Escalating Tensions, Global Tech Raceactive

The Philippines on Monday said it confirmed that Chinese boats last year used cyanide that threatens the stability of the Southeast Asian nation’s military outpost in the disputed South China Sea, as well as the safety of its soldiers.

The U. S. military said Sunday that five people were killed in boat strikes in the Eastern Pacific, stating that “intelligence confirmed the vessels were transiting along known narco-trafficking routes in the” region. “On April 11, at the direction of #SOUTHCOM commander Gen. Francis L. Donovan, Joint Task Force Southern Spear conducted two lethal kinetic strikes…

US President Donald Trump’s threat to blockade the Strait of Hormuz after talks with Iran collapsed over the weekend risked widening a war now entering its seventh week, lifting oil prices and raising the prospect of further economic pain around the globe.

President Trump wrote that Pope Leo XIV, the first U. S.-born pontiff, was “weak” and “terrible” on crime and foreign policy. Leo has criticized the Iran war.

According to The Times of Israel, the information was obtained as a result of a coordinated leak by Israeli defense officials to three major TV channels

Mujtaba Rahman is the head of Eurasia Group’s Europe practice. He posts at @Mij_Europe. The war in Iran has improved U. K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s chances of remaining in office. Make no mistake, his underlying position is still weak. Yet as the tenuous ceasefire looks like it may unravel, the likelihood of Starmer facing a leadership challenge after the May 7 regional elections to the Scottish and Welsh parliaments and English councils is falling. In fact, Labour members of parliament who previously questioned his authority are now reluctant to destabilize his government in the middle of an international war. And yet, the conflict that is helping him politically also risks undermining the economic strategy his premiership depends on. So far, Starmer’s handling of the crisis hasn’t been flawless. The U. K. was too slow to send a warship to the Mediterranean, irritating allies including Cyprus, the United Arab Emirates and Jordan. Relations with the U. S. have also deteriorated after U. S. President Donald Trump criticized Starmer for his initial refusal to permit U. S. aircraft from flying out of U. K. bases to bomb Iran. In fact, the “special relationship” is now so strained, senior Whitehall officials worry intelligence cooperation could be affected. But domestically, the war’s political impact has been an undeniable positive for Starmer, who has found himself on the right side of both public and Labour Party opinion. Voters are wary of being drawn into another Middle East conflict, and they support a prime minister who is willing to stand up to Trump. Meanwhile, many MPs scoff at the idea of Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner, or any other senior figure for that matter, handling this crisis any better, and say this is no time for more instability. But while the conflict has shored up Starmer’s short-term political position, Downing Street is increasingly concerned about its economic consequences. Labour ministers had been hoping voters would begin to notice an improvement in living standards this year, and those hopes are now in doubt: Inflation is expected to remain closer to 3 percent than the Bank of England’s 2 percent target, and interest rates are unlikely to fall as much as previously forecast. Moreover, mortgage rates have already begun to rise again, creating further difficulties for a government that has made the cost-of-living crisis its central political priority. Starmer is, therefore, preparing the British public for an economic shock. In public, the government’s mantra is that the conflict’s impact will depend on how long it lasts. And in private, it’s drawing up contingency plans to help households with energy bills. But ministers are warning there is no fiscal space for universal help to limit energy bills, like the £40 billion package introduced by former Prime Minister Liz Truss in 2022 after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The Iran war has already pushed up government borrowing costs, consuming a substantial portion of Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ recently announced £23.6 billion of headroom against her fiscal rule to balance income and spending. And that means, the inevitable intervention will only be targeted at those who need it most. Reeves is likely to face pressure to respond once Ofgem — the U. K.’s energy regulator — announces an increase in the energy price cap from July 1. But holding energy bills at current levels would cost the government around £6 billion which, given the reality of the chancellor’s fiscal rules, would leave limited scope for a bigger intervention. The government will also find it difficult to proceed with a planned 1 pence-per-liter increase in fuel duty in September, particularly if petrol prices rise further due to a protracted conflict. As a result, the fear among ministers now is that voters will blame the government for higher energy and fuel costs, regardless of its international causes. If the ceasefire fully breaks down and the war continues, government insiders also worry that Reeves will be forced to deliver a more generous support package of £10 billion or more, but without tweaking her fiscal rules as many Labour MPs — including some Cabinet ministers — would like. The Treasury believes the bond markets would then punish the government by further raising its already relatively high borrowing costs. And with more borrowing off-limits, Reeves would be left with a difficult choice: cutting public spending or raising taxes. The mood among Labour MPs, coupled with Starmer’s fragile position in his own party, makes spending cuts virtually impossible — which means the chancellor’s third budget this autumn might be the third one to increase taxes. This would, in turn, revive a cabinet debate over breaking Labour’s 2024 manifesto pledge to not raise income tax rates with an earmarked “defense tax” to protect Britain in the new world. Ominously for Labour, voters have a golden opportunity to register their dissatisfaction with Starmer in the meantime, with the May 7 elections. And any boost the prime minister receives from his tougher stance against Trump could well be dwarfed by anger over rising prices. All in all, Starmer’s Iran lifeline may prove short-lived. And while he needs Trump to end the war quickly and limit the economic damage, he might also need a prolonged crisis to keep his Labour critics at bay.

The competition to deploy robotaxis across Europe is intensifying. A partnership led by European start-up Verne, alongside Uber and China's Pony.ai, has been described by industry observers as a vehicle for introducing Chinese autonomous-driving technology into Europe under a local banner. The model stands in contrast to homegrown automakers such as Volkswagen and Mercedes-Benz, which are pursuing more self-reliant technological strategies.

SEOUL, April 13 (Yonhap) -- A pro-North Korea newspaper based in Japan on Monday...

AI and quantum computing are converging — and the geopolitical consequences are profound. At the GITEX AI Asia forum, industry experts argued that this integration goes beyond a technological breakthrough. It is reshaping national competitiveness and strategic deterrence.

