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Trump says US considering ‘winding down’ Iran war
President Donald Trump said the U.S. was considering “winding down” its military operation against Iran, as Iran and Israel traded attacks on Saturday and Iranian media said the nuclear enrichment facility in Natanz had been attacked.
In a social media post, Trump said the U.S. was close to meeting its goals but insisted that other countries should take the lead in policing the vital shipping lane of the Strait of Hormuz, whose near-closure threatens a global energy shock, Reuters reported.
Trump and his administration have sent mixed messages about U.S. goals throughout the war, now entering its fourth week, leaving traditional U.S. allies struggling to respond.
In less than 24 hours, Trump suggested the war could wind down as the Iranian threat was being eliminated, while at the same time U.S. Marines and heavy landing craft were headed to the region on a mission whose goals were not immediately clear.
“We are getting very close to meeting our objectives as we consider winding down our great Military efforts in the Middle East with respect to the Terrorist Regime of Iran,” Trump said on Truth Social.
“The Hormuz Strait will have to be guarded and policed, as necessary, by other Nations who use it — The United States does not!” he added. “If asked, we will help these Countries in their Hormuz efforts, but it shouldn’t be necessary once Iran’s threat is eradicated.”
IRAN REPORTS ATTACK ON NATANZ NUCLEAR ENRICHMENT PLANT More than 2,000 people have been killed in Iran since the U.S. and Israel attacked on February 28, while Americans appear increasingly concerned at signs the war could expand further.
Vital energy infrastructure in Iran and neighbouring Gulf states has been attacked, sending oil prices up 50% and threatening a global economic shock.
Trump had also accused NATO allies, which have not been consulted about the war, of cowardice over their reluctance to help open the Strait of Hormuz.
As the fighting continued, the Iranian media said U.S.-Israeli forces had attacked the Shahid Ahmadi-Roshan Natanz enrichment complex on Saturday morning. Technical experts found that no radioactive leaks had occurred and nearby residents were not at risk. Israel said it was unaware of such a strike.
Israel also attacked Beirut, saying it was targeting Hezbollah as it steps up airstrikes targeting the Iran-backed Lebanese militia in the deadliest spillover from the war on Iran since Hezbollah fired on Israel in support of Tehran on March 2.
Israel said Saturday’s attacks on Iran included Tehran, Karaj, west of the capital, and the central city of Isfahan. Three members of a family were killed in a strike on a residential building in the city of Ramsar, Iranian media quoted a local governor as saying.
Before its strikes on Lebanon, the Israeli military said it had issued evacuation warnings for seven neighbourhoods in the southern suburbs of Beirut. Four Hezbollah militants were killed in southern Lebanon, one in a “ground engagement” and three using tank fire, it said.
More than 1,000 people have been killed in Lebanon and over 1 million displaced in the Israeli attacks.
Air raid sirens in Israel warned of incoming missiles from early morning, sending millions to shelters as the blasts of interceptions rang out from above. There were no immediate reports of casualties.
Israel’s military said search and rescue teams were headed to impact sites in central Israel.
Iran fired two ballistic missilesat the U.S.-British military base Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean but did not hit the base, the Wall Street Journal reported.
EUROPEAN GAS PRICES SURGE
Natural gas prices in Europe surged as much as 35% this week as Iran and Israel hit some of the region’s most important gas infrastructure. The European Union urged members to lower gas-storage targets and start refilling reserves gradually to curb demand, the Financial Times reported on Saturday.
The Strait of Hormuz, conduit for around a fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas supplies, has been effectively closed to most shipping.
Leading allies of the U.S. from Europe as well as Japan and Canada have pledged to join “appropriate efforts” to ensure safe passage through the strait, but Germany and France have spelled out that fighting must stop first.
Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi told Kyodo news agency that Iran was ready to let Japan-related vessels pass through the narrow waterway. Japan gets around 90% of its oil shipments via the strait.
The White House, in an effort to increase supply and lower prices, said it would waive sanctions on Iranian oil for 30 days to allow the sale of 140 million barrels on tankers. The administration had previously eased sanctions on a similar amount of Russian oil.
As Muslims celebrated Eid al-Fitr on Friday to end the fasting month of Ramadan and Iranians marked Nowruz, the Persian New Year, Iran’s new supreme leader, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, issued a message of defiance.
Khamenei – who did not appear at Eid prayers and has not been seen in public since the initial Israeli attack that killed his father and predecessor, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei – said in his statement that Iranians had responded with unity and resistance and “dealt a disorienting blow to the enemy”.
Russian President Vladimir Putin also sent Nowruz greetings to Iran’s leaders, using the occasion to say Moscow remained a loyal friend and reliable partner.
The extent of Moscow’s support for Iran is in dispute though. Some Iranian sources say they have had little real help from Moscow in the biggest crisis for Iran since the U.S.-backed shah was toppled in the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
Regional
UNICEF reports 70 children killed in West Bank and East Jerusalem since 2025
The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) says 70 children have been killed in the occupied Palestinian territories excluding Gaza since the beginning of 2025, averaging about one child per week.
