Iran has proposed easing its control over the vital Strait of Hormuz if the U.S. consents to lifting sanctions and ending hostilities, according to two regional officials on Monday. The offer suggests that discussions on Iran’s nuclear ambitions would follow at a later stage.
However, President Donald Trump appears unlikely to embrace this proposal. Currently, a tenuous ceasefire maintains a delicate balance between the two nations concerning the strait.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi was in Russia on Monday to confer with President Vladimir Putin. This visit is part of a broader tour that included stops in Pakistan, where leaders are making efforts to revive stalled negotiations between Tehran and Washington.
The conflict in the Middle East has led global airlines to cancel flights as jet fuel supplies are strained and oil prices surge. Travelers facing cancellations should be aware of their options.
Here’s the latest on the situation:
UK doesn’t support US blockade of Iranian ports, deputy minister says
Stephen Doughty, minister of state for Europe and North America, said that while the U.K. doesn’t support the U.S. blockade, it supports working with the United States and others to reopen the Strait of Hormuz — where he said the Iran is holding “the rest of the world to ransom.”
Maritime traffic must flow safely and unimpeded through the strait, he said, “and that includes no tolls, no security risk and, of course, adherence to the international laws on freedom of navigation.”
Diplomacy is crucial, Doughty told a small group of U.N. reporters ahead of a Security Council meeting Monday on the safety of navigation in the critical waterway, through which around 20% of the world’s crude oil normally passes.
He said de-escalation and a ceasefire are also crucial, stressing that Iran can’t be allowed to block the strait, attack its Gulf neighbors and civilian infrastructure, and develop nuclear weapons.
Rubio says a purported Iranian offer on the Strait of Hormuz is not acceptable
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio says a purported offer from Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz under strict conditions is not acceptable to the United States or others.
Speaking in a Monday interview with Fox News, Rubio said Iran has a different view of the strategic waterway than most of the rest of the world.
“What they mean by opening the straits is, yes, the straits are open, as long as you coordinate with Iran, get our permission, or we’ll blow you up and you pay us,” Rubio said.
“That’s not opening the straits. Those are international waterways. They cannot normalize, nor can we tolerate them trying to normalize, a system in which the Iranians decide who gets to use
Lebanon’s Health Ministry raises death toll there to 2,521
The ministry added Monday that 7,804 people were wounded since the latest Israel-Hezbollah war started March 2.
Despite a ceasefire that’s been in place since April 17, there have been repeated violations by both sides.
Merz says the American nation ‘is being humiliated’ by the Iranian leadership
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz on Monday criticized the U.S. for going into the Iran war without any strategy, saying this also makes it harder to end the conflict.
“The problem with conflicts like these is always the same: it’s not just about getting in; you also have to get out. We saw that all too painfully in Afghanistan, for 20 years. We saw it in Iraq,” the chancellor said while speaking Monday to students in Marsberg in the Sauerland region of Germany.
The lack of U.S. strategy and the fact that the Iranians are stronger than previously thought made it hard to end the conflict now, he said.
“Especially since the Iranians are negotiating very skillfully — or rather, very skillfully not negotiating,” he added. “And then letting the Americans travel to Islamabad, only to send them back without any results. An entire nation is being humiliated by the Iranian leadership, especially by these so-called Revolutionary Guards.”
Germany, he said, maintains its offer to send minesweepers in order to help reopen the Strait of Hormuz, but only after the fighting is over.
Pakistan clears transit of third-country goods to Iran
Pakistan has cleared the way for Iran to import goods from third countries through its territory by opening new transit routes.
According to a government notification issued Saturday, six routes have been designated linking ports including Karachi, Port Qasim and Gwadar with key border crossings in southwestern Balochistan province.
The notification was issued during a visit to Islamabad by Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, who met Pakistani officials for talks amid tensions between the United States and Iran.
The order took immediate effect.
Analysts said Monday the new policy allows cargo bound for Iran to move across Pakistan swiftly without facing delays due to bureaucratic hurdles. They said it could also help Pakistan strengthen its role as a regional transit route and improve connectivity with Iran and beyond the region in future.
Iran turns to the Caspian Sea for food with Persian Gulf routes choked by the US blockade
With the United States trying to squeeze Iran by blockading goods from entering or exiting its ports, food suppliers are rerouting imports via the Caspian Sea to ensure food keeps getting into the country.
The head of the Association of Iran’s Food Industries said Monday that alternative import routes are being “incorporated into the supply chain for essential goods.”
“At present, there is no problem with the country’s food security, but maintaining this situation requires careful planning,” Mohammad Reza Mortazavi said, according to the state-owned Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting.
The Caspian is the world’s largest inland body of water and its southern coastline stretches more than 430 miles (700 kilometers) in northern Iran. Iran is a net importer of food staples like grain and cooking oil.
US stocks are mixed as their record-breaking rally slows, while oil prices rise
The U.S. stock market’s record-breaking rally is slowing Monday after uncertainty rose over the weekend about what will happen next in the Iran war, while oil prices are rising.
