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EXPLAINER

Israeli strikes kill 31 in Lebanon as attacks intensify and displacement orders spread.

Israeli attacks across southern Lebanon killed at least 31 people and wounded 40 others on Tuesday, as Israeli forces intensified strikes and issued dozens of displacement orders for towns and villages in the country’s south and east.

Panic spread across southern Lebanon as residents fled the escalating assault, with Israeli ground forces reportedly pushing deeper into Lebanese territory amid fears of a wider offensive.

Meanwhile, Iranian officials condemned what they called “blatant violations” of the ceasefire by the United States after attacks on southern Iran on Monday, saying the strikes had further damaged already fragile diplomatic efforts.

Here is what we know:

In Iran

• Iran accuses US of violating ceasefire: Iran said the US violated the ceasefire by carrying out strikes near the Strait of Hormuz, complicating efforts to end the war. Iranian officials described the attacks in Hormozgan province as a “gross violation”, while the US claimed the strikes were defensive and targeted missile sites and vessels attempting to lay mines.
• Khamenei warns Gulf states over US bases: In an Eid al-Adha message, Iran’s Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei said the US was losing influence in the Middle East and warned regional countries against hosting military bases that could be used to launch attacks on Iran.
• Iran seeks frozen assets release: Iran’s Tasnim news agency said Tehran is pushing for the release of $24bn in frozen assets as part of ongoing negotiations, with half expected to be unlocked after an initial agreement is signed.
• Internet partially restored: Meanwhile, internet access has begun gradually returning after what NetBlocks described as Iran’s longest nationwide crackdown on online access.

War diplomacy

• US says Iran deal still possible despite strikes: Despite new US attacks, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said a peace agreement with Iran remained within reach. The strikes threatened the fragile ceasefire between Washington and Tehran, as China called on all sides to honour the truce and resolve disputes through diplomacy.

In Israel

• Netanyahu warns of ‘more to come’ in Lebanon: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israeli forces were “deepening” operations inside Lebanon, with troops “seizing and controlling” territory and expanding what he described as a “security zone”. Speaking after Israeli attacks, Netanyahu also said Israel was intensifying efforts against Hezbollah drones and pledged fighting would continue “until ensuring the full security of Israel’s citizens”.
• US warplanes remain stationed in Israel: Israel’s Kan broadcaster reported an “unprecedented” deployment of US fighter jets and refuelling aircraft at Israeli airports, saying the military presence at Ben Gurion and Ramon airports is affecting civilian aviation capacity. The aircraft have remained in Israel despite the ceasefire with Iran.

In the US

• US senator criticises Trump’s Iran strategy: Democratic Senator Cory Booker said President Donald Trump’s approach to Iran had backfired, arguing the conflict had strengthened Tehran’s position and given it greater leverage over the Strait of Hormuz. Booker said the US was now in a “worse” situation than before the war and accused Trump of leading the country into a costly deadlock.

In Lebanon

• Israeli attacks kill 31 in Lebanon: Recent Israeli ground and air operations killed at least 31 people, as Israeli forces intensified strikes and pushed deeper into Lebanese territory. Israel also issued dozens of forced displacement orders across southern Lebanon and the eastern Bekaa Valley.
• Hezbollah ‘not losing the war’: Security affairs analyst Ali Rizk told Al Jazeera that Israel’s intensifying military campaign suggests mounting concern over Hezbollah’s resilience on the battlefield, while also reflecting growing political pressure on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at home.
• ‘Illusion of a ceasefire is entirely gone’: Reporting from Tyre in southern Lebanon, Al Jazeera’s Obaida Hitto said the sharp escalation in Israeli attacks shows that diplomatic efforts to contain the conflict have in effect collapsed. Massive strikes hit eastern Lebanon, including areas near the strategic Qaraoun Dam, while displacement orders spread across dozens of towns and villages. Hitto said civilians were once again facing the “devastatingly familiar reality” of widespread destruction, displacement and fear.

At least 24 people were killed and more than 50 injured when a suicide car bomb detonated on a train carrying soldiers in Quetta, capital of the southwestern Pakistani province of Balochistan, on Sunday.

The attack came amid Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s four-day visit to China, and the day before his meeting in Beijing with China’s President Xi Jinping, marking 75 years of diplomatic ties between the two nations.

Pakistan is among an exclusive group of countries China regards as an “all-weather strategic partner”, with ties featuring close economic, trade and security cooperation.

Responsibility for the train attack was claimed by the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA), an armed Baloch separatist group which, apart from calling for an independent state, also strongly objects to large-scale Chinese investment in the region.

While the BLA has long carried out attacks that have killed civilians and members of the security forces in Balochistan and beyond, there has been a recent uptick in such incidents.

We examine what is behind this increase in attacks:

What happened in Sunday’s attack?

Reporting from the scene, Al Jazeera’s Kamal Hyder said several houses and buildings adjacent to the railway line were severely damaged in the blast, which caused train carriages to overturn and catch fire.

According to local media reports, a state of emergency was declared at public hospitals in Quetta, with doctors and other medical staff ordered to remain on duty.

Footage shared online showed charred vehicles and train carriages lying on their sides, with thick plumes of black smoke rising into the sky.

Pakistan has experienced several attacks by separatist groups in recent months. The attacks have increased in ferocity and have also targeted Chinese workers amid protests over Beijing-backed infrastructural projects in Balochistan.

As part of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor project – one of the main arms of China’s “Belt and Road Initiative” designed to improve trading routes – China’s Xinjiang region has been connected to Pakistan’s deep-sea Gwadar port on the Arabian Sea in Balochistan.

Pakistani Prime Minister Sharif condemned Sunday’s train attack in Quetta in a post on X.

“Such cowardly acts of terrorism cannot weaken the resolve of the people of Pakistan. We remain steadfast in our determination to eliminate terrorism in all its forms and manifestations,” he said.

He added that while initial reports indicated a suicide bombing, this has not been officially confirmed. If it is, Yunas Samad, an emeritus professor of South Asian Studies at the University of Bradford in the UK, told Al Jazeera, “this would reflect tactics that insurgent organisations in the region have increasingly adopted over recent years”.

“There are also persistent claims regarding the circulation of sophisticated weaponry originating from stockpiles left behind after the US withdrawal from Afghanistan,” he said.

Are we seeing a new phase of armed separatist attacks in Balochistan?

According to research gathered by the independent, Islamabad-based think tank Pakistan Institute for Peace Studies, Balochistan recorded at least 254 attacks in 2025 – roughly 26 percent more than in 2024.

A December 2025 report published by independent conflict monitor Armed Conflict Location and Event Data (ACLED) found that separatists had also intensified attacks and pressure on security forces. The report said the number of attacks using improvised explosive devices (IEDs) and grenades, mainly targeting convoys and police stations, grew by more than 65 percent in the first 11 months of 2025, compared to the same time period in 2024.

The Global Terrorism Index (GTI) report this year found that there has been more Baloch armed group activity in Pakistan in 2025 as well. The GTI is an annual report published by the Australia-based independent think tank Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP).

Its 2026 report states that the BLA was responsible for Pakistan’s largest terror attack of 2025 – when the Jaffar Express, a train travelling from Quetta to Peshawar, was hijacked in March.

The BLA claimed responsibility and reported that six military personnel had been killed. Hundreds of people were taken hostage from the train, which was carrying 400 passengers.

“What can reasonably be said is that, following the earlier coordinated attack on the Jaffar Express, the Pakistani authorities appear to have intensified security measures around transport infrastructure, military personnel and key lines of communication,” Samad, of Bradford University, told Al Jazeera.

“The fact that this latest incident nevertheless occurred may suggest that militant groups retain a significant operational capability despite those efforts,” he noted.

