US-Iran War News Live Updates: Trump To Decide On Iran Deal 'Soon', Demands Reopening Of Hormuz Strait

The US is ready to restart attacks on Iran if a deal cannot be reached, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ​said on Saturday, as negotiators from Washington and Tehran worked ‌to bridge major differences blocking an agreement, reported Reuters.

Iran State TV on Saturday said that 20 ships crossed the Hormuz Strait in the last 24 hours.

US naval blockade on Iran remains in effect, reports Iran's TASNIM.

Qatar opposes permanent legal fees for transit through the Strait of Hormuz, but a temporary toll is negotiable and could help restore normal passage through the key waterway, a top official said, reported Bloomberg.

A permanent fee would impact consumers and Qatar objects to any move to impose them, Deputy Prime Minister Sheikh Saoud bin Abdulrahman Al Thani said at an Asian defense conference in Singapore on Saturday. However, short-term charges used for mine clearing or similar purposes can be considered, he said.

The comments were in response to a question about talks between Iran and Oman to impose a permanent toll system to formalize control of maritime traffic through Hormuz, one of the world's most important trade routes. Iran has effectively closed the waterway in response to US-Israeli airstrikes that began late February, triggering an energy crisis.

"Qatar and also the partners in the Gulf stated very clearly that charging fees will always impact the consumer, so we are against this," Sheikh Saoud said at the Shangri-La Dialogue. "But for certain times that they say they will use it for mine-clearing or some usage of the fees for a temporary time, this is something that is negotiable." 

The US, Europe and Middle East nations like the United Arab Emirates have rejected the notion of any tolls for passage through Hormuz. Iran has retaliated against the US strikes by hitting its military allies in the Gulf, including Qatar, with drones and missiles.

Qatar is trying to balance its ties with both nations, and seek consensus within the Gulf Cooperation Council on a comprehensive strategy to deal with Iran, the deputy prime minister said. "We want to set up a clear strategy and a clear approach with Iran in order to have a strategy for all the relationships that we have with Iran, including the trading strategy and also the political strategy," Sheikh Saoud said.

The US military said it carried out another strike on Friday on a boat accused of smuggling drugs in the eastern Pacific Ocean, killing three men in the third attack this week and pushing the overall death toll above 200 people. 

US Southern Command announced the latest strike in the monthslong campaign against alleged drug boats traversing the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific with its usual language that the vessel was "engaged in narco-trafficking operations" and operated by a designated terrorist organisation. It provided no evidence.

The United Arab Emirates carried out dozens of airstrikes against Iran beginning in the early days of the war, a deeper involvement than was previously known, reported Wall Street Journal. 

This came after the April cease-fire was announced, people familiar with the matter told Wall Street Journal, highlighting a deeper involvement than was previously known in the air campaign led by the US and Israel.

The extent of the strikes is further evidence of the country's growing willingness to protect what it sees as its strategic interests, setting it apart from some of its neighbors in the Gulf region, which have taken a far more cautious approach to the threat from Iran.

US is ready to restart attacks on Iran if a deal cannot be reached, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said on Saturday, as negotiators from Washington and Tehran worked to bridge major differences blocking an agreement. "Our ability to recommence if necessary...we are more than capable," Hegseth said in Singapore. "Our stockpiles are more than suited for that, both there and around the globe, so we're in a very good place," he added.

Hegseth, speaking at the Shangri-La Dialogue, Asia's premier forum for defence leaders, militaries and diplomats, said the US has not turned its back on the Asia-Pacific region despite being engaged in conflict with Iran.

"We can do two things at one time. We're super-charging our defence industrial base so that we're building 2X, 3X, 4X the munitions very soon to ensure that all of our (operations) plans are properly funded throughout the world," he said. The Pentagon chief said President Donald Trump was "patient" and wants to make a "great deal" that ensures Iran does not get a nuclear weapon.
 

US Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth said on Saturday that Washington remains fully prepared to resume military operations against Iran if necessary, while also outlining broader US strategic priorities in the Indo-Pacific region.

Speaking at the Shangri-La Dialogue security forum in Singapore, Hegseth stressed that the United States possesses sufficient military resources and weapons stockpiles to sustain operations in multiple theatres simultaneously.

"Our ability to recommence if necessary is (that) we are more than capable, our stockpiles are more than suited for that, both there and around the globe because of how we balance exquisite and more plentiful munitions," Hegseth said.

His remarks came amid ongoing discussions over a potential diplomatic arrangement between Washington and Tehran following months of conflict and heightened tensions in the Middle East. Addressing the annual defence summit, Hegseth also reiterated the US position that Iran must not be allowed to acquire nuclear weapons

A US judge on Friday temporarily blocked President Donald Trump's administration from setting up a nearly $1.8 billion fund to compensate victims of what Trump has called government "weaponization."

The order, opens new tab by US District Judge Leonie Brinkema of the Eastern District of Virginia blocks the Trump administration from "taking any further action" to set up or operate the fund while the judge hears additional legal arguments. The order will remain in effect at least until June 12.

The Justice Department announced the creation of an "Anti-Weaponization Fund" last week as part of an agreement to settle Trump's lawsuit ​against the Internal Revenue Service over the leak of his tax records.

It set up a $1.776 billion ⁠fund overseen by a five-member commission to dole out payments to those who show they were victims of "lawfare" and "weaponization," terms Trump ​and his allies have used to describe investigations and criminal cases against them.

Friday's ruling came in a lawsuit filed by a group ​that said it was targeted "by the Trump-Vance administration as ideological or political opponents" and alleged they would be ineligible for payouts from the fund.

US-Iran War News Live Updates: The White House has repeatedly sent conflicting messages on the prospects for a deal with Iran, highlighting President Donald Trump's struggles to find an off-ramp to a conflict now in its fourth month. That pattern continued on Friday. 

Trump said in a social media post late in the morning that he was ready to make a "final determination" on a preliminary agreement to extend a fragile ceasefire. Trump will only make a deal that satisfies his redlines, the official said, referring to the president's demands that Iran must abandon its nuclear program, give up its enriched uranium supplies and open the Strait of Hormuz.

The back-and-forth continued a pattern of both sides suggesting an agreement was near, but then signaling disagreement over many of the same issues that have long bedeviled a deal, including the fate of Iran's uranium and nuclear ambitions as well as freedom of navigation of the critical waterway.