World

A former Israeli diplomat reacted in real time to a social media post by President Donald Trump on the latest developments in the Iran war.

The 79-year-old president demanded "Israel and Iran must immediately stop 'shooting,'" and former Israeli consul general Alon Pinkas appeared minutes later on CNN to offer his analysis of the extremely short Truth Social post.

The Yemeni Houthis announced early Monday they would impose a “complete ban” on Israeli sea vessels from passing through the Red Sea, a partial blockade that risks hitting global trade with a “two-front crisis” as traffic through the Strait of Hormuz remains disrupted, several outlets reported.

“We declare a complete ban on enemy navigation in the Red Sea and we consider any Zionist movements to be military targets for our forces,” said Houthi spokesman Brig Gen Yahya Al Saree in a televised statement released on Monday, according to the United Arab Emirates news outlet The National.

The United States was issued a dire threat Sunday after a wave of Israeli airstrikes pounded Lebanon’s largest city earlier the same morning with supposed backing from the Trump administration, threats that may materialize as major attacks on U.S. bases and assets in the Middle East.

As Washington and Tehran continue to negotiate terms to end the ongoing Iran war, a key sticking point has been Israel’s bombardment of Lebanon, which since early March has killed more than 3,400 Lebanese and injured over 10,200. Iran has demanded that Israel halt its bombardment as a condition to end hostilities.

President Donald Trump vowed back in January that his administration’s takeover of Venezuela would “benefit” Americans, and yet, just over six months later, that promise appears to be imploding after key players have reportedly gotten cold feet, The Washington Post reported Sunday.

In the immediate aftermath of the unprecedented U.S. attack on Venezuela earlier this year, the Trump administration took control of the nation’s oil revenue, which Trump claimed at the time would be “used to benefit the people of Venezuela and the United States.” The Trump administration had hoped U.S. companies would invest $100 billion into the South American nation’s energy infrastructure.

Anthony Scaramucci, who served as White House Communications Director for 11 days in 2017 before being fired, is back with unsolicited but specific advice for anyone who has to deal with his former boss — and he has a case study.

In a video clip posted to X this week, Scaramucci laid out three rules: never take Trump's call on his terms, don't respond when he comes at you, and tell people you're ready for a fight. "Elbows up," he said. "When you do that with him, he comes towards you. My advice is you gotta push and shove with Trump. If you're overly kowtowing to him and laying down, forget it — never gonna work."

An amused Democratic strategist and an appalled Republican Party strategist agreed on MS NOW that Donald Trump’s daughter, Ivanka Trump, hurt both her own image and damaged the Trump administration with a decision to boast about the purchase of an island when Americans can’t fill their gas tanks.

In a clip from the David Senora podcast earlier in the week, the woman known as the first daughter expressed her joy at discovering the 1,400-acre luxury Mediterranean island off the coast of Albania where she and her husband Jared Kushner hope to build a resort.

Donald Trump is confronting a bitter irony as he seeks to extricate himself from the Iran war he initiated: reaching a peace agreement may require exactly the kind of financial concessions to Tehran that he spent years attacking the Obama administration for making.

According to Wall Street Journal reporting, the central obstacle to resolving the conflict is Tehran's insistence on immediate access to frozen assets—a demand that has created a "politically hazardous" trap for the president.

The political trap is inescapable. Any Trump decision to release Iran's frozen assets would inevitably invite comparisons to the Obama administration's 2016 nuclear accord, which Trump repeatedly vilified as "the dumbest deal perhaps I've ever seen in the history of deal-making." During a 2016 presidential debate with Hillary Clinton, Trump specifically attacked the $1.7 billion in cash the U.S. sent to Iran, quipping it was "enough to fill up this room."

As the Journal notes, this past spring Trump vowed to negotiate a "FAR BETTER" deal than Obama's—a promise that now appears increasingly hollow as negotiations drag on via mediators between Washington and Tehran.

Iran's demands are reportedly substantial and non-negotiable, seeking $12 billion upfront and an additional $24 billion over a 60-day negotiation period to be triggered by an initial agreement. Access to tens of billions in frozen U.S. sanctions funds is described as "a critical demand for any deal," offering immediate economic relief to Iran's deeply damaged economy.