Live updates: Iran says U.S. is negotiating with itself; Trump to deploy more troops – NBC News

Morning Rundown: Savannah Guthrie opens up on mother’s disappearance and inside Trump’s daily video briefing on Iran war.
President Donald Trump said negotiations with Iran were ongoing, expressing optimism and saying that Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio were involved.
Gulf Arab states told the U.N. Human Rights Council today they face an existential threat from Iran.
Since the joint U.S.-Israeli attack on Iran last month, Tehran has continued retaliatory strikes on military, energy and civilian infrastructure across the region.
“We are seeing an existential threat to international and regional security. This aggressive approach is undermining international law and sovereignty,” Kuwait’s ambassador Naser Abdullah H. M. Alhayen told the Geneva-based council earlier today. Other Gulf states also denounced Iran’s actions which they said were designed to spread terror.
Iran defended its actions, saying responsibility for the attacks also lies on those “who facilitated, supported and encouraged them,” Iran’s ambassador to the U.N. in Geneva Ali Bahreini said.
U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk warned in a statement released today about the effect on the Gulf States and Jordan, saying strikes and interceptions there have caused “terrible harm to civilians, including dozens of deaths and injuries.”
Many of the strikes in this conflict raise “serious concerns” under international law, he said, which prohibits attacks targeting civilians and civilian infrastructure, and attacks on military targets where harm to civilians is disproportionate.
More than 1,000 additional troops from the 82nd Airborne Division are heading to the Middle East, an announcement that came as President Trump in the Oval Office said, “We’ve won this, this war has been won.” 
Iran disagrees, and taunted the idea of talks with the U.S. today while saying that oil prices would not return to normal until there is stability in the region.
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Iranians gather outside a coffee shop and pizza restaurant on Niavaran street in Tehran today, next to the signage of a fake Apple store. A nearby police station was destroyed in recent U.S.-Israeli strikes on the Iranian capital, which is being monitored closely by security guards on the street.
It’s impossible to judge the progress of negotiations between Tehran and Washington to stop the U.S.-Israeli operation in Iran, the Kremlin said, amid many “false” reports. 
Asked about a purported U.S. peace plan in the works to settle the war, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters in a daily briefing earlier today that “our Iranian friends haven’t passed on this kind of information to us.”
He questioned the reliability of media reports about the plan, as he drew parallels with the 20-point peace plan first suggested by the Trump administration to settle the war in Ukraine last year, which was significantly revamped after several rounds of negotiations.
“You remember the confusion with the plans, the various number of points being mentioned in the plan for a Ukrainian settlement. It’s now fashionable to draw many parallels between the reports,” Peskov said.
“We don’t know how reliable they are. We don’t know whether they correspond to reality or not. There’s so much information out there right now, the lion’s share of which is completely false, that until there’s some official confirmation from official sources, it’s impossible to judge.”
British police arrested two men on Wednesday in connection with an arson attack on four ambulances belonging to a Jewish charity, which authorities are investigating as an antisemitic hate crime.
Four Hatzolah ambulances next to Machzike Hadath Synagogue in London on Monday, after they were set on fire overnight. Leon Neal / Getty Images
The Metropolitan Police said the two men, aged 45 and 47, were arrested in London on suspicion of arson with intent to endanger life and both men have been taken to a police station in the city for questioning.
Police have not declared the incident to be a terror attack, but are investigating a claim of responsibility by a group with potential links to Iran.
Read the full story here.
Iran is “closely monitoring” all U.S. movements in the region, “especially troop deployments,” the powerful speaker of the country’s parliament said this morning.
The statement comes after Trump approved the deployment of more than 1,000 Paratroopers to the Middle East. 
“What the generals have broke, the soldiers can’t fix; instead, they will fall victim to Netanyahu’s delusions,” Mohammad Bagher Galibaf wrote in a post on X. 
“Do not test our resolve to defend our land.”
Women living inside Iran share their experiences of daily life with NBC News, a rare insight from the country under fire.
As Tehran is hit with deadly strikes, residents are wary about how the war will unfold, with Iranians both inside the country and living abroad expressing fear for how the fighting will impact the country’s population, and how it might foster divisions.
Israel said its military struck two key naval cruise missile production sites “in the heart of Tehran,” the Iranian capital.
The sites were operated by Iran’s Ministry of Defense, according to the Israel Defense Forces, which said they were being used to develop “long-range naval cruise missiles” capable of striking targets on land and at sea.
“These were significant strikes that caused extensive damage to the cruise missile array and represent another step in deepening the damage done to the regime’s military production infrastructure,” the IDF said in a statement. 
Oil prices fell more than 5% and world shares gained this morning over the possibility of a de-escalation and talks.
