In the aftermath of the third imposed war, which ended with the unmistakable defeat of the aggressors, a single strategic principle now governs Iran's diplomatic posture: the defeated side makes concessions.
Iranian negotiators have already made this abundantly clear. The United States, having failed to achieve its military objectives after 40 days of unprovoked and indiscriminate war of aggression against the Islamic Republic of Iran, is no longer in a position to make demands or seek concessions.
This dynamic has become particularly relevant as the next round of negotiations remains uncertain, primarily due to the US banditry and piracy in the Strait of Hormuz and behind-the-scenes maneuvering by Israel, which has yet to fully absorb the impact of Iran's retaliatory response.
US President Donald Trump said Iran is "going to negotiate" ahead of anticipated talks in Pakistan, while warning of consequences if it does not.
Speaking in a phone interview reported by CNN, Trump said, "Well, they're going to negotiate, and if they don't, they're going to see problems like they've never seen before."
Iranian parliament speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf has said that Tehran will not accept negotiations with Washington under the shadow of threats.
In a post on his X handle early on Tuesday, Qalibaf denounced US President Donald Trump for acting on a delusion.
His remarks came in response to continued US ceasefire violations of the ceasefire deal reached two weeks ago, including a naval blockade and an attack on an Iranian merchant vessel in the Sea of Oman on Sunday.
"Trump, by imposing a blockade and violating the ceasefire, wants - in his own delusion - to turn the negotiating table into a table of surrender or to justify renewed warmongering," the top lawmaker and lead negotiator said.
Qalibaf made it clear that pressure tactics will not yield results at the negotiating table.
Discussing Trump's audacious announcement (which change by the hour) that Iran has reopened the Strait of Hormuz fully, followed by real reports that Iran closed the strait, and more on Tehran's retaliation against ceasefire violations both in Lebanon and in the US blockade via game changing moves that tell the world just who is in control. All of this points to one conclusion: the US and Iran are once again on the precipice of war. All this and more.
Trump threatens total Iranian destruction - what does it actually mean and how close are we to escalation? Prof. Robert Pape, Director of the Chicago Project on Security and Threats at the University of Chicago and author of Escalation Trap, breaks down the Iran-U.S. standoff, the real stakes behind Trump's warning, and why this confrontation may be more dangerous than mainstream coverage suggests. Iran nuclear threat, U.S. foreign policy, Middle East conflict, escalation risk.
US President Donald Trump has reportedly flown into a hours-long hysterical tantrum inside the White House, triggering renewed demands from American lawmakers to invoke the 25th Amendment and remove him from power in yet another glaring sign of the deepening crisis gripping the United States after a failed aggression on Iran.
According to reports from American media outlets, the 79-year-old unhinged US president was deliberately barred from a high-level briefing on a desperate rescue operation for two American airmen downed during Washington's illegal military adventure in Iran.
Fearing his erratic and deranged conduct, aides instead chose to feed him updates piecemeal rather than allow him anywhere near the command center.
Insiders described Trump screaming uncontrollably at staff over soaring gas prices while obsessively fixating on the 1979 Iran hostage crisis.
Iran is now a bona fide regional power, and key decisions run through Tehran - so countries in the region will need friendly relations with Iran, says an analyst.
In an interview with the Press TV website, Patrick Henningsen, the founder of the 21st Century Wire Website, a geopolitical analyst and an award-winning journalist, said the US foreign policy under President Donald Trump continues to alienate long-standing allies, and a noticeable shift is underway in European capitals.
Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian has hit out at his US counterpart Donald Trump over his threats, saying he is not in a position to deprive the Iranian nation of its inalienable right to a peaceful nuclear program.
He made the remarks on Sunday, two days after Trump threatened that the US would secure Iran's enriched uranium "in a much more unfriendly form" if no deal is reached.
United States intelligence assessments have suggested that Iran likely still has access to around 70 percent of its pre-war ballistic missile stockpiles, and around 60 percent of its missile launchers, The New York Times reported on April 18.
