Image source, Getty Images

Plans for peace talks between Iran and the US remain uncertain as Iran accuses the US and Israel of "blatant violations" of the ceasefire agreement.

Here are the key points from the last few hours:

US-Iran

• Iran's chief negotiator with the US, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, said it was "not possible" to re-open the Strait of Hormuz due ceasefire "violations"
• Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said the US blockade, threats and a "breach of commitments" are the obstacles to negotiations
• It follows an Iranian attack on three cargo ships in the strait earlier on Wednesday - two of which were seized for "inspection" by the IRGC Navy
• US President Trump was quoted earlier in US media saying it's "possible" that talks with Iran could resume by Friday

Israel-Lebanon

• In Lebanon, President Joseph Aoun said talks were under way with Israel to "extend the ceasefire deadline"
• Aoun also condemned the death of a second French peacekeeper following an attack that hit a UN patrol on Saturday. French President Macron blamed Hezbollah, who have denied responsibility

• Lebanese state media reported two people were killed in an attack on a car in southern Lebanon, with the IDF confirming it struck a vehicle it says "posed a threat" to Israeli troops

Israel says it struck a vehicle in southern Lebanon after it approached Israeli troops in a "manner that posed an immediate threat to their safety".

It follows an earlier report from Lebanese state media that two people had been killed following an Israeli attack on a car in the village of al-Tir.

In a statement, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) says it identified two vehicles that had "departed from a military structure used by Hezbollah".

It says it determined that those in the vehicle had violated the ceasefire and posted an "imminent threat" after crossing Israel's "forward defence line", before one vehicle, and the building the vehicles had departed from, was struck.

The IDF says it has since received reports that two journalists were injured in the strikes, adding it is "not preventing rescue teams from reaching the area".

It says that it "does not target journalists" and that the details of the incident are under review.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian says the US blockade of Iranian ports, threats and what he describes as a "breach of commitments" are the main obstacles to "genuine negotiations" with the US.

He says Iran has "welcomed dialogue and agreement and continues to do so", in a post on X.

He adds that the "world sees your endless hypocritical rhetoric and contradiction between claims and actions".

His comments come after US President Donald Trump announced on Tuesday that he would extend the ceasefire, but the US blockade of Iranian ports would continue.

Jonathan Josephs
Business reporter

The head of the UN’s International Maritime Organisation has called for “innocent seafarers to be released immediately”.

While he hasn’t mentioned them by name, it seems quite clear he’s talking about the crews of the MSC Francesca and MSC Epaminondas, which have been detained by Iran.

Secretary-General Arsenio Dominguez also made an unusually pointed criticism in saying “I cannot understand why companies would take risks and endanger seafarers’ lives".

These two cargo ships had been stuck in the Gulf since the start of this conflict. They seem to be part of a convoy that made a break for it over the weekend after the Strait of Hormuz briefly appeared to reopen.

There’s still no word from Switzerland-based MSC which normally tries to keep a low profile. Some of its rival shipping companies have made clear that the safety of their crews and vessels is their top priority.

Nearly 20,000 seafarers remain stranded in the Gulf and Dominguez pointed out it's uncertain when they will be able to return home, which means “there is much more work to be done”.

Ultimately only an end to the hostilities can make the Strait of Hormuz safe for the ships that the global economy depends upon.

Image source, COPERNICUS SENTINEL-2/Reuters

Bernd Debusmann Jr
White House reporter

Image source, EPA

It's been an extremely - and abnormally - quiet day at the White House today.

Even with the world's eyes fixed firmly on Iran and whether - or not - talks will resume anytime soon, there has been silence from the White House, and very little from Donald Trump other than his recent post claiming that eight executions in Iran have been halted.

The only other "news" at the White House today has, so far, been a very brief and so far unexplained security alert which prompted the evacuation of journalists outside on the lawn. It is unclear what that was about.

Reporters here have been busy inundating the White House press office with questions on the administration's next steps on Iran, or busy calling officials to try get any insight.

The subsequent stories in the US media have been thin on details, anonymously sourced and often contradictory.

Unless something changes, we have no expectation of seeing Trump on-camera today. His public schedule is entirely comprised of closed-door policy meetings for the rest of the day.

Iran's chief negotiator in talks with the US, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, has just said it is "not possible to reopen the Strait of Hormuz considering all the blatant violations of the ceasefire".

