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Iran Describes its Proposal to End War with US as Legitimate, Generous

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei. (Iranian Foreign Ministry)
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei. (Iranian Foreign Ministry)
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Iran Describes its Proposal to End War with US as Legitimate, Generous

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei. (Iranian Foreign Ministry)
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei. (Iranian Foreign Ministry)

Iran's proposal to end war with the US and reopen the Strait of Hormuz was legitimate and generous, Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Esmaeil ‌Baghaei said ‌on Monday, adding ‌that ⁠the US continues ⁠to uphold unreasonable and one-sided demands.

"Our demand is legitimate: demanding an end to ⁠the war, lifting the (US) ‌blockade ‌and piracy, and ‌releasing Iranian assets that ‌have been unjustly frozen in banks due to US pressure," Baghaei ‌said according to Reuters.

"Safe passage through the Strait of ⁠Hormuz ⁠and establishing security in the region and Lebanon were other demands of Iran, which are considered a generous and responsible offer for regional security."

Iran responded to Washington's latest peace proposal on Sunday, after drones threatened several Gulf region targets and Tehran warned it would not hold back from retaliating against any new US strikes.

According to state broadcaster IRIB, Tehran's response, passed to Pakistani mediators, focuses on ending the war "on all fronts, especially Lebanon" -- where Israel has kept up its fight with Iran-backed Hezbollah -- as well as on "ensuring shipping security".

US President Donald Trump had said he was expecting Iran's reply by Friday, but as the wait dragged on, the ceasefire in the Gulf came under increasing strain, including from Sunday's drone strikes, one of which hit and damaged a freighter sailing towards a port in Qatar.

The United Arab Emirates accused Iran of being behind another attack that targeted its territory in what would be, if confirmed, only the second strike on a Gulf country since the start of the month-old truce.

"We will never bow down to the enemy, and if there is talk of dialogue or negotiation, it does not mean surrender or retreat," Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said on X Sunday.

Tehran's military chief Ali Abdollahi, meanwhile, met the country's supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei and received "new directives and guidance for the continuation of operations to confront the enemy", according to Iranian state television.

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World

Taiwan Says It Drove Away Chinese Research Ship

Taiwanese soldiers pose with a Taiwanese flag near a Sky Sword II surface-to-air missile launcher and a military UAV during an annual military exercise ahead of Lunar New Year in Taichung, Taiwan, January 27, 2026. (Reuters)
Taiwanese soldiers pose with a Taiwanese flag near a Sky Sword II surface-to-air missile launcher and a military UAV during an annual military exercise ahead of Lunar New Year in Taichung, Taiwan, January 27, 2026. (Reuters)
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Taiwan Says It Drove Away Chinese Research Ship

Taiwanese soldiers pose with a Taiwanese flag near a Sky Sword II surface-to-air missile launcher and a military UAV during an annual military exercise ahead of Lunar New Year in Taichung, Taiwan, January 27, 2026. (Reuters)
Taiwanese soldiers pose with a Taiwanese flag near a Sky Sword II surface-to-air missile launcher and a military UAV during an annual military exercise ahead of Lunar New Year in Taichung, Taiwan, January 27, 2026. (Reuters)

Taiwan's coast guard ‌said on Monday that it had disrupted "illegal" operations by a Chinese research ship in waters close to the island and driven it away, part of what Taipei sees a provocative pattern of China's stepped up maritime activities.

The coast guard said that last Thursday it detected the Chinese ship the "Tongji", which was commissioned only last year, 29 nautical miles southeast of the southern tip of Taiwan though just outside restricted waters.

The ship was ‌observed lowering ‌ropes into the water, suspected to be ‌the ⁠deployment of scientific ⁠instruments for "illegal" survey operations, and the coast guard sent its own ship in, it said in a statement.

The Taiwanese ship moved in close to create wake interference, and broadcast messages to "forcefully expel the vessel, prohibiting it from conducting related activities".

The "Tongji" then retrieved its ⁠survey instruments and altered course, departing from ‌Taiwan's waters, the coast ‌guard said.

China's Taiwan Affairs Office did not immediately respond to a request ‌for comment.

Taiwan's coast guard said it continued ‌to shadow the Chinese ship until Monday, when it proceeded away from waters close to the island.

"Chinese research vessels, in disregard of international law, have attempted to conduct illegal survey ‌activities in our waters," it said, calling on China to stop such practices.

Chinese state ⁠media ⁠says the "Tongji" has all-weather operational capability and can carry remotely operated vehicles, laboratories and unmanned systems.

It can be used for marine geology, oceanography, marine chemistry and marine biology research, and is capable of performing offshore engineering operations such as pipeline laying, Chinese media have reported.

As well as regular Chinese military activities around Taiwan, which views the island as its own territory, Taiwan has also complained that China regularly sends ostensibly civilian ships into its waters as part of "grey zone" harassment designed to pressure Taipei and exhaust its forces.

World

Starmer Pledges to Bring Britain Closer to the EU as He Fights Calls for His Ouster

Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer reacts as he prepares to leave the Elysee Presidential Palace in Paris on April 17, 2026. (AFP)
Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer reacts as he prepares to leave the Elysee Presidential Palace in Paris on April 17, 2026. (AFP)
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Starmer Pledges to Bring Britain Closer to the EU as He Fights Calls for His Ouster

Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer reacts as he prepares to leave the Elysee Presidential Palace in Paris on April 17, 2026. (AFP)
Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer reacts as he prepares to leave the Elysee Presidential Palace in Paris on April 17, 2026. (AFP)

Prime Minister Keir Starmer will pledge to bring Britain closer to the European Union as he tries to fight off demands to step down after devastating local election results for his Labour Party.

