Israel Watch

UK moves warship to Middle East for potential Hormuz mission– fortune.com

pgnewser May 11, 2026 0

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The UK will deploy one of its warships to the Middle East as part of planning for a European-led mission to escort ships through the Strait of Hormuz once there’s a stable ceasefire.

HMS Dragon, a Type-45 warship capable of destroying guided missiles, is likely to form part of the UK’s offer for the defensive naval mission, designed to reassure commercial ships attempting to pass through the waterway. Such a mission will only begin once sustained ceasefire or peace deal is agreed to.

“The pre-positioning of HMS Dragon is part of prudent planning that will ensure that the UK is ready, as part of a multinational coalition jointly led by the UK and France, to secure the Strait, when conditions allow,” a spokesperson for the UK Ministry of Defence said.

Trump Warns Iran Against Moving Uranium, Says US Keeping An Eye– www.ndtv.com

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US President Donald Trump said the ceasefire with Iran was still in place despite an Iranian attack on three American destroyers in the Strait of Hormuz that fanned fears Friday that the truce was faltering. The US military said it carried out strikes on Iranian military targets in response, although Tehran charged that it was Washington that had initiated the exchange of fire.

The latest violence threatens to unravel a fragile truce in effect since April 8 that brought an end to weeks of US-Israeli attacks on the Islamic republic, which has retaliated with strikes across the Middle East and by blocking the strait, a vital route for oil and gas shipments.

The United Arab Emirates said Friday that its air defences were “engaging missile and drone attacks originating from Iran”.

Bahrain Arrests 41 Suspected Iranian Military-Linked Operatives Amid Escalating Crackdown– slaynews.com

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The government of Bahrain announced Saturday that security authorities arrested 41 individuals allegedly tied to a network linked to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), marking one of the kingdom’s largest recent crackdowns on suspected Iranian influence operations.

According to a statement from Bahrain’s Interior Ministry, the detainees were identified as central members of the organization’s “main structure” operating inside the country.

Authorities said the arrests followed intelligence operations and investigations conducted alongside public prosecutors into alleged espionage activities involving foreign entities and support for Iranian aggression.

Wall Street Ignores Iran’s Uncertainty – mindfulintelligence.news

pgnewser May 7, 2026 3

While the signals from Iran continue to be conflicting and often changing from one moment to the next, the U.S. stock market seems to have adapted to this uncertainty.

The Strait of Hormuz remains unopened, mostly, and the President does not seem hard-pressed to settle on a ceasefire or resume “offensive” actions.

There continues to be troubling signs for the world economy should the Strait of Hormuz continue to remain unopened, especially for Europe, but so far, the U.S. has yet to feel the pinch, save for at the gas pump.

Go Deeper

Trump threatens Iran strikes, says too soon for new direct talks after reporting “great progress”– www.cbsnews.com

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President Trump threatened Iran on Wednesday with new attacks, warning they would be at a “higher level and intensity” than previous rounds of bombing, if it declined to agree to a peace deal, which he said was “perhaps, a big assumption.”

His latest remarks, in a Truth Social post, came 13 hours after he said in a previous post that he was pausing Project Freedom, a U.S. military operation to guide vessels through the Strait of Hormuz that lasted one day and drew a violent reaction by Iran, to see if a peace deal could be reached amid “great progress” in negotiations.

“Assuming Iran agrees to give what has been agreed to, which is, perhaps, a big assumption, the already legendary Epic Fury will be at an end, and the highly effective Blockade will allow the Hormuz Strait to be OPEN TO ALL, including Iran,” Mr. Trump said Wednesday. “If they don’t agree, the bombing starts, and it will be, sadly, at a much higher level and intensity than it was before.”

US says warplane disabled ship that tried to break Iran port blockade– www.channelnewsasia.com

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WASHINGTON: A US Navy warplane fired on and disabled the rudder of an oil tanker that tried to break Washington’s blockade of Iranian ports, the US military said on Wednesday (May 6).

It is the second time the US military has fired on a ship it said was attempting to violate the blockade, which has been in place since April 13.

US forces warned the Iranian-flagged M/T Hasna, which was unladen, that it was in violation of the blockade, but its crew “failed to comply,” so a US F/A-18 Super Hornet “disabled the tanker’s rudder by firing several rounds from (its) 20mm cannon gun,” Central Command (CENTCOM) said in a post on X.

“Hasna is no longer transiting to Iran,” CENTCOM said, adding: “The US blockade against ships attempting to enter or depart Iranian ports remains in full effect.”

Iran reviews U.S. proposal for deal to end war as Trump issues new threats – National– globalnews.ca

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Iran said it was reviewing the latest American proposals on ending the war, as U.S. President Donald Trump threatened the country with a new wave of bombing unless a deal is reached that includes reopening the crucial Strait of Hormuz to international shipping.

Hope that the two-month conflict could soon end buoyed international markets on Thursday, even as the U.S. military fired on an Iranian oil tanker attempting to breach an American blockade of Iran’s ports hours earlier. The developments followed days of mixed messaging from the Trump administration over its strategy to end the war.

Trump posted on social media that the two-month war could soon end and that oil and natural gas shipments disrupted by the conflict could restart. But he said that depends on Iran accepting a reported agreement that he did not detail.

“If they don’t agree, the bombing starts,” Trump wrote.

Iran’s top negotiator trolls Trump — RT World News– www.rt.com

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“Operation Trust Me Bro failed,” Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf has said, after the US president suspended efforts to guide ships through the Strait of Hormuz

Iran’s top negotiator has mocked US President Donald Trump after he abruptly suspended American efforts to guide ships through the Strait of Hormuz, adding that Washington was again spreading falsehoods about ongoing talks.

In a post on X on Wednesday, Iranian parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf ridiculed Trump with a sarcastic one-liner: “Operation Trust Me Bro failed. Now back to routine with Operation Fauxios.”

Ghalibaf’s comments came after Trump paused ‘Project Freedom’, an operation aimed at clearing a path through the strait for more than 1,500 commercial vessels stranded in the Persian Gulf, just two days after its start. The US president, however, insisted that the decision was made based on what he described as “great progress” in negotiations and a request from Pakistan.

Rubio Claims “Operation Epic Fury” is over – bellwetherintel.com

pgnewser May 6, 2026 0

Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced the end of “Operation Epic Fury,” claiming the offensive part of the war with Iran is over.

Rubio claimed in a White House press briefing, “The operation, Epic Fury, is concluded. We achieved the objections of that operation. This is the first step toward reopening the strait,” he added. “We are doing it not only because we were asked, but because we are the only ones that can.”

Go Deeper

Final Persian Gulf Oil Shipment Reaches California Amid Supply Fears– legalinsurrection.com

pgnewser May 6, 2026 0

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California has finally won its drawn-out battle against fossil fuels.

Gov. Gavin Newsom, Democrat politicians, eco-activists, and the elite media have long made the oil firms the enemy and made them a target of regulatory attack. A few examples:

Well, the state may have won the war…as the last California-bound oil tanker to pass through the Strait of Hormuz since war erupted is now offloading its shipment at the Port of Long Beach.

The New Corolla loaded up in Iraq on Feb. 24 — just days before U.S. and Israeli forces launched attacks on Iran, plunging the region into turmoil and sparking a double blockade of commercial shipping.

In two weeks, the Hong Kong-flagged tanker will have fully unloaded at the Marathon Petroleum terminal and departed again for distant waters. After that, California must figure out how to replace some 200,000 barrels of oil a day that will no longer be arriving from the Persian Gulf.

California’s own supply of crude oil has been declining since the 1980s, due to aging fields and a geology that makes drilling particularly costly. The state’s gasoline refining capacity is also falling off, increasing reliance on imports and highlighting California’s status as an isolated energy island without gas pipelines to bring in supply from other states.

IDF kills Hamas commander linked to Oct. 7 Nova massacre in Gaza airstrike– www.foxnews.com

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NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it eliminated Hamas Commander Anas Muhammad Ibrahim Hamed, who infiltrated Israel and participated in the Oct. 7 Nova Music Festival Massacre.

Hamed was killed during a targeted Monday strike in Gaza, the IDF announced Tuesday.

“The IDF struck yesterday in the center of the Gaza Strip and eliminated Ans Muhammad Ibrahim Hamed, Nukhba commander in the Hamas terror organization, who raided the territory of the State of Israel and the Nova festival during the murderous massacre on October 7,” the IDF wrote in a Tuesday morning post on X.

The IDF called Hamed an “immediate threat to IDF forces operating in the Gaza Strip,” and said he was “eliminated in a precise airstrike.”

Trump tells shocked kids Iran ‘was two weeks away from killing you’ | World | News– www.express.co.uk

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Donald Trump told a room full of children that Iran was “two weeks away” from killing them during a rant on the war before going on to mock their dreams and aspirations.

The bizarre moment came during a string of inappropriate comments as he veered off script during a White House sports event.

Surrounded by children and professional athletes in the Oval Office, Trump quickly passed over great sporting accomplishments in the United States, such as America 250 this summer and the World Cup’s ticket numbers, to war.

He said: “We have to make a journey down to Iran to take their nuclear weapon.

“They would’ve had a nuclear weapon within two weeks.

Europe’s jet fuel supplies should fall below the key 23-day shortage threshold in June– fortune.com

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Europe is weeks away from crossing a critical threshold that represents a severe and immediate shortage of jet fuel, triggering many more flight cancelations and even the possible closures of smaller airports.

A new Goldman Sachs research report estimates that Europe’s commercial jet fuel inventories are slated to dip below the International Energy Agency’s critical 23-day shortage threshold sometime in June. “The U.K. appears most at risk of jet fuel rationing given its large net imports,” the report argued.

The threshold doesn’t mean Europe will run out of fuel supplies 23 days from that point—that would only occur without any replenishments. But it does mean global crude and fuel supplies are running dryer each day from the ongoing closure of the Strait of Hormuz amid the war in Iran. Europe could, for instance, dip below a more dire 20-day limit by July, resulting in more drastic rationing, and maybe 15 days by August.

UAE under attack from more Iranian drones & missiles for second day running as Trump tries to reopen Strait of Hormuz– www.thesun.co.uk

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IRAN has blasted drones and missiles at the UAE for the second day in a row as the ceasefire in the Middle East is stretched to its limits.

It comes as Donald Trump tries to force open the Strait of Hormuz with “Project Freedom”.

A drone attack in the UAE yesterday Credit: Reuters
Iranian strikes have ignited massive fires at Fujairah port -the UAE’s primary oil export terminal Credit: x

Iran chillingly warned it was “just getting started” after unleashing a barrage of missiles towards the UAE yesterday.

How the War with Iran Is Shaping U.S.-Chinese Competition– warontherocks.com

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The war with Iran has once again raised questions about Washington’s ability to prioritize its interests in East Asia and particularly to manage intensifying competition with Beijing. Furthermore, the war and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz have presented American and Chinese leaders with new challenges and potential opportunities, as they respond to the war’s global impacts. We asked five experts to address how the war is shaping competition between Washington and Beijing.

Israelis’ wealth grows 80% in six years– en.globes.co.il

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Rising stock markets along with growth in pension and provident fund savings have generated unprecedented wealth for the Israeli public in the past few years. According to Bank of Israel figures released last week, at the beginning of 2026 (February) the Israeli public’s portfolio of financial assets was worth a record NIS 7.4 trillion. This represents growth of NIS 1.1 trillion within a year, and an 80% rise within six years. At the beginning of 2020, the public’s portfolio was worth NIS 4.1 trillion.

The continual growth in the financial assets portfolio, which includes money held in bank accounts, savings programs (provident funds, pension funds, and mutual funds), and securities, provides a glimpse into the way in which Israelis have managed their money in recent years, the level of risk that they tend to take, and their impact on prices in the local stock market.

Appetite for risk

A glance at the make-up of the public’s financial assets shows that Israeli investors’ appetite for risk has grown considerably. At the end of 2022, the proportion of risk assets (stocks and bonds) in the portfolio was 39%. By the beginning of 2026 it had jumped to 48%.

Trump says he has paused effort to guide vessels from the Strait of Hormuz – National– globalnews.ca

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President Donald Trump said on Tuesday evening that he is pausing the U.S. effort to guide stranded vessels out of the Strait of Hormuz to allow time for a deal to end the Iran war, but that the American forces’ blockade of Iranian ports would remain in place.

Trump announced the decision in a social media post, saying the effort — which started on Monday in the vital waterway for global energy — would pause for a short period to see whether an agreement with Tehran on ending the war in the Middle East could be finalized.

Trump says Iran will be bombed ‘at much higher level’ if they don’t agree to peace deal– www.cnbc.com

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U.S. President Donald Trump said that Iran will be bombed “at a much higher level” if it doesn’t agree to a peace deal.

The president said the war “will be at an end” if Iran agrees to the proposals, meaning the Strait of Hormuz “will be open to all.”

His post on Truth Social came after markets reacted to an Axios report that the U.S. and Iran were close to an agreement that would bring their two-month war to an end.

The outlet reported on Wednesday that Washington expects responses from Tehran on several key points to form the basis of a one-page memo within the next 48 hours.

Oil prices fell sharply in response, while U.S. stock futures, equities listed in Europe and global sovereign bonds rallied.

In his Truth Social post, the president warned that if Iran did not agree to a deal, “the bombing starts, and it will be, sadly, at a much higher level and intensity than it was before.”

Before the post, a Pakistan government official told MS Now: “The prospect of a proposal to end the war is very likely in the coming days.”

A spokesperson for Iran’s foreign ministry told CNBC earlier on Wednesday they were “evaluating” a 14-article peace proposal from the U.S.

‘I think they’re getting some guns’– www.washingtonexaminer.com

pgnewser May 5, 2026 0

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President Donald Trump revived talk of the United States smuggling arms to the Iranian people for the purpose of fighting the regime, suggesting that weapons were already on their way.

Talk of arming the Iranian people died down after speculation in the first weeks of hostilities, with Trump claiming weapons were sent, but that the Kurds took them all. In a Monday interview on the Hugh Hewitt Show, Trump openly labored over the question of whether to arm the Iranian people when asked if he was encouraging the public to protest, bringing up the January crackdown that saw the massacre of tens of thousands of protesters by the government.

“Well, look, the problem is you can’t — if you have five people with a gun, and 250,000 [without], the five people with a gun, assuming it’s used fast enough, which they do… they’re going to win. They have to, they don’t have weapons,” Trump said.

He then brought up the thousands of unarmed protesters who were killed in December and January.

“They lost 42,000, to be exact. 42,000 people in about a two-week period. Protesters, innocent, unarmed protesters,” Trump said. “So we’re not dealing with, you know, your typical people.”

U.S. sinks 7 small Iranian boats as Iran launches attacks on UAE and ships in Strait of Hormuz– www.cbsnews.com

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The leader of the Iranian-backed Hezbollah has reiterated the group’s rejection of an ongoing ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon that was brokered by the U.S.

“There is no ceasefire in Lebanon, but rather continuous Israeli-American aggression,” declared Secretary General Sheikh Naim Qassem in a written statement Monday, vowing that Hezbollah would “remain patient and continue to resist.”

The Hezbollah chief argued that Israel “has not implemented a single step of the agreement, violating it more than 10,000 times, killing 500 civilians, wounding hundreds, destroying thousands of homes and livelihoods, and displacing people from their villages.”

Israel’s on-and-off war with Hezbollah escalated dramatically two days after Israel and the U.S. launched their joint strikes on Iran, on Feb. 28. A barrage of Israeli airstrikes on southern Lebanon and around the capital Beirut was followed by an ongoing ground invasion.

The US fights to reopen the Strait of Hormuz as the UAE comes under attack in a test of Iran truce – AP News– news.google.com

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  1. The US fights to reopen the Strait of Hormuz as the UAE comes under attack in a test of Iran truce  AP News
  2. U.S. Warns China Over Iranian Oil as Sanctions Fight Intensifies  The New York Times
  3. Iran issues threat after Trump plans to guide ships through Strait of Hormuz  Fox News
  4. Attacks in Strait of Hormuz, Gulf region imperil fragile U.S.-Iran ceasefire  The Washington Post
  5. Trump news at a glance: Middle East tensions back to the brink with president’s new threats against Iran  The Guardian

South Korea to probe ship fire in Strait of Hormuz, Trump blames Iranian attack– www.channelnewsasia.com

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British maritime risk management group Vanguard said authorities would investigate whether the damage might have been caused by an attack, a drifting sea mine or another external object.

In response to the incident, South Korea’s Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries said on Tuesday it had asked Korean vessels in the area to move to safer locations and said authorities were in close communications with shipping companies and stranded vessels.

The South Korean government has said 26 South Korean-flagged vessels were stranded around the Strait of Hormuz.

In a post on the Truth Social platform, Trump said Iran had fired shots at the ship and other targets as the US launched an operation seeking to open the Strait of Hormuz to shipping.

He suggested it could be time for South Korea to join his new effort to help guide stranded ships through the waterway typically used to carry about a fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas supplies.