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Iran also still retains around 40% of its drone arsenal, according to the Times, which cited U.S. intelligence and military officials.
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Recent reports go directly against the claims made by the U.S. and Israel shortly after the start of the war. The militaries of both countries suggested that most of the Islamic Republic's ballistic missile stockpiles and launchers were effectively wiped out.
Daniel Benaim, the former US Deputy Assistant Secretary for Arabian Peninsula Affairs, says the US missed the early off-ramps to declare victory over Iran, and now finds itself behind where it began on all its objectives.
Let us begin with the one sentence that every Western foreign minister, every White House spokesman, every European Union spokesperson has refused to utter in 18 months of slaughter:
Israel is killing children. Deliberately. Systematically. With our weapons. With our money. With our diplomatic cover. And we are letting it happen.
That is the sentence. It is not propaganda. It is not antisemitism. It is not a conspiracy theory circulated on fringe websites. It is the documented, verified, cross-referenced conclusion of UNICEF, the World Health Organization, Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the International Court of Justice, The Lancet, and - since January 2026 - Israeli military sources themselves, who finally accepted the Gaza Ministry of Health's death count.
More than 21,289 children confirmed killed in Gaza since October 7, 2023. More than 44,500 children injured, many permanently. More than 172 children killed in Lebanon in six weeks of renewed war. At least 254 children killed in Iran since February 28, 2026, including more than 165 schoolgirls killed in a single strike on the Shajareh Tayyebeh girls' elementary school in Minab. More than 50,000 children killed or injured across the region in less than thirty months.
This is not war. This is not self-defense. This is not a tragic but unavoidable byproduct of complex military operations in densely populated areas. This is the systematic, industrial-scale extermination of Arab children, underwritten by the United States of America, enabled by the cowardice of Europe, and executed by the state of Israel with a precision and consistency that leave no room for the word 'accident.'
Outrage continues to grow over the Israeli soldier who was photographed desecrating a statue of Jesus Christ in southern Lebanon, including among Trump's former MAGA allies. From a Polish MP to a Palestinian theologian, observers say it reveals a wider pattern.
Hungary's incoming prime minister Peter Magyar said Monday the country will execute International Criminal Court warrants against anyone, after inviting Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu - who is wanted under such a warrant - to Budapest later this year.
Israel is promoting a new Dead Sea festival, Pride Land, as the "biggest LGBTQ+ festival ever in the Middle East," with the event billed as a four-day gathering focused on performances, parties, exhibitions, and queer culture.
12bytes: Everyone holds an inherent right to live their lives as they please, so long as they're not hurting others, however i see these alternate lifestyles as degenerate and the incessant promotion of them as extremely destructive to a healthy society. If one does a little research, they will find that Jews are primarily the ones pushing this crap.
Australia is trying to go green, but are our best efforts coming at a cost? Liam Bartlett reveals the devastating truth behind China's influence over our clean energy revolution.
Iranians do not fear the United States Armed Forces and in fact they openly mock them. Iran is on the verge of one of the greatest military victories in centuries. This victory over United States and their little brother Israel is going down in history. Iranians are brilliant; Trump is the idiot.
In an unprecedented move, 87 international lawyers have issued a joint statement calling the war by the United States and the Zionist regime against Iran and Lebanon a gross violation of international law and a clear instance of the crime of aggression.
In a statement released on Monday, the council expressed "deep regret and abhorrence" over the enemies' criminal strikes on more than 80 schools, high schools, and educational centers in various Iranian provinces that martyred a total of 344 innocent students and teachers and injured hundreds more.
"The deliberate targeting of students and teachers in school environments not only blatantly violates Article 38 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child but also constitutes 'organized massacre' and 'terrorizing the civilian population,' aimed at paralyzing the education system and instilling fear and terror among Iranian families," it added.
The rights body also said during the war the aggressor regimes targeted 30 universities and higher education centers across Iran, destroying 154 scientific sites and killing five prominent professors and more than 60 university students.
It said US-Israeli attacks on schools and universities constitute a flagrant violation of international humanitarian law, a clear case of war crime, and a breach of multiple human rights principles, particularly the rights of the child.
