live Trump Says He's Paused Strike On Iran

The US Treasury Department has sanctioned 12 individuals and entities accused of helping the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) facilitate the sale and shipment of Iranian oil to China, as Washington intensifies its "maximum pressure" campaign against Tehran.

In a statement released on May 11, the Treasury said the measures are aimed at disrupting Iran's ability to generate, move, and repatriate funds used to support its weapons programs, terrorist proxies, and nuclear ambitions.

"As Iran's military desperately tries to regroup, Economic Fury will continue to deprive the regime of funding for its weapons programs, terrorist proxies, and nuclear ambitions," Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said.

Bessent added that the Treasury "will continue to cut the Iranian regime off from the financial networks it uses to carry out terrorist acts and to destabilize the global economy."

Meanwhile, Australia announced on May 12 new targeted financial sanctions and travel bans against Iranian individuals and entities over what it described as the regime's ongoing brutal oppression of its people and destabilizing regional activities.

"In January, the Iranian regime massacred thousands of its own citizens and carried out mass arrests of peaceful protesters, torturing detainees, subjecting them to forced confessions and preventing them from communicating with loved ones," the Australian government said in a statement released on May 12.

"The seven individuals and four entities sanctioned today include senior officials and entities involved in these horrific acts, including violence against women and children," it added.

The move came alongside fresh sanctions imposed by the United Kingdom targeting organizations and individuals accused of enabling hostile Iranian activities and overseas criminal operations.

The UK Foreign Office said the measures respond to Iran's action against "global security and its use of criminal gangs to carry out threats overseas."

"Criminal proxies backed by parts of the Iranian regime who threaten security in the UK and Europe will not be tolerated, nor will illicit finance networks," British Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper said.

The United Kingdom already has imposed more than 550 sanctions on Iranian individuals and organizations, including the entirety of the IRGC and over 90 sanctions in response to human rights violations.

Iran's judiciary announced the execution of another prisoner, Abdul Jalil Shahbakhsh, on the morning of May 12.

Mizan, official news outlet for the judiciary, identified Shahbakhsh as a "trained terrorist" from the Ansar al-Furqan group.

The report states that following his arrest during "counterterrorism operations" in the east of the country, a case was filed against Shahbakhsh and he was brought "to the Revolutionary Court on charges of rebellion through armed attacks on law enforcement headquarters and membership in the Ansar al-Furqan rebel group."

Mizan wrote that the death sentence was issued to him due to "the existence of solid evidence and documentation extracted from the defendant's communication devices and audio files, as well as his explicit confessions during various stages of interrogation and interrogation."

Since the US-Israeli war with Iran began on February 28, the Islamic republic has increased the number of executions, executing several people on some days.

Human rights group have said that Iran has one of the highest execution rates in the world, second only to China.

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Iran's top negotiator, Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, says the United States "has no alternative" but to accept Tehran's latest counterproposal to end the war.

"There is no alternative but to accept the rights of the Iranian people as laid out in the 14-point proposal," Baqer, who is also speaker for the Iranian parliament, wrote on X on May 12. "Any other approach will be completely inconclusive; nothing but one failure after another."

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baqaei said in his weekly press conference on May 11 that Tehran's response --issued via mediator Pakistan on May 10 -- included stopping the war, lifting the US blockade on the Strait of Hormuz, freeing Iran's assets, and "establishing security in the region and Lebanon."

US President Donald Trump called Tehran's counterproposal "totally unacceptable."

"The longer they drag their feet, the more American taxpayers will pay for it," added Baqer.

We are now closing the live blog for the day. We'll be back at 7:30 a.m. Central European time to cover the latest events across the Middle East.

WASHINGTON -- The latest exchange between Washington and Tehran over a proposed path toward de-escalation has raised new questions about what comes next in the growing crisis around the Strait of Hormuz.

President Donald Trump described Iran’s latest response to a US-backed proposal as “totally unacceptable,” even as both sides continue to signal interest in negotiations over sanctions relief, nuclear restrictions, and the future of shipping through the strategic waterway.

Analysts in Washington say the standoff is increasingly testing assumptions that diplomacy can move quickly enough to prevent wider economic fallout from the conflict.

So far, financial markets have remained relatively calm despite some choppy moments.