The group stunned Pakistan’s security establishment in 2022 when it ‌stormed army and navy bases. In August 2024, militants carried out coordinated ⁠attacks across Balochistan, including highway assaults in which passengers were pulled from buses and shot after identity checks.

“While statistics in such conflicts are always contested and should be treated cautiously, they do indicate that the intensity of the conflict has not significantly diminished,” Samad said.

“Whether this constitutes an entirely ‘new phase’ is perhaps too strong a conclusion at present. However, it does appear to indicate a degree of resurgence in militant capability and confidence among sections of the Baloch insurgency.”

Who are the BLA and major Baloch armed groups?

The BLA, which has a suicide squad called the Majeed Brigade, says it is fighting for the independence of Balochistan, a province located in Pakistan’s southwest and bordering Afghanistan to the north and ⁠Iran to the west.

It is the largest of several ethnic separatist groups that have been fighting the federal government for decades. Balochistan’s mountainous border region serves as a safe haven and training ground for both Baloch separatist fighters and Islamist armed groups.

The BLA often targets infrastructure and security forces in Balochistan, but has also struck in other areas – most notably the southern port city of Karachi.

The BLA has deployed women suicide bombers, including in an attack on Chinese nationals in Karachi, and was designated a “foreign terrorist organisation” by the United States in August 2025 in a move welcomed by the Pakistani government. Analysts say BLA is particularly known for its ability to recruit young, often well-educated fighters.

The group, separately, was at the centre of tit-for-tat strikes in 2024 between Iran and Pakistan over what each said were armed group bases on each other’s territory, which brought the neighbours to the brink of war.

What is the Baloch cause?

Home to about 15 million of Pakistan’s roughly 240 million people, according to the 2023 census, Balochistan is the country’s poorest region despite its wealth of natural resources, including coal, gold, copper and gas.

These resources generate significant revenue for the federal government – unfairly, according to the BLA, which wants Balochistan’s natural wealth to belong to its people and rejects federal control over resource extraction and security.

The province is Pakistan’s largest by area, but smallest by population. It has a long Arabian Sea coastline, not far from the Gulf’s Strait of Hormuz oil shipping lane.

Balochistan is also home to one of Pakistan’s major deep-sea ports at Gwadar, a crucial trade corridor for China’s $65bn investment in the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), a wing of President Xi Jinping’s Belt and Road initiative.

The province is home to key mining projects, including Reko Diq, which is operated by Canadian mining giant Barrick Gold and is believed to be one of the world’s largest gold and copper mines.

China also operates a gold and copper mine in Balochistan.

The province – which was annexed by Pakistan in 1948, six months after partition from India in August 1947 – has a long history of marginalisation. It has since experienced at least five separatist uprisings.

Separatist sentiment was particularly high in the 2000s, around the time the BLA emerged. Analysts of Baloch resistance movements say it was led by Balach Marri, the son of veteran Baloch nationalist leader Nawab Khair Bakhsh Marri.

After the government of military ruler Pervez Musharraf killed prominent Baloch nationalist leader Nawab Akbar Bugti in 2006, the separatist movement escalated.

Rebel fighters have targeted Pakistan’s army and Chinese interests, in particular the strategic port of Gwadar on the Arabian Sea, accusing Beijing of helping Islamabad to exploit the province. Fighters have killed Chinese citizens working in the region and attacked Beijing’s consulate and language centre in Karachi.

More recently, the BLA has also attacked civilians and migrant labourers from other provinces, a shift that officials say marks an escalation in tactics.

Pakistan accuses India and Afghanistan of backing Baloch armed fighters, an allegation both countries deny.

“Baloch separatist groups themselves have, at times, sought to internationalise their cause and last year publicly appealed for diplomatic recognition by India,” Samad said.

“However, establishing clear evidence of direct state support is considerably more difficult, and much of the discussion in this area remains politically contested.”

Hundreds of Baloch activists, many of them women, have protested in Islamabad and Balochistan over alleged abuses by security forces – accusations the government denies.

Over time, the BLA has set itself apart as a group explicitly committed to Balochistan’s full independence from Pakistan. Unlike more moderate Baloch nationalist parties, which press politically for greater provincial autonomy, the BLA has consistently rejected compromise.

Why is this significant now?

Regional stability and international investment

The attack comes as Prime Minister Sharif meets with China’s President Xi in Beijing to discuss economic and security cooperation – something the BLA is strongly opposed to.

The movement could pose a challenge to Pakistan’s attempts to retain Chinese and American investment, experts say, if it reveals a deeper instability.

The Baloch separatist movement is one of the major unresolved questions over Pakistan’s statehood. It is a constant reminder of the challenges of the Pakistani state to stay united, they say.

“More broadly, the persistence of insurgency has had implications for Pakistan’s wider political system,” Samad explained. “Security concerns in Balochistan have increasingly shaped governance and political discourse, strengthening the role of the military and security establishment in national affairs and undermining the democratisation process.”

“Internationally, the issue matters because Pakistan remains a nuclear-armed state of enormous strategic importance,” Samad told Al Jazeera.

“While speculation about state fragmentation is highly premature, any significant escalation in internal instability in a country with nuclear capabilities inevitably attracts international concern. For that reason alone, developments in Balochistan are likely to remain closely watched both regionally and globally.”

Rare-earth metals

Another major issue is that geological assessments suggest Balochistan contains 12 of the 17 rare-earth minerals on the periodic table. Rare earths are critical minerals used to manufacture a vast array of modern items, including batteries, clocks, wiring, military hardware, smartphones and semiconductors, among other technological products.

Since the start of his second term, US President Donald Trump has repeatedly pushed plans to diversify Washington’s stockpile of critical minerals in order to reduce reliance on China, which currently dominates the supply and processing of the world’s rare-earth minerals.

When Pakistan’s Prime Minister Sharif met with Trump at the White House in September 2025, he offered the US access to critical minerals and rare earths.

Then, in December 2025, the US announced a $1.25bn investment in critical minerals mining at Reko Diq to drive “economic growth in Balochistan”.

WASHINGTON — In the 2024 election, hundreds of social media influencers were credentialed for the first time to attend the Democratic and Republican conventions. They have been invited to holiday parties in the Pennsylvania governor’s mansion, to political rallies in Texas and to events at the White House by both the Biden and Trump administrations.

The role of influencers is surging as candidates and groups across the political spectrum see their social media feeds and personas as a pathway to younger audiences and harder-to-reach groups of voters.

“You have that sense of authenticity, like a friend is talking to you,” said Emma Briant, a professor at Notre Dame University’s Lucy Family Institute for Data & Society who studies propaganda.

That’s exactly what campaigns are hoping to harness when they partner with influencers, she said.

But the nature of that partnership has come into question in California’s hotly contested gubernatorial race after it emerged that a number of content creators — some with millions of followers, others with only a handful — had taken payments from the campaign of Democratic candidate Tom Steyer and not disclosed that they were paid to create those posts.

Some popular content creators have felt the need to explain themselves to their audience. Others have questioned how common such under-the-table payments might be, since there are no disclosure requirements for paid content at the federal level and few jurisdictions have any rules mandating it.

Some campaign finance advocates are concerned that voters could increasingly be influenced by social media posts that they don’t know are sponsored.

“The problem is that it doesn’t look like an ad,” said Saurav Ghosh, a former enforcement attorney at the Federal Election Commission. “It ends up really getting people at a place where they’re not skeptical and not able to tell the difference between what’s voluntary and where the influencer is acting as a paid spokesperson.”

Ghosh is now the director of campaign finance reform at the nonprofit Campaign Legal Center, which has filed a petition asking the FEC to require disclaimers on paid content created by influencers.

