnight attacks on Iran by the US, testing the ceasefire agreed in April. The strikes came as Iran’s top negotiator and its foreign minister were in Qatar for talks with Qatar’s prime minister over the potential deal to end the war.

This blog is now closed – our live coverage continues here

Ebrahim Rezaei, the spokesperson of the Iranian parliament’s national security and foreign policy commission, has said that time is working against the US and warned that Iran does not respond well to threats.

In a post on X, he wrote:

During the military war, our tactic was an eye for an eye; in the diplomatic war, it is action against action. Do not believe the bluff of the failed president; time is against the Americans.

If they want an agreement, they should negotiate; if they want $6 gas, they should stand firm and bluff until the grass grows under their feet. Iran does not bow to force or threats.

US president says ‘if I make a deal with Iran, it will be a good and proper one’ as Iranian state media claims US government obstructing some clauses in agreement

In Lebanon, the civil defence agency said early on Sunday its regional facility in the southern city of Nabatieh had been destroyed by an Israeli strike.

The Directorate General of Civil Defence said the building had collapsed and a large number of vehicles and equipment had been damaged by a “direct hit in a hostile Israeli strike”.

Trump says ‘a lot of good’ has come from summit and ‘we’ve made some fantastic trade deals for both countries’

• Xi warns Trump of ‘clashes and even conflicts’ with US over Taiwan

• Analysis: For anxious Taiwan, Trump’s silence after Xi talks is best possible outcome

Jamieson Greer also said US export controls on semiconductor chips were not a major topic of discussions with Chinese officials in Beijing.

The US trade representative’s comments to Bloomberg on Friday suggest a breakthrough on selling Nvidia’s advanced H200 chips to China remains far away, Reuters is reporting, despite Nvidia chief Jensen Huang’s last-minute invitation to Donald Trump’s Beijing trip this week.

This was not a major topic of discussion at the bilateral meeting. We did not talk about chip export controls at the meeting.”

First of all, it’s really important for China to have the strait of Hormuz open – no tolling, no military control. That was clear from the meeting, so we welcome that.

With respect to Chinese involvement with Iran, our view is the Chinese are being very pragmatic – they don’t want to be on the wrong side of this. They want to see peace in that area, President Trump wants to see peace in that area, so we have a lot of confidence that they will do what they can to limit any kind of material support for Iran.”

California governor calls efforts to dismantle majority-Black districts ‘Jim Crow 2.0’; Louisiana moves forward to eliminate one of two such districts

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Donald Trump will drive through a Chinese capital that is smoggier than it was on his last visit in 2017, when the authorities launched emergency measures to clear the skies of pollution days before his first state visit to Beijing.

Factories were ordered to halt production and heavily polluting cars were banned from the roads in the days ahead of the US president’s trip nearly a decade ago, an era in which China had declared war on air pollution and made special efforts to clear the skies ahead of important political events such as visiting dignitaries and the Beijing Olympics.

US president said Iran’s response to the US peace proposal was ‘stupid’ and that the ceasefire is ‘unbelievable weak’

• Trump calls Iran’s response to peace plan ‘totally unacceptable’ as ceasefire frays

Turkey’s foreign minister, Hakan Fidan, will visit Qatar later today for talks on the war, its impact on the region and efforts to ensure navigational safety in the strait of Hormuz is resumed, a Turkish diplomatic source told the Reuters news agency.

Turkey, which neighbours Iran, has been in close contact with the US, Iran and mediator Pakistan since the start of the conflict. It condemnded the US and Israel for launching the war, widely seen to have been done illegally, but also criticised Iran’s counter strikes on Gulf states.

Iran accuses US of targeting two ships in the strait and attacking civilian areas; US Central Command says it responded to ‘unprovoked Iranian attacks’ in strait

The European Union is set to tell airlines the impact from the Iran war on tourism is not yet severe enough to justify emergency measures for the sector, draft EU guidelines seen by Reuters showed.

“The current situation does not point to the need for dedicated measures for the tourism sector, unlike during the COVID-19 crisis,” said the draft EU guidelines, which the European Commission is due to publish on Friday.

Statement comes after Trump’s threats to escalate bombing if Iran doesn’t agree deal and IRGC suggestions the strait of Hormuz could reopen

The UK work and pensions secretary, Pat McFadden, has warned that job losses “could happen” in Britain due to the economic impacts of the Iran war.

He said the UK economy was “going in the right direction” at the start of the year and unemployment figures for February showed a decline. He added that interest rates were expected to come down and the markets were pricing in cuts during the course of the year.