Switzerland to host US-Iran talks on June 21 as Tehran closes Strait of Hormuz over Israeli strikes on Lebanon

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President Donald Trump warned Saturday that the United States could impose tolls on the vital Strait of Hormuz waterway if negotiators are unable to complete a deal to end the war in Iran.

There will be no tolls "unless they are imposed by and for the United States of America, should the deal not be completed, for services rendered as the Guardian Angel to the countries of the Middle East for purposes of both past, present, and future reimbursement of costs," Trump posted on Truth Social.

The Israeli military said that one of its soldiers was killed in fighting in southern Lebanon on Saturday, marking the fifth such fatality since a US-Iran deal was reached to end the Middle East war.

Staff Sergeant Nir Ben Ari "fell in combat" in southern Lebanon, the military said, a day after four other Israeli soldiers were killed in fighting with the Iran-backed Hezbollah group.

The latest fatality brings the military's death toll to 36 soldiers and one civilian contractor since fighting between Hezbollah and Israel began on March 2.

US Central Command (CENTCOM) said commercial ship traffic in the Strait of Hormuz increased on June 20, as US forces continued operating in the area to support freedom of navigation.

In a post on X, CENTCOM said safe passage through the international waterway remained intact, with 55 merchant ships transiting and moving large amounts of cargo and more than 17 million barrels of oil to global markets.

An Iranian court has sentenced prominent singer Parastoo Ahmadi and seven fellow artists to 74 lashes each after they livestreamed a performance on YouTube, according to her videographer and local media.

The concert featured Ahmadi singing powerful, mournful songs to an empty room, on a dimly lit stage adorned only with a large Persian carpet, set within the grounds of a traditional caravanserai. She was backed by a pianist, drummer, guitarist and bassist, all dressed in black, while Ahmadi wore a long, strappy gown and deep red lipstick.

The performance was an act of defiance: in Iran, women are banned from singing in public.

Such acts have grown more common since the death in custody of Mahsa Amini in September 2022, after she was arrested for allegedly violating the dress code. Her death triggered nationwide protests, and increasing numbers of Iranian women have since appeared in public without the hijab.

Iran erupted in nationwide protests once again, peaking in January, before the United States and Israel launched a war against the Islamic Republic.

An Iranian negotiating team left Iran for Switzerland on Saturday for discussions on the implementation of its agreement with the United States to halt the Mideast war, state media said.

The official news agency IRNA reported the delegation's departure, quoting foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei as saying they would "follow up and demand implementation of the other party's commitments" under the deal.

"The other side must take the necessary measures as soon as possible. Otherwise, the entire understanding will be in trouble," he said.

The Iran-backed Lebanese militant group Hezbollah said on Saturday that Israel bore "full responsibility" for violating a ceasefire announced a day earlier, as Israeli strikes pounded Lebanon's south and east. 

Ongoing Israeli attacks "are no longer just ceasefire agreement violations but represent clear aggression and a continuation of the war in every sense. Accordingly, full responsibility lies with the Israeli occupation", it said in a statement, adding that Israel "has never adhered to ceasefire provisions" including the recent US-Iran deal and Friday's announcement.

The US military said Saturday it remained "present and vigilant" in the Strait of Hormuz, shortly after Iran announced it was closing the critical shipping lane.

"US forces remain present and vigilant to ensure all aspects of the agreement with Iran are adhered to, obeyed, and in full force and effect," US Central Command (CENTCOM) said in a statement.

CENTCOM, which oversees US forces in the Middle East, said 55 commercial vessels had transited the strait on Saturday and that "safe passage through the international waterway remained intact today."

Israel's foreign ministry accused the Iran-backed Lebanese militant group Hezbollah on Saturday of violating the ceasefire that Washington had announced a day earlier.

"Hezbollah continues to constantly violate the ceasefire," ministry spokesman Oren Marmorstein said on X, as Israel's forces clashed with Hezbollah fighters and Israeli jets carried out deadly strikes across southern Lebanon.

Lebanon's health ministry said Saturday that Israeli attacks since March 2 when the latest Israel-Hezbollah war began had reached 4,057 dead, including 135 health and emergency workers, and 12,121 people wounded.

The ministry also raised the toll in Israeli attacks on Friday from 47 to "a final toll of 83 martyrs and 141 wounded", most of them in south Lebanon but also in the country's east. 

Pakistan said technical talks to implement the US-Iran deal to end the Middle East war would be held in Switzerland on Sunday.

"As a follow-up to the signing of the Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding, technical-level talks will be held in Burgenstock, Switzerland, on 21 June," the foreign ministry said in a statement on Saturday, adding Pakistani and Qatari mediators would participate in the discussions with US and Iranian representatives. 

