Trump, Rubio Warn Against Iranian Tolling System In Strait Of Hormuz
US President Donald Trump says that the United States does not want any tolling system in the Strait of Hormuz, as negotiations to end the war remain uncertain.
Control over the strategic waterway has become central to any potential peace agreement since Iran effectively closed the strait during the first joint US-Israeli air strikes on the country on February 28.
Shortly after the outbreak of the conflict, Iran effectively seized control of the strait by threatening and attacking commercial shipping, bringing maritime traffic to a near standstill.
It has since sought to formalize that control through a new permit-and-toll system overseen by the newly established Persian Gulf Strait Authority.
Before leaving for a meeting of NATO foreign ministers, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters on May 21 that a diplomatic agreement between the United States and Iran would be "unfeasible" if Tehran continued pursuing the implementation of a tolling system in the waterway.
"No one in the world is in favor of the tolling system. It can't happen. It would be unacceptable," he said. "It's a threat to the world if they try to do that, and it's completely illegal."
Another major sticking point in the negotiations is Iran’s nuclear program.
While Tehran has ruled out transferring its enriched uranium to the United States, Trump said Washington would seek to retrieve Iran’s stockpile.
"We will get it. We don't need it, we don't want it, he said at the White House on May 21. "We'll probably destroy it after we get it, but we're not going to let them have it."
Trump's latest comments came after he repeatedly raised the prospect over the past week that the cease-fire with Iran could collapse and lead to renewed US military strikes.
With reporting by Reuters
Iranian State News Agency Editor Summoned Over Unveiled Photos Of Female Writer
Iran’s judiciary says that the editor in chief of the state-run IRNA news agency was summoned to the prosecutor’s office for publishing photos of Iranian writer Sara Kan'ani without a hijab, or Islamic head scarf.
In a statement on May 21, the judiciary said that, following the publication of images of a woman not complying with the country’s Islamic dress code, the editor was summoned to the Culture and Media Prosecutor’s Office "to provide explanations.”
The statement added that IRNA had been warned “at the moment of publication” to remove the images.
On May 19, IRNA published photos of Kan'ani without the officially mandated hijab inside her private home as part of a human-interest story. Within minutes, pressure mounted on social media. A few hours later, the agency quietly deleted several images and revised the photo essay without explanation or a correction notice.
During the recent US and Israeli war against Iran, Kan'ani had temporarily cared for an orphaned infant.
The news agency had framed the story about her as a tribute to volunteerism, welfare institutions, and what it called "family-centered culture."
With reporting by RFE/RL's Radio Farda
Defying The US, Iran Is Cementing Its Control Over The Strait Of Hormuz
Iran is transforming its wartime control of the Strait of Hormuz into a formal permit-and-toll system, despite US warnings and a parallel American naval blockade.
According to the Windward maritime intelligence firm, Tehran is “converting the strait from a disrupted transit corridor into a state-administered permit and toll regime,” while one lawyer called the move “flat-out illegal under international law.”
Yet with global energy supplies at stake, many operators may still be willing to pay.
Read our report by Frud Bezhan here.
Iraq Warns It Will Take Action Over Drone Attacks From Its Territory
Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi has warned of "necessary action" against those found responsible for launching attacks on neighboring Persian Gulf countries from Iraqi territory.
Both Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have alleged that recent drone attacks targeting their countries were launched from Iraq.
One such attack on May 17 reportedly struck the Barakah Nuclear Power Plant in the UAE, raising concerns about a further escalation in regional tensions. The UAE Defense Ministry later stated that the drone was launched from Iraqi territory.
Al-Zaidi's remarks came hours after the UAE called on Iraq to "urgently and unconditionally" prevent "all hostile acts" originating from its territory.
"The government will not tolerate any individual or group that seeks to threaten the security of Iraq, its brothers, or countries in the region," the Iraqi prime minister was quoted as saying during a meeting of the Iraqi Ministerial Council for National Security.
Tensions have remained high in the Middle East since US and Israel launched strikes on Iran on February 28.
Although a fragile cease-fire has been in place since April 8, reports of drone attacks targeting the UAE and Saudi Arabia continue to surface intermittently.
Pakistan Army Chief Munir Heads To Iran Amid Peace Push
Pakistan's powerful army chief is set to visit Tehran on May 21 to discuss a framework for the revival of stalled negotiations between Iran and the United States, according to Iran's semiofficial ISNA news agency.
The report said Field Marshall Asim Munir's visit was part of ongoing discussions and consultations with Iranian officials, as part of Islamabad's mediation efforts between Tehran and Washington.
Pakistani Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi is already in Tehran holding meetings with Iranian officials.
Naqvi, described as another key figure in Pakistan's mediation efforts, returned to Tehran on May 20, less than 30 hours after arriving back from an earlier visit.
