September 19, 2026

Iran Watch

US ‘humiliated’ by Iranian leadership – German chancellor — RT World News– www.rt.com

pgnewser April 28, 2026 0

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Friedrich Merz says Washington has “no convincing strategy” in talks with Tehran

The US lacks a coherent negotiation strategy and is being “humiliated” by Iran, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said on Monday.

Merz made the remarks as the vital Strait of Hormuz remains closed to most shipping, driving up global energy prices.

“The Iranians are clearly stronger than expected, and the Americans clearly have no truly convincing strategy in the negotiations either,” Merz said during a visit to a school in Marsberg, North Rhine-Westphalia.

“The problem with conflicts like this is always that you don’t just have to get in – you also have to get out again. We saw that very painfully in Afghanistan for 20 years. We saw it in Iraq,” the chancellor said, according to Deutsche Welle.

Iran ‘to end Strait of Hormuz blockade’ if Trump accepts major nuclear weapons concession– www.mirror.co.uk

pgnewser April 27, 2026 0

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Iran is proposing to lift its stranglehold on the Strait of Hormuz without tackling its nuclear programme, two regional officials familiar with the offer said Monday, as the country’s foreign minister travelled to Russia in what he described as an opportunity to consult with Moscow about the conflict with Israel and the United States.

Iran also seeks the US to lift its blockade of the country as part of its proposal, said the two officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the private negotiations. The fresh proposal, delivered to the United States through Pakistan, is unlikely to gain support from US President Donald Trump, who insists on ending Iran’s atomic programme as part of a comprehensive deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and secure a permanent ceasefire.

“We have all the cards. If they want to talk, they can come to us, or they can call us,” Trump told Fox News Channel on Sunday.

The Axios news outlet first reported Iran’s proposal. Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency said Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi arrived in St Petersburg on Monday morning ahead of a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin. His weekend trip has included two stops in Pakistan and a visit to Oman, which shares the strait with Iran.

Iran’s top diplomat briefly returns to Pakistan but Trump says the sides can talk by phone– abcnews.com

pgnewser April 27, 2026 0

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ISLAMABAD — ISLAMABAD (AP) — Iran ‘s foreign minister briefly visited Islamabad again on Sunday as Pakistan’s political and military leadership scrambled to reignite ceasefire negotiations between Tehran and Washington, but President Donald Trump said they could talk by phone instead.

Abbas Araghchi had left Pakistan’s capital late the previous day, creating confusion around an expected second round of talks there, but he returned before continuing on to Moscow on Sunday, Iranian state media said. He had been in Oman, which previously mediated talks and is on the other side of the strategic Strait of Hormuz.

The White House last week said it would dispatch envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner to Islamabad to follow up on historic face-to-face talks earlier this month. But shortly after Araghchi’s departure Saturday, Trump said he had called off the mission because of a lack of progress with Iran.

“If they want, we can talk but we’re not sending people,” Trump told Fox News on Sunday. He said earlier on social media: “All they have to do is call!!!”

U.S.-Iran peace talks stall. What’s next for global markets– www.cnbc.com

pgnewser April 27, 2026 0

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Global markets are entering the week balancing resilient risk appetite against renewed geopolitical strain as prospects of U.S.-Iran negotiations took a hit over the weekend.

U.S. President Donald Trump scrapped plans to send envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner to Islamabad for talks with Iran on Saturday, citing “tremendous infighting and confusion” within Tehran’s leadership.

Iran’s foreign minister Abbas Araghchi made a brief return to Islamabad on Sunday as Pakistan’s leaders pushed to revive ceasefire talks between Tehran and Washington, though Trump said discussions could instead take place over phone. Araghchi has reportedly departed Islamabad for Moscow.

Iran has offered a new proposal to the U.S. for reopening the Strait of Hormuz and end the war, while shelving nuclear talks to a later date, Axios reported, citing a U.S. official and two sources with knowledge of the matter.

Iran supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei ‘needs plastic surgery’ after airstrike burns– www.mirror.co.uk

pgnewser April 24, 2026 0

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Iran’s new supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei has not been seen publicly since the start of the war with the US, with reports emerging that he was seriously injured in an airstrike last month

Iran’s new supreme leader has not been seen in public since the outbreak of war with the US, with reports emerging that his face was so severely burnt in an airstrike that he requires plastic surgery.

Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei has neither been spotted nor released any audio or video message since assuming power. According to reports, he sustained serious injuries in an airstrike on 28 February.

The US and Iran have been engaged in conflict since late February, after joint US-Israeli forces launched strikes on several key Iranian targets. Iran hit back by attacking sites across the region and shutting the vital Strait of Hormuz trade route.

