Middle East crisis live: IDF orders evacuations in southern Lebanon as it accuses Hezbollah of ceasefire violations

The United Arab Emirates has announced it is quitting the Opec group of oil producers.

In an unexpected move, the UAE is leaving Opec and Opec+ (which includes allies such as Russia) from 1 May, a move which could allow it – in theory – to produce more oil and gas.

The UAE’s energy ministry says in a statement that the decision “reflects the UAE’s long-term strategic and economic vision and evolving energy profile”, and follows a “comprehensive review” of its production policy, and its current and future capacity.

Opec, created back in 1960, agrees and sets production quotes for members in an attempt to control the oil price. The UAE is a long-standing member, having joined in 1967.

The UAE pledges to “act responsibly” after it quits Opec, saying it will bring “additional production to market in a gradual and measures manner” in line with demand and market conditions.

In the short-term, though, the UAE – like many Opec members in the Gulf – faces the serious challenge of the blockade on the strait of Hormuz.

Follow more developments related to this over on our business live blog:

Israel’s top diplomat said Israel was not seeking to take territory in Lebanon, as its military presses operations in the south against Iran-backed Hezbollah despite a ceasefire.

“Israel has no territorial ambitions in Lebanon. Our presence in the areas by our northern border serves one purpose: protecting our citizens,” foreign minister Gideon Saar said at a joint news conference with his Serbian counterpart Marko Djuric.

Iran has banned the export of steel products, local media reported on Tuesday citing customs authorities, after airstrikes targeted the country’s steel industry in the war with Israel and the United States.

Fars news agency reported a directive from the Islamic republic’s customs authorities “regarding the prohibition of the export” of steel products, effective from 26 April.

We have some comments through from Qatar’s foreign ministry spokesperson Majed al-Ansari, who has been speaking at a press conference.

He said: “We do not want to see a return to hostilities in the region anytime soon, we do not want to see a frozen conflict that ends up being thawed every time there is a political reason.”

Al-Ansari was also quoted as telling reporters that the strait of Hormuz should have “never been closed”, praising Pakistan’s mediation efforts and insisting that the war should be solved through diplomacy.

US-Iran talks have stalled since a ceasefire came into force on 8 April, largely over the status of the strait of Hormuz and Tehran’s nuclear programme. The US president, Donald Trump, has seemingly extended the ceasefire indefinitely despite the effective closure of the strait sending gas prices soaring in the US ahead of the November midterm elections.

Saudi Arabia is to host a meeting of the Gulf Cooperation Council in Jeddah later today, in what will be first in-person meeting of Gulf leaders since their states became dragged into the war.

A Gulf official told the Reuters news agency that the meeting aimed to craft a response to the thousands of Iranian missile and drone attacks Gulf states have faced since the US and Israel launched the war on Iran on 28 February.

Qatar’s emir, Kuwait’s crown prince, Bahrain’s king and the UAE’s foreign minister arrived in Jeddah to attend the summit, Saudi state media reported. It was unclear who would represent Oman.

Iran launched retaliatory strikes across the Gulf region after the US and Israel bombed Iran in late February in an unprovoked attack widely considered to have been launched illegally.

Iran said its retaliatory strikes targeted US military installations hosted in the region but Iranian missiles or drones also hit airports, hotels and other civilian targets across the Gulf, as well as key energy infrastructure.

More than a dozen people have been killed in Gulf Arab states and 23 in Israel by Iran’s retaliatory attacks, including those launched by its proxies.

Attacks have subsided since the US and Iran entered a ceasefire on 8 April, but there remains a deep well of anger from Gulf countries who have suffered huge economic and reputational damage as a result of the war.

The renewed Israeli war on Lebanon started when Hezbollah launched missiles at Israel on 2 March after the US-Israeli bombing of Iran in late February.

In its latest update, the Lebanese health ministry said since 2 March Israeli attacks have killed at least 2,521 people, including many women and children.

The Israeli military has ordered residents of 16 towns and villages in southern Lebanon to evacuate immediately to the Sidon area.

The affected towns and villages are: Ghndouriyeh, Burj Qlawiyeh, Qlawiyeh, al-Sawana, al-Jumayjima, Safad al-Batikh, Braashit, Shaqra, Aita al-Jabal, Tibnin, al-Sultaniyya, Bir al-Sanasil, Dounin, Khirbet Silm, Salaa and Deir Qifa, according to a social media post by the IDF’s Arabic-language spokesperson, Avichay Adraee, who claimed the attacks are being launched due to Hezbollah violating the US-mediated ceasefire agreement Israel signed with the Lebanese state in mid April.

