Israel removes Spain from the coordination center in Kiryat Gat over “anti-Israel bias”

At Iran’s state-backed night rallies:

“A ceasefire without Lebanon is a betrayal of Islam.”

Cheng Li-wun, Leader of Taiwan’s opposition Kuomintang, after meeting Chinese President Xi Jinping today:

I am willing to do anything that is helpful to cross-strait peace.

I am willing to meet anyone who is helpful to cross-strait peace.

Cheng Li-wun, Leader of Taiwan’s opposition Kuomintang, after meeting Chinese President Xi Jinping today:

We cannot let Taiwan and the Taiwan Strait become a battlefield.

We are the vanguard; the road has begun.

Cheng Li-wun, Leader of Taiwan’s opposition Kuomintang, after meeting Chinese President Xi Jinping today:

This is a choice between peace and war.

Hezbollah:

Resistance will continue until its last breath.

Cheng Li-wun, Leader of Taiwan’s opposition Kuomintang, after meeting Chinese President Xi Jinping today:

No one wants to see Taiwan’s next generation go to the battlefield.

Clash Point host Isaac Eshetu sits with Middle East Expert Adam Weinstein, deputy director of the Middle East program at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, to examine the recent ceasefire between Iran & the United States.

• Is it a real path to de-escalation?
• Is it simply a pause in the conflict?
• Is it being deliberately sabotaged?
• Who benefits & who doesn't?

WATCH

JD Vance departs for peace talks with Iran in Pakistan:

We’re looking forward to the negotiation. I think it’s going to be positive.

If the Iranians are willing to negotiate in good faith and extend an open hand, that’s one thing.

If they’re going to try to play us, they’re going to find that the negotiating team is not that receptive.

The President has given us some pretty clear guidelines, and we’ll see how it goes.

Middle East Expert Adam Weinstein (Quincy Institute):

The attack on Lebanon might be deliberate sabotage — or an attempt to secure leverage before a comprehensive agreement — but it’s undermining the ceasefire.

Not only southern Beirut — nowhere is safe from Israeli strikes in Lebanon.

Both sides are pretending the ceasefire is real to try to make progress in Islamabad.

Ceasefires that work are the exception, not the rule. If attacks continue, it will fall apart at some point.

FULL INTERVIEW

Trump:

WORLD’S MOST POWERFUL RESET!!!

Trump administration plans to ask Iran to release detained Americans during upcoming peace talks in Islamabad, Pakistan.

At least six U.S. citizens are believed to be held, possibly as leverage.

Source: WaPo

Netanyahu directly attacks Spain, calls IDF “the most moral army.”

Iran's Press TV, citing Iranian source:

Under sustained Iranian pressure, the Zionist regime was forced to halt its attacks on Beirut.

Iran made the cessation of attacks a precondition for participating in talks on a temporary ceasefire.

Further negotiations are conditional on Israel not attacking Beirut and the Dahiyeh district.

Any renewed assault would cause the talks to be completely suspended.

The United States compelled the regime to stop its attacks on Beirut.

The Iranian delegation’s trip to Islamabad was postponed several times.

Continued Israeli strikes could nullify the negotiations altogether.

Pope Leo XIV:

Absurd and inhuman violence is spreading ferociously through the sacred places of the Christian East, profaned by the blasphemy of war and the brutality of business, with no regard for people’s lives, which are considered at most collateral damage of self-interest.

But no gain can be worth the life of the weakest, children, or families. No cause can justify the shedding of innocent blood.

Netanyahu asked Jerusalem Court to postpone his corruption trial testimony for at least two weeks, citing classified security and diplomatic reasons linked to current “dramatic events.”

Netanyahu has been on trial since 2020 on fraud, breach of trust, and bribery charges.

Israel has excluded France from upcoming talks with Lebanon in Washington, saying France is not a neutral mediator.

Source: The Jerusalem Post

NEW: The U.S. may approve an extension today of a waiver allowing the sale of some Russian crude oil.

Source: Reuters

EU's Kaja Kallas:

We haven’t seen Gulf countries helping us with Russia; it can’t be a one-way street.