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A curated weekday guide to major news and developments over the last 24 hours. Here’s today’s news:
IRAN WAR
President Trump yesterday renewed his threat to begin “completely obliterating” Iranian power plants, oil production facilities, and “possibly all desalinization plants” if Iran’s leaders did not agree to reopen the Strait of Hormuz immediately. A spokesperson for the Iranian foreign ministry yesterday maintained that Iran had held no negotiations with the United States and would not do so while the military campaign continues. Cheyanne M. Daniels reports for POLITICO; Ephrat Livni reports for the New York Times.
Trump told his aides he is willing to end the U.S. military campaign against Iran, even if the Strait of Hormuz remains largely closed, administration officials told the Wall Street Journal. In recent days, Trump and his aides assessed that prioritizing reopening the strait would push the conflict beyond his timeline of four to six weeks. Instead, he has decided the U.S. should focus on targeting Iran’s navy and missile capabilities, then begin winding down military operations while using diplomatic pressure to push Tehran to restore normal trade flows, the sources said. If that fails, Washington would press allies in Europe and the Gulf to take the lead on reopening the strait, the officials added. Alexander Ward and Meredith McGraw report.
Gasoline in the United States crossed an average of $4 a gallon today. Iran’s parliament yesterday approved an initial plan to institute a toll in the Strait of Hormuz, according to Iranian news agency Fars. Emmet Lindner reports for the New York Times.
An Iranian attack struck a Kuwaiti tanker near Dubai early this morning, according to the Kuwait Petroleum Corporation. There was no oil leakage from the loaded tanker, the authorities in the United Arab Emirates said. Francesca Regalado reports for the New York Times.
Israel and the United States launched a new wave of strikes on Iran today, hitting Tehran in the early morning hours. Trump shared a video which appeared to show a massive attack on Isfahan. Fire-tracking satellites from NASA suggest the explosion happened near Mount Soffeh, an area believed to have military positions. Jon Gambrell reports for AP News.
IRAN WAR – POLITICAL RESPONSE
Italy has denied permission for U.S. military aircraft to land at the Sigonella air base in Sicily before flying to the Middle East, a source said today. The source did not specify how many aircraft were involved or when Rome declined to give permission. Reuters reports.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy yesterday said that “historic” security agreements had been reached with Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Qatar during his tour of the Middle East. Zelenskyy’s trip was focused on sharing Ukraine’s expertise in countering Iranian-designed drones in return for “corresponding security cooperation,” he said during his nightly video address. Reuters reports.
“I only see benefits for Russia from the war with Iran continuing,” Zelenskyy told Axios yesterday. Zelenskyy said that Russia’s economy is getting a boost from surging oil prices and the loosening of U.S. sanctions, while the conflict leads to shortages of air defense interceptors and other weapons that Ukraine desperately needs. Barak Ravid reports.
LEBANON
Two U.N. peacekeepers traveling in a convoy were killed when it was “struck by an explosion of undetermined origin” in southern Lebanon yesterday, according to a U.N. report. The U.N. Security Council will convene an emergency session today following the killing of three peacekeepers in the last two days. The Israeli military said yesterday that it was “aware of the reports” and that it was “thoroughly” reviewing the circumstances, adding “it should not be assumed” the peacekeepers were harmed by the Israeli military. Euan Ward reports for the New York Times; Ephra Livni reports for the New York Times; AP News reports.
ISRAEL-GAZA WAR
Israeli airstrikes killed at least four people in Gaza yesterday, local health officials said. Medics said three people were killed and two others wounded when an Israeli plane fired a missile at a group of Palestinians near the Zeitoun neighbourhood. The Israeli military said it had struck and killed members of a Hamas armed cell. Another airstrike killed one person and wounded six others outside a community kitchen in the Nuseirat camp in central Gaza. Nidal Al-Mughrabi and Ali Sawafta report for Reuters.
WEST BANK VIOLENCE
Israel’s parliament yesterday passed a law that makes death by hanging the default sentence in Israeli military courts for Palestinians convicted of deadly attacks. Israeli citizens could also face the death penalty for killings intended to “negate the existence of the State of Israel.” “The intent is clearly for the law to apply to Palestinians and not to Jewish terrorism at all,” Yoav Sapir, a former head of Israel’s public defenders office said, adding that the statute’s discriminatory provisions will most likely lead the Supreme Court to strike it down. Aaron Boxerman and Johnatan Reiss report for the New York Times.
SUDANESE CIVIL WAR
Rape and sexual violence remain “part of everyday life” in areas of Sudan, even when fighting in the civil war has moved elsewhere, according to a Doctors Without Borders (Médecins Sans Frontières) report published today. The report is based on testimonies from 3,396 victims who sought treatment in MSF-supported facilities across North and South Darfur from Jan. 2024 to Nov. 2025. Barbara Plett Usher reports for BBC News.