Israeli airstrikes have reportedly killed at least 40 people in Lebanon since the ceasefire there began on 17 April. Under its terms, Israel retains its “right to take all necessary measures in self-defence, at any time, against planned, imminent, or ongoing attacks”.

Hezbollah has said it would not cease its attacks on Israeli troops inside Lebanon and on towns in northern Israel as long as Israel continued its ceasefire violations.

The Lebanese president Joseph Aoun wants direct negotiations with Israel to bring an end to the Israeli assault, whereas Hezbollah opposes talks. Aoun has said the aim of the talks is to “fully” stop Israeli attacks, the withdrawal of Israeli troops from Lebanon, release of Lebanese prisoners held in Israel and the deployment of Lebanese troops along the border.

The Israeli ground invasion in southern Lebanon has cut people off from returning to their homes in about 55 villages, according to Doctors Without Borders, which has condemned the destruction and demolition of entire villages by the Israeli military. Israel has occupied a belt of territory at the border where its soldiers remain for what it describes as security reasons.

The White House said on Monday it was examining Iran’s latest proposal to unblock the strait of Hormuz, via which one-fifth of global crude oil and liquefied natural gas supplies normally pass through, the AFP news agency is reporting (see post at 08.36 for context about the critical waterway).

The US president, Donald Trump, met with senior security advisors yesterday to discuss the Iranian proposal after Iran passed “written messages” to Washington via mediator Pakistan, stating its red lines, including on nuclear issues and the strait of Hormuz, according to Iran’s Fars news agency.

The White House spokesperson, Karoline Leavitt, confirmed to journalists that the proposal was “being discussed”. It would reportedly see the US lift its blockade on Iranian ports and Iran ease its control over the strait while broader talks continue.

“The United States is no longer in a position to dictate its policy to independent nations,” Iranian defence ministry spokesperson Reza Talaei-Nik reportedly said.

Asked about Iran’s proposal, US secretary of state Marco Rubio told Fox News “it’s better than what we thought they were going to submit,” but questioned whether it was genuine.

“They’re very good negotiators,” he said. “We have to ensure that any deal that is made, any agreement that is made, is one that definitively prevents them from sprinting towards a nuclear weapon at any point.”

The internet blackout in Iran has entered its 60th day, according to internet monitoring group NetBlocks. It said in a social media post:

Exactly two months ago on 28 February, Iran was thrown into digital darkness as authorities cut off access to the global internet.

Metrics show the blackout is now entering its 60th day after 1416 hours despite regime efforts to introduce tiered access for privileged groups.

Certain journalists, businesses and politicians are allowed access to the internet. But the vast majority of Iranians have been completely cut off. There was an earlier internet shutdown in January during nationwide protests, which helped obscure extreme violence against Iran’s population.

Iran’s deputy defence minister, Reza Talaei-Nik, has been quoted by state media as having said that Iran is ready to share its defensive weapons capabilities with “independent countries, especially members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO)”.

The ten member states of the SCO are Belarus, India, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, China, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

The Iranian deputy defence minister recently held talks with Russian and Belarusian defence personnel, after which both countries reaffirmed their commitment to continue cooperation with Tehran.

Lebanon’s minister for the environment has accused Israel’s military of committing “an act of ecocide” in the foreword to a report detailing the harm done to the country’s natural resources during the invasion of 2023 to 2024.

Israeli military aggression “reshaped both the physical and ecological landscape” of southern Lebanon, according to the report, which does not consider the impacts of Israel’s latest barrage of attacks this spring.

Published amid a patchy ceasefire, as refugees from Israel’s latest invasion return to shattered homes and communities, the 106-page report outlines how southern Lebanon has suffered profound ecological disruption and the loss of essential ecosystem services.

In her foreword, Tamara el Zein said:

The scale and intentionality of the damage to forests, agricultural lands, marine ecosystems, water resources, and atmospheric quality constitute what must be recognised as an act of ecocide, with consequences that extend far beyond immediate destruction

The environmental damage we face is not simply ecological – it is a matter of public health, food security, livelihoods, social fabric, and national resilience.

Al Jazeera is reporting that Israeli forces are shelling areas of southern Lebanon despite the ceasefire.

Lebanon’s national news agency reported earlier that Israeli warplanes launched three airstrikes on the town of Zawtar al-Sharqiyah at 6am local time, with Israeli attacks also reportedly launched on the town of Bint Jbeil, which is about 5km north of the Israeli border and has seen heavy fighting between Israeli forces and Hezbollah.

