The United States imposed new sanctions on three Iranian foreign currency exchange firms in an effort to target Tehran's "financial lifelines" in the Middle East war.

The US Treasury Department warned in a separate statement against paying a "toll" to Iran's government in exchange for safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz, saying this could trigger sanctions.

Tehran has virtually blocked the Strait of Hormuz, a key waterway for energy transit, since the US-Israeli strikes on Iran from late February.

Israeli forces have demolished a monastery and a nuns’ school in the southern Lebanese town of Yaroun, according to the state news agency.

The White House declined to comment on a new proposal from Iran for talks to end the war, saying only that discussions continue.

"We do not detail private diplomatic conversations," deputy press secretary Anna Kelly said in a statement sent to AFP.

"President (Donald) Trump has been clear that Iran can never possess a nuclear weapon, and negotiations continue to ensure the short- and long-term national security of the United States."

Gold has risen, reversing earlier losses of more than 1 percent, on hopes for a breakthrough to end the Iran war after Tehran reportedly submitted a new proposal for negotiations, easing some inflation concerns.

Spot gold was up 0.3 percent to $4,636.72 per ounce at 1436 GMT after falling to as low as $4,559.48 earlier in the session.

"The potential peace breakthrough, with Iran signalling that it wants to talk again, probably boosted investor risk appetite, pressured the US dollar index and pushed the gold market higher," said Jim Wyckoff, senior analyst at Kitco Metals.

Ten people were killed and 16 others injured in fresh Israeli air strikes in southern Lebanon despite a temporary ceasefire, according to the National News Agency (NNA).

The news agency, citing the Health Ministry, said an Israeli strike targeted the town of Nabatieh al-Fawqa, killing two people and injuring 10 others.

Meanwhile, rescue teams recovered five bodies from the rubble of a building in Kfar Roummane of Nabatieh hit in an overnight strike.

A senior Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Friday urged the Trump administration to shift toward diplomacy with Iran as the conflict reached its 60th day, warning the war lacks a clear strategy or exit plan.

"After sixty days of conflict, President Trump still does not have a strategy or way out for this poorly planned war," Jeanne Shaheen said in a statement.

"Americans want a lasting end to this conflict. They want lower prices at home. They want peace and prosperity. In short, they want what the President promised. It’s time the Administration pursue a serious diplomatic path forward," she added.

Lebanese group Hezbollah has brought reinforcements and weapons to the south of the country since the start of the war with Israel on March 2, the organisation's director of media relations said.

Speaking during an interview with a group of journalists, Youssef Al Zein said the group had been able to "introduce forces and arms in the course of the battle" with Israel.

Zein said the reinforcements did not use roads controlled by the Lebanese army.

The war in the Middle East has forced the Gulf countries to rethink their oil and trade routes, but rerouting them will be no simple task, experts say.

Badr Jafar, the UAE's special envoy for business and philanthropy, wrote in the Financial Times in early April that the Gulf states would never "return to a posture of strategic dependence on a narrow strait controlled by an unpredictable neighbour".

He insisted that new pipeline and port capacity would be built and "the power grids, water systems and trade corridors connecting the region's economies ... formalised".

The Israeli army on Friday warned residents of a village in southern Lebanon to abandon their homes immediately ahead of attacks.

In a statement, Israeli army Arabic-language spokesperson Avichay Adraee issued an “urgent warning” to residents in the village of Habbouch, asking them to leave their homes and move at least 1,000 meters away into open areas.

Despite a ceasefire in place, the Israeli army continues to carry out attacks in southern Lebanon and demolish hundreds of homes, claiming that they are Hezbollah infrastructure.

The UN refugee agency has said the Middle East war had sent its freight rates soaring, hitting the delivery of aid to refugees in the wider region and Africa.

Shipping rates from UNHCR's three main source countries for emergency supplies — India, Pakistan and China — have shot up by nearly 18 percent, the agency said, while delivery delays and port congestion are also having an impact.

"The Middle East crisis has generated far-reaching ripple effects well beyond the region, with growing consequences for global humanitarian supply chains and the delivery of aid," spokeswoman Carlotta Wolf told a press conference in Geneva.

Germany’s Vice Chancellor has joined a growing transatlantic dispute, criticising US President Donald Trump over his Iran strategy and urging him to help bring the conflict to a swift end.

Speaking at a Labour Day event in the western town of Bergkamen on Friday, Lars Klingbeil said Trump had underestimated the situation.

“I think he really believed this would be a matter of two or three days, and then everything would be fine,” Klingbeil said.

He added that the US president now “bears the responsibility” for ensuring the war in Iran is brought to a rapid conclusion.

Iran has delivered a new proposal for talks with the United States via mediator Pakistan, according to state media.

"The Islamic Republic of Iran delivered the text of its latest negotiating proposal to Pakistan, as the mediator in talks with the United States, on Thursday evening," the official IRNA news agency reported.

It was not immediately clear what was included in the new proposal.

The development came as Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi held phone calls with counterparts from Türkiye, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Iraq and Azerbaijan on the latest "initiatives of the Islamic Republic to end the war," according to the Iranian foreign ministry.

Iran’s foreign minister says US war cost figures are misleading and claims actual expenses have reached $100 billion amid an open-ended truce.

Two people were killed and 10 others injured in a fresh Israeli air strike in southern Lebanon despite a temporary ceasefire, according to the National News Agency.

