Ghoncheh Habibiazad
Senior reporter, BBC Persian

Image source, Reuters

Iran President Masoud Pezeshkian has defended the negotiations between Tehran and Washington in his latest remarks published by Iranian outlets.

“Defending national interests and maintaining the county’s authority within the framework on negotiations is not an approach limited to the government, but rather all elements of the establishment have a common vision and goal about this,” Pezeshkian has said.

When it comes to negotiations, he says the approval of a powerful body in Iran, the Supreme National Security Council (SNSC), is the “criterion” and adds that Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei has the last word when it comes to negotiations.

Mojtaba Khamenei has not been seen in verified recent photographs or videos since succeeding his father in early March. So far, Iranian outlets have released several written messages attributed to him.

Image source, Getty Images

With uncertainty surrounding when exactly we can expect a deal between the US and Iran to be signed, here's a reminder of what has been said in recent days:

• On Thursday, Trump said he had cancelled "scheduled attacks" against Iran because negotiators had "just made a great settlement" - with a deal likely be to signed imminently

• The following day, Iranian media published some details from the alleged 14-point deal, which Trump said had "nothing to do with the terms that were agreed to" and "bears no relation to the truth"
• On Saturday, Trump said the deal was scheduled to be signed on Sunday, and "immediately after it is signed, the Hormuz Strait is OPEN TO ALL"
• Pakistan, a key mediator, also said the deal was"likely expected" to be finalised within 24 hours and they were "preparing for the electronic signing"
• But earlier in the day, Iranian spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei expressed caution over the timeline for signing a deal and said it would not be on Sunday
• This timeline remains uncertain following an Israeli strike on Beirut earlier today, which Iran's chief negotiator said shows the US is not fulfilling its commitments
• However, US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth says the US is still "on track" to sign a deal and it's "not a matter of if" but when

Image source, Getty Images

US President Donald Trump believes a deal will still be signed with Iran "in the next two to three hours", he tells Fox News.

He made the comments in a brief interview with the network's Trey Yingst, who repeated them on air during a live cross from Tel Aviv.

Trump told Yingst he spoke on the phone with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu after today's strikes on Beirut. Trump appeared to express his frustration, using an expletive to ask Netanyahu what he is doing.

"He told the prime minister not to conduct additional strikes against Hezbollah, so it doesn't affect this deal from moving forward," Yingst said.

Joe Inwood
World news correspondent

Image source, Reuters

He might not say it explicitly, but President Trump is clearly furious with Benjamin Netanyahu.

His social media post says that the attack on Beirut, which he implies was a disproportionate response to a “very small and meaningless” attack by Hezbollah, risked disrupting the peace process “on a special day”.

It isn’t specified what makes the day “special", but it has not gone unnoticed that there was a chance of a peace deal being signed on Donald Trump’s 80th birthday.

That prospect now looks far less likely.

What will make this doubly galling for the President is that he has repeatedly pointed out the extent to which he is in the driving seat of his relationship with Israel’s Prime Minister.

"If I tell Netanyahu to do something, he does it,” he told the BBC last week.

The fact that his ally decided to launch strikes, knowing the impact they would have, on a day when the President had predicted a deal, will further sour an already strained relationship.

Sebastian Usher
Global affairs correspondent, reporting from Jerusalem

Image source, Reuters

There's no doubt that President Trump would very much like to be able to announce the deal on his eightieth birthday - and frame it as a victory.

The Iranian leadership may not want to give him that satisfaction.

But it certainly does look as if the two sides have all but agreed a deal.

The details are not yet known - and both the US and Iran have each been presenting the aspects that make them seem to have the upper hand.

A senior Iranian official has said that this initial deal would see the Strait of Hormuz re-opened immediately, as Trump has stipulated.

The same official has also said there's an agreement for Tehran to dilute its highly enriched uranium inside Iran.

These would be significant moves forward, raising hopes of success in the difficult negotiations to come.

But the issue of Israel's war against Hezbollah in Lebanon could still prove to be a deal breaker further down the line.

These are some of the latest images reaching us from Beirut following an Israeli strike on the Dahieh suburb of the Lebanese capital earlier on Sunday.

Three people were killed and 15 injured in the strike, according to Lebanon's civil defence agency.

Photos show Lebanese army officers at the site, while people can be seen clearing through the rubble.

Image source, AFP via Getty Images

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Anadolu via Getty Images

Image source, AFP via Getty Images

Image source, EPA/Shutterstock

US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth says "we are on track" to sign a deal with Iran, and it's "not a matter of if" but when.

In an interview with the BBC's US partner CBS, Hegseth says: "We're attuned to what's happening with Hezbollah firing rockets into northern Israel, which they need to stop doing," adding that "Iran needs to encourage them to stop doing that in very adamant ways".

"If Iran wants this to hold", Hegseth warns, "they need to pull back Hezbollah, no doubt".