Pakistan has hosted the only formal round of Iran-US talks since US and Israeli air strikes on February 28 and has since served as a key communication channel between the two sides.
If confirmed, this would be Munir's second visit to Tehran since April. He previously traveled to the Iranian capital with senior civilian officials on April 15.
20 Sailors From Seized Iranian Ship Return To Country
Tehran's ambassador to Pakistan announced the release and return to Iran of 20 Iranian sailors from a ship seized by the United States.
The Iranian ambassador to Pakistan announced on May 21 that the 20 Iranian sailors were released with the mediation and follow-up of Pakistan and returned to the country.
According to a previous announcement by the Pakistani foreign minister, 11 sailors on the ship -- which is currently being held in Singaporean waters -- are Pakistani nationals.
After US-Iran was cease-fire announced on April 8, the US military launched a naval blockade of Iran's southern ports, while the Strait of Hormuz is being blocked by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps.
Iran's Ongoing Internet Blackout Reaches 83 Days
The Internet blackout in Iran entered its 83rd day on May 21, with international networks largely barred for over 1,968 hours, according to the global independent Web monitor NetBlocks.
"A free and open internet is central to the protection of life, liberty and public accountability," NetBlocks said in a post on X on May 21.
The Islamic republic imposed the latest Internet shutdown on February 28 amid US and Israeli attacks on the country.
Although Washington and Tehran reached a fragile cease-fire on April 8, Internet access has still not been fully restored, leaving citizens in digital darkness for more than two months. Only those who can afford expensive anti-filtering tools -- along with individuals granted state-approved access -- are able to get online.
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) and Reporters Without Borders issued a joint statement on May 21 saying they are "deeply alarmed" by the ongoing blackout, CPJ, warning that Iran is using it to mask a broader crackdown on the press.
"What began as an effort to control information has become a sustained assault on press freedom and a daily struggle for local reporters trying to operate inside the country," the statement said.
CPJ Regional Director Sara Qudah said that "the Iranian government has created a terrifying operational vacuum where the press has been stripped of its most basic defense: public awareness."
"We are watching a deliberate attempt to make the harassment, threats, and arbitrary arrests of local journalists entirely invisible to the world -- and in doing so, they are denying the public their fundamental right to be informed," she said.
Iran Executes 2 More Prisoners
Iran's judiciary announced that it executed two men on May 21 as part of an intensified campaign of political hangings amid the ongoing conflict with the United States and Israel.
According to the Tasnim news agency, which is affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), the men were accused of forming a group intended to disrupt country's security and of membership in what authorities described as a "separatist terrorist" organization.
Tasnim identified them as Ramin Zaleh and Karim Maroufpour.
Iran's judiciary claimed the two men confessed to collaborating in a plot to assassinate an IRGC commander in western Iran and storing weapons for the attack.
The circumstances surrounding the alleged confessions remain unclear.
Rights organizations have condemned such trials of those executed. The Oslo-based Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI) has said many of the trials have been marked by "torture, forced confessions, and the complete absence of due process."
The executions come amid a broader surge in hangings that has escalated since March 18, weeks after the start of the war with the United States and Israel.
Norway-based Iran Human Rights and Paris-based Together Against the Death Penalty reported that at least 1,639 people have been executed in Iran in 2025, including 48 women, marking one of the highest execution rates in the world.
FIFA's Reported Ban On Iran's Pre-1979 Flag At World Cup Stirs Controversy
Iranian monarchist groups are voicing anger over reports that FIFA intends to ban the so-called Lion and Sun flag, often carried as a symbol of resistance to the theocratic rule that took over the country in 1979.
Called a "political" symbol by the soccer association and thus not officially allowed at matches, the Lion and Sun is still likely to be flown at World Cup matches, its defiant proponents say.
Trumps Says War Could Escalate If Tehran Doesn't Have 'Right Answers'
US President Donald Trump said on May 20 that he is willing to wait "a few days" for Iran's response to Washington's latest proposal aimed at ending the war, but warned the situation could escalate quickly if Tehran fails to provide "the right answers."
Speaking to reporters after addressing a graduating class of military cadets in New London, Connecticut, Trump said: "Believe me, if we don't get the right answers, it goes very quickly. We're all ready to go."
Asked how long he was prepared to wait, Trump replied: "It could be a few days, but it could go very quickly."
Earlier in the day, during his commencement address at the US Coast Guard Academy, Trump said the United States might carry out additional strikes against Iran if negotiations fail.
"We hit them very hard. We may have to hit them even harder -- but maybe not," he said, before reiterating his administration's stance on Iran's nuclear program. "We will not let Iran have a nuclear weapon. It's very simple."
The comments came shortly after Iran's Foreign Ministry said Tehran was reviewing a new US proposal reportedly delivered through Pakistani intermediaries during a visit to Tehran by Pakistan's interior minister.
Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps later warned that any renewed US attacks could expand the conflict "beyond the region."