Roughly 1 in 5 Americans said they regularly got news from social media influencers in 2024, according to the Pew Research Center, and that number was nearly double for younger adults between the ages of 18 and 29.

Working with social media creators can be an easy way for candidates to try to boost their image, particularly with a younger audience.

“If they don’t have big personalities, maybe partnering with some influencers who seem cool and fun can make you seem cool and fun also through association,” said Link Lauren, a political influencer and podcaster who served as a communications advisor for Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s presidential campaign in 2024.

California is one of the few places that requires disclosure of sponsored social media posts, but the 2023 law that created those rules hadn’t gotten much of a workout before the issue was raised in this contest through a series of dueling complaints with California’s Fair Political Practices Commission. The commission has yet to weigh in on the various accusations.

Under the law, influencers are required to provide disclosure that a post was sponsored and say who paid for it. Political groups are required to notify paid creators of the requirement.

Even if the commission finds that violations have occurred, the penalties are not especially harsh.

Violation of the law carries no civil, criminal or administrative penalties. The FPPC can take alleged violators to court and ask a judge to force compliance. And violations can be penalized with a fine of up to $5,000 per instance.

Influencers reporting influencers

In the gubernatorial race, the issue of compliance was raised, naturally, by a pair of influencers.

Beatrice Gomberg has built up a following of more than 180,000 followers on TikTok, where she posts under the handle antiplasticlady. Her side gig of creating nonplastic children’s cups and lunch boxes became her main gig after she lost her human resources job at Macy’s during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I started doing social media because I didn’t want to hire a marketing company,” Gomberg said.

Gomberg’s posts were initially largely focused on research related to plastic, but have become increasingly political over time. When campaigns put out the call for influencers to meet with candidates, Gomberg answered.

She interviewed Katie Porter, she met with Xavier Becerra. And it was at a Becerra event in April when she met Kaitlyn Hennessy, another influencer focused on politics.

They found that the world of online influencers can be isolating. “We stare in front of our phones,” Hennessy said. “You don’t want to see our screen time.”

As they scrolled through social media posts about the governor’s race, they found a cause to unite them.

They kept seeing videos posted by social media accounts espousing similar messages in support of Tom Steyer. Hennessy wondered at first if they were actually created by artificial intelligence.

They found that the posts seemed to be created by a network of women who, in some cases, had created several different profiles to promote a variety of products.

They pored over Steyer’s campaign disclosures and saw that the campaign listed payments to several prominent influencers — including one with the handle Zay Dante, with 1.8 million followers on TikTok — who had not disclosed creating paid content for the campaign.

The pair filed a complaint laying out their allegations, which the Steyer campaign has called “baseless.”

In the wake of their complaint, Steyer defended his campaign’s use of paid influencers, writing on Substack that his campaign believed content creators should be paid for their work and that the campaign had been transparent about disclosing those payments.

In a separate post, influencer Carlos Eduardo Espina said he had been paid $400,000 for work he has done for the Steyer campaign. Espina, who has more than 14 million followers on TikTok, is an advisor to the campaign, which was publicly announced.

“You will never see anything on my channels that I don’t believe in, or that I think goes against the best interest of my community. No one buys my opinion. But I also think it’s fair to be compensated for my work,” he wrote on Substack.

Not everyone is ready to accept payment for posts.

Lauren, the influencer who advised Kennedy’s campaign, said that while he doesn’t begrudge other influencers accepting sponsorship, he chooses not to.

“A passive viewer might think you really believe this,” he said. “I have a strong connection with my audience. I really consider them my family.”

Lauren said he favors disclosure requirements.

Briant, the propaganda researcher, said she is concerned about the possibility of foreign actors trying to influence Americans through paid posts.

In 2024, for example, federal prosecutors filed an indictment alleging that Russian state media employees had paid nearly $10 million to a Tennessee company that paid popular right-wing social media influencers to unwittingly produce pro-Russia content.

Briant said she believes that the only way to counteract increased manipulation through social media influencers is to impose harsh penalties when paid content is not disclosed.

“Ultimately, it’s a wild west at the moment if there are no repercussions for not doing it,” she said.

Lopez quickly caught attention at Madrid, though her route to the top was not without major obstacles.

At just 11 years old she lost her mother to a brain tumour. When her mother’s condition worsened and her father practically lived at the hospital, Mellado and her Madrid team-mates helped Lopez get to training and kept her occupied.

From there, Lopez developed at remarkable speed. In 2019, she was named most valuable player at a La Liga-organised tournament for under-12s girls’ teams after scoring seven goals, including a hat-trick in the final.

She caught the eye by scoring 60 goals in 17 matches in the 2020-21 youth league, and began her journey through the country’s junior ranks.

In September 2021, Lopez became the youngest player to feature in Spain’s top flight when she came off the bench against Athletic Bilbao, aged 15 years and 42 days.

“Of course she had the ability – I always told her so,” Mellado said.

“I also pushed her hard, because if she really wanted it, she had to always give her best and she always did. She was one of the hardest-working and she never once complained.

“She knows what she wants – that’s very important, because it makes her strive every day to achieve it.”

In 2022, perennial Spanish champions Barcelona signed Lopez on her 16th birthday, and two months later she became the youngest debutant in the club’s professional history.

She did so wearing the number 30, the same shirt worn by Lionel Messi when he broke into the Barca first team.

That season Lopez became Barcelona’s youngest-ever Champions League debutant, male or female, and the youngest player ever to score in Liga F.

If fans were not already excited by her potential, they were in October that year when she was named MVP as Spain won the U17 World Cup in India.

Lopez made her senior Spain debut in February 2024, replacing national icon Jenni Hermoso during the Nations League semi-final. At 17 years, six months, and 27 days, she become her country’s youngest debutant.

A breakout 2024-25 campaign – during which she stepped in for the ill Aitana Bonmati to help Spain reach the final of Euro 2025 – led to her winning the Kopa Trophy for the best young player in the world.

After initially being used as a winger, Lopez is now largely used in a central role for club and country despite competition from the likes of Bonmati, Patri Guijarro and her idol Alexia Putellas.

A combination of intelligence, excellent technique and athleticism allows her to both score and create – she has contributed nine goals and nine assists in 26 Liga F games this season, 16 of them as a starter.

“She’s not afraid of anything and she tries everything. And I think that’s why, even in teams with so much talent, she’s starting to earn a place in the starting line-up,” Vidal said.

“As we say in Spain, she’s one of those footballers you buy a ticket to watch, because she enjoys the game and makes you enjoy it too.

“She’s just as extroverted on the pitch as she is off it.”

May 19 (UPI) — U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said he has imposed additional sanctions against Cuba, with more to come in the days and weeks ahead, as the Trump administration ratchets up the pressure on the communist government of President Miguel Diaz-Canel.

The sanctions announced Monday by the U.S. State Department target 11 Cuba officials and three Cuban security and intelligence entities, freezing any assets under U.S. jurisdiction and prohibiting U.S. persons from doing business with them.

Agencies blacklisted were Cuba’s Ministry of Interior, the National Revolutionary Police Force and its Directorate of Intelligence, Havana’s primary foreign intelligence agency.

Officials hit included the heads of the Revolutionary Police Force as well as various ministers, the chief of staff of military counterintelligence, the chief of the Central Army of Cuba, the chief of the Eastern Army of Cuba, and the president of Cuba’s National Assembly for People’s Power, among others.

Rubio described them as “Cuban regime elites” and officials who have been involved in repressing the Cuban people.

“Regime-aligned actors such as those designated today bear responsibility for the suffering of the Cuban people, the failing Cuban economy and the exploitation of Cuba for foreign intelligence, military and terror operations,” he said in a statement, while warning that more sanctions “can be expected” in the following days and weeks.

