New York Times: A 10-day cease-fire went into effect at midnight on Friday morning in Lebanon. The truce pauses fighting between Israeli forces and the militant group Hezbollah, removing a major obstacle to peace talks between the United States and Iran.
Israeli and Lebanese officials had confirmed they would implement the truce, which was first announced by President Trump after a diplomatic push by the U.S. government earlier in the day. Hezbollah acknowledged the cease-fire in a pair of statements on Thursday, but did not directly address whether it would accept the truce, saying its actions would be “based on how developments unfold.”…
US-Iran Deal Will Take Months, Gulf and Europe Officials Say
Some Gulf Arab and European leaders believe that a US-Iran peace deal will take about six months to be agreed and that the warring sides should extend their ceasefire to cover that timeframe, according to officials from the regions familiar with the matter…
Trump says Iran agrees to hand over ‘nuclear dust’
President Donald Trump said Thursday that Iran has agreed to hand over “nuclear dust” that was buried by last year’s U.S. airstrikes on key Iranian nuclear facilities, a claim that, if accurate, would be a significant step in U.S. efforts to reduce Tehran’s ability to produce a nuclear weapon…
Trump wants to end the Iran war. But the off-ramp remains elusive.
Even as Washington and Tehran remain far apart, Trump’s offer to host Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Lebanese President Joseph Aoun at the White House is the latest example of how the American goal posts have moved in just the last several days…
Hormuz Blockade Stirs Tension Over Malacca Strait Near Singapore
The Iranian and US blockades of the Strait of Hormuz are reviving anxiety over the fate of Asia’s most crucial strategic bottleneck.
The Strait of Malacca between Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore links the Indian and Pacific Oceans through a channel just 1.7 miles (2.7 kilometers) wide at its tightest point, more than 10 times narrower than Hormuz…
Trump Bets Economic Pain Will Finally Force Iran to Reopen Strait
With crude exports from Iranian ports effectively stopped up, the country will be deprived of a large chunk of its oil revenues. It could also be forced to start shutting down oil wells within weeks as it runs out of storage space, a costly and damaging prospect that could impair production for years to come…
The Push for Israel-Lebanon Peace Risks a New Confrontation With Hezbollah
The temporary cease-fire creates space for the U.S. to continue peace talks with Iran, the main backer of Hezbollah. Tehran has insisted that a cease-fire in Lebanon is a precondition for holding more discussions with America over its nuclear program, weapons systems and its power over the Strait of Hormuz. The U.S. said the Lebanon cease-fire is unrelated to Iran talks.
Without Hezbollah at the table, the cease-fire and the possibility of a successful Israel-Lebanon peace agreement would be on shaky ground…
Hegseth Again Threatens Attacks on Iran’s Civilian Infrastructure
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Thursday renewed his threat to attack Iran’s electrical infrastructure if the cease-fire between Washington and Tehran failed…
Macron and Starmer to hold summit on plan to secure Strait of Hormuz
The French and UK leaders are expected to brief US President Donald Trump after the meeting of the “coalition of the willing”, but privately some western officials say the plan is fraught with military difficulty. One said: “The whole point is to pretend there is a plan, when there isn’t.”…
Trump’s Lebanon ceasefire takes Israel by surprise
On the ground here – and across the country – there’s scepticism about why Israel’s leader has signed up to the truce.
“I feel like the government lied to us,” said Gal, a student in Nahariya. “They promised that this time it would end differently, but it seems like we’re once again heading toward a ceasefire agreement that solves nothing.”…
In Las Vegas, Trump Brushes Off Rising Fuel Prices
At an economic event, the president sought to downplay the financial hardship that has followed his war with Iran, saying that “we’re having some fake inflation because of the fuel, the energy prices.”…
White House Shrugs Off Shaky Economy as War Exceeds Trump’s Timeline
Stocks may be soaring again, but the war in Iran has started to pinch the finances of many Americans…
Trump muses about Vance vs. Rubio as Iran peace talks heat up
“If it doesn’t happen, I’m blaming JD Vance,” Trump said, somewhat in jest, of an Iran deal during an Easter lunch this month. “If it does happen, I’m taking full credit.”…
Jesus Memes, Threats and a War in Iran: A Portrait of Trump Under Pressure
President Trump has lashed out at enemies, allies and even the pope, and made it harder for Republicans to keep the focus on economic issues in a midterm election year…
Iran war drives Germany towards fourth year of stagnation
Berlin set to halve GDP growth forecast to 0.5% as surging energy prices blunt €1tn spending push…
Japanese doctors warn Iran war threatens medical supplies
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi plans to release 50mn medical gloves from pandemic reserves as concerns grow across Asia about shortages of healthcare supplies caused by the war in the Middle East…