US-Iran deal at risk of derailing as Lebanon remains major obstaclepublished at 16:46 BST

16:46 BST

Hugo Bachega
Middle East correspondent in Beirut

Lebanon had already become a major obstacle for a deal between the US and Iran, and the Israeli attack on the southern suburbs of Beirut, where the Iranian-backed armed group Hezbollah is based, can further complicate those efforts.

Iran insists that any truce should also include the end of the war here, something that has been rejected by Israel, which appears to have been sidelined in the negotiations.

Israeli officials say the conflict against Hezbollah is separate to the one in Iran and, in Israel, there is public support for the war in Lebanon to continue.

If Iran is successful in linking the two arenas, Israel may be forced to stop its military activities in Lebanon.

Many will say the timing of this attack, which Israel says was in response to Hezbollah’s attacks against northern Israel, was no coincidence, amid the expectation of the possible signing of the deal.

Image source, EPA/Shutterstock

The full text has not been released – in fact, we still do not know if it all its terms have been agreed by both sides - but there seems to be a consensus in Israel that this is a setback for the country: the military successes do not appear to have been translated into something that can be seen as a strategic victory.

Based on leaks of the deal, an Israeli military official described it as “very bad” and “catastrophic” to the country’s Ma’ariv newspaper.

A defence official told N12 “none of the goals set by Israel have received an immediate response in the agreement.”

Finally, Iran had vowed to respond to any strike on Beirut by attacking Israel. A deal that was described as being close is once again at risk of derailing.

Israel's foreign ministry says that "Iran’s proxy, Hezbollah, is the one that attacked Israel again this morning, completely unprovoked".

"Hezbollah constantly fires at Israeli civilians", the foreign ministry says in a statement on X, adding that such attacks have continued "even after the ceasefire".

"It was Hezbollah that launched an unprovoked attack on Israel in March, acting under the orders of its Iranian masters," it adds.

The statement comes in response to comments that were made earlier on Sunday by Iran's chief negotiator, who said Israel's fresh strikes on Beirut show the US is not fulfilling its commitments.

Image source, EPA/Shutterstock

Three people were killed in an Israeli strike on Beirut's southern suburbs on Sunday, according to Lebanon's civil defence agency.

The civil defence agency said in a statement carried by Lebanon's state-run National News Agency (NNA), that "the bodies of three martyrs were recovered from under the rubble".

NNA reports that the number of those injured in the strike has reached 15, while significant damage was caused to buildings and shops.

Image source, Getty Images

US President Donald Trump says Israel's strike on Beirut earlier on Sunday "should not have happened".

"Particularly on a special day when we are so close to a Peace Deal with Iran," he writes on Truth Social.

He says Israel has a "right to defend itself" but the attack it was responding to was "very small and meaningless".

He adds that the US and Iran are "very close to a Deal that will bring peace to the region, including to Lebanon, and all sides should stand down".

Trump says there should be no more attacks by Israel or "any other party", adding that this could be the "beginning of a long and beautiful peace — Let’s not blow it!".

Strikes on Beirut put imminent US-Iran deal in doubt but by no means rules it outpublished at 15:51 BST

15:51 BST

Sebastian Usher
Global affairs correspondent, reporting from Jerusalem

Image source, EPA

Iran's chief negotiator has said that Israel's attacks on Beirut in Lebanon show the US is not fulfilling its commitments.

Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf made his comments after Israeli forces struck Hezbollah targets in the southern suburbs of Beirut, in response to rocket fire by Hezbollah into northern Israel.

It comes as the US was indicating that an initial deal with Iran to end their war could be signed today.

Israel's offensive against Hezbollah in Lebanon almost reignited the Iran war last week after Tehran fired missiles into Israel in response to the Israeli military hitting Beirut.

President Trump quickly intervened to demand that both sides hold their fire, which they did.

He may have to do the same again now. The situation in Lebanon will be one of the toughest issues to be negotiated if and when the US and Iran sign an initial agreement.

In the past two days, both sides have shown a commitment to finalising that deal imminently. The latest flare up puts that in doubt but by no means rules it out.

Image source, Getty Images

Israel has carried out a fresh strike in Beirut's southern suburbs amid reports of an imminent deal between Iran and the US.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) says it struck a Hezbollah command centre in the Dahieh suburb of Beirut following "Hezbollah’s launch of aerial targets toward Israeli territory" earlier on Sunday.

Iran's chief negotiator Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf warned that the latest strike shows the US is not fulfilling its commitments and either lacks the will or ability to do so.

Iran has long insisted Lebanon be covered by the peace deal being negotiated with Washington. Ghalibaf said there was "no point" in talking about continuing "down this path".

The strike on Lebanon's capital comes after US President Donald Trump said on Saturday that a deal to end the war with Iran would be signed on Sunday.

Writing on Truth Social, he said the deal would see the Strait of Hormuz immediately opened "to all" and would guarantee Iran is never able to build a nuclear weapon.

However, Iran's foreign ministry has expressed caution over the timeline for signing the deal, warning that we will "have to wait and see about the exact date".