“Today’s designations further restrict the Cuban regime’s ability to suppress the will of the Cuban people.”

Late Monday, Diaz-Canel lashed out at the United States over the sanctions, saying no one in Cuba’s government, political party or military institutions has any assets or property to protect under U.S. jurisdiction — and the Trump administration knows this.

“The anti-Cuban rhetoric of hate tries to make people believe such things exist in order to justify the escalation of its total economic war,” he said in a social media statement.

“That’s why we will continue to denounce, int he firmest and most energetic way possible, the genocidal siege that seeks to strangle our people.”

He described Trump’s Cuban policy as “collective punishment” and “an act of genocide,” calling on the international community to prosecute those responsible for it.

President Donald Trump has been targeting Havana with sanctions and economic restrictions since early this year, when he declared a national emergency concerning Cuba on the grounds that it has aligned with “numerous hostile countries, transnational terrorist groups and malign actors adverse to the United States.”

Trump has blocked Venezuelan oil shipments to Cuba, adding to the decades-old economic embargo and worsening the island nation’s energy crisis. The country’s fuel oil stocks have run dry, according to officials, and blackouts are common.

Trump has repeatedly raised the prospect of military action against Cuba and has stopped short of directly calling for regime change as he seeks to extend the United States’ influence across the Western Hemisphere.

Cuba blames the United States for its current economic and energy situation, and the sanctions came as its foreign minister, Bruno Rodriguez Parrilla, on Monday, defended Havana’s right to self-defense in response to reports that claimed the island nation had purchased drones from Russia and Iran.

While some Republicans, including Sen. Rick Scott and Rep. Carlos Gimenez, both of Florida, celebrated the sanctions, several Democrats have condemned the Trump administration’s broader campaign, accusing it of manufacturing a pretext for war.

Reps. Delia Ramirez of Illinois and Nydia Velazquez of New York lambasted the administration in a joint statement, accusing it of attempting to justify another “unauthorized and unlawful military invasion,” seemingly referring to the U.S. military abduction of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro in January and Trump’s late February strikes on Iran, which triggered a war later halted by a fragile cease-fire.

“For the Trump administration, the goal is another military incursion. They will justify their actions by claiming it serves the freedom of Cubans,” the Democratic pair said, calling on Congress to pass a war powers resolution to curb Trump’s ability to make war without congressional authorization.

“Today, we must act to stop the destructive ambitions of imperialists and warmongers.”

President Donald Trump on Monday alluded to the U.S. sending troops into Iran to retrieve its highly enriched uranium (HEU). His comments follow similar words on the same topic from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made to 60 Minutes on Sunday. Taken in aggregate, the statements suggest that there is coordinated messaging on the issue between Washington and Jerusalem and, after stalled talks with Iran, the possibility of such an operation may have been elevated.

As we stated shortly after the war kicked off, a mission into Iran to rid the country of its highly enriched nuclear material, once and for all, would be extremely risky and very complex. You can read more about these realities here. The main issue is that, by the Trump administration’s own stated objectives, the current conflict doesn’t really end until the enriched uranium, most of which is likely buried in the rubble of the underground Isfahan nuclear complex, is removed from the country. Estimates state that this stockpile, stored in scuba tank-like cylinders, is likely enough material to construct around a dozen nuclear warheads, that is if a program to fully weaponize it and construct and validate a device were to move forward.

Speaking to reporters on Monday, Trump said Iran initially offered to accompany the U.S. into its facilities storing HEU that were severely damaged during last year’s Operation Midnight Hammer attacks.

However, Tehran changed its stance, Trump claimed.

“They said ‘you’re going to have to take it,’” the American president said of Iran’s initial response to the issue of recovering the uranium.

“We were going to go with them, but they changed their mind because they didn’t put it in the paper,” the president added, referring to a peace plan delivered by Iran over the weekend. “So they agree with us, and then they take it back…But I have a great plan, but the plan is they cannot have a nuclear weapon. And they didn’t say that in their letter.”

Trump also played-off the issue this weekend saying U.S. forces are watching the site closely and will kill anyone or anything that gets close to it.

Speaking to 60 Minutes, Netanyahu seemed more direct about a potential ground incursion into Iran, yet evasive about the details. Asked how he envisions the highly enriched uranium will be removed from Iran, Netanyahu stated: “You go in, and you take it out.”

“With what? Special forces from Israel, special forces from the United States?” the Israeli leader was quizzed.

“Well, I’m not gonna talk about military means, but what President Trump has said to me, ‘I want to go in there.’ And I think it can be done physically. That’s not the problem. If you have an agreement, and you go in, and you take it out, why not? That’s the best way.”

Netanyahu was purposefully elusive when asked if it would require force to remove the uranium should no agreement be reached.

“Well, you’re gonna ask me these questions. I’m gonna dodge them. Because I’m not gonna talk about our military – possibilities, plans, or anything of the kind,” he proffered. “I’m not gonna give a timetable to it, but I’m gonna say that’s a terrifically important mission.”

Netanyahu says there’s still “work to be done” before Iran war ends | 60 Minutes

The Israeli government “wants Trump to order a special forces operation to secure Iran’s enriched uranium stockpile,” Axios reported on Monday. “Israeli officials say Trump is hesitant to order such an operation because it is highly risky.”

As we have previously reported, Trump is mulling over his options to retrieve the HEU through a special operations mission. Former U.S. Central Command commander, retired Gen. Joseph Votel, also told us at the time that such an endeavor is highly risky and may not achieve its goal. You can read more about his analysis in our interview with him here.

Meanwhile, ending the hostilities remains in question as the U.S. and Iran remain far apart in ceasefire negotiations. Trump on Monday called the aforementioned recent Iranian peace offer a “piece of garbage” that he didn’t finish reading and added that the ceasefire is on “massive life support.”

Trump is “leaning toward taking some form of military action against Iran to increase pressure on the regime and force concessions on its nuclear program,” Axios reported, citing two U.S. officials.

“He will tune them up a bit,” one U.S. official told the outlet. “I think we all know where this is going,” a second U.S. official said.

Regardless, two U.S. officials told Axios they don’t think Trump would order military action against Iran before he returns from China.

President Donald Trump is likely to press President Xi Jinping over China’s approach to Iran when they meet later this week, senior US officials said Sunday. https://t.co/mxmwLrCs1w

— Bloomberg (@business) May 10, 2026

Trump is considering Project Freedom, the effort to guide commercial shipping through the Strait of Hormuz that he paused after about 36 hours last week, Axios added. He is also weighing whether to “resume the bombing campaign and strike the 25% of targets the U.S. military identified but hasn’t hit yet.”

הנשיא טראמפ נפגש היום (שני) עם צוות הביטחון הלאומי הבכיר שלו כדי לדון בצעדים הבאים מול איראן, כולל אפשרות לחידוש הלחימה, לאחר שהמשא ומתן בין הצדדים הגיע למבוי סתום ביום ראשון, כך אמרו שלושה בכירים אמריקנים https://t.co/Yolz48Dxqj

— Barak Ravid (@BarakRavid) May 11, 2026

Trump told Fox News that he is thinking about reconstituting Project Freedom.

“President Trump just spoke to our John Roberts a moment ago,” the network noted. “He says he is now considering renewing Project Freedom, but he says this time around the US guiding ships through the Strait of Hormuz would be just one small piece of a larger military operation.”

“He would not divulge at this time what the other pieces would be,” Roberts explained.

As we previously explained, Trump initially claimed he paused Project Freedom to give Iranian negotiators more time to respond to his peace deal. However, NBC News later reported that Trump ended the effort because Saudi officials, surprised by the operation, withdrew access to its bases and airspace.

