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Washington — As inflation rose to its highest rate in years and CBS News polling shows high prices at the pump are causing financial strain for many Americans, President Trump told reporters Tuesday, "I don't think about Americans' financial situation" as a motivation for negotiations with Iran, and said he is only concerned with preventing Iran from developing nuclear weapons. When asked by a reporter how much Americans' finances are "motivating you to make a deal," Mr. Trump responded: "Not even a little bit."

Secret new assessments say Iran has operational access to 30 of its 33 missile sites along the Strait of Hormuz, suggesting that its military remains far stronger than President Trump has asserted. The Trump administration’s public portrayal of a shattered Iranian military is sharply at odds with what U.S. intelligence agencies are telling policymakers behind closed doors, according to classified assessments from early this month that show Iran has regained access to most of its missile sites, launchers and underground facilities. Most alarming to some senior officials is evidence that Iran has restored operational access to 30 of the 33...

WASHINGTON — The estimated price tag for the war in Iran so far has jumped to $29 billion, up from the $25 billion figure given at the end of April, a senior Pentagon official revealed Tuesday. Jules Hurst, acting under secretary of Defense who serves as the de facto chief financial officer at the Pentagon, told the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense that the higher amount came from a further crunching of the numbers. “The Joint Staff team, with the comptroller team are constantly looking at that estimate, and so now we think it’s closer to [$]29 [billion],” Hurst said....

President Trump’s top economic adviser claimed Sunday that economic growth this year could clock in north of an explosive 6%, close to triple the expectations of most mainstream forecasts. White House Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett theorized that the recent capital-spending surge in March, which appears to be driven in part by an artificial intelligence-related investment bonanza from corporations, will turbocharge growth. “I think we really could be looking at numbers north of 4, north of 5, north of even 6 because there’s so much capital stock growth right now,” Hassett told Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures” when asked about...

Today’s Democratic Party has abandoned its traditional working-class, patriotic roots and embraced a radical Jacobin ideology built on division, coercion, and political extremism. For the past century, the agendas of the Democratic Party were predictable. They professed concern for working Americans and supported blue-collar unions. Unemployment insurance, a 40-hour work week, disability insurance, and Social Security were their trademarks—often rapidly achieved by growing government bureaucracies and continually raising taxes. Still, many Democrats were socially conservative. By the 1970s, Democrats still deplored antisemitism. Party officials had rejected their own segregationists to champion civil rights. Presidents like Franklin Roosevelt, Harry Truman, and...

As Iran says it's reviewing the latest U.S. proposal to end the war, it is also attempting to formalize its control over the vital shipping lanes of the Strait of Hormuz, which were free and open prior to the U.S.-Israeli attacks on Iran. Shipping intelligence firm Lloyd's List says the strait is now closed, as Iran says an agency it just created is in charge of clearing vessels for transit.President Trump is again voicing optimism for a peace deal, saying the war will be "over quickly" and insisting it's going "unbelievably well." But he also warned Wednesday that if Iran...

There was some action on Thursday as the U.S. hit some locations around the Strait of Hormuz, according to Fox.A U.S. strike on Iran’s Qeshm Port in the Strait of Hormuz and Bandar Abbas was reported Thursday, with U.S. officials telling Fox News National Security Correspondent Jennifer Griffin that this was neither a restart of the war nor an end to the ceasefire.The U.S. military also struck Iran's Bandar Kargan naval checkpoint in Minab, officials confirmed. [....]Iran’s state-run Mehr News Agency also reported attacks and exchanges of fire across Iran’s southern Hormozgan province near Bandar Abbas, Bandar Khamir, Sirik and...

Shell has revealed a surge in quarterly profits on the back of the Middle East conflict but also given an update on costly war damage to its output. The oil and gas firm reported net profits of $6.9bn (£5.1bn) for the first three months of the year. The sum is more than double the result achieved between October and December 2025 and 24% higher on the same period last year. Like rival BP last week, Shell said the main boost to its bottom line came from oil trading, while profits in its chemicals and products business quadrupled. The headline profits...

U.S. President Donald Trump said Tuesday evening he was pausing the U.S. effort to guide stranded vessels out of the Strait of Hormuz to allow time for a deal to end the Iran war, but that the American forces’ blockade of Iranian ports would remain in place. Meanwhile, Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi met with his Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi, in Beijing on Wednesday morning, the official Xinhua news agency reported, without providing further details. It was the first time since the start of the war that Araghchi has traveled to China, whose close economic and political ties to Tehran...

