The United States has launched strikes on targets in southern Iran, the US military has said, as Tehran’s top negotiators gather in Qatar for talks aimed at reaching a peace deal with Washington.

US Central Command (CENTCOM) said it carried out the “self-defence strikes” to protect US troops from threats posed by Iranian forces.

“Targets included missile launch sites and Iranian boats attempting to emplace mines,” Navy Captain Tim Hawkins, a CENTCOM spokesperson, said in a statement to Al Jazeera late on Monday.

“US Central Command continues to defend our forces while using restraint during the ongoing ceasefire.”

CENTCOM did not provide further details on the strikes.

The latest attacks come despite there being a ceasefire officially in place between the US and Iran since April 8.

Reporting from Washington, DC, Al Jazeera’s Alan Fisher said the strikes are likely to derail the ongoing negotiations to end the US-Israel war on Iran.

“There is very limited information coming from the US side; we don’t know the extent of the operation. It’s hard to say whether this skirmish is unusual,” he said.

“But Trump is keen to move forward with negotiations and solidify a peace deal.”

Earlier on Monday, a high-level Iranian delegation arrived in Doha to discuss roadblocks to a permanent peace deal.

The arrival of the delegation, which includes Iranian Minister of Foreign Affairs Abbas Araghchi and Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, came as US President Donald Trump said that peace talks were “proceeding nicely”, even as he insisted that he would not agree to anything less than a substantial deal.

“It will only be a Great Deal for all or, no Deal at all — Back to the Battlefront and shooting, but bigger and stronger than ever before — And nobody wants that!” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

[Aljazeera]

Pope Leo XIV has called for the “disarming” of artificial intelligence (AI), warning that “new forms of slavery” are tied to its rise.

The Catholic Church leader warned on Monday against “a race for ever more powerful algorithms and larger datasets,” driven by “the desire to secure geopolitical or commercial dominance”.

His concerns regarding AI were presented in his first encyclical, titled “Magnifica Humanitas” (Magnificent Humanity), in person at the Vatican. Encyclicals are one of the highest forms of teaching from a pontiff to the church’s 1.4 billion members.

Leo insisted that ownership of AI data must not be left solely in private hands, called for policymakers to protect the rights of workers and keep children safe from the technology, and urged the cooling of competition between AI companies.

“What is needed is a more active political involvement that is capable of slowing things down when everything is accelerating,” Leo said.

The Catholic leader continued by calling for “robust ⁠legal frameworks, independent oversight, informed users and a political system that does not abdicate its responsibility”.

“AI now demands to be disarmed, freed from logics that turn it into an instrument of domination, exclusion, and death,” he said. “Like nuclear energy, it must be at the service of all and of the common good.”

Monday’s highly anticipated text, spanning nearly 43,000 words, has been in the works nearly since Leo’s election as pope a little more than a year ago.

Pope Leo presented the encyclical alongside AI experts, including Christopher Olah, co-founder of US giant Anthropic.

Anthropic is embroiled in a legal battle with the United States military after opposing the use of its technology for lethal autonomous warfare and mass surveillance.

At the presentation, Olah said AI companies operate “inside a set of incentives and constraints that can sometimes conflict with doing the right thing”.

He welcomed input from outside actors like the Catholic Church to “push events in a better direction”, saying that “the questions raised by AI are bigger than the AI research community”.

Olah highlighted three areas he said required ⁠urgent attention: the risk of widespread job losses, the need to ensure that AI benefits are extended worldwide, and the unresolved question of how to interpret increasingly complex and sometimes opaque system behaviour.

In the encyclical, Leo also sounded the alarm over AI-directed weaponry, saying it was “not permissible to entrust lethal” decisions to tech.

Leo has repeatedly clashed with the White House over the US-Israel war on Iran and its use of religion to justify conflict.

The “just war” theory, espoused recently by the administration of US President Donald Trump, was “outdated”, Leo wrote, adding that “no algorithm can make war morally acceptable”.

[Aljazeera]

The Sri Lanka Cricket selection panel has handed the white-ball captaincy to Kusal Mendis for the upcoming all-format tour of the West Indies next month. Dhananjay de Silva will continue to lead the side in the two Tests.

Kusal Mendis takes over the ODI captaincy from Charith Asalanka, who was named in the 16-man squad, while Kamindu Mendis was named vice-captain. In T20Is, Kusal Mendis takes over the leadership from Dasun Shanaka, who led the side until the recent T20 World Cup, where Sri Lanka failed to make the knockouts. While Shanaka retained his place in the 16-man T20I squad, Asalanka did not.

Wanidu Hasaranga is set to return to action – named in the ODI and T20I squads – after his injury during the T20 World Cup has kept him off the field since early February. He tore his left hamstring at the time and missed the ongoing IPL after that for Lucknow Super Giants.

The tour starts with three ODIs from June 3 to 8 followed by the three T20Is on June 11, 13 and 14. The two Tests will be played at the Viv Richards Stadium in North Sound from June 25 to 29 and July 3 to 7.

Sri Lanka Test squad:

Dhananjaya de Silva (capt), Kamindu Mendis, Pathum Nissanka, Lahiru Udara, Nishan Madushka, Dinesh Chandimal, Pasindu Sooriyabandara, Sonal Dinusha, Kusal Mendis, Milan Rathnayake, Prabath Jayasuriya, Ramesh Mendis, Asitha Fernando, Vishwa Fernando, Lahiru Kumara, Isitha Wijesundara, Kasun Rajitha

Sri Lanka ODI squad:

Kusal Mendis (capt), Kamindu Mendis (vice-capt), Pathum Nissanka, Kamil Mishara, Pavan Rathnayake, Janith Liyanage, Charith Asalanka, Milan Rathnayake, Wanindu Hasaranga, Dunith Wellalage, Maheesh Theekshana, Dushmantha Chameera, Dilshan Madushanka, Eshan Malinga, Asitha Fernando, Pramod Madushan

Sri Lanka T20I squad:

Kusal Mendis (capt), Kamindu Mendis (vice-capt), Pathum Nissanka, Kamil Mishara, Pavan Rathnayake, Lasith Croospulle, Dasun Shanaka, Milan Rathnayake, Dunith Wellalage, Wanindu Hasaranga, Maheesh Theekshana, Dushmantha Chameera, Dilshan Madushanka, Eshan Malinga, Binura Fernando, Nuwan Thushara

(Cricinfo)