Today In Issues:
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Hamas armed wing says disarmament calls are unacceptable Israel says more than 1,000 Iranian missiles still threaten it Iran is quickly repairing missile bunkers, U.S. intelligence says Iran, US receive plan to end hostilities, immediate ceasefire, source says Head of Iran's Revolutionary Guards' intelligence organisation announced as dead, state media reports WSJ Editorial: The North Korea lesson for Iran Ukraine expects top US envoys in Kyiv this month to reboot talks North Korea working on carbon-fibre ICBM for multi-warhead delivery, Seoul says China creates new aviation mystery with offshore warning zones Taiwan opposition leader to visit China as Beijing ramps up 'reunification' push Former economic adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky Alexander Rodnyansky: Europe looks away from troubling signs in Ukraine A downed airman, a mountain hideout and a high-risk rescue in IranIn The News
Israel
Polls have shown overwhelming support among Israeli Jews for the war against Iran being waged together with the United States, despite the fear and disruption caused by hundreds of missile launches sending millions into bomb shelters at all hours of the day and night. Many Israelis, like Ms. Litman, say there was no choice but to fight, while at the same time expressing skepticism that this would be the last war, or would solve Israel’s national security problems. – New York Times
Hamas’ armed wing said on Sunday discussing the group’s disarmament before Israel fully implements the first phase of the U.S.-brokered Gaza ceasefire was an attempt to continue what it called a genocide against the Palestinian people. – Reuters
Israel provided intelligence assistance to the United States during an operation to rescue a stranded U.S. airman in Iran and halted its attacks in the area to facilitate the mission, an Israeli security official said. – Reuters
Israel assesses that Iran still has more than 1,000 missiles capable of reaching it, while Hezbollah’s arsenal in Lebanon includes as many as 10,000 shorter-range rockets, according to military briefings cited by Israeli media this weekend. – Bloomberg
Israel’s Supreme Court on Sunday authorized up to 100 worshippers to pray at the Western Wall in Jerusalem, up from 50 since the start of the war with Iran, according to a ruling seen by AFP. – Agence France-Presse
Israel’s Leviathan offshore natural gas field has resumed operations after over 30 days of inactivity since the outbreak of Operation Roaring Lion. – Jerusalem Post
Shrapnel from an intercepted Iranian ballistic missile hit at least 15 sites across central Israel on Monday morning, Israeli media reported. The missile barrage included a cluster munition, Walla noted. – Jerusalem Post
Israel and the United States have finalized a comprehensive list of strategic targets to be struck in Iran should the Islamic Republic fail to meet the requirements of US President Donald Trump’s looming ultimatum, two sources confirmed to The Jerusalem Post. – Jerusalem Post
Around twenty coalition Knesset members, led by Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee member Amit Halevi (Likud), sent a strongly worded letter on Sunday to ministers in the political-security cabinet, urging them to reject the IDF General Staff’s proposed plan for continuing the fighting in Lebanon. – Arutz Sheva
Editorial: For two and a half years, Israelis have endured a condition that no democracy should be expected to normalize: continuous war, rolling mobilization, repeated funerals, disrupted schooling, recurring displacement, and the persistent fear that one front can flare up just as another seems to quiet. Israel is prepared to endure hardship until the region is safer than it was before October 7. But a public that continues to show resilience deserves more than malleable deadlines. What it deserves is seriousness, coherence, and leaders who understand that strategic patience is not the same as strategic delay, and that a nation at war should not be dragged from one deadline to the next. – Jerusalem Post
Zalman Shoval writes: One might also speculate that had the government of Golda Meir not ignored the warnings, even among its own ranks, Egypt would not in the long run tolerate the situation created on its territory by the Six Day War, and the 1973 war might have been prevented. In the case of Gaza, without the “concept” nurtured by most of Israel’s politicians on all sides and its security establishment, the situation that led to war may not have arisen in the first place. As to the war against Iran, history will show that it was one of clear and immediate necessity, whatever its critics claim today. – Jerusalem Post
Iran
President Trump threatened to destroy all of Iran’s power plants if the country’s leaders don’t agree to reopen the Strait of Hormuz by Tuesday evening, ratcheting up pressure on Tehran. – Wall Street Journal
There are roughly 2,000 ships stuck in the Persian Gulf with more than 20,000 seafarers on them, according to the International Maritime Organization. Most have been stuck on board more than a month, because fewer than 200 ships have managed to slip through the Strait of Hormuz. – Wall Street Journal
The assassinations of Iran’s senior leaders by Israel and the United States have triggered unprecedented churn within Tehran’s political and military establishment, eliminating the supreme leader and some of the most powerful men in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, but have left in place a hard-line government and little hope of a diplomatic breakthrough, according to regional and Western officials. – Washington Post