Centcom says blockade of Iranian ports to begin at 10am ET; Iran’s negotiator says ‘we will not bow to threats’; oil prices rise. Follow the latest news Full report: Trump says US will blockade strait of Hormuz after Iran peace talks fail Planeloads of negotiators and too little time: US and Iran’s 21 hours of talks Welcome to the Guardian’s continuing coverage of the US-Israel war on Iran and its consequences for the wider region, the world and the global economy. Here are the main developments: Trump said the US Navy would start blockading the Hormuz strait and would also interdict every vessel in international waters that had paid a toll to Iran. In a lengthy post on his Truth Social platform, the president said the US was going to start “BLOCKADING any and all Ships trying to enter, or leave, the Strait of Hormuz”. In another post Trump also claimed Iran had “knowingly failed” to make good on its promise to open the strait, causing “anxiety” and “pain” for many countries around the world. US Central Command (Centcom) announced it would begin its blockade of the strait beginning Monday morning. “Centcom forces will begin implementing a blockade of all maritime traffic entering and exiting Iranian ports on April 13 at 10am ET [1400 GMT], in accordance with the president’s proclamation.” Iran’s Revolutionary Guard warned that “approaching military vessels to the strait of Hormuz is considered a violation of the ceasefire”. Oil prices rose in early market trading after Trump’s blockade announcement. The price of US crude oil rose 8% to $104.24 a barrel and Brent crude oil – the international standard – rose 7% to $102.29. Australia’s share market dropped sharply on Monday morning. Donald Trump and his advisers are looking at resuming limited military strikes in Iran in addition to the US blockade of the strait of Hormuz, the Wall Street Journal is reporting, citing officials and people familiar with the situation. Trump launched a scathing attack on Pope Leo XIV, saying he was “weak on crime and terrible for foreign policy” and was hurting the Catholic church. “Leo should get his act together as Pope,” the president said on Truth Social. The attack came after Leo denounced the “delusion of omnipotence” as fuelling the US-Israel war in Iran and demanded political leaders stop and negotiate peace. Australian prime minister Anthony Albanese said his government had not been asked to participate in any US blockade of the strait of Hormuz and that he wanted to see negotiations between the US and Iran continue. Trump reiterated his threat to destroy Iran’s power plants and other civilian energy infrastructure if no deal was reached to end the war, which he started with Israel in what is widely seen as an illegal and unprovoked attack. “I could take out Iran in one day,” he told Fox News on Sunday. Trump also said the US didn’t need the strait. “We don’t get our oil from there. We have so much oil,” he told Fox. “We have boats pouring up to the United States … We don’t need the strait.” Iranian parliamentary speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, who led the Tehran side in the US talks, said Trump’s new threats would have no effect on the Iranian nation. “If you fight, we will fight, and if you come forward with logic, we will deal with logic. We will not bow to any threats.” He later taunted Trump on X, posting: “Enjoy the current pump figures. With the so-called ‘blockade’, Soon you’ll be nostalgic for $4–$5 gas.” Continue reading...

A blockage of the Strait of Hormuz following conflict between the US and Iran is raising energy supply risks for Southeast Asia, with import-dependent economies most exposed. If the conflict continues, the region's recent gains from supply chain shifts could begin to erode.

Several spontaneous cultural initiatives, including in theaters, aim to help people driven from their homes by Israeli bombardments.

Taiwan and the US signed the Agreement on Reciprocal Trade (ART) on February 13, 2026, capping 10 months of negotiations. The deal set a reciprocal tariff of 15% without stacking and secured Taiwan the most favorable terms yet under Section 232 for semiconductors. But the US Supreme Court's invalidation of most of President Donald Trump's reciprocal tariffs has since frozen the agreement. Taiwan's Executive Yuan cannot submit it to the Legislative Yuan for review, and the prospect of zero-tariff US car imports has stalled along with it.

US President Donald Trump attacked Pope Leo on social media on Sunday, saying the first American pope should "stop catering to the Radical Left." It was an extraordinary broadside against the global leader of the Catholic Church, exacerbating a feud that began over the war in Iran. "Pope Leo is WEAK on Crime, and terrible for Foreign Policy," the president wrote on social media. He also wrote that "I don't want a Pope who thinks it's OK for Iran to have a Nuclear Weapon." A short time later,...

Powered by surging semiconductor investment—led by TSMC—Taiwan's science parks are nearing full capacity, accelerating government efforts to expand land, infrastructure, and next-generation industry clusters.

Touch panel maker TPK is partnering with semiconductor packaging giant ASE to enter the advanced through-glass via (TGV) packaging technology sector, focusing on developing glass substrates for high-end computing ICs. This move marks TPK's expansion into advanced semiconductor packaging, aiming to become a new long-term growth engine. TPK has invested about NT$500 million (US$15.7 million) in capital expenditure for this initiative. Its pilot production line in Zhongli is scheduled for completion in July 2026, with sample delivery and validation set to begin shortly thereafter.

China's aviation authorities have mobilized various resources to support the European certification of the C919, a domestically produced airliner aiming to compete with Boeing and Airbus, and steady progress has been made in recent months, according to multiple sources. Technicians and pilots from the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) have been stationed in Shanghai for additional inspections and in-flight tests in recent months, according to a source who participated in some technological exchanges with the agency. "They now stay...

Rory McIlroy has once again etched his name in the annals of world golf. This Sunday, the 36-year-old player secured his second consecutive Masters title at Augusta, after a tense day in which he skillfully managed his lead to finish with a score of 71 strokes (1 under par), for a total of 276 strokes (-12). With this victory, the Northern Irishman not only defends the title he won in 2025, but also emulates a feat previously achieved by only three legends of the sport: Jack Nicklaus (1965-66), Nick Faldo (1989-90), and Tiger Woods (2001-02). He is also the first golfer to achieve the two-time championship at Augusta National in the last 24 years. A close finish and legendary figures Despite starting the final round with the pressure of being the favorite, McIlroy's path was not without difficulties. After a double bogey on the 4th hole, the Northern Irishman displayed impeccable mental fortitude, recording four crucial birdies that allowed him to keep his pursuers at bay. The victory was secured by the narrowest of margins against American Scottie Scheffler, the world number one, who put pressure on him until the last hole but finished one stroke behind the champion (-11). The podium was completed by figures such as Tyrrell Hatton, Russell Henley, Justin Rose, and Cameron Young, all tied with a total of -10. This new success in the state of Georgia represents McIlroy's sixth major championship and his 30th professional title...

Taiwan's thermal management suppliers are emerging as one of the fastest-growing segments in the AI hardware ecosystem in 2026, even though their absolute revenue scale remains far below that of semiconductor leaders such as TSMC and large AI server ODMs like Quanta Computer and Foxconn.

Oil prices rise as president tells US navy to ‘interdict’ ships that pay Iran to pass through strategic chokepoint

Former CIA Director John Brennan said on Saturday that he believed the 25th Amendment “was written with” President Trump “in mind,” comments that come after multiple Democrats pushed for Trump’s ouster following his intense threats toward Iran. “I think the 25th Amendment was written with Donald Trump in mind, because allowing someone like this to continue…

Stock markets in Japan, South Korea and Australia lose ground following the stalemate in U. S.-Iran peace talks.

Despite the tension, communication channels between the United States and Iran remain open, and new negotiations could resume soon, according to the Wall Street Journal.

The goal of the naval operation ordered by ordered by President Trump is to deny Iran the revenues it needs to fund its military, but there are many unknowns.

Amidst stalled negotiations with Iran, U.S. media reported on December 12th that President Trump of the United States is considering resuming limited military strikes against Iran.

The San Francisco Chronicle and CNN reported multiple allegations of sexual assault and misconduct. Swalwell calls them false but apologized to his supporters and family. (Image credit: Rich Pedroncelli)

Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf says "if you fight, we will fight," according to state media reports, as the US president also threatens to bomb Iran's water treatment facilities. JD Vance and a US delegation leave Pakistan after failing to reach a deal with Iran. Planeloads of negotiators and too little time: 21 hours of talks between the US and Iran. A post about an hour ago on the Israel Defense Forces Telegram channel claimed that overnight, the IDF "identified a rocket launcher positioned and ready to launch toward the State of Israel in the area of Jouaiyya in southern Lebanon." Shortly after the identification, the launcher was struck and dismantled in a rapid operation, preventing the launch from being carried out. Continue reading...