President Trump told Fox News he is considering reviving Project Freedom, adding that U.S. naval escorts through the Strait of Hormuz would be only one component of a broader military operation. pic.twitter.com/RgLfVVRomi

— Open Source Intel (@Osint613) May 11, 2026

Iran on Monday revealed what it claimed to be its terms, which made no mention of the uranium. They include the U.S. paying war damages to Iran, recognition of Iran’s sovereignty over the Strait of Hormuz, the end of U.S. sanctions and the release of Iran’s blocked assets by the U.S., according to a post on X by Iran’s official IRIB state broadcaster.

🚨EXCLUSIVE
Details of Iran’s response to the U.S plan, which Trump called unacceptable:

– The necessity for the U.S. to pay war damages to Iran.
– Recognition of Iran’s sovereignty over the Strait of Hormuz.
– End of U.S. sanctions.
-Release of Iran’s blocked assets by the U.S.

— IRIB (Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting) (@iribnews_irib) May 10, 2026

Speaking at a press conference on Monday, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei described his government’s offer as reasonable.

“Is it excessive to demand an end to maritime piracy against Iranian ships?” he asked rhetorically. “To demand the release of Iranian assets unjustly held in foreign banks for years under American pressure? Our proposal for safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz, is that excessive? Establishing security and peace across the entire region, including Lebanon, is that excessive?” “Unfortunately, the American side still insists on positions largely built and shaped by the Zionist regime, and continues to hold its one-sided stance and unreasonable demands,”  Baghaei added.

Iran’s FM Spokesperson Esmail Baghaei:

We did not demand any concessions from America; rather, we called for an end to the war and a halt to the piracy at sea against Iranian ships.

Our proposals to America were generous and responsible pic.twitter.com/n17pJzcbmB

— Open Source Intel (@Osint613) May 11, 2026

In his comments, the Iranian official was referring to the U.S. firing on and seizing Iranian-linked ships. Baghaei was also reacting to a statement made by Trump on Sunday dismissing Tehran’s latest offer. Trump has repeatedly stated his main objectives are that Iran will never get a nuclear weapon and that the Strait of Hormuz will be reopened. The future of Iran’s ballistic missile arsenal and support for proxies like the Houthis and Hezbollah are other sticking points.

“I have just read the response from Iran’s so-called ‘Representatives,’” Trump announced on his Truth Social platform. “I don’t like it — TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE!”

“I have just read the response from Iran’s so-called ‘Representatives.’ I don’t like it — TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE! Thank you for your attention to this matter.” -President DONALD J. TRUMP pic.twitter.com/MIQDS9Ujjy

— The White House (@WhiteHouse) May 10, 2026

Given the wide diplomatic gap between the U.S. and Iran and statements by Trump and Netanyahu, how much longer the ceasefire can hold remains an open question.

UPDATE: 7:44 PM EDT –

Reacting to the aforementioned Wall Street Journal story about a clandestine Israeli military base set up in Iraq, that country’s military on Monday said there are currently no foreign military bases or forces operating in the country.

The Iraqi Security Media cell stated on X that “the matter pertains to an incident that occurred on 5/3/2026, during which an Iraqi security force from the Karbala Operations Command, as well as from Najaf, moved and clashed with unidentified, unlicensed detachments supported by aircraft at that time, resulting in the martyrdom of one fighter from the Iraqi security forces, the injury of two others with wounds, and the damaging of a vehicle.”

“We wish to clarify that some are attempting to exploit this incident politically, and there are escalatory statements being made without knowledge of the facts,” the post continued. “All these statements harm the reputation of Iraq and its security leadership, which affirms—and is certain—that there are no unauthorized forces or bases currently on Iraqi territory. There is significant effort being undertaken by our security units through inspection operations across all areas of responsibility. We also affirm that the necessary legal measures will be taken against anyone attempting to spread misleading information or malicious rumors that send negative messages about Iraq’s sovereignty, prestige, and the sacrifices of its security institutions.”

بيان
​••••
​نتابع باهتمام كبير ما يتم تداوله من تصريحات وأخبار بشأن وجود قواعد وقوات غير مصرح بها على الأراضي العراقية، وتحديداً في صحراء كربلاء شرق النخيب والنجف.
​وسبق أن أكدنا أن الأمر يتعلق بحادثة وقعت بتاريخ 5/3/2026، حيث تحركت قوة أمنية عراقية من قيادة عمليات كربلاء…

— خلية الإعلام الأمني🇮🇶 (@SecMedCell) May 11, 2026

UPDATE: 6:36 PM EDT –

Israel’s Iron Dome air defense system “has been nearly 99% effective against missiles from Hamas and Hezbollah militants and ​has knocked out most missiles from Iran,” the chairman of ‌state-owned Iron Dome maker Rafael Advanced Defense Systems Ltd said on Monday, according to Reuters.

Rafael’s Yuval Steinitz told a conference of the Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs that since the October ​2023 Hamas raid on Israel, Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in ​Lebanon have between them fired some 40,000 rockets at Israel.

“Iron ⁠Dome intercepted most of them with success rates that (are) not 100% but close ​to 100%. It’s around 98%, even 99%, so it’s not perfect, but almost,” ​Steinitz said.

Iran, he added, has fired about 1,500 ballistic missiles at Israel in two rounds of fighting since 2024 and “only several dozens” were not intercepted.

He noted that there was ​no shortage of missile interceptors.

The Trump administration is keeping up its economic pressure on Iran, “sanctioning another network selling and shipping Iranian oil for the IRGC,” State Department spokesman Tommy Piggott stated X. “This action marks an additional round of sanctions under Economic Fury, part of the Administration’s maximum pressure campaign.”

The Trump Administration is sanctioning another network selling and shipping Iranian oil for the IRGC. This action marks an additional round of sanctions under Economic Fury, part of the Administration’s maximum pressure campaign.

— Tommy Pigott (@statedeptspox) May 11, 2026

Satellite imagery from @CopernicusEU shows no supertanker loadings on May 8, May 9 and May 11 (we don’t have data for May 10 from either Sentinel 1 or Sentinel-2 ),” Bloomberg energy and commodities columnist Javier Blas noted on X. “It looks like the longest stretch without loadings since the early days of the war.”

Kharg Island update: @CopernicusEU satellite imagery shows no supertanker loadings on May 8, May 9 and May 11 (we don’t have data for May 10 from either Sentinel 1 or Sentinel-2 🛰️). It looks like the longest stretch without loadings since the early days of the war. pic.twitter.com/yJoTzGO79j

— Javier Blas (@JavierBlas) May 11, 2026

UPDATE: 6:17 PM EDT –

As Pakistan positioned itself as a diplomatic conduit between Tehran and Washington, “it quietly allowed Iranian military aircraft to park on its airfields, potentially shielding them from American airstrikes,” CBS News reported, citing U.S. officials with knowledge of the matter. 

Iran also sent civilian aircraft to park in neighboring Afghanistan, the network added, saying it was not clear if military aircraft were among those flights.

Among the military hardware was an Iranian Air Force RC-130, a reconnaissance and intelligence-gathering variant of the Lockheed C-130 Hercules tactical transport aircraft.

Scoop via @CBSNews: As Pakistan positioned itself as a diplomatic conduit between Tehran and Washington, it quietly allowed Iranian military aircraft to park in its country, potentially shielding them from US airstrikes, sources told @JimLaPorta and me. Days after Trump announced…

— Jennifer Jacobs (@JenniferJJacobs) May 11, 2026

The United Arab Emirates has ​secretly carried out military ‌strikes on Iran, the Wall ​Street Journal reported ​on Monday, citing ⁠people familiar with ​the matter.

