A photograph taken from the southern Lebanese village of Zawtar al-Gharbiyah, one of the first pilot zones, shows Israeli soldiers standing on the roof of a residential building in the nearby village of Zawtar al-Charkiyah, on August 4, 2026.
| Photo Credit: AFP

Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem. File
| Photo Credit: Reuters

Iran’s chief negotiator warned the United States is not to be trusted on Sunday (May 31, 2026), saying Tehran would not agree to any deal with Washington unless it fully secures Iranian rights.

Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf’s remarks came as reports emerged that U.S. President Donald Trump had sent a tougher peace proposal back to Iran, and underlined the rift that the parties still need to close.

Any further tweaks to the draft could further delay an agreement to formally end the West Asia war and reopen the Strait of Hormuz after weeks of fraught negotiations marked by sharp rhetoric and occasional flare-ups of violence.

Iran was already in negotiations with the United States about the fate of its nuclear programme in February, when the US and Israel launched air and missile strikes that wiped out much of the Islamic republic’s senior leadership.

And, while Tehran has long insisted that its nuclear programme is for purely civilian ends, the United States and its Western allies have long suspected it aims to develop a weapon.

Nuclear guarantees

The New York Times and Axios reported on Saturday (May 31, 2026) that Mr. Trump had sent back a “tougher” new framework to be considered by Iran, though details remain unclear.

Mr. Trump has said his priorities include stopping Iran from any nuclear weapon development and re-opening the Hormuz shipping lane, over which Iran has sought to impose control since the war began.

“The one guarantee that I have to have is that there will be no nuclear weapons. They’ve agreed to that, and it was very interesting,” he told his daughter-in-law Lara Trump in an interview on her Fox News show.

But Tehran has previously cast doubt on Mr. Trump’s assertions and the sides remain far apart on key issues.

“We will not approve any agreement until we are certain that the rights of the Iranian people have been upheld,” Ghalibaf said, in a video broadcast on state television.

According to the Tasnim news agency, “exchanges between Iran and the United States regarding the text of a possible memorandum of understanding are ongoing, with both parties regularly proposing amendments.

“No agreement has yet been finalised, and it is possible that any agreement will be rejected,” it said.

Iran has said it needs the release of $12 billion in frozen assets before engaging in substantive talks on its nuclear program, dismissing earlier Mr. Trump comments that its enriched uranium stockpile would be destroyed as “baseless”, according to Iranian media.

Tehran has also insisted that Lebanon be included in any deal, despite ongoing fighting, with Beirut accusing Israel of a “scorched-earth policy” as it expands operations against Iran-backed Hezbollah.

Flare-ups

Though daily strikes throughout Iran and the Gulf halted after Tehran and Washington struck a temporary ceasefire in April and talks mediated by Pakistan, sporadic fighting has continued.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards had shot down a U.S. military drone “about to enter Iranian territorial waters”, Iran’s state broadcaster IRIB reported, though Washington has not confirmed the incident.

Earlier this week, the worst fighting since the ceasefire erupted when U.S. forces struck the Iranian port of Bandar Abbas, prompting retaliatory fire from Iran.

Nevertheless diplomacy has continued with Mr. Trump under pressure to secure a deal that would lift competing US and Iranian blockades around the Strait of Hormuz that have strangled a vital route for global oil supplies.

After Mr. Trump said Iran would charge “no tolls” on ships passing through the strait under any deal, Iranian news agency Fars cited sources saying “no such clause” existed.

Iran’s ISNA news agency on Saturday (May 31, 2026) quoted lawmaker Alireza Salimi as saying a plan “to implement Iran’s management and sovereignty” over the strait — which includes imposing “administrative fees” for navigation — would soon go before parliament.

Lebanon front

Israeli said on Sunday (May 31, 2026) that troops had also crossed the Litani river and raised the Israeli flag over the strategic medieval fortress of Beaufort in southern Lebanon.

Smoke billowed from the surrounding area as the invading army’s banner was seen by AFP above the castle, which Israel famously used as a base during their previous two-decade-long occupation.

The push to Beaufort came as the Israeli military issued a sweeping evacuation order to areas south of the Zahrani River, north of the Litani and around 40 kilometres (25 miles) from the border, warning that it was targeting Hezbollah.

“The capture of Beaufort is a dramatic stage and a dramatic shift in the policy we are leading. We have broken the barrier of fear. We are taking the initiative, we are operating on all fronts — in Syria, in Gaza, in Lebanon,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said.

The Israeli military said on Sunday (May 31, 2026) that one soldier was killed the previous day in a Hezbollah drone strike.Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam has accused Israel of pursuing a “scorched-earth policy and collective punishment”, and called for “a swift and real ceasefire.”

Israel confirmed it was expanding its ground offensive in a statement released early on Sunday (May 31, 2026), saying “a significant number” of its forces were operating against Hezbollah beyond the Litani river.

A truce between Israel and Hezbollah formally began on April 17 but it has never been observed, with both sides accusing each other of violating it.

