Middle East crisis live: Trump warns US will ‘go back to shooting’ if Iran ‘don’t behave’, as G7 leaders call for Lebanon ceasefire | US-Israel war on Iran
‘If they don’t behave, we will go right back to dropping bombs right smack in middle of their heads,’ Trump says on Iran
Jakub Krupa
US president Donald Trump said the deal with Iran is “not final” and threatened to “go back to shooting” Tehran if it does not “behave”.
Speaking to reporters before meeting with Egyptian president Abdel Fatah el-Sisi at the G7 summit, he said:
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.”
Key events
Vance said he expects gas prices to come down “a lot more” over the next few weeks.
“We really do think, as the president said, this was a short-term increase in prices,” he told CBS.
“We understand it caused a lot of disruption, there are a lot of American families who are struggling, but this is not a long-term change.”
Vance says text of US-Iran deal will be released on Friday ‘at the latest’
US vice-president JD Vance said the text of the US-Iran deal would be released on Friday “at the latest”, as he was quizzed on the contents of the memorandum of understanding that has been widely reported in the media.
Vance said Washington has been pushing for it to be released sooner but that Qatari and Pakistani negotiators, who helped mediate the agreement, “asked us not to release the full text for a little while”.
“We’re actually trying to push them to get it out today, because we want to tell the American people what’s in this deal,” Vance told CBS.
He described it as a “good deal for the American people” and said he had seen “misrepresentations” about it, in an apparent reference to reports about leaked versions of the draft.
Vance said the agreement would reopen the strait of Hormuz “immediately” and provide a framework “whereby if the Iranians give us what we need on stopping the funding of terrorism, on no longer pursuing a nuclear weapon, then they can get some benefits, be reinvited into the world economy”.
“When I say benefits, I’m talking about sanctions relief on their economy,” he added.
“We’ve destroyed their nuclear programme, but one of the things the president is trying to do is give them the incentive not to try to rebuild that programme for the long haul.”
William Christou
Human rights experts have alleged that six multinational construction equipment conglomerates may be aiding and abetting war crimes by supplying excavators and bulldozers to Israel, after photos and videos showed the Israeli military using their equipment to demolish villages in south Lebanon.
The Guardian geolocated and verified images showing the Israeli military using excavators made by six companies – Caterpillar, Volvo, Hyundai, Doosan, Hitachi and Komatsu – to destroy homes, public utilities, shops and other structures across southern Lebanon.
Israel has levelled entire villages inside the “yellow line”, a 608 sq km area occupied by Israel along the Lebanese-Israeli border. At least 46 villages in south Lebanon have suffered heavy damage, most of it caused by demolitions carried out after the 17 April Lebanon-Israel ceasefire, according to a satellite analysis by Bellingcat.
The Israeli military said it was destroying Hezbollah infrastructure, with Israel’s defence minister, Israel Katz, calling for “all homes in Lebanese villages near the border” to be destroyed to “remove threats”.
However, Human Rights Watch has said that Israel’s wide-scale destruction of villages could amount to wanton destruction – a war crime. Displaced residents have watched from afar as videos show craters and vast fields of rubble where their family homes once stood.
Much of that destruction is being carried out by excavators and bulldozers produced and sold to Israel by foreign companies.
Lebanon is following its own path in negotiations independently of US-Iran deal, says Aoun
Aoun also said that the Lebanon’s negotiations with Israel in Washington were independent of the US-Iran deal to bring an end to the Middle East conflict.
“The assurances we have received, and what we insist on, is that Lebanon’s path in the negotiations is independent, though we are certainly for a ceasefire and for any country that helps us, including Iran,” Aoun said, according to a statement from his office, after Iran and Pakistan said Lebanon was included in the US-Iran deal.
“The Lebanese state is sovereign in its decision-making, and for the first time, it is the one conducting the negotiations, and nobody is negotiating for us,” Aoun said ahead of a fifth round of Israeli-Lebanese talks next week.
Lebanese president Joseph Aoun said on Wednesday that Lebanon welcomed support from any country, including Iran, to help secure a ceasefire, marking a softer public tone towards Tehran after weeks of sharp criticism.
Earlier this month, Aoun accused Iran of using Lebanon as a bargaining chip in its negotiations with the United States and said Lebanese people were being killed to serve Iran’s interests.
The International Energy Agency said that opening the strait of Hormuz was essential to ending the shock from soaring oil and gas prices.
“The single most important solution to this problem is fully and unconditionally opening up the strait of Hormuz to shipping,” said IEA chief Fatih Birol.
Since the US-Iran deal was announced, families displaced by war in southern Lebanon have begun to return to their homes. Many of them have found their villages and towns almost completely destroyed by Israeli bombing, which has killed nearly 4,000 people and displaced more than one million since renewed fighting with Hezbollah began on 2 March.
