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Iran war is weakening Europe, says Erdoğan
The US-Israeli war against Iran is “starting to weaken Europe”, Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has told his German counterpart.
Erdoğan said:
The war in our region is likewise starting to weaken Europe, and if we do not address this situation with an approach that prioritises peace, the damage caused by the conflict will be far greater.”
Erdoğan made the comment to Frank-Walter Steinmeier on Wednesday, according to a statement from the Turkish leader’s office, cited by AFP.
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Analysis: US and Iran vie for most effective blockade
Patrick Wintour
Donald Trump’s indefinite shelving of the plan to bomb Iran’s bridges and power stations on Tuesday night is being widely described as leaving the conflict in limbo, but that is anything but the truth.
Pakistan insists the prospect of talks in Islamabad has not evaporated, and positive messages are still being exchanged, but in the meantime the site of kinetic activity has switched from land to sea.
Both sides are vying to prove they can enforce their blockade of the strait of Hormuz more effectively than the other. It has become a form of gunboat diplomacy brought to life in the most significant geopolitical waterway in the world.
Iran, by firing at and seizing commercial ships trying to navigate the strait, is trying to send a message that it can maintain its chokehold on the world economy.
The US, through its blockade of Iranian ports, is trying something more immediate. Through sanctions and naval action, it is attempting to make the Iranian economy collapse as Tehran runs out of space to store the oil it is producing and cannot export due to the blockade.
It is a trial of strength in which both sides believe they have time on their side.
You can read the full analysis here:
In the US Senate, Republicans have defeated another resolution on war powers that called for an end to US hostilities against Iran.
The 51-46 vote was mostly along party lines.
It was the fifth time this year that the Senate voted to cede its war powers to Donald Trump over a conflict Democrats say is unjustified and illegal.
Lebanon to request truce extension at coming talks with Israel
Israel and Lebanon are to hold a new round of talks in Washington on Thursday during which Beirut reportedly plans to request a one-month extension of the ceasefire due to expire in days.
Israel said ahead of the talks that it had no “serious disagreements” with Lebanon, calling on it to “work together” against Hezbollah, which opposes the negotiations and isn’t taking part.
The two countries’ direct talks on 14 April were their first in decades and the US soon after announced the 10-day truce, set to expire on Sunday.
As in the last round, US secretary of state Marco Rubio will bring together Israeli ambassador Yechiel Leiter and Lebanese ambassador Nada Hamadeh Moawad, in the presence of the US ambassador to Lebanon, Michel Issa.
The US ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, is now also expected to join the meeting, a state department official told AFP.
A unnamed Lebanese official told the news agency that Lebanon would request a month-long extension of the truce, as well as “an end of Israel’s bombing and destruction in the areas where it is present, and a commitment to the ceasefire”.
Lebanese president Joseph Aoun said on Wednesday that “contacts are underway to extend the ceasefire period”.
Oil prices jump amid war standoff
Oil prices leapt 4% on Thursday after Iran vowed not to reopen the strait of Hormuz amid the US naval blockade despite the ceasefire extension.
Around 0025 GMT, the benchmark US oil contract West Texas Intermediate (WTI) rose 4.06% to $96.73 a barrel.
oil benchmark Brent North Sea crude climbed 3.62% to $105.63.
Both eased back minutes after.
More now on Israeli strikes in southern Lebanon killing journalist Amal Khalil and wounding a photographer accompanying her, according to a senior Lebanese military official and Khalil’s employer.
There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military on Khalil’s death on Wednesday. Earlier, it said in a statement it had received reports that two journalists were injured as a result of its strikes.
The death of Khalil, 43, brought the death toll to five people on Wednesday – the deadliest day since a 10-day truce between Israel and Hezbollah was announced on 16 April.
Khalil and freelance photographer Zeinab Faraj were covering developments near the town of al-Tayri when an Israeli strike hit the vehicle in front of them, Reuters is reporting. They ran into a nearby house, which was then also targeted by an Israeli strike, said Lebanon’s health ministry, the senior Lebanese military official and press advocates.
Lebanese rescuers were able to retrieve Faraj, who had suffered a head wound, according to Elsy Moufarrej, who runs the Union of Journalists in Lebanon.
When rescuers returned to help Khalil, the Israeli military dropped a sound grenade, blocking their access to the damaged building, Moufarrej and the senior military official said.
Lebanese prime minister Nawaf Salam said the targeting of journalists and the obstruction of relief efforts constituted “war crimes”. He posted on X (translated here):
Israel’s targeting of media workers in the south while they carry out their professional duties is no longer isolated incidents, but has become an established approach that we condemn and reject, as do all international laws and conventions.
Lebanon will spare no effort in pursuing these crimes before the competent international forums.”
The Al-Akhbar newspaper, Khalil’s employer, announced her death on its website.
The Israeli military in its earlier statement denied it prevented rescue teams from reaching the area.
United Airlines has implemented broad-based rises of 15-20% on fares as it seeks to offset the surge in petrol prices while protecting profits, executives say.
The big US carrier has also cut its 2026 flying capacity by 5%.
Chief executive Scott Kirby described oil prices as “incredibly volatile” amid the war in Iran but said the company’s plan was based on the assumption that “fuel may remain higher for longer.”
The airline was yet to see pullback from customers due to high fares but United might cut back additional flights in 2027 if demand dropped, Kirby said on Wednesday, quoted by AFP.
The airline says it expects fuel prices to average $4.30 a gallon in the year’s second quarter, up 55% from the first quarter average.
Other airlines have also announced fare increases and capacity curtailments in response to the surge in oil prices amid the Middle East war.
The head of the Air Transport Association last Friday called on authorities to put “well-coordinated plans in place” in case of jet fuel rationing.
Iran war is weakening Europe, says Erdoğan
The US-Israeli war against Iran is “starting to weaken Europe”, Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has told his German counterpart.
Erdoğan said:
The war in our region is likewise starting to weaken Europe, and if we do not address this situation with an approach that prioritises peace, the damage caused by the conflict will be far greater.”
Erdoğan made the comment to Frank-Walter Steinmeier on Wednesday, according to a statement from the Turkish leader’s office, cited by AFP.
US navy secretary to leave office ‘immediately’, says Pentagon
The Pentagon has announced that US secretary of the navy John Phelan will depart the office “immediately”, without providing an explanation for his sudden exit.
The move amid the US naval blockade of Iranian ports comes after the US army’s top officer, Gen Randy George, and two other senior officers were removed earlier this month during the continuing war with Iran.
Phelan “is departing the administration, effective immediately”, Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell said on X on Wednesday, adding that undersecretary Hung Cao – Phelan’s deputy – would replace him in an acting capacity.
The exit just a day after Phelan addressed a large crowd of sailors and industry professionals at the navy’s annual conference in Washington DC, and spoke with reporters about his agenda – see our full report here.
Donald Trump has overseen a purge of top military personnel since returning to office early last year, including the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, Gen Charles “CQ” Brown, whom he fired without explanation in February 2025.
Other senior officers dismissed include the heads of the US navy and coast guard, the general who headed the Security Agency, the vice-chief of staff of the air force, a navy admiral assigned to Nato and three top military lawyers, reports Agence France-Press.
The chief of staff of the air force also announced his retirement without explanation just two years into a four-year term, while the head of US Southern Command retired a year into his tenure.
Trump hasn't set Iran deadline to submit peace proposal, says White House
Donald Trump has not set a deadline on Iran submitting a peace proposal, the White House said on Wednesday.
The US president on Tuesday announced he was indefinitely extending a ceasefire with Iran at the request of mediator Pakistan until Tehran responded to the US’s negotiating positions or until talks were concluded “one way or the other”.
Trump also said the US would continue its naval blockade of Iranian ports.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told journalists on Wednesday:
The president has not set a firm deadline to receive an Iranian proposal, unlike some of the reporting I’ve seen today.
Ultimately, the timeline will be dictated by the commander in chief.
Lebanon’s prime minister is reportedly saying Israel is targeting journalists and obstructing relief effort and that that constitutes war crimes.
Nawaf Salam also said Lebanon would spare no effort in pursing those crimes with relevant international bodies.
We’ll have more on his comments soon.
As mentioned earlier, Al Jazeera reported that the employer of Lebanese journalist Amal Khalil confirmed she was killed in an Israeli attack earlier on Wednesday.
Interim summary
Israeli strikes in southern Lebanon killed a journalist after rescuers were blocked from accessing the building where she was buried under rubble because of further Israeli fire, according to several witnesses. Amal Khalil was covering developments near the town of al-Tayri with the photographer Zeinab Faraj when an Israeli strike hit the vehicle in front of them. They ran into a nearby house, which was then also targeted by an Israeli strike, according to Lebanon’s health ministry.
Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, the speaker of the Iranian parliament and lead negotiator, said that reopening the strait of Hormuz would be “impossible” while the US and Israel committed “flagrant” breaches of the ceasefire, including the US naval blockade, “the hostage-taking of the world’s economy” and “Zionist warmongering”. He added in a post on X that the US and Israel “did not achieve their goals through military aggression, nor will they through bullying”.
Donald Trump is “satisfied” with the naval blockade, and “understands Iran is in a very weak position” – according to the White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt. She highlighted that reports of a three-to-five-day deadline for the extended ceasefire are “not true”. “The cards are in President Trump’s hands right now,” she told the media during a press conference in Washington.
Lebanese state media reported that Israeli strikes killed at least four people in southern Lebanon on Wednesday. Hezbollah launched, according to the report, a drone attack against Israeli forces in the region, which further jeopardizes the US-brokered ceasefire. The News Agency (NNA) said an Israeli strike hit a car in Tayri, a village in south Lebanon, killing two people inside. An Israeli airstrike in the southern town of Yohmor killed another two people, the NNA and Lebanon’s health ministry said.
Two Palestinians, including a 14-year-old schoolboy, have been killed in the occupied West Bank after Israeli settlers opened fire near a school amid mounting assaults on education in the territory, witnesses and local officials have said. The Palestinian health ministry said Aws al-Naasan, 14, and Jihad Abu Naim, 32, were killed in the attack on the village of al-Mughayyir, in which three others were wounded.
Shah Meer Baloch
Across Islamabad, there is lockdown. The streets of the Pakistani capital have been empty for days, shops have been shuttered and public transport closed down. Officials and office workers have been told to work from home, while labourers have found themselves deprived of work. The only visible figures are those in army and police uniforms lining the roads.
For many, it feels like a return to the pandemic. Yet the cause is not a virus but Islamabad’s status as the venue for US-Iran talks that hold the promise of an end to war in the Middle East, with stringent security measures imposed on the city as it awaits the two delegations.
Yet as uncertainty reigns over whether the negotiations will even take place, anger has been rising. For people, the draconian and seemingly indefinite restrictions have become a source of frustration and economic strife.
Many workers in Islamabad and neighbouring Rawalpindi unable to afford to rent a flat were unceremoniously kicked out of their hostel accommodation on Saturday, after a government order, and tens of thousands had to hurriedly find a place to say.
Day after day, with the promised talks failing to materialise, and the city’s lockdown repeatedly extended, many are questioning how long they will be kept away from their livelihoods.
Read the full story by my colleague Shah Meer Baloch:
