Reuters. EU countries have agreed to widen sanctions against Iran to include those responsible for blocking the Strait of Hormuz, EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said on Tuesday (April 21).   Kallas also said she had asked foreign affairs ministers at their meeting in Luxembourg to bolster the EU’s naval mission in the Middle…

Reuters. U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday (April 20) called the strikes carried out by the U.S. last year under the code name Operation Midnight Hammer a “complete and total obliteration” of Iran’s nuclear sites, as talks between the two countries remain uncertain.   The 2025 attack was the U.S. military’s only offensive action in…

Israel’s prime minister, foreign minister and military on Monday condemned the desecration of a crucifix smashed by an Israeli soldier in a southern Lebanese village home to Christians.   A photo that emerged online over the weekend shows a soldier taking the blunt side of an axe to a fallen sculpture of Jesus on the…

U.S. President Donald Trump told The New York Post that an American delegation led by Vice President J.D. Vance is traveling to Islamabad to hold negotiations with Iran. The delegation also includes the President’s special envoy Steve Witkoff and adviser Jared Kushner. Trump emphasized that the United States and Iran are inclined toward negotiations and…

The United States military seized an Iranian container ship near the Gulf in the early hours of Monday, sending tensions spiralling hours before Washington is due to send negotiators to Pakistan for talks aimed at ending their war, Al Jazeera reports.   The US Central Command (CENTCOM) and President Donald Trump claimed the Touska was…

The achievement of peace between Armenia and Azerbaijan will make a significant contribution not only in the South Caucasus, but also across the entire region, as well as on a global scale. This was stated by Vice President of Turkey Cevdet Yilmaz. “In conditions of a fully peaceful environment, an entirely new atmosphere will be…

“The Strait of Hormuz is completely open and ready for business and full passage,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “But the naval blockade will remain in full force and effect as it pertains to Iran, only, until such time as our transaction with Iran is 100% complete.”   Trump said he expects the process to…

US President Donald Trump addressed the situation in the Strait of Hormuz on his Truth Social page. “The Strait of Hormuz is completely open and ready for business and full passage, but the naval blockade will remain in full force and effect as it pertains to Iran, only, until such time as our transaction with…

US President Trump said Thursday that Israel and Lebanon have agreed to a 10-day ceasefire after meeting in Washington to try and strike a peace deal, The Hill reports. Trump wrote on Truth Social that he had an “excellent conversation” with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Lebanese President Joseph Aoun.   “These two Leaders…

Reuters. The U.S. military said late on Tuesday (April 14) that American forces have completely halted economic trade going into and out of Iran by sea through a blockade.   In a post on X, U.S. Central Command said “an estimated 90% of Iran’s economy is fueled by international trade by sea.”   Talks to…

A 14-year-old student shot at least nine people dead including eight of his fellow pupils and wounded 13 others at a middle school in southeastern Turkey on Wednesday (April 15), officials said, in the country’s second school shooting in two days.   Eight students and one teacher died in the attack in the province of…

Donald Trump asked Chinese President Xi Jinping in a letter not to give Iran ​weapons, and Xi responded that China was not supplying Tehran, the U.S. ‌president told Fox Business Network in an interview that aired on Wednesday, Reuters reports.   Trump, in the interview taped on Tuesday, did not say when the letters were…

Reuters. Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni offered support to Pope Leo on Tuesday (April 14), after the pontiff was sharply criticised by U.S. President Donald Trump.   Trump set off the furore by calling Leo “terrible” in a long tirade on Sunday (April 12). He subsequently posted an AI image depicting himself as a Jesus-like…

Reuters. A U.S. judge dismissed on Monday (April 13) Donald Trump’s defamation lawsuit against the Wall Street Journal over an article asserting the U.S. president’s name was on a 2003 birthday greeting for the late financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, but said Trump could re-file the case.   Miami-based U.S. District Judge Darrin Gayles…

Britain and France will this week co-host ​talks aimed at restoring freedom of navigation in ‌the Strait of Hormuz, including discussions on what President Emmanuel Macron described as a possible strictly defensive naval mission, Reuters reports.   The talks are intended ​to bring together Britain, France and other countries ​willing to join a peaceful multinational…

