The top U.S. military commander in the Middle East praised the leadership of the long-deployed USS Lincoln after visiting the sailors on the vessel during a regional tour that ended on Saturday, the U.S. Central Command said. U.S. negotiator Jared Kushner had a rare meeting with the Hamas leader on the Gaza ceasefire. And the 60-day negotiating period that began with the June 17 signing of an interim agreement between the U.S. and Iran is set to end with no word of an extension. Here’s a look at the latest developments on Sunday in the Iran war and the wider Middle East. U.S. Central Command chief visits aircraft carrier Adm. Brad Cooper visited the USS Lincoln as reports have emerged of mental health and supply issues. The Lincoln arrived in the Middle East in January and has been supporting the U.S. war against Iran, including the blockade on Iranian ports. It has spent a record-setting uninterrupted time at sea of more than 240 days. “History will record this deployment as one of the most operationally intense and consequential of the modern era,” Cooper said of the Lincoln strike group in a statement released Saturday. Extended deployments of carriers — which can have more than 5,000 sailors and Marines on board — have raised concerns. In a statement Sunday, Cooper praised the leadership on the carrier for making mental health and resilience a priority. Cooper also went to Bahrain, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates to meet with civilian and military leaders, according to the Central Command statement. The U.S. navy’s blockade is in response to Iran asserting control over the Strait of Hormuz after the war started on Feb. 28 with U.S. and Israeli strikes. Before then, about one-fifth of the world’s traded oil and natural gas passed through what had been considered an international waterway. Talks between the U.S. and Iran have stalled while Iran talks with Oman about how to manage the strait that runs between them. U.S. negotiator meets with the Hamas chief U.S. negotiator and U.S. President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner held a rare meeting with the Hamas chief in a new diplomatic effort to make progress in the stalled Gaza ceasefire. Kushner will meet with Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday. The meeting in Egypt with Hamas’ Khalil al-Hayya was confirmed by a regional official and a Hamas official, both speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to reporters. Kushner was one of a trio of envoys meeting with al-Hayya, with officials from mediating countries Egypt, Qatar and Turkey also attending. Mediators are pushing for the implementation of a road map that calls for the disarmament of Hamas and other Palestinian militant groups in Gaza, the withdrawal of Israeli forces and the handing over of power to Palestinian technocrats. Netanyahu has rejected Trump’s latest plan to advance the stalled ceasefire, saying Israel will not withdraw from any of the roughly 60 per cent of the territory it controls until Hamas has been completely disarmed -- something the militant group controlling the rest has resisted. Kushner, former British prime minister Tony Blair and the director of the U.S.-created Board of Peace overseeing the ceasefire, Nickolay Mladenov, are to meet with Netanyahu on Monday, according to a person familiar with the plans and a diplomat who both spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss a closed-door meeting. Separately, Kushner met with Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi. The president’s office said the meeting called for Israel and Hamas to “fulfill their obligations under the ceasefire agreement in the Gaza Strip,” without elaborating. Israel targets two Hezbollah commanders in Saturday’s strikes Israel’s military said it targeted two Hezbollah commanders in Saturday’s strikes in southern Lebanon, the deadliest attacks since a truce between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah went into effect in June. Lebanon’s Health Ministry and state news agency said at least 11 people were killed. Israel’s military said early Sunday one strike killed Abu Hassan Alaa, whom it described as a senior Hezbollah commander who had taken part in attacks against Israel’s soldiers in southern Lebanon. Earlier, the military said a strike killed Ali Samir Al-Haj Hassan, also described as a Hezbollah commander, adding that his family was with him. Israel and the Lebanese government announced a “framework agreement” in June, laying out a plan for Israeli forces to withdraw from southern Lebanon in exchange for Hezbollah’s disarmament. Hezbollah has refused direct talks and wasn’t party to the U.S.-mediated deal. Iran insists Qatar is holding 3 of its pilots Iran again on Sunday alleged that Qatar was holding three Iranian pilots who went missing in March when their jets were downed, which Qatar has denied. Iran’s state TV reported Sunday that the commander of the Missing Persons Committee of Iran’s Armed Forces General Staff has urged Qatar to allow Iranian Air Force experts to conduct a field investigation. This is the first known case in the war where Iran has said a regional country is holding its fighters. Tehran has repeatedly targeted regional countries that are hosting U.S. military bases. An Israeli strike in Gaza wounds five An Israeli strike hit Khan Younis in southern Gaza and wounded five people, including a child who was seriously injured, according to the Kuwaiti and Nasser hospitals, where the casualties were taken. Israel’s military said it struck a member of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad. While the heaviest fighting has subsided since a ceasefire took hold in October between Israel and Hamas, Israeli forces have carried out repeated airstrikes, killing at least 1,262 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. The ministry, part of the Hamas-led government, maintains detailed casualty records that are seen as generally reliable by UN agencies and independent experts. It does not give a breakdown of civilians and militants. The Associated Press
