U.S. Forces Fire Missile at Lian Star in Gulf of Oman as Israel Seizes Beaufort Fortress

U.S. forces attacked a cargo ship they said was trying to breach President Donald Trump’s naval blockade of Iran, firing a missile into the engine room of the Gambia-flagged vessel Lian Star in the Gulf of Oman after it ignored over 20 warnings, according to Centcom.

The incident came as Iran awaited Trump’s response to a proposed peace deal, while the negotiations over Iran’s war continued without a final decision as of Sunday afternoon, CBS News reported.

Ain Libya

In parallel, Israeli troops pushed beyond the Litani River and seized the Crusader-era Beaufort fortress in southern Lebanon, with Defence minister Israel Katz saying the troops will remain stationed in the 900-year-old castle where the flags of Israel and the IDF’s Golani Brigade were hoisted.

The Independent reported that the U.S. action stranded the ship, and Reuters said rescue and enforcement efforts continued as Tehran and Washington weighed the terms of reopening the Strait of Hormuz.

In Lebanon, the BBC reported that the Israeli advance into Beaufort came as a fresh evacuation warning was issued for residents south of the Zahrani River in southern Lebanon.

Iran’s chief negotiator Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf warned the United States is not to be trusted and said Tehran would not agree to any deal unless it fully secures Iranian rights, as reports emerged that Trump had sent a tougher peace proposal back to Iran.

Ghalibaf said in a video broadcast on state television, "We will not approve any agreement until we are certain that the rights of the Iranian people have been upheld," while the BBC reported Trump said negotiations on the Iran deal have not yet been fully completed.

Al Jazeera

The BBC said a senior U.S. official told a press conference that the White House does not expect to reach an agreement to end the war with Iran on Sunday, noting that approval by Iranian leadership could take several days including Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei.

Naharnet also cited Iranian media framing the dispute as a rift over terms, including Iran’s insistence that it needs the release of $12 billion in frozen assets before engaging in substantive talks on its nuclear program.

In the same reporting stream, Trump told Lara Trump in an interview on her Fox News show that "The one guarantee that I have to have is that there will be no nuclear weapons," while Iran continued to cast doubt on those assertions.

As talks moved forward, Pakistan played a prominent role in mediation, with Ishaq Dar saying there had been significant progress in the talks and that he commended U.S. President Donald Trump’s commitment to dialogue and diplomacy.

The Al Jazeera net report said U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio told a meeting in New Delhi that there is a possibility the world might hear good news in the coming hours, particularly about the Hormuz Strait, while Iranian President Masoud Bazhikian said Iran is ready to reassure the world that it does not seek to acquire a nuclear weapon or to destabilize the region.

The Straits Times reported that Iran demanded billions worth of frozen assets be released, while Trump insisted on “a different way,” and it said the Strait of Hormuz remained blocked as Iran planned sovereignty management and disputed Trump’s “no tolls” claim.

Separately, The Independent’s in-focus segment warned that undersea cables in the Strait of Hormuz lie thousands of metres beneath oil ships being attacked by the Iranian navy, and it noted Tehran floated plans to impose tariffs on Strait of Hormuz submarine cables.

The Independent also said the U.S. and Iran were negotiating a memorandum of understanding that included a 60-day cessation of violence and clauses calling for reopening the strait, while CBS News reported that multiple sources said the arrangement could involve waivers or sanctions relief to Iran that could allow access to billions in frozen assets depending on progress.