HERE ARE THE LATEST UPDATES ON THE WAR IN THE MIDDLE EAST
- President Trump said Monday that the ceasefire with Iran is “on life support” after Iran’s response to the latest U.S. peace proposal. He has rejected Iran’s reply as “totally unacceptable” and on Monday called it a “piece of garbage.”
- The Iranian government insists it demanded only the country’s “legitimate rights” and no “concessions” in its response.
- Mr. Trump is expected to encourage China to pressure Iran into making a deal to end the costly war during his visit to Beijing later this week, when he will meet with President Xi Jinping.
Pakistan is helping Iran
As Pakistan positioned itself as a diplomatic conduit between Tehran and Washington, it quietly allowed Iranian military aircraft to park on its airfields, potentially shielding them from American airstrikes, according to U.S. officials with knowledge of the matter.
Iran also sent civilian aircraft to park in neighboring Afghanistan. It was not clear if military aircraft were among those flights, two of the officials told CBS News.
Together, the movements reflected an apparent effort to insulate some of Iran’s remaining military and aviation assets from the expanding conflict, even as officials publicly served as brokers for de-escalation
U.S. ballistic missile submarine surfaces in Europe
As the White House weighs its next steps with Iran, the Navy on Monday said a U.S. ballistic missile submarine surfaced in Europe over the weekend.
The submarine arrived in the British territory of Gibraltar on Sunday, the Navy’s 6th Fleet said in a statement Monday. The territory is located near the entrance to the Mediterranean Sea from the Atlantic Ocean.
“The port visit demonstrates U.S. capability, flexibility, and continuing commitment to its NATO allies,” the fleet said.
The vessel was only identified as an Ohio-class ballistic missile submarine, which the fleet described as “undetectable launch platforms for submarine-launched ballistic missiles, providing the U.S. with its most survivable leg of the nuclear triad
Energy supply shock is “largest the world has ever experienced,” says Aramco CEO
The Middle East war has triggered the world’s largest energy shock, with market recovery likely to extend into 2027 even if the Strait of Hormuz blockade is lifted soon, Saudi oil giant Aramco’s CEO told investors on Monday.
“The energy supply shock that began in the first quarter is the largest the world has ever experienced,” said Amin H. Nasser.
“If the Strait of Hormuz opens today, it will still take months for the market to rebalance, and if its opening is delayed by a few more weeks, then normalisation will last into 2027,” he said.
Trump says Iran went back on allowing U.S. to remove highly enriched uranium
President Trump said Monday that Iran told his administration it would allow the U.S. to come in and help extract its highly enriched uranium but went back on that in its latest ceasefire proposal.
“They changed their mind because they didn’t put it in the paper,” he said.
Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office, Mr. Trump said that besides taking the uranium, the U.S. wants Iran to “guarantee no nuclear weapons for a very long period of time and a couple of other minor things, but they just can’t get there. So they agree with us and then they take it back.”
Iran has not publicly agreed to give up its enriched uranium and insists its nuclear program is peaceful.
The president had on Sunday said he “read the response from Iran’s so-called ‘Representatives,’” and called it “totally unacceptable.”
Israeli soldiers to spend weeks in military prison for desecration of Christian statue in Lebanon
The Israeli military said it viewed the soldier’s actions with “great severity”
Israel’s military said Monday that two soldiers will spend weeks in a military prison for the desecration of a Christian statue in southern Lebanon. One soldier, who stuck a cigarette in the mouth of a statue of the Virgin Mary, was sentenced to 21 days, and a soldier who filmed the incident was sentenced to 14 days, a military spokesperson said.
“The IDF views the incident with great severity and respects freedom of religion and worship, as well as holy sites and religious symbols of all religions and communities,” Lt. Col. Ariella Mazor wrote on X.
The incident came days after images of an Israeli soldier wielding an ax against a fallen statue of Jesus on the cross in the southern village of Debel sparked widespread condemnation. Soldiers who participated in hacking down the crucifix also received time in military prison, after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed that they would face “harsh disciplinary action.”
Israeli forces took control of the area as part of the latest Israel-Hezbollah war, which began on March 2 when the Iran-backed Lebanese militant group fired missiles over the border two days after the U.S. and Israel launched their war with Iran. Israel then launched a ground invasion of southern Lebanon and its forces have remained despite a weekslong truce.
