NEWS

There is a risk of significant travel disruption during what is predicted to be the busiest Easter weekend in four years for drivers.

Bridges could close and ferry services may be cancelled, with possible delays to planes, trains and buses.

Rough seas and large waves will bring dangerous conditions around the coasts.

Parts of north-west Scotland are also covered by a Met Office yellow warning for rain and snow.

At low levels, especially in the Western Isles and Skye, up to 50mm (2in) of rain could fall with the potential for flooding.

Meanwhile hills and mountains above 200m (650ft) are likely to see snow, with 5-10cm (2-4in) expected to accumulate, and a small chance of 20cm (8in) in a few places.

Coupled with the strong winds this could give blizzards, snowdrifts and very poor visibility on the roads.

In the event of an emergency, the U-turn is the fastest way home in the first 36 hours after the TLI. After that it can be just as quick, and often simpler, to stay on course around the Moon and fall back to Earth, Orion programme manager Howard Hu said before the launch.

A photographer on a flight over Greenville, Texas, captured an especially good look at one of the U.S. Air Force’s RC-135V/W Rivet Joint aircraft with its usual paint scheme completely stripped off. Instead, much of its skin is seen covered with a green-colored protective coating. The airliner-sized, C-135-based Rivet Joints are powerful multi-purpose intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) aircraft that can scoop up details about an opponent’s air defenses and other assets from their electronic emissions, as well as intercept communications chatter.

Dylan Phelps took the picture of the ‘naked’ Rivet Joint, seen at the top of this story, while flying over Greenville Municipal Airport, also known as Majors Field, at the tail end of a recent trip across the middle of the United States. Phelps flew in a Cessna 182 piloted by Curt Lewis.

L3Harris has a facility at the airport in Greenville where the Air Force’s Rivet Joints and other RC-135 variants routinely go to receive upgrades, as well as undergo higher-level maintenance. L3Harris performs similar work there on a variety of other large U.S. military special mission and VIP planes. This kind of work also often involves stripping and repainting the aircraft.

Rivet Joints are “perhaps the most sophisticated airborne surveillance and reconnaissance platform in the world,” Jon Rambeau, President of L3Harris Integrated Mission Systems, told reporters at the Royal International Air Tattoo (RIAT) in the United Kingdom last July, according to FlightGlobal. “The aircraft gets a full tip-to-tail refresh every four years – that’s the airframe as well as all the technology that resides inside it.”

With its paint stripped off, the sheer volume of antennas that dot the top of the Rivet Joint’s fuselage really stands out. Not visible from this particular viewpoint are the arrays of additional antennas underneath the aircraft. The RC-135V/Ws also carry additional systems in their elongated noses and “chipmunk cheeks” on either side of the forward fuselage. The Automatic Electronic Emitter Locating System (AEELS) is one of the things that has been contained inside the cheek fairings, at least in the past.

The Air Force’s current fleet of 17 Rivet Joints are the latest iterations of RC-135 variants that first entered service in the early 1960s. The United Kingdom is currently the only other operator of the Rivet Joint, with the Royal Air Force (RAF) flying three of these aircraft. The image from Greenville underscores how, despite the age of these assets, they continue to get new capabilities, as exemplified by the multiple high-bandwidth satellite communications terminals now seen on their spines.

Specific details about their capabilities are classified, but the RC-135V/Ws are known to be able to detect, geolocate, categorize, and monitor a variety of different signals and whatever is transmitting them. As such, the aircraft can gather valuable intelligence about the capabilities of those emitters, which can include air defense radars and command and control nodes, as well as just map out their locations. In this way, the jets provide information that is invaluable for creating so-called “electronic orders of battle” detailing an opponent’s force posture during peacetime, as well as in the lead-up to a major campaign. Rivet Joints can then continue to provide that kind of support during combat operations, helping keep tabs on changes in an enemy’s disposition on the battlefield.

As noted, Rivet Joints can also intercept communications chatter. In addition to onboard signals and electronic warfare specialists, the crews of the jets typically include linguists to allow for immediate analysis of those intercepts, as well as signals data. The RC-135V/Ws also have extensive communications and data-sharing suites so they can send intelligence collected to other nodes for further exploitation in near real time. The jets are also capable of passing information directly to forces engaged in tactical operations.

With their complete standoff surveillance suite, Air Force RC-135V/Ws serve as the backbone of U.S. airborne electronic intelligence collection capabilities, and are in consistently high demand as a result. Rivet Joints are currently among the array of ISR assets supporting ongoing operations against Iran. The aircraft also played a key role in the lead-up to the capture of Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro in January, as well as the execution of that operation.

The Rivet Joint’s capabilities continue to evolve, as underscored by the pairing of an RC-135V/W with one of the Air Force’s new EA-37B Compass Call electronic warfare jets. You can read more about the EA-37B, which is also now taking part in operations against Iran, here.

“The synergistic integration of Rivet Joint’s intelligence gathering with Compass Call’s electronic warfare capabilities has proven to be a game-changer on the modern battlefield. We’re not simply flying sorties; we’re creating a new paradigm,” Air Force Capt. Jasmine Harris, a member of the 38th Reconnaissance Squadron, said in a statement at the time. “By refining tactics, techniques, and procedures, we’re ensuring our forces maintain a decisive advantage in the electromagnetic spectrum.”

“This level of sustained, continuous integration has never been conducted before by these two assets,” Air Force Capt. Wesley Ballinger, also from the 38th, said, as well. “Both assets complete specific actions in the kill-chain, and now the kill-chain is being refined into a faster, robust, and more lethal tool.”

As it stands now, there is no firm plan for a replacement for the Rivet Joints, at least that is publicly known. The Air Force has said in the past that it expects the RC-135V/Ws to continue flying at least through 2050.

Overall, “the RC-135 is an unmatched capability,” L3Harris’ Rambeau also said at RIAT last year, per FlightGlobal. “While some of the Rivet Joint capability could be integrated on a business jet-size platform, there are some things related to physics and the distance between point A and point B that have to be on a larger aircraft.”

At the same time, the Cold War-era aircraft are aging, and the Air Force has faced challenges in sustaining them in the past. Questions have also been raised about their survivability in future conflicts, especially in a potential high-end fight in the Pacific against China.

Regardless, the RC-135V/W fleet looks to have decades more service ahead of it, and the aircraft will continue to make trips to Greenville for upgrades in maintenance.

Special thanks again to Dylan Phelps for sharing the picture of the Rivet Joint stripped of its paint with us.

Contact the author: joe@twz.com

Around 40% of clubs in England’s top four divisions of men’s football have changed their manager this season, and one in four of those teams have made more than one change.

With those stats still so high, I am sure people outside the game must be wondering about the process of appointing a manager.

In my day, I never once put on a presentation in front of a chairman or board of directors as part of any interview process.

Usually it was your management record, and your relative success with the respective budgets you’d been given, that would seal the deal.

Today, that has all changed. Many managers and coaches, I’m told, pay to have these presentations professionally prepared for them.

Before you get to that stage, however, club owners and chairmen will rely on their sporting director and chief executive to compile a list of names.

As I’ve mentioned in previous columns about the lack of opportunities now for British managers, with so many foreign owners in our game, there are lots of foreign sporting directors too, so it is not surprising they appoint managers and coaches they know.

Also, the agents who have assisted the owners when they purchased the club, will often have a big say on who the sporting director is too.

