West Jerusalem must be prepared to resume attacks on Iran if necessary, Defense Minister Israel Katz has warned The US has delivered 6,500 tons of munitions and equipment to Israel within 24 hours, West Jerusalem has said. The announcement coincided with media reports claiming that the head of US Central Command, Brad Cooper, has briefed US President Donald Trump on a plan for the potential renewal of military action against Iran in a bid to pressure it to consent to a more favorable peace deal. According to Fox News, what Cooper described as the “final blow” against Tehran could include a “short and powerful wave of strikes” targeting Iran’s “remaining military assets, leadership and infrastructure.” The ceasefire in the US-Israeli war against Iran was announced on April 8 after more than a month of fighting, but attempts by Washington and Tehran to reach a dip...
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The loosely defined initiative will reportedly be pitched to foreign governments by the State Department The US is set to pitch foreign governments on a new initiative for controlling the Strait of Hormuz, with participation explicitly excluding “adversaries” Russia and China, according to media reports. The proposal was outlined in a cable sent on Tuesday by Secretary of State Marco Rubio to US embassies, which were instructed to present the plan to host governments. The Wall Street Journal first reported on the cable, with Reuters later confirming its contents. The initiative, known as the Maritime Freedom Construct (MFC), would be jointly managed by the State Department – serving as a “diplomatic operations hub” – and the Pentagon through its regional command, CENTCOM. “Your participation will strengthen our collective ability to restore freedom of navigation and protect the global economy,” the message to prospective partners states. “Collective action is essential to demons...
Pete Hegseth has dismissed US lawmakers’ “quagmire” talk, even as data shows broad opposition to the conflict US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth has stated that Americans support the US operation against Iran, a claim that stands at odds with multiple national surveys showing most adults in the nation oppose the conflict. The war, which began with a US-Israeli bombing campaign in February and was initially expected to last several weeks, has dragged on at a cost of $25 billion, leaving more than 1,300 civilians dead and triggering a global energy crunch after the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, with no clear US gains. Testifying before the House Armed Services Committee on Wednesday in his first major public appearance since the war began, Hegseth lashed out at Democrats and some Republican lawmakers who criticized the conflict and accused them of “handing propaganda to our enemies.” He accused Democrats of being “reckless, feckless, and defeatist” and questioned their loyalty. “W...
The British monarch’s trip showcases an alliance held together by shared complicity and decline King Charles III has gone to Washington, ostensibly to help the transatlantic cousins celebrate getting rid of his predecessor George III 250 years ago. But being a royally gracious loser is, of course, only a pretext. In reality, as The Economist, the premier British mouthpiece of transatlantic orthodoxy, has deplored, Charles’s mission is to salvage what’s left to be salvaged from the sinking “special relationship” between Washington and London. That the relationship is in very bad shape is obvious from the compulsive manner in which Britain’s leader Keir Starmer keeps insisting that it still exists, while also emphasizing that he “will remain laser-focused on what is in the British national interest.” Indeed, the abysmally unpopular Starmer has been subjected to so much typical Trump hazing that, as The Guardian notes , he may be enjoying “a vanishingly rare moment of public approva...
The recent fragile stabilization of the EU’s largest economy is being erased in light of the shocks of the Iran war Germany’s economy has been struggling to stay afloat in recent years. High energy costs, partly the result of rejecting cheap Russian gas, have rendered much of the country’s heavy industry uncompetitive, while its export-oriented model has come under pressure from shifting economic trends, not the least being rising competition. Germany no longer sits alone in its niche and hasn't yet adapted. Read more Middle East war fallout hits consumers worldwide After consecutive years of negative growth in 2023 and 2024, Germany eked out marginal gains in 2025. Propelling this tentative emergence from the doldrums of recession was a massive increase in government spending, aimed in particular at infrastructure and defense. Meanwhile, German exports declined for the third straight year in 2025, a stark sign that the structural malaise remains. Now, however, whatever fra...
Republican Mitch McConnell has blasted Donald Trump, claiming he has continued Joe Biden’s strategy of failing to meet Kiev’s needs The US must expand its support for Ukraine if it wants to preserve its status as a global superpower, Republican Senator Mitch McConnell has claimed. The veteran lawmaker and former Senate majority leader criticized military officials in the administration of President Donald Trump for carrying out his policy of shifting the burden of Ukraine assistance onto European NATO allies in an op-ed published by the Washington Post on Tuesday. Americans “can’t learn from a war… if they can’t properly observe it,” McConnell wrote. He called for more “military trainers” to be sent to Ukraine so they can “witness the conflict up close” and better understand the use of drones in modern warfare. China, he asserted, “is doubtless watching [the current armed conflict] closely as it refines its military investments and plans.” “If we’re keen on remaining the world’...