Those "violations" include the US naval blockade of Iranian ports - which he says amounts to taking the global economy "hostage" - and "warmongering" by Israel "on all fronts".

Seemingly referring to the US and Israel, Ghalibaf posts on X that "they did not achieve their goals through military aggression, nor will they through bullying.

"The only way forward is to recognise the rights of the Iranian people."

It was thought Gahlibaf would hold talks with US Vice-President JD Vance in Pakistan this week - but they are yet to begin.

Donald Trump last night announced an extension to the US-Iran ceasefire that was due to expire today. This morning, Iran said it had "seized" two cargo ships in the Strait of Hormuz.

Image source, EPA

Attacked cargo vessel drops anchor near UAE, tracking data showspublished at 17:17 BST

17:17 BST

By Paul Brown

One of the three container ships attacked earlier in the Strait of Hormuz, Euphoria, appears to have dropped anchor near a port in the United Arab Emirates, according to MarineTraffic tracking data analysed by BBC Verify.

UAE-owned Euphoria was attacked eight nautical miles west of Iran, according to the maritime security firm Vanguard. No damage to the ship or injuries to crew has been reported.

Iran has not commented on Euphoria, but has said it seized the other two vessels - MSC Francesca and Epaminondas - both of which reported damage resulting from the attacks. Their most recent broadcast positions indicates neither has moved far since the attacks occurred.

However, MarineTraffic data indicates Euphoria returned to sailing southwards after the reported time it was attacked, entering anchorage about 13 nautical miles from the port of Khor Fakkan at around 14:00 BST.

Image source, MarineTraffic

The cargo ship’s final intended destination is currently listed as Jeddah, on Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea coast.

Monitoring vessel traffic through their location data has limitations as ships can turn their trackers off, or they can try to obscure where they are by “spoofing” - broadcasting a false position.

Ghoncheh Habibiazad
Senior reporter, BBC Persian

Image source, Getty Images

While Iran is still under a near-total internet blackout since 28 February, there are some who have access.

Although the authorities have rejected a so-called "tiered" access system, Iran has been granting selective access to certain groups.

Aside from some like journalists and pro-establishment users who had access since day one, access has recently been given to groups such as business owners, university lecturers, and more recently, doctors.

But what about those whose jobs rely on the internet and who are not part of the selected groups?

Iran’s communications minister says about 10 million people, out of a population of around 90 million, depend on "stable internet" and that the ongoing blackout threatens their jobs.

Some of them have had to pay large sums to buy connections, mainly routed through Starlink devices, which are themselves illegal in Iran.

The BBC has been talking to a few people whose lives depend on creating content on social media, and they have lost large portions of income because of the outage.

“My income has been reduced to one-third since the outage,” a freelance teacher told the BBC. He said he is using a domestic messaging app to hold his classes but that it "got disconnected 10 times today".

An official from the Iranian Chamber of Commerce estimated last week that internet outages cost $30-40m (£22-30m) daily in direct losses and $70-80m (£52-59m), including indirect impacts.

Lebanon's President Joseph Aoun has condemned the killing of a second French peacekeeper in southern Lebanon following an attack on a United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (Unifil) patrol.

Earlier, French President Macron announced the death of the second French citizen following Saturday's attack, which he blamed on the Iran-backed group Hezbollah - which has denied involvement.

In a statement posted by Aoun's office, it says he "renewed his condemnation of the incident, reiterating his condolences to the French state and the Unifil leadership".

The Greek-owned container ship Epaminondas has been attacked near the Strait of Hormuz but it's unclear whether it was detained by Iran, according to Greek Foreign Minister Giorgos Gerapetritis.

“I can confirm that there was an attack against the Greek cargo ship, but I cannot confirm that this has been seized by the Iranians," Gerapetritis told CNN.

He said it was attacked and has faced "extensive damage". Greek media is reporting that the shipping ministry denies that it has been detained.

Earlier, the IRGC said that the ship, along with the MSC Francesca, was "seized" and directed towards the Iranian coast, Iranian media reported.

The UK Maritime Trade Operations Centre said it was approached by an IRGC gunboat, which opened fire and caused significant damage to the bridge.

Update at 16:41:This post and headline has been updated to include more comments from the Greek foreign minister's interview with CNN

Image source, COPERNICUS SENTINEL-2/Reuters

Image source, Getty Images

Donald Trump says "it's possible" that a second round of peace talks with Iran could begin by Friday, according to the New York Post.