Players will also flow into some clubs in a similar fashion, I’m sure, and I’m afraid all of this impinges on managers and coaches from this country, who are not part of that network.

Academy coaches from the top clubs are finding a way through the system, as I am sure their contacts with clubs’ young players is part of their appeal.

It is definitely a route into management that is worth following but I am sure any ex-professionals who have followed it will have quickly been exposed to the key difference between managing at academy level and being in charge of a club’s first team.

Unlike academy football, which is about development, first-team football is about winning.

Every week you will be judged on your result and, no matter what philosophy you employ, the fanbase and the people above you will react accordingly.

Trump steps up threats after US strike on Iran’s largest bridge, as Tehran launches attacks across the region.

Caracas, April 2, 2026 (venezuelanalysis.com) – The US Treasury Department removed Venezuelan Acting President Delcy Rodríguez from the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) “Specially Designated Nationals” list on Wednesday, April 1.

Rodríguez had been on the list since 2018. The sanctioned individuals are barred from any sort of economic or financial relationship with US entities and have any US-based assets frozen.

The Venezuelan acting head of state reacted to the decision with a message on her X account, calling it “a step in the direction of normalizing and strengthening relations between our countries.”

Rodríguez added that she is confident this step will lead to the lifting of all sanctions currently in place against Venezuela “in order to guarantee an effective binational cooperation agenda” that benefits both Washington and Caracas. In recent weeks, the Trump administration has issued licenses allowing Western corporations to engage with the Venezuelan energy and mining sectors, but wide-reaching coercive measures remain in place.

The US government targeted Rodríguez in September 2018, Trump’s first presidential term, alleging that the then–vice president was part of a group that contributed “to the destruction of democracy.” The same round of sanctions targeted First Lady and Deputy Cilia Flores, as well as Vladimir Padrino López and Jorge Rodríguez, who respectively served as defense and communications ministers at the time.

Delcy Rodríguez denounced the 2018 measures as “illegal” and “unjust,” arguing that they were part of an “economic blockade” that undermined her country’s right to food, health, and sovereignty.

The Venezuelan leader’s sanctions removal opens the door for direct engagement with US entities and multilateral organizations such as the IMF. Creditors have likewise expressed intentions to launch renegotiation efforts surrounding Venezuela’s sizable foreign debt.

The Trump administration’s move comes on the heels of a fast-tracked rapprochement with Washington that Rodríguez has spearheaded since the January 3 attacks and kidnapping of President Nicolás Maduro. Rodríguez, who took over the acting presidency, has hosted a number of high‑ranking US officials, among them Trump Energy Secretary Chris Wright.

Similarly, last week Rodríguez took part via videoconference in a business gathering in Miami organized by Saudi Arabia’s Future Investment Initiative Institute. During her address, she touted the country’s recent pro-business reforms and urged investors to come to Venezuela.

Caracas and Washington formally reestablished diplomatic ties on March 5, with the Trump administration recognizing the acting president as Venezuela’s “sole” leader days later.

Regaining control of CITGO

The lifting of coercive measures against the Venezuelan acting president raised the possibility of the Rodríguez acting government retaking control of US-based assets that had been frozen and placed under the control of the hardline opposition. According to Reuters, Venezuelan authorities are preparing to take control of the boards of directors of the US subsidiaries of state oil company PDVSA, including refiner CITGO. However, the US State Department must also sign off on the appointments.

This past March, PDVSA’s board ratified Asdrúbal Chávez, cousin of the late Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez, as director of all its US subsidiaries. Nonetheless, Chávez, who was previously denied a US visa to run Houston-based CITGO, has been unable to manage the companies for more than seven years.

CITGO has been administered since 2019 by boards of directors appointed by a defunct Venezuelan opposition‑led National Assembly whose term expired in January 2021. The company, which is Venezuela’s most valuable foreign asset, underwent a long and protracted court-mandated auction to satisfy creditor demands which concluded with a winning bid from vulture fund Elliott Management.

The CITGO sale requires a US Treasury license in order to conclude. The Trump administration has not publicly disclosed whether it will greenlight or halt the ownership transfer.

Edited by Ricardo Vaz in Caracas.

9-year-old Karim Al-Haj Hussein survived an Israeli strike on his home in Lebanon’s Baalbek that killed his mother, father and other family members. Karim managed to crawl from the rubble of his home, despite being injured himself.

US president has said that he will use tariffs to bring down costly pharmaceutical drugs, but the impact remains uncertain.

United States President Donald Trump has signed an executive order that could slap long-threatened tariffs of up to 100 percent on some patented drugs if pharmaceutical companies don’t reach deals with his administration in the coming months.

Under Thursday’s executive order, companies that have signed a “most favoured nation” pricing deal and are actively building facilities in the US will have a zero-percent tariff.

For those that don’t have a pricing deal but are building such projects in the US, a 20 percent tariff will apply, but it will increase to 100 percent in four years.

A senior administration official told reporters on a press call that companies still have months to negotiate before the 100 percent tariffs kick in. Bigger companies will have 120 days, and 180 days are offered for everyone else.

The official, speaking on condition of anonymity to preview the executive order before it was issued, did not identify any companies or drugs that were in jeopardy of getting hit with the increased tariffs.

But the source noted the administration had already reached 17 pricing deals with major drugmakers, 13 of which have signed.

In Thursday’s executive order, Trump wrote that he deemed the tariffs necessary “to address the threatened impairment of the national security posed by imports of pharmaceuticals and pharmaceutical ingredients”.

The order arrived on the first anniversary of Trump’s so-called Liberation Day, when the president unveiled sweeping new import taxes on nearly every country in the world, sending the stock market reeling. Those “Liberation Day” tariffs were among the duties the Supreme Court overturned in February.

Critics, pharmaceutical leaders and medical groups warned of the consequences the new tariffs could bring.

Stephen J Ubl, the CEO of the pharmaceutical company trade group PhRMA, said taxes “on cutting-edge medicines will increase costs and could jeopardize billions in US investments”.

He pointed to America’s already large footprint in biopharmaceutical manufacturing and noted medicines sourced from other countries “overwhelmingly come from reliable US allies”.

Trump has launched a barrage of new import taxes on US trading partners since the start of his second term and repeatedly pledged sky-high levies on foreign-made drugs.

But the administration has also used the threat of new levies to strike deals with major companies — like Pfizer, Eli Lilly and Bristol Myers Squibb — over the last year, with promises of lower prices for new drugs.

Beyond company-specific rates, a handful of countries have reached trade frameworks with the US to further cap tariffs on drugs sent to the US.

The European Union, Japan, Korea and Switzerland will see a 15 percent US tariff on patented pharmaceuticals, matching previously agreed rates for most goods.

Meanwhile, the United Kingdom will get 10 percent, which Thursday’s order noted would “then reduce to zero” under future trade agreements.

The UK previously said it secured a zero-percent tariff rate for all British medicines exported to the US for at least three years.

Former clerk Tina Peters has become a cause celebre for the election denial movement and President Donald Trump.

An appeals court in the state of Colorado has ordered the resentencing of Tina Peters, a former county clerk convicted of involvement in an election meddling scheme in the United States.

The court overturned Peters’s nine-year prison sentence on Thursday, but not her conviction for helping to tamper with voting machines after the 2020 presidential race.

Her case has become a cause celebre for President Donald Trump and the election denial movement, after it emerged that she was seeking evidence to support Trump’s false claim that his 2020 loss was due to massive fraud.

