Iran's president on Sunday defended a memorandum of understanding with the United States as the best way out of a stalled war while the new head of the Islamic Republic's top security body took a more defiant stance, warning of retaliation if neighbors join U.S. threats to further sanction Tehran.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Monday is expected to announce new measures against Iran after the U.S. vowed to impose an “unprecedented” level of economic warfare and isolation. Also Monday, Pakistan’s army chief planned to travel to Tehran, Iranian media reported, as mediators try to revive talks.
Meanwhile, violence continued in the occupied West Bank, and a hospital said an Israeli airstrike in Gaza killed a child.
Here's a look at the latest developments in the Iran war and the wider Middle East on Sunday. Full coverage can be found here.
Iranian president wants to move past ‘neither war nor peace’
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian defended the memorandum of understanding signed in mid-June as the best way to move beyond a situation of “neither war nor peace.”
“There is not a single provision in this agreement that amounts to capitulation,” Pezeshkian said in a speech published by state-run IRNA early Sunday. “The supreme leader sets the policies, and we will follow that path.”
The memorandum of understanding opened a 60-day period for talks aimed at ending the war and reaching an accord on Iran's nuclear program. That period ended last week with no signs of compromise, especially on the crucial issue of reopening the Strait of Hormuz, vital to global shipping.
Pezeshkian said the country can't attract investment in this stalled phase. Nearly six months after the war began, Iran's economy is suffering under sanctions and a U.S. naval blockade.
Iran's security chief warns neighbors not to join sanctions
The hard-line leader of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, in his most extensive public comments since being named to the post this month, warned Tehran’s neighbors against joining the new U.S. effort to hurt Iran’s economy and said they would be considered enemies.
“If (Trump) wants to do something, we will retaliate in a seismic manner,” Mohsen Rezaei told the state broadcaster in an interview that aired late Saturday. He said Iran would target oil-shipping routes out of the Persian Gulf — alternatives to the Strait of Hormuz — if neighbors join in.
Rezaei, a former Revolutionary Guard commander and military adviser to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, was part of senior appointments widely seen as hardening Tehran’s political and military stance.
There were no confirmed attacks in the Strait of Hormuz over the past 48 hours, a multinational coalition overseen by the U.S. Navy said Sunday, with shipping traffic still at reduced levels.
Pakistan's army chief will visit Tehran
Pakistani Field Marshal Asim Munir will lead a delegation to Tehran on Monday, Iranian state television reported, citing Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Esmail Baghaei.
Two regional officials said the visit was part of Islamabad’s efforts to de-escalate tensions between the United States and Iran and urge them to return to the negotiating table. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly.
— By Munir Ahmed in Islamabad
Iran executes man arrested during January protests
The Iranian judiciary’s Mizan news agency reported the latest execution connected to nationwide protests early this year, saying Majid Adineh was arrested Jan. 9 in Mohammadshahr, west of Tehran.
The judiciary said forensic examinations indicated the handgun found on him had been fired on Jan. 8 and 9. Mizan said Adineh had joined the unrest following calls by groups opposed to Iran’s government and alleged that he had received training from groups outside the country.
A Revolutionary Court in Karaj convicted Adineh under Iran’s law imposing harsher penalties for espionage and cooperation with hostile states. Mizan said the verdict accused him of carrying out operations on behalf of Israel, the United States and groups Iran considers hostile.
Israeli settler arrested in beating of Palestinian amputee
Police arrested a 16-year-old boy from the Israeli settlement of Avigayil in the beating of a 61-year-old Palestinian man. Saeed Muhammad Ibrahim Rabah was struck with a pipe outside his home in the occupied West Bank, a year after he lost a leg after being shot by a settler.
Rabah told The Associated Press that two settlers arrived at his home in Khirbet al-Rakeez on Saturday afternoon. One struck him on his back when he approached, Rabah said. He called the violence an effort to make families leave.
“We will remain, no matter what happens,” he said after filing a police report. “This is our land and this is our homeland, and we must protect it.”
Separately, the health ministry in the West Bank said a 14-year-old in the Askar refugee camp in Nablus was shot dead by Israeli forces, who did not immediately comment. The uncle of Islam Maher Ajouri, Nehad Ajouri, called the shooting indiscriminate.
And Israel's military said it had detained a suspect in a stabbing attack that wounded a 24-year-old Israeli man in the area of al-Auja in the West Bank. Israel's emergency services said the man was taken to a hospital in moderate condition.
Airstrike in Gaza kills a 4-year-old child
Four-year-old Mohammed Taha died after an Israeli airstrike hit a house in central Gaza on Sunday, hospital authorities said. The strike in Zawaida also wounded at least five other people, including a child, according to the Al-Aqsa Martyrs hospital, which received the casualties.
The military later said it struck and killed a Hamas commander in central Gaza. Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital confirmed that the man named in the statement, Ismail Abu Ful, was killed.
An Israeli strike in southern Gaza wounded at least seven people, including three children, according to health officials at Nasser Hospital. The military did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Also, Defense Minister Israel Katz in a statement said he instructed the military to “act immediately and forcefully” to prevent launches of balloons, kites or drones from Gaza toward nearby Israeli communities.
“We view every launch as an act of war in every respect,” he said.
Before the Oct. 7, 2023, attack by Hamas-led militants on Israel — when 1,200 people were killed and 251 taken hostage — burning kites and balloons were sent from Gaza into southern Israel, causing fires and other damage.
While the heaviest fighting has subsided since a fragile ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war took hold in October, Israeli forces have carried out repeated airstrikes, killing more than 1,280 Palestinians, according to health officials in Gaza.
The Gaza Health Ministry, part of the Hamas-led government, maintains detailed casualty records that are seen as generally reliable by U.N. agencies and independent experts. It doesn't give a breakdown of civilians and militants.