The U.S. military vowed to blockade all Iranian ports starting Monday, part of efforts to force Tehran into agreeing to open the crucial Strait of Hormuz and accepting a peace deal. Iran responded with threats on all ports in the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman, taking aim at U.S.-allied countries, AP reports.  …

The Israeli military said Saturday it had struck more than 200 Hezbollah targets in Lebanon within the last 24 hours, among them rocket launchers.   “In the last 24 hours, the army struck more than 200 Hezbollah terror targets in Lebanon. The Israeli air force continues to strike Hezbollah infrastructure and aid the ground forces…

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan held a phone call with French President Emmanuel Macron to discuss bilateral relations as well as regional and global developments, Türkiye’s Communications Directorate said on Saturday.   Macron also referred to the upcoming European Political Community Summit, scheduled to take place in Yerevan on May 4 next year, reiterating France’s…

US President Donald Trump said Friday that he is ready to use the U.S. military to resume strikes on Iran if peace talks in Pakistan are not successful, The Hill reports. “We have a reset going. We’re loading up the ships with the best ammunition, the best weapons ever made — even better than what…

Three Russian submarines conducted a “covert” operation over cables and pipelines in waters north of the UK, Defence Secretary John Healey said, BBC reports.   A British warship and aircraft were deployed to deter the “malign” activity by Moscow and there was “no evidence” of any damage to UK infrastructure in the Atlantic, he added….

Media reports about the arrival of the Iranian negotiating team in Islamabad, Pakistan, is false, an informed source told Tasnim.   “The reports by some media outlets that the Iranian negotiating team has arrived in Islamabad, Pakistan to negotiate with the Americans is completely false,” an informed source told Tasnim.   The source at the…

Armenia’s Foreign Ministry referred to the latest attack on Lebanon by Israel, when over 200 people were killed.   “Gravely saddened by hundreds of victims and more than thousand injuries resulted by airstrikes across Lebanon on April 8.    We extend our condolences for families of deceased and wish speedy recovery to all injured, expressing…

Reuters. U.S President Donald Trump said on Wednesday (April 8) all U.S. ships, aircraft, and military personnel would stay in place in and around Iran until it fully complied with a deal.   “All U.S. Ships, Aircraft, and Military Personnel, with additional Ammunition, Weaponry, and anything else that is appropriate and necessary for the lethal…

The Kremlin on Wednesday welcomed a two-week ceasefire agreed between the United States and ​Iran, and said Russia hopes that the U.S. will ‌now have the time and scope to resume three-way peace talks on Ukraine, Reuters reports.   In a call with reporters, Kremlin spokesman ​Dmitry Peskov said: “We received the news of ​a…

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Tuesday (April 7) he has agreed “to suspend the bombing and attack of Iran for a period of two weeks,” Reuters reports.   Trump said he spoke to leaders in Pakistan, which has been a mediator between Washington and Tehran and which had sought a two-week ceasefire in the…

Reuters. U.S. President Donald Trump once again exhorted Iran to make a deal by his Tuesday (April 7) deadline, saying a “whole civilization will die tonight” if an agreement is not reached to end the conflict.   “A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again. I don’t want that to happen,…

Iran’s state news agency Fars has reported that gas facilities of the Islamic Republic, including those in the Persian Gulf, have once again been targeted by Israeli and U.S. attacks. According to those reports, a series of explosions occurred in the Asaluyeh industrial area, near a refinery located at the center of Iran’s gas industry….

The Hungarian government has ordered heightened security measures along the TurkStream gas pipeline infrastructure following indications of a planned sabotage attempt on its Serbian section, Prime Minister Viktor Orban said on Sunday.   “Based on the information available to us, a sabotage action was being prepared on the Serbian section of the TurkStream pipeline supplying…

Six children were killed in strikes on the Iranian capital of Tehran last night, the city’s emergency management department said in a statement.   “Six children under the age of ten were killed in the bombing of Tehran last night,” the statement reads.   Meanwhile, the Mehr news agency reported that a residential building in…

The Iranian foreign minister said that “radioactive fallout will end life in GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) capitals, not Tehran,” following the US-Israeli air strikes that hit Iran’s Bushehr nuclear plant.   “Remember the Western outrage about hostilities near Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine?   “Israel-US have bombed our Bushehr plant four times now. Radioactive…