Iran-US war latest: Vance ‘not certain’ about peace deal as he warns US military ‘locked and loaded’ to resume strikes

US treasury secretary Scott Bessent has announced another 30-day extension of a sanctions waiver allowing purchases of Russian seaborne oil to aid “energy-vulnerable” countries hit by the Iran war.

Bessent said that the treasury was issuing the 30-day general license after a previous waiver lapsed on Saturday, reversing plans not to grant an extension.

This will allow temporary access to Russian oil and petroleum products stranded on tankers without violating severe US sanctions on Russian oil majors, he said.

The second waiver extension was requested by poor and vulnerable countries that cannot get Gulf oil shipments due to the US-Israeli war with Iran and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, a source familiar with the decision told Reuters.

“This extension will provide additional flexibility, and we will work with these nations to provide specific licenses as needed,” Bessent said.

“This general license will help stabilize the physical crude market and ensure oil reaches the most energy-vulnerable countries.”

The UAE earlier said that six drones had been launched against it from Iraq in the past 48 hours, including one that caused a fire at a nuclear power plant on Sunday.

The country’s defence ministry said it had intercepted all but one of the drones. It said three in total had been targeting the Barakah Nuclear Power Plant, which is the Arab world’s first commercial nuclear power station.

The drone that penetrated the UAE’s defences hit an electric generator outside the inner perimeter of the plant, the ministry said.

After that drone strike, the UAE’s Federal Authority for Nuclear Regulation said the plant remained safe and that no radioactive material had been released due to the attack.

Emirati officials have said the UAE has the full right to respond to such “terrorist attacks”.

Iraq is home to powerful Iranian-backed militia groups which have claimed attacks against “enemy bases in Iraq and the region” during the war.

While hostilities during ‌the Iran conflict have largely been scaled down since a ceasefire came into effect in April, drones have been launched from Iraq towards Gulf countries, including Saudi Arabia and Kuwait.

A mysterious attack on an Iranian oil refinery during the Iran war caused an oil spill that affected a nearby Persian Gulf island that’s a protected breeding ground for wildlife, videos and satellite photos show.

The oil-soaked waves lapping onto Shidvar Island, an uninhabited island, represent yet another sign of the ecological damage wrought by the war. Oily rain has also fallen on the Iranian capital, Tehran, after airstrikes targeted oil facilities there. Iranian attacks on ships passing through the Persian Gulf, the Strait of Hormuz and the Gulf of Oman also caused environmental damage.

Mobile phone footage shot April 9 by an Iranian named Ehsan Jalali shows thick black smoke rising after the strike on an oil refinery on Lavan, an island just off mainland Iran near Shidvar. The footage corresponds with known features of both islands and only was posted by Jalali to Instagram in the last few days as Iran’s theocratic government has shut off access to the wider internet for weeks.

European shares ticked higher on Tuesday after investors welcomed news that the US had paused a planned attack against Iran following Tehran’s latest peace proposal, with chances of a deal seeming close.

Donald Trump said there was now a “very good chance” of reaching a deal limiting Iran’s nuclear program.

Oil prices fell as much as 2% even as they remained over $100 a barrel, while bonds steadied after a steep selloff in the past few sessions.

The pan-European STOXX 600 rose 0.2% to 611.22 points, as of 7am, but stayed below prewar levels.

European equities have lagged behind global peers, with the region’s dependence on oil imports weighing on markets, while US and global markets have rebounded on artificial intelligence-led optimism.

The Iranian national football team has been training in Turkey ahead of the World Cup, following concerns that it might not join the tournament being held in the US, Mexico and Canada.

Iran’s football federation said on Saturday the country will “definitely” participate in the 2026 Fifa World Cup and insisted that the tournament’s hosts – the United States, Canada and Mexico – consider Tehran’s concerns around the team’s travel and how it will be treated.

“All players and technical staff, especially those who served their military service in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, should be granted visas without problems,” Football Federation Islamic Republic of Iran president Mehdi Taj said, according to Iranian media.

Iran has threatened to impose tariffs on Strait of Hormuz submarine cables, which are crucial for the region’s digital economy.

After a sustained blockade of the Strait of Hormuz and leaving the world scrambling for oil and energy supplies, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) demanded “protection fees” from foreign cable operators to provide them with permits to maintain seabed infrastructure.

The narrow waterway, already a chokepoint for global oil shipments, is equally vital for the digital world. Several fibre-optic cables snake across the seabed of the ​strait, connecting countries from India and Southeast Asia to Europe via the Gulf states and Egypt.

The state-affiliated media warned that damage to the cables could impact trillions of dollars in global data transmission and affect world connectivity, even as some experts say Iran is overestimating its influence in a bid to gain leverage against future attacks.

“We will impose fees on internet cables,” declared Iranian military spokesperson Ebrahim Zolfaghari on X. The threat has raised concerns about potential attacks on critical infrastructure.

The US seized an Iran-linked oil tanker in the Indian Ocean overnight, the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday, citing three US officials.

The tanker, known as the Skywave, was sanctioned by the US in March for its role in transporting Iranian oil.

It was likely loaded with more than a million barrels of crude at Iran’s Kharg Island in February, the report stated.

We’ve been hearing from US vice president JD Vance, who says Washington and Tehran have made a “lot of progress” in recent peace talks.

“We think the Iranians want to make a deal,” Vance told reporters at a White House briefing.

If Iran is able to produce a nuclear weapon, Vance said, countries around the Gulf would then want their own weapon, then other countries across the world would as well. Tehran denies it is seeking to do so.

“We want to keep the number of countries that have nuclear weapons small, and that’s why Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon,” he said.

The United States wants Iran to work with Washington on a process to ensure that the Iranians would not rebuild their nuclear weapons capacity in the years to come.

“That’s what we’re trying to accomplish in negotiations,” he said.

When asked if Russia could take possession of Iran’s enriched uranium, Vance said: “That is not currently the plan of the United States government. The Iranians have not raised it.”

Smaller European airlines are urging EU officials to reconsider planned reforms to passenger compensation rights.

The spike in jet fuel prices due to the Iran war, the firms argue, has left them with no room to take on additional financial burdens.

EU institutions are negotiating a reform of the bloc’s decades-old passenger rights regulation, called EU261.

Existing rules since 2004 allow air passengers to claim compensation for flights delayed by more than three hours from 250 euros (£216.53) and more depending on the flight length. The next round of talks is set for 2 June.

“We urge European policymakers to pause and reassess,” executives from 35 airlines including Air Serbia, SkyExpress, Luxair, Atlantic Airways and SprintAir said in a letter sent to EU officials on Tuesday.

KLM Cityhopper and Air Corsica also signed the letter.

The EU parliament wants to keep the threshold unchanged at three hours for short-haul flights while member states in the EU want it raised to four hours.