In Thursday’s decision, the three-judge appeals panel ruled that a lower court had considered Peters’s personal beliefs when deciding upon a punishment, thereby rendering the sentence improper.

“The trial court’s comments about Peters’s belief in the existence of 2020 election fraud went beyond relevant considerations for her sentencing,” the appeals court wrote.

The panel cited comments from Judge Matthew Barrett, who blasted Peters as a “charlatan” promoting “snake oil” claims.

“Her offence was not her belief, however misguided the trial court deemed it to be, in the existence of such election fraud,” the appeals court said. “It was her deceitful actions in her attempt to gather evidence of such fraud.”

Peters was convicted in August 2024 for helping someone from outside the government gain access to the Mesa County election system and make copies.

That person was affiliated with efforts to overturn Trump’s 2020 loss, and the copies they obtained were then shared on social media.

False claims that the 2020 election was marred by massive fraud have been a persistent fixation for Trump and his allies, even after his successful re-election in 2024.

Trump’s efforts to remain in office after his 2020 defeat were the subject of a 2023 criminal indictment brought by former special counsel Jack Smith.

He alleged that Trump led a criminal conspiracy to undermine the election process and rally supporters to overturn the results. Those charges, however, were ultimately dropped when Trump took office again in 2025, as the US Justice Department has a policy against prosecuting sitting presidents.

Since his inauguration, Trump has continued to push the claims he won the 2020 race. He has also used his allegations of fraud to demand greater control over the country’s election infrastructure in advance of the upcoming 2026 midterm elections.

In December, the president pardoned Peters, even though she was not in federal custody, and the presidential power of pardon does not extend to state crimes.

The appeals court panel confirmed on Thursday that Trump’s pardon had no impact on state offences.

“We have found no instance where the presidential pardon power has been stretched in such a way as to invade an individual state’s sovereignty,” the panel said.

State Governor Jared Polis suggested last month that he could consider clemency for Peters.

Zenica, Bosnia and Herzegovina – The Bilino Polje Stadium in Zenica has witnessed the Bosnian national football team’s giant-killing ways for decades.

Branded a “cursed” venue for visiting sides, it has hosted the Dragons’ triumphs over formidable European opponents – Norway, Greece, Romania, Finland, Wales and Austria – in recent years, while football powerhouses Spain, Portugal, the Netherlands and Turkiye have all been held to draws here.

Bosnia enjoyed an unbeaten streak at Dragons’ Nest between 1995 and 2006. Add to that the stadium’s compact nature, the close proximity of fans, and it’s no wonder the players often say they feel at home here.

Hence, when thousands of Bosnian supporters descended upon the storied arena for the home side’s World Cup playoff final against Italy on Tuesday, it was with an unwavering belief in their team as well as the magic of the venue.

Italy’s storied football history, their four World Cup trophies, and a tag of pre-match favourites did little to dampen the local fans’ hopes. And when Esmir Bajraktarevic drilled the ball past Gianluigi Donnarumma to convert Bosnia’s fourth penalty and inflict a defeat on Italy in a dramatic shootout, pandemonium erupted in the Dragons’ Nest.

‘I’m from Bosnia, take me to America’

Fans began arriving in Zenica – a city 70 kilometres (43 miles) north of the capital, Sarajevo – in the early hours of the morning, well before the 8:45pm (18:45 GMT) kickoff.

Wave after wave of supporters, dressed in the team’s colours and waving the national flag, approached the venue from all parts of the country. Some even flew in from abroad to soak in what promised to be a historic night.

Thousands of them could not even get close to the turnstiles of the 10,000-capacity stadium and instead gathered at a nearby fan zone. Others filled up cafes and restaurants across the city to watch the match on large screens.

There was a strong conviction among the fans that even if the stadium had been 10 times larger, it would have still filled up to capacity on a night of this magnitude.

Members of the popular Bosnian band Dubioza Kolektiv led fans in the streets of Zenica, singing the chorus of their hit song “USA”.

“I am from Bosnia, take me to America” fit the bill perfectly in advance of the deciding match for a place in the World Cup cohosted by Canada, Mexico and the United States.

As kickoff approached, the spectators slowly settled into a familiar rhythm: Getting up on their feet during the players’ warm-up routines, singing songs and bellowing chants that have carried the national team in their most important fixtures, and making enough noise to count as the 12th member of the team.

Bosnom Behar Probeharao (Blossoms Have Bloomed in Bosnia) – a nostalgic refrain that many Bosnians consider a symbol of love for their homeland – rang throughout the cauldron and beyond.

A historic bond, a special night

While the world weighed in on the Italian team’s chances of qualifying for the World Cup after missing out on the last two editions, Bosnia’s legendary captain, Edin Dzeko, reminded fans that their ties with the Azzurri run deeper than an on-field battle.

The 40-year-old striker, with a last shot at playing in the World Cup, asked Bosnian fans to applaud the Italian national anthem before kickoff.

It was a reference to the Italian football team’s visit to Sarajevo in 1996, following the Bosnian war, when they played a friendly match that helped revive international football in the country.

Fans obliged, as they did 30 years ago, and the entire stadium stood up and applauded the Italian anthem. But that’s where the pleasantries ended, and the mission to qualify for the North American World Cup began.

The heated and tense encounter ended 1-1 after extra time, forcing the game into a penalty shootout, where Bosnia emerged as the winners.

The crowd screamed, waved their flags, lit flares on the terraces, and set off fireworks from nearby buildings – illuminating the sky above Zenica and indicating that the party would carry on into the early morning. The players remained on the pitch to share in the joy of the celebrating fans.

Once the stadium emptied out, the party soon spilled onto the streets.

Convoys of cars laden with fans, draped with the flag and blaring horns, turned Zenica into a giant stage, which became the centre of Bosnian celebrations.

‘I believed in the Dragons’

In Sarajevo, a few hours later, a reception was organised for the players and coaching staff, who were greeted by nearly 100,000 supporters, celebrating what many termed one of the greatest wins in the nation’s history.

One frequently shared comment read, “This is not just a victory, it’s a reminder of who we are.”

Twelve years since their painful first-round exit at their World Cup debut, Bosnia had returned to the big time.

One of the most famous nights at the stadium came on March 21, 2013, when Bosnia and Herzegovina defeated Greece in a qualifier, opening the path to the country’s historic first appearance at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.

For many fans, the playoff final against Italy carried similar emotions.

Dzevahid Mehicic, an elderly man from Zenica, said many people from his generation doubted they would live to see Bosnia and Herzegovina qualify for the World Cup again.

“They thought that moment might never come again, but I believed the Dragons had the strength to defeat even a powerful Italy,” he told Al Jazeera after Bosnia’s win.

For the younger fans, it was a unique experience of their own.

Wrapped in the national flag, 11-year-old fan Nihad Babovic said teen forward Kerim Alajbegovic was his favourite player besides Dzeko.

“I can’t wait for the World Cup to start so I can watch the matches with my dad.”

For one night, yet again, Zenica became the beating heart of Bosnia as the city’s famous football stadium saw the past and present come together in a moment of collective euphoria.

A major bridge near Tehran was struck today by what Iran has said were U.S.-Israeli strikes. The B1 bridge in Alborz province, one of the tallest in the Middle East, was hit in two waves of attacks, separated by around an hour, Iranian state TV reported. The bridge provides a critical link between Tehran and Karaj. The attack comes a day after U.S. President Donald Trump’s threat to bomb Iran “back to the Stone Ages.”