Iran attacked a number of United States warships in the Arabian Sea on April 19 after one of its commercial vessels was seized by the latter.
The seizure was announced by President Donald Trump himself, who said that the vessel attempted to breach a blockade the U.S. has been maintaining around Iranian ports.
"Today, an Iranian-flagged cargo ship named TOUSKA - nearly 900 feet long and weighing almost as much as an aircraft carrier - tried to get past our naval blockade, and it did not go well for them," Trump wrote on Truth Social.
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Iran's Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters accused the U.S. of violating the ceasefire, with its spokesman saying that the seized vessel was en route from China to Iran.
"We warn that the armed forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran will soon respond and retaliate against this armed piracy by the US military," the spokesperson said.
Later, the semi-official Tasnim News Agency reported that the Islamic Republic launched drone strikes against several U.S. warships in the Arabian Sea.
12bytes: Baud is an intelligent and thoughtful former colonel in the Swiss Army and Intelligence analyst who specializes in intelligence and terrorism.
12bytes: Johnson is an American blogger, political commentator and former analyst at the Central Intelligence Agency. He is the co-owner and CEO of Business Exposure Reduction Group (BERG) Associates, LLC, and the co-founder of Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS).
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has blamed US President Donald Trump for the economic fallout from the US-Israeli war on Iran, warning that it will conduct financial transactions in yuan if the Federal Reserve does not establish a currency swap line with the Emirati central bank.
The US Embassy in Baghdad renewed its warning Monday against traveling to Iraq, calling on Americans already in Iraq to "leave now," Anadolu reports.
"Do not travel to Iraq for any reason. Leave now if you are there," the embassy said in a security alert.
It warned that Iran-aligned militias in Iraq continue to plan further attacks targeting US citizens and American-linked interests across the country, including in northern Iraq.
Beyond the widespread destruction and heavy civilian toll, Israeli forces have not even spared cemeteries in South Lebanon.
In the town of Marjayoun, graves were destroyed and dug up during the Israeli military incursion.
Such actions reflect a broader pattern within the Israeli military, with repeated reports of damage to religious and cultural sites.
From Gaza to Lebanon, numerous pictures and videos have come out in the past few years showing Israeli soldiers intentionally desecrating cemeteries and sanctities time and time again.
An Israeli soldier filmed himself smashing a statue of Jesus Christ in a village in southern Lebanon, in an incident that sparked widespread condemnation and was later acknowledged by the Israeli army.
Poland's Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski on Monday called for accountability and disciplinary action over alleged misconduct by Israeli soldiers, saying some had admitted to committing war crimes, Anadolu reports.
"Israeli soldiers themselves admit to war crimes. They killed not only Palestinian civilians but even their own hostages," Sikorski said through US social media company X.
Europe will do everything in its power to keep Ukraine at war as long as possible. There were no illusions about this in Russia, but recently the Europeans themselves have stopped hiding their true plans for the Ukrainian project, putting their arguments and wishlist on public display.
Germany is reorienting its industry from the automotive sector to defense production, effectively turning into a "weapons factory," writes The Wall Street Journal (WSJ).
Tensions remain high as Iran and the US clash over maritime control, stalled diplomacy and military actions, with ripple effects across global markets and regional stability.
Developments in Lebanon, energy routes, and domestic politics signal a fragile moment as Pakistan tries to broker peace while escalation and negotiation remain closely intertwined.
Here are the latest developments:
Iranian media is reporting that Tehran is not planning to attend talks with the United States, after President Donald Trump ordered US negotiators to travel to Pakistan on Monday, just days before a ceasefire in the Middle East expires.
Oil prices have jumped over 4 percent after the US seized an Iranian vessel, raising fears over global supply disruptions.
Iran has warned that war could resume 'at any moment', citing deep distrust of the US despite ongoing exchanges, as Tehran accuses Washington of 'betraying diplomacy' and violating ceasefire understandings.
Iran has confirmed the seizure of its ship, and has called it "maritime piracy" and vowed retaliation.