The agency, citing the health ministry, said the strike targeted the town of Nabatieh al-Fawqa, resulting in the casualties.

Meanwhile, rescue teams recovered five bodies from the rubble of a building hit in an overnight strike.

Bahrain's King Hamad accuses Iran of targeting Gulf states and warns that internal collaboration would be treated as a 'betrayal that cannot be forgiven.'

The cost of sending some aid to Sudan - the world's largest displacement crisis - has more than doubled due to the Iran war, as shipping disruption pushes up costs and delays the delivery of relief, the UN refugee agency has said.

Heightened insecurity around key Gulf shipping routes, including the Strait of Hormuz, as well as congestion at ports, rising fuel prices and higher insurance premiums have all hampered the delivery of aid, particularly in Africa, the agency said.

Ships with aid that previously passed from Dubai through the Strait of Hormuz are being replaced by ships coming from Europe around the Cape of Good Hope, adding up to 25 days to delivery times, UNHCR spokesperson Carlotta Wolf told reporters in Geneva.

"People in dire need are receiving things that are ready later than what's needed," she said.

Stranded oil, a plunging rial and shrinking reserves deepen Iran’s economic crisis already under strain after decades of sanctions.

The global energy and supply chain crisis will continue well beyond the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, Singapore’s prime minister has warned, saying that markets may take months to stabilise even after tensions ease.

Speaking at a May Day Rally attended by more than 1,600 union leaders and tripartite partners, Lawrence Wong said the ongoing disruption, linked to the closure of the strait and broader geopolitical tensions involving Iran and the US, has created one of the most severe external shocks Singapore has faced in recent years, said a statement by his office.

"Here in Asia, we are especially affected because of our high dependence on energy and other critical supplies from the Gulf. Some countries in our region are already facing fuel shortages," Wong said.

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan holds a phone call with his Iranian counterpart Abbas Araghchi to discuss the latest developments in US-Iran negotiations.

Iran's judiciary chief Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei has said Tehran remains open to talks with the United States but would not accept what he called policy "imposition" under threats.

"The Islamic Republic has never shied away from negotiations... but we certainly do not accept imposition," Ejei said in a video carried by the judiciary's Mizan Online website.

"We do not welcome war in any way; we do not want war, we do not want its continuation," he said.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has accused the United States of misrepresenting the cost of the war, saying official figures significantly understate the financial burden.

In a post on X, Araghchi said the Pentagon was “lying” about the cost of the war, noting it has already reached $100 billion.

“Netanyahu’s gamble has directly cost America $100 billion so far, four times what is claimed,” he wrote, referring to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Araghchi said the indirect costs to US taxpayers were “Far higher. Monthly bill for each American household is $500 and rising fast.”

Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Esmaeil Baghaei, has said the US war on Iran was “absolutely not” self-defence, but “an act of aggression” against the country.

In a post on social media, Baghaei questioned the justification for the attack, asking: “‘Self-defence’ against what? Was there any ‘armed attack’ by Iran to justify ‘self-defence’?”

He added that there was no such attack, concluding that the US action could not be legally framed as self-defence.

US President Donald Trump has sharply criticised The New York Times and CNN over their coverage of the US-Israeli war on Iran, describing CNN as “stupid” and claiming the newspaper’s reporting was “seditious.”

Trump said he had “militarily decapitated” Iran, speaking to reporters at an Oval Office event where he signed an executive order aimed at expanding workers’ access to retirement savings, while also criticising Democratic efforts to limit his war powers.

“And every day, I read about how well they’re doing militarily,” he said. “They’ve got nothing left, they’re done. And yet I read in The New York Times, I see on stupid CNN — which I only watch because you have to watch a little bit of the enemy.”

Trump also said coverage by the two outlets implied that Iran is “winning the war,” criticising their reporting on the war.

A gauge of British manufacturers' cost pressures jumped in April, and delivery delays were the most widespread since mid-2022 due to the standoff in the Strait of Hormuz, according to a survey that underscored the impact of the Iran war.

S&P Global's UK Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index rose to 53.7 in April from 51.0 in March. The final reading was slightly higher than the 53.6 in the provisional April data.

International shipping has been disrupted since the US-Israeli war on Iran began in late February, and the vital sea channel remains closed, choking off 20 percent of the world's supplies ‌of oil and gas, and sending global energy prices surging.

Australia has said the government has secured additional fuel shipments to bolster national energy supplies, including 100 million litres of jet fuel and 50 million litres of diesel, as global markets face mounting pressure due to ongoing Middle East tensions.

The new shipments will be delivered to Brisbane, Perth and Darwin as part of a broader effort to protect the country from global energy market instability, according to an official statement issued by the Prime Minister's office.

The French foreign minister has said that a “defensive” international maritime mission in the Strait of Hormuz would begin operations once conditions allow.

“The Hormuz blockade must stop, it must cease. There can be no blackmail, no blockade, nor any toll on a strait,” Jean-Noel Barrot said, stressing that straits are governed by international law and “cannot under any circumstances be obstructed.”

He said the rise in fuel prices, “being strongly felt at the pump,” was linked to developments in the Strait of Hormuz, which he said France had condemned because it violates international law and has major consequences for the global economy.

The strike comes a day after at least 29 people, including four family members, were killed and 42 injured in Israeli strikes on southern Lebanon.