Live: US and Iran agree to halt strikes ahead of Doha talks

Iranian media says three oil tankers and two ships carrying essential Iranian goods have “passed” through the US naval blockade.

The report comes as Washington and Tehran say they have agreed terms to end the war and reopen the Strait of Hormuz after months of disruption to shipping and energy markets.

Iran brought psychiatric professionals into its advisory team during indirect talks with the United States to help navigate President Donald Trump’s behaviour, Drop Site News reports.

The outlet said Iran’s negotiators used the advisers to assess Trump’s mental state and shape messages passed to him through regional mediators as talks sought to end the war.

“We added two senior psychologists to the negotiations’ advisory circle so that we can shape messages intended for President Trump from the perspective of managing what we regard as psychopathic behavior pattern,” an Iranian official told Drop Site.

The official said the psychologists joined the process after the first round of bilateral talks in Islamabad in April, as both sides exchanged terms for a possible memorandum of understanding.

“[Trump’s] reactions have improved noticeably since we began incorporating the recommendations of these advisers into our messages and written communications,” the official said.

The Organization of Islamic Cooperation has condemned the opening of an embassy by the self-declared state of “Somaliland” in occupied Jerusalem, calling the move illegal.

The OIC’s General Secretariat said the step amounted to a flagrant violation of the United Nations Charter and relevant UN resolutions.

It stressed that Israel, as the occupying power, has no sovereignty over occupied Jerusalem and said any measures aimed at changing the city’s political, legal or demographic status are null and void under international law.

The OIC also reaffirmed its full solidarity with Somalia and its support for the country’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.

It called on the international community to take a firm stance against the move and work to counter it.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has just given a news conference, trying to present the US-Israeli war on Iran as a success, as he fights for political survival after Washington reached a deal with Tehran.

Facing anger inside Israel, including from members of his own government, Netanyahu insisted that preventing Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons remained his “life’s mission”.

Netanyahu said Iran had posed an “immediate danger” and said Israel had removed the threat “together with our American friends”.

Netanyahu repeated claims about Israel’s assault on Iran, even as the US deal with Tehran has left him exposed at home and under pressure from hardliners who say the war ended without delivering regime change.

Netanyahu signalled that Israel would continue its wars and military occupation across the region despite the US-Iran agreement.

He said Israel would keep fighting in Gaza, Lebanon, Syria, Yemen, and the occupied West Bank.

Netanyahu also said Israel would continue to occupy Gaza, Lebanon and Syria.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi says he has discussed the Lebanon-related provisions of the US-Iran agreement with Lebanese leaders.

According to Araghchi’s Telegram account, he held separate phone calls with Lebanese President Joseph Aoun and Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri.

The talks come amid conflicting reports over how far the agreement covers Lebanon and whether it is linked to Israel’s continued presence and attacks in the country.

While the BBC has reported that the agreement does not include Lebanon, The Times of Israel is citing a senior US official as saying the memorandum of understanding still envisions a ceasefire covering Lebanon, as well as Iran.

The official said the deal is not conditioned on Israel withdrawing from Lebanon.

“The deal is a ceasefire, but it will not be a one-way ceasefire. If Iran is not able to control Hezbollah, and if they attack Israeli positions or Israeli towns, Israel will have the right to defend themselves and respond,” the US official said.

The official also pointed to continuing talks between Israel and Lebanon, despite criticism that they can achieve little without Hezbollah’s cooperation.

“The first point in the MOU talks about how Iran and its allies and America and its allies seek to end hostilities and hopefully have a final peace that hopefully will include a lot of these proxy groups,” the US official said. “Hopefully this will help us get the Israel-Lebanon normalization and peace done properly.”

A senior US official has told the BBC that the agreement with Iran does not include Lebanon, but said direct talks between Israel and Lebanon are under way.

"If Iran is not able to control Hezbollah and if they attack Israeli positions or Israeli towns, Israel will have the right to defend themselves and respond," the official said.

The official added that Iran and its allies, along with the US and its allies, are trying to end hostilities and reach a final peace deal that "will hopefully include a lot of these proxy groups".

Iran has publicly stated that the deal it has reached with the US includes Lebanon.