Starmer plans to use a speech on Monday to argue that he will “face up to the big challenges” and restore “hope” to the country.

That includes “putting Britain at the heart of Europe,” a decade after the UK voted to leave the EU, his office says.

But Starmer's position is fragile, with dozens of lawmakers calling for him to announce a date for his departure.

Former Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner, a powerful lawmaker often seen as a potential challenger, said “what we are doing isn’t working, and it needs to change."

Rayner did not explicitly call for Starmer to quit, but accused him of presiding over “a toxic culture of cronyism" and said the government must “stay true to labor and social democratic values” and ease the cost of living for working people.

“This may be our last chance,” Rayner said in a statement on Sunday.

Labour has been plunged into gloom by heavy losses last week in local elections across England and legislative votes in Scotland and Wales. The elections have been interpreted as an unofficial referendum on Starmer, whose popularity has plummeted since he swept to power in a landslide less than two years ago.

His government has struggled to deliver promised economic growth, repair tattered public services and ease the cost of living, and been hamstrung by repeated missteps and policy U-turns on issues including welfare reform.

He has been further hurt by his disastrous decision to appoint Peter Mandelson, a scandal-tarnished friend of Jeffrey Epstein, as Britain’s ambassador to Washington.

Last week’s elections saw Labour squeezed from both right and left, losing votes to both the anti-immigration Reform UK and the “eco-populist” Green Party. It reflects the increasing fragmentation of British politics, long dominated by Labour and the Conservatives.

Starmer hopes to regain momentum with Monday’s speech and an ambitious set of legislative plans to be set out in a speech Wednesday by King Charles III at the State Opening of Parliament.

A key policy is closer ties with the EU, which the United Kingdom left in 2020, four years after the “leave” side narrowly won a membership referendum. Starmer’s government has already moved to ease some of the trade restrictions that have burdened British businesses since Brexit, and he says he will secure a youth mobility deal so young people can spend a few years working across the continent.

Labour campaigned to stay in the EU during the 2016 referendum campaign, but has been reluctant to reopen a debate that bitterly divided the country. Starmer has ruled out seeking to reenter the EU, or to rejoin the bloc's customs union or single market.

None of the high-profile Labour politicians considered potential challengers to Starmer, including Rayner, Health Secretary Wes Streeting and Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham, has yet called for him to resign.

But a growing number of Labour lawmakers urged the prime minister to set a timetable for his departure. British politics allows parties to change leader midterm without the need for a new election.

Josh Simons, a formerly loyal Labour lawmaker, wrote in the Times of London that Starmer “has lost the country” and “should take control of the situation by overseeing an orderly transition to a new prime minister.”

Catherine West, a former junior minister, says she will try to trigger a leadership contest unless Starmer delivers a barnstorming speech on Monday. West acknowledged she does not have the support of 81 colleagues, needed to force a contest, and her move appeared to be an attempt to force more high-profile contenders to make a move.

“Working people sent us a message,” West said. “We have to listen to that, and we have to change and we have to do it quickly.”

World

South Korea Condemns Attack on Cargo Ship in Strait of Hormuz, Vows Response

The damaged stern of a bulk carrier operated by South Korean shipper HMM, after it was struck by two unidentified objects on May 4 while stranded in the Strait of Hormuz, in this handout picture released on May 10, 2026. (South Korean Foreign Ministry/Handout via Reuters)
The damaged stern of a bulk carrier operated by South Korean shipper HMM, after it was struck by two unidentified objects on May 4 while stranded in the Strait of Hormuz, in this handout picture released on May 10, 2026. (South Korean Foreign Ministry/Handout via Reuters)
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South Korea Condemns Attack on Cargo Ship in Strait of Hormuz, Vows Response

The damaged stern of a bulk carrier operated by South Korean shipper HMM, after it was struck by two unidentified objects on May 4 while stranded in the Strait of Hormuz, in this handout picture released on May 10, 2026. (South Korean Foreign Ministry/Handout via Reuters)
The damaged stern of a bulk carrier operated by South Korean shipper HMM, after it was struck by two unidentified objects on May 4 while stranded in the Strait of Hormuz, in this handout picture released on May 10, 2026. (South Korean Foreign Ministry/Handout via Reuters)

South Korea's presidential Blue House on Monday condemned in the strongest terms an attack against a cargo ship operated by a Korean shipper this month in the Strait of Hormuz and said it plans to respond once the source of the attack is identified.

Experts conducted an initial forensic analysis of the damage to the port stern, a Blue House official said. The attack had led to a ‌fire in ‌the vessel's engine room.

Namu, the vessel ‌operated ⁠by the shipper ⁠HMM Co., was not in violation of any rules in effect at the time in the waters off the United Arab Emirates and it was a case of an attack against a commercial vessel that cannot be justified, the official said.

"We condemn this in ⁠the strongest terms," Wi Sung-lac, the South Korean ‌presidential national security adviser, ‌told a news briefing. Damage to the vessel was identified ‌in the forensic inspection by South Korean officials and ‌experts at a port in Dubai, Wi said.

The damage was not known earlier following the attack due to its position in the lower port stern, according to a Blue House official.

It ‌was not known what role, if any, Iran may have had in ⁠the attack, the ⁠official said. Tehran has previously denied any responsibility for the attack that involved a strong impact on the side of the vessel.

On Monday, the Iranian embassy in South Korea said in a statement it did not have any position on the matter but would announce if there is any update or official position.

US President Donald Trump said soon after the incident that Iran had fired at the South Korean vessel, and urged Seoul to join US-led efforts to secure shipping through the strait.