Published – May 31, 2026 10:11 pm IST

A woman stands inside a heavily damaged home in Kfar Sir, southern Lebanon, on April 21, 2026.
| Photo Credit: AP

A woman looks at a damaged building through a broken window in her apartment after a rocket fired from Lebanon strikes in the northern Arab city on November 19, 2024 in Shfaram, Israel.
| Photo Credit: Getty Images

The Israeli military said on Tuesday (November 19, 2024) that some 40 projectiles were fired from Lebanon into central and northern Israel, with first responders reporting that four people were lightly injured by shrapnel.

“Following sirens that sounded between 09:50 and 09:51 in the Upper Galilee, Western Galilee, and Central Galilee areas, approximately 25 projectiles were identified crossing from Lebanon into Israel. Some of the projectiles were intercepted and fallen projectiles were identified in the area,” the military said in a statement.

Also read | Lebanon, Hezbollah agree to U.S. proposal for ceasefire with Israel: Lebanese official

That announcement followed earlier reports that some 15 projectiles fired that set of air raid sirens.

A spokesperson for Israeli first responders said that in central Israel it found “four individuals with light injuries from glass shards…. They were injured while in a concrete building where the windows shattered.”

The Israeli police said they were searching the impact sites from projectiles intercepted by Israel’s air defence systems but did not report any serious damage.

On Monday, one person was killed and several people were injured in two separate incidents, one in the northern Israeli town of Shfaram and the other in the suburbs of Israel’s commercial hub of Tel Aviv.

The military said Lebanon’s Hezbollah movement, which is backed by Iran, fired around 100 projectiles from Lebanon towards Israel on Monday, while Israel’s air force carried out strikes on Beirut.

Hezbollah began firing rockets into Israel in October last year in support of the Palestinian militant group Hamas in Gaza. Since September, Israel has conducted extensive bombing campaigns in Lebanon primarily targeting Hezbollah strongholds, though some strikes have hit areas outside the Iran-backed group’s control.

The opening to a Hezbollah tunnel shaft which Israel’s military says is 200 metres away from a UN post and within 1km from Lebanon’s border with Israel, in southern Lebanon, on October 13, 2024.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

In the backdrop of back to back attacks on the United Nations Interim Force In Lebanon (UNIFIL), UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres cautioned that attacks against peacekeepers are in breach of international law and “may constitute a war crime.” Meanwhile, U.S. Secretary of Defence Lloyd J. Austin, in a telephonic conversation with his Israeli counterpart Yoav Gallant reiterated the importance of ensuring the safety and security of UNIFIL forces and Lebanese armed forces.

“The safety of UN personnel & property must be guaranteed. The inviolability of UN premises must be respected at all times. Attacks against peacekeepers are in breach of international law and may constitute a war crime. UNIFIL personnel & premises must never be targeted,” Mr. Guterres said on social media X.

As Israeli forces in Lebanon were hit by a drone attack by Hezbollah which killed four soldiers, Mr. Austin reinforced the need to “pivot from military operations in Lebanon to a diplomatic pathway as soon as feasible.” “I also raised the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza and stressed that steps must be taken to address it. I reaffirmed the United States’ unwavering, enduring, and ironclad commitment to Israel’s security,” he said in a post on X at 7 a.m. on Monday.

Also read | Israeli forces kill two Lebanese soldiers and injure two U.N. peacekeepers in separate strikes

Against the backdrop of the ongoing hostilities in southern Lebanon and despite attacks that have hit U.N. positions, injuring a number of peacekeepers in the past several days, “UNIFIL peacekeepers remain in all positions and the UN flag continues to fly,” Stéphane Dujarric, Spokesman for the Secretary-General said in a statement.

He said that UNIFIL continuously assesses and reviews all factors to determine its posture and presence and the mission is taking all possible measures to ensure the protection of its peacekeepers. “UNIFIL’s role and its presence in southern Lebanon is mandated by the UN Security Council. In this context, UNIFIL is committed to preserving its capacity to support a diplomatic solution based on resolution 1701, which is the only possible way forward.”

Referring to Sunday’s incident in which the entrance to a U.N. position was breached by Israeli armoured vehicles, Mr. Dujarric said, “The Secretary-General reiterates that the safety and security of UN personnel and property must be guaranteed and that the inviolability of UN premises must be respected at all times without qualification.”

The Spokesman said that the SG calls on all parties, including the Israel Defence Forces (IDF), to refrain from any and all actions that put our peacekeepers at risk.

The UNIFIL which has over 10,000 peacekeepers from 50 countries was hit on four consecutive days from Thursday to Sunday injuring several peacekeepers.

Beirut:

Lebanon’s Prime Minister Najib Mikati on Monday called for a ceasefire in the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah during a meeting with French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot in Beirut.

“The key to the solution is to put an end to the Israeli aggression against Lebanon and to revive the appeal launched by the United States and France… in favour of a ceasefire,” Mikati said, according to a statement from his office.

Barrot arrived in Beirut Sunday, the first foreign diplomat to visit Lebanon since Israel escalated its strikes against Hezbollah strongholds.

Mikati added that the “priority is applying resolution 1701” of the United Nations Security Council, which ended the 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah.

The French envoy’s visit came as a deadly strike hit a building in the centre of the Lebanese capital.

Israeli strikes have been largely concentrated on Hezbollah’s strongholds in the south and east of the country, and in south Beirut.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)