“A few minutes ago, the American-Zionist enemy once again targeted the B1 bridge in Karaj,” a city west of Tehran, state TV said earlier today, adding that the first strike had caused two civilian casualties.

It said the a later attack took place as emergency teams were deployed to the site to help victims of the first strike. We cannot confirm this claim.

Imagery posted to social media showed a clear breach in the road bridge, which connects Tehran and Karaj. While a key logistics node between the two regions.

Earlier this week, Trump’s threatened to “completely obliterate,” all Iranian electrical-generation plants and oil wells. This led to questions about whether the U.S. military was being primed to commit potential war crimes under international law, with the campaign expanding to include civilian targets as a matter of policy.

When asked about this point, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said that Trump’s statement showed that Iran’s “best move is to make a deal.”

“The United States Armed Forces has capabilities beyond their wildest imagination, and the president is not afraid to use them,” she said.

In response to the bridge strike today, Iran has threatened to hit regional bridges, including in Israel.

Iranian statements also referenced potential targets in Kuwait, Abu Dhabi, Jordan and Iraq, signaling a possible widening of threats to regional infrastructure.

UPDATES

UPDATE: 3:15 PM EST –

In a post on his Truth Social site, Trump confirmed that the U.S. attacked the B1 bridge and said there will be more such strikes unless Iran agrees to a peace treaty.

“The biggest bridge in Iran comes tumbling down, never to be used again — Much more to follow!,” Trump proclaimed. “IT IS TIME FOR IRAN TO MAKE A DEAL BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE, AND THERE IS NOTHING LEFT OF WHAT STILL COULD BECOME A GREAT COUNTRY!”

Iranian-backed militias have been increasing their attacks in Iraq in part because Tehran has lost its control over these groups since the launch of Epic Fury, a retired tier one special operator who just left Baghdad told The War Zone. He spoke with us hours after the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad warned of an imminent attack in central Baghdad and a day after the department announced a reward of up to $3 million for information about who is carrying out these attacks.

For years, Iranian-backed groups like Khataib Hezbollah have targeted U.S. and coalition bases, headquarters, embassies and other facilities in Iraq. While these groups have been supported by Iran with funding, weapons, intelligence and command and control, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has also reigned them in, explained the former commando, who now works in the private sector in Iraq on energy and reconstruction projects. He spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss ongoing operations. With the IRGC fighting for its own survival now, and its command and control structure decimated, their grip over the militias has loosened.

The degradation of IRGC during Epic Fury is “unleashing the shackles” on the Iranian-backed militias, said the former operator, who fought in Iraq during Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF). “The IRGC would keep them in check, and tell them to come back to base and cool it. Now that leadership is gone.”

As it has with its other proxy groups like Hezbollah and the Houthis, Iran has used Iraqi militia groups for military and political leverage when needed. However, many of these militias and their members, also known as Private Mobilization Units (PMU), fought against the U.S. during Operation Iraqi Freedom and have longstanding animosity toward the U.S. They want to kill Americans independent of instructions from Iran, the source stated. 

“Now they’ve gone rogue,” the source proffered. “We have definitely seen an uptick in attacks.”

The result, he posited, has been “chaos across the country.”

On Thursday, the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad warned that “Iraqi terrorist militia groups aligned with Iran may intend to conduct attacks in central Baghdad in the next 24-48 hours.”

“Iran and Iran-aligned terrorist militias have conducted widespread attacks against U.S. citizens and targets associated with the United States throughout Iraq, including in the Iraqi Kurdistan Region (IKR),” the embassy warning added. “They may intend to target U.S. citizens, businesses, universities, diplomatic facilities, energy infrastructure, hotels, airports, and other locations perceived to be associated with the United States, as well as Iraqi institutions and civilian targets.”

We reached out to the State Department to learn what prompted the warning, given the increasing frequency of militia strikes. We will add their response if we get one. The former operator said that the Embassy warning “means there is credible intelligence that they anticipate an attack. They have seen indicators about troop movements or that something is going to happen to the embassy.”

In addition to warning about an imminent attack, the embassy also noted that “(t)errorist militias have targeted Americans for kidnapping.”

This includes the recent abduction of freelance journalist Shelly Kittelson.

“We are deeply alarmed by the kidnapping of Al-Monitor contributor Shelly Kittleson in Iraq,” Al-Monitor said in a statement. “We call for her safe and immediate release. We stand by her vital reporting from the region and call for her swift return to continue her important work.”

The State Department is ‘aware of the reported kidnapping of an American journalist in Baghdad,” said Dylan Johnson, assistant secretary of state for global public affairs, told The Washington Post.

“The Iraqi Interior Ministry said security forces had arrested one suspect and seized a vehicle used in the crime and was tracking alleged accomplices in hopes of recovering Kittleson,” the publication added.

Since the launch of Epic Fury, we have reported on militia attacks on U.S. and coalition facilities in Baghdad as well as to the north  in Kurdish-controlled Erbil.

Victory Base Complex (VBC), a cluster of U.S. military installations surrounding Baghdad International Airport close to the Iraqi capital, has been a particular target. It was recently struck by Khataib Hezbollah first-person view (FPV) drones, destroying a U.S. military Black Hawk helicopter and a critical air defense radar.

The militias also hit a Giraffe-1X radar that was atop the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad.

As you can see from these videos, the militias have an increasingly advanced arsenal that includes artillery rockets, missiles and especially drones, which complicate defenses. Radars and air defenses at embassies and bases in particular have been targeted by drones, from FPVs to Shaheds.

Regardless of whether the militias are acting on their own, their attacks are clearly benefitting Iran. They have drawn in additional U.S. forces, which have had to respond with strikes of their own. In response to these attacks, U.S. forces have struck back at military targets across Iraq. As we recently pointed out, some of those strikes have involved A-10 Thunderbolt II close support jets conducting strafing runs to protect U.S. interests in Iraq. 

Jassim al-Budaiwi calls on UN Security Council to guarantee ‘uninterrupted navigation through all strategic waterways’.

The head of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) has called on the United Nations to act to immediately halt Iranian attacks across the region, condemning the strikes as a “flagrant violation” of international law and the United Nations Charter.

Speaking at the UN Security Council (UNSC) on Thursday, GCC Secretary-General Jassim al-Budaiwi urged the council to “take all necessary measures” to bring an end to Iran’s attacks on Gulf countries.

The UNSC must “take all necessary means” to “protect maritime corridors and guarantee the uninterrupted maritime navigation through all strategic waterways” in the region, al-Budaiwi said.

He also stressed that the six GCC states – Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain, Oman, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates – must be included in any talks or deals with Iran “to enhance regional security and prevent further escalation or the repetition of such attacks in the future”.

“The GCC reaffirms the urgent need to immediately halt these attacks; restore security, stability and calm in the region, and ensure the safety of air and maritime navigation, the safety of international supply chains, and the protection of global energy markets,” al-Budaiwi said.

Iran has carried out daily missile and drone attacks across the Middle East, including in Arab Gulf nations, since the United States and Israel launched a war against the country on February 28.

While Iranian officials have said they are acting in self-defence and striking US and Israeli-linked targets, the attacks have struck civilian sites across the Gulf, including several of the region’s critical energy facilities.

Iran also has effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz, a key Gulf waterway through which about one-fifth of the world’s oil and liquified natural gas supplies transit, sending global energy prices skyrocketing.