Joel Gilbert, who mailed anti-Barack Obama film to voters in 2012, accuses congressman of violating immigration law Sign up for the Breaking News US email to get newsletter alerts in your inbox California Democrat Eric Swalwell’s troubles deepened on Sunday as the US Department of Homeland Security announced an investigation into allegations the US representative hired “a Brazilian national as a nanny without lawful work authorization”. Swalwell has been facing a raft of calls to end his campaign for California governor and resign his seat in Congress since Friday, when the San Francisco Chronicle and CNN reported that four women have accused him of sexual misconduct and assault. Continue reading...

According to a report by The Wall Street Journal, this measure is believed to push Tehran to make concessions

As companies like Mercedes-Benz, Volkswagen, and Waymo begin rolling out autonomous vehicles across Europe and the US, the bottleneck facing robotaxis has shifted. No longer defined primarily by technological breakthroughs, the industry is now constrained by regulatory approval and the ability to operate reliably in complex, real-world conditions.

The semiconductor industry is undergoing coordinated shifts that could reshape equipment flows, corporate financing, and supplier relationships in the AI era, according to DIGITIMES analyst Luke Lin.

U. S. Central Command (Centcom) said Sunday it will begin blockading Iranian ports at 10 a.m. EDT on Monday, 5:30 p.m. in Iran, following posts earlier in the day from President Trump directing the U. S. military to “clean out” the Strait of Hormuz. The move follows 21 hours of unproductive peace talks in Pakistan on Saturday,…

Ministers admit carer’s allowance penalties will continue while review of more than 200,000 cases is carried out Thousands of unpaid carers will continue to be hit with hefty and potentially unfair benefit repayment demands, it has emerged, as a government initiative gets under way to fix welfare injustices that have drawn comparison to the Post Office scandal. Ministers will on Monday launch an audit of more than 200,000 historical carer’s allowance benefit cases, with an estimated 25,000 carers issued with unlawful overpayments since 2015 likely to see their repayment debts cancelled or reduced as a result. Continue reading...

Chinese carmakers are rapidly gaining ground in Europe, squeezing out Asian rivals such as Japan and South Korea as exports to the region surge past 1 million units for the first time, according to an industry report. Imports of Chinese-made cars into the European Union in 2025 jumped 30.7 per cent from a year earlier to 1.006 million vehicles, according to the report published by the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association, known as the ACEA, on April 2. The value of those imports,...

Representatives of the two countries will meet in Washington, DC on Tuesday.

Regarding the negotiations between the United States and Iran, a U.S. government official revealed that there were six non-negotiable conditions, or "red lines," including the cessation of uranium enrichment activities. On the other hand, the Iranian side claims that the failure to reach an agreement is the responsibility of the United States and is demanding concessions.

Representatives Eric Swalwell and Tony Gonzales may be expelled from Congress amid serious misconduct allegations.

Earlier, CENTCOM said its forces would begin a naval blockade of Iran at 2:00 p.m. GMT, on April 13

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Oil prices surged past $100 per barrel on Monday in the Asian market, as the U.S. Navy prepared to blockade the Strait of Hormuz following the failure of negotiations between Washington and Iran to reach an agreement that would end the war. Brent crude futures rose $7.11, or 7.47%, to $102.31 per barrel, after closing on Friday with a 0.75% decline. Meanwhile, U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude was trading at $104.43 per barrel, up $7.86, or 8.14%, after falling 1.33% in the previous session. U.S. President Donald Trump said on Sunday that the U.S. Navy would immediately begin to blockade the Strait of Hormuz, further escalating the situation after negotiations with Iran failed to produce an agreement to end the war, jeopardizing a fragile two-week ceasefire. Subsequently, the U.S. Central Command (Centcom) announced that a blockade of Iranian ports would begin on Monday at 10:00 AM Eastern Time (9:00 AM in Argentina). Centcom stated that the blockade would be applied "impartially against ships of all nations" entering or leaving Iranian ports and coastal areas. Developing story.

On the New York oil market on the 12th, the futures price of WTI, a benchmark for international trading, temporarily rose to the $105 per barrel range. This was a significant increase from the previous Friday, when it closed at around $95 per barrel, representing an approximate $10 rise. With negotiations between the United States and Iran failing to reach an agreement, and President Trump announcing plans to implement a blockade in the Strait of Hormuz, tensions between the two countries have escalated once again. This has heightened concerns about a further negative impact on the supply of crude oil.

The White House is considering a menu of options in addition to blockading the Strait of Hormuz.

Trailing significantly in the polls, Quebec's governing party has selected Christine Fréchette to succeed François Legault and to lead the party in an upcoming vote this fall.

Oliver Farry is pleased to welcome Alexandre Vautravers, Expert in Strategy and Security, Editor in Chief of The Swiss Military Review (RMS) and Associate Fellow in Leadership in Conflict Management at the Geneva Centre for Security Policy (GCSP). According to Vautravers,Donald Trump's fiery rhetoric threatening US withdrawal from NATO remains largely performative chest-thumping. HE argues the real challenges lie elsewhere, in the technical, logistical, and strategic underpinnings of the alliance, particularly regarding troop deployments, infrastructure access, and interoperability across European and American forces. All the while, Europe is entering a phase of cautious autonomization, not as a rejection of NATO, but as a pragmatic response to deep uncertainty with an unpredictable US ally that has increasingly adopted aggressive, adversarial and highly confrontational policies and positions across the globe

Also in today’s newsletter: Trump announces naval blockade of Strait of Hormuz, and China open to Taiwanese TV and imports

Michael Leiter, the Israeli ambassador to the U.S., said Sunday that there could be a "potential" for "continued talks" with Iran about the U.S.-Israeli conflict against the country, after Vice President Vance said no progress was made towards a peace agreement in recent negotiations. "When you said the talks are still going…

The U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) announced this Sunday that it will begin a blockade of all Iranian ports starting this Monday at 10:00 AM Eastern Time in the United States, which is equivalent to 11:00 AM in Chile and 5:30 PM in Iran. "In accordance with the President's announcement, the blockade will be applied impartially to ships of all nations entering or leaving Iranian ports and coastal areas, including all ports in the Arabian Gulf (Persian Gulf) and the Gulf of Oman," CENTCOM stated in a press release. U.S. military forces "will not impede the freedom of navigation of ships transiting the Strait of Hormuz that are traveling to or from ports that are not Iranian," it explained. The U.S. contingent will provide more information to the commanders of affected commercial vessels "before the blockade begins" and urges them to communicate via channel 16 "ship to ship" when navigating the Gulf of Oman and the Strait of Hormuz.

Government seeks to shore up Australia’s supply of diesel, fertiliser and other critical goods. Follow today’s news live Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast Prime minister Anthony Albanese and foreign minister Penny Wong will visit Brunei and Malaysia this week as the government seeks to shore up Australia’s supply of diesel, fertiliser and other critical goods in the wake of shortages ccaused by the US-Israel war on Iran. Albanese will travel first to Bandar Seri Begawan in Brunei on Tuesday for a meeting with the sultan, Hassanal Bolkiah, to discuss “energy, food security, and the flow of essential goods between our countries,” according to the PM’s office. Continue reading...

The Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation between the two countries entered into force this Sunday, a partnership 'at the service of the French and the Portuguese, and of a Europe that decides for itself'.

Media reports detailing sexual assault allegations against US Representative Eric Swalwell prompt resignation calls.

The move sets off a high-stakes war of attrition that will test who has the higher threshold for pain—Tehran or global markets.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was instrumental in taking the U. S. to war with Iran. Now, he is trying to prolong the fighting.

"Drone attacks also originating from the United Kingdom and other countries." Pasdaran (Iranian Revolutionary Guard): "You will end up trapped." Putin offers mediation.

Vice President JD Vance's negotiations in Pakistan with Iran failed to end the war, but progress was reported in building positive relationships.

The U.S. President, Donald Trump, warned this Sunday that he will impose a 50% tariff on imports from any country that helps Iran with shipments of military material, specifically mentioning China as a target of this retaliation. "I've heard reports, although I don't always believe the news, that China is providing shoulder-fired anti-aircraft missiles. I don't know if that's accurate. I doubt they would do that. Maybe they did it at the beginning," Trump stated in an interview with Fox News. "If we catch any country, including China, providing military material to Iran, they will face a 50% tariff," the U.S. President emphasized. Trump also suggested that if China wants oil, it can send its ships to the United States to buy it from them. "As for China, China can send its ships. China can send its ships to Venezuela... We have a lot of excess production, and we would probably sell it to them even for less money," he indicated. In fact, Trump highlighted that he has a "very good relationship" with the Chinese President, Xi Jinping. "We work very well together," he emphasized before arguing that they have been "tough, but fair" with Beijing. He then recalled the tariffs imposed on Chinese cars and argued that if he hadn't done so, it would be like in Europe, where "they are destroying Europe because they are taking a large share of the business from Mercedes, BMW,..."

Will the Iran-US truce lead to peace, or more war?

DUBLIN — Ireland’s government announced more than €500 million in tax cuts on motor fuel on Sunday in an attempt to placate protesters snarling key ports and roadways. Prime Minister Micheál Martin announced the cuts hours after police successfully cleared protesters from the ports of Galway and Foynes in western Ireland as well as on Dublin’s central boulevard, O’Connell Street, which tractors and trucks had blocked since Tuesday. The clearances came a day after police backed by soldiers broke a similar blockade of the country’s only oil refinery at Whitegate in County Cork. But Martin rejected suggestions that the package, worth an estimated €505 million, represented a reward for the wildcat protesters, who had rejected the diplomatic approach advocated by Ireland’s official trucking and farming organizations. Martin stressed he had negotiated Sunday’s benefits in cooperation with those officials — and would not speak directly to “unelected” protest leaders. “It’s beyond comprehension that we were on the precipice of losing oil refining capacity in the country in the middle of an unprecedented global supply shortage of energy,” Martin said. “It makes absolutely no sense what was going on.” But the premier conceded that the package might not end the protests, which have been organized largely on social media apps and platforms. Several scattered road blockades, largely targeting rural motorways, continued Sunday. “We haven’t any guarantees of what protesters may or may not do,” Martin said. The government’s advisory National Emergency Coordination Group warned Sunday that much of the economy and public services, including health care, would face heightened disruption this week even if the protesters end all road obstructions now. Sunday’s package will be subject to the passage of emergency legislation Tuesday — the same day the main opposition Sinn Féin party will bring a motion of no confidence in the government over its handling of fuel taxes and the past week’s street standoffs. The new government plans further excise tax cuts of 10 cents per liter on gasoline and diesel effective midnight Tuesday, Martin said at his press conference. Those reductions come on top of cuts introduced last month — before any street disorder — of 15 cents on gasoline and 20 cents on diesel. Those initial cuts had been supposed to expire at the end of May, but like Sunday’s additional cuts will now run until the end of July — by which time, the government hopes, the current spike in oil prices over the Iran war will have eased. The government also agreed to delay the next scheduled hike in carbon taxes, which are levied on fuel alongside excise charges. The planned May 1 hike now won’t happen until November, Martin said. Foreign Minister Simon Harris, who spoke alongside Martin, said Ireland would seek, and expected to receive, European Commission approval for the temporary higher discount on diesel excise tax. Farmers and truckers have been particularly exposed to higher diesel costs, triggered by the U. S.-Israeli war on Iran and Tehran’s closure of the Strait of Hormuz, a crucial thoroughfare for oil.

“This is not our war.” That phrase, used by some European leaders to explain why they have refused to send forces to join America and Israel in their attacks on Iran, has become notorious in Donald Trump’s White House and has put the future of the transatlantic alliance in fresh danger. The Iran conflict is […] The post Five emerging themes for the Indo-Pacific from Trump’s Iran war appeared first on Asia Times.

Pressure mounts on Californian, who denies rape claims, and on Texan Tony Gonzales, who had affair with staffer who died by suicide Sign up for the Breaking News US email to get newsletter alerts in your inbox A growing number of Congress members from both parties have called for Eric Swalwell, a Democratic US representative and candidate for California governor, to resign his seat this weekend, following reported allegations of inappropriate behavior, sexual assault and rape. Swalwell has denied the allegations, but he may not get the chance to quit before his colleagues expel him. Polarized Congress members appear to be eyeing an opportunity to rid themselves of both Swalwell and disgraced Republican US representative Tony Gonzales of Texas, who acknowledged having an extramarital affair with a staffer who later died by suicide. Continue reading...

During a prisoner exchange, Yevhenii Demchuk, a marine from the village of Lvove in the Kherson region, has returned to Ukraine after spending four years in captivity.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday that Israeli forces had eliminated the threat of an invasion by Hezbollah militants during a visit to troops in southern Lebanon. His visit comes two days before officials from Lebanon, Israel and the United States are due to hold direct talks in Washington. “The war continues, including within the security zone in Lebanon,” Netanyahu said in a video released by his office, which showed him wearing a flak jacket and surrounded by masked...

US President Donald Trump on Sunday announced a military blockade of the Strait of Hormuz as Vice President JD Vance’s negotiating team failed to gain the trust of Iranian counterparts, who have been burned by the United States before and are loath to surrender sovereignty over their nuclear program. Trump announced in an early morning post on his Truth Social network […] The post Trump announces closure of Hormuz Strait as Iran talks falter appeared first on Asia Times.

Iranian officials stated that while Iran had approached the negotiations in good faith, the U.S. team had failed to earn the trust of the Iranian delegation.

Iran warns move would breach ceasefire as US president also repeats threats to strike critical infrastructure Donald Trump has said the US will begin blockading the strait of Hormuz in an attempt to take control of the strategic waterway from Iran in the aftermath of failed peace negotiations between the countries in Pakistan. The US president also threatened to bomb Iran’s water treatment facilities as well as its power plants and bridges, repeating an earlier threat, if Tehran did not agree to abandon its nuclear weapons programme – the key sticking point between the two sides. Continue reading...