An Iranian negotiating team left Iran for Switzerland on Saturday for discussions on the implementation of the agreement signed between it and the United States to halt the Mideast war, state media reported.

"Iranian negotiators have left for Switzerland," state news agency IRNA reported, after quoting foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei as warning that the deal was "in trouble".

Diplomats from several countries were meeting Saturday at a Swiss retreat in a bid to maintain dialogue on the preliminary US-Iran deal to halt the Middle East war, said Bern.

The Swiss foreign ministry said diplomats were in discussions at the luxury Burgenstock resort near Lucerne in central Switzerland, without giving further details.

A diplomatic source told AFP the discussions under way on Saturday were preparatory in nature.

Senior-level talks at the hotel complex were initially planned for Friday, but were called off, with the process shrouded in layers of uncertainty, as Israel carried out deadly strikes in southern Lebanon on Saturday.

Iran's Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters announced it would immediately close the Strait of Hormuz to maritime traffic, citing Washington's failure to comply with the terms of a memorandum of understanding and the continuation of Israeli strikes in southern Lebanon.

"The Strait of Hormuz will be closed to vessel traffic," the headquarters said in a statement carried by state TV. "This first step is a response to the enemy's breach of promise, and if the aggression continues, further steps will be planned and taken to force the enemy to comply with its obligations."

The announcement, reported by Iran's Tasnim news agency, came as Israeli strikes continued in parts of southern Lebanon.

Iraqi authorities predict oil production will return to peacetime levels "within one to two months", state media reported, after the Middle East war caused exports to plummet.

The war and Iran's ensuing blockade of the Strait of Hormuz choked off shipments and prompted production cuts in key oil-producing countries including Iraq, shaking world energy markets.

But a deal agreed this week between Washington and Tehran to end the fighting has offered some relief, despite follow-up negotiations having stalled.

The spokesman for Iraq's oil ministry, Salim Farhoud, told the state-run Iraq News Agency (INA) late Friday that "we can return within one to two months to the previous production levels".

Hezbollah on Saturday said its fighters confronted overnight Israeli forces as they tried to infiltrate towards strategic hills that overlook the southern city of Nabatieh.

"Again, under the cover of the ceasefire, the enemy last night carried out an infiltration attempt towards the Ali Taher hills," the Iran-backed group said in a statement, adding that fighters ambushed the Israeli troops and "confronted them with appropriate weapons".

Hezbollah "declares that while it is committed to the ceasefire, it will not be lenient in confronting any enemy attempt.... to expand its occupation," the statement added.

Iran's top engineering university has expelled six students over their alleged involvement in anti-government protests earlier this year, local media reported.

What began in December as cost-of-living protests escalated into anti-establishment demonstrations across the country that peaked in January, though smaller rallies continued on campuses in the weeks that followed.

"The Disciplinary Committee of Sharif University of Technology, in separate preliminary rulings, expelled six students for their alleged roles in the unrest of February," Fars news agency reported.

According to Fars, the students were accused of leading illegal gatherings, using insulting language, engaging in activities against the Islamic republic and committing other disciplinary violations.

French police arrested around 20 people in Paris on Saturday as demonstrators gathered for a protest against repression and executions in Iran, defying an official ban.

Several buses arrived at Place Vauban in central Paris despite police having banned the rally over what they said was concerns about potential clashes "in the current particularly tense national and international context".

"They arrested about 20 people for no reason," Afchine Alavi, a member of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), told AFP.

The group has organised numerous protests in Paris without incident, including in recent months during nationwide anti-government demonstrations in Iran and the US-Israeli conflict with the Islamic Republic.

Lebanon's civil defence agency said ongoing Israeli strikes on the Nabatieh district in the country's south on Saturday had killed 16 people, a day after the latest Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire announcement.

Civil defence personnel have transported "16 dead and 12 wounded" to hospital, a statement said, adding that the personnel were working "since the early morning hours" in the Nabatieh district in response to "ongoing attacks targeting the area".

Pakistan's interior minister arrived in Iran on Saturday after planned talks between Iran and the United States in Switzerland were postponed, Iranian media reported.

Tehran and Washington were due to hold talks in Switzerland on Friday, after signing a memorandum of understanding ending the war in the Middle East, but the latest negotiations have been postponed with no new date announced.

Iranian media including Tasnim news agency said Pakistan's Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi landed on Saturday in the northeastern city of Mashhad.

Foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei had earlier told ISNA news agency that "Pakistan's interior minister will arrive in Iran at noon today, Saturday, as part of Pakistan's efforts regarding the Iran-US negotiations."