Reporting from the Emirati city of Dubai on Thursday evening, Al Jazeera’s Zein Basravi said frustrations are growing across the Gulf as the US-Israeli war on Iran drags on.

“The GCC countries were from day one – months before this war even began – trying to keep it from happening. But it was like trying to stop a slow-moving car crash. And effectively, that crash has happened in their front yard,” Basravi said.

He noted that 85 percent of the projectiles fired by Iran have targeted Gulf countries, with the UAE the hardest hit.

“Their primary threats are the retaliatory attacks by Iran,” Basravi said of the GCC. “And their primary focus is bringing that to an immediate close – and that means ending the conflict as soon as possible.”

UN experts say Israel ’emboldened by impunity’ for previous journalist killings in Lebanon, Gaza and the West Bank.

Three United Nations experts have called for an independent and thorough investigation into Israel’s recent killing of three journalists in Lebanon, denouncing the deadly incident as “another egregious attack on press freedom by Israeli forces”.

UN special rapporteurs Irene Khan, Morris Tidball-Binz and Ben Saul on Thursday noted that “journalists carrying out their professional duties in armed conflict are civilians and must not be targeted or made the object of attack”.

“The deliberate killing of journalists not directly participating in hostilities constitutes a serious violation of international human rights and humanitarian law and a war crime,” they said in a statement.

The Israeli military killed Al Mayadeen journalist Fatima Ftouni, her brother, freelance photojournalist Mohamad Ftouni, and Al-Manar’s Ali Shoaib in a targeted strike on their car in southern Lebanon on March 28.

Al Mayadeen and Al-Manar are pro-Hezbollah media outlets, and Israel accused Shoaib – without presenting any evidence – of being a fighter with the Lebanese armed group.

That claim was rejected by Shoaib’s colleagues as well as by the UN experts, who on Thursday also stressed that working for media outlets affiliated with an armed group does not mean journalists are directly participating in hostilities under international law.

“Israeli officials know this, yet they choose to ignore it – emboldened by impunity for their previous killings of journalists in Lebanon, Gaza and the West Bank,” they said.

In February, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) reported that Israel was responsible for two-thirds of all killings of journalists in 2024 and 2025.

More than 60 percent of the 86 members of the press killed by Israeli fire last year were Palestinian journalists reporting from the Gaza Strip amid Israel’s genocidal war in the coastal enclave, the advocacy group found.

After the killings in southern Lebanon last week, CPJ’s Middle East director Sara Qudah also warned that Lebanon is becoming “an increasingly deadly zone for journalists, despite their status as civilians who must not be targeted”.

“We have seen a disturbing pattern in this war and in the decades prior of Israel accusing journalists of being active combatants and terrorists without providing credible evidence,” Qudah said in a statement.

“Journalists are not legitimate targets, regardless of the outlet they work for.”

The UN experts also warned that Israel’s killing of Lebanese journalists is part of “an abominable push … to silence reporting on Israel’s current military action in Lebanon, and shut down news coverage of war crimes committed, just as it did in Gaza”.

At least 1,345 people have been killed and 4,040 wounded in intensified Israeli attacks across Lebanon since early March, according to the Lebanese Ministry of Health.

The year was 1975. 

On a quiet afternoon in Bare, a farming community in Numan Local Government Area of Adamawa State, northeastern Nigeria, Clement Coleman sat beneath a neem tree with an old friend. Alhaji Sadiki, a herder from the nearby village of Sabewa, had come to visit.

Clement had recently bought two calves, and he believed that Sadiki was best positioned to raise them. There were no contracts to sign, no witnesses to summon. By the end of their conversation, he handed them over to Sadiki. At the time, this was not unusual in Bare. It was the system.

Farmers routinely bought a handful of calves and entrusted them to herders they knew. In return, the herders were given access to farmland within the community, land they could not cultivate themselves because of their nomadic life and the demands of managing large herds. Farmers, in turn, worked those fields on their behalf. 

It was an arrangement built on mutual dependence. At harvest, farmers handed over the yields to the herders. When they needed money or access to their cattle, they turned to the herders to whom they had entrusted their animals. Over time, the cattle multiplied. Farmers who never grazed a single animal came to own sizeable herds. Herders, meanwhile, secured steady food supplies through farms they did not till themselves. Risks were shared, and so were rewards.

That afternoon, Clement and Sadiki sealed their agreement with a handshake.

The pact that fed generations 

For years, the system worked with remarkable ease.

Clement recalls how Sadiki managed the cattle as though they were his own, alerting him whenever one fell ill. “One time, the cows entered someone’s farm and destroyed their crops. Sadiki told me, and I went to the farmer and covered the loss in cash,” Clement told HumAngle. 

A decade on, by 1985, his herd had grown to four cattle. By 1990, it had increased to six. The herd continue to multiply. 

“They were healthy and big. I considered myself a rich man back then,” he recounted. 

The cattle became a financial lifeline. One time when Clement was short of funds and needed to pay for his children’s education, he went to Sadiki and one of the big cows was sold. He paid his children’s fees and used the balance to support his household. He continued to use the system for years to support his family. 

Others relied on the same system.

Buba Sarno, a lifelong herder in Mararaban Bare, never had time to farm. Yet, for four decades, each harvest season, he received about 25 bags of rice and 30 bags of maize. It was simple. All he did was seek land for free and reached an agreement with a local who tended to the farm on his behalf. If the farm required manual labour or fertiliser, Buba sorted it through the farm attendant. “With time, I also cultivated soya beans and other crops, and my family never had to buy food,” Buba told HumAngle. 

Magaji Yakubu, another herder in Mararaban Bare, told HumAngle that he combined grazing with both rainy season and irrigation farming, relying on locals to manage his fields. “I cultivated rice, guineacorn and soya beans,” Magaji noted. Like Sadiki, he tended farmers’ cattle.

The same arrangement played out in Bwashi community in Adamawa’s Demsa Local Government Area, where Theophilus Tapu built his livelihood around it. The 80-year-old farmer is a father of 10 and grandfather of over 40 children. He is considered an accomplished cattle rearer in his community, but Theophilus never led a herd to graze. Instead, he bought young male calves, handed them to trusted herders, and sold them at maturity. 

“I sold them to sort my needs and purchase more young ones, then hand them back to the herders,” he told HumAngle, adding that when some of the herders were migrating, they would hand over his herd to him, and he would entrust it to a new batch of herders. 

The cycle sustained him for over 60 years. 

By 2000, he had lost count of his herd. He explained that his relationship with the herders thrived to the extent that he didn’t have to follow them to the market; the herders sold the cattle and brought him the proceeds. 

It was, in every sense, a shared economy rooted in trust.

From trust to tension 

The trust began to fracture in 2017. 

That year, violence broke out between farmers and herders in several communities in Adamawa State, with Numan and Demsa among the hardest hit local government areas. What had once been isolated disputes escalated into deadly clashes, displacing communities and destroying livelihoods. 

Despite government intervention and multiple peacebuilding efforts, the violence has persisted for almost a decade. 

At its core, the conflict is about land and water. Farmers have accused herders of encroaching on farmlands. Herders, in turn, said grazing routes had been taken over.

In Bare, the turning point came in 2017, when a confrontation between a farmer and a herder spiralled out of control. “The herder took his cattle to the farm, and when the owner of the farm confronted him, things got out of hand, and they started fighting,” Jackson Amna, the District Head of Bare, told HumAngle. 

