Though his administration for weeks has maintained that its four objectives remained “unchanged, unambiguous, and consistent” since the operation began, Trump in his social media post added a fifth one.
US-Israel-Iran War News LIVE: Trump Considers ‘Winding Down’ The Middle East Operation
US-Israel-Iran War News LIVE: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel will refrain from any further attacks on the Iranian gas field, at the request of President Trump.
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US-Israel-Iran War News LIVE: Trump said on social media the U.S. is considering ‘winding down’ its Middle East military operation. However, these statements come after his administration’s recent moves to send more troops and warships to the region and request another $200 billion from Congress to fund the war. Iran fired on Israel and oil facilities in neighbouring Gulf Arab states on one of the holiest days on the Islamic calendar, claiming that it is still capable of producing missiles and threatening to deprive its adversaries protection in "parks, recreational areas, and tourist destinations" around the globe. Israel, meanwhile, pounded Tehran with airstrikes as Iranians marked Nowruz, the Persian New Year.
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US-Israel-Iran War News LIVE: Trump Adds New Objective for the Iran War
The four objectives had been to block Iran’s path to a nuclear weapon, stop it from arming proxy militant groups, destroy its navy and destroy its ballistic missile capacity.
In his post Friday, Trump enumerated those and added a fifth: “Protecting, at the highest level, our Middle Eastern Allies” and listed America’s Gulf partners.
AP
US-Israel-Iran War News LIVE: United Nations To Help Reopen Strait Of Hormuz Says Guterres
UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres has said the UN is prepared to help reopen the Strait of Hormuz, noting that the UN had also helped broker a similar deal in the Black Sea between Russia and Ukraine to allow the transport of Ukrainian grain and fertiliser in 2022.
Speaking to Politico, Guterres said, “My main objective is to see if it is possible to create conditions in the Strait of Hormuz similar to what [existed] in the past."
US-Israel-Iran War News LIVE: Trump Claims Considering Winding Down Operations
Trump said the US was “getting very close to meeting our objectives” as it considers “winding down our great Military efforts in the Middle East” against what he called the “Terrorist Regime of Iran.” In a post on Truth Social, Trump outlined the goals of the campaign, including “completely degrading Iranian missile capability,” “destroying Iran’s defense industrial base,” and “never allowing Iran to get even close to nuclear capability.”
US-Israel-Iran War News LIVE: Israel Targets Hezbollah Locations Across Beirut
The Israeli military said early Saturday it had begun a wave of strikes targeting Hezbollah positions across Beirut’s southern suburbs
Smoke was seen rising and fires broke out from the strike sites, while loud explosions were heard across parts of central Beirut.
Hours earlier, the army renewed evacuation warnings for seven neighborhoods in Beirut’s southern suburbs, prompting some residents to fire gunshots to alert families who had returned to flee.
No casualties were immediately reported.
US-Israel-Iran War News LIVE: The Trump Administration To Lift Sanctions on Iranian Oil Stranded at Sea Under a 1-month License
The move comes as the White House tries to bring down soaring oil prices.
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The pause applies to Iranian oil loaded on ships as of Friday and is set to end on April 19.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent previously suggested the move as a way to prevent China from being the sole beneficiary of Iranian oil.
The Trump administration also eased sanctions on certain Russian oil shipments for 30 days as it looks for ways to boost global oil supplies during the Iran war.
The license has limits including a restriction on sales involving anyone in North Korea or Cuba.
AP
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