Naqvi is expected meet his Iranian counterpart Eskandar Momeni, as well as Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi for talks during the visit, according to Baqaei.

Pakistan has been a key mediator between Tehran and Washington, with Qatar also joining the efforts in the run-up to the deal announced this week.

The war began on February 28 with US-Israeli strikes that killed supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and several senior military commanders.

Iran retaliated with missile and drone strikes that drew in countries across in the region, before an April truce halted the worst of the fighting.

Iran on Thursday announced it signed a deal with the United States to end the hostilities, with the aim of holding further negotiations on a broader deal that would include Iran's long contested nuclear programme.

The Israeli military said it was striking Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon on Saturday in response to overnight projectile launches from the Iran-backed group, despite a ceasefire announced a day earlier.

"Overnight, the Hezbollah terrorist organisation launched more than 50 projectiles at Israeli forces in southern Lebanon. Following the attacks, the IDF has been striking Hezbollah terrorist targets in southern Lebanon," an Israeli military official said.

Hezbollah lawmaker Hassan Fadlallah on Saturday said his group had the right to respond to Israeli attacks, as Israel kept up strikes on Lebanon despite a new ceasefire announced a day earlier.

"There is talk of a ceasefire. For us, what concerns us is that the enemy fully and comprehensively respects the ceasefire, and doesn't attempt to attack our country and villages or seek to occupy any new position," Fadlallah said in a statement, adding that "the resistance has the full right to confront this enemy when it attacks us, as it is the aggressor and the occupier".

The Lebanese army said an Israeli strike killed one of its soldiers in the country's south on Saturday, despite a new ceasefire deal between Israel and Hezbollah reached a day earlier.

"An Israeli enemy strike targeted an army soldier on the Kfar Rumman-Nabatieh road, leading to his martyrdom," an army statement said, charging that "the continuation of brutal Israeli attacks aims to obstruct any solution that would allow for restoring stability in Lebanon".

Lebanese official media said fresh Israeli strikes on the country's south on Saturday killed five people, despite a ceasefire between Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah group announced a day earlier.

The state-run National News Agency (NNA) reported Israeli airstrikes on more than a dozen south Lebanon locations after midnight and into Saturday morning, saying three people were killed in strikes on the town of Arab Salim, while one person was killed in Deir Zahrani, and another after "an enemy drone launched a strike on a motorbike" at the entrance of the town of Dweir.

Lebanon's Ministry of Public Health said that the death toll from ongoing Israeli attacks on the country since March 2 had risen to 3,980, with 12,001 people wounded.

In a report issued by its Emergency Operations Centre, the ministry said intensive Israeli strikes targeting areas in southern and eastern Lebanon over the past 24 hours had killed 47 people and wounded 97 others, including women and children.

Qatar has reiterated its support for launching negotiations between the United States and Iran to address outstanding issues through dialogue and peaceful means as the first round of technical talks, scheduled to take place in Switzerland, got cancelled following the signing of the memorandum of understanding (MoU) between the two sides in order to end the hostilities in West Asia.

According to a statement issued by Qatar's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, this came during the discussion between Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani and Swiss Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis that took place at Burgenstock Resort in Switzerland on Friday.

The two leaders discussed bilateral relations, ways to strengthen cooperation, and recent regional developments, particularly diplomatic efforts aimed at enhancing security and stability following a memorandum of understanding between the United States and Iran.

During the meeting, Sheikh Mohammed reaffirmed Doha's support for the launch of negotiations between Washington and Tehran.

Iran's treatment at the World Cup in North America is a "dark point" in the history of the competition, a leading Iranian football official said Friday.

Hedayat Mombeyni, the secretary general of the Iranian football federation, was speaking to reporters the day after his organization said it would lodge a complaint with FIFA, claiming the team was being subjected to travel restrictions that were jeopardizing its performance.

"This is a major international tournament. This sort of breaking of our rules and our agreements, in my opinion, calls football itself into question," Mombeyni told reporters at the team's training base in Tijuana, Mexico.

"I believe this will mark a dark point in the World Cup's recent history," Mombeyni added.

Iran wanted to fly to the United States two days before their next match, against Belgium in Los Angeles on Sunday, because the match kicks off at midday local time.

Iran's Belgian opponents were flying to California on Friday, two days before the game.

But the Iranian federation said its request to follow suit was turned down.

The US administration, which has just signed an interim deal to end its conflict with Iran, has pushed back against the Iranian claims.

Andrew Giuliani, the executive director of the White House FIFA Task Force, said Iran had been informed in advance that they would only be allowed to enter the United States on the day before its games.

"The team will be allowed to come in, match day minus one, so the day before the match," Giuliani told CBS News on Monday.

