By LINLEY SANDERS and MICHAEL CATALINI Associated Press
A new AP-NORC poll finds most Americans believe recent military action against Iran has gone too far and many are worried about affording gasoline. As the war launched by the U.S. and Israel continues in its fourth week, the survey indicates that while President Donald Trump's approval rating is holding steady, the conflict could be turning into a major political liability for his Republican administration. About 59% of Americans say U.S. military action has been excessive. Meanwhile, 45% are "extremely" or "very" concerned about affording gas in the next few months, up from 30% shortly before Trump took office. However, there's significant support for Trump's objective of preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon.
By JON GAMBRELL, DAVID RISING, MIKE CORDER and NATALIE MELZER Associated Press
Iran has intensified its attacks on oil and gas facilities around the Gulf, dramatically raising the stakes in a war that is sending shock waves through the global economy. Thursday's strikes came in retaliation for an Israeli attack on a key Iranian natural gas field. They sent fuel prices soaring and risked drawing Iran's Arab neighbors directly into the conflict. Tehran targeted energy production, further stressing global supplies already under pressure because of Iran's stranglehold on the Strait of Hormuz. That's a strategic waterway through which a fifth of the world's oil is transported. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says Iran no longer can enrich uranium or make ballistic missiles.
By JON GAMBRELL, DAVID RISING, MIKE CORDER and NATALIE MELZER Associated Press
Iran's new supreme leader released his first statement since succeeding his late father. Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei said Thursday that Iran would keep up its attacks on its Gulf Arab neighbors and use the effective closure of the strategic Strait of Hormuz as leverage against the United States and Israel. Khamenei, 56, who Israel suspects was wounded in the opening salvo of the war, did not appear on camera, as his statement was read by a state TV news anchor. The statement included a vow to avenge those killed in the war, including in a strike on a school that killed over 165 people.
A new Gallup poll shows that American sympathies in the Middle East have shifted dramatically toward the Palestinians after decades of overwhelming support for the Israelis. That shift accelerated during the war in Gaza. Fifty-four percent of Americans sympathized more with the Israelis three years ago compared with 31% for the Palestinians. Their support is now about evenly balanced between the Israelis and the Palestinians. The numbers reflect how support for Israel has become deeply contentious in the U.S. with profound implications for American politics and foreign policy. The changing sentiment has been largely driven by Democrats who are now much more likely to sympathize with Palestinians.
By SAM MEDNICK, MICHELLE L. PRICE and MATTHEW LEE Associated Press
U.S. President Donald Trump said Friday he's "not happy" with the latest talks over Iran's nuclear program but indicated he would give the negotiators more time to reach a deal to avert another war in the Middle East. He spoke a day after U.S. envoys held another inconclusive round of indirect talks with Iran in Geneva. As American forces gather in the region, Trump has threatened military action if Iran does not agree to a far-reaching deal on its nuclear program, while Iran insists it has the right to enrich uranium for peaceful purposes and denies seeking a nuclear weapon.
By JULIA FRANKEL and NATALIE MELZER Associated Press
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi received a rousing welcome from lawmakers in Israel. The Indian leader started a two-day visit on Wednesday with a speech to the Israeli Parliament in which he promised continued "friendship, respect and partnership." Israeli and Indian officials expect the visit to strengthen security, economic and technological cooperation between the allied countries. Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Modi he has "never been more moved" by a foreign leader's visit. Modi became India's first prime minister to visit Israel in 2017. This is his second trip, nine years later.
Iran held annual military drills with Russia as a second American aircraft carrier drew closer to the Middle East. Both the United States and Iran are signaling they are prepared for war if talks on Tehran's nuclear program fizzle out. President Donald Trump said Thursday he believes 10 to 15 days is enough time for Iran to reach a deal. But talks on its nuclear program have been deadlocked for years, and Iran has refused to discuss wider U.S. and Israeli demands that it scale back its missile program and sever ties to armed groups. Indirect talks held in recent weeks made little visible progress, and one or both sides could be buying time for final war preparations.
U.S. President Donald Trump's Board of Peace is set to meet for the first time on Thursday in Washington. It's an early test of whether one of his marquee foreign policy initiatives can gain broad support or advance the shaky ceasefire agreement in the Gaza Strip. Trump's ballooning ambitions for the board extend from governing and rebuilding Gaza as a futuristic metropolis to challenging the United Nations Security Council's role in solving conflicts. But they could be tempered by the realities in Gaza, where there has so far been limited progress in achieving the narrower aims of the ceasefire.
By KONSTANTIN TOROPIN and JON GAMBRELL Associated Press
President Donald Trump says he decided to move a second aircraft carrier into the Middle East as he presses Iran to make a deal over its nuclear program. The USS Gerald R. Ford is being sent from the Caribbean Sea to the Mideast to join other warships and military assets that the U.S. has built up in the region. Trump told reporters Friday that "in case we don't make a deal, we'll need it." He says the carrier will be "leaving soon." Days ago, Trump suggested another round of talks with Iran was at hand. That didn't materialize as a top Iranian security officials visited Oman and Qatar this week and exchanged messages with the U.S. intermediaries.
Iran says it has had summoned all of the European Union ambassadors in the country to protest the bloc's listing of the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard as a terror group. Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei told journalists on Monday that the ambassadors had been summoned the previous day. The EU listed the Guard as a terror group last week over its part in the crackdown on nationwide protests in January. The move is largely symbolic. But it does add to the economic pressure squeezing Iran.