Israel attacked Iran’s largest petrochemical industrial complex in the city of Mahshahr on Saturday, a move that has effectively shut down all production across the sprawling complex, according to two senior Iranian oil ministry officials. – New York Times
Iranian operatives have been digging out underground missile bunkers and silos struck by American and Israeli bombs, returning them to operation hours after an attack, according to U.S. intelligence reports. – New York Times
Several aircraft were destroyed in the south of Iran’s Isfahan province during a U.S. mission to find a stranded airman, Iranian military officials said on Sunday. – Reuters
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards claimed responsibility on Sunday for attacks on petrochemical plants in the UAE, Kuwait and Bahrain. In a statement, the IRGC warned its attacks against U.S. economic interests would be intensified if attacks on civilian targets in Iran are repeated. – Reuters
Iran executed two men convicted of attempting to storm a military facility and access an armoury during unrest in January, the Mizan news outlet of its judiciary said on Sunday. – Reuters
Iran attacked an Israel-affiliated vessel with a drone in the Strait of Hormuz, setting the ship on fire, Iran’s state media said on Saturday, citing the commander of the Revolutionary Guards navy. – Reuters
Iran on Saturday executed two men it said were convicted of links to an opposition group, the People’s Mojahedin Organisation of Iran, and of carrying out armed attacks, domestic media reported. – Reuters
Iran used a new air defence system on Friday to target a U.S. fighter jet, Iran’s Khatam al-Anbiya joint military command said on Saturday. – Reuters
Iran has authorised the passage of vessels carrying essential goods to its ports through the Strait of Hormuz, according to a letter cited by Iran’s Tasnim news agency on Saturday. – Reuters
After more than a month of being stalked by targeted assassinations, Iran’s leadership has adopted a new tactic to show it is still in control – with senior officials walking openly in the streets among small crowds who have gathered in support of the Islamic Republic. – Reuters
Iran and the United States have received a plan to end hostilities that could come into effect on Monday and reopen the Strait of Hormuz, a source aware of the proposals said on Monday. – Reuters
The death of Majid Khademi, the head of the Revolutionary Guards’ intelligence organisation, was announced on Monday by Iranian state media, without additional detail. – Reuters
Iran’s government is detaining family members and threatening to seize property of Iranian opposition figures in exile, some tell The Associated Press, in the latest crackdown on dissenting voices as the war rages on. – Associated Press
Iran’s internet blackout, which was imposed soon after the US and Israel attacked the country on February 28, is now the longest nationwide shutdown on record, according to the monitor NetBlocks. – Agence France-Presse
The Strait of Hormuz will never return to its pre-war state, the Iranian navy command announced on Twitter/X on Monday morning. – Jerusalem Post
The Israeli Air Force successfully killed Mohammad Reza Ashrafi Kahi, a senior commander in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ Oil Headquarters, on Friday, the military announced on Sunday. – Jerusalem Post
Exclusive information obtained by Iran International indicates a widespread disruption in the computer network of Bank Sepah, a major state-owned bank tied to the Islamic Republic’s military. – Iran International
Iran’s mission to the United Nations said comments by Donald Trump about targeting Iran’s power plants and bridges amount to “clear evidence of intent to commit war crime” and “terrorise” the civilian population. – Iran International
Editorial: Donald Trump is the only President who had the courage to attack Iran’s nuclear program and allow Israel to do so, in June’s 12-day war. The Iranian missile arsenal he now acts to degrade has its parallel in North Korea’s artillery, which deterred U.S. action against Pyongyang’s nuclear program by aiming at Seoul. Also on the U.S. target list are Iran’s buried stockpiles of fissile material and its construction site beneath Pickaxe Mountain, where it later hopes to enrich the material. The former perhaps can be watched, but it would be a mistake to end the war with the latter intact. We don’t know how the current Iran conflict will end, but we do know Iran’s radical regime will not have a nuclear program when it’s over. This has made the world a safer place. – Wall Street Journal
Zineb Riboua writes: The work is not finished, and the operation is still underway, but the IRGC that emerges from Operation Epic Fury will bear little resemblance to what it once was. Its command structure has been shattered, its missile arsenal degraded, its regional network dismantled. It can still retaliate, but it can no longer dominate. Yechiel Leiter, Israel’s US ambassador, captured with precision what must come next: “We need boots on the ground, but they have got to be Iranian boots, and I think they’re coming.” Trump has a window, and windows close. The pressure and precision that brought Iran to this point must now be sustained long enough to make the coming popular uprising irreversible. – New York Post