The strikes, ​which the UAE has not publicly acknowledged, ​included an ​attack on a refinery on ‌Iran’s ⁠Lavan Island in the Persian Gulf, WSJ said, ​adding ​that ⁠the attack took place ​in early ​April, according to the publication.

The UAE has ​carried out military ‌strikes on #Iran, according to the Wall ​Street Journal.

The strikes, ​which the UAE has not publicly acknowledged, ​included an attack on a refinery on ‌Iran’s ⁠Lavan Island in the Persian Gulf.https://t.co/0GJFrUdbsh

— Hamidreza Azizi (@HamidRezaAz) May 11, 2026

UPDATES

The U.S. blockade on Iranian ports remains ongoing, there was another report of ships attacked by drones in the Persian Gulf and the UAE said Iran is continuing to launch attacks against its territory.

U.S. Central Command on Monday claimed it has turned away 62 ships and disabled four attempting to run the blockade in total since the blockade began on April 13.

USS Delbert D. Black (DDG 119) monitors regional waters as it transits the Arabian Sea during enforcement of the U.S. blockade against Iran. CENTCOM forces have redirected 62 commercial ships and disabled 4 to ensure compliance. pic.twitter.com/Qw5QrTUn5R

— U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM) May 11, 2026

The Ambrey maritime security firm said two ships were struck on Sunday in the Persian Gulf.

“A Panama-flagged deck cargo vessel was impacted by an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) while anchored approximately 23.6 NM east-northeast of the port of Doha, Qatar,” according to an Ambrey alert. “The impact resulted in a small fire, which was subsequently extinguished by the vessel’s crew. The vessel reported damage to its conveyor system at approximately 07:15 UTC. One coast guard vessel was observed alongside, rendering assistance. No crew casualties were reported in connection with the incident. This incident occurred approximately 2.8 NM south of an additional vessel that was impacted by a projectile on the morning of 10 May. Ambrey will provide updates as new information becomes available.”

The Ambrey alert did not specify who launched the drones.

On Sunday, UAE said it was attacked by two drones launched by Iran, the latest in a string of strikes dating back to the beginning of the war on Feb. 28 and continuing even after the April 7 ceasefire between the U.S. and Iran.

UAE Air Defenses engaged 2 UAV’s.

The Ministry of Defense announced that on May 10, 2026, UAE air defense systems successfully engaged 2 UAV’s launched from Iran.

Since the onset of these blatant Iranian attacks, UAE air defenses have engaged a total of 551 ballistic missiles,… pic.twitter.com/yvruj6d3om

— وزارة الدفاع |MOD UAE (@modgovae) May 10, 2026

The issue of Iran will loom large over Trump’s meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing later this week. As we have previously reported, China relies heavily on Iranian oil and is also suspected of aiding its war efforts.

Trump is expected to call on Beijing to persuade Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. However, the topic is fraught with tensions over recent U.S. actions against China.

Last week, the U.S. imposed sanctions on several China-based companies, alleging that they provided “satellite imagery to enable Iran’s military strikes against US forces in the Middle East” and enabled “efforts by Iran’s military to secure weapons, as well as raw materials with applications in Iran’s ballistic missile and unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) programs,” according to the Guardian.

On Monday, China lashed out at those sanctions, describing them as illegal and unilateral, Reuters reported.

“We have always required Chinese enterprises to conduct business in accordance with laws and regulations, and will firmly safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese enterprises,” spokesperson Guo Jiakun said at a regular press briefing.

Iraqi lawmakers are calling for investigation into a clandestine military outpost Israel reportedly set up in the Iraqi desert to support its air campaign against ​Iran. The Wall Street Journal on Saturday reported that Israel built the installation, ​which housed special forces and served as a ​logistical hub for the Israeli air force, with the ⁠knowledge of the U.S. just before the start of ​the war. It also included ​search-and-rescue teams positioned to assist any downed Israeli pilots, according to the Journal. Israeli forces fired on Iraqi troops after it was discovered, the newspaper added. 

Exclusive: Israel built a secret military post in Iraq to support its campaign against Iran and launched strikes on Iraqi troops who almost found it early in the war https://t.co/f9FISMgdNs

— The Wall Street Journal (@WSJ) May 9, 2026

Ahmed Majid, a Kurdish politician, “is among several lawmakers who have harshly reacted to the report of the existence of an Israeli base in the Arab country,” Iran’s official IRNA news agency reported on Monday. Majid warned “that Iraq’s sovereignty is being violated by both the United States and the Israeli regime.”

Member of Parliament Abu Turab al-Tamimi called the presence of the Israeli military base and American forces “a dangerous security scandal” and raised questions “about how enemy forces entered deep into Iraqi territory without the knowledge of border guards, the Interior Ministry, and the Joint Operations Command.”

al-Tamimi insisted that “an immediate investigation should be opened and committees should be formed to hold the perpetrators accountable,” IRNA noted.

Video emerged online purporting to show the Israeli outpost, in the Najaf desert, from a distance. The video was reportedly taken by an Iraqi soldier, though we cannot independently verify these claims.

Circulating footage claiming to show the Israeli military outpost in Iraq’s Najaf desert from a distance. The Iraqi soldier who is filming says the lights belong to two U.S. bases. The Iraqi forces appear to be keeping their distance, as reported by Al-Arabiya. https://t.co/p7tGGCyEDO pic.twitter.com/kgAfEtsGgI

— Ariel Oseran أريئل أوسيران (@ariel_oseran) May 10, 2026

However, the likelihood of an outpost like this is something we have suggested was all but assumed going back to last year’s 12 Day War.

Hezbollah released video footage on Sunday claiming to show its first-person view (FPV) drones attacking an Israeli Iron Dome air defense battery in northern Israel. The video shows what appears to be two attacks, one on a launcher and one on another launcher with several Israeli troops observed nearby. In each case, the video cuts out before any damage is seen. 

“There was no public comment from the IDF, but unofficially, IDF sources could not dispute the video’s authenticity, and the visuals spoke for themselves,” the Times of Israel noted.

As we were among the first to report, Hezbollah has been ramping up its FPV drone attacks on Israeli forces, creating havoc and leaving Israel scrambling for countermeasures. 

Hezbollah released footage showing one of its drones targeting an iron dome platform positioned in Israel northern border over the weekend. pic.twitter.com/aWBr7NiLkw

— Ariel Oseran أريئل أوسيران (@ariel_oseran) May 10, 2026

The British Royal Navy is deploying its Type 45 destroyer HMS Dragon to the Middle East to take part in a potential European post-ceasefire effort to secure the Strait of Hormuz. The vital body of water has been closed to nearly all shipping by Iran since the war broke out on Feb. 28.

The deployment comes as the U.K. and France will host the first meeting of the Strait of Hormuz coalition of defense ministers on Tuesday to map out a way forward amid the global economic impact of the Strait closure. It is also taking place as the latest round of negotiations between the U.S. and Iran remains deadlocked while a shaky ceasefire holds.

“The Type 45 destroyer will forward deploy to ensure the UK can contribute to a future multinational mission to secure the critical waterway and safeguard freedom of navigation, following a sustainable ceasefire,” the Royal Navy said in a statement on Monday. “HMS Dragon can use her Sea Viper missile system to help safeguard UK assets and interests – assisted by Wildcats from 815 Naval Air Squadron equipped with Martlet missiles able to deal with the aerial drone threat.”

The Wildcats are helicopters with drone-busting capabilities that operate off Royal Navy destroyers and frigates.

The idea is that the Dragon would help set up an air defense bubble over the Strait in case a more comprehensive ceasefire breaks down. That would protect ships like the German minesweeper Fulda, which is also heading toward the region, as well as commercial vessels transiting the Strait.

