Putin hosts Iran’s top diplomat as Israel strikes east Lebanon

This liveblog is no longer being updated. Last to first Add Arena.im to your site 28/04/2026 - 05:01 This liveblog is no longer being updated. 28/04/2026 - 04:42 More than 50 nations gather in Colombia for first global fossil fuel phase-out talks More than 50 governments meet in Colombia on Tuesday against the backdrop of the Iran war and a global energy crunch for the first international talks on phasing out planet-heating fossil fuels. Ministers and climate envoys aim to revive the transition from fossil fuels at the inaugural conference in Santa Marta, one of the country’s busiest coal hubs in a nation heavily reliant on energy exports. The two-day conference bypasses the United Nations climate talks and reflects growing impatience with their failure to tackle fossil fuels, the main driver of global warming. “People seem refreshed to be able to talk about these issues without having to sort of argue the existential question of – do we need to do this at all?” the UK’s special climate envoy Rachel Kyte told AFP in Santa Marta on Monday. 28/04/2026 - 04:22 Iran praises Russia ties after Putin meeting Iran Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said on Tuesday he welcomed Russia’s support for diplomacy and praised the strength of ties between the two countries after meeting with President Vladimir Putin on Monday, saying recent events had demonstrated the depth of their strategic partnership. Russia has offered to mediate to help restore calm to the Middle East following the US and Israeli strikes on Iran that Moscow has strongly condemned. Russia has also repeatedly offered to store Iran’s enriched uranium as a way of defusing tensions, a proposal spurned by the United States. 28/04/2026 - 03:23 Iran adjusts death toll in Minab school strike to 155 Iran shared on Tuesday a breakdown of the death toll from a deadly strike on an Iranian school on the first day of the Middle East war, state media reported. Seventy-three boys and 47 girls were killed in the February 28 strike on an Iranian elementary school in Minab, state broadcaster IRIB and local media reported. The attack happened on the day the United States and Israel launched attacks across Iran. In retaliation, Tehran struck targets in Israel and Gulf nations. Twenty-six teachers, seven parents, a school bus driver and a pharmacy technician at the clinic next to the school were also killed, IRIB said in a Telegram post. This puts the death toll at 155 instead of more than 175 reported earlier. 28/04/2026 - 02:22 Trump unhappy with Iranian proposal's failure to address nuclear programme A US official said on Monday that President Donald Trump is unhappy with an Iranian proposal because it did not address Iran’s nuclear programme. “He doesn’t love the proposal,” the US official said, referring to Trump. Earlier in the day, Trump discussed the proposal with his top national security aides. The US-Iran conflict remains in a stalemate, with energy supplies from the region reduced. 27/04/2026 - 23:16 Iran demands 'credible guarantees' against future US-Israeli strikes to secure Gulf Iran needs guarantees against another US-Israeli attack before it can ensure security in the oil-rich Gulf, Tehran's envoy to the United Nations said Monday. “Lasting stability and security in the Persian Gulf and the wider region can only be achieved through a durable and permanent cessation of aggression against Iran, supplemented by credible guarantees of non-recurrence and full respect for the legitimate sovereign rights and interests of Iran,” Amir Saeid Iravani told a Security Council session. 27/04/2026 - 22:36 Lebanon health ministry says Israeli strikes kill 4 in south Lebanon’s health ministry said Israeli strikes on the country’s south has killed four people including a woman and wounded 51 others, three of them children. 27/04/2026 - 22:19 US treasury chief says businesses working with Iranian airlines risk sanctions Business ​working ​with Iranian airlines ​risk ‌US ⁠sanctions, ‌Treasury ⁠Secretary Scott Bessent told ​the ‌Wall ‌Street ​Journal. 27/04/2026 - 20:44 Israel army chief issues sharp warning against looting Israel's military chief of staff Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir issued a sharp warning to troops about looting on Monday, and said using social media to spread "questionable" messages was crossing "a red line". "The phenomenon of looting, if it exists, is disgraceful and risks tarnishing the IDF as a whole. If such incidents occurred, we will investigate them," he said in a statement, using the acronym for the Israeli army. His remarks came after Israel's left-leaning Haaretz newspaper reported that troops in south Lebanon had been been looting significant amounts of civilian property, citing testimonies from troops and commanders in the field. Footage has also emerged on social media of Israeli soldiers filming each other joking around as they damaged property inside people's homes in what appeared to be south Lebanon. 27/04/2026 - 19:47 Trump discusses new Iran proposal with national security aides US President ​Donald Trump has discussed the new Iranian proposal on resolving the war with Tehran with ​his ‌top national security aides, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt ‌said. ⁠Leavitt did not offer an opinion of the proposal – in ​which the Strait of Hormuz ‌would be opened and Iran’s nuclear program discussed at a later date – but she said Trump’s bottom line demands remain ​the same. Trump wants the Strait of Hormuz oil transit waterway to be open and ​for Iran to hand over ​its enriched uranium. “I wouldn’t ​say they’re considering it. I would just ​say that there was a discussion this morning that I don’t want to get ahead of, and you’ll hear ⁠directly from the president, I’m sure, on this ⁠topic,” ​she said. 27/04/2026 - 19:43 Israel cancels major holiday gatherings over fears of a Hezbollah attack Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office has announced that next week’s Lag BaOmer festival will be replaced with a smaller symbolic ceremony, citing concerns the gathering may be attacked by the Iran-backed Hezbollah militant group. Typically, around 100,000 mostly ultra-Orthodox Jews would gather for the festival at Mount Meron, in northern Israel. The holiday honours Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai, a 2nd-century sage and mystic who is believed to be buried on the mountain. Mount Meron is only about 6 kilometers from the border with Lebanon. 