The newspaper says it was told by Pakistani officials that talks might be possible within the next "36 to 72 hours". When the Post put this to Trump, the US president replied in a text message: "It’s possible! President DJT."

Yesterday, Trump announced that he would extend the ceasefire with Iran, set to expire on Wednesday evening, to allow the regime more time to create a "unified proposal" to end the war.

Some Iranians trying to get on with their lives, while others are defiantpublished at 15:22 BST

15:22 BST

Lyse Doucet
Chief international correspondent, in Iran

The first reactions here to President Trump’s ceasefire extension, by spokesmen on social media, was predictable, sceptical, defiant.

Mahdi Mohammadi, an adviser to Iran’s lead negotiator, dismissed it as meaningless, a ploy to buy time for a surprise attack. It underlines the deep distrust here about US diplomacy.

Previous rounds of talks - last year and this year - were shattered by surprise Israeli-American attacks.

Iran has its own commitment to keep as part of this ceasefire. But it’s making it clear it won’t open the strategic Strait of Hormuz, on its conditions, until the US lifts its naval blockade and releases its seized vessel - that’s the political logjam now.

And there’s no clear sign of how and when it will be resolved. When we speak to Iranians here, we hear a range of views, not surprisingly. Iranians taking to the main squares in this city every night in response to the government’s call to show solidarity, are also defiant.

Others tell us they’re just trying to get on with their lives, exhausted by years of failed nuclear talks, spiralling prices, tightening security and surveillance, and all the many restrictions on their lives, their futures.

The BBC's chief international correspondent Lyse Doucet is reporting from Tehran on condition that none of her material is used on the BBC's Persian Service. These restrictions apply to all international media organisations operating in Iran.

Image source, Reuters

A second French peacekeeper has died after being seriously wounded by Hezbollah fighters, says French President Emmanuel Macron.

In a statement on X, Macron says Corporal Anicet Girardin was repatriated yesterday and died this morning.

On Saturday, a French peacekeeper who was serving with the UN mission in southern Lebanon, Unifil, was killed after a patrol came under fire. Macron blamed Hezbollah for the attack, though the Iran-backed armed group denied "any connection" to the incident.

Two other peacekeepers have been injured.

Macron said earlier that he "fully" supports the ceasefire between Hezbollah and Israel, and is concerned that it may "already be undermined by the continuation of military operations". He called for Hezbollah to renounce its weapons and for Israel to respect Lebanese sovereignty.

Owner of attacked tanker denies cryptocurrency scam claimspublished at 14:54 BST

14:54 BST

By Kayleen Devlin

The company which owns an Indian-flagged tanker that was attacked in the Strait of Hormuz over the weekend, despite its captain saying the ship had been granted clearance by Iran, has denied the vessel had fallen victim to a cryptocurrency scam.

In a statement sent to BBC Verify, Sanmar Group says “these reports are completely false” and that it is working closely with the Indian government to ensure the vessel’s safe passage.

The denial comes after Greek maritime risk management firm Marisks issued a warning, first reported by Reuters,, external that some shipping companies with vessels stranded in the Strait of Hormuz have received fraudulent messages promising safe passage in exchange for cryptocurrency.

Cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin are a type of digital money which operate outside traditional banking systems, often allowing payments to be made quickly and with a degree of anonymity.

There have been reports of several ships being struck since Iran said it had closed the strait again on 18 April, with some claiming they had been given clearance to transit.

Carrie Davies
Pakistan correspondent in Islamabad

As with President Trump, Iran has used social media to lay out its demands and position as well as taunt the US and issue threats.

The internet monitoring organisation Netblocks has reported an internet blackout in Iran, so how many of these posts are for domestic rather than international consumption is questionable.

Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf is Iran’s parliamentary speaker and led the delegation that met Vice President JD Vance in Islamabad last week.

In the run up to those talks, he’s used his X account to declare in English that Iran would not negotiate without a ceasefire in Lebanon and troll Trump over the high gas prices the war has created.

Indeed, trolling has been a common theme, often coming from Iran’s foreign embassies. The Iranian embassy in Zimbabwe, for instance, has shared multiple posts including of an AI generated Trump dressed as a pirate on a film poster titled Pirates of the Hormuz.

Both the US and Iran are using online platforms to try to undermine the other; the question too is what impact the flood of messages has on the delicate dance of negotiations.

Two people have been killed in an Israeli attack on a car in the village of al-Tiri, southern Lebanon, according to state-run National News Agency.