As we previously reported, the Royal Navy’s Type 45 destroyer HMS Diamond used the Sea Viper system, along with guns, to take down more than a half-dozen drones launched by the Houthis in one engagement during the Iranian-backed rebel group’s campaign against Red Sea shipping in 2024. 

You can see an image from that engagement below.

The Portsmouth-based Dragon left the UK in March and has been “helping to safeguard the island of Cyprus in the Eastern Mediterranean,” according to the Royal Navy. In our earlier reporting, we noted that the French aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle entered the Red Sea last week.

News about the deployment of French and U.K. vessels to the Middle East sparked a sharp warning from Iran.

“Any deployment and stationing of extra-regional destroyers around the Strait of Hormuz, under the pretext of ‘protecting shipping,’ is nothing but an escalation of the crisis, the militarization of a vital waterway, and an attempt to cover up the true root of insecurity in the region,” Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi stated on X. “Accordingly, it is emphasized that the presence of French and British warships, or those of any other country potentially accompanying the illegal and internationally unlawful actions of the United States in the Strait of Hormuz, will be met with a decisive and immediate response from the armed forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran. Therefore, they are strongly advised not to complicate the situation further.”

Gharibabadi did not elaborate on what that response might be.

فرانسه اعلام کرده است ناو هواپیمابر «شارل دوگل» را برای آماده سازی یک ماموریت آینده همکاری‌های مشترک میان پاریس و لندن با هدف تقویت آزادی کشتیرانی در منطقه تنگه هرمز، به سمت دریای سرخ و خلیج عدن فرستاده است. در همین حال، دولت انگلیس هم اعلام کرده که در همراهی با فرانسه، یکی از…

— Gharibabadi (@Gharibabadi) May 10, 2026

Tomorrow U.K. Defense Secretary John Healey MP will co-chair a meeting of over 40 nations, alongside his French counterpart, Minister Catherine Vautrin, for the multinational mission’s first Defense Ministers’ meeting.  

“The plan is strictly defensive and, once conditions allow, will focus on restoring confidence for commercial shipping along the critical trade route,” the Royal Navy noted. “HMS Dragon could play a key role in this mission. The ship’s forward presence will help strengthen confidence among commercial shipping firms, support mine-clearance efforts, and protect vessels once hostilities have ceased.”

Contact the author: howard@twz.com

Frenchman Olivier Assayas’ canvas is either highly personal (“Suspended Time”) or deliriously global (“Carlos”). He can be hard to pin down as a filmmaker, except when the material does the restraining for him, as the intermittently arresting but overplayed piece of political theater “The Wizard of the Kremlin” proves.

Operating off the same-named novel by Giuliano da Empoli, about a behind-the-scenes manipulator named Vadim Baranov helping to orchestrate Russian leader Vladimir Putin’s rise to power, Assayas and co-screenwriter-journalist Emmanuel Carrère have fashioned a whirlwind shadow biopic of 21st century tsardom that blends the real story (Jude Law is Putin) and an invented one (Paul Dano is Baranov) with all the wisdom-in-hindsight energy of an old-school epic dramatizing How Things Came to Be.

The problem, though, from its clichéd interview framing (Jeffrey Wright plays an American journalist visiting the retired Baranov at his estate) to the tediously narrated flashback structure, is that the movie never lives and breathes inside its stitched-together moments, preferring to be a relentless, country-hopping talkfest in which characters opine as if fully aware of the consequential era they’re in, fully ready to explain it.

That doesn’t apply to a scarily good Law, who makes the most of a curiously underwritten featured-player part. When given center stage, his Putin is commanding, reminding us of the real sinister power in the room. But everyone else in “The Wizard of the Kremlin” is mouthpiece first, character second. Post-Cold War Russia’s swerve away from clunky democracy is as fascinating a turn of events as geopolitics gets, but it’s been reduced to an extended lecture on power, divvied up into timeline hits (from Yeltsin’s nascent kleptocracy to Putin’s violent fearmongering) and speaking parts made of aphorisms and commentary. (“If you don’t grab power, power grabs you” or “Russia has always needed a strongman,” etc.)

The Zelig-like Baranov character — understood to be a liberalized avatar for inner circle strategist Vladislav Surkov — is an interesting mix of cynicism and opportunity. He goes from being an idealist directing avant-garde theater to honing his manipulation chops making reality TV and eventually helping a savvy business magnate (Will Keen as Boris Berezovsky) fashion Putin into a palatable, malleable politician for an electorate hungry for stability. But when the ex-spymaster’s cold lust to return Russia to imperial glory becomes vengeful and warlike, Baranov’s principles give way to a ruthless impulse.

If only the sorely miscast Dano had the weight to sell this guided tour of corruption — a role that could have been in the vein of one of Scorsese’s charismatic motormouth narrators. Affectedly hushed and conspiratorial in nearly every scene, his accent an afterthought, the normally evocative actor comes off more like a one-note Bond villain in training than someone whose smarts and complexities are meant to intrigue. There’s also little chemistry in his scenes with Alicia Vikander, herself struggling to find dimension in a trophy girlfriend, whose greatest skill in an ever-changing Russia seems to be as an oligarch whisperer.

As “Wizard” barrels along, content to be aimlessly scornful and sloppy, it’s hard not to be reminded of Assayas’ much more successfully finessed “Carlos” and how this effort feels like a truncated miniseries, trimmed of nuance and emotion. It’s sketched out for cynical skimming rather than deeper psychological consideration.

Caught between rising inflation and slowing growth, the United States Federal Reserve, the European Central Bank and the Bank of England are keeping interest rates and borrowing costs steady.

That’s despite rising energy bills, fuel and food costs squeezing businesses and households worldwide.

The International Monetary Fund is warning of a global slowdown, and no one knows how long the energy shock set off by the US-Israel war on Iran will last.

The impact will be felt hardest in emerging markets and developing nations. Central banks face a tough choice: fight rising prices or support a weakening economy.

Vardy was released by his boyhood club Sheffield Wednesday for being too small, but the documentary unearths footage of his blistering goalscoring form in his Stocksbridge days while also working in a factory making medical splints.

However, in the first of a series of problems in 2007, Vardy admits in the documentary he had “no stability” in his life. He had been convicted of assault when out drinking and had to wear an ankle tag for six months.

He also had a 6pm curfew which meant he had to leave matches early.

Moves to Halifax Town – where Vardy met his long‑time agent John Morris – and later Fleetwood Town followed, before his £1m move to then‑Championship club Leicester City.

Woven throughout are “The Inbetweeners” – a nickname given to Vardy’s small, all‑male social group from Sheffield – who act as his main support, alongside his wife.

“If one of us is having a problem, then get it in the group. Might get abused for a bit but at least it’s us lot keeping an eye on each other,” Vardy says.

They were needed, as former Foxes midfielder Andy King says Vardy experienced an initial “culture shock” at Leicester, where the striker admits he initially felt not good enough.

Physiotherapist Dave Rennie also corroborates accounts of Vardy’s struggles with alcohol, worsened by the pressure of the move, including “manufacturing his own Skittles vodka at home”.

Vardy would arrive at training hungover and, on one occasion, uncontactable to his then-pregnant Rebekah, or Becky as he affectionately calls her.

There was a feeling he was going to throw away his career, but the work of a “good psychologist”, the patience of manager Nigel Pearson and his own efforts to grow up after the birth of his daughter Ella kept him going.

Fame still brought further problems. A 2015 Sun on Sunday story showed him on video using a racial slur against a Japanese man in a casino.

He later described it as “a massive, massive learning curve”, explaining he was never taught which terms he could and could not use.

The film also highlights “one of the harder things” Vardy experienced when he rushed home from a team‑bonding trip to Helsinki after being told a tabloid was publishing a story about his secret biological father, who he had no prior knowledge of.

Still, Vardy became the poster boy and top scorer for Leicester’s Premier League title‑winning campaign in 2015‑16, went on to lift the FA Cup and fulfilled his agent’s prediction, made when he signed for Halifax, that he would one day play for England.

Asked whether he could have achieved more internationally after retiring from England in 2018, Vardy replied: “Possibly. We’ll never know.

“I’ll be honest, going away with England is unbelievable – you want to play for your country – but the mental side of it was tough. That changed when Gareth [Southgate] came in, but before that you were stuck in your room all day.

“You trained and then you were just back in your hotel room, pulling your hair out. There’s only so much time you can spend on a PlayStation or speaking to the kids on video calls. You’ve already not seen them and now you’re getting pulled away for another two weeks. It’s tough.

“At the time, after the World Cup, I just wanted to protect [my legs] as much as possible, prolong my club career, and as I’m still going now, it was obviously the right decision.”

After the shooting at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner, has the US entered a new age of political violence? The third alleged attempted assassination of US President Donald Trump in recent years follows a series of politically motivated violent incidents last year, including the assassinations of right-wing activist Charlie Kirk and Democratic state legislator Melissa Hortman. What is causing the increase in political violence in America? And how much is the Trump administration driving the politically divisive atmosphere with violent rhetoric and lethal foreign policy?

This week on UpFront, Redi Tlhabi speaks with Robert Pape, professor of political science at the University of Chicago and author of the upcoming book “Our Own Worst Enemies: America in the Age of Violent Populism”.

Oil markets face renewed instability following the United Arab Emirates’ formal exit from the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and its wider alliance (OPEC+), announced on Tuesday and taking effect on Friday.

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The move, which ends decades of membership, comes as the global economy continues to reel from the ongoing war with Iran and the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz remains in place.

Investors are currently weighing the potential for higher future output from the UAE against the immediate and acute risks posed to global supply routes, as well as the increased chances that more countries drop out of OPEC and OPEC+.

Following the announcement, markets reacted swiftly as the potential for oversupply from the UAE was priced in. Oil prices fell by between 2% and 3%, particularly in futures contracts a couple of months ahead.

However, the move was just as quickly offset by the risk premium associated with the Middle East conflict and the current halt to US-Iran negotiations.

At the time of writing, US benchmark crude, WTI, is trading above $105 a barrel, while Brent crude, the international standard, is over $112. Both prices are around 4% higher on Wednesday from the UAE announcement low.

The UAE’s decision follows years of simmering tension between Abu Dhabi and Riyadh over production quotas. The UAE has invested over $150 billion (€128bn) in the state-owned Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) to expand its capacity to five million barrels per day.

However, under OPEC’s restrictive framework, much of this capacity remained underutilised, now prompting the government to prioritise its national interest.

The departure of the group’s third-largest producer is a significant blow to the cohesion of the 60-year-old organisation. Maurizio Carulli, global energy analyst at Quilter Cheviot, noted the limitations this exit places on the remaining members.

“Until tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz is safe again, OPEC’s ability to stabilise prices is sharply constrained, while US producers have gained outsized influence,” Carulli explained.

While the UAE has pledged to bring additional production to the market in a “gradual and measured” manner, the sudden lack of coordination within OPEC has introduced a new layer of uncertainty.

For the UAE, the blockade served as a final catalyst for its exit. With its primary export route under threat, Abu Dhabi has sought the diplomatic flexibility to forge independent security and trade partnerships outside the traditional cartel structure.

Despite the geopolitical turmoil, energy equities have remained resilient.

According to Carulli, “integrated majors such as BP, Shell, TotalEnergies, ENI, Chevron and ExxonMobil are benefitting from a price uplift that could add 5-10% to operating cash flow for every $10 increase in oil prices.”

Standoff over the Strait of Hormuz

In a separate but related development, the security situation in the Middle East remains precarious despite a fragile ceasefire. Iran has recently offered a ten-point proposal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

In exchange for restoring maritime traffic, Tehran is demanding a full withdrawal of the US naval blockade and an end to the current hostilities.

US President Donald Trump, who recently extended the two-week ceasefire mediated by Pakistan, described the latest Iranian offer as “much better” than previous iterations but still did not accept the terms.

Shortly after, Trump posted on social media claiming that Iran is in a dire and desperate condition with no leverage to negotiate.

Washington continues to insist on a permanent settlement regarding Iran’s nuclear programme and an “unconditional” reopening of the waterway before sanctions are lifted.

The impact of this blockade on global energy security cannot be overstated.

“The prolonged closure of the Strait of Hormuz has removed roughly 12% of global oil supply from the market, according to the IEA, a bigger disruption than the Yom Kippur war, the Iran‑Iraq conflict, the invasion of Kuwait or even the fallout from Ukraine,” Carulli highlighted.

Brent crude rises more than 2 percent after Washington and Tehran fail to hold second round of talks in Pakistan.

Oil prices have climbed higher amid stalled peace talks between the United States and Iran.

Brent crude rose more than 2 percent on Sunday after hopes for a second round of ceasefire negotiations between Washington and Tehran unravelled over the weekend.

After easing slightly, Brent, the primary benchmark for global prices, stood at $106.99 as of 1:30 GMT.

Stock markets in Asia shrugged off the impasse to open higher on Monday, with Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 and South Korea’s KOSPI gaining 0.9 percent and 1.5 percent, respectively, in morning trading.

US President Donald Trump on Saturday cancelled a planned trip to Pakistan by his envoys, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, after Iranian Minister of Foreign Affairs Abbas Araghchi departed Islamabad before any direct engagement could take place between the sides.

Araghchi arrived in Russia’s Saint Petersburg on Monday for talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin and other officials as Tehran seeks a way out of the diplomatic impasse.

Araghchi’s trip, which follows a whistle-stop visit to Oman on Sunday, comes as uncertainty hangs over the fragile ceasefire between Washington and Tehran.

Trump announced an extension to their two-week truce last week, without specifying a deadline for reaching a deal to end the war.

As US and Iranian negotiators struggle to break the deadlock, Tehran’s threats against commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz have reduced traffic to a trickle, paralysing a large portion of the world’s supply of oil and natural gas.

On Saturday, 19 commercial vessels transited the strait, which normally carries about one-fifth of global oil and natural gas supplies, according to maritime intelligence platform Windward.

Before the US and Israel launched their war on Iran in late February, the waterway saw an average of 129 daily transits, according to the United Nations Trade and Development.

Israel has violated the so-called Gaza “ceasefire” more than 2,400 times in the more than six months since the agreement was reached. Al Jazeera’s Hala Al Shami gives an overview of the deteriorating situation.

Wrexham inflicted Coventry’s first league defeat of the season when they won an exciting encounter 3-2 at Stok Cae Ras in October.

“It was a massive game and a massive performance here,” Hyam said.

“It was a great game under the lights at the stadium – I think it was one of my first opportunities to play under the lights here.

“We beat them 3-2, which was a great game and a great occasion for this club.

“They’ve got some great, talented players at the top of the pitch but so have we.”

While reaching the play-offs is the main focus for Hyam there is also the prospect of inclusion in Scotland’s World Cup squad.

Hyam won his second senior cap – three years after making his debut – in Scotland’s 1-0 friendly defeat to the Ivory Coast at Everton’s Hill Dickinson Stadium in March.

Wrexham manager Phil Parkinson said that continued good performances from the former Reading player would give him every chance of securing a place in Steve Clarke’s squad.

“One step at a time, one game at a time,” said Hyam.

“All I can focus on is my performances and hopefully staying fit and having a good end to the season.”