Ghalibaf says Hormuz comms line agreed, asset release finalized

Iranian media on Monday released footage showing preliminary work has begun to restore the B-1 bridge in Karaj, west of Tehran, nearly three months after it was hit in a US airstrike.

President Donald Trump, who has described it as Iran’s “George Washington Bridge,” said at the time that “the biggest bridge in Iran” had come down and would “never” be used again.

He told Axios last week that he ordered the strike because the Iranians "showed up late" at a meeting.

US officials said the April 2 strike targeted a route allegedly used to move missile and drone components, while Iranian officials described the bridge as civilian infrastructure.

Iranian authorities say the reconstruction will cost more than $23 million and take about a year.

US President Donald Trump told reporters at the White House that "if Iran doesn't live up to their agreement, or if they're not behaving, I will do what I have to do."

Iran’s acting defense minister Majid Ebn al-Reza said the Islamic Republic is capable of negotiating and confronting its adversaries at the same time, warning that Tehran could respond on the battlefield to any US “breach of commitments” during talks.

Ebn al-Reza said Iran would maintain and strengthen its military posture “in all areas” throughout the negotiations and the 60-day period set under the understanding.

He said Iran’s armed forces are at their “highest level of readiness” and warned that any “new mischief or miscalculation” would be met with a harsher response than before, one that he said would leave adversaries “more defeated, disappointed and regretful.”

Iranian parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said fighting in Lebanon has stopped and that Tehran would “powerfully” pursue the outcome of recent negotiations in Switzerland.

Speaking to a state TV reporter aboard a plane bound for Oman, Ghalibaf said the talks would aim to secure Lebanon’s “territorial integrity and national sovereignty,” adding that the issue would not be abandoned until a final result is reached.

He said military gains become lasting only when they are registered “legally and politically,” arguing that without diplomacy, efforts on the battlefield would not bear fruit.

“Sometimes conditions emerge in the military sphere where diplomacy must carry out the task,” he said, adding that diplomacy can pursue the same mission sought by military forces when it cannot be achieved on the ground.

Asked whether he felt snubbed after Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi did not shake hands with him and left the room ahead of a press conference, US Vice President JD Vance told reporters that Iranian officials lack the same “First Amendment protections” as Americans, suggesting their limited engagement with reporters reflected political constraints rather than a breakdown in talks.

"Trust me, I've spent a lot of time dealing with Iranians over the last few months. Sometimes I find them extremely confusing as negotiators. But look, we had a little press conference. They obviously don't quite have the same First Amendment protections in Iran that we have in the United States of America," he said before departing Switzerland.

"We talked to you guys and then had a series of really good meetings. What I did find kind of funny is that after that initial meeting, there was this, you know, sort of social media firestorm where everybody said the Iranians are going to leave. And then we proceeded to talk to them for like the next nine hours."

"So I would just encourage the media, mistrust a little bit what you see coming out of Iranian social media. They can be confusing negotiators, but we feel like we're making progress," he added.