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Welcome to our live coverage of US politics and the war with Iran.
Confusion and competing narratives are intensifying in the Persian Gulf after Iranian media claimed six people disappeared following an alleged US attack on Iranian vessels near the Strait of Hormuz — only for parts of the story to later be publicly denied.
Initial reports from Iran’s semi-official Mehr news agency claimed “American warplanes” attacked Iranian fishing and cargo boats near the Omani port of Khasab.
The reports cited Bandar-e-Lengeh governor Fawad Moradzadeh, who allegedly said several people had been hospitalised and six remained missing.
But within hours, Mr Moradzadeh was quoted by Iran’s Tasnim news agency denying the reports attributed to him.
It comes after Iran questioned the seriousness of American diplomacy on Saturday in the wake of renewed naval clashes in The Gulf, while keeping Washington waiting for a response to its latest negotiating position.
US President Donald Trump had said on Friday that he was expecting Iran’s response to Washington’s latest proposal on a deal to extend a fragile truce and launch peace talks – “supposedly tonight”.
But, if Iran did send the talks’ Pakistani mediators a response, there was no public sign of it, and Tehran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi called into question the reliability of the US leadership, in a call with his Turkish counterpart.
“The recent escalation of tensions by American forces in the Persian Gulf and their numerous actions in violating the ceasefire have added to suspicions about the motivation and seriousness of the American side in the path of diplomacy,” he said.
Tehran is furious about the violent confrontation that occurred on Thursday, local time, between the US and Iran on and around the Strait of Hormuz.
A senior military figure said the US had “crossed the point of no return” and a response would occur.
Yet Iran’s foreign ministry has said the country remains in “nominal ceasefire situation”.
It at once shows how fragile the current truce is and also how Iran appears to be run by several disjointed parts of the hierarchy with wildly different interpretations of the conflict.
Mr Trump said the clash was a “love tap”.
Read on for more updates
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