Skip to main content

Explainer-What's included in talks to end the Iran war and reopen Hormuz?

LONDON, May 7 - With the standoff over the frozen Iran war threatening a global economic meltdown, Washington and Tehran have scaled back their efforts to agree a comprehensive peace deal and now seek a limited pact putting off the harder issues.

This is what we know about the proposals under discussion and where they leave the big unresolved disputes behind the war:

AT WHAT STAGE ARE THE DISCUSSIONS?

Vessels in the Strait of Hormuz, Musandam, Oman, May 6, 2026. REUTERS/Stringer

UK police make third arrest over attempted arson at London synagogue

LONDON, May 7 (Reuters) - British counter-terrorism police have arrested a 19-year-old man in connection with an attempted arson attack on a synagogue in north London last month, marking the third arrest in the investigation, the force said on Thursday.

The man was arrested on suspicion of attempted arson and remains in custody, police said. The investigation relates to an incident in the early hours of April 15 at a synagogue in Finchley, north London, in which no damage was caused and no injuries were reported.

A forensics officer works at the scene of a suspected arson attack on a former synagogue in London, Britain May 5, 2026. REUTERS/Jack Taylor

Indian seafarers endured nightly blasts, lack of food in Iran war ordeal

By Sunil Kataria

MUMBAI, May 7 (Reuters) - Nightly explosions of drones and missiles terrified Indian sailor Tithi Chiranjeevi after his ship was stranded in Iran for more than a month by the Strait of Hormuz blockade caused by the Middle East conflict.

"Around 10 to 20 missiles struck every night. No one could sleep," he told Reuters, describing conditions outside Iran's port of Khorramshahr on his return home last week, after an arduous 15-day journey through Iraq, Armenia, and Dubai.

A container ship operates in the Arabian Sea off Mumbai, India, May 6, 2026. REUTERS/Francis Mascarenhas

Iraq's historic marshes revive as water returns after years of drought

By Mohammed Aty

CHIBAYISH MARSHES, Iraq, May 7 (Reuters) - After years of drought that left large swathes of Iraq's historic marshes cracked and empty, rising water levels are beginning to revive the wetlands, drawing buffalo herders and fishermen back to areas once abandoned.

In Chibayish marshes in southern Iraq, canoes once again glide through waterways that had dried up in recent years, while water buffalo wade through restored marshland and patches of green pasture have reappeared.

A water buffalo stands near a reed shelter during sunrise at the Chibayish marshes in Dhi Qar province, Iraq, May 7, 2026. REUTERS/Thaier Al-Sudani

Israel says it killed Hezbollah commander in first strike on Beirut since ceasefire

BEIRUT, May 7 (Reuters) - Israel said on Thursday it had killed a commander of Hezbollah’s elite Radwan force in an airstrike on Beirut a day earlier, the first Israeli attack on the Lebanese capital since a ceasefire agreed last month.

The Israeli military said the commander was killed when Israel struck the southern suburbs of Beirut. There was no immediate confirmation from Hezbollah. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Israel Katz announced the attack in a joint statement on Wednesday.

A man watches as rescuers work at the site of an Israeli strike that took place yesterday, in the southern suburbs of Beirut, Lebanon, May 7, 2026. REUTERS/Mohamad Azakir

US and Iran trade fire, threatening fragile truce

US President Donald Trump said the ceasefire with Iran was still in place despite an Iranian attack on three American destroyers in the Strait of Hormuz that fanned fears Friday that the truce was faltering.

The US military said it carried out strikes on Iranian military targets in response, although Tehran charged that it was Washington that had initiated the exchange of fire.

Inside Iran, ordinary Iranians are dubious that the latest exchange of peace plans between Tehran and Washington will end the conflict nor reveive their war- and sanctions-wracked economy

Women linked to IS fighters charged with slavery after landing in Australia

Counter-terrorism forces arrested two women for slavery on Thursday as they returned to Australia from Syria, where they allegedly committed "crimes against humanity" while supporting Islamic State jihadists.

The women and their children -- all Australian citizens -- landed on Thursday evening after years spent in a Syrian detention camp where they have languished since the group's demise.

Police arrested the women immediately after they landed at Melbourne international airport.

A group of Australian women linked to Islamic State jihadists in  Syria landed on a flight from Doha to Melbourne

Israeli attack kills son of Hamas leader negotiating with Trump-led board

By Nidal al-Mughrabi

CAIRO, May 7 (Reuters) - An Israeli air strike has killed the son of Hamas' chief negotiator in U.S.-mediated talks over Gaza's future, a senior Hamas official said on Thursday, as leaders of the militant group held talks in Cairo aimed at safeguarding their truce with Israel.

Azzam Al-Hayya, son of Khalil Al-Hayya, succumbed to his injuries on Thursday after being struck in an Israeli attack on Wednesday night, said senior Hamas official Basim Naim. He is the fourth son of Hamas' exiled Gaza chief to have been killed in Israeli attacks.

FILE PHOTO: Hamas officials, Khalil Al-Hayya and Osama Hamdan, attend a press conference in Beirut, Lebanon, November 21, 2023. REUTERS/Esa Alexander/File Photo

Once the city of peace, Geneva sees the United Nations' presence fade

By Emma Farge and Dave Graham

GENEVA, May 7 (Reuters) - When in 1937 the League of Nations vacated the 225-room Palais Wilson in Geneva, the global intergovernmental body created to preserve peace after World War One was on its last legs. It died soon afterwards with World War Two.

This summer the League's successor, the United Nations, is set to abandon the same building as it and other global bodies in the Swiss city are increasingly sidelined by funding cuts and a U.S. government that is turning its back on multilateralism.

People walk past the Palais Wilson, base of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, and the former headquarters of the League of Nations, in Geneva, Switzerland, June 17, 2025. REUTERS/Emma Farge