JD Vance says US ‘not there yet’ on an Iran deal – as it happened

The latest report from the UN documenting sexual violence in wars around the world, said in 2025 the UN was able to document “patterns of sexual violence” against Palestinians detained in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories, and verified multiple incidents of conflict-related sexual violence, including as a form of torture, inflicted on 14 men, seven women, nine boys and one girl from Gaza and the West Bank. It said 13 cases occurred in 2025 and 18 in 2023 and 2024.

It detailed at least nine victims, mostly from Gaza, who were raped or gang raped, in some cases repeatedly, by perpetrators from the Israel Defense Forces and Israel’s prison service, its special forces and police units.

Danny Danon, the Israeli ambassador to the UN, said in a statement on social media that Israel was “done” with the UN secretary general because of the country’s inclusion in the report.

“[Antonio] Guterres has put Israel on the same blacklist along with Hamas, Islamic State and the most depraved terrorist organizations in the world.”

Danon said Israel had provided documents, data and detailed responses to the allegations that were raised in the report.

We told you earlier about Israel’s anger that it has been included in a UN report documenting sexual violence in conflicts worldwide.

Associated Press is now reporting that the 35-page report shared by the Israeli mission to the UN late Thursday ahead of its expected release today, has included Israeli forces because of their treatment of Palestinian detainees. It’s the first time since the review began more than 15 years ago that Israel has been included.

The list for 2025 includes Israel’s armed and security forces as well as Hamas militants, who were previously blacklisted after their attack in Israel on 7 October 2023, which sparked the war in Gaza.

Russian armed and security forces were also blacklisted for the first time this year for sexual violence against prisoners of war and civilians detained during the war in Ukraine. Israel and Russia both deny the accusations.

The UN report blacklists 77 government and non-government parties in a dozen countries suspected of committing or being responsible for sexual violence in conflicts around the world. It says the number of cases rose sharply in 2025 from 2024.

Israel said it is breaking all contact with UN chief António Guterres, because of its inclusion in the report.

As negotiations continue between the US and Iran about a peace agreement, tensions deepened Thursday in Lebanon as Israel conducted an airstrike on a southern suburb of the capital, Beirut, and other strikes in the southern coastal city of Tyre.

At least 17 people were reported killed and many others wounded across the country’s south, and local people and paramedics continue to search the wreckage, as you can see by these latest pictures coming in from around Lebanon.

Iran has insisted that any deal must include an end to Israel’s military operations in Lebanon against the Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah.

Lebanese authorities on Thursday decried Israeli attacks near Unesco-protected historic sites and landmarks in the country’s south.

Culture Minister Ghassan Salame “made numerous contacts with his counterparts worldwide and relevant international organisations to draw their attention to the huge damage to archaeological sites and heritage districts” in south Lebanon, the state-run National news agency said.

He highlighted the ancient city of Tyre and Beaufort castle in the Nabatieh district, emphasising that “a large number of these sites enjoy enhanced protection from Unesco, making it necessary to protect them from any Israeli air or artillery attack”. Israel has issued repeated evacuation warnings to swathes of the southern coastal city of Tyre in recent days and carried out heavy strikes.

The south Lebanon municipality of Arnoun, where the historic Beaufort castle is located, said in a statement on Facebook that it “condemns in the strongest terms the attack that targeted” the site, blaming Israeli bombardment and urging authorities to protect it “from further damage”.

On Wednesday, an AFP correspondent saw smoke rising near Beaufort castle after what appeared to be artillery fire.

In November 2024, during a previous war between Israel and Hezbollah, Unesco granted 34 heritage sites in Lebanon including Tyre and Beaufort Castle “provisional enhanced protection”.

Updating earlier reports from Iranian state tv that Iranian forces had intercepted and destroyed a US aircraft near Iran’s southern Bushehr province, the US is denying the claim.

A US official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, has told Reuters that no US aircraft were shot down near Bushehr.

The Iran news report had cited the governor of Jam County, Masoud Tangestani.

US vice-president JD Vance on Thursday told reporters that Washington was “not there yet” with Iran but he said the parties were close, adding that the US was in a position where it could substantially set back Tehran’s nuclear program.

Earlier, Iran’s Tasnim news agency, citing a source close to the negotiating team, said the text of a potential memorandum of understanding (MOU) between the two countries had not yet been finalised or confirmed.

Donald Trump has circulated a draft peace agreement for the war with Iran among allies including Israel as both sides try to prevent fresh breaches of the ceasefire escalating out of control and scuppering any deal.

The US vice-president told reportersthere were a couple of sticking points in talks with Tehran about its enriched uranium stockpile and the question of enrichment.

“It’s hard to say exactly when or if the president is going to sign the MOU. We’re going back and forth on a couple of language points,” Vance said.

