Iran war: What is happening on day 51 of the US-Iran conflict?

The strategic Strait of Hormuz was closed again amid the standoff between Iran and the United States, as the influential Iranian parliamentary speaker indicated that a conclusive peace agreement was still “far” away, even though talks made some headway.

With mediators pressing on after high-level discussions in Pakistan failed to produce an accord, Tehran declared it would keep the vital maritime trade corridor closed until Washington lifts its blockade on Iranian ports.

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) warned that any attempt to pass through the strait without permission “will be considered cooperation with the enemy, and the offending vessel will be targeted”.

The current two-week ceasefire will expire on Wednesday unless it is extended.

Here is what we know:

In Iran

• US ⁠President ⁠Donald Trump has no justification to ⁠deprive Iran of its nuclear ⁠rights, the Iranian Students’ News Agency quoted Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian ‌as saying on Sunday, as Washington and Tehran continue to face disagreements over nuclear ⁠issues.
• Iran’s “valiant navy” is “ready to inflict new bitter defeats on its enemies”, Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei said on Saturday.
• Deputy Foreign Minister Saeed Khatibzadeh dismissed Trump’s claims over the uranium and sounded a note of caution with regard to future talks between the two countries.
• “There is now a certain sense of frustration and uncertainty when it comes to the road ahead. We know that Iranians are very much worried, not only about the shadow of the war, but also about the element of surprise, even during this ceasefire,” Al Jazeera’s Tohid Asadi reported from Tehran.
• Minister of Education Alireza Kazemi has said the government does not have plans to resume “in-person education” at the moment.
• The Tasnim News Agency, citing the deputy director of Iran’s Civil Aviation Organisation, said the country’s airspace would be reopened, with flights from east to west established gradually.

War diplomacy

• Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, speaker of the Iranian parliament, said in a televised address on Saturday night that there had been “progress” with Washington, “but there are many gaps and some fundamental points remain”.
• “We are still far from the final discussion,” said Ghalibaf, one of Tehran’s negotiators in the talks aimed at ending the war launched by Israel and the US against Iran.
• Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif returned to Pakistan on Saturday from his visit to Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkiye in advance of an expected second round of US-Iran talks.
•  Egypt’s Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty said Cairo and Islamabad hoped to secure a final agreement “in the coming days”.

In the US

• Trump accused Iran of getting “a little cute” with its recent moves and warned Tehran not to try to “blackmail” Washington by flip-flopping on the strait.
• “We have very good conversations going on,” the president told reporters at the White House, adding that Washington was “taking a tough stand”.
• The US military said it forced 23 ships to turn around near the Strait of Hormuz since it imposed a naval blockade of Iranian ports. In a post on X, the Central Command said US forces were still enforcing the blockade “against ships entering or exiting Iranian ports and coastal areas”.

In Israel

• The Israeli military said another soldier had been killed in combat in southern Lebanon, the second death announced in less than 12 hours.
• Israeli forces said they have established a so-called “yellow line” in southern Lebanon, similar to an Israeli military measure in the besieged Gaza Strip. Israel has also been accused of violating the terms of the ceasefire with Lebanon.
• More than 1,000 homes in Tel Aviv have been left uninhabitable by the recent war with Iran, the city’s mayor said on Saturday.

In Lebanon

• United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres condemned Saturday’s attack that killed a French soldier serving with the UN mission UNIFIL in Lebanon.
• Naim Kassem, head of the Iran-backed Lebanese group Hezbollah, in a statement read on the group’s Al-Manar TV, said a paper published by the US Department of State, which he described as the text of a ceasefire agreement between Lebanon and Israel, “means nothing at the practical level, but it is an insult to our country”.
• “Everyone knows that the government of Lebanon has not met or approved this statement,” he said.