What began as a verbal confrontation that day turned into full-blown violence, leading to deaths and displacement. The clashes now follow a pattern, according to locals; they subside during the dry season and resurface when farming resumes with the rains. 

HumAngle has extensively covered the conflict in Bare and Mararaban Bare.

With each recurrence, trust erodes further. 

The long-standing system, in which farmers entrusted cattle to herders and herders relied on farmers for farm produce, is steadily collapsing across Numan and Demsa. Even though a few farmers still hand over farmland to herders, the District Head of Bare explained that it is rare. 

“During the 2017 conflict, some herders ran with people’s cattle and have not been seen to date,” Jackson said. “My herd was also taken away by the herder I entrusted them with, so I won’t give my cattle to somebody who can run away with them.”

Strained lives

The consequences have been profound.

When clashes between farmers and herders continued in Bwashi, Theophilus’ relatives urged him to retrieve his cattle from the herder he had entrusted to them. He noted that most herders had already started leaving the area at that time. 

“They [herders] were considered our enemies, and we could no longer trust them, but I knew some of them were good, but my people wanted me to do nothing with them,” he said. 

Theophilus succumbed and took over his cattle from the herder.

Not long after, thieves stole the animals he had struggled to manage himself. The old farmer doesn’t have a single cow to call his own. “I lost everything,” he said. “I’m very poor now, and survival is hard.” 

Theophilus had a well-planned retirement. He was to stop farming in 2024 and live off his herd, but now he says his entire life has been altered, and with many mouths to feed, he had to go back to the farm that yields little. 

Things didn’t change only for the farmers. In 2019, two years after the conflict began, the man who had given the farmland to Buba Sarno in Mararaban Bare told him never to set foot on the land again, so Buba migrated with his herd and family to Lamurde, a nearby local government area. In Lamurde, he tried to rent land for farming but couldn’t get any. 

“I went to a hill and established a farm there, but unfortunately, the soil is not good, and the land is not fertile, so my crops didn’t yield,” he said. 

Like Buba, several other herders who once lived in Bare have been displaced to settlements such as Sabewa, Ubandoma, and Mararaban Bare. However, since they are not indigenous to those communities, they told HumAngle that farming has become restricted as locals have taken over their lands and broken the pact that existed between them for generations. 

Magaji Yakubu, who lost his farmland at Mararaban Bare after locals took charge of it, has also retired all the cattle he had been tending for locals. “Feeding has become very hard for my family and me since the conflict began,” he stated. As someone who had access to large harvests in past years, Magaji said navigating a new life without owning farmland or grain is difficult. 

For Clement, the loss is both economic and deeply personal. Sadiki, the man he trusted for decades, disappeared with his cattle during the 2017 crisis. Although his phone rings occasionally when he dials it, no one has ever responded. Clement says he is not sure whether the man is dead or alive.

“Some say the herders around here migrated to Cameroon for safety due to the recurring clashes. We also heard that some have moved to other states. I’ve looked for Sadiki everywhere I can in the past nine years and haven’t seen him,” he said. 

He had planned to fund his children’s education by selling cattle. Without them, those plans collapsed. Even if Sadiki returns, Clement believes the relationship might not be as usual. 

“Right now, I believe he intentionally ran away with my herd,” he said. 

Searching for solutions

Efforts to restore peace continue, but progress remains slow.

The Justice, Development, and Peace Commission (JDPC), a faith-based organisation affiliated with the Catholic Diocese of Yola, has worked for decades to address the crisis. According to Jareth Simon, JDPC’s Project Manager in Adamawa State, land and water were the initial triggers, but new pressures have emerged.

“The one that is glaring to us now is the climate-related issues,” he said. “We’ve also seen where there is an increase in population, leading to more people wanting to cultivate more land.” Additionally, Jareth noted that displacement caused by the Boko Haram insurgency in the region has further intensified competition for resources. 

While most of Adamawa’s 12 LGAs have been affected by the farmers-herders crisis, Jareth said that JDPC’s engagements have identified Demsa, Numan, and Yola South as the hardest hit areas. “This is as a result of the number of cases that have been reported,” he said. 

To mitigate the crisis, JDPC’s approach focuses on community-led solutions, bringing together local government representatives, religious leaders, women, and persons with disabilities. Currently, about 415 stakeholders in conflict-prone areas are engaged in this initiative. 

“These are people who cut across the local structures at the local government level. That includes the local government representative and religious leaders from the Muslim and Christian associations. We have women’s representation and persons with disabilities,” he said. 

Jareth explained that people meet at least once a month to discuss issues related to peaceful coexistence, social cohesion, and community protection, and to identify local actions to mitigate them. “We don’t dictate to them. We only strengthen their capacity, and they themselves identify the leadership structure,” Jared said. 

In some communities, such as Namtari in Yola South, the approach has helped reduce clashes. “We have programmes for children like Peace Clubs, and we also have the one that targets adults using informal education and informal approaches,” he added. 

But challenges remain, particularly around funding and sustainability. “So we’ve seen where we’ve intervened, and then the projects have to end, but you also see that there is an increased need for you to also go out and support, and the funds are limited,” he said.

Jareth said that government authorities should set up and maintain multiple community-based interventions. “Because one of the gaps we’ve noticed is that from the community to the local government, from the local government to the state, there seems to be some gaps sometimes even in terms of information sharing,” he said. 

Government interventions to resolve the farmers-herders conflict across Nigeria have struggled over the years. For instance, the Rural Grazing Area (RUGA) scheme, introduced in 2019, was derailed by mistrust and controversy and later suspended by the former President Muhammad Buhari’s administration. 

Another intervention, the National Livestock Transformation Plan (NLTP), remains largely unimplemented. It was initially introduced to “create a peaceful environment for the transformation of the livestock sector that will lead to peaceful coexistence, economic development, and food security…” 

The Plan, whose first phase execution was budgeted at ₦120 billion, has not been actualised. 

While Jareth acknowledged the efforts of the Adamawa State government in establishing a peace commission comprising committees across the LGAs, he said there’s a need to strengthen security across the locations. “We also want to see the government come out with policies […] that help resolve some of these tensions that arise as a result of scarce resources within these communities,” Jareth stressed. 

Government interventions and community-led peace initiatives continue, but the deep scars of mistrust, competition for land, and recurring violence make reconciliation slow and fragile.

What is being lost in Adamawa is not just a livelihood, but a way of life. 

“Donald Trump’s actions in Iran will be considered one of the greatest policy blunders in the history of our country, failing to articulate objectives, alienating allies, and ignoring the kitchen table problems Americans are facing,” Schumer wrote on X. “He is completely unfit to be Commander-in-Chief and the whole world knows it.”

I wanted to give an official welcome and formally introduce Ian Ellis-Jones (@ianellisjones) to our audience!

Ian is coming on as our head of audience development, a critical position for the present and the future of TWZ. This will include executing a full-spectrum social media strategy, being master of ceremonies for our incredible comments section, and bringing his fantastic interpretive graphics skills to our editorial team. The latter will include establishing a new section on TWZ’s homepage under a segment called Actionable Intel.

Actionable Intel will feature short-form content that will be graphic-driven. This will include charts of deployed forces, such as our new capital ship tracker, as well as satellite imagery analysis and more. In other words, Ian will be bringing a whole new kind of storytelling to TWZ that is quicker to consume and visually focused.