Israel, which claims it is striking Hezbollah operatives and sites even though it has killed many civilians and destroyed civilian infrastructure with apparent impunity, was given extremely wide scope by the wording of the ceasefire that permits it the “right to take all necessary measures in self-defence, at any time, against planned, imminent, or ongoing attacks”.

The ceasefire deal, which took effect on 16 April and was extended by three weeks last Thursday, was agreed between Israel and the Lebanese state, not Hezbollah, the Iranian backed Lebanese militant group and political party.

In its latest update, the Lebanese health ministry said since 2 March Israeli attacks have killed at least 2,521 people, including many women and children.

The renewed Israeli war on Lebanon started when Hezbollah launched missiles at Israel on 2 March after the US-Israeli bombing of Iran, triggering an Israeli aerial assault, invasion and continuing occupation of Israeli troops in some of Lebanon’s territory.

The US treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, has said Iran’s oil industry is starting to shut production down because of the American blockade of the strait of Hormuz, the critical shipping channel via which about 20% of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas is usually transported through.

“Pumping will soon collapse. Gasoline shortages in Iran next,” he added in a post on X.

In response to US-Israeli attacks on Iran in late February, Tehran effectively closed the strait to vessels, only allowing a relatively small number of ships from “friendly” countries like China, Malaysia and Pakistan through. It used the control of the strait as crucial leverage.

After the breakdown of peace talks in Islamabad earlier this month, Donald Trump imposed a counter-blockade of shipping using Iranian ports. Iran is grappling with high inflation, rising food prices and the US blockade is harming its economy further with Tehran now facing a looming oil storage crisis.

Trump has demanded the complete reopening of the strait and has opposed the idea of Iran introducing tolls as the waterway’s effective closure has sparked fears of a global recession and led to a surge in fuel prices around the world, including in the US.

We are restarting our live coverage of the US-Israeli war on Iran.

Iran needs “credible guarantees” against more US-Israeli attacks before it can ensure security in the Gulf, Tehran’s envoy to the UN has said, while on a Russian visit Iran’s foreign minister blamed Washington for the failure of peace talks.

“The US approaches caused the previous round of negotiations, despite progress, to fail to reach its goals because of the excessive demands,” the minister, Abbas Araghchi, said on Monday in St Petersburg, where Vladimir Putin promised him Moscow’s support in ending the war.

Donald Trump on Sunday had told Fox News that if Iran wanted talks, “they can call us” – adding that his cancellation of sending his envoys to Pakistan at the weekend did not signal a return to hostilities.

On Monday Amir Saeid Iravani, Tehran’s UN ambassador, told a security council session: “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.”

Meanwhile, Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu claimed, without providing evidence, that Hezbollah’s rockets and drones were a key threat demanding military action as the Israeli army expanded airstrikes on Lebanon. Authorities there reported at least four people were killed on Monday despite a supposed ceasefire.

In other key developments:

• Donald Trump is unhappy with an Iranian proposal on the war because it does not address Iran’s nuclear program, Reuters cited a US official as saying on Monday, after Trump discussed the proposal with his top national security aides. Iran had offered to end its closure of the strait of Hormuz if the US lifted its blockade and ended the war in a proposal that would postpone discussions on Iran’s nuclear program, the Associated Press reported earlier, citing two unnamed regional officials. Later reporting quoted White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt as saying the proposal was “being discussed”.

• Lebanese president Joseph Aoun said direct talks with Israel sought to end the war on Lebanon and that those who dragged Lebanon into it were the ones committing “treason” – a jab at the Iran-backed militia Hezbollah, which claimed several attacks on Israeli targets in south Lebanon on Monday.

• Iraq’s newly elected president nominated businessman Ali al-Zaidi as the country’s prime minister-designate on Monday, after the country’s leaders yielded to US pressure not to support the bid of a former premier close to Iran.

• The Coordination Framework – an alliance of Shia factions with varying links to Iran – had initially backed powerbroker Nouri al-Maliki to become the country’s next premier, but Trump’s ultimatum left Iraqi leaders looking elsewhere.

• The US and Iran clashed at the UN on Monday over Tehran’s nuclear program and its selection to be one of dozens of vice-presidents at a month-long conference to review the nuclear non-proliferation treaty. US official Christopher Yeaw said Iran’s selection was an “affront” to the treaty. Tehran’s envoy to the International Atomic Energy Agency, Reza Najafi, rejected the US statement as “baseless and politically motivated”.