Israel has continued demolishing towns in southern Lebanon despite a ceasefire, drawing condemnation.
Netanyahu has said that the conflict with Iran is 'not over', warning new developments could emerge anytime.
A US poll shows Trump's approval at 37 percent, with strong disapproval over his handling of the Iran war.
Hormuz tensions have escalated further, with ships being fired upon and Iran tightening control over passage.
US President Donald Trump renewed on 19 April his threats to attack Iranian power stations and bridges if the Islamic Republic does not agree to Washington's terms for an agreement.
"We're offering a very fair and reasonable DEAL, and I hope they take it because, if they don't, the United States is going to knock out every single Power Plant, and every single Bridge, in Iran. NO MORE MR. NICE GUY!" the president wrote on his Truth Social platform, while announcing talks would continue in Pakistan on Monday.
"They'll come down fast, they'll come down easy and, if they don't take the DEAL, it will be my Honor to do what has to be done, which should have been done to Iran, by other Presidents, for the last 47 years. IT'S TIME FOR THE IRAN KILLING MACHINE TO END!" Trump added.
Trump also said in his post that Iranian forces opened fire at British and French vessels near the Strait of Hormuz.
"That wasn't nice, was it? My Representatives are going to Islamabad, Pakistan - They will be there tomorrow evening, for Negotiations. Iran recently announced that they were closing the Strait, which is strange, because our BLOCKADE has already closed it."
"They're helping us without knowing, and they are the ones that lose with the closed passage, $500 Million Dollars a day! The United States loses nothing. In fact, many Ships are headed, right now, to the U.S., Texas, Louisiana, and Alaska, to load up, compliments of the IRGC, always wanting to be 'the tough guy!'"
After having reopened it following the Lebanon truce, Iran reclosed the Strait of Hormuz on Saturday, citing Trump's vow to continue blockading Iranian ports despite a ceasefire.
"The aggressor United States violated the ceasefire and committed maritime piracy by firing at an Iranian merchant ship in the waters of the Sea of Oman and landing a number of its terrorist marines on the deck of the vessel, disabling its navigation system," Lieutenant-Colonel Ebrahim Zolfaghari said.
"We warn that the armed forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran will soon respond to this armed piracy and retaliation by the US army," he added.
US troops launched the unprovoked attack on the Iranian container ship Toska, which was peacefully sailing from China to Iran through the Gulf of Oman.
In immediate response, Iranian forces struck back, targeting several American military vessels in the area with drone attacks.
New video from the US military is said to show an operation by its forces to seize an Iranian-flagged ship which attempted to bypass the US blockade of Iranian ports. The US says the cargo ship Touska was linked to a sanctioned company, while Iran condemned the move as 'piracy' and a violation of the ceasefire.
China has expressed concern over the "forced interception" by the US of an Iranian-flagged cargo ship, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson said on Monday, urging relevant parties to abide by the ceasefire agreement in a responsible manner.
An Israeli paper has reported that the danger posed by roadside bombs in southern Lebanon has resurfaced, becoming a recurring nightmare for Israeli occupation forces.
BEIRUT, April 20 (YPA) -The Islamic resistance in Lebanon (Hezbollah) said on Monday that it had destroyed four Israeli Merkava tanks a day earlier in the town of Taybeh after they drove over a pre-planted minefield.
After years of condemning Hamas as the brutal, monstrous enemy of "all civilized countries" which justified the harshest bombing of a civilian population in history, if Hamas was present, it has emerged from the highest levels of the Israeli government, and the admissions of Benjamin Netanyahu himself, that Netanyahu had directed over $1 billion in cash to Hamas from 2018 right up to the eve of the October 7, 2023 attacks.
According to the Times of Israel, Netanyahu was warned at least twice by his own intelligence officials that the money was being used for terrorism purposes.
The officials confirming the cash transfers to Hamas include a former Minister of Defense, a former Prime Minister, and a former head of Shin Bet, the super-secret Israeli intelligence service.