To give you an idea of how talented Ian is at graphical representations of complex things, check out his Epic Fury battle map:

A little bit about Ian:

Ian is a social media strategist and OSINT analyst and researcher. Before joining TWZ, he was the creator of IEJ Media, a national security-focused media brand, where his work appeared in various publications including The Wall Street Journal, The Economist, Fox News, Newsweek, Task and Purpose, and more. Prior to entering the defense media space, he was an investment banker at Goldman Sachs where he worked with Technology, Media, and Telecom clients.

Ian is replacing Kyle Gunn for the social media and commenting section moderation side of things. Kyle is now the host of Task and Purpose‘s YouTube channel. He is an incredible guy, and we will miss him.

Also, just as a programming note, we are continuing to expand our YouTube operation with a mix of new content, the flagship of which is our Special Access series of on-location, hands-on reporting, hosted by our Jamie Hunter. We hope to transition this out of the pilot stage and into serialized production soon. Please be sure to follow us on YouTube. There is a lot of great content over there and much more impressive additions coming, including entirely new segments that could feature some of the names you see around here daily.

Private F-5 Adversaries Take The Fight To Navy Fighter Pilots

In addition to X and Facebook, where TWZ has always been, be sure to also check out our Instagram, LinkedIn, and Bluesky accounts, where Ian will be sharing more of our stories.

We are also in the process of making some other key hires as TWZ continues to expand and evolve. A subscription option is also finally on the horizon. More to come on all this and more soon.

Finally, I am so busy that I am not able to interact as much as I would like. This is one drawback of the growth we have seen while still maintaining a small and agile team that has been absolutely crushed by the wave after wave of major news events. But it is important for me to tell you how thankful I am to all of you for reading, sharing, commenting, and reaching out to us directly. On my worst, most tired day doing this crazy job in this place we all built together, I pinch myself. That I am able to do this, with this team, with this level of editorial independence, and in our unique voice, is truly unprecedented in the modern media landscape.

Thank you all for your continued support.

Contact the author: Tyler@twz.com

EXPLAINER

As the war enters day 34, US President Donald Trump said Washington was close to achieving its objectives.

Iran has launched a new wave of missiles at Israel after United States President Donald Trump said Washington had “destroyed the Iranian military” and was close to achieving its war objectives.

Trump’s address to the nation came hours after he said Tehran had asked for a ceasefire, a claim Iran denied.

Meanwhile, Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian said his country held no hostility towards the people of the United States, Europe or neighbouring countries.

Here is what we know:

In Iran

• War intensifies: The US-Israel war on Iran continues to escalate, with US-Israeli bombing campaigns causing casualties and damage across the country, while Iranian forces continue missile and drone counterattacks.
• Stalled diplomacy: Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said that while Iran has received messages from the US, trust remains “at zero” for any potential negotiations.
• Appeals to Americans: Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian has called on the US public to question Washington’s motives for continuing the war. In an open letter shared by state broadcaster PressTV, he asked whether Trump’s “America First” policy was “truly among the priorities of the US government today”.
• Iran calls US demands ‘irrational’: Iran said on Thursday that Washington’s demands were “maximalist and irrational” and denied any negotiations were under way on a ceasefire to end the war.
• Senior Iranian politician wounded in strike: Former Iranian foreign minister Kamal Kharazi was seriously wounded when a strike hit his Tehran home, killing his wife, Iranian media reported. Kharazi has reportedly been involved in the back-channel communication involving Pakistan, aimed at bringing Tehran and Washington back to the negotiating table.

In the Gulf

• Intercepted missiles: The United Arab Emirates said it has been intercepting incoming missiles and drones launched by Iran.
• Trump thanks Gulf allies: During his speech, Trump specifically thanked the Gulf states, acknowledging that they have come under fire from Iran in retaliation for the strikes. He praised their support and pledged that the US “will not let them get hurt or fail in any way, shape or form”.
• Tanker struck off Qatar: A tanker has been hit by a projectile off the coast of Qatar’s capital Doha, a British maritime security agency said, reporting damage but no casualties.

In the US

• Trump’s address to the US: Trump gave a speech claiming that the core strategic objectives of the US in the war are “nearing completion” and pledged to “finish the job”.
• Disputed ceasefire claims: The US president said that Iran requested a ceasefire, a statement that Tehran was quick to deny.
• Trump speech shows ‘no clear plan’: Trita Parsi of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft said Trump’s primetime address offered little new and largely repeated his recent statements. “It was essentially a summary of all the tweets he has issued over the last 30 days,” Parsi said, adding that the lack of new details suggests the president does not have a clear plan.

In Israel

• Israel says Iran launches more missiles: Israel’s military said early on Thursday its air defences were operating to down missiles fired from Iran. “Defensive systems are operating to intercept the threat,” the Israeli military said on its official Telegram account.
• Israel medics say 14 wounded: Israel’s emergency services said 14 people, including an 11-year-old girl, were wounded near Tel Aviv during a missile attack that the military blamed on Iran.
• Trump speech welcomed in Israel: According to Al Jazeera’s Rob McBride in Amman, Trump’s timeline for the war appears to align closely with Israel’s PM Benjamin Netanyahu’s own assessment of the campaign, after the US president said in a televised address that Washington was close to achieving its objectives and that the conflict could end within weeks.

In Lebanon, Iraq

• Strike on Beirut: Israel killed a senior Hezbollah commander in an attack on Beirut that killed at least seven people, according to Lebanon’s Ministry of Public Health.
• Air strike on Iraq base kills seven fighters: An aerial attack on a military base in Iraq’s western Anbar province killed seven fighters and wounded 13 others, according to the country’s Ministry of Defence. The strikes on Wednesday hit a military healthcare clinic at the Habbaniyah base.

World economy

• World Bank raises alarm: The World Bank is “extremely concerned” about the impact the conflict will have on inflation, jobs and food security, and is in talks with member states on how to address immediate needs in the crisis, a top official told AFP on Wednesday.
• Stocks rally, oil falls: Global stocks rallied on Wednesday and oil prices fell after Trump said the war could be over within weeks, despite Tehran pushing back against his comments.

Iran has asked for a ceasefire, U.S. President Donald Trump says. In a statement on Truth Social today, Trump claimed the request came from “Iran’s New Regime President.” Trump added: “We will consider when Hormuz Strait is open, free, and clear. Until then, we are blasting Iran into oblivion or, as they say, back to the Stone Ages!!!”

Trump did not mention the top official by name, but described the individual as “much less Radicalized and far more intelligent than his predecessors.”

Iran still has Masoud Pezeshkian as its president, but he was elected back in 2024. In media appearances — most recently yesterday, according to Iranian sources — Pezeshkian said that Tehran had the “necessary will” to bring the war to an end, while stressing that certain conditions and guarantees would be required for that to happen.

The Iranian foreign ministry says President Trump’s claim that the country has asked for a ceasefire is “false and baseless.”

Trump added, “I didn’t need regime change, but we got it because of the casualties of war. We got it. So we have regime change, and the big thing we have is they’re not going to have a nuclear weapon. Nor do they want one.” Iran, for its part, has always claimed that it has no plans to develop nuclear weapons.

Barak Ravid, global affairs reporter with Axios, writes that three U.S. officials confirmed that discussions are taking place about a possible ceasefire, dependent on the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz.

On Monday, Trump claimed he had already accomplished regime change by killing Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, despite the fact that he had been succeeded by his son, Motjaba. While several other senior Iranian officials have been killed since the war began, critics argue that a leadership shift alone does not amount to true regime change.