Lebanon’s official National News Agency has reported continued Israeli strikes in the south of the country this morning, even as leaders of the G7 called for an immediate ceasefire.
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.”
When pressed on whether he would ask Gulf countries to invest in the fund, Trump said: “No, I’m not, I’m not. If they do it, fine. But I would say they won’t be doing it for a while until they find out the behaviour. It’s a behaviour thing, but we are not investing.”
‘If they don’t behave, we will go right back to dropping bombs right smack in middle of their heads,’ Trump says on Iran
Jakub Krupa
US president Donald Trump said the deal with Iran is “not final” and threatened to “go back to shooting” Tehran if it does not “behave”.
Speaking to reporters before meeting with Egyptian president Abdel Fatah el-Sisi at the G7 summit, he said:
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.”
Several US media outlets have reported details of leaked copies of the interim agreement between the US and Iran. Many details of the terms have already been reported by Iranian media, but neither Washington nor Tehran have officially confirmed the contents of the memorandum of understanding that is due to be formally signed on Friday.
Under the agreement, Iran will immediately take steps to reopen the strait of Hormuz once the tentative deal is signed, and it will be allowed to sell its oil without restrictions, AP reported.
The news agency stated that, according to the leaked text, Washington would secure at least $300bn for the reconstruction and economic development of Iran and work to end all US and UN sanctions imposed on Tehran if a final agreement addressing its nuclear programme is reached.
The deal calls for an immediate end to all fighting between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon, but it makes no mention of a withdrawal of Israeli troops, a key demand of Iran, AP reported.
Geneva Abdul
An Israeli real estate event in north London appears to have advertised the sale of land in Israeli settlements in East Jerusalem and the occupied West Bank, despite previous denials that illegal settlement properties would be marketed at the event.
Pamphlets shared with the Guardian from the event on Sunday showed real estate projects in Ma’ale Adumim, Givat Ze’ev, Kfar Eldad and Teneh Omarim in the occupied West Bank, as well as Ramat Eshkol and Givat Hamatos in East Jerusalem.
The event was held after more than 100 UK lawmakers as well as civil society organisations had called for its cancellation, saying it was inconsistent with the government’s obligations under international law as well as guidance on settlement-related economic activity.
“There is a prima facie case at the very least that people were advertising land in illegal settlements and that is contrary to law, and the government needs to act,” said Andy McDonald MP, co-chair of the British-Palestine all-party parliamentary group.
Read more:
In their joint statement, the leaders of the G7 also (very briefly) pledged to “accelerate humanitarian and reconstruction efforts” and implement “relevant political and security measures” in Gaza.
“We call for ending violence in the West Bank,” the G7 leaders said.
Attacks by Israeli settlers and the military on Palestinians in the occupied West Bank have become commonplace, amid what human rights groups say is a campaign of abuse and harassment to push Palestinians off their land and expand Jewish settlements.
In the most recent attack, Israeli settlers vandalised a mosque and set it ablaze in the Palestinian village of Jaljilya, according to local reports. Pictures show the damage inside the building with Hebrew graffiti daubed on the walls.
Meanwhile, Nato secretary general Mark Rutte hailed the US-Iran deal to end the Middle East war, saying the planned reopening of the strait of Hormuz would be a “massive step forward”.
“I know that many allies, through the initiative led by France and the United Kingdom, are ready to support,” Rutte told a press conference in Brussels.
You can follow our Europe live blog for more of Rutte’s remarks and other related news here:
The G7 leaders’ statement described the announcement of a US-Iran deal to end the Middle East war as a “historic opportunity” and a “breakthrough”.
The statement signed by the leaders of the UK, US, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and Canada said:
We welcome the announcement of a deal between the United States and Iran, secured under the strong leadership of President Trump, with the support of mediating countries, which provides an historic opportunity to prevent Iran from acquiring any nuclear weapon and tackling the threats related to its regional and ballistic activities. We support and are ready to contribute to its implementation.”
It also added that an initiative led by the UK and France can help to reopen the strait of Hormuz to maritime traffic, but it cautioned that further negotiations were needed “to address the threats posed by Iran in the region and beyond”.
G7 leaders issue joint statement calling for ‘immediate ceasefire’ in Lebanon
A meeting was held this morning between world leaders on the final day of the G7 summit in France.
In a joint statement issued earlier, G7 leaders called for “an immediate ceasefire” in Lebanon.
“In Lebanon, we support, through an immediate robust ceasefire, the Lebanese leadership’s efforts to achieve the disarmament of Hezbollah and the monopoly of arms, and to protect Lebanon’s territorial integrity and sovereignty with the appropriate international security guarantees,” the statement said.