The S&P 500 edged down by less than 0.1%, coming off its latest all-time high driven by strong profit reports from U.S. companies and hopes that the United States and Iran can avoid a worst-case scenario for the economy because of their war. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 86 points, or 0.2%, as of 9:35 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq was 0.3% lower after setting its own record.
The moves were stronger in the oil market, where prices climbed more than 1.5% as tankers still find the Strait of Hormuz effectively closed. That’s keeping crude stuck in the Middle East and away from customers worldwide, including crude produced by Iran that’s being blockaded by the U.S. Navy.
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Israeli military videos show weapons discovered and homes leveled as fighting in Lebanon grinds on
It released videos Monday showing troops operating in Lebanon, including coordinated explosions in unnamed villages, toppling homes it said were infrastructure used by the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah.
Footage also showed a brigade discovering a cache of rifles and missile launchers stashed in a children’s room, which it said were hidden beneath toys, beds and elsewhere in kids’ rooms.
Despite a ceasefire nominally in place in Lebanon, both Israel and Hezbollah continue to strike each other, while Israeli forces occupy a buffer zone in Lebanon and have been demolishing neighborhoods in towns and villages in that area.
The military says it destroys buildings that were used as outposts by the Iran-backed militant group, but the wide scale of destruction has Lebanese officials and residents increasingly worried that displaced people will have nowhere to return.
Bahrain strips 69 people of citizenship
The island kingdom’s interior ministry said it revoked citizenship rights “of those who expressed sympathy and praise for Iran’s hostile and criminal acts.” It noted the move also applied to the families of individuals accused.
Bahrain is among several countries in the region that tightly controlled information about Iranian strikes during the war, arresting residents and foreigners who filmed them. The Sunni-ruled monarchy, like Iran, has a majority Shiite population and saw pro-Iran demonstrations early in the conflict. Authorities arrested protesters and those who filmed demonstrations en masse, charging dozens with misusing social media, inciting hatred or treason, an offense that can carry the death penalty.
The country is also one of several in the Gulf with laws allowing courts to strip citizenship from people convicted of certain crimes, potentially rendering them stateless. Such measures in Bahrain, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar have drawn criticism from rights groups, which say the laws are tools of repression, used to squash and punish dissent.
For ships stuck in the Gulf, crew changes are difficult
Fleet Management Limited usually communicates multiple times a day with dozens of stranded ships that are staffed by more than 400 seafarers, its CEO Capt. Rajalingam Subramaniam said.
Stock checks are regularly maintained for food supply, and pickups have been arranged to ensure availability by moving vessels to the nearest points where they can pick up fresh and dry provisions, he said.
Some crew changes were still happening, but in limited numbers. “Who wants to go on the ship?” Subramaniam said. “The inbound crew has the right to refuse and we respect (that).”
Most of the stranded mariners have been in the Gulf since the war began. “(For) mariners who did not sign up to be in warlike area, they also (need) to be respected so that they do not become the unintended collateral,” he said.
Russian President Vladimir Putin met with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi
The meeting happened Monday in Saint Petersburg, Russian state news agency Tass said.
Putin praised the Iranian people as bravely fighting for their sovereignty and said Russia would do everything possible in the interest of Iran and other countries in the region to bring peace to the Middle East, Tass reported.
Tired and worried, seafarers have been stranded in the Persian Gulf for weeks
Around 20,000 seafarers on hundreds of vessels, including oil and gas tankers and cargo ships, have been stuck in the Gulf, unable to cross the Strait of Hormuz. Normally about a fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas transits the waterway.
Roughly 80 vessels passed through the strait in the week of April 13-19, according to the maritime data firm Lloyd’s List Intelligence, compared to approximately 130 or more transits per day before the war. Dozens of ships have come under attack since the war started, and the U.N. says at least 10 seafarers were killed.
Even as U.S. President Donald Trump last week extended the ceasefire indefinitely, the U.S. kept the blockade of Iranian ports. In response, Iran fired on ships in the strait and seized two.
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Israel and Iran spent less on defense in 2025 than 2024, tracker says
Military spending in the Middle East plateaued in 2025, even as it climbed in other parts of the world, according to a report released Monday by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. The think tank, which goes by the acronym SIPRI, said regionwide spending increased 0.1% but actually fell in both Israel and Iran.
Israel’s military spending fell 4.9% to $48.3 billion, reflecting a less intense year of fighting than in 2024 after it entered ceasefires in Lebanon in November 2024 and in Gaza in October 2025. Even as large-scale combat subsided, Israel continued carrying out lethal strikes and maintained a ground presence in both. Spending remains sharply elevated — up 97% compared with 2022 — and the war has strained public finances, with Israel reporting wider deficits and increased borrowing since it began.
Iran’s spending fell 5.6% to $7.4 billion. SIPRI attributed that to inflation and broader economic strain, though researchers warned that government reports are likely understated.
“Iran also uses off-budget oil revenues to finance its military, including the production of missiles and drones,” SIPRI researcher Zubaida Karim said.