“What we are seeing in Iran is not a regime change — but a transformation within the regime itself, one that has made it more extreme,” Danny Citrinowicz, the Israeli military’s former top Iran researcher, posted on X.

Overall, there are ongoing questions about whether the United States has met its evolving objectives since launching a joint attack with Israel on Iran more than four weeks ago.

As for the enriched uranium still possessed by Iran, Trump told Reuters today, “That’s so far underground, I don’t care about that… We’ll always be watching it by satellite.”

Speaking last night, Trump said that Operation Epic Fury could be concluded within two to three weeks. Trump added that reaching a deal with Tehran is not required to bring the conflict to an end.

“We will be leaving very soon,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office last night.

Whatever Trump’s intentions are, we should know more tonight. The White House announced that the U.S. president will deliver “an important update” in a national address this evening at 9:00 p.m. Washington time.

While it remains unclear what new details Trump will share about the claimed ceasefire request, it seems likely that he will voice his opinions about the future of U.S. membership in NATO.

President Trump has said he is seriously weighing the possibility of withdrawing the United States from NATO, once again describing the alliance as a “paper tiger.”

“[NATO] is beyond recognition,” he said in an interview with The Telegraph.

“I was never swayed by NATO. I always knew they were a paper tiger, and Putin knows that too, by the way.”

In recent weeks, the U.S. president has criticized allied nations for their lack of involvement in efforts to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, which Iran has effectively closed amid the escalating conflict in the Middle East.

“Beyond not being there, it was actually hard to believe. And I didn’t do a big sale. I just said, ‘Hey’, you know, I didn’t insist too much. I just think it should be automatic,” Trump said.

He also stated that the United States has supported countries in need, including Ukraine, even though it “wasn’t our problem.”

Trump also directed further criticism at the U.K. government, with which his relationship is increasingly strained. He added, “You don’t even have a navy. You’re too old and had aircraft carriers that didn’t work.”

Soon after, U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer provided a press conference on the situation in the Middle East, referring to the growing rift with Washington.

“It is increasingly clear that as the world continues down this volatile path, our long-term national interest requires closer partnership with our allies in Europe and with the European Union,” Starmer said.

The Telegraph interview with Trump followed comments from U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio suggesting Washington may need to reassess its ties with NATO once the conflict with Iran concludes.

“We’re going to have to reexamine the value of NATO and that alliance for our country,” Rubio said in an interview with Fox News last night.

“If NATO is just about us defending Europe if they’re attacked, but them denying us basing rights when we need them, that’s not a very good arrangement. That’s a hard one to stay engaged in.”

UPDATES:

Over coverage has now concluded.

UPDATE: 9:54 PM EST –

During his roughly 19-minute speech from the White House about the war in Iran, Trump offered no real concrete details about its future. He made no mention of sending in ground troops and provided no real sense of when it might end. Meanwhile, contrary to earlier reporting that he might announce a U.S. withdrawal from the NATO alliance, he didn’t even mention the word NATO once.

Here are some highlights.

On the goals of Epic Fury being met:

Our objectives are very simple and clear. We are systematically dismantling the regime’s ability to threaten America or project power outside of their borders. That means eliminating Iran’s Navy, which is now absolutely destroyed, hurting their Air Force and their missile program at levels never seen before, and annihilating their defense industrial base. We’ve done all of it. 

Their Navy is gone, their Air Force is gone, their missiles are just about used up or beaten. Taken together, these actions will cripple Iran’s military, crush their ability to support terrorist proxies and deny them the ability to build a nuclear bomb. Our armed forces have been extraordinary. There’s never been anything like it militarily. Everyone is talking about it, and tonight, I’m pleased to say that these core strategic objectives are nearing completion.

On Iran no longer being a threat:

We are in this military operation so powerful, so brilliant, against one of the most powerful countries for 32 days, and the country has been eviscerated and essentially is really no longer a threat. They were the bully of the Middle East, but they’re the bully no longer.

On The Strait of Hormuz, the flow of oil and allied involvement:

Remember, because of our Drill, Baby, Drill program, America has plenty of gas. We have so much gas. Under my leadership, we are the number one producer of oil and gas on the planet, without even discussing the millions of barrels that we are getting from Venezuela. Because of the Trump administration’s policies, we produce more oil and gas than Saudi Arabia and Russia combined. Think of that, Saudi Arabia and Russia combined, and that number will soon be substantially higher than that. 

There’s no country like us anywhere in the world, and we’re in great shape for the future. The United States imports almost no oil through the Hormuz Strait, and won’t be taking any in the future. We don’t need it. We haven’t needed it, and we don’t need it. We’ve beaten and completely decimated Iran. They are decimated both militarily and economically and every other way. And the countries of the world that do receive oil through the Hormuz Strait must take care of that passage. They must cherish it. They must grab it and cherish it. They can do it easily. We will be helpful, but they should take the lead in protecting the oil that they so desperately depend on. So to those countries that can’t get fuel, many of which refuse to get involved in the decapitation of Iran, we had to do it ourselves. I have a suggestion. Number One, buy oil from the United States of America. We have plenty. We have so much. And Number Two, build up some delayed courage. Should have done it before. Should have done it with us as we ask, ‘go to the Strait and just take it, protect it, use it for yourselves.’ Iran has been essentially decimated. The hard part is done. So it should be easy, and in any event, when this conflict is over, the Strait will open up naturally. It’ll just open up naturally. They’re going to want to be able to sell oil, because that’s all they have to try and rebuild.

On what happens next:

I’ve made clear from the beginning of Operation Epic Fury that we will continue until our objectives are fully achieved. Thanks to the progress we’ve made. I can say tonight that we are on track to complete all of America’s military objectives shortly, very shortly. We’re going to hit them extremely hard over the next two to three weeks. We’re going to bring them back to the Stone Ages, where they belong.

In the meantime, discussions are ongoing. Regime change was not our goal. We never said regime change, but regime change has occurred because of all of their original leaders’ death. They’re all dead. The new group is less radical and much more reasonable. Yet, if during this period of time, no deal is made, we have our eyes on key targets. If there is no deal, we are going to hit each and every one of their electric generating plants, very hard and probably simultaneously. We have not hit their oil, even though that’s the easiest target of all, because it would not give them even a small chance of survival or rebuilding, but we could hit it and it would be gone, and there’s not a thing they could do about it. 

UPDATE: 6:30 PM EST –

The New York Times is reporting that “multiple U.S. intelligence agencies have assessed in recent days that the Iranian government is not currently willing to engage in substantial negotiations over ending the U.S.-Israeli war.” The newspaper cited anonymous U.S. officials.

“The assessments say the Iranian government believes it is in a strong position in the war and does not have to accede to America’s diplomatic demands,” the Times proffered. “And while Iran is willing to keep channels open, they said, it does not trust the United States and does not think President Trump is serious about negotiations.”

According to The Wall Street Journal, the Low-Cost Uncrewed Combat Attack System (LUCAS) kamikaze drones were designed not by private industry, but by the Pentagon. The drones were used in combat for the first time during Epic Fury. You can read more about these weapons, which CENTCOM commander Adm. Brad Cooper told us are “indespensible” here.

An image emerged online purporting to show damage to the Tabriz Shahid Madani International Airport control tower. The facility, which also serves as a military airbase, was struck in an attack earlier this week.

The explosive aftermath of an Israeli airstrike on an IRGC missile site can be seen in the following video.