Iran-US war latest: Tehran says Lebanon key to talks as Trump threatens ‘Guardian Angel’ tolls in Strait of Hormuz

Deputy prime minister Antonio Tajani cancelled a scheduled trip to the US over the comments claiming that they “offend all of Italy”.

The bizarre dispute appears to have started with claims Meloni wanted to take a picture with the US leader, before spiralling into personal attacks shared on social media.

A quadrilateral meeting between Iran, the United States, Qatar and Pakistan will be held at the Buergenstock mountaintop ​resort in Switzerland on Sunday afternoon, Iran’s foreign ministry spokesperson to Iranian state media.

Esmaeil Baghaei said that Iran would hold meetings with intermediaries Qatar and Pakistan earlier in the day, adding that the gathering in Switzerland is a follow up on the implementation of a memorandum of understanding signed with the US this week.

US vice president JD Vance, Pakistani prime minister Shehbaz Sharif, Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi and speaker of Iran’s parliament, Mohammed Bagher Ghalibaf have touched down in Switzerland for high-stakes technical talks.

The discussion will centre on the details of a US-Iran memorandum of understanding signed by Donald Trump this week.

Iran’s Fars news agency cited a military source as saying on Sunday that the Strait of Hormuz remains closed and the Revolutionary Guards Navy has not issued permission for any vessels to transit until further notice.

The United States and Iran had agreed to a 60-day ceasefire for peace deal negotiations, but Tehran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps on Saturday declared the Strait of Hormuz shut in response to Israeli strikes in Lebanon, though the US military said commercial vessels were still operating.

Vance has denied that the waterway is shut.

Pakistan prime minister Shehbaz Sharif and army chief Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir will participate in the technical-level talks being held in Burgenstock, Switzerland on 21 June, the PM’s office announced yesterday.

The ⁠country’s foreign ministry said US and Iranian representatives would participate in ‌the meeting, ​along with ‌mediators from ⁠Pakistan and ⁠Qatar.

It added that Sharif will also meet separately with each delegation from Iran, Switzerland and the United States “to reaffirm Pakistan’s enduring commitment to dialogue and durable peace in the region”.

The Democrats are condemning the visible breaking points of the US-Iran memorandum of understanding.

Johnny Olszewski, a Democratic congressman from Maryland, said Trump’s “war of choice” was a “disaster”.

“The dressed up ceasefire masquerading as a ‘deal’ is already falling apart,” he wrote in a post on X. “Americans deserve better.”

Pramila Jayapal, another Democratic member of Congress, underlined the cost of the war on Iran and said Republicans had cut Medicare, a US health programme, to fund this conflict.

“They are not confused about what we want. They just work for someone else,” Jayapal said.

• The agreement signed by Donald Trump and Iranian president Masoud Pezeshkian immediately allows Tehran to sell its oil more freely and includes sanctions-relief measures.
• The deal paves the way for Iran to tap into billions of dollars in assets that are currently frozen.
• It also calls for Iran to dilute its stockpile of highly enriched uranium, believed to be buried under nuclear sites that were targeted in US strikes last summer.
• The agreement says commercial vessels can pass through the Strait of Hormuz for 60 days without a charge, but does not preclude future fees imposed by Iran.
• Trump made his own threat on Saturday to levy US tolls on the strait if there is no deal with Iran in 60 days, insisting in a social media post that the money would be for “services rendered as the Guardian Angel to the countries of the Middle East”.