U.S. futures were up 0.9%, while Brent crude, the international standard, fell 5.2% to $94.97 per barrel. It was around $104 yesterday
Benchmark U.S. crude was down 5.3% early to $87.44 a barrel.
In early European trading, Britain’s FTSE 100 rose 1% to 10,072.60. France’s CAC 40 was up 1.4% to 7,855.31, while Germany’s DAX was 1.6% higher at 22,989.80.
Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 was up 2.9% to 53,749.62. South Korea’s Kospi gained 1.6% to 5,642.21.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 1.1% to 25,335.95, while the Shanghai Composite index was 1.3% higher at 3,931.84. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 climbed 1.9%. Taiwan’s Taiex was up 2.5%.
Israel launched a fresh wave of attacks on Iran in the fourth week of the war in the Middle East with no sign of easing, while a top U.S. military commander urged Iranians to remain in shelters for the foreseeable future.
Images from Tabriz, in the East Azerbaijan Province of northwestern Iran, show the scope of damage from a strike yesterday.
Mati Hashemi / AP
Mati Hashemi / AP
Mati Hashemi / AP
Mati Hashemi / AP
Iran’s ambassador to Pakistan said no talks have occurred between Washington and Tehran, according to Iranian state media.
The statement contradicts previous claims by President Trump, who said negotiations with Tehran were ongoing. Pakistan has offered to host talks.
“Based on my information, contrary to Trump’s claim, no direct or indirect negotiations have taken place between the two countries so far,” Reza Amiri Moghadam said, according to Reuters.
He added, “Friendly countries seek to lay the ground for dialogue between Tehran and Washington, which we hope will be fruitful in ending this imposed war.”
Ships that are “non-hostile” may transit the Strait of Hormuz “if they coordinate with Iranian authorities,” Iran said, suggesting its effective blockade of the crucial shipping route might be eased.
A cargo ship carrying vehicles sails through the Arabian Gulf toward the Strait of Hormuz in the United Arab Emirates, on Sunday.  AP
“Non-hostile vessels, including those belonging to or associated with other States, may — provided that they neither participate in nor support acts of aggression against Iran and fully comply with the declared safety and security regulations — benefit from safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz in coordination with the competent Iranian authorities,” the Iranian mission to the United Nations said in a post on X.
Shipments of oil and liquefied natural gas through the Strait of Hormuz, which carries about one-fifth of the world’s supply, have been all but halted by Iran’s threats against vessels seeking to traverse it, sending global energy prices soaring.
Seven Iraqi soldiers were killed and 13 others injured in an airstrike that struck a medical facility early today in the Habbaniyah area of Anbar province, the country’s Ministry of Defense said.
“This attack constitutes a blatant and serious violation of all international laws and conventions that prohibit targeting medical facilities and their personnel,” the ministry said in a statement. “This criminal act represents a dangerous escalation that necessitates a firm response and holding those responsible accountable.”
The ministry added that search and rescue teams were continuing to comb through the site.
The Israel Defense Forces said it had identified missiles launched from Iran toward Israel this morning as the two sides exchange new attacks. 
“The Home Front Command has sent a precautionary directive directly to mobile phones in the relevant areas,” the IDF said in a statement, urging the public to follow instructions and move to a safe location.
“Leaving a protected space is permitted only after receiving explicit instructions,” the statement added. 
Each day since the start of the war in Iran, U.S. military officials compile a video update for President Donald Trump that shows video of the biggest, most successful strikes on Iranian targets over the previous 48 hours, three current U.S. officials and a former U.S. official said.
 Daniel Torok / White House via Getty Images
The daily montage typically runs for about two minutes, sometimes longer, the officials said. It’s not the only briefing Trump gets about the war. He’s also updated through conversations with top military and intelligence advisers, foreign leaders and news reports, the officials said.
But the video briefing is fueling concerns among some of Trump’s allies that he may not be receiving — or absorbing — the complete picture of the war, now in its fourth week, two of the current officials and the former official said.
Read the full story here.
A shrug, perhaps even a flash of dismay. But despite the public insults emanating from the White House, those close to British Prime Minister Keir Starmer say there is little chance he will hit back at President Donald Trump over the Iran war.
The embattled prime minister is still pursuing close coordination with Trump, even after the latest indignity hurled by the president toward London as the conflict threatens havoc on the already stale British economy.
Read the full story here.
Iran’s Khatam Al-Anbiya Central Headquarters, which commands both the regular military and the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, suggested this morning there are no ongoing peace talks.
“Have your internal conflicts reached the point where you are negotiating with yourselves?” said Lt. Col. Ebrahim Zolfaghari, a spokesman for the headquarters.
“Our first and last word has been, is, and will be the same from the very first day: Someone like us will never come to terms with someone like you,” Zolfaghari said in the video statement aired on state television. “Not now, and not ever.”
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