FIFA President Gianni Infantino may be the only person left on earth who thinks he can reconcile the competing interests of Tehran and Washington. As American and Iranian leaders abandoned failed peace negotiations in Islamabad, Infantino is already weeks into his own shuttle diplomacy between the two warring nations. The head of soccer’s governing body is attempting to navigate between a country that doesn’t want to play on United States soil and a co-host that says he “doesn’t care” if the team does. Iran was among the first nations to win a spot in the tournament to be held across North America but since President Donald Trump began waging war against the country one month ago, its leaders are openly questioning whether their national team will participate. The country’s sports minister has demanded matches scheduled for Los Angeles and Seattle be relocated to sites in Mexico, a request that FIFA denied this week. “Gianni’s going to have to do two things,” said a North American soccer official granted anonymity to discuss sensitive matters within FIFA. “One: Convince Trump that it’s fine for Iran to play. And two: Convince Iran to be comfortable playing in the United States. The other options create a lot of dominos that would fall afterwards.” The standoff represents the biggest geopolitical challenge yet for Infantino, who has worked industriously to cultivate a close relationship with U. S. leadership at the potential expense of his support from FIFA’s 210 other member nations. Some within FIFA, including Secretary General Mattias Grafström, already found Infantino’s strategy to personally woo Trump excessive, according to two people familiar with the dynamics at the highest levels of the soccer governing body. “FIFA has consistently stated that it is looking forward to all teams participating at the FIFA World Cup 2026 to compete in a spirit of fair play and respect,” said a FIFA spokesperson who refused to be named. “The FIFA President and FIFA Secretary General are fully aligned on relations with the governments of Canada, Mexico and the United States. Any suggestion to the contrary is simply false.” Now Infantino’s hard-earned ties to Trump are clashing with some of his organization’s core principles. Seeing a team that qualified on sporting merit not play in the tournament because of political tensions would be a severe blow to FIFA’s credibility — and to its leader personally. “There are several football associations that I’m sure are putting pressure on him to make sure that Iran participates. FIFA has important relationships with countries like Russia and China that are also powerful and important for Gianni Infantino to keep a good relation with,” said Miguel Maduro, a former Portuguese government minister who chaired FIFA’s Governance Committee. “So that explains why he’s trying desperately to find a way to guarantee that Iran will participate.” The security question Iran claimed its World Cup spot in March 2025 by finishing first in its Asian qualifying group. The fans of “Team Melli,” one of Asia’s most accomplished soccer nations, began preparing to cheer on their team in the five-week tournament whose matches will be spread across the U. S., Mexico and Canada. But Trump’s political agenda interfered. In June, Iran was among 12 countries covered under Trump’s most expansive ban on foreign visitors, which — while explicitly exempting players and team staff — would likely prohibit all spectators traveling from Iran. (The full travel ban was later expanded to 19 countries, including World Cup competitor Haiti.) When Iranian sports officials prepared to go to Washington for the tournament’s lottery draw in December, the State Department did not approve all of the delegation’s visa requests. After Iran responded by threatening to skip the ceremonial event altogether, FIFA stepped in to mediate between the White House, State Department and the Football Federation Islamic Republic of Iran, a FIFA member. A small Iranian delegation, including the head coach, Ardeshir Amir Ghalenoei, ultimately attended the event at the Kennedy Center, where Infantino presented Trump with a novel “FIFA Peace Prize.” As tensions rose between Washington and Tehran, FIFA maintained contact with both countries and their soccer federations while largely avoiding public discussion of the changing dynamics. The Trump administration emphasized that security concerns would drive the administration’s decisions about what kinds of exceptions it would make to the travel ban, including for government representatives and others in an official delegation. “We want this to be a safe and secure World Cup,” White House FIFA Task Force executive director Andrew Giuliani said in a January interview. “So yeah, of course, we want the teams to be here and to play…but it’d be foolish, in understanding what Iran is going through right now, to expect that we would just open our borders.” On February 28, the United States began attacking military, governmental and civilian sites across Iran in coordination with Israel. Iran responded with its own strikes on regional neighbors, several of which are also participating in the World Cup: Iran, Jordan, Qatar and Saudi Arabia. Giuliani publicly celebrated the airstrikes, which killed numerous Iranian officials including Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, on social media. “My heart is with the thousands of American service members’ families who were victims of the Ayatollah’s ‘Death to America’ mission. The head of the snake spreading that vile message has now been cut off, and I pray the Iranian people will seize their liberty,” he wrote. “We’ll deal with soccer games tomorrow — tonight, we celebrate their opportunity for freedom.” Days later, Trump was asked by POLITICO in an interview whether he wanted Iran to send a team to the United States for the World Cup.“I really don’t care” whether Iran competes, Trump responded. The remark reverberated across the global soccer community, given the expectation that the host nation should be committed to welcoming all qualified teams. Infantino rushed to the White House to clarify the administration’s position. He and Trump spoke about the fact that Iran had qualified to participate in the tournament, and that FIFA expected to proceed as planned. Infantino struck an optimistic tone afterward, posting on Instagram late that night that Trump had reaffirmed Iran would be welcome. But by the next morning, Trump had reversed course once more. “The Iran National Soccer Team is welcome to the World Cup,” he wrote on Truth Social, “but I really don’t believe it is appropriate that they be there, for their own life and safety.” Trump’s comments came as he was pushing the Australian government, including in a conversation with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, to facilitate asylum claims by Iranian players who had been labeled “traitors” by Iranian state media for refusing to sign the national anthem before a Women’s Asian Cup match in Queensland. Most did not ultimately accept the offer to remain in Australia. Trump’s “for their own life and safety” comments stunned FIFA officials, raising questions about Iran’s participation in the tournament. The president of the country’s football federation said Tehran would “boycott the United States, but not the World Cup,” according to remarks reported by the state-affiliated Fars news agency. Sports minister Ahmad Donyamali warned that Iran would participate in the World Cup only if FIFA agreed to relocate the country’s matches out of the United States. His deputy, Alireza Rahimi, instructed Iranian athletes and artists to form a human chain around critical infrastructure to protect the facilities from U. S and Israeli attacks. A Dallas cliffhanger Iranian players, coaches and support staff are scheduled to arrive at the Westward Look Wyndham Grand Resort Spa in Arizona’s Sonoran Desert foothills by June 10 for training at the Kino Sports Complex in Tucson. The team will travel from there over the following two weeks to Los Angeles, home to the world’s largest Persian diasporic community, for matches against New Zealand and Belgium, and to Seattle, where they will face Egypt. Donyamali has proposed that FIFA relocate the country’s matches to Mexico, an unprecedented disruption in a tournament calendar that has been set since December. Mexican government officials have expressed their openness to such a solution. “Yes, Mexico maintains diplomatic relations with every country in the world,” Sheinbaum said at a March 17 press conference. “We will wait to see what FIFA decides.”Publicly, FIFA has maintained that it expects all qualified teams to participate as planned. Privately, however, Infantino and FIFA officials have been scrambling to contain the fallout. Infantino traveled to Turkey on March 31 to meet directly with Iran’s national team ahead of a friendly match against Costa Rica in the coastal town of Antalya. To be there, Infantino missed the day’s most dramatic match: a European playoff in which former World Cup champion Italy failed to qualify for this year’s tournament by losing to the 66th-ranked Bosnia-Herzegovina. Over fruit and cookies, Infantino spoke to Ghalenoei — along with senior officials from the country’s national soccer federation, including vice president Mehdi Mohammad Nabi — in an effort to show his support. “Iran will be at the World Cup,” Infantino said at halftime of the friendly match in Antalya. “That’s why we’re here.” But as the war continued to escalate, Donyamali reiterated his country’s request to move venues, arguing on April 5 that “the security of any national team participating in the World Cup abroad should be guaranteed by FIFA,” according to Turkish outlet Anatolu. Two days later, Trump threatened the death of “an entire civilization” hours before his Tuesday deadline for Iran to strike a deal with the U. S. After previously expressing her openness to hosting Iran’s matches in one of the three Mexican cities that will host World Cup matches, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said Friday that FIFA has decided against relocating them from the United States. The logistics of a move to Mexico would be complicated. The most straightforward route, according to a soccer official like others permitted to candidly discuss tournament mechanics without being named, would be to ask South Korea — the only country with all three of its group-stage matches in Mexico — to effectively swap its schedule with Iran’s. But South Korea has also begun preparing to host its base camp in Guadalajara, and might be wary to start anew at a different location. Even if such a move did work, it would offer only a temporary reprieve. If Iran graduates out of the first round to the knockout phase, the team will have to play its subsequent matches all in the United States. That could produce the most politically fraught match yet on Infantino’s watch. Were Iran and the United States to both finish second in their first-round groups — a plausible scenario based on each team’s quality and current performance — the hostile nations would face off on a field in Dallas on July 3. “Trump will want that event to be a success, too,” said Maduro, the former FIFA governance-committee chair. “Because the success of Infantino on the World Cup in the U. S. is the success of Trump.”