Hussein Aboubakr Mansour writes: Yet the revolution that Shariati, more than most, helped to ferment from the ground up ended by bringing to Iran and the Middle East not the liberation it promised but a revolutionary state of torture and terror ruled by a dictatorship – not of the Marxist philosopher-king but of the Islamic law-doctor-king. Where the secular left had filled the air with slogans of progress, the new regime filled it with martyrdom, death and the promise of total war for the liberation of Palestine. The philosopher had yielded to the jurist; the Paris café had yielded to the Shia seminary, but the revolution continued, unbroken and unrepentant, under a new name and always seeking death and destruction. – Spiked
Ali Ansari writes: In these circumstances, it is unsurprising that the IRGC moved swiftly to have Mojtaba declared his father’s heir. Khamenei, they declared, had returned rejuvenated, the charismatic succession was secure, and the allegiance of the faithful could be counted on. Mojtaba has nonetheless remained very much hidden, his mystique intact, his charisma sustained and managed. His IRGC handlers may want to keep it that way. But, sooner or later, he will have to reveal himself — and then his charismatic authority will truly be put to the test. – UnHerd
Russia and Ukraine
At least five people were killed and 36 wounded in Russian drone and missile strikes across Ukraine overnight on Friday, authorities here said, and “close to 20” animals died at a veterinary clinic set ablaze in the barrage. – Washington Post
Ukraine and Syria pledged greater security cooperation in talks on Sunday, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said as Kyiv seeks to promote its military expertise across the region following the outbreak of the U.S.-Israeliwar on Iran. – Reuters
Russia expressed hope on Sunday that efforts to de-escalate the Iran conflict would bear fruit and said the U.S. would contribute by “abandoning the language of ultimatums and returning the situation to a negotiating track.” – Reuters
Russia’s state nuclear company Rosatom evacuated a further 198 of its staff from Iran’s Bushehr nuclear power plant on Saturday, Russian news agencies reported. Rosatom has been evacuating staff from the plant since the Iran war broke out at the end of February. – Reuters
Russia’s military said early on Monday that air defence units had downed 148 Ukrainian drones over a three-hour period and officials said emergency crews were restoring power to nearly half a million households in outages linked to air attacks. – Reuters
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said the frontline situation for Ukraine was the best since the middle of last year, adding that Kyiv’s troops had foiled a Russian offensive in March. – Reuters
Dmitry Medvedev, deputy chairman of Russia’s powerful Security Council, said on Friday that Moscow should drop its “tolerant attitude” towards Ukraine’s possible EU membership. – Reuters
Russia launched a drone attack on Ukraine’s Black Sea port of Odesa overnight on Monday, killing three people, including a child, and damaging infrastructure, residential and administrative buildings, the regional governor said. – Reuters
Ukraine struck the Bilorichenska coal mine in the Russian-controlled Luhansk region, damaging a power substation and leaving 41 mine workers trapped underground, a Russian-installed official said on Monday. – Reuters
Ukraine expects top envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner to lead a US delegation to Kyiv this month, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s chief of staff said, as efforts to resume peace talks get underway. – Bloomberg
Amy Knight writes: Large demonstrations had been planned in several cities, but authorities have pressured the organizers, even arresting some, causing the rallies to be cancelled. The Kremlin’s apparent goal is to gain total control of internet services, similar to what China has achieved. But in the process it is alienating many Russians, especially young people, and depriving citizens of legitimate outlets for airing their grievances. So long as the war in Ukraine continues, it could be only a matter of time before Russians who share Ilya Remeslo’s sentiments defy authorities and take to the streets nevertheless. – Wall Street Journal
Vladimir Kara-Murza writes: The best response to Putin-friendly lawmakers on Capitol Hill and their planned Russia Caucus touted by Vyacheslav Nikonov would be to create a Free Russia Caucus (modeled on the existing Free Belarus Caucus) that would foster a dialogue with Russia’s pro-democracy movement and civil society. By reaffirming the long-standing American principle — and national security interest — of supporting democracy, such a bipartisan group could make an important contribution to the success of democratic reform in a post-Putin Russia — and, ultimately, to making the world a much safer place. – Washington Post
Alexander J. Motyl writes: Graham noted that Russia’s challenges include “the need to revitalize the nonmilitary segment of its economy, increase investment in advanced technologies, reintegrate hundreds of thousands of veterans into civilian life, reconstruct the devastated Ukrainian land it has seized, and rebuild its position in the former Soviet space.” Unfortunately, none of these or similar factors prevented Putin from indulging his historical obsession by invading Ukraine and maintaining the war effort going on five years. Nor will they prevent him from astroturfing a fake resistance movement in Estonia and then rushing to its aid. Only two things can stop Russia: a battlefield defeat of such proportions that even Putin sees, the light or the coming forward of thousands of Remeslos who declare that Putin must go. