CNN: Looming deadline: US PresidentDonald Trump said the ceasefire with Iran ends “Wednesday evening Washington time,” adding it’s “highly unlikely” he would extend it if a deal is not reached before then.
• Status of negotiations: Vice President JD Vance and top US officials are expected to depart Tuesday for Pakistan ahead of a potential second round of talks, according to sources. Trump projected confidence Tehran would come to the table although Iran’s Foreign Ministry earlier insisted there were no negotiations.
• Seized ship: Iran’s Foreign Ministry called for the release of the Iranian cargo vessel seized by the US Navy on Sunday, as well as “its sailors, crew and their families.” Iran has vowed to retaliate for the seizure…
Iran talks on shaky footing after U.S. seizure of ship in Strait of Hormuz
Iranian officials have threatened to forgo negotiations even as U.S. representatives plan to arrive in Pakistan for the meeting and a ceasefire is set to expire Wednesday…
Trump’s statements on Iran increasingly contradict each other
The contradictory remarks highlighted a continuing challenge for the administration: On information as basic as who would attend high-stakes peace talks, as well as on broader questions of whether Iran has agreed to terms for a deal, Trump’s oscillating claims have led to confusion and required clean-up by his staff…
U.S. Has Turned Back 27 Ships Since Strait of Hormuz Blockade Started
A U.S. military official also said on Monday that a team of Marines was searching and scanning a large number of containers aboard the Touska, an Iranian cargo ship that the Navy disabled and seized in the Gulf of Oman on Sunday after it tried to evade the blockade.
It was the first time a vessel was reported to have tried to evade the U.S.-imposed blockade on any ship entering or exiting Iranian ports since it took effect last week…
‘Immediate Results’ vs. ‘The Long Game’: The U.S. and Iran Face Off
But in dealing with Iran over the past six weeks, Mr. Trump has discovered that he is up against a nation that prides itself on resilience and delay. And never has that been more obvious than in recent days, when Mr. Trump has tried jawboning the Iranians by contending that they already surrendered — they “agreed to everything” he insisted on Friday, including turning over their “nuclear dust” — only to discover that patter doesn’t work with Iranian officials, who took to social media to declare he had made it all up…
The Forces of Scarcity Hitting Asia May Soon Spread Across the World
The Asia-Pacific was hit hard and quick by the war in Iran and its energy bottlenecks. Scenes of crisis there indicate that problems are multiplying and spreading…
Saudi Arabia and Iraq Are Caught in a Hidden War Within the War
Iraqi militias backed by Iran launched dozens of explosive drones at Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states during more than five weeks of fighting, in what is becoming a shadowy war within a war pushing some of the world’s largest oil producers toward open conflict…
The Iran crisis has not yet peaked
Escalation is likely because both the US and Iran seem to feel that they can force the other side to crack first. US vice-president JD Vance returned home from failed talks with the Iranians in Pakistan on April 12 in an upbeat mood — telling confidants that the US blockade would probably force the Iranians to fold within a few days.
But throughout this conflict, the Trump administration has consistently overestimated America’s ability to bend Iran to its will and underestimated the Iranian regime’s resilience. That pattern now threatens to repeat itself…
Iran war accelerates America’s breakup with the world
“A lot of people are fed up with how chaotic this war has been and scared of the potential economic impact, but I haven’t seen any major protests in response,” a Washington-based Asian diplomat said, having been granted anonymity because the topic is sensitive. “If a more reasonable person becomes the next president, the image of the U.S. might improve, but for policymakers this raises some tough long-term questions about the alliance, how far we can go to stay aligned with the U.S. and what we should do if we can’t rely on the U.S. anymore.”
Democratic Senators Fault Hegseth’s Leadership on Iran
In a letter, the 11 senators questioned the defense secretary’s decision to gut programs intended to protect civilians and said his orders endangered U.S. troops…
China’s energy fortress was built to withstand just this type of oil shock
While fuel-strapped countries across Asia have scrambled for supplies, China – the world’s largest energy importer – has been sitting on vast stockpiles of oil, an industrial sector largely run on domestic energy and a fleet of cars increasingly powered by electricity, not gas.
For China, the ability to weather the energy shocks from the weeks-long war “is sort of a vindication of everything they’ve done to enhance energy security,” said Erica Downs, a senior research scholar at the Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University…