François Picard is pleased to welcome Jad Shahrour, journalist and Spokesperson at the Samir Kassir Foundation. Amid Israeli military operations across Lebanon, international negotiations and a ceasefire with Iran does not extend to Lebanon. The Lebanese territory remains an active battlefield. He highlights three core dynamics: the fragmentation of international narratives, the asymmetry between state authority and non-state actors within Lebanon, and the profound humanitarian and psychological toll of relentless violence, particularly on civilians, especially children.

A superpower cannot issue ultimatums, threaten the destruction of civilization, and then settle for a temporary resolution based on the adversary's own demands.

Exclusive: Ministers planning new legislation for alignment without full parliamentary scrutiny if in national interest Ministers are planning to fundamentally reshape Britain’s relationship with the European Union, with new legislation that could result in the UK signing up to EU single market rules without a normal parliamentary vote. In a major development in the prime minister’s push for closer ties with the continent after the Iran war, the Guardian understands ministers are bracing to face down opposition to “dynamic alignment” with the EU from those who “scream treason” over the powers in a new EU-UK reset bill. Continue reading...

The Democratic Party secretary stated: "Significant investments in renewable energy are needed" to prevent natural gas from "determining the price of electricity bills."

More than a hundred Chinese workers protested this Sunday in the Russian city of Komsomolsk-on-Amur (Russian Far East) due to unpaid wages at a refinery belonging to Rosneft, the largest Russian oil company, which is sanctioned by the United States and the European Union. In a video published by the Komsagram website, the workers can be seen holding banners, appealing for help from Russian President Vladimir Putin and the head of Rosneft, Igor Sechin. After the protest march, the Chinese workers sat down on the sidewalks and grass of a central avenue in the city, which has a population of just over 200,000, according to the Ostorozhno Novosti Telegram channel. Police and national guard officers arrived at the scene in vans and buses, but no arrests were made, despite the fact that the march had not been coordinated with local authorities. The mayor himself, Dmitri Zaplutayev, approached the protesters and stated that the purpose of the protest was to draw attention to the unpaid wages, a complaint that is already being investigated by the prosecutor's office, according to The Moscow Times. This is not the first time that Chinese workers at this refinery have protested against unpaid wages and demanded their repatriation to Asia due to their dissatisfaction with working conditions. Chinese and North Korean workers are employed in various regions of the Russian Far East and Eastern Siberia, in areas such as trade, factories, construction sites, and logging. Despite the increase in…

The enemy treacherously shelled the village administration building in Staraya Zbruyevka and a single-family house in Zhelezny Port the region’s governor Vladimir Saldo said

Republicans call on Trump to ‘finish the job’ while top Democrats warn against resuming hostilities Sign up for the Breaking News US email to get newsletter alerts in your inbox The failure of negotiations to end the US war with Iran has unleashed a barrage of starkly partisan political responses, with leading Republicans making hawkish calls for Donald Trump to “finish the job” while top Democrats warned that it would be disastrous for the president to resume hostilities. The former UN ambassador during Trump’s first presidency, Nikki Haley, led the Republican charge. She told CNN’s State of the Union on Sunday that the current two-week ceasefire was a test of nerves. Continue reading...

Significant damage to equipment.

The Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Sultan Al Jaber, stated this Sunday that the Strait of Hormuz has never been the property of Iran, and therefore, Iran cannot close it or restrict navigation through it. "The Strait of Hormuz has never been the property of Iran, so it cannot close it or restrict navigation through it," Al Jaber wrote on his official X profile. He is also the Director General and CEO of ADNOC. In a brief message, the Emirati minister stated that "any attempt to do so is not merely a regional issue, but rather a disruption of a vital global economic artery and a direct threat to the energy, food, and health security of all nations." "This behavior is illegal, dangerous, and unacceptable, and the world cannot afford to tolerate it or allow it to happen," Al Jaber added. The Emirati minister stated that since February 28, when the United States and Israel began a war against Iran, at least 22 ships have been attacked, 10 crew members have died, approximately 20,000 sailors are stranded and unable to transit safely, and around 800 commercial ships are stranded, including nearly 400 oil tankers. Today, the President of the United States, Donald Trump, announced that his country will take control of the Strait of Hormuz "with immediate effect"...

Central bankers and economists prepare to meet in Washington to assess conflict’s damage

President Donald Trump on Sunday announced that he is imposing a naval blockade on the Strait of Hormuz

The Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) stated this Sunday that it maintains "total control" of the Strait of Hormuz, amid growing tensions with the United States following the failure of bilateral negotiations. "All traffic is under the total control of the armed forces," the naval commander of the Iranian military body stated in a post on the social media platform X, after U.S. President Donald Trump ordered a naval blockade of the strategic waterway. In this vein, the IRGC warned that "the enemy will be caught in a deadly whirlpool in the strait if it makes a wrong move," a direct message in response to the decision announced by Washington. The statements come after the negotiations between the United States and Iran, held in Islamabad, concluded without an agreement. The talks lasted for more than 20 hours and represented the highest-level contact between the two countries since 1979. Following the failure of the talks, Trump stated that Iran will return to the negotiating table and that he seeks for Tehran to completely concede on its demands. "I predict they will come back and give us everything we want," he said in an interview with Fox News. The president also defended his previous statements against Iran and asserted that the pressure exerted by the United States was crucial in bringing Iranian authorities to the negotiating table. In this context, Washington announced the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, arguing...