FIFA's rules for World Cups say teams should travel from their bases to the match venue on the day before a game, but can travel two days before "in exceptional cases".

Mombeyni hit out at the US organizers.

Israel's ambassador to the United States said on Friday that his country would commit to an "immediate ceasefire" in Lebanon if Hezbollah respected it, hours after a US official said the two parties had agreed a new truce.

"Israel remains firmly committed to an immediate ceasefire," Yechiel Leiter posted on X. "If Hezbollah honours the agreement and ceases its hostilities, they will be met with quiet," he added.

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun told US Secretary of State Marco Rubio in a call Friday that a comprehensive ceasefire must be secured in order for talks with Israel to progress.

The Lebanese presidency said Aoun thanked Rubio for US support but stressed "the need for Israeli attacks on Lebanese territory to cease through the achievement of a comprehensive ceasefire, which Lebanon considers a fundamental basis for advancing the Lebanese-US-Israeli negotiations scheduled to take place in Washington next week".

The State Department, meanwhile, announced the resumption of negotiations in Washington from June 23 to 25.

Rubio, according to the statement, insisted on the importance of Lebanon carrying through on its efforts to disarm the Hezbollah armed group, which is fighting Israel in the south of the country.

Shipping traffic through the Strait of Hormuz rose to its busiest in two months after a deal to halt the US-Iran war, maritime trackers said on Friday.

A total of 25 commercial vessels crossed the newly reopened strait on Thursday, the highest number since mid-April, according to data from tracking firm AXSMarine - more than three times the average of just over seven a day since early March.

The spike came after Iran and the US agreed this week to re-open the crucial route under an agreement to end the war, but before the postponement of talks between the sides in Switzerland that had been planned for Friday under that deal.

The number of crossings on Thursday may be higher, as some ships turned off or manipulated their AIS transponder signals to avoid detection, AXSMarine said in a news release.

Oil prices edged back up and stock markets stabilised Friday after postponement of US-Iran peace deal talks.

Equities had largely rallied since the two countries last weekend announced plans to end the conflict and reopen the Strait of Hormuz, fuelling global relief after the war triggered energy shortages and surging inflation.

Friday saw oil prices back up slightly as Brent stood up 0.7 percent at $80.41 a barrel while West Texas Intermediate gained 0.3 percent to $76.85.

Wall Street was shut Friday for a US public holiday, while Europe was muted as London and Paris lost around half of one per cent while Frankfurt ended the week with a 0.2 per cent dip.

"(London's) FTSE 100 was supported by energy and healthcare (but) risk appetite stayed capped after US-Iran peace talks in Switzerland were called off," said Tickmill Group's Patrick Munnelly.

Lebanese state media reported an Israeli airstrike on the country's south on Friday, soon after a US official said Israel and Hezbollah had agreed a ceasefire.

The official National News Agency (NNA) said the strike targeted the area of Jezzine "a short while ago", adding that one of its journalists reported drones flying over the Tyre area.

An AFP correspondent also reported hearing continuous artillery shelling in the city of Nabatieh.

Israeli airstrikes and bombardments killed at least 47 people and wounded 97 others in Lebanon on Friday, according to the latest updated toll from the Lebanese health ministry.

The dead included at least seven women and two children and the figures were released as a new ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah was due to start.

The Iranian foreign ministry said Friday there was "no urgency" to meet US negotiators in Switzerland, as a memorandum of understanding to end the Middle East war had already been signed electronically.

"Given that the signing of the text of the MoU was done digitally on June 18, there is no urgency to hold the said meeting in Switzerland, but we are planning to hold a meeting in the coming days," the ministry's spokesman, Esmaeil Baqaei, said.

Israel’s military said it has struck more than 150 Hezbollah targets in Lebanon since midnight, marking an escalation in its ongoing operations.

The latest update follows earlier reports in which the army said it had hit around 80 targets overnight and killed dozens of Hezbollah fighters.

The intensified strikes come amid reports of a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah set to take effect at 4 p.m. local time.

Israel and Hezbollah have agreed to a ceasefire starting at 4 p.m. local time on Friday, a senior US official told Reuters.

The agreement was reached through US and Qatari mediation, with support from Iran, following an exchange of fire earlier in the day.

Day 112: Israeli strike hits south Lebanon despite truce deal

Day 111: Iran leader approves US deal despite 'different view'

Day 110: Trump signs surprise interim deal with Iran to pause war

Day 109: Syria will do the job vs Hezbollah: Trump

Day 108: Trump says Strait of Hormuz will be 'completely open'

Day 107: Trump says Iran deal reached, Tehran claims victory

Day 106: Trump says deal to be signed Sunday, Hormuz to reopen