But experts say the relative market stability reflects expectations that negotiations will eventually produce some form of agreement.

“There’s pressure on both sides to make some sort of deal,” Mark Cancian said during a discussion hosted by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) on May 11.

To read the full story, click here.

A senior United Nations official has warned that disruptions to fertilizer shipments through the Strait of Hormuz could trigger a major humanitarian crisis and worsen global hunger.

Jorge Moreira da Silva, head of the UN Office for Project Services and leader of a special UN task force on fertilizer transport, said the world has only "a few weeks" to prevent what could become "a massive humanitarian crisis."

He warned that continued disruption in the Strait of Hormuz could push "45 million more people into hunger and starvation."

The UN task force was established to help maintain shipments of fertilizers and related materials -- including ammonia, sulphur and urea -- through the strategic waterway amid regional tensions.

US President Donald Trump characterized the cease-fire with Iran as being on "life support," adding he is considering restarting naval escorts -- dubbed Operation Enduring Freedom -- through the Strait of Hormuz as he looks to achieve "complete victory" in the war.

Speaking to reporters at the White House on May 11, Trump said the cease-fire, agreed to on April 8, is now "unbelievably weak."

"I would say it's one of the weakest right now, it's on life support," he said. "I would say the cease-fire is on massive life support."

The US leader later said in a Fox News interview that he was considering renewing Operation Enduring Freedom, though a final decision had yet to be made. Operation Enduring Freedom was launched on May 6 but stopped less than two days later.

"We're going to have a complete victory," he said, adding that Tehran thinks "I'll get tired of this. I'll get bored, or I'll have some pressure. But there's no pressure."

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun said on May 11 that he had asked the United States to pressure Israel to respect the cease-fire and halt attacks on civilian homes in southern Lebanon.

At the same time, the Lebanese government said that 74 people had been killed in Israeli attacks since May 9.

Fighting between Israel and Hezbollah resumed on March 2 after Hezbollah, which is backed by Iran, launched attacks on Israel in what the group described as support for Tehran.

Hezbollah is both a militant group and political party that controls much of southern Lebanon. It is considered a terrorist organization by the United States, although the European Union has only blacklisted its armed wing.

Although a US-brokered cease-fire between Israel and Hezbollah took effect in November 2024, hostilities have continued intermittently, with Israeli strikes and Hezbollah attacks reported in southern Lebanon.

Tehran has said that proposals it presented to Washington to end the broader conflict also included ending Israeli attacks on Lebanese territory. US President Donald Trump reportedly described the proposal as “totally unacceptable.”

According to the Lebanese government, 2,869 people have been killed in Israeli attacks since fighting resumed in March.

The British government sanctioned 12 individuals and entities linked to Iran, it announced on May 11, accusing them of involvement in "hostile activity including plotting attacks and providing financial services to groups seeking to destabilize the UK and other countries."

Reuters reported that those sanctioned were accused of participating in hostile acts against Britain and several other countries.

The new sanctions include asset freezes and travel bans.

Those targeted include alleged members and associates of what the British government described as the "Zindashti criminal network."

In recent months, there has been speculation about possible Iranian support for anti-Semitic attacks in Britain.

At the same time, an Islamist group suspected of ties to Iran, Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamia, has claimed responsibility for some attacks in Britain as well as similar incidents in several European countries.

Iran has insisted for weeks that it has the right to charge international ships to transit the Strait of Hormuz, a key global shipping route off the coast of the Islamic republic.

Now, two news agencies affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) have issued proposals urging Tehran to go further by imposing fees on the global tech firms that operate undersea fiberoptic cables running through the narrow waterway connecting the Persian Gulf to the open sea.

The reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, which Tehran has effectively closed since the United States and Israel launched a bombing campaign on February 28, remains a key sticking point in ending the war. Tehran has claimed sovereignty over the strategic waterway, which is rejected by the international community.

Experts say the proposals calling for Iran to demand payment for undersea cables under the strait is more of a threat than a viable plan.

"The risk of adversarial subsea cable cuts has always been there, but an open threat from a nation-state like Iran adds urgency," Isik Mater, director of research at the London-based Internet monitoring group NetBlocks, told RFE/RL.

To read the full report, click here.