CNN: Vice President JD Vance is no longer traveling to Switzerland for US-Iran negotiations today, with talks postponed. Iran has asked for guarantees that hostilities in Lebanon will end before it resumes the talks, a diplomat told CNN.
Deadly attacks in Lebanon: Israel and Hezbollah again traded attacks despite the US-Iran agreement declaring an end to their conflict. Four Israeli soldiers were killed overnight in one of the deadliest incidents for their military since the war began. Israeli strikes later killed at least 21 people in southern Lebanon…
Vance warns Israeli critics over Iran deal: Trump is your only ally
“My message to them would be twofold. No. 1: Donald J. Trump is the only head of state in the entire world who is sympathetic to the nation of Israel at this moment in time,” Vance told reporters at the White House.
“If I was in the cabinet of the Israeli government, I might not be attacking the only powerful ally that I have anywhere left in the entire world.”…
Iran Floats ‘Insurance Fees’ as It Asserts Control Over Hormuz
All vessels that transit the strait will have to secure a mandatory insurance policy that is currently free but could involve charges in the future, the country’s Persian Gulf Strait Authority said in a document on its website. It also said that ships must follow a prescribed route that passes along its coast and that alternatives are prohibited…
US-Iran deal redraws the Middle East: Iran gains, rivals alarmed
Israeli analyst Danny Citrinowicz described the agreement as a strategic “catastrophe”. What had been framed as a joint U.S.-Israeli campaign to weaken, or even topple the Islamic Republic has, in his view, flipped into American recognition of Iran.
“We went to topple the regime with U.S. backing and ended with Washington effectively giving legitimacy and strengthening the same regime we wanted to bring down,” said Citrinowicz, a senior Iran researcher at Israel’s Institute for National Security Studies…
Trump condemned Obama’s Iran deal. Here’s how his own compares.
It is difficult to compare directly with Barack Obama’s Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA. While that was a fully developed arrangement, Trump’s is still an early outline, with key questions yet to be addressed. And the context has changed: Iran’s nuclear know-how has grown, and it is negotiating after months of war, its military capacities eroded and supreme leader assassinated in U.S. and Israeli strikes…
Parts of Trump’s Iran deal sharply criticized by some key Republicans
The agreement immediately drew loud protests from Democrats — but Republican senators also criticized many provisions, including thelifting of U.S. sanctions on Iran’s oil exports and its plan to set up a $300 billion fund to rebuild Iran…
After Deal to Reopen Strait of Hormuz, Ships Begin to Move Cautiously
Shipping companies hoping to get their stranded vessels out face complications like mines and the lack of clear coordination…
Delayed talks show next phase of Iran peace talks will be just as bumpy as the first
And the messaging from Iran overnight makes clear that the leadership there remains extremely skeptical of Trump’s intentions.
Even though he acquiesced to his top advisors in approving the signing, Iran’s reclusive Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei said overnight that he “as a matter of principle, held a different view.”…
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards set up covert Iraqi cells to attack Gulf neighbors, sources say
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has set up secretive new cells in Iraq to carry out attacks on Gulf countries that host American forces, bypassing established militia networks to avoid detection, eight Iraqi sources told Reuters…
The Costs of the Iran War: Thousands of Lives and Billions of Dollars
Vance’s Defense of Iran Deal Rests on Vague and Misleading Claims
The vice president said the United States had leverage to dictate the outcome of the next round of negotiations. But he claimed incorrectly that Iran got no new benefit from the lifting of oil sanctions…
‘If it doesn’t work out, I’m blaming JD’: Vance’s risky gambit on Iran peace efforts
“Somebody has told JD Vance that a bad deal is better than no deal,” said a former senior Trump administration official. “And, clearly, nobody else wants to wear the jacket on this when it goes south.”…
‘Everyone just needs to copy what I say’: Trump vented anger with Vance over Iran messaging
A new book from New York Times reporters Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan details the president’s frustration with his vice president over an apparent talking point discrepancy…
How Deal With U.S. Could Reconnect Iran to the Global Economy
Billions of dollars in Iranian assets that have been frozen could be released. Mr. Trump also agreed to work with other countries in the region to set up a $300 billion fund to help reconstruct and develop Iran’s economy.
And for the first time, Iran, an energy superpower sitting astride the world’s most important choke point for oil, may be able to establish a new revenue stream. Iran has threatened to start collecting money from the thousands of cargo ships that sail through the Strait of Hormuz each year…
More than 1 billion barrels of oil have gone missing
Oil hasn’t been coming out of the Middle East for nearly four months. All told, the world lost 1.15 billion barrels of oil supply during the war, according to analytics firm Kpler…