Yesterday, the Israel Defense Forces issued a warning to residents to stay away from the Litani River, Wadi al-Salouqi and Wadi al-Salhani, citing "ongoing terrorist activities of Hezbollah".

A ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon was announced on 16 April and is due to last 10 days. Washington is due to host ambassador-level talks on Thursday.

Both Hezbollah and Israel have accused each other of violating the ceasefire agreement. The IDF said earlier that Hezbollah launched an attack on Israeli forces in southern Lebanon.

MarineTraffic data shows probable, approximate locations of cargo ship attackspublished at 14:14 BST

14:14 BST

By Paul Brown

BBC Verify’s analysis of vessel-tracking data has identified the probable and approximate locations of the three cargo ships when they were attacked in the Strait of Hormuz this morning.

The positions being broadcast on MarineTraffic for Euphoria, MSC Francesca and Epaminondas show all three cargo ships changed their direction at the time they were reportedly attacked.

This tracking data also matches with the approximate locations for two incidents given by UKMTO - and MSC Francesca’s change in direction fits with the time of the attack reported to BBC Verify by maritime intelligence firm Vanguard.

Location data monitoring has limitations as ships can turn their trackers off - or attempt to hide their location by broadcasting a false position, known as “spoofing”.

Iran says it has seized the MSC Francesca and Epaminondas, but it has not commented on the status of the Euphoria.

Here’s a map showing the approximate locations of these three incidents in the strait:

Jonathan Josephs
Business reporter

It appears that that two of the three ships that have been targeted by Iran were part of a convoy belonging to the world’s biggest shipping company, MSC.

The Strait of Hormuz seemed to reopen briefly on Friday for a short window and that might have been sufficient encouragement for them to try and make a run for it.

The MSC Francesca and MSC Epaminondas, as well as four others, had been trapped in the Gulf since before the start of this conflict.

However, the others, MSC Clara, MSC Grace, MSC Margrit XIII, and MSC Madeleine are now safely on the eastern side of the Arabian sea, according to transponder data analysed by maritime data firm Linerlytica.

Those four all seemed to turn off their transponders to hide their locations whilst they made the hazardous journey. Two other container ships also made it out.

However, despite being relatively smaller cargo vessels the MSC Francesca and MSC Epaminondas don’t seem to have been so lucky and have been seized by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) forces, apparently for inspection.

There’s no word from MSC, which normally tries to keep a low profile. Despite being headquartered in landlocked Switzerland, its ships handle about 20% of all the world’s goods that move by sea.

Image source, (C)2007 {Henk de Winde}, all rights reserved

The Iranian regime appears to fear renewed unrestpublished at 13:48 BST

13:48 BST

Jiyar Gol
BBC Persian, reporting from Islamabad

Image source, Getty Images

Authorities in Iran appear to be trying to control the narrative by restricting internet access and presenting an image of widespread public support.

It remains uncertain how much hardship people can endure under ongoing economic pressure and censorship.

Just yesterday, another protester who was arrested during the nationwide protests in January was executed. Iran’s judiciary identified him as Amir Ali Mirjafari, alleging that he set fire to a mosque in Tehran.

Human rights groups say that at least 14 people have been executed in recent weeks and report that a growing number of death sentences have been handed out to protesters - some of them accused of espionage.

The executions are a stark sign the regime is deeply fearful of an uprising.

In January, the regime killed tens of thousands of protesters demanding change.

Basiji militias commanders appear on state television warning that dissent will be punished in the same way the regime claims to confront foreign enemies like the US and Israel.

BBC Monitoring

Iran on Wednesday executed a man convicted of spying for Israel's Mossad intelligence service.

Iranian media says the man had worked in a sensitive state organisation's passive defence committee and had extensive contact with a Mossad officer.

On Tuesday, Iran executed another man in connection with the January protests, also accusing him of having contacts with Mossad.

Iran has executed more than a dozen people since the beginning of the conflict, with some accused of spying for Israel, others for their alleged membership of the exiled opposition group Mojahedin-e Khalq Organisation, or for their role in the January unrest.

Meanwhile, Iran's judiciary on Tuesday dismissed reports that eight women were facing imminent execution, after Donald Trump called for their release.

The judiciary-run Mizan News Agency said the US president had been misled by "fake news" spread by "hostile" opposition media, saying that several of the women have already been released, while others faced charges not carrying the death penalty.