Iran-US war latest: UN warns millions face starvation if Strait of Hormuz is not opened

Britain and France are expected to hold a new meeting on reopening the Strait of Hormuz with partners on Tuesday, despite the lull in diplomacy aimed at ending the war.

Coalition partners are expected to outline the military contributions they can make to safeguard the strait once the conflict ends.

John Healey and his French counterpart Catherine Vautrin will chair the session together.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the timing of the meeting “doesn’t make sense”, however.

Iran also warned Britain and France against getting involved in policing the strait.

“Any deployment and stationing of destroyers around the Strait of Hormuz, under the pretext of ‘protecting shipping’, is nothing but an escalation of the crisis,” said Kazem Gharibabadi, the deputy foreign minister for legal and international affairs, on social media.

Donald Trump is considering resuming attacks on Iran after negotiations between the countries appear to have hit a deadlock, CNN has reported.

The US president has grown increasingly frustrated with the Iranians during peace talks, sources told the outlet. Earlier in the day, he warned that a US-Iran ceasefire is now “on life support”.

He said that the agreement is now “unbelievably weak”, adding that it’s “the weakest right now after reading a piece of garbage they sent us”.

Trump “didn’t even finish reading” Tehran’s latest proposal, he said. “Am I going to waste my time reading it? I would say it’s one of the weakest right now. It’s on life support … I would say the ceasefire is on massive life support.”

Iran hit back earlier after previous comments by Trump, calling their suggestions “totally unacceptable”.

Iran could enrich uranium up to 90% purity, a level considered weapons-grade, if the country is attacked once more, parliamentary national security and foreign policy commission spokesperson Ebrahim Rezaei said on Tuesday.

“One of Iran’s options in the event of another attack could be 90 percent enrichment. We will review it in the parliament,” Rezaei posted on X.

Pakistan plans to increase oil imports from Russia amid the crisis in the Strait of Hormuz, Russia’s state-run TASS news agency reported, citing Pakistan’s ambassador to Russia, Faisal Niaz Tirmizi.

The Trump administration has announced sanctions against three people and nine companies, including four based in Hong Kong and four in the United Arab Emirates, for aiding Iran’s shipment of oil to China. The ⁠ninth company is based in Oman.

The US Treasury move follows sanctions announced on Friday on individuals and companies aiding Iranian purchases of weapons and components used to make drones and ballistic missiles.

It comes days before US president Donald Trump’s planned meeting with Xi Jinping, where he is expected to press the Chinese leader to help resolve the standoff ⁠with Iran and reopen the critical Strait of Hormuz.

Treasury said ​the ⁠new designations by the Office of Foreign Assets Control were aimed at individuals and entities that helped Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps sell and ship its allotment of Iranian oil to ⁠China using a series of front companies.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the Trump administration would keep using ​sanctions to ⁠deprive the Iranian government and military of ‌funding for weapons, its nuclear program or support for proxies in the region.

“Treasury will continue to cut the Iranian regime off from the financial networks it uses to carry out terrorist acts and to destabilize ‌the global economy,” Bessent said.

As night fell over Europe and the Middle East, US president Donald Trump was still speaking about Iran’s proposals to end the war that began more than two months ago.

Tehran’s response to a US proposal for a peace deal threatened the status of a ceasefire that began on 7 April, Trump said.

“I would call it the weakest right now, after reading that piece of garbage they sent us. I didn’t even finish reading it,” Trump, who has repeatedly threatened to end the ceasefire, told reporters.

The US had proposed an end to fighting before starting talks on more contentious issues, including Iran’s nuclear program.

The US also imposed new sanctions on individuals and companies on Monday that it said were helping Iran ship oil to China, part of efforts to cut off funding for Tehran’s military and nuclear programs, while also warning banks about attempts to evade existing curbs.

And oil prices rose again, with Brent crude oil climbing above $104.50 a barrel, as the deadlock left the Strait of Hormuz largely closed.

We’ve just heard from Ebrahim Rezaei, Iran’s parliamentary national security and foreign policy commission spokesperson, on X.

He says Iran could enrich uranium up to 90 per cent purity, a level considered weapons-grade, if the country is attacked once more.

“One of Iran’s options in the event of another attack could be 90 percent enrichment. We will review it in the parliament,” Rezaei posted.

The threat comes amid fears growing fears that a temporary ceasefire between the US and Iran could collapse.

Donald Trump is more seriously considering a resumption of major combat operations in Iran, CNN reported citing sources.

The US president has grown increasingly frustrated with how the Iranians are handling negotiations to end the war, the report said.

Yesterday, Trump said the fragile ceasefire with Iran was on “massive life support” after negotiations hit a deadlock.

He told reporters that the agreement is now “unbelievably weak”, adding that it’s “the weakest right now after reading a piece of garbage they sent us”.