Apart from that, according to Reuters, Iran refused to completely open the Strait of Hormuz and halt its financial support for Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis from the Yemeni rebel Ansar Allah movement

President Trump said Sunday that the U.S. Navy will "clean out" the Strait of Hormuz, just a few hours after he announced that the military branch will block ships from entering the passageway. "We're going to clean out the strait," Trump told host Maria Bartiromo on Fox News's "Sunday Morning Futures." The president also said…

According to the US leader, Washington is capable of destroying all the bridges and power plants in Iran in half a day.

Once a novelty, drones are now being flown by more than 5,000 large and small law enforcement agencies across the nation.

President Donald Trump’s plan to blockade the Strait of Hormuz would halt the nearly 2 million barrels a day of Iranian oil that’s been passing through the waterway, further squeezing global supply and cutting off a vital lifeline for the Islamic Republic.

Former GOP presidential candidate Nikki Haley on Sunday indicated that she won’t seek the party’s nomination in 2028. “I will not,” she responded to CNN’s Dana Bash on “State Of The Union” when asked if she would consider another White House bid. Haley, a former South Carolina governor and U. S. ambassador to the United Nations,…

America strikes back against China’s patient challenge to the U. S. currency’s supremacy.

President Donald Trump has a new series of threats for Iran after ceasefire talks in Islamabad, Pakistan failed

The billionaire's fortune has risen by 15% since Donald Trump appointed him special envoy for peace, historian Jean-Pierre Filiu observes in his column.

François Picard is pleased to welcome Aaron David Miller, former State Department Middle East negotiator, and Senior Fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Miller has spent decades working in diplomacy, and he does not see a coherent strategy playing out here, just improvisation shaped by pressure, personality, and shifting leverage. The current negotiations surrounding Iran, Israel, and Lebanon are not driven by trust or a shared vision of resolution, but by tactical necessity and asymmetric perceptions of advantage. According to Miller, the United States is seeking an exit from a conflict it chose to enter, while Iran perceives itself as strategically ascendant and therefore in no rush to compromise, despite widespread damage from relentless airstrikes. The diplomatic architecture being assembled, through intermediaries, informal envoys, and unclear mandates, reflects not strength, but fragmentation within decision-making processes. Progress will not emerge, Miller argues, from symbolic gestures or improvised channels, but from direct, disciplined negotiation grounded in an understanding of history, geography, and the legitimate interests of all actors involved.

Thousands gathered at Barcelona’s port as the largest ever Global Sumud Flotilla prepared to depart for Gaza.

The Russian President, Vladimir Putin, expressed his willingness to mediate between Iran and the United States to advance towards a diplomatic solution to the conflict in the Middle East. This occurred during a telephone conversation held this Sunday with his Iranian counterpart, Masud Pezeshkian. According to a statement from the Kremlin, Putin reaffirmed Moscow's desire to contribute to a negotiated solution in order to achieve "a just and lasting peace in the Middle East," amidst a tense situation following the failure of talks between Iran and the United States in Islamabad this weekend. In this context, Pezeshkian informed Putin about the results of the negotiations held on Saturday and Sunday in Pakistan, which concluded without an agreement after 21 hours of discussions. During the call, the Iranian leader thanked Putin for his stance aimed at "de-escalating the situation in the Middle East," as well as for the humanitarian aid provided in recent weeks. In addition, both leaders discussed strengthening bilateral cooperation and relations between Moscow and Tehran. However, the negotiations failed to resolve the main differences, which centered on the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, the release of frozen Iranian funds, and Tehran's nuclear program. From Iran, the Speaker of the Parliament, Mohamad Baqer Qalibaf, attributed the failure of the dialogue to Washington and stated that...

The longer the Strait of Hormuz remains shut, the higher oil and natural gas prices will rise, the more severe the energy crisis in the EU/UK will become, and the longer the recovery period will be, Kirill Dmitriev said

