US Iran War News Today Highlights: White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett said, “We’ve been in constant communication with the oil companies, and have been considering measures that we could take here in the U.S. to increase U.S. production really soon.
US-Iran War Highlights: Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei on Thursday said the only place Americans belong in the Persian Gulf is “at the bottom of its waters,” as the Strait of Hormuz remains in Tehran’s chokehold. The supreme leader has issued a statement which was read on Iranian state TV on Thursday. Meanwhile, according to a Reuters report, Trump has floated a new plan to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. A senior official said under the plan, the US would continue its blockade on Iranian ports, while coordinating with allies to impose higher costs on Iran’s attempts to subvert the free flow of energy.
CENTCOM chief to brief Trump on military action against Iran: US Central Command (CENTCOM) Chief Adm. Brad Cooper is set to brief US President Donald Trump on new plans for US military action against Iran on Thursday (Apr 30), according to a report by Axios. CENTCOM has drawn up a “short and powerful” plan involving a series of strikes targeting Iran to break the negotiation deadlock and push Tehran towards concessions, the outlet cited three sources with knowledge of the matter as saying.
Brent crude rises above $123: Brent crude oil rose over 5 per cent after Trump issued a warning stating that the US blockade of Iranian ports could last for months as peace talks between the warring nations remain stalled.
The contract surged 5.6 per cent to $124.67 in Asian trade, while West Texas Intermediate climbed 2.4 per cent to $109.49.
US seeks coalition to secure Strait of Hormuz shipping route: The United States is asking its international partners to join a coalition aimed at enabling ships to navigate the Strait of Hormuz, according to a Wall Street Journal report. “Your participation will strengthen our collective ability to restore freedom of navigation and protect the global economy,” the cable sent to US embassies reportedly said. “Collective action is essential to demonstrate unified resolve and impose meaningful costs on Iranian obstruction of transit through the Strait.”
Hegseth slams opposition, calls critics of Iran war ‘biggest adversary’: US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth hit out at the opposition, calling the lawmakers who criticise the Iran war as “the biggest adversary.” The US defense secretary’s hearing marks the first time he has testified before Congress since the US and Israel launched a war against Iran on February 28. This also comes as the White House is seeking $1.5 trillion for its defence budget.
Defending the United States’ military operation against Iran, the Pentagon chief said, “Their nuclear facilities have been obliterated, underground they’re buried, and we’re watching them 24/7 so we know where any nuclear material might be
US-Iran War Live: US official says Iran war truce ‘terminated’ hostilities for war powers deadline
A US-Iran ceasefire that began in early April has “terminated” hostilities between the two sides for the purposes of an approaching congressional war powers deadline, a senior official of President Donald Trump’s administration said on Thursday.
Trump faced a deadline on Friday to end the Iran war or make the case to Congress for extending it, but the date was most likely to pass without altering the course of the war.
“For War Powers Resolution purposes, the hostilities that began on Saturday, February 28, have terminated,” said the official, describing the administration’s thinking.
US-Iran War Live: US reaches out to Maldives after Muizzu slams Iran war
The US has sought clarification from the Maldives days after President Mohammad Muizzu lashed out at Washington over the war with Iran.
The matter came up on Wednesday when US President Donald Trump’s special envoy Sergio Gor and Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Bethany Morrison spoke to Maldivian Foreign Minister Ithsham Adam and discussed the US-Maldives relationship.
US-Iran War Live: Company backed by Trump’s sons to sell drones to US military
Activist Yassine Benjelloun, who is with the Global Sumud Flotilla, joined Al Jazeera’s live broadcast from the Mediterranean Sea to recount the horrendous events when Israeli forces raided aid vessels and abducted 175 activists in international waters off Greece.
“Where is Europe? Where are the leaders of the world? Why are we not talking about this more?” Benjelloun said.
“I am bewildered by the violence that we’ve been witnessing for the past three years in Palestine, and yet it is continuing here with innocent civilians, with us, who are just trying to bring aid to Palestine,” he said.
US-Iran War Live: Iran threatens painful response if US renews attacks
Iran said on Thursday it would respond with “long and painful strikes” on US positions if Washington renewed attacks and restated its claim to the Strait of Hormuz, complicating US plans for a coalition to reopen the waterway.
Two months into the US-Israeli war with Iran, the vital sea channel remains closed, choking off 20% of the world’s oil and gas supplies. That has sent global energy prices surging and heightened concerns about the risks of an economic downturn.
US-Iran War Live: US to loan companies up to 92.5 million more barrels of oil from strategic reserve
The US Department of Energy has said that it is making 92.5 million more barrels of crude oil available for oil companies to borrow from the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR).
The department said in a statement today that companies could bid for the oil, which would come from the Bayou Choctaw, Bryan Mound, Big Hill and West Hackberry reserve sites.
The US had already offered 126 million barrels of crude in three batches, but oil companies only borrowed less than 80 million of those barrels, or about 63 percent of what was offered, according to Reuters.
The SPR, held in caverns at the four sites along the coasts of Texas and Louisiana, currently holds nearly 398 million barrels, which is roughly what the world uses in four days.
The crude will be delivered to companies from June through August, and they will be required to return it on different deadlines, ranging from early next year to mid-2029.
US-Iran War Live: US Congress extends provision that allows warrantless surveillance of foreign targets
The US Congress has approved a short extension to allow US intelligence agencies to collect information from foreign targets without a warrant, after a three-year extension failed to gather enough votes to pass.
President Donald Trump and intelligence officials have for weeks urged Congress to renew a key provision of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act that allows agencies like the CIA, National Security Agency and FBI to conduct warrantless surveillance.