The Canadian prime minister, Mark Carney, has described the US-Iran memorandum of understanding to end hostilities in the Middle East as a “gamechanger”.
“Not just for this situation … it allows us – and this is what’s happened in the meeting – to step back and look anew at Ukraine,” he told CNN on the final day of the G7 summit in France.
Carney said he has seen a copy of the tentative deal struck between Washington and Tehran, which reportedly calls for the immediate lifting of the US naval blockade on Iranian ports and the reopening of the strait of Hormuz.
“I have to say, it’s exceeded my expectations,” he said.
The terms of the deal have not been made public and Carney did not disclose how he was able to see a copy other than saying “we have our sources”.
He said the deal “sets the groundwork to ensure Iran doesn’t have a nuclear weapon,” adding: “The Rubicon, if I can use that metaphor, has been crossed.”
Opening summary
Hello and welcome to the Guardian’s live coverage of the crisis in the Middle East.
Iran’s military has threatened to respond to Israel after strikes in southern Lebanon killed four people, despite an agreement being reached between Tehran and Washington to end the Middle East war, including in Lebanon.
Lebanon’s National News Agency reported Israeli warplanes targeting the southern town of Nabatieh al-Fawqa and a drone strike in Ansariyeh on the coast this morning. There was no immediate comment from the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) on the reports.
In an update yesterday, the IDF said it intercepted “several rockets” launched by Hezbollah towards its troops operating in southern Lebanon, and that it struck and destroyed the launcher.
Hezbollah has not issued any recent statements claiming attacks on Israeli targets in southern Lebanon. The group’s leader, Naim Qassem, is due to make a televised address today, according to Hezbollah’s Al-Manar TV.
The Iranian military’s central command Khatam al-Anbiya said Israel must halt its acts of aggression in the south or face “a harsh response” from its forces. It accused Israel of violating the ceasefire in Lebanon “84 times” since the deal was announced.
Iran’s top diplomat and foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, said a peace deal with the US would require Israel to withdraw from Lebanon. “Without the withdrawal of Israeli forces from the territories they occupied during this war, the war has not fully come to an end,” he said.
Concerns have been growing that Israel could undermine diplomatic efforts to finally end the Middle East war, with Donald Trump criticising his ally and war partner as irresponsible.
“Israel has been fighting Hezbollah for too long and too many people are being killed,” Trump said. “You don’t need to knock down an apartment house when you are looking for somebody because there are a lot of people in those apartment houses, and they are not all Hezbollah, that I can tell you.”
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A US-Iran deal aimed at ending the Middle East war will be signed at Switzerland’s mountainside Burgenstock resort on Friday, the Swiss foreign ministry confirmed to AFP. The site, located near Lucerne in central Switzerland, is difficult to access and therefore easily secured. It “was proposed by the Pakistani and Qatari mediators, as well as by the US and Iran”, Switzerland’s foreign ministry said.
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Two months of final negotiations will begin immediately after the initial deal between the US and Iran is signed. Negotiations will continue for a 60-day window after the ceremony, officials told AFP, leading to a plan for the lifting of economic sanctions and decisions on the fate of Iran’s nuclear programme.
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Trump said that he would send the deal with Iran to the US Congress for a review. “I like the idea, send it to Congress please,” he said at the start of a meeting with the UAE president Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan on the sidelines of the G7 summit. “I mean who wouldn’t approve it.”
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Speaking at the G7, Trump has said the strait of Hormuz will be open by Friday and that the full text of the peace deal will be released in a “formal setting”. Trump also said he expects the “second stage” of the deal “to go quickly”.
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The US will allow Iran to immediately start selling oil and fuel again as part of the deal to end the war, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing sources familiar with the matter. Iran can only sell oil if they keep to the terms of the deal, as US official told Reuters. It includes the free flow of navigation in the strait of Hormuz and not obtaining an nuclear weapon.
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An Iranian deputy foreign minister said the two-month US naval blockade on Iranian ports had been lifted ahead of the planned formal signing of a deal ending the war. “The lifting of the blockade was something we had emphasised from the outset. It has now begun, and the blockade has been lifted prior to the formal signing” scheduled for Friday, said Iranian deputy foreign minister Majid Takht-Ravanchi, according to the government’s website.
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Qatar, a key mediator between the US and Iran, said it believed the framework peace agreement could deliver security to the Middle East. “We are cautiously optimistic that the signing of the memorandum of understanding will lead to the next phase of regional security through the talks that will take place on the nuclear programme and on other issues,” foreign ministry spokesperson Majed Al Ansari told reporters in Doha, as he praised Pakistan’s mediation efforts.