27/04/2026 - 19:19 Israel army chief says 2026 ‘likely to be year of fighting’ on all fronts Israel’s chief of staff Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir warns that the country’s military is likely to be fighting on multiple fronts throughout 2026, as it fights wars against Iran and Lebanese militant group Hezbollah. “Since 7 October (2023), the IDF has been engaged in fighting in an ongoing multi-front campaign... 2026 is likely to be another year of fighting on all of those fronts,” he said in a statement, referring to Hamas’s attack on Israel that sparked the Gaza war. 27/04/2026 - 19:17 Russian, Iranian defence officials hold talks, TASS reports Russian ​Defence Minister Andrei ​Belousov, who is visiting Kyrgyzstan, ​has held ‌talks ⁠with Iran’s Deputy ‌Defence Minister Reza ⁠Talaei-Nik, state-run TASS news agency ​reports. Belousov reiterated ‌Russia’s longstanding position that ‌the Iran war ​should be resolved exclusively through diplomatic ​means and said ​he was ​confident Moscow ​and Tehran would continue to support one ⁠another. 27/04/2026 - 19:11 Germany’s Merz questions US strategy in Iran war, says nation ‘humiliated’ German Chancellor ​Friedrich Merz said ​ he does not see what exit ​strategy ‌the United ⁠States has in the ‌Iran war, warning “an entire ⁠nation is being humiliated by the Iranian ​leadership, especially ‌by these so-called Revolutionary Guards.” Speaking to students in ‌Marsberg, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Merz ​said the Iranians are “obviously negotiating very skillfully” and “clearly stronger ​than one thought,” and ​urged that ​the conflict be ended as ​quickly as possible due to its direct impact on Germany’s ⁠economy. 27/04/2026 - 19:07 French FM says Iran must make ‘major concessions’ to end crisis France’s top diplomat said Iran must be ready to make “major concessions” in talks to end the crisis triggered by the attack by the United States and Israel. “There can be no lasting solution to this crisis unless the Iranian regime agrees to major concessions and a radical shift in its stance,” Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot told a UN Security Council session. 27/04/2026 - 19:03 Israel PM says Hezbollah rockets, drones demand further military action Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said rockets and drones possessed by Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah remain a key threat that demand further military action by Israel’s military in Lebanon. “There are still two central threats from Hezbollah: the 122mm rockets and the drones. This demands a combination of operational and technological activity,” he said in a statement issued by his office. 27/04/2026 - 18:09 UN maritime agency rejects Hormuz tolls The head of the UN’s maritime agency said there is “no legal basis” for imposing any fees for ships to pass through the Strait of Hormuz. Shipping through the narrow strait has been strangled since the US and Israel attacked Iran in late February. Iran has sealed off the passage, sharply cutting oil and gas flows and sending prices soaring, while the US has blockaded Iranian ports. Tehran has also said it wants to impose transit fees as part of any lasting peace deal. “There’s no legal basis for the introduction of any tax, any customs, or any fees for on straits for international navigation,” IMO Secretary-General Arsenio Dominguez said at a press conference. 27/04/2026 - 17:45 Britain does not support US blockade of Iranian ports, deputy minister says Stephen Doughty, minister of state for Europe and North America, said that while Britain does not support the US blockade, it supports working with the United States and others to reopen the Strait of Hormuz — where he said that Iran is holding “the rest of the world to ransom". Maritime traffic must flow safely and unimpeded through the strait, he said, “and that includes no tolls, no security risk and, of course, adherence to the international laws on freedom of navigation". Diplomacy is crucial, Doughty told reporters ahead of a Security Council meeting on the safety of navigation in the critical waterway. He said de-escalation and a ceasefire are also crucial, stressing that Iran cannot be allowed to block the strait, attack its Gulf neighbours and civilian infrastructure, and develop nuclear weapons. 27/04/2026 - 17:28 France’s Macron to talk to Iranian authorities about Hormuz Strait in next few days French President ​Emmanuel Macron said he would talk to Iranian authorities ​after his ‌two-day trip ⁠to Andorra and ‌would insist on the reopening of ⁠the Strait of Hormuz. "We have established ​a coalition ‌whose purpose is precisely to ensure security, to ‌secure and stabilise, to ​demonstrate that the international community supports an opening (of the ​Strait of Hormuz), ​and so I ​hope that we will ​be able to convince the stakeholders in the coming days,” he ⁠said. 27/04/2026 - 17:22 Israel defence minister says Hezbollah chief ‘playing with fire’ that will ‘burn Lebanon’ Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz has warned that Hezbollah’s defiance will bring catastrophic consequences for Lebanon. The comments come after the militant group’s leader rejected proposed direct talks between Israel and Lebanon. “Naim Qassem is playing with fire, and the fire will burn Hezbollah and all of Lebanon ... If the Lebanese government continues to take cover under the wing of the Hezbollah terrorist organisation — fire will break out and engulf the cedars of Lebanon,” Katz told UN envoy to Lebanon Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, according to a statement issued by his office. Yesterday's key developments: US President ​ Donald ​Trump has said Iran can reach ​out to ‌the US by telephone ‌if it ​wants to negotiate an end to ​the ​war between ​the two ​countries. Two Israeli political heavyweights have said they would join forces in upcoming elections in a shared effort to unseat longtime Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu . Lebanon 's Hezbollah has accused Israel of violating the ceasefire and has warned that the violations will be met with resistance. (FRANCE 24 with AFP, AP and Reuters)