G\u2019day, ABC Middle East correspondent Matthew Doran here in Jerusalem.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s the end of:\u00a0<\/p>\n
day 51 of the warday 12 of the ceasefire between the US, Israel and Iranday 3 of the ceasefire in Lebanonday 7 of the US blockade of Iran<\/p>\n
Iran war live updates:<\/a> Trump says US Navy has opened fire on Iranian cargo ship<\/p>\n Here’s what you need to know today:Donald Trump says the US Navy has opened fire upon an Iranian cargo ship that tried to break the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz and has taken custody of the ship. It came a few hours after he\u00a0threatened new attacks on Iranian power plants and bridges<\/a> if the regime in Tehran refused a deal on his terms to end the war. In a Truth Social post, Donald Trump accused Iran of a “total violation” of the ceasefire after reports that at least two ships had been fired upon by Iran on Saturday as they approached the strait.President Trump also said\u00a0another round of talks would be held between the US and Iran in Islamabad<\/a> on Monday night. JD Vance<\/a> will reportedly lead the American delegation heading to Pakistan’s capital. On Saturday, Iran once again closed the Strait of Hormuz to traffic after the US refused to lift its blockade of Iranian ports<\/a>.Iranian state media outlet IRNA\u00a0is reporting Iran has rejected<\/a> a second round of talks in\u00a0Pakistan, with the US blockade on Iran continuing. Earlier\u00a0, CNN was\u00a0reporting the Iranian delegation travelling to the talks,\u00a0likely the same team including the Speaker of the Iranian Parliament, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, is expecting an announcement that the fragile truce will be extended.\u00a0Israel has released new maps<\/a> showing the territory it plans to continue holding inside Lebanon after its invasion of the country, even with a ceasefire now in place there. Last week, when announcing Israel had accepted the truce, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel would occupy a 10-kilometre buffer zone inside southern Lebanon.\u00a0Over the weekend, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) started describing the boundary of that occupied territory as the “yellow line” \u2014 the same terminology it has used in Gaza. Israeli media is reporting that the IDF continues to demolish and destroy Lebanese villages inside the occupied territory.\u00a0\u00a0Here’s what all that means<\/p>\n Welcome to Monday and a return to the rhetorical threat spiral the world has borne witness to, but still isn\u2019t entirely used to, since the start of this war \u2014 now entering its eighth week.<\/p>\n Donald Trump has reiterated his pledge to bomb Iranian power plants and bridges if Iran doesn\u2019t strike a deal. “NO MORE MR. NICE GUY!” he declared on his Truth Social account.<\/p>\n Days earlier, he welcomed news that Iran had opened the Strait of Hormuz. Now he says it doesn’t matter if Iran says it’s closed, because the US blockade has kept it closed. Iran, in turn, says it’s the United States breaching the ceasefire by imposing its blockade, and it\u00a0won’t\u00a0even send negotiators to Pakistan \u2014 leaving the US Vice President with no-one to talk to<\/a>.<\/p>\n Hard to keep up, right?\u00a0<\/p>\n The clock is ticking on the ceasefire, which expires in the early hours of Wednesday morning in the Middle East. There’s clearly a desire for more talks, and the US President wants to be able to declare victory here \u2014 even if only to satisfy his critics at home and the disquiet within his own party about what the endgame is.<\/p>\n Even with that intent, the distance between the two sides still seems wider than the Strait of Hormuz itself. For example, Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian said no one could “deprive” Iran of its nuclear rights<\/a>.<\/p>\n And those negotiations could be hampered even further by this news that the US has opened fire on an Iranian cargo ship, intercepting it and taking custody of the vessel as it tried to break through the blockade.<\/p>\n The other element here is what\u2019s happening in Lebanon \u2014 a conflict which is both separate from and inextricably linked to the broader regional war.\u00a0<\/p>\n It’s clear that if Israel had its way, the intense strikes against claimed Hezbollah targets, which have killed hundreds of civilians and have rocked the country since early March, would have continued over the weekend. But pressure from the United States, seeing how angry Iran was that the attacks were continuing there, led to a 10-day truce \u2014 albeit one where Israel continues to occupy territory inside Lebanon.<\/p>\n When the ceasefire was first announced last Thursday night local time, some corners of the Israeli media and political establishment noted the timing of the deal \u2014 less than a week before Israel’s Independence Day. It was as if to say the truce was an imposition by the US, which infringed on Israel\u2019s rights as a country, even after it had invaded and occupied another sovereign state.<\/p>\n The declaration of the State of Israel happened on May 14,\u00a01948, but the commemoration of Independence Day is linked to the Hebrew calendar, which means in 2026, it is marked this coming Wednesday.\u00a0<\/p>\n The Israeli flag is regularly on display across the country, but in the lead-up to Independence Day their number multiplies exponentially. On Highway 1, the main road linking Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, the last 20 kilometres before the Holy City’s edge are currently lined with flags.<\/p>\n But, importantly, it\u2019s not only the Star of David. The Stars and Stripes of the US are also flying, almost in an alternating pattern. It’s an indication of how Israelis see their fate as tied to the decisions of their senior partner in the United States, even as they feel frustration over Washington calling the shots and forcing them to hold fire in Lebanon.<\/p>\n “Israel will not be bombing Lebanon any longer. They are PROHIBITED from doing so by the U.S.A. Enough is enough!!!” Donald Trump posted on Truth Social late last week.<\/p>\n Israel has benefited from those ties with the Trump administration in that it has been given relative free rein in places like Gaza and now Lebanon to conduct its affairs as it sees fit, often ignoring pleas for restraint and condemnation from around the world.<\/p>\n But the limit of that freedom is apparent the moment the US President wants his own way.<\/p>\n And here’s the impact on AustraliaA strained alliance: David Speers talks to former Defence minister Kim Beazley about an awkward moment in a still crucial friendship<\/a> (\u25b6\ufe0f26m50s).And here’s how to stay up to date:<\/p>\n