Lebanon president blasts Hezbollah for rejecting talks
Lebanon President Joseph Aoun blasted militant group Hezbollah on Monday over its rejection of direct talks with Israel.
Lebanon’s decision to hold negotiations with Israel is not “treason,” Aoun said in a statement, adding that treason is when “someone takes the country to war to achieve foreign interests.”
Harshly criticizing Hezbollah without naming it, Aoun asked whether there was a “national accord” when the Iran-backed group took Lebanon to war last month.
Hezbollah fired rockets into Israel on March 2, two days after the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran. The fighting has killed over 2,500 people, wounded more than 7,000 and displaced over 1 million people.
Aoun asked how long people in south Lebanon will pay for the wars of other nations or groups, “the latest of which was the war for backing up Gaza and the war for backing up Iran.”
“I totally reject this war” when the goal is to benefit others, he said.
Aoun said he wants to end the state of war with Israel in the manner of the 1949 Armistice Agreements that brought calm along the border for years without normalizing relations.
“Was the armistice agreement humiliation? I will not accept reaching a humiliating deal,” Aoun said.
French airline Transavia cancels flights over fuel costs
Transavia France said late Sunday it is canceling some flights in May and June because of rising fuel costs.
The low-cost airline, part of the Air France-KLM group, said in a statement “the current geopolitical context in the Middle East and its repercussions on the price of aviation fuel” forced the cancellations.
French media reported the cancellations represented less than 2% of the company’s May and June flight program.
Transavia said affected passengers would be able to choose between a voucher, full refund or free rebooking, which will be offered within 24 hours for the majority of canceled flights.
China opposes US sanction on oil refinery
China said Monday it opposed a decision by the United States to sanction one of its refineries for purchasing Iranian crude oil shipments.
The U.S. announced Friday it would sanction Hengli Petrochemicals in China’s northeastern port city of Dalian.
The measure blocks the company and others that transport Iranian oil from accessing the U.S. financial system.
Hengli Petrochemicals is among dozens of Chinese buyers of Iran’s oil. China is Iran’s largest overall oil customer.
“China always opposes illegal unilateral sanctions that lack a basis in international law and urges the U.S. to stop its wrong practices of abusing sanctions and exercising long-arm jurisdiction,” Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Lin Jian said.
“We will firmly safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese companies,” Lin said.
World’s largest condom company raising prices due to strait closure
Karex, the world’s largest manufacturer of condoms, said it has raised prices by up to 30% to cope with escalating costs due to the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, which is a vital channel for petrochemical supplies.
CEO Goh Miah Kiat said the company has little choice but to pass higher costs to customers for condoms, personal lubricants, probe covers and catheters as raw materials, logistics and production expenses surge.
Karex produces 5 billion condoms annually, or about a fifth of global market share, with its biggest market in the United States, according to company data.
The Malaysian firm believes demand will rise at least 30% this year as “people use more condoms during periods of economic uncertainty,” Goh said.
Karex faces rising costs for nitrile latex, silicone oil and lubricant materials, natural rubber latex and aluminum foil packaging, Goh said, adding that freight costs and supplier delays have forced Karex to hold larger inventories of key materials.
Iran offers proposal to US to reopen Strait of Hormuz without nuclear agreement
Iran is offering to end its chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz without addressing its nuclear program, two regional officials with knowledge of the proposal said Monday.
Iran also wants the United States to end its blockade of the country as part of its proposal, according to the two officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the closed-door negotiations.
The new proposal, passed onto the U.S. by Pakistan, is not likely to receive the backing of U.S. President Donald Trump, who wants to end Iran’s atomic program as part of an overall deal including the Strait of Hormuz to make the ceasefire permanent.
“We have all the cards. If they want to talk, they can come to us, or they can call us,” Trump told Fox News Channel on Sunday.
Axios first reported Iran’s proposal.
— By Samy Magdy
Iran’s foreign minister says Russia trip an opportunity to coordinate after war
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Monday that his trip to Russia offered an opportunity to coordinate with Moscow after the war with Israel and the United States.
Araghchi made the comments in a pretaped interview posted by the state-run IRNA news agency.
“It is a good opportunity for us to consult with our Russian friends about the developments that have occurred in relation to the war during this period and what is happening now,” he said.
Araghchi said it was America’s approach that “caused the negotiations to be delayed” that had been planned in Islamabad.
“The previous one, despite the progress that had been made, could not achieve its goals,” he said, blaming what he called Washington’s “excessive demands.”
Trump has questioned who is in charge in Iran at the moment and said confusion within its theocracy made it difficult to reach a deal.
Iran’s foreign minister arrives in Russia
Iran’s top diplomat arrived Monday in Russia ahead of a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The state-run IRNA news agency said Abbas Araghchi landed in St. Petersburg for his meeting with Putin.
Araghchi has visited Islamabad twice and Muscat, Oman, on the foreign trip as negotiations with the U.S. appear stalled over the Iran war.
