Tuesday, Jul 28th
Last update06:24:54 AM GMT
War Glance
In response, Iran’s armed forces said they would not allow passage to American combat forces or commercial ships without their authorization.
Tehran’s forces opened fire on U.S. warships and commercial vessels on Monday, U.S. Central Command (Centcom) head Adm. Brad Cooper told reporters. He said American forces returned fire and destroyed six small Iranian boats.
Cooper would not say whether the ceasefire between Washington and Tehran had ended.
Iran has submitted a 14-point response to the U.S. proposal to end the conflict that began with U.S. and Israeli attacks on Iran on February 28, according to the semi-official Tasnim news agency and the state-owned media organization Press TV.
Key points of the plan include a demand to resolve all issues and end the war within 30 days, instead of observing a two-month ceasefire as the U.S. had proposed. Other demands listed by the Iranian outlets include guarantees against future military aggression, the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iran's periphery, an end to the naval blockade, the release of frozen Iranian assets, payment of reparations, the lifting of sanctions, an end to fighting in Lebanon, and a new mechanism governing the Strait of Hormuz.
NPR has not independently verified the contents of the proposal. An Iranian official said Friday that the document had been handed to Pakistan, but did not disclose its terms. President Trump on Saturday said he is reviewing the new proposal, according to the Associated Press.
The U.S. previously presented Iran with a 15-point framework demanding, among other things, the complete reopening of the Strait of Hormuz and an end to Iran's nuclear program.
Senate Democrats called BS, literally, on Donald Trump’s claim that the war in Iran is over, in a formal letter the president sent on Friday to Republican House speaker Mike Johnson and Republican senator Chuck Grassley, the president pro tempore of the Senate.
“There has been no exchange of fire between United States Forces and Iran since April 7, 2026. The hostilities that began on February 28, 2026 have been terminated,” Trump wrote, as the ongoing war he claimed the US won in the first hour of combat continues with competing Iranian and US blockades of the Persian gulf.
“That’s bullshit,” Chuck Schumer, the Democratic minority leader in the Senate, posted in response to the news. “This is an illegal war and every day Republicans remain complicit and allow it to continue is another day lives are endangered, chaos erupts, and prices increase, all while Americans foot the bill.”
Israel has continued its attacks on southern Lebanon, hours after ceasefire between the two countries was extended for a further three weeks.
The Israeli military on Friday said it had “eliminated” six Hezbollah fighters in an exchange of fire in the area of Bint Jbeil, southern Lebanon. The Lebanese Health Ministry also reported that two people were killed in an Israeli air strike in the southern area of Touline.
The attacks mark the latest violations of a ceasefire that began on April 16 after weeks of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah, the Lebanese armed group.
Israeli forces also remain stationed in southern Lebanon, after establishing a so-called “yellow line” in the region, similar to an Israeli military measure in the besieged Gaza Strip.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei on Wednesday said his country has not decided whether to join another round of negotiations with the U.S., after President Donald Trump extended the ceasefire between the two countries indefinitely.
Baghaei blamed the Trump administration, saying "Washington keeps changing its stance hour by hour and lacks consistency and a unified approach in its decisions," according to Iranian state television.
Iranian and U.S. officials were expected to begin a second round of peace talks on Wednesday, but the trip was delayed as Iran had not agreed to participate. Trump then announced that he was extending the ceasefire until Iran's leaders can "come up with a unified proposal."
In his strongest words yet, Pope Leo XIV on Saturday denounced the "delusion of omnipotence" that is fueling the U.S.-Israel war in Iran and demanded political leaders stop and negotiate peace.
Leo presided over an evening prayer service in St. Peter's Basilica on the same day the United States and Iran began face-to-face negotiations in Pakistan and as a fragile ceasefire held.
History's first U.S.-born pope didn't mention the United States or President Donald Trump in his prayer, which was planned before the talks were announced. But Leo's tone and message appeared directed at Trump and U.S. officials, who have boasted of U.S. military superiority and justified war in religious terms.
"Enough of the idolatry of self and money!" Leo said. "Enough of the display of power! Enough of war!"
US vice-president JD Vance left Islamabad on Sunday after failing to reach a deal with Iran after a marathon 21 hours of negotiations.
Vance cited shortcomings in the talks, saying that Iran had chosen not to accept American terms, including to not build nuclear weapons.
“The bad news is that we have not reached an agreement, and I think that’s bad news for Iran much more than it’s bad news for the United States of America,” Vance said.
“So we go back to the United States having not come to an agreement. We’ve made very clear what our red lines are.”
Vance said he spoke with US president Donald Trump at least half a dozen times during the talks, and one of the most significant points of difference between the two sides had been around the development of nuclear weapons.
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