A new poll shows that 74 percent of people think America is winning the war with Iran. That’s according to a new Harvard CAPS/ Harris Poll taken on April 23-26, 2026. Poll: Majority in U.S. Think America Winning in War With Iran (Harvard CAPS/Harris Poll) April 23-26, 202674% think the U.S. is winning in the war with Iran, including 60% of Democrats, 91% of Republicans, and 70% of Independents. pic.twitter.com/6jHng5NCnO— Mark Dubowitz (@mdubowitz) May 3, 2026Remarkable numbers—especially given a mainstream media narrative that insists America is losing and the Islamic Republic of Iran is winning. https://t.co/FgVWL6oBUo— Mark Dubowitz (@mdubowitz) May...

Iran’s Fars news agency, citing local sources, reports two missiles hit a US navy vessel near Jask island after it ignored warnings from the Revolutionary Guard to halt. The reported attack comes after President Trump said the US will begin “Project Freedom” on Monday to “guide” stranded ships out of the Strait of Hormuz. US Central Command said it would support the effort with 15,000 military personnel, more than 100 land and sea-based aircraft, along with warships and drones.

President Trump on Friday addressed seniors at The Villages in Florida and touted his second-term achievements that have made life more affordable for those in their golden years. “I’m much, much younger than the people in this room, but I feel I can relate to you anyway,” the 79-year-old president joked at the world’s largest retirement community, before rattling off policy after policy his administration has pushed to benefit seniors. Trump lauded the “largest tax refunds of all time” received by American seniors this year thanks to his One Big Beautiful Bill Act. **SNIP** The president then tore into former...

The war between the US and Iran is “likely” to restart, a senior Iranian official predicted on the heels of comments by President Trump that the US might be “better off” without an agreement. A “renewed conflict between Iran and the United States is likely,” said Mohammad Jafar Asadi, a high-level officer in Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Iran’s leadership, which has been decimated by US strikes, wants to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and end the US blockade before reestablishing nuclear talks, according to details of its latest counterproposal, which was presented to intermediaries in Pakistan. Trump told reporters...

We heard a lot from the Democrats and media when the Trump administration launched Operation Epic Fury, arguing that there was no real threat. Now, there's a story from "60 Minutes" that actually points to how real the threat was because of the concern about the highly enriched uranium (HEU).It’s believed Iran has enough highly enriched uranium to make at least 10 nuclear bombs. What would it take for the U.S. to secure it? Sunday, 60 Minutes reports on a past covert mission code-named Project Sapphire that could be a blueprint for a similar operation in Iran.… pic.twitter.com/9qYUCnlXQJ— 60 Minutes...

The Speaker of Iran's Parliament has declared the opening of the Strait of Hormuz null and void. In a tweet posted on X, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf accused President Trump of violating the deal opening the Strait of Hormuz and said the Strait is now closed."With the continuation of the blockade, the Strait of Hormuz will not remain open."Meanwhile, CENTCOM said today they will continue the blockade until Trump tells them not to. https://t.co/1zFz6q3MVt— Natasha Bertrand (@NatashaBertrand) April 17, 2026"With the continuation of the blockade, the Strait of Hormuz will not remain open."Meanwhile, CENTCOM said today they will continue the blockade...

An Iranian negotiating delegation led by Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqher Ghalibaf arrived in Islamabad Friday ahead of Saturday’s peace talks with the United States, which Ghalibaf demanded accept Iran’s “preconditions” before talks could begin. Speaking from Islamabad, Ghalibaf claimed Iran had goodwill toward negotiations but no trust in the United States, adding that the Islamic Republic was ready to reach a deal if Washington offered what he described as a genuine agreement and granted Iran its rights, Iranian state media reported. Ghalibaf stated earlier that Tehran’s demands include a ceasefire in Lebanon, which Iran and mediating Pakistan have stated was...

The White House warned Iran Wednesday to keep the Strait of Hormuz in the Persian Gulf open amid reports that it is closing the strait over Israeli military action in Lebanon.The United States and Iran agreed to a two-week ceasefire Tuesday night but Iran claimed Wednesday that the U.S. must rein in Israel and end the fighting in Lebanon if it wants to maintain the ceasefire.White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the alleged closure of the strait, based on reports from Iranian state media, is "completely unacceptable."

Good news?

Following the US-Iran Ceasefire, Iran announced a closing of the international traffic separation scheme by mining the area and re-routing ships through a new traffic pattern within the territorial waters of Iran and under jurisdiction and control.

A fragile ceasefire agreement in the war began with bombs continuing to explode in Lebanon and contradictory statements about whether Iran will continue to control the critical Strait of Hormuz energy choke point.But the most likely scenarios moving forward involve either Iran exerting more control over global energy markets than it did before the fighting started in March, or the current tenuous agreement merely delaying another military escalation by days or weeks, geopolitical and energy experts said.