White House says US negotiators in contact with Iran, Trump warns Tehran to sign nuke deal

The White House has said negotiators are continuing to engage with the Iranians, who, it claimed, are “struggling to sort out their leadership situation” amid the war, Al Jazeera reports.

In a statement to US media, spokesperson Anna Kelly said Trump would only enter into an agreement with Iran that “puts US national security first”.

The White House’s statement comes after Trump threatened Iran on social media to “get smart soon” and sign a deal on nuclear issues.

US President Donald Trump has urged Iran “to get smart” and sign a deal on the nuclear issues. In a Truth Social post, he wrote, “Iran can’t get their act together. They don’t know how to sign a non-nuclear deal. They better get smart soon!”

Trump also shared an AI-generated image of him holding a rifle in his hand, with explosions taking place in the background, and a caption saying, “No more Mr Nice Guy”.

Meanwhile, commercial shipping traffic has remained low around the Strait of Hormuz over the past 24 hours, as talks between the US and Iran remained stalled, with only 10 vessels passing through the waterway, Anadolu reports. Six vessels passed through the Strait from the Arabian Gulf to the Oman Gulf, while four traversed from east to west.

US President Donald Trump and his top officials met with ‌oil and gas executives, including Chevron CEO Mike Wirth, at the White House yesterday to ⁠discuss the energy ​fallout of the Iran war ​and other topics, Reuters quotes an Axios report as saying.

White House chief of staff Susie Wiles, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, and ‌envoys ⁠Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner were present, and topics for the meeting included domestic ⁠production, progress in Venezuela, oil futures, natural gas and shipping, ⁠according to the Axios report.

 Iran rial hits record low against dollar amid US blockade

The Iranian rial has plummeted to a record low against the dollar, according to currency-tracking websites, as a US naval blockade of the country’s ports continued, AFP reports.

On the black market, the rial was trading at around 1.80 million rials against the dollar, the Bonbast and AlanChand websites reported. When the war erupted two months ago, one dollar was traded at about 1.70m rials.

Iran officially has several fixed exchange rates, but the two websites are generally used as benchmarks for unofficial rates.

 Lebanon army says Israeli strike in south kills two including soldier

 Lebanon's army said Wednesday that one of its soldiers was among two people killed in an Israeli strike in the country's south, the latest deadly raid despite a ceasefire in the Israel-Hezbollah war.

"A soldier and his brother were killed in an Israeli strike that targeted them in the town of Khirbet Selm in Bint Jbeil (district) while they were travelling on a motorbike" heading home from the soldier's post, the army statement said.

The raid comes one day after 11 people including three civil defence personnel were killed in strikes in the country's south, according to updated health ministry figures, while two army troops were also wounded.

Prime Minister Nawaf Salam has called the strike that killed the civil defence workers a "war crime".

President Joseph Aoun said Wednesday that authorities were keeping up "contacts to consolidate the ceasefire and stop the demolition of homes in occupied southern villages", according to a statement from his office.

A 10-day truce that began on April 17 and was extended for three weeks was supposed to pause a month and a half of war between Israel and Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah during which Israeli troops invaded south Lebanon.

Under the truce, Israel reserves the right to act against "planned, imminent or ongoing attacks".

Its troops are operating inside an Israeli-announced "yellow line", which demarcates a ribbon of Lebanese territory around 10 kilometres (six miles) deep along the length of the border, where Lebanese have been warned not to return.

Lebanon's state-run National News Agency (NNA) reported Israeli airstrikes on around a dozen locations in south Lebanon on Wednesday and said Israeli troops were also blowing up homes in at least two locations.

The health ministry said a strike on Jibsheet a day earlier killed five people, including two women. The NNA said they were all members of the same family.

Israeli strikes in Lebanon have killed at least 53 people since the ceasefire began less than two weeks ago, according to an AFP tally of health ministry and army statements.

Hezbollah lawmaker Hassan Fadlallah vowed Wednesday that Israeli attempts to "establish a security belt on our land... will be brought down by the sacrifices of the resistance and the steadfastness of our people", reiterating his party's rejection of direct talks with Israel.

Hezbollah drew Lebanon into the Middle East war on March 2 by firing rockets towards Israel to avenge the US-Israeli killing of Iranian supreme leader Ali Khamenei. Since the ceasefire, the group has been claiming attacks on Israeli targets, saying its fighters are acting in response to Israeli ceasefire violations.