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Brent crude over $119 as Trump sticks with blockade A late update: Oil is now approaching its highest level since the Iran war began. Brent crude has risen over $119 a barrel, up 7% today, after president Donald Trump told Axios he will not lift a naval blockade of Iran’s ports until he secures a deal with Tehran to address the country’s nuclear program. ...

According to the report, air defense activity, including sounds of explosions and anti-aircraft fire, was heard in several districts of the city. Iranian media described the response as intercepting incoming threats. Iran’s state-run Mehr News Agency reported Thursday evening that Iranian air defense systems were actively engaging what it described as “hostile targets” in parts of the capital, Tehran. What We Know So Far Mehr News and other semi-official outlets (including Nour News) confirmed the activation of air defenses. Eyewitness videos circulating on social media show flashes in the night sky, plumes of smoke, and what appears to be ground-based...

While the Fake News Media and the same doomsday “experts” who’ve been wrong for decades scream about “Trump chaos” and “imperial overreach,” President Trump is quietly executing the boldest strategic master plan in a generation. It’s not just about seizing Venezuela’s massive reserves or finally crushing Iran’s terror-sponsoring regime. Those moves are chess pieces in a far bigger game: total containment of Communist China — and, beyond even that, the permanent re-assertion of Pax Americana for the rest of the 21st century. The globalist intellectuals are melting down because their beloved “multipolar world” fantasy is collapsing in real time. Everyone...

The U.S. blockade of Iranian ports will continue, and the ceasefire with Iran will be extended, President Donald Trump said Tuesday, citing "serious fractures” within the Iranian regime. “Based on the fact that the government of Iran is seriously fractured, not unexpectedly so, and, upon the request of Field Marshal Asim Munir and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif of Pakistan, we have been asked to hold our attack on the country of Iran until such time as their leaders and representatives can come up with a unified proposal,” Trump said in a post shared on Truth Social. “I have therefore directed...

Updated April 21, 2026, 9:54 a.m. ET WASHINGTON — President Trump has rejected the idea of letting talks with Iran keep going if they run past tomorrow’s cease-fire expiration without a deal in place. “Well, I don’t want to do that. We don’t have that much time,” Trump told CNBC’s “Squawk Box” Tuesday morning when asked about the idea. “They have to negotiate. And, you know, the one thing I’ll say is this: Iran can get themselves at a very good footing. If they make a deal, they can make themselves into a strong nation again, a wonderful nation again,”...

President Donald Trump confirmed that the U.S. has no plans to extend its ceasefire with Iran on Monday. Trump made the statement during an interview with PBS News after he was asked what will happen if the deadline is reached Tuesday evening without a peace deal. "Then lots of bombs start going off," Trump said. On the status of peace talks in Pakistan, Trump said simply, "I don't know." "I mean, they're supposed to be there. We agreed to be there, although they say we didn't. But no, it was set up. And we'll see whether or not it's there....

Iran’s parliamentary speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf sent a direct warning to President Donald Trump Monday on X, saying that Iran will not accept negotiations with the U.S. while under threat. "Trump, by imposing a blockade and violating the ceasefire, seeks, in his view, to turn the negotiating table into a table of surrender or to justify renewed warmongering," he said. "We do not accept negotiations under the shadow of threat, and over the past two weeks, we have prepared to reveal new cards on the battlefield," Ghalibaf added. Ghalibaf led the Iranian delegation in talks with Vice President J.D. Vance...

President Donald Trump on Monday said it was "highly unlikely" he would extend the ceasefire with Iran past Wednesday evening if Tehran did not reach agreement to end the conflict.The ceasefire with Iran is set to expire this week and hostilities could resume after talks in Islamabad, Pakistan, failed to result in a permanent agreement. Trump told Bloomberg on Monday that it was "highly unlikely" he would seek to renew or extend the ceasefire. The U.S. has sought a commitment from Iran to never possess a nuclear weapon, an end to its funding of proxy groups in the region, and...

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky has condemned a US decision to extend the period during which Russia is allowed to sell oil despite Western sanctions. The move means countries can purchase Russian oil and petroleum products already loaded on vessels at sea until 16 May. The US argues that the waiver is meant to ease the energy supply crunch sparked by the US-Israel war with Iran. But in his remarks on Sunday, Zelensky said "every dollar paid for Russian oil is money for the war" in Ukraine. Widespread sanctions have been in place against Russia since President Vladimir Putin launched his...

A photo of an Israeli soldier smashing a statue of Jesus Christ with a sledgehammer in southern Lebanon has sparked widespread condemnation. Israeli officials confirmed the image is genuine and ‘promised to investigate’. Video on link...

...Wars are easy to start but rather harder to stop - and, as Washington should have learned in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria, when they do eventually stop, it's not in any place that would have seemed remotely plausible back when you started. In Kabul, you hand the Taliban back more territory than they'd held twenty years earlier; in Baghdad, you invest a fortune in blood and treasure to create a highly functional client state of Iran; in Damascus, you buy a new suit for the al-Qaeda honcho's blood-soaked deputy you let talk his way out of Abu Ghraib, and then...

This map provides yet more evidence there was no long-game strategy behind Trump's decision to launch the catastrophic 28 Feb sneak attack on Iran. The entire world may crash into a great depression, and even famine, but island nations will suffer the most. And island nations are many of our most important allies.The INSTC cuts shipping time from Russia to India in normal times, and during the shutdown of the Strait of Hormuz, it still connects Iran to all of Asia.The North-South route also means Russia is less dependent on sending ships through the Baltic, North Sea, North Atlantic and...

They’re holed up in a bank demanding three large pizzas, a helicopter, and a personal phone call from Sydney Sweeney. . . ."— Greg Gutfeld on Iran’s negotiating position. The Russians have a phrase for it: negotiation-incapable (ne peregovorosposobny). That is what the Iran delegation demonstrated during a long day of talks with the US team over the weekend in Islamabad. What part of “no nukes” didn’t they understand? All of it, apparently. The corollary question on the table — arguably more pressing for Iran — was: how much more punishment are you willing to suffer to sustain your dream...

As media hype falters and globalists posture, Trump’s campaign to secure the world’s chokepoints reshapes power—and leaves Iran and its allies with little leverage left. Possibly the most amusing fake news item Saturday morning came from The New York Times. Under the rubric “Iran War Live Updates,” a headline screamed, “Iran’s Military Says It Has Reimposed ‘Strict Control’ of Strait of Hormuz.” To which an inquiring mind wants to know, “What Iran military?” It’s gone, Kemo Sabe. The floating bits are at the bottom of the sea. The terrestrial bits have been crushed, blasted, pulverized, or incinerated. Ditto most of...

Israel Defense Forces @IDFFollowing the completion of an initial examination regarding a photograph published earlier today of an IDF soldier harming a Christian symbol, it was determined that the photograph depicts an IDF soldier operating in southern Lebanon.The IDF views the incident with great severity and emphasizes that the soldier’s conduct is wholly inconsistent with the values expected of its troops.The incident is being investigated by the Northern Command and is currently being addressed through the chain of command. Appropriate measures will be taken against those involved in accordance with the findings.Furthermore, the IDF is working to assist the community...

President Donald Trump once again threatened to strike core Iranian infrastructure, including power plants and bridges, in a lengthy Truth Social post on Sunday morning. The post comes after the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) reneged on a previous agreement to open the Strait of Hormuz and fired on multiple civilian vessels over the weekend. “Iran decided to fire bullets yesterday in the Strait of Hormuz — A Total Violation of our Ceasefire Agreement! Many of them were aimed at a French Ship, and a Freighter from the United Kingdom. That wasn’t nice, was it?” the president wrote. Trump once...

Donald Trump convened an emergency situation room meeting with his inner circle on Saturday to discuss the precarious Strait of Hormuz situation, according to a report. The president met with Vice President JD Vance, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, among others, Axios reported, citing two US officials. White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, Envoy Steve Witkoff, CIA Director John Ratliffe, and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Dan Caine also reportedly attended. The meeting comes amid reports that US soldiers are preparing to storm Iran-backed ships 'in a matter...

US intelligence assessments have suggested that Iran likely still has access to around 70 percent of its pre-war ballistic missile stockpiles, and around 60 percent of its missile launchers, The New York Times reports. It also still retains around 40% of its drone arsenal, the report says, citing US intelligence and military officials. According to the Times, when a two-week ceasefire came into effect between Iran and the US on April 8, Tehran had access to around half of its ballistic missile launchers. Since then, the report says it has managed to dig out another 100 launchers from under the...

s the Trump administration weighs a second round of U.S.-Iran talks, the failure of negotiations in Pakistan is fueling concern about whether its envoys can deliver a deal. Former diplomats tell TIME that Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff, who led the Iran negotiations with Vice President JD Vance, lack the expertise and diplomatic experience needed to secure an agreement. That, they warn, risks prolonging the war and further destabilizing the global economy. “Iran and the U.S. under Kushner and Witkoff? Failure. They get an F in diplomacy,” said Aaron David Miller, a former US State Department Middle East negotiator who...

A regional intelligence official told Fox News that the Strait of Hormuz is "under full IRGC control and effectively closed at this moment." "Multiple vessels have been forced to turn around since this morning as they attempted to pass through the Strait," the official said. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) "opened fire on at least one vessel as part of the closure policy they declared last night," the official added. This comes after Iran’s joint military command said on Saturday that “control of the Strait of Hormuz has returned to its previous state" and is "under strict management and...