Donald Trump has issued an extreme warning to Iran to quickly agree to a peace deal with the United States or face devastation, as Washington struggles to break an impasse on ending the war. The US president said on his Truth Social platform on Sunday: 'For Iran, the Clock is Ticking, and they better get moving, FAST, or there won’t be anything left of them. TIME IS OF THE ESSENCE!'
US military options under consideration
Trump is expected to meet top national security advisers on Tuesday to discuss options for military action on Iran, according to a report in the US outlet Axios. This comes amid escalating tensions in the region.
Drone strike on UAE nuclear plant
A drone strike in the United Arab Emirates caused a fire at a nuclear power plant, which the country called a 'dangerous escalation' and blamed on Iran or its proxies. Saudi Arabia also reported intercepting three drones. Tehran has demanded a lasting ceasefire in Lebanon before any broader peace deal with Washington.
Israeli strikes continue despite ceasefire
Israel’s airstrikes killed seven people in Lebanon on Sunday, including an Islamic Jihad commander, Lebanese authorities and state media said. This occurred despite the fragile ceasefire as Hezbollah called US-brokered talks between the two countries a 'dead end'.
In other key developments:
- Iranian media said the US had failed to make any concrete concessions in its latest response to Iran’s proposed agenda for negotiations to end the war. The Fars news agency said Washington had presented a five-point list that included a demand for Iran to keep only one nuclear site in operation and transfer its stockpile of highly enriched uranium to the US.
- Islamic Jihad commander Wael Abdel Halim and his 17-year-old daughter were killed in an Israeli missile strike on an apartment in eastern Lebanon on Sunday, Lebanese state media said.
- Israeli strikes on towns in southern Lebanon earlier killed five people, including two children, and left at least 15 people injured, the Lebanese health ministry said, despite Israel and Lebanon agreeing to extend their ceasefire by 45 days.
- Hezbollah had fired about 200 projectiles at Israel and its troops over the weekend, an Israeli military official said on Sunday.
- Israel’s cabinet approved a plan to build a defence compound on the site of the recently demolished premises of the UN Palestinian refugee agency (Unrwa) in East Jerusalem. Israel seized the site last year in an act the agency condemned as a violation of international law.