As the U. S. and Iran meet over the negotiating table in Pakistan this weekend, the outcome of Operation Epic Fury remains deeply uncertain. But one thing is clear: The war with Iran has offered a remarkably revealing snapshot of how the Trump administration really operates — inside the West Wing, across Washington and around the world. The picture that emerges is not a pretty one for President Donald Trump. The conflict has proved messier and more complex than Trump expected. The resulting energy shocks have damaged the domestic economy and alienated allies. The already-limited political support for the war at home has rapidly eroded, even among some of Trump’s erstwhile supporters. And the prospects for reaching a negotiated resolution that could satisfy both parties’ demands are far from certain. To help decipher this moment, we convened a roundtable of POLITICO reporters who have been closely covering the conflict: White House reporter Diana Nerozzi, senior Congress reporter Meredith Lee Hill, defense reporter Jack Detsch, national security reporter Daniella Cheslow, White House energy reporter Scott Waldman and senior politics reporter Liz Crampton. Here’s what our reporters have learned about Trump just over a month into the conflict — and what it suggests about where the conflict and the MAGA movement might go from here. This conversation has been edited for length and clarity. Our panelists Diana Nerozzi White House reporter, POLITICO Liz Crampton Senior politics reporter, POLITICO Jack Detsch Defense reporter, POLITICO Daniella Cheslow National security reporter, POLITICO Scott Waldman White House energy reporter, POLITICO’s E&E News Meredith Lee Hill Senior Congress reporter, POLITICO Let’s start with some top-line takeaways from everyone: Briefly, what’s the most important thing that we’ve learned about President Donald Trump and/or MAGA from the war with Iran? Daniella Cheslow: TACO Tuesday lives on! We learned that while he has the stomach for short, targeted operations in Venezuela and last year, in Iran, he does not have the appetite for long-term intervention in Iran. That’s certainly not something MAGA would be interested in — although I was surprised that some of his supporters were OK with him striking Iran alongside Israel in the first days and weeks of this operation. Diana Nerozzi: We’ve learned just how deep the fissures are in the MAGA movement on foreign conflicts. Some, like former National Counterterrorism Center Director Joe Kent, quit the administration, while other previous loyalists like Tucker Carlson and Candace Owens got into a fiery exchange with Trump, worse than we’ve ever seen before. This shows that a faction of the GOP is realigning itself, or at least is wavering, and that may have consequences for the future of the party. Jack Detsch: We learned that despite the “no foreign wars” pledge, this is a hard-power president who is keen to use the tactical power of the U. S. military to go after tough targets that have vexed other presidents. He’s willing to buck the MAGA movement — or bet the farm that they’ll ride along. Whether Trump can tie together military campaigns in Iran and Venezuela into larger U. S. strategic objectives, that’s another problem. Liz Crampton: In terms of politics, Republicans should not bank on the 2024 coalition that brought Trump back to the White House being permanent: Important blocs are angry with the GOP, particularly young men, and that makes it harder to keep them in the fold in the midterms and in 2028. There’s a much bigger appetite for anti-interventionism in the GOP, and that will determine which candidates will be able to surge in the next presidential election. Scott Waldman: For years, Trump has tied the success of his policies to gas prices and cutting energy costs. He’s learning now that one quick way to start splintering the coalition that carried you back to the Oval Office is to take actions that cause those prices to spike. Gas prices still have more climbing to do, particularly diesel, which is already near its record high set under Biden. Even the MAGA coalition is reeling from this energy shock and appears to be staying home in some recent primary and special elections. Meredith Lee Hill: We learned that the vast majority of Republicans in Congress will continue to show deference to Trump on the war and have no interest in serving as a check on Trump’s use of military force abroad. Most publicly argue he’s within his rights as commander-in-chief. Fascinating — let’s dig into some of this. Diana, it’s been reported that Trump was persuaded to join the war by several figures outside the White House — chiefly Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whose case for the war was apparently decisive in persuading Trump to act. Does that align with what you’re hearing? Nerozzi: The White House has tried to keep the influences under wraps, but reporting suggests that there were voices either pushing or putting doubt on the strikes. Trump himself has said Joint Chiefs chair Gen. Dan Caine and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth were more in favor, while Vice President JD Vance and Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard were more skeptical. The New York Times had a lengthy report showing that Netanyahu was a leading figure, as he was in the Situation Room and told Trump about the positives of the strikes, as well as the feasibility and wins it would bring the U. S. —everything Trump likes. What about Marco Rubio? Nerozzi: Rubio’s domain has been mostly in the Western Hemisphere, and we’ve seen him less on Iran. He was definitely one of the people advising Trump, and from my sense, gave a more down-the-middle assessment on what would happen if Trump went ahead with the strikes. He is not going to Pakistan for the peace talks despite being Secretary of State, showing again that he’s not at the forefront of those trying to get in the mix on the war. Meredith — as you mentioned, congressional Republicans seemed largely content to let Trump do Trump here. What are you hearing about the mood among Republicans now? Is there any second-guessing of Trump’s instincts? Lee Hill: We’ve seen some reticence from a sliver of Hill Republicans, including some younger GOP lawmakers who have served in the military and campaigned on the promise that Republicans wouldn’tpursue endless wars. Rep. Eli Crane, a Republican from Arizona who is deeply MAGA-aligned, told me his biggest concern is this turning into another long Middle Eastern war. He’s a former Navy SEAL who served five wartime deployments. And he noted that a lot of supporters and members of Congress are concerned about the idea of troops on the ground in the region. A lot of these younger Republicans, especially those who are at risk of losing their seats this fall, came to power raging against the war machine — and now I think they’re grappling with the fear that they’re becoming part of it. Other concerns I’ve started to hear is over the ceasefire negotiations — and how worried some Hill Republicans are if Iran starts tolling oil and fertilizer shipments long-term, which would be a “worst-case” scenario, one House Republican told us. Are there any signs that those younger, war-wary Republicans are prepared to act on their concerns in any way? Lee Hill: I think we’d only see those wary Republicans break with Trump if he deployed troops on the ground in Iran or in a significant way nearby. The real deadline for many of them is not for several more weeks — when the conflict hits the 60-day mark. That’s when at least a small group of them have said they would consider making the rare break with Trump to defy him on a war powers vote. What about the Democrats, Meredith? Are they unified in pushing back against the war, or are we seeing divisions in their response? If so, who has the upper hand? Lee Hill: Democrats now are pretty unified in their pushback of the war. We did see some early splintering among a group of moderate House Democrats who opposed an earlier war powers resolution to rebuke Trump’s initial strikes against Iran. But now that the war is lasting longer than they expected, those Democrats are now backing an effort by Rep. Gregory Meeks, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffriesand others to force another war powers vote in the House next week. Scott, the severity of the energy shock from the closure of the Strait of Hormuz seems to have caught the administration on the back foot. What does your reporting indicate about how prepared, or not, they were for the consequences of closing the strait? Waldman: The administration has consistently said for the last month that they were prepared for all possible outcomes and, in particular, the closing of the Strait of Hormuz. The military has conducted exercises wargaming the potential closure of Hormuz for many years, across different administrations. Before the war, Caine did warn the president about the likelihood that Hormuz would be closed. But we’re clearly seeing that the Iranians are now using control of Hormuz as their primary lever of power. All the experts I’ve talked to have said that Iran didn’t fully appreciate how much global economic pain they could cause by closing the strait, and they expect that this will be Iran’s main deterrent going forward rather than nuclear weapons. While the administration insists that they were fully prepared to deal with the closure of the strait, the fact remains that it’s basically still fully closed and there’s no clear indication as to when it will reopen despite the fragile ceasefire. Iran has stated that they will enact a toll going forward. Trump has urged the owners of oil tankers and other countries to use the strait, but has thus far refused to send any U. S. vessels through it as a demonstration of its openness. Pentagon team — any thoughts on this? Cheslow: This brings us to one of the major tension points between Trump and NATO allies. Trump has urged these allies to use force to open the Strait. But this is not something they are interested in. We have been seeing some very sharp words from France and from Spain, for instance, on the closure of the strait. By and large, European countries don’t want to secure the strait during active conflict. You do see some eastern European countries being more open to helping the U. S., but the three largest European economies — the UK, Germany, France — have been a lot colder. Scott, there seems to be a real possibility that the war will backfire on Trump’s anti-renewable energy agenda by convincing other countries that they need to transition even faster away from oil and gas. Are you seeing any preliminary indications of that happening? Waldman: The shift to more clean energy is already being talked about by a number of world leaders, particularly in Asia and Europe, where the government is asking people to work from home in some countries and gas stations are running out of fuel. The Philippines is fast-tracking 1.4 gigawatts of renewables, which is a roughly 40 percent increase in the country’s wind and solar capacity. Some European leaders are calling for the need to ramp up nuclear energy as well as solar and wind. South Korean President Lee Jae Myung said recently that relying too much on fossil fuels puts the country at risk. Last year, Trump told world leaders gathered at the United Nations that their countries would be ruined by what he calls “the green new scam” of more clean energy. The war in Iran is proving him wrong in the eyes of a growing number of world leaders. Jack, what has this taught us about where power really resides in the Pentagon? Detsch: Hegseth is running the show, but he has typically been deferential in administration debates and has never bucked the president. Caine has been somewhat skeptical of U. S. interventions in the Middle East �…

Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) criticized President Trump for withdrawing the U.S. from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) with Iran during his first term. "This is not going to be an easy negotiation because the last negotiation that led to a control of Iran's nuclear program, the U.S. made the decision to tear it…

Exiled Iranian cartoonist Mana Neyestani has a huge following back home for his biting humour. And one of his recent sketches sums up the "dilemma created by the regime" over the US-Israel bombing of his homeland and how it divides Iranians.

The announcement comes just hours after U.S. Vice President JD Vance left Islamabad following the failure of several attempts to reach a peace agreement with Tehran.

John Brennan says the president who made inflammatory remarks about destroying Iranian civilization "is clearly unhinged." The former Central Intelligence Agency director, John Brennan, has joined the growing chorus calling for the president to be removed from office, arguing that he is unfit for the job. He claims that the US Constitution's 25th Amendment, which addresses involuntary removal from office, was "written with Donald Trump in mind." Brennan, who served as the head of the intelligence agency during Barack Obama's presidency, told MS Now on Saturday that Trump's recent inflammatory remarks about destroying Iranian civilization and the danger he poses to so many lives warrant his removal from the Oval Office.

One of the world's leading AI companies has built a model so powerful that it refuses to fully release it publicly just yet, prompting urgent talks from Wall Street to financial regulators in the UK.

Reopening the critical waterway is a sticking point in negotiations as oil supply bottlenecks prompt a global energy crisis