The New York Times reported that while Khamenei was gravely wounded, he remains mentally sharp and engaged, according to four senior Iranian officials with knowledge of his condition.

Iran-US war latest: UK hits back at Trump threat to review Falklands claim over lack of support for Iran war– www.independent.co.uk

pgnewser April 24, 2026 0

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Mike Huckabee, the US envoy to Israel, who was on hand for the White House talks, said the “people of Lebanon, the people of Israel are neighbours and they want to get along”.

“They can get along,” he said.

“But it’s like neighbours who have a rough little kid living in the neighbourhood who keeps throwing rocks at everybody’s window.

“And if the kid will quit throwing rocks, the neighbours can get along and start actually working together.”

Japan core inflation accelerates after five months as Iran war stokes energy worries– www.cnbc.com

pgnewser April 24, 2026 0

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Core inflation in Japan accelerated for the first time in five months, rising to 1.8% in March as Iran war-fueled higher energy prices stoke consumer inflation.

Government data showed the inflation figure — which strips out prices of fresh food — was in line with the 1.8% expected by economists polled by Reuters, and was higher than the 1.6% seen in February

Headline inflation came in at 1.5%, compared with 1.3% in February, staying below the central bank’s 2% target for a second straight month.

The so-called “core-core” inflation rate, which strips out prices of both food and energy, dipped to 2.4% from February’s 2.5%, marking its lowest level since October 2024.

Iran Ceasefire Totters as Lebanon Ceasefire Extends

pgnewser April 24, 2026 1

President Donald Trump announced there was no hurry to finalize a peace deal with the Iranian regime. He has extended the ceasefire indefinitely. For more news on Iran, read our Deep Dive Report on pg. 2.

The President also announced the Lebanon ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah has been extended for three more weeks.

Middle East crisis live: Trump says Israel-Lebanon ceasefire extended by three weeks but claims he won’t rush Iran deal | US-Israel war on Iran– www.theguardian.com
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Here’s a snapshot of the latest Middle East news to bring you up to speed.

  • Donald Trump has announced that a ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon would be extended by three weeks. Trump, speaking to reporters in the Oval Office alongside the participants in the meeting, said he hoped the two countries’ leaders would meet during the additional three-week cessation of hostilities.

  • When he was asked how long he was willing to wait for a long-term peace deal with Iran, he replied: “Don’t rush me”.

  • The US president had earlier ordered the US navy to “shoot and kill” small Iranian boats that deploy mines in the strait of Hormuz and claimed that US minesweepers “are clearing the strait right now” amid the standoff over the key waterway. US special forces earlier boarded a stateless oil tanker in the Indian Ocean which the Pentagon claimed was carrying Iranian crude oil, ratcheting up the standoff with Tehran over the strait.

  • Trump said the US had “hit about 75% of our targets” in Iran and that a deal had not yet been reached because Iran’s leadership was “in turmoil”.

  • Iran’s president, Masoud Pezeshkian, said there were no “hardliners” or “moderates” in Iran, responding to the Trump claim of internal division in Iran’s leadership. Separately, Iran’s foreign minister, Seyed Abbas Araghchi, said Iranian state institutions “continue to act with unity, purpose and discipline”.

After Secretary Firing, Navy Gets Shoot-on-Sight Order

pgnewser April 23, 2026 0

After the Secretary of the Navy, John Phelan, was suddenly dismissed by Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, President Donald Trump issued a new shoot-on-sight order to the Navy. The move has man wondering if the now-former Secretary was dismissed for refusing to follow that same order.

Trump Gives Navy a Shoot-on-Sight Order a Day After Firing its Leader– www.westernjournal.com
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A day after former Navy Secretary John Phelan was dismissed, President Donald Trump revealed he had given the Navy a major set of new orders.

The White House officially announced Wednesday that Phelan was leaving his post, but Fox News reported that Secretary of War Pete Hegseth had fired Phelan.

It was unclear if there was any connection between Phelan’s departure and Trump’s Thursday post, in which he said he issued an order that could lead to the Navy firing on Iranian vessels.

“I have ordered the United States Navy to shoot and kill any boat, small boats though they may be (Their naval ships are ALL, 159 of them, at the bottom of the sea!), that is putting mines in the waters of the Strait of Hormuz,” Trump posted on Truth Social.

“There is to be no hesitation,” Trump wrote.

“Additionally, our mine ‘sweepers’ are clearing the Strait right now. I am hereby ordering that activity to continue, but at a tripled up level!” Trump added.

Iran Releases Video of IRGC Terrorists Seizing Ship in Strait of Hormuz– www.breitbart.com

pgnewser April 23, 2026 0

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Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), a designated terrorist organization, on Thursday released a video that purportedly showed its forces seizing a civilian ship in the Strait of Hormuz.