UNICEF also reported that more than 800 children have been injured in the West Bank and East Jerusalem during the same period. According to the agency, most of those killed or injured were struck by live ammunition, while others were stabbed, beaten, or exposed to pepper spray.
UNICEF spokesperson James Elder said the cases reflect “a sustained pattern of the worst kind of violations against children” during a briefing in Geneva following a visit to the West Bank.
The agency stated that 93% of the children killed since January 2025 were reportedly killed by Israeli forces, while others were killed in settler attacks, by unexploded ordnance, or in incidents involving Palestinian forces.
The Israeli military has not yet commented on the report.
Human rights organizations have previously reported an increase in violence against Palestinians by Israeli settlers and security forces since 2023.
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Trump rejects Iran’s response to US peace proposal as ‘unacceptable’
President Donald Trump’s swift rejection of Iran’s response to a U.S. peace proposal sent oil prices surging higher on Monday amid concerns the 10-week-old conflict will drag on, keeping shipping through the Strait of Hormuz paralyzed.
Days after the U.S. floated an offer in the hopes of re-opening negotiations, Iran on Sunday released a response focused on ending the war on all fronts, especially Lebanon, where U.S. ally Israel is fighting Iran-backed Hezbollah militants. Tehran also included a demand for compensation for war damages and emphasized Iranian sovereignty over the Strait of Hormuz, Iranian state TV said, Reuters reported.
It also called on the U.S. to end its naval blockade, guarantee no further attacks, lift sanctions and end a U.S. ban on Iranian oil sales, the semi-official Tasnim news agency said.
Within hours, Trump dismissed Iran’s proposal with a post on social media.
“I don’t like it — TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE,” Trump wrote on Truth Social, without giving further detail.
The U.S. had proposed an end to fighting before starting talks on more contentious issues, including Iran’s nuclear program.
Oil prices jumped $3 a barrel on Monday following news of the continued stalemate that leaves the narrow Strait of Hormuz largely closed. Before the war the waterway carried one-fifth of the world’s oil supply and has emerged as one of the central pressure points in the war.
Surveys show the war is unpopular with U.S. voters facing sharply higher gasoline prices less than six months before nationwide elections that will determine whether Trump’s Republican party retains control of Congress.
The U.S. has also found little international support, with NATO allies refusing calls to send ships to open the Strait of Hormuz without a full peace deal and an internationally mandated mission.
It’s not clear what fresh diplomatic or military steps may be ahead.
Trump is expected to arrive in Beijing on Wednesday. With mounting pressure to draw a line under the war and the global energy crisis it has ignited, Iran is among topics Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping are set to discuss.
Trump has been leaning on China to use its influence to push Tehran to make a deal with Washington.
Addressing whether combat operations against Iran were over, Trump said in remarks aired on Sunday: “They are defeated, but that doesn’t mean they’re done.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the war was not over because there was “more work to be done” to remove enriched uranium from Iran, dismantle enrichment sites and address Iran’s proxies and ballistic missile capabilities.
The best way to remove the enriched uranium would be through diplomacy, Netanyahu said in an interview that aired Sunday on CBS News’ “60 Minutes.” But he did not rule out removing it by force.
Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian said in a social media post that Iran would “never bow down to the enemy” and would “defend national interests with strength.”
Despite diplomatic efforts to break a deadlock, the threat to shipping lanes and the economies of the region remained high.
Recent days have seen the biggest flare-ups in fighting in and around the strait since a ceasefire began.
On Sunday, the United Arab Emirates said it intercepted two drones coming from Iran, while Qatar condemned a drone attack that hit a cargo ship coming from Abu Dhabi in its waters. Kuwait said its air defences had dealt with hostile drones that entered its airspace.
Clashes have also continued in southern Lebanon between Israel and Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah, despite a U.S.-brokered ceasefire announced on April 16.
An end to hostilities with Iran would not necessarily bring an end to the war in Lebanon, Netanyahu said in the “60 Minutes” interview, in which he also said Israeli planners had underestimated Iran’s ability to choke off traffic through the Hormuz Strait.
“It took a while for them to understand how big that risk is, which they understand now,” he said.
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Fourteen Pakistani police officers killed in KP car bombing and shootout
The death toll from a suicide attack on a security post in northwest Pakistan rose to 14 police officers, authorities said early Sunday.
A suicide bomber and several gunmen detonated an explosives-laden vehicle near the post in Bannu, a district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, late Saturday, said senior police official Sajjad Khan. The attack triggered an intense shootout, and some officers were killed in the exchange, while others died later after the building collapsed, the Associated Press reported.
Rescuers conducted an hourslong search operation using heavy machinery to retrieve bodies from under the rubble, Khan said, adding that three police officers were wounded in the attack.
Security forces have also launched an operation to track down the perpetrators.
A newly formed militant group, Ittehad-ul-Mujahideen Pakistan, claimed responsibility for the attack.
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