Trump calls Iran "duplicitous" after they deny his claim talks are resuming

An expanded Lebanese delegation will travel to Rome on Tuesday for the latest round of U.S.-mediated talks with Israel, according to Al-Araby Al-Jadeed, aimed at moving ahead with implementation of the framework agreement signed in Washington on June 26.

The delegation will include diplomats, military officers, legal experts, economists and border specialists to address a broad agenda covering security arrangements, border issues, reconstruction and the economy, according to the report.

The delegation will be headed by Ambassador Simon Karam and include Lebanon's ambassador to Washington, Nada Hamadeh Mouawad, a six-member military delegation, lawyer Antoine Safir, border demarcation expert Najib Massihi, who previously served on Lebanon's maritime border negotiation team with Israel, and Rawaa Harati, the Lebanese president's adviser for economic affairs. The delegation may be expanded further depending on developments, Lebanese official sources told the newspaper.

Beirut is expected to press for a complete halt to Israeli military operations in southern Lebanon and seek agreement on a second "pilot zone" that would pave the way for an Israeli withdrawal from additional occupied towns and the deployment of the Lebanese Army.

Lebanese officials are also expected to call for an end to Israeli demolitions, bulldozing operations and home destruction in the south, warning that continued military activity could undermine the framework agreement and risk renewed escalation.

"I am encouraged that talks in Rome remain ongoing, and I hope both governments reach a successful outcome," said U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon Michel Issa ahead of the talks.

Shipping traffic in the Strait of Hormuz and Bab el-Mandeb, the two major Middle East trade chokepoints that have been affected by the Iran war, "remains constrained," data firm Kpler said Monday.

In a post on X, Kpler wrote that on Sunday "Hormuz recorded nine confirmed transits, including two sanctioned and two shadow fleet vessels."

Seven of these used a route established by Iran, the post added, through which shipping companies must coordinate with Tehran and possibly pay a toll.

In the nearby Bab el-Mandeb, the entrance to the Red Sea from the Gulf of Aden, where the Houthis have attacked Saudi vessels, there were "30 crossings, down from 41 on 31 July, with 20 vessels exiting the Red Sea and 10 entering," Kpler wrote. "Until U.S., Iranian and Omani signals converge into clear navigation arrangements, operators should treat both chokepoints as contested rather than normalised."

President Trump said over th