SOURCE :- THE AGE NEWS
Good morning and welcome to today’s live coverage of the conflict in the Middle East.
Here’s what you need to know:
- Peace talks between the US and Iran failed to reach an agreement, with Vice President JD Vance leading the US delegation.
- Vance claimed Iran’s pursuit of nuclear weapons was a sticking point in negotiations.
- Negotiations were expected to continue tomorrow in Islamabad, Pakistan.
- Iran’s state-run news agency said talks began after Iranian preconditions, including a reduction in Israeli strikes on southern Lebanon, were met, and after US and Iranian officials met separately with Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.
- The US military said two of its warships had passed through the Strait of Hormuz and conditions were being set to clear mines, while Iran’s state media denied any US ships had transited the waterway.
- Reports from inside the peace talks suggest the status of the strait remains a key point of contention.
- On Saturday, Energy Minister Chris Bowen provided a weekly update on Australia’s fuel reserves, with diesel stocks up and petrol and jet fuel stocks slightly down.
- Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has struck a non-binding agreement with Singapore, which has promised to do everything possible to keep supplying Australia with 55 per cent of its petrol.
Israeli strikes have killed more than 2000 people in Lebanon during the Israel-Hezbollah war, according to health officials.
Israel has continued to attack its northern neighbour since the US- Iran ceasefire was declared earlier this week, insisting Lebanon was not included in the terms.
The death toll in Lebanon from Israeli strikes has risen to 2020, the Lebanese health ministry said.
The death toll from nearly six weeks of war includes 248 women, 165 children and 85 health workers, and another 6436 people have been wounded, the ministry said.
More than 1 million people have been forced to flee their homes as Israel has moved to occupy swathes of southern Lebanon.
With AP
Pakistan’s foreign minister has called on Iran and the United States to keep their commitment to a ceasefire after the countries ended historic, face-to-face talks without an agreement.
“It is imperative that the parties continue to uphold their commitment to ceasefire,” Ishaq Dar, whose government shepherded the negotiations, said.
He said Pakistan would continue to play a mediating role and try to facilitate dialogue between Iran and the US in coming days.
A spokesperson for the Iranian foreign ministry said Iran would continue to communicate with Pakistan. They added that the talks had been held in an “atmosphere of mistrust” and that it was natural for any agreement to take more than one meeting.
AP, Reuters
The failure of the United States and Iran to reach an agreement today has cast doubt over signs Iran was loosening its grip on the Strait of Hormuz.
Three supertankers fully laden with oil passed through the strait on [Sunday AEST], shipping data showed. Each vessel is capable of carrying 2 million barrels of oil, and appeared to be the first to exit the Persian Gulf since the US-Iran ceasefire deal was struck this week, Reuters reported.
The two Chinese and one Greek vessel appeared to have followed the northerly route Tehran demanded following the ceasefire, according to Bloomberg.
Earlier on Sunday AEST, Qatar announced on social media the full return of daytime maritime traffic in its waters.
It remains unclear what effect the collapse of talks between the US and Iran will have on shipping movements in the Gulf.
With Reuters
Foreign Minister Penny Wong said maintaining the US-Iran ceasefire and returning to negotiations should be the priority, after the “disappointing” collapse of the Islamabad talks.
“We continue to want to see a swift resolution to this conflict,” Wong said in a statement.
“Any escalation in the conflict would impose an even greater human cost and further impact the global economy.”
Iran will continue to restrict access to the Strait of Hormuz until the United States agrees to a “reasonable deal”, according to a source cited by Iran’s Tasnim News Agency.
Iran has effectively closed the strait – a choke point through which 20 per cent of the world’s oil supply usually transits – causing a global oil shock being felt by countries around the world.
The Iranian state media outlet reported Iran was “not in a hurry” to negotiate, according to the source.
With Reuters
Vice President JD Vance has boarded Air Force Two in Islamabad, departing Pakistan without an agreement with Iran.
Iranian state media says negotiations with the United States collapsed because the demands on Iran were too onerous.
“US excessive demands hindered a common framework and agreement,” the Tasnim News Agency reported.
Reuters
Before President Donald Trump left the White House for the UFC competition in Miami, he stopped to speak to journalists where he warned China against offering military support to Iran.
The president was responding to a report by CNN that said US intelligence indicated China was preparing to deliver new air defence systems to Iran in coming weeks, according to three sources.
“If China does that, China is going to have big problems,” Trump said.
A spokesperson at the Chinese Embassy in Washington said the information is “quite untrue”.
JD Vance said the US delegation spoke with President Donald Trump half a dozen to a dozen times over the 21-hour negotiation period.
“We just could not get to a situation where the Iranians were willing to accept our terms,” Vance said. “I think that we were quite flexible. We were quite accommodating.
“The president told us, ‘You need to come here in good faith and make your best effort to get a deal’. We did that, and unfortunately, we weren’t able to make any headway.”
Trump is currently attending a UFC fight in Miami.
The US delegation to Islamabad also spoke with USSecretary of War Pete Hegseth, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and US Central Command chief Admiral Brad Cooper, Vance said.
“We were constantly in communication with the team because we were negotiating in good faith, and we leave here with a very simple proposal, a method of understanding, that is our final and best offer. We’ll see if the Iranians accept it,” Vance said at a press conference that was over in less than three minutes.
Vice President JD Vance said Iran’s nuclear program was a sticking point in attempted peace talks between the US and Iran.
“The simple fact is that we need to see an affirmative commitment that [Iran] will not seek a nuclear weapon, and they will not seek the tools that would enable them to quickly achieve a nuclear weapon. That is the core goal of the President of the United States, and that’s what we’ve tried to achieve through these negotiations,” he said at a short press conference from Pakistan.
Vance claimed Iran’s nuclear enrichment facilities had been destroyed.
“But the simple question is, do we see a fundamental commitment of will for the Iranians not to develop a nuclear weapon – not just now, not just two years from now, but for the long term? We haven’t seen that yet. We hope that we will.”
