BIG: The United Arab Emirates has carried out undisclosed military strikes on Iran, including hitting an oil refinery on Lavan Island in early April โ around the time Trump announced a ceasefire.
The attack sparked a large fire and knocked the refinery offline for months. Iran retaliated with missile and drone strikes against the UAE and Kuwait.
Source: WSJ
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Saudi Aramco CEO Amin Nasser:
This is the largest energy supply shock the world has ever experienced.
The world has lost about one billion barrels of oil supply over the past two months.
Markets are losing around 100 million barrels per week.
Even if shipping routes reopen immediately, it will take months to rebalance the market.
If disruptions continue into mid-June: full normalization could be pushed into 2027.
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Iranโs Ghalibaf:
There is no alternative but to accept the rights of the Iranian people as laid out in the 14-point proposal.
Any other approach will be completely inconclusive; nothing but one failure after another.
The longer they drag their feet, the more American taxpayers will pay for it.
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Pakistan quietly allowed Iran to park military aircraft โ including an RC-130 reconnaissance plane โ at its strategic Nur Khan Air Base near Rawalpindi, even as Islamabad publicly presented itself as a mediator between Tehran and Washington.
Iran also moved civilian aircraft to Afghanistan, with one Mahan Air plane relocated from Kabul to Herat for safety during Pakistan's airstrikes on Kabul in March.
Pakistan and Afghan Taliban officials denied the claims, while U.S. officials say the arrangement appeared aimed at shielding Iranian assets from American strikes.
Source: CBS
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The EU will invite Taliban representatives to Brussels to discuss migration.
Source: AFP
Source: AFP
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Trump has grown increasingly frustrated with Iranโs handling of negotiations to end the war, with some aides saying he is now more open to resuming major combat operations.
Trump is particularly upset over the continued closure of the Strait of Hormuz and what he sees as divisions within Iranโs leadership blocking progress on nuclear talks.
Inside the administration, officials are divided on next steps. Some Pentagon officials favor stronger military pressure, including targeted strikes, while others still want to pursue diplomacy.
Trump allies also want Pakistani mediators to take a tougher approach with Iran, with some US officials believing Pakistan has softened Tehranโs position in communications with Washington.
Regional officials say there is a major effort underway to warn Iran that this may be its last chance for diplomacy, but Tehran does not appear responsive.
Source: CNN
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Eileen Wang, mayor of Arcadia, CA, has agreed to plead guilty to acting as an unregistered foreign agent for China.
Beginning in late 2020, Wang and an associate ran a fake local news site โ U.S. News Center โ that posted pro-China content under direction from PRC officials, sometimes seeking Beijing's approval before publishing.
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The Trump administration is aggressively pursuing leak investigations after the Iran war.
Trump personally handed acting AG Todd Blanche a stack of news articles labeled "treason," pushing the DOJ to subpoena reporter records from outlets including the WSJ, NYT, and Washington Post.
The subpoenas relate to stories about military warnings before the war, Netanyahu's lobbying of Trump, and downed-jet rescue operations.
Source: WSJ
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Reflecting Pool Repairs Balloon to $13.1M โ Seven Times Trump's Promised Cost
The Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool renovation has ballooned to $13.1 million โ more than seven times the $1.8 million Trump initially promised โ after the Interior Department added $6.2 million to the contract Friday.
Source: NYT
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Trump:
Who likes JD Vance? [applause] Who likes Marco Rubio? [applause] Sounds like a good ticket.
That was a perfect ticket. By the way, I do believe that's a dream team, but these are minor details.
That does not mean you have my endorsement under any circumstance.
I think it sounds like presidential candidate and vice presidential candidate.
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Trump:
With respect to drugs coming in by sea, meaning drugs coming in by water, by the ocean, by the sea.
A lot of people don't know what I mean by sea. They think I'm talking about vision. I'm not. I'm talking about sea. Like the sea.
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Finnish President Stubb:
If American policy toward Russia and Ukraine isn't in Europe's interests, as I believe it is, then we need to engage directly.
Yes, it's time to start talking to Russia. I don't know when that will happen. We've discussed with European leaders who will establish contact, but we don't know yet.
The most important thing is that everything must be coordinated among us, especially between the E5 (Germany, France, Italy, the United Kingdom, and Poland) and the Nordic and Baltic countries, who are on the border.
Source: Corriere
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Microsoft fired Alon Haimovich, the general manager of its Israeli subsidiary, along with other senior managers following an internal investigation.
The probe was tied to a 2025 Guardian and +972 Magazine report revealing that Israeli intelligence used Microsoft Azure cloud servers to store mass-surveillance data on Palestinians.
The intercepted data covered Palestinians in Gaza and the occupied West Bank.
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Qatar's former PM Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber Al Thani:
The military action did not serve the region in general. America harmed its friends in the region.
The military operation served Netanyahu personally, it served his agenda.
He openly talks about a new map of the region, new alliances, a Greater Israel.
They are ignorant of the structure of power in Iran.
This pyramid has been built over 47 years, since the day the Shah left. It won't collapse the way they think.
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Qatar's former PM Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber Al Thani:
Iranians have been accustomed to entering negotiations, succeeding in delaying them, and continuing indefinitely. There is sometimes a trick in not using a trick.
Iran is not prepared to give up its nuclear program to America for free. They view it as an existential, sovereign matter.
One Iranian official once told me: Ukraine handed over its nuclear weapons โ and look what happened to it.
Iran, as a state, sees Israel and Pakistan possessing nuclear weapons โ even if they say they don't seek them.
I believe this is the conclusion they will reach โ after 20 years, after several years, they will get there.
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EU's Kaja Kallas:
When this war ends, it's clear that the region is not the same.
The Gulf countries have said to us that they clearly see Europe's role there โ because it's our neighborhood.
Just look at the kind of help Ukraine has given to the Gulf countries.
In the long term, there is definitely a road for us.
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NEW: The U.S. has been holding closely guarded, regular negotiations with Denmark to open three new military bases in southern Greenland.
The new bases would be designated as American sovereign territory.
The bases would focus on surveillance of Russian and Chinese maritime activity in the GIUK Gap.
The U.S. currently has just one base in Greenland โ Pituffik Space Base โ down from around 17 during the Cold War.
Source: BBC
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