Live: Israel says it will control bridges and area south of Lebanon’s Litani River

Two sources are telling the Financial Times that Pakistan is acting as a negotiator between the United States and Iran. 

The sources, who were briefed on the call, said Pakistan's army chief, Asim Munir, had spoken with US President Donald Trump about a possible de-escalation. 

Pakistani Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif spoke with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on Monday. 

The two people briefed on the matter said senior Pakistani officials were back-channelling communications between Tehran and Trump's envoy Steve Witkoff in a bid to secure a brief ceasefire and space for negotiations. 

The sources added that Pakistan is also hoping to host peace negotiations in Islamabad between senior US and Iranian officials. 

An end to fighting is critical for Pakistan, given that Islamabd shares a land border with Iran and has the second-largest Shia Muslim population after its neighbour. 

Pakistan is also running low on liquiefied natural gas (LNG) , with officials saying it will run out of LNG by April if it does not receive further deliveries. 

Islamabad also has close relations with Gulf states, including a mutual defence pact signed last year with Saudi Arabia. 

The Iranian parliament's speaker, Mohamed Bagher Galibaf, has repeated Tehran's denial that talks took place between Iran and the US. 

"No negotiations have been held with the US, and fake news is used to manipulate the financial and oil markets and escape the quagmire in which the US and Israel are trapped," Galibaf wrote on X. 

Galibaf added that the Iranian people demand "complete and remorseful punishment of the aggressors", and that officials stand "firmly behind their supreme leader and people until this goal is achieved." 

Lebanon's health ministry said an Israeli strike on Hamzieh, east of Beirut, killed at least one person. 

The Israeli military claimed around the same time that it had "struck an IRGC Quds Force terrorist in Beirut", referring to the foreign operations arm of Iran's Revolutionary Guards.

Hazmieh, which is near Lebanon's presidential palace, hosts several foreign embassies.

US President Donald Trump claimed to reporters that the price of oil will "drop like a rock" if the United States makes a deal with Iran to end the war. 

Since the conflict began, oil prices have increased significantly, after Iran threatened to strike vessels crossing the Strait of Hormuz. 

Trump claimed the two countries are discussing 15 points to end the war, including plans for Iran to give up nuclear weapons. 

Tehran, however, has denied claims that Iran has begun engaging in negotiations with Washington. 

The deputy governor of Lorestan province in Iran said US-Israeli strikes have killed at least 157 people and injured 2,667 there since the start of the war. 

US President Donald Trump has repeated claims that the US and Iran are in discussions over ending the war. 

Speaking to reporters in Florida, Trump said his Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jarehd Kushner are involved in talks. 

Iran's foreign ministry, however, denied any talks were taking place and told CBS News it rejected "any type of negotiations before achieving Iran's goal from the war".

Pope Leo sharply criticised aerial bombardments on Monday, saying they are indiscriminate and should be banned, in his latest anti-war comments as the US-Israeli war on Iran enters its fourth week.

Leo, the first US pope, did not specifically mention the expanding conflict in a meeting with executives and staff from Italy's ITA Airways, but he strongly decried the use of airpower in warfare.

"No one should have to fear that threats of death and destruction might come from the sky," said the pope.

"After the tragic experiences of the 20th century, aerial bombings should have been banned forever," he said. "Yet they still exist … this is not progress; it is regression!"

The pope has called repeatedly for a ceasefire in the Iran war. On Sunday he called the conflict a "scandal to the whole human family."

Germany's foreign ministry stands behind its outgoing ambassador to Israel, Steffen Seibert, said a ministry spokesperson on Monday, after Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar criticised an X post by Seibert for mentioning Israeli settler violence.

German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul spoke directly to Saar by phone on Sunday night to discuss the exchange between the two, said the spokesperson, and "that concludes the matter".

"The foreign minister has a very, very close relationship with his Israeli counterpart, they are in frequent contact," added the spokesperson.

Saar had criticised the ambassador for bringing up settler violence in the occupied West Bank in a post in which he also lamented the death of an Israeli farmer killed near the Lebanese border by Israeli fire and injuries to hundreds of Israelis from Iranian strikes.

US President Donald Trump has backed down from threats to bomb Iranian power plants following what he described on Monday as "very good and productive conversations" with Iran.

In a post on his Truth Social platform, Trump said he had ordered the Pentagon to halt strikes on Iranian energy infrastructure for a five-day period in light of the positive talks.

The price of oil and gas immediately fell and markets rallied following the US president's announcement.

Trump wrote that productive conversations between the US and Iran had taken place over the last two days "regarding a complete and total resolution of our hostilities in the Middle East".

He said that "based on the tenor and tone of these in depth, detailed and constructvive conversations", which would continue through the week, he had instructed the Pentagon to postpone "any and all military strikes against Iranian power plans and energy infrastructure for a five day period".

The Israeli military said on Monday it is conducting strikes in Tehran, after US President Donald Trump said the United States and Iran had held talks and that he would postpone any strikes on power plants and energy infrastructure.

US President Donald Trump reportedly retreated after being told Iran would target all power plants in West Asia, Iran’s Fars News Agency said on Monday, citing a source.

There were no direct communications with the United States, either directly or through intermediaries, it said.

The Tasnim news agency, citing an Iranian source, said the Strait of Hormuz would not return to pre-war conditions as long as "psychological warfare continues", and that "Iran will continue to respond and broadly defend" its territory.

Israeli settlers escalated attacks against Palestinians across the occupied West Bank over the weekend, including torching a clinic, shooting at civilians and vandalising a school.

Palestinian media reported on Monday that settlers raided a boys’ secondary school in the town of Hawara, south of Nablus, where they removed the Palestinian flag, raised an Israeli flag in its place and wrote “death to Arabs” on the walls.

Late on Sunday, a series of attacks were reported near Nablus and Ramallah. Armed settlers attacked Palestinians in the town of Deir al-Hatab, east of Nablus, injuring at least nine people, including one who sustained gunshot wounds.

In the town of Burqa, east of Ramallah, settlers torched a local clinic and a vehicle.

A night earlier, several simultaneous attacks were reported around Jenin, Nablus and Salfit.

Read more: ‘They burned everything’: Israeli settlers torch West Bank clinics, homes and cars

US President Donald Trump said on Monday the US has had good and productive conversations with Iran and he will order the military to postpone any military strikes against Iranian power plants and energy infrastructure.

“Based on the tenor and tone of these in depth, detailed, and constructive conversations, which will continue throughout the week, I have instructed the Department of War to postpone any and all military strikes against Iranian power plants and energy infrastructure for a five day period, subject to the success of the ongoing meetings and discussions,” he said on Truth Social.

Egypt’s foreign ministry denounced "the deliberate destruction of infrastructure in Lebanon" in a statement, saying that it represents "a blatant Israeli policy of collective punishment."

The ministry also criticised Israel’s “systemic and deliberate” strikes, including on bridges on the Litani River in south Lebanon.

US-Israeli strikes near the Bushehr nuclear power plant in Iran are extremely dangerous and Russia has shared its concerns with the United States, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Monday.

Such strikes could have irreparable consequences, he said.

"We believe that strikes on nuclear facilities are potentially extremely dangerous. [...] Therefore, the Russian side, taking an extremely responsible stance on this issue, has repeatedly voiced its concerns," Peskov said.

The Kremlin spokesman added that the conflict in Iran "as recently as yesterday" should have been channelled towards a political and diplomatic settlement.