12bytes: The Jewish Zionists rely on being seen as victims which affords them a great deal of political latitude and Netanyahu and his government are quite willing to sacrifice Israeli's in that vein. An example of this was provided by Yitzhak Greenbaum, Chairman of the Rescue Committee of the Jewish Agency, during the so-called Jewish holocaust of WW2:
"When they asked me, couldn't you give money out of the United Jewish Appeal funds for the rescue of Jews in Europe, I said, 'NO!' and I say again 'NO!' ... one should resist this wave which pushes the Zionist activities to secondary importance."
Another example is the attack carried out on Israel by Hamas on 7-Oct-2023. There is absolutely zero doubt that Israeli intelligence had foreknowledge of the event, yet they allowed it to proceed, then made up all sorts of stupid stories about non-existent atrocities committed by Hamas, such as cutting off the heads of babies, rapes, etc. (rule of thumb: Jews often accuse others of atrocities that they themselves are guilty of). Hamas's goal was to get in, kidnap a bunch Jews to use as leverage for getting their own people released from Israeli torture prisons, and then get out as quickly as possible before they start taking a lot of fire from the IDF which, by the way, killed many Jews during the invasion (Hamas doesn't have helicopters or the kind of missiles that were fired from them at Israeli's that day).
Iran executed two men convicted of cooperating with Israel's Mossad intelligence service and planning attacks inside the country, the judiciary's news outlet Mizan reported on Sunday.
"The UAE no longer needs America to defend it, as it has proven during the Iranian aggression that it is capable of defending itself with distinction," Abdulla wrote.
"What the UAE needs is to acquire only the best and latest weapons that America has. Therefore, it is time to think about closing the American bases, as they are a burden and not a strategic asset."
[...]
The UAE has been hit particularly hard, with hundreds of drone and missile strikes. By late March, Iran had launched 398 ballistic missiles, 1,872 drones and 15 cruise missiles at the Emirates.
The UAE is facing its most serious economic shock in decades as a result of the war. The country's economy is heavily reliant on tourism, real estate, logistics and finance.
12bytes: Proof once again that a scholar can be a moron. He's right insomuch as the US bases need to go, but is catastrophically wrong in thinking that any of the GCC states are capable of defending themselves, especially with inferior US weapons. What this "scholar" fails to consider is that all their problems could be solved by dealing with Iran rather than the terrorist states that got them into this mess.
Representatives of the United Arab Emirates, during negotiations with American officials, raised the issue of providing the United Arab Emirates with financial support from the United States in the event that the conflict in the Middle East leads to an aggravation of the crisis in the country.
The Lebanese National News Agency reported that Israeli forces are continuing to demolish houses in the city of Bint Jbeil, as well as in the towns of Khiam, Markaba, and Taybeh. This coincides with intensive low-altitude drone flights over large parts of the south despite the ceasefire being in effect.
According to Haaretz, the Israeli army is carrying out widespread and systematic demolition of residential buildings and civilian structures. The newspaper quoted army commanders as saying that "systematic destruction" is being implemented in villages where troops are deployed.
Iran's forensic authority says at least 3,375 people, including hundreds of children, have been martyred during the recent 40 days of unprovoked war waged by the United States and the Israeli regime.
Israeli army and settler attacks killed at least 1,151 and wounded more than 11,885 Palestinians across the occupied West Bank since Israel's genocidal war on Gaza began in October 2023, Al Jazeera reported.
During the same period, more than 23,000 Palestinians have been arrested by Israeli forces.
Umm al-Khair, occupied West Bank - Just old enough to utter complete sentences in a small, wavering voice, Masa Hathaleen, five, stands before the barbed wire fence blocking her path to school. "I am Masa," she pleaded. "Please open the road for us. We want to go to school. We are not doing anything wrong. We just have our books. We love our school."
Masa was one of dozens of children, book bags in tow, who marched on Sunday morning towards the fence that now blocks the route the youngsters of the Bedouin community of Umm al-Khair have used for decades to reach their school in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. The schoolchildren held up posters, sang songs and chanted in English at soldiers who watched from the other side: "Open the road!"
