By SAMY MAGDY and ELENA BECATOROS
CAIRO (AP) — U.S. President Donald Trump said new talks to wind down the war in Iran will start Monday afternoon, after announcing he is holding off on new massive strikes he had threatened to unleash on the country.
The talks will seek to end the conflict and revive stalled cargo traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, a crucial waterway through which about a fifth of all traded oil and natural gas passed before the war.
Iranian state media quoted the country’s foreign ministry as saying Tehran was not currently holding negotiations with the United States.
Israel struck the Gaza Strip over the weekend, days after the U.S. and Hamas said a deal was reached for the group to disarm, a potential step toward ending the war in Gaza.
Hospitals in Gaza said at least 17 were killed in the weekend’s strikes, including children. A strike on a residential apartment in southern Gaza killed three family members including a 4-year-old child, according to Nasser hospital, where the bodies arrived.
The Israeli military said the strikes had targeted Hamas operatives.
Here is a look at the most important developments in the Middle East today.
Trump announces renewed talks
Trump said Sunday he decided not to carry out major strikes against Iran at the urging of Gulf allies Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. He said a plan was in place for U.S. forces to carry out “the biggest attack since World War II,” but he decided to give diplomacy more time after hearing from key Gulf leaders, as well as at the request of unnamed Iranian officials.
“Now what we’re doing is we’re talking to them in the form of a negotiation. It begins tomorrow afternoon,” he said. He did not provide further details or say who would be involved in the talks.
Trump has had a pattern of threatening massive strikes which he later calls off, with the announcements often later upended by renewed attacks. The abrupt shifts have been a defining feature of the five-month war that has upended global markets and sent the prices of fuel and other basic goods soaring.
Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman, Esmail Baghaei, said Monday that Tehran was not currently holding negotiations with the United States. He said ongoing talks were with Oman, the country that lies on the other side of the Strait of Hormuz, and were focused only on establishing a temporary route for safe navigation through the strait.
Iran executes 2 men it says spied for Israel
Iran’s judiciary said it executed two men on Monday after convicting them of spying for Israel during both last year’s 12-day war and the ongoing conflict.
The judiciary’s Mizan news agency identified the two as Omid Behzad and Pouria Safvat, who were accused of providing military coordinates, images and other intelligence used in attacks on Iranian targets. It did not specify where the executions took place.
Last week, Iran publicly hanged two men convicted of killing four police officers during nationwide anti-government protests in January.
Gaza’s residents swelter in tents
Soaring temperatures in Gaza this summer have turned the makeshift tents sheltering hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians into suffocating ovens. Made of plastic sheets, the shelters trap heat during the day and offer little ventilation, forcing many families to spend hours outside.
The extreme weather compounds an already dire humanitarian crisis. With limited access to clean water, electricity and sanitation, overcrowded camps are grappling with flies, mosquitoes and other insects. Humanitarian agencies such as the Norwegian Refugee Council warn that the conditions heighten the risk of dehydration, heat-related illnesses and the spread of skin infections, diarrheal diseases and other communicable illnesses.
“It’s very hot. We can’t stay inside the tents. Our tent is made of nylon,” said Aida Abu Hadeesha, a woman displaced from the town of Rafah, near the border with Egypt. “There is no breeze, nothing, and our kids are suffering,” she said, adding that the stifling heat didn’t let up all night. “The flies and the cockroaches attack us.”
Becatoros reported from Athens, Greece. Associated Press writer Julia Frankel in Jerusalem contributed to this report.