“I can’t guarantee that we’re going to get there, but right now I feel pretty good about it,” he said.

• Benjamin Netanyahu said he has given orders to the Israeli army to seize control of 70% of the Gaza Strip in a move that threatens to torpedo an already fragile ceasefire and create catastrophic humanitarian conditions in the already devastated territory. Speaking at a conference in an occupied West Bank settlement, Netanyahu, who is struggling for his political survival before elections in the next few months, spelled out the extent of Israel’s territorial goals. The Israeli prime minister said: “We are currently squeezing Hamas. We now control 60% of the territory in the strip. You know, we were at 50, we moved to 60. My directive is to move to … 70%.” Here’s our report.

• Lebanon’s prime minister said “nothing can justify” Israel’s ongoing assault on the south of his country, and reissued his calls for an immediate ceasefire. “Nothing can justify the ongoing assaults on my regions of Tyre and Nabatieh and the destruction of their historical landmarks, nor the continuous threats targeting our peaceful people there, nor the repeated calls for them to leave their homes and abandon their livelihoods,” Nawaf Salam wrote on X. He said Israel’s continued bombardment amounts to collective punishment condemned by all international norms and laws”, and strengthen “our resolve for the necessity of an immediate ceasefire, working toward a complete Israeli withdrawal from our land”.

• Iran’s Tasnim news agency, citing a source close to the negotiating team, said on Thursday that the text of a potential memorandum of understanding between Iran and the US had not yet been finalised or confirmed. It followed several media reports that the two sides had reached the agreement to, among other things, extend the ceasefire and launch negotiations on Iran’s nuclear programme – but were still waiting for Donald Trump to give final approval.

• It came after Trump circulated a draft peace agreement among allies including Israel. In an attempt to speed up the negotiations, Pakistan’s foreign minister, Mohammad Ishaq Dar, will fly to Washington on Friday to meet his US counterpart, Marco Rubio.

• Meanwhile, Iranian state tv reported that Iranian forces intercepted and destroyed a US aircraft near Iran’s southern Bushehr province. Iran’s Mehr news agency is also reporting that Iranian armed forces had fired warning shots at four vessels near the strait of Hormuz that were “attempting to pass through the strait without coordination”.

• US treasury secretary Bessent said he had spoken with the Omani ambassador, who “assured” him that there are no plans to toll the strait of Hormuz. Bessent told reporters at the White House briefing that Donald Trump “wanted to punctuate freedom of navigation in the strait” when he threatened to “blow up” US ally Oman on Wednesday.

• Asked whether the US and Iran have struck a deal, Bessent was vague. “The teams have been going back and forth,” he said, adding that Trump has “made it very clear that he has several red lines” and is “not going to take a bad deal”. “Everything depends on what the president wants to do and president Trump is not going to make a bad deal for the American people,” he added.

Further to that last post, Iranian state tv is reporting that it was a US aircraft that Iranian forces intercepted and destroyed, citing local officials.

There’s as yet been no confirmation from the US.

Iranian air defences have intercepted and destroyed a “hostile aircraft” in Iran’s southern Bushehr province in the past hour, state media reports.

“The incident that occurred tonight was related to the destruction of a hostile aircraft,” the semi-official Tasnim news agency quoted the governor of Jam County, Masoud Tangestani, as saying. “The city is now in a normal situation.”

Iran’s Mehr news agency is reporting that Iranian armed forces have fired warning shots at four vessels near the strait of Hormuz.

The vessels were “attempting to pass through the strait without coordination”, the agency said in a post on Telegram.

I’ll bring you more on this as we get it.

Lebanon’s health ministry said an Israeli strike south of Beirut on Thursday killed a woman and two children, after Israel’s army said it “precisely struck” the capital without identifying the target.

“The Israeli enemy strike on the town of Choueifat led to a final toll of three martyrs including a woman and her baby daughter, and a child of Syrian nationality, in addition to wounding 15 people including three children and five women,” the health ministry said in a statement.

Iran’s Fars news agency is reporting that the Iranian armed forces fired missiles from the southern regions of the country towards “specific targets” a short while ago.

It added that the exact destination of the missiles was not yet clear.

I’ll bring you more on this as we get it.

Lebanon’s prime minister has slammed Israel’s expanded offensive in the south of the country, which he said amounts to “collective punishment condemned by all international norms and laws”.

“Nothing can justify the ongoing assaults on my regions of Tyre and Nabatieh and the destruction of their historical landmarks, nor the continuous threats targeting our peaceful people there, nor the repeated calls for them to leave their homes and abandon their livelihoods,” Nawaf Salam wrote on X.

He said the attacks strengthen “our resolve for the necessity of an immediate ceasefire, working toward a complete Israeli withdrawal from our land”.