Frozen Iranian funds a gap in US-Iran talks - Axios

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday said the war in Lebanon is continuing.

“There is still more to do, and we are doing it,” Netanyahu said following a visit to Israeli-controlled territory in southern Lebanon.

“We have thwarted the threat of an invasion from Lebanon thanks to this security zone,” he added. “We are pushing back the danger of anti-tank fire and also dealing with rockets, but there is still more work to be done.”

Iran rejected US demand to end uranium enrichment and dismantle major enrichment facilities, Reuters reported citing a senior US official.

The official also said Tehran rejected calls to end funding for Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis, and to fully reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

US President Donald Trump said Washington secured nearly all of its objectives in negotiations with Iran, except for Tehran’s refusal to abandon its nuclear ambitions.

“We got just about every point we needed except for the fact that they refuse to give up their nuclear ambition,” Trump told Fox Business.

He reiterated that Iran would not be allowed to obtain nuclear weapons.

“They want to have nuclear weapons. They’re not going to have nuclear weapons,” he said.

Trump also expressed confidence that Tehran would ultimately concede. “I predict they come back and give us everything we want,” he said, adding, “I don’t want 95 percent. I told them. I want everything.”

The CIA used Pegasus spyware to carry out a deception campaign in Iran during an effort to rescue a downed US airman in Iran after his F-15E Strike Eagle was shot down by an Iranian shoulder-launched missile, The Times of London reported.

According to the report, the agency used the Israeli-made software to send fake messages to Iranian leadership and Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) operatives claiming the missing officer had already been found.

Pegasus, developed by the Israeli-founded NSO Group, is widely known for enabling operators to infiltrate mobile devices to eavesdrop on communications and harvest data. It can also send messages via platforms such as WhatsApp or Signal that appear to originate from the compromised device, the report said.

US President Donald Trump told Fox News on Sunday that a US blockade of the Strait of Hormuz would “take a little while,” adding that it “won’t take long to clean out the strait.”

He added that the United States was bringing in additional minesweepers and said other countries, including Britain, were also sending sending minesweepers.

Trump also said NATO now wants to help secure the Strait of Hormuz.

“We think that numerous countries are going to be helping us with this,” he added.