The IRGC attacked three container ships in the strait on Wednesday morning using small boats. Iranian state media said two of the ships were boarded and taken hostage by IRGC forces. The crew of the ships said they were attacked without warning, and at least one ship believed it had been granted safe passage through the strait by Iran.

The IRGC video, clearly edited for dramatic effect, shows speedboats full of masked operatives approaching the MSC Francesca, a container ship flagged to Panama. The Iranian terrorists use a ladder to climb aboard the ship.

The Francesca reportedly suffered damage from “gunfire and rocket-propelled grenades” before it was forced to drop anchor. Iranian state media claimed the ship was attacked because it “belonged to the Zionist regime” in Israel.

Iran still has huge stockpile of weapons despite Trump’s claims he’s winning war– www.mirror.co.uk

pgnewser April 22, 2026 0

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Iran’s proxy weapon the Yemeni Houthis(Image: AFP via Getty Images)

Iranian forces likely still have 70% of their pre-conflict ballistic missiles, 60% of their launchers and at least 40% of their drone stockpiles, according to fresh intelligence analysis. News of Tehran’s deadly remaining arsenal emerged as Iran warned it still has “cards to play” in mockery of Donald Trump ’s language amid fears it could trigger the Yemeni Houthis.

The rise in tension has heightened alarm in the region in the hours before the current two week ceasefire expires on Wednesday. If the Houthis become involved in the war there are increasing fears they could close the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, which has become a crucial alternative to the blockaded Hormuz passage.

Troops Warned They’ll Be Prosecuted For War Crimes If They Follow Illegal Trump Orders– www.politicususa.com

pgnewser April 22, 2026 0

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Members of the Trump administration are leaking to reporters that the president is bluffing when he threatens Iran, but on Sunday, Trump threatened Iranian power plants.

Trump posted in part on Truth Social:

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! 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.

Amnesty International said in a statement after Trump first threatened to commit war crimes, “International humanitarian law strictly prohibits direct attacks on civilians and civilian objects. The US President’s threat of extermination and irreparable destruction brazenly shreds core rules of international humanitarian law, with potentially catastrophic consequences for over 90 million people. It may constitute a threat to commit genocide, a crime defined by the Genocide Convention and by the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court as committing one or more defined acts ’with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such.’”

Shipping must remain under global rules despite Strait of Hormuz crisis, industry leaders warn– www.channelnewsasia.com

pgnewser April 22, 2026 0

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With security uncertain, many vessels have been forced to reroute, often taking longer journeys around the Cape of Good Hope instead of using shorter routes through the Middle East and Suez Canal.

These diversions come at a cost, including high fuel consumption and ultimately higher prices for consumers, Kazakos said.

“Shipping is a resilient industry that has been for centuries and will always be. We’re always going to find ways to improvise, adapt, overcome,” he added.

“However, we will very much like to see the opening of all the waterways … because that is the main preferred route, in order to maximise efficiency for the service we provide, and at the same time to be reliable to the customers we serve.”

Iran executes former atomic agency employee amid Mossad spy claims– www.euronews.com

pgnewser April 22, 2026 0

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The Tehran judiciary’s official news agency Mizan said Mehdi Farid had attempted to infect the internal network of a sensitive defence-related organisation on orders from Mossad officers.

According to Mizan, he provided access for people outside the organisation by repeatedly connecting equipment via USB.

Mizan said Farid, a former employee of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organisation from Arak, had provided the Israeli side with information including organisational structures, location of buildings, protective status and staff identity data. The name of the organisation and documents associated with the claims were not released.

Mizan claimed that during the judicial process, he “made a frank confession” to cooperating with Mossad. Human rights organisations have repeatedly warned about the lack of access to independent counsel and alleged forced confessions under duress in such cases.

Iran’s Doomsday Theology and The Far Deadlier Danger Coming from Sunni Extremists– www.cbn.com

pgnewser April 22, 2026 0

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President Trump says the war with Iran could be over soon. The regime, however, is unlikely to give up its apocalyptic jihad against Israel and the West, and a far greater threat may lie ahead.

One aspect of U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran may have backfired in the worst possible way. In taking out the old guard of calculating, pragmatic leaders, they replaced them with a new generation of fiery young Islamic militants.

These are hardcore “Twelver” Shia Muslims, utterly devoted to their radical religion and driven by a singular, apocalyptic belief. They are not interested in negotiation or coexistence.

Instead, they are actively preparing for the ultimate end-times confrontation: a global showdown that would summon the 12th Imam or Mahdi, their long-awaited messianic savior.

“Bottom line is the Mahdi is an eschatological mystical figure who is supposed to be ushered in at the End Times and to bring justice and goodness,” said Middle East historian and author Raymond Ibrahim.