A senior US official has criticised “hardliners” in Washington who oppose the agreement reached with Iran, accusing them of treating Iranian state-linked messaging as fact when it suits their argument.

“One thing that I found to be the most comical is that you have a lot of people who are the hardliners [in the US] who say you can’t trust the Iranians — that they’re always going to lie. And then they take all the stuff put out in the IRGC channels as gospel,” the official told reporters during a briefing on the Iran deal.

Washington has pushed back against Iranian state-linked media reports suggesting Tehran will immediately receive sanctions relief. US officials say frozen assets will only be released if Iran follows through on concessions during nuclear talks expected over the next two months.

“What you’re seeing now is hardliners on both sides. In the Iranian system, they’re protesting [against the deal]. And we have certain people in the American system who say there’s no deal you could ever do with Iran ever, who are obviously making a lot of noise,” the senior US official said.

“But all the details of the agreement have not been put out yet,” the official added, saying the text would likely be released within 24 to 48 hours.

Senior Hezbollah official Mahmoud Qamati says the group’s right to self-defence remains in place as long as Israeli occupation and aggression continue.

Qamati also rejected any attempt to link an Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon to internal Lebanese issues, including demands for Hezbollah to disarm.

Trump says the agreement with Iran is "all signed" and that the Strait of Hormuz will be "completely opened" on Friday.

Speaking on Monday, Trump said Iran would not obtain a nuclear weapon under the deal, and Washington and Tehran would "hopefully" build a "good relationship".

He also said oil prices were "plummeting" and that stocks were rising after the announcement.

The US and Iran have signed a memorandum of understanding aimed at ending their nearly four-month war, Reuters reported, citing senior US officials.

One US official said President Donald Trump, Vice President JD Vance and Iranian parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf had signed the document digitally.

Speaking to reporters, the official said a formal signing ceremony would still take place on Friday.

"You will see [a] significant increase in traffic in the Strait of Hormuz, actually starting already, and that will ramp up slowly over time," the official said on condition of anonymity.

"We probably won't return to normal in two weeks, but we will see a significant increase in strait traffic," the official added.

US Vice President JD Vance has suggested Iran could gain access to $300bn in reconstruction funds if it complies with the tentative peace deal with Washington.

Asked by CBS News’s Ed O’Keefe whether the reported funding package was part of the agreement, Vance said it was possible if Tehran honoured its commitments.

"That's the sort of thing they could have access to, funded by the Gulf coast coalition, so long as they honour their end of the obligation," Vance said.

He added that Iranian officials and media would likely focus on what Tehran gains from the deal rather than what it gives up.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian says the memorandum of understanding could be seen as an "honourable document" for Iran if all sides implement it properly, according to state-run Irib and the semi-official Fars news agency.

Fars also cited Pezeshkian as saying that 90 percent of Supreme National Security Council members had voted in favour of the agreement.

He said the details would be approved at the "appropriate time".

Lebanon’s health ministry says Israeli attacks have killed 3,798 people and wounded 11,781 others since 2 March.

The ministry said Israeli forces killed 15 people and injured 82 more in attacks over the past 24 hours.

Ensuring the Strait of Hormuz is safe from mines could delay a return to normal shipping traffic by weeks, security sources say, even though both Iran and the US enabled some ships to exit the Strait after they negotiated over the interim deal.

The operation by conventional minesweepers and state-of-the-art underwater drones could continue for 40 to 50 days before many shipping companies are confident enough to sail through, according to western shipping and maritime security sources who spoke to Reuters.

That could potentially hold up tens of millions of barrels of oil, in addition to the oil supply from the Gulf already blocked since the US and Israel attacks on Iran on 28 February, according to estimates based on pre-war flows.

Iran, which asserted control over the waterway during the war, has threatened to deploy naval mines, without commenting on whether its forces have planted them.

It is unclear how many mines Iran may have laid in the Strait, which handled 20 percent of the world's daily supply of oil and liquefied natural gas before the war.

The US said it has targeted Iranian mine-laying boats. Britain, France and Germany have all dispatched warships and minesweepers to the region in anticipation of a potential mine-clearing operation.