Middle East crisis live: US officials to travel to Pakistan for talks as Trump warns US will ‘knock out’ every power plant if Iran doesn’t accept deal
https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2026/apr/19/middle-east-crisis-live-iran-us-strait-of-hormuz-trump-lebanon-israel
The US president said negotiators would head to Pakistan as Iran pledged to keep the strait of Hormuz closed until the US naval blockade is lifted
Sun 19 Apr 2026 13.27 EDT
US going to Islamabad on Monday for Iran negotiations, Trump says
Donald Trump said on Truth Social that his representatives were going to be in Islamabad on Monday night for more negotiations.
“We’re offering a very fair and reasonable DEAL, and I hope they take it because, if they don’t, the United States is going to knock out every single Power Plant, and every single Bridge, in Iran,” Trump wrote.
- Iran rejects US peace talks, Iranian media reports
- White House says Vance actually is going to Islamabad
- London police investigating possibile Iranian proxy involvement in attacks against Jewish sites
- Iran foreign ministry: US blockade violates ceasefire and 'amounts to war crime'
- JD Vance is not going to Islamabad, Trump says
- Trump says 'whole country is getting blown up' if Iran does not accept deal
- Report: Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff to join American delegation in Islamabad
- Trump: Iran says it closed Hormuz, but US blockade already closed it
- Report: JD Vance to lead American delegation to Islamabad
- US going to Islamabad on Monday for Iran negotiations, Trump says
- Trump: 'NO MORE MR. NICE GUY!'
- Trump: Peace deal 'will happen. One way or another'
- International flights to resume in Iran for first time since conflict began
- Iran's military turns around two tankers in strait of Hormuz, state-affiliated news agency reports
- Today so far
- How the Iranian regime targets UK journalists
- UN secretary general condemns attack on UN peacekeepers in Lebanon
- Trump and Tehran’s series of mismanaged posts stall progress towards peace
- Iran will not hand over enriched uranium to US, says deputy foreign minister
- Iranian president says Trump has no justification to deprive Iran of its nuclear rights
- Opening summary
Iran rejects US peace talks, Iranian media reports
Iran has reportedly rejected participation in a second round of peace talks with the US in Pakistan, citing “Washington’s excessive demands, unrealistic expectations, constant shifts in stance, repeated contradictions, and the ongoing naval blockade, which it considers a breach of the ceasefire”, according to the official IRNA news agency.
This follows reports that the White House planned to send a delegation, led by vice-president JD Vance, to renew negotiations in Islamabad on Monday.
Israeli fire on Sunday has killed one Palestinian and wounded three others in central Gaza, health officials told the Associated Press.
Palestinians in Gaza have reported that Israeli strikes have intensified over the past few days across the enclave. Since a fragile ceasefire deal was reached in October, deadly Israeli strikes have continued to be a constant threat in Gaza. The Gaza Health Ministry reports that more than 775 Palestinians have been killed since the ceasefire began.
The Israeli military published for the first time a map of its new deployment line inside Lebanon on Sunday, bringing dozens of mostly abandoned Lebanese villages under its control, days after a ceasefire with Hezbollah took effect.
Stretching east to west, the deployment line on the map runs 5-10 km (about 3-6 miles) deep from the border into Lebanese territory, where Israel has said that it plans to create a so-called buffer zone. Israeli forces have destroyed Lebanese villages in the area, saying their aim is to protect northern Israeli towns from Hezbollah attacks. It has created buffer zones in Syria and in Gaza, where it controls more than half the enclave.
“Five divisions, alongside Israeli Navy forces, are operating simultaneously south of the forward defense line in southern Lebanon in order to dismantle Hezbollah terror infrastructure sites and to prevent direct threats to communities in northern Israel,” the military said in a statement accompanying the map.
Israel and Lebanon agreed on Thursday to the US-backed ceasefire in fighting between Israel and Hezbollah. The deal, which followed the first direct talks in decades between Israel and Lebanon on 14 April, is meant to enable broader US-Iran negotiations but with Israeli forces maintaining positions deep inside southern Lebanon.
Iran currently has not made a decision on whether to send a negotiating delegation to Pakistan “as long as there is a naval blockade,” Iran’s semi-official news agency Tasnim reported.
Yesterday, Iranian officials reversed the reopening of the strait of Hormuz and reimposed restrictions on the vital shipping lane after the US said it would not end its blockade of Iranian ports. Iranian officials have maintained that the US blockade of Iran’s ports is a violation of the ceasefire agreement.
The US energy secretary has said that petrol prices are expected to remain high due to the fallout from the war on Iran, CNN reports.
Chris Wright spoke to the network and said he believes that gas prices have “likely peaked” but may not reach below $3 gallon “until next year.”
“Gas below $3 a gallon could happen later this year, that might not happen until next year. But prices have likely peaked, and they’ll start going down,” he said.
The national average currently stands at $4.05 per gallon, which is significantly higher than a year ago.
White House says Vance actually is going to Islamabad
Within the course of an hour, the Trump administration has reversed course three times on whether JD Vance would be heading to Islamabad for the next round of Iran peace talks.
Mike Waltz, the US ambassador to the UN, told ABC News that the vice president would be leading the American delegation set to arrive in Islamabad on Monday.
Donald Trump then came back to ABC News to say that Vance would not be going to Islamabad because of security issues – it was too short of a notice for Secret Service.
The White House then told CNN that Vance will be going – “Things changed,” an official said – and in fact, Vance will be leading the delegation that includes special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law.
London police investigating possibile Iranian proxy involvement in attacks against Jewish sites
Metropolitan police in London are investigating whether a series of arson attacks against Jewish sites were carried out by Iranian proxies.
Speaking outside Kenton united synagogue in north-west London, the site of the latest arson attack, deputy assistant commissioner Vicki Evans, the senior national co-ordinator for counter terrorism, said: “The nature of the incidents has been similar – arson attacks targeting Israeli- and Jewish-linked premises in London.
“Most have been claimed online by the group Ashab al-Yamin (Islamic Movement of the Companions of the Right).
“This same group has claimed several incidents over recent months at places of worship, business and financial institutions across Europe. These locations all appear to be linked to Jewish or Israeli interests.”
The Guardian’s Jamie Grierson has more.
Mohammad Ishaq Dar, the deputy prime minister of Pakistan, spoke on Sunday with Abbas Araghchi, the foreign minister of Iran.
The phone call included discussion on “the need for continued dialogue and engagement as essential to resolving the current issues as soon as possible for promoting the peace and stability in the region and beyond”, according to Pakistan’s ministry of foreign affairs.
Masoud Pezeshkian, Iran’s president, is slated to have a phone call with Shehbaz Sharif, Pakistan’s prime minister, later today as well.
These phone conversations took place as Donald Trump confirmed that a US delegation would be in Islamabad on Monday for another round of peace talks regarding the conflict in Iran.
Iran foreign ministry: US blockade violates ceasefire and 'amounts to war crime'
The US blockade of Iran’s ports is a violation of the ceasefire agreement and is “both unlawful and criminal”, Esmaeil Baqaei, a spokesman for Iran’s foreign ministry, said Sunday.
“The United States’ so-called ‘blockade’ of Iran’s ports or coastline is not only a violation of Pakistani-mediated ceasefire but also both unlawful and criminal,” Baqaei posted on X.
Baqaei also said the blockade was in violation of the UN Charter and constitutes an act of aggression.
“Moreover, by deliberately inflicting collective punishment on the Iranian population, it amounts to war crime and crime against humanity,” Baqaei said.
JD Vance is not going to Islamabad, Trump says
ABC News had previously reported that Mike Waltz, the US ambassador to the UN, had said that JD Vance was going to lead the American delegation in Islamabad this week.
Donald Trump has since corrected that statement to say that the vice president would not be going to Pakistan. Trump said his representatives would be in Islamabad for peace talks on Monday night, but that Secret Service couldn’t arrange to accompany Vance there on such short notice.
“It’s only because of security,” Trump said. “JD’s great.”
Trump had earlier confirmed to Fox News and The New York Post that special enoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kusher, Trump’s son-in-law, would be going to Islamabad.
Trump says 'whole country is getting blown up' if Iran does not accept deal
Donald Trump told Fox News on Sunday that this was Iran’s “last chance” to agree to a peace deal.
“If Iran does not sign this deal, the whole country is getting blown up,” Trump said. The US president then reiterated his earlier point on Truth Social that the US would target bridges and power plants specifically if Iran does not sign this agreement.
The deal entails reopening the strait of Hormuz and making sure Iranians do not have enriched uranium.
Trump also made clear that he would not be “making the same mistake” that Barack Obama did with the 2015 agreement his administration made to limit Iran’s nuclear capabilities. In exchange for the lifting of some sanctions, Obama had conceded that Iran could contiune enriching its uranium for 15 years, but only at the level of purity required for a civilian nuclear programme. The agreement also included limiting Iran’s stockpile of uranium to 300kg.
Trump withdrew from the agreement in 2018, calling the deal “one of the worst and most one-sided transactions” the US had ever entered into”.
Since then, Iran has grown its stockpile to 400.9kg of uranium enriched to 60% uranium-235 – a level that can be quickly enriched to weapons-grade – 90%.
Report: Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff to join American delegation in Islamabad
Donald Trump told The New York Post that special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law, will also be in Islamabad for the next round of peace talks with Iran.
JD Vance will be leading the delegation, Mike Waltz, the US ambassador to the UN, told ABC News.