OTHER GLOBAL DEVELOPMENTS
An attack near Petite-Riviere in Haiti on Sunday killed at least 70 people and injured 30, according to a human rights group. Police initially reported 16 dead and 10 injured. The Defenseurs Plus group said it estimated 6,000 people had been displaced by the violence. The U.N. estimated that more than 2,000 people left their homes in recent days following raids by armed gangs nearby. Steven Aristil and Natalia Siniakwski report for Reuters.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said yesterday that he and Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa hope that 80 percent of the Syrians in Germany will return home in the next three years. Merz provided little detail on how the returns would come about. Bethany Bell reports for BBC News.
U.S. CARIBBEAN AND PACIFIC OPERATIONS
The State Department yesterday announced the reopening of the U.S. Embassy in Venezuela. Finya Swai reports for POLITICO.
Responding to questions yesterday about why the U.S. Coast Guard allowed a Russian tanker full of crude to reach Cuba despite blocking other countries from doing the same, the White House said that the United States would evaluate oil shipments to Cuba on a “case-by-case basis for humanitarian reasons or otherwise.” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt added that there has been “no firm change in our sanctions policy,” and declined to answer whether the administration was comfortable with Mexico now sending oil to Cuba. Zolan Kanno-Youngs, Anton Troianovski, and Maria Abi-Habib report for the New York Times.
U.S. IMMIGRATION DEVELOPMENTS
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services announced yesterday that it will resume processing some asylum applications, after it halted all claims following the shooting of two National Guard members in November. “USCIS has lifted the adjudicative hold for thoroughly screened asylum seekers from non-high risk countries,” an agency spokesperson said. USCIS did not say which countries were considered “non-high risk.” Jasper Ward reports for Reuters.
The Mexican government yesterday vowed to take legal steps against the Trump administration over conditions in U.S. detention facilities. Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said that Mexico would file a brief in support of a federal lawsuit over detention conditions and raise the issue with the Organization of American States. The rebukes from Mexico came after ICE announced that another Mexican man had died in a detention facility in California last Wednesday. Tim Arango, Jazmine Ulloa, and Allison McCann report for the New York Times.
U.S. DOMESTIC DEVELOPMENTS
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s broker at Morgan Stanley contacted BlackRock in February about making a multibillion-dollar investment in the asset manager’s Defense Industrial Active ETF shortly before the United States launched military action against Iran, sources said. The investment did not go ahead as the fund was not yet available for Morgan Stanley clients to buy. Three sources said the inquiry was flagged internally at BlackRock. Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell said yesterday, “This allegation is entirely false and fabricated. Neither [Hegseth] nor any of his representatives approached BlackRock about any such investment.” Paul Murphy, Harriet Agnew, Joshua Franklin, and James Politi report for the Financial Times.
Rep. Eric Swalwell’s (D-CA) lawyers sent a cease-and-desist letter to the FBI yesterday seeking to block the release of files from a decade-old investigation into Swalwell’s ties to a suspected Chinese spy. Chris Cameron reports for the New York Times.
Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) yesterday issued an executive order that requires safety and privacy guardrails for AI companies contracting with the state. “We’re not going to sit back and let that happen,” Newsom said in a statement, referring to Trump’s effort to supersede state action on AI. Cecilia Kang reports for the New York Times.
Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) yesterday signed legislation renaming Palm Beach International Airport after Trump. Andrew Atterbury reports for POLITICO.
The Justice Department’s inspector general has apparently ignored 20 instances of possible wrongdoing by the Trump administration, according to lawyers for the DOJ whistleblower Erez Reuveni. “The epidemic of alleged misconduct has been met with a shrug by the agency whose job it is to address such allegations,” the lawyers said in a letter yesterday sent to the leaders of the House and Senate Judiciary Committees. Devlin Barrett reports for the New York Times.
TRUMP ADMINISTRATION ACTIONS
Over two dozen U.S. onshore wind projects are stalled due to Pentagon delays in carrying out the necessary reviews. The American Clean Power Association is waiting to hear back on a letter it sent earlier this month to Assistant Secretary of Defense for Energy, Installations, and Environment Dale Marks asking him to explain what is causing the delays. Amy Harder reports for Axios.
TRUMP ADMINISTRATION LITIGATION
The Trump administration filed a lawsuit yesterday against the Minnesota Education Department and the group in charge of interscholastic athletics, accusing both of violating civil rights protections for girls by allowing transgender students to participate on girls’ sports teams. Michael C. Bender reports for the New York Times.
Did you miss this? Stay up-to-date with our Litigation Tracker: Legal Challenges to Trump Administration Actions.
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