‘Stopgap measure’ designed to keep oil flowing into global market as Middle East crisis disrupts crude shipments
The US has temporarily allowed India to buy Russian oil currently stuck at sea in an effort to keep global supplies flowing and temper further price increases.
On Thursday the US treasury issued a 30-day waiver allowing India to buy Russian oil, having previously imposed heavy sanctions related to the war in Ukraine.
Continue reading...Lawsuit says president does not have authority to impose levies and demands refunds from federal government
A coalition of Democratic attorneys general and governors across 24 US states are suing Donald Trump to block his latest round of tariffs.
The White House is planning to enact a new 15% tariff on all imports after the supreme court declared Trump’s “liberation day” tariffs illegal. The tariffs have yet to go into effect, though the White House said the new rate would start this week.
Continue reading...Critics sceptical Pentagon chief’s plan for increased military force – amid rising US intervention – will stop drug gangs
Pete Hegseth, the US defence secretary, has urged Latin American countries to adopt a more aggressive approach against drug cartels, warning that the Trump administration may otherwise act unilaterally in the region.
Hegseth’s remarks come in a context of escalating US intervention in the region, both militarily and in elections, which culminated in the capture of Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro – the first US ground military attack on a South American country.
Continue reading...Instruction comes as Israel continues to bomb Lebanon and Iran, while Tehran launches retaliatory strikes
The Israeli military has ordered the entire population of Beirut’s southern suburbs to evacuate, as it continued to bomb Lebanon and Iran, while Tehran launched retaliatory strikes against Israel and US bases across the region.
An Israel Defense Forces spokesperson told all residents of Beirut’s southern suburbs – more than 500,000 people – to “save your lives and evacuate your homes immediately”, before Israel launched airstrikes on what he described as Hezbollah targets. The area covered by the order included several hospitals and government ministries.
Continue reading...Latest outage darkens island facing dwindling oil reserves and increasing pressure from Washington
A blackout hit the western half of Cuba on Wednesday, leaving millions of people in Havana and beyond without power in the latest outage to affect an island struggling with dwindling oil reserves and a crumbling electricity grid.
The government’s Electric Union confirmed the outage on social platform X, saying it affected people from the eastern town of Pinar del Rio to the central town of Camaguey.
Continue reading...Detainees accused of coming from the US with intent to sow chaos and attack military units on Communist-ruled island
Cuban prosecutors have formally charged six people with crimes of terrorism after a US-flagged speedboat was involved in a deadly shootout with Cuba’s coast guard last week.
The US-based Cuban defendants are accused of packing a boat with weapons and heading toward Cuba in hopes of destabilising the government in Havana.
Continue reading...US president criticises prime minister for third time 24 hours, describing him as ‘not Churchill’ over initial refusal
Donald Trump has launched a deeply personal attack on Keir Starmer over his refusal to let the US launch initial strikes on Iran from British bases, telling reporters: “This is not Winston Churchill that we’re dealing with.”
In his latest extraordinary salvo, the US president said he was not happy with the UK even though the prime minister eventually agreed the US could use Diego Garcia for strikes on Iranian missile facilities.
Continue reading...Beijing can again leverage its critical minerals dominance over an increasingly busy US military, as Taiwan slides further down the White House list of priorities
As the US and Israel opened a new chapter of chaos in the Middle East, China stands to benefit from a Washington establishment that does not have the political or physical resources to focus on Asia.
Officially, China has condemned the attacks. Wang Yi, the foreign minister, called them “unacceptable” and called for a ceasefire, rhetoric that is typical of Beijing in response to Donald Trump’s increasingly erratic foreign policy moves.
Continue reading...Democrats disturbed by rationale that Trump ordered pre-emptive strikes out of concern about Tehran retaliation
Israel’s determination to attack Iran and the certainty that US troops would be targeted in response forced the Trump administration to take pre-emptive strikes, the secretary of state, Marco Rubio, said, in a new explanation for Washington’s surprise entry into the conflict.
The rationale drew divided reviews from top members of Congress who on Monday evening received the first briefing by the Trump administration since it ordered the air campaign to begin over the weekend.
Continue reading...Fears that decision to strike could be open-ended as Trump comes under pressure to spell out his vision for the country
Donald Trump is under pressure to spell out his vision for Iran amid the ongoing attacks on the country and reports of the first American casualties since the launch of unprovoked US and Israeli military strikes.
Trump’s critics are demanding that the White House provide greater clarity about what comes next. Opponents and analysts say the lack of a clear plan outlined so far has created a danger of the US being sucked into a long-lasting conflict of the sort that Trump repeatedly vowed to avoid.
Continue reading...PM is in diplomatically precarious position of declining to endorse US strikes while also refusing to condemn them
It was perhaps naive of No 10 ever to position Keir Starmer as a “Donald Trump whisperer” capable of persuading the unpredictable US president to step back from reckless decisions.
The “special relationship” has been under severe strain in recent months over the UK’s decision to give up sovereignty of the Chagos Islands and the refusal of European countries to back Trump’s play for Greenland.
Continue reading...‘They should have done it sooner, they waited too long,’ says Trump but he doesn’t say when talks would take place
Donald Trump said on Sunday that Iran’s political leadership have agreed to talks, a day after the US and Israel began to target the country’s military and political infrastructure, killing the supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and several top officials.
“They want to talk, and I have agreed to talk, so I will be talking to them,” Trump told a reporter for the Atlantic magazine on Sunday. “They should have done it sooner. They should have given what was very practical and easy to do sooner. They waited too long.”
Continue reading...Prime minister calls together emergency committee to decide UK’s response to latest fighting in Middle East
Keir Starmer is chairing a meeting of the UK government’s Cobra emergency committee as Britain decides how to respond to the US-Israeli bombing of Iran, and Tehran’s retaliation against bases in the Gulf.
The UK did not participate in the first wave of strikes early on Saturday but had deployed RAF Typhoons to Qatar to protect the al-Udeid airbase in the country and other allied military facilities in the region.
Continue reading...US president violates UN charter just days into his Board of Peace era, and chooses to take the biggest gamble of his administration
The first war of Donald Trump’s Board of Peace era has begun – an unprovoked attempt at regime change in collaboration with Israel, with no legal foundation, launched in the midst of diplomatic efforts to avert conflict, and with minimal consultation with Congress or the American public.
Trump’s recorded eight-minute address after the first bombs had fallen, made clear that this would be no limited strike aimed at cajoling Tehran into concessions at the negotiating table. He warned that if Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) did not surrender they would be killed, and the country’s armed forces, its missile and navy would be smashed.
Continue reading...Joint operation prompts Tehran to retaliate with missile attacks on bases across Middle East
Iran’s supreme leader Ali Khamenei has been killed as the US and Israel launch a war on Iran to trigger regime change, Donald Trump has claimed. The US president announced the death of the ayatollah, who has ruled Iran as supreme leader since 1989, in a post on Truth Social. “Khamenei, one of the most evil people in History, is dead,” Trump wrote.
The death of Iran’s supreme leader was announced after waves of air attacks across the country. Iran’s Red Crescent reported more than 200 deaths and 747 injuries in daylong attacks across 24 provinces.
At least 100 people were reportedly killed in a strike on a primary school in Minab, in the south-east.
Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, had earlier said there were “many signs” Khamenei was “no longer alive”, and Israeli officials briefed media that his body had been recovered.
Tehran fired retaliatory strikes against Israeli and US bases across the Middle East. Iran’s attacks targeted more than six countries, pulling in places that had been previously untouched by the escalating crisis.
In Israel, one person died and 22 others are injured, media reports say, after an Iranian missile strike hit a building in Tel Aviv. An official said the building was aflame and had partially collapsed.
In Dubai, a number of people were injured after an incident occurred at Dubai international airport, the Dubai media office has said. The Burj Al Arab and Fairmont hotels caught fire amid Iranian attacks.
The United Arab Emirates said in a statement that it had intercepted the vast majority of the 137 missiles and 209 drones fired at its territory by Iran in the hours after the US and Israel launched a regime change war on the Islamic Republic.
In Bahrain, an Iranian drone flew into a high-rise building in what looked like a targeted attack, exploding and engulfing the skyscraper in flames. Earlier, the country’s national security agency was also struck by an Iranian missile.
Social media footage also appeared to show a missile hitting the huge US naval base in Bahrain. In Kuwait, a drone crashed into the country’s main airport, wounding several employees and damaging the facility.
In Lebanon, gas stations across the country had lines 10 cars deep within an hour of the strikes. People in Beirut airport watched as commercial flights were cancelled, and grocery stores were filled with the more cautious stocking up on essential goods – the memory of the 2024 war with Israel fresh in their minds.
At least one person was killed and seven wounded during an “incident” at Abu Dhabi’s Zayed international airport, officials said after Iranian strikes targeting the United Arab Emirates and Gulf states.
Continue reading...As tensions between two countries reach new highs, US president says regime is ‘talking with us’
Donald Trump has suggested the US could carry out a “friendly takeover” of Cuba as tensions between Washington and Havana reach a new high after the capture of Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro.
As he left the White House for a campaigning event in Texas on Friday, Trump said: “The Cuban government is talking with us. They’re in a big deal of trouble.”
Continue reading...US president accuses Tehran of failing to ‘negotiate in good faith’ over its nuclear programme
Donald Trump says he has not made a final decision on whether to launch strikes on Iran but is “not happy” with the situation and military force – including regime change – remains an option.
The remarks came at the White House on Friday after talks between the US and Iran on Tehran’s nuclear programme ended inconclusively, with a suggestion that further discussions would be held next week.
Continue reading...The rationale to justify the US striking first has shifted from the country killing protesters to its developing weapons
As senior Democrats emerged from a classified briefing on Iran with the secretary of state, Marco Rubio, earlier this week, the leaders of the opposition delivered reserved, cryptic warnings of what may become the US’s largest military intervention since the Iraq war.
This was not a line in the sand against a new war in the Middle East. Instead, Democrats targeted the opaque decision-making around Donald Trump – as well as his own unpredictable whims – that could guide the weightiest foreign-policy decision of his two terms in office.
Continue reading...Mediators say more talks to be held next week but no clear evidence two sides any closer on uranium enrichment
High-stakes talks between the US and Iran over the future of Tehran’s nuclear programme ended on Thursday with the Omani mediators claiming that “significant progress” had been made and predicting the talks would reconvene at a technical level next week in Vienna.
But there was no immediate evidence to support suggestions that the two sides had drawn closer together on the fundamental issues of Iran’s right to enrich uranium and the future of its highly enriched uranium stocks.
Continue reading...People across region are bracing for possibility of conflict as embassies evacuate staff and flights are cancelled
Anxiety is growing over a potential war between Iran and the US in the Middle East, with embassies evacuating staff and airlines cancelling flights as tensions mount.
As critical talks over Iran’s nuclear programme entered their second round on Thursday night, and a vast US military buildup continued in the Middle East, the Trump administration warned of drastic consequences if Iranian negotiators failed to make significant concessions.
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