By COLLIN BINKLEY and JON GAMBRELL Associated Press
President Donald Trump is blaming Iran for carrying out a drone strike on a cargo ship in the Strait of Hormuz. He calls it a "foolish violation" of the ceasefire agreement with the U.S. Trump says one drone damaged the upper deck of the ship, but it was able to proceed after the attack Thursday. He said the U.S. shot down three other drones. The British military said the vessel was hit by a projectile off the coast of Oman. The development comes as the U.S. and Iran work to negotiate a permanent end to the war. Trump did not say whether the U.S. will respond to the attack.
By SHEIKH SAALIQ and ADAM SCHRECK Associated Press
Iran's foreign minister says that a lack of trust remains the biggest obstacle in negotiations to end the war with the U.S. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said contradictory messages from the U.S. have made Iran reluctant about its intentions in the stalled ceasefire negotiations. U.S. President Donald Trump earlier this week dismissed Iran's latest formal proposal as "garbage." Trump has demanded a major rollback of Iran's nuclear activities while Iran has said that it has a right to enrich uranium. Iran's top diplomat says the issue of its enriched uranium stockpile is another one of the difficult sticking points in its negotiations.
By JON GAMBRELL and MELANIE LIDMAN Associated Press
Kuwait accused Iran of launching a failed attack earlier this month on an island where China is helping build a port in the Middle East nation. The accusation brought Tuesday came just before U.S. President Donald Trump was to depart for Beijing where he'll meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping in a high-stakes visit over the war and other issues. Kuwait said a team of six armed members of the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard tried to infiltrate Bubiyan Island to carry out "hostile acts." Kuwait said that it detained four of the men while two escaped. Iran didn't immediately acknowledge the allegation by Kuwait. With ceasefire negotiations between Iran and the U.S. at a standstill, ongoing attacks threaten to reignite open warfare.
By ADAM SCHRECK, BEN FINLEY and MICHAEL BIESECKER Associated Press
The U.S. military says its forces fired on and disabled two Iranian oil tankers after exchanging fire with Iranian forces in the Strait of Hormuz overnight. The United Arab Emirates, meanwhile, reported another missile and drone attack Friday. The violence further undermines a month-old ceasefire that U.S. officials insist remains in effect. Iran says the U.S. strikes violate the truce. Washington is awaiting Tehran's response to the latest U.S. proposal aimed at ending the war launched by the U.S. and Israel on Feb. 28.
By ADAM SCHRECK, BEN FINLEY and ELENA BECATOROS Associated Press
U.S. military leaders say a ceasefire with Iran is still in effect a day after Tehran was blamed for new attacks in the Strait of Hormuz and against the United Arab Emirates. The UAE, a key American ally, said it came under attack by Iranian missiles and drones for a second day on Tuesday. Still, the fragile truce reached nearly a month ago appeared to be holding. U.S. forces are pressing ahead with efforts to reopen the strait, a vital waterway for global energy. It's unclear whether U.S. military action can reassure shippers without reigniting the conflict. A spokesman for Iran's joint military command denied striking the UAE "in recent days."
By ADAM SCHRECK, BEN FINLEY and SAM METZ Associated Press
The U.S. military says it fired on Iranian forces and sank six small boats as it moved to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. The United Arab Emirates, a key American ally, said it had come under attack from Iran on Monday. It was the first such attack on the UAE since a fragile ceasefire took hold in early April. The attacks appeared to be in response to U.S. President Donald Trump's latest efforts to reopen the strait, a critical waterway for global energy. The U.S. military said two American-flagged merchant ships had successfully transited the strait on Monday.
The United Arab Emirates announced that it will leave OPEC effective May 1, stripping the oil cartel of its third-largest producer and further weakening its leverage over global oil supplies and prices. The UAE's decision had been rumored as a possibility for some time, as it pushed back in recent years against OPEC production quotas it felt had been too low. Regional politics are also likely at play. The UAE has had increasingly frosty relations with Saudi Arabia, OPEC's largest producer, over political and economic matters in the Mideast, even after both came under attack by fellow OPEC member Iran during the war.
For the Trump family, business is booming. Whereas the Trump Organization didn't do a single deal overseas in Donald Trump's first term as president, it did eight in the past year. It got more than double the money in four months selling Trump "meme" coins than it did in four years running a massive Washington hotel. And there are more potential conflicts as the family makes money investing in companies dependent on federal contracts and seeking taxpayer funded grants and loans. Some historians worry how Trump's approach might influence future holders of the office.
By JON GAMBRELL, DAVID RISING and SAMY MAGDY Associated Press
Airstrikes battered Iran and Iranian missiles and drones targeted Israel and sites across the Mideast. Those attacks came Tuesday after President Donald Trump said the United States was in talks with the Islamic Republic to end the war. With thousands more U.S. Marines on their way to the Gulf, both sides firing intense barrages and Iran denying any negotiations are taking place, the war's tempo remained high. A day earlier, Trump delayed his self-imposed deadline for Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. Pakistan has offered to host diplomatic talks. But Iran remained defiant. The spokesman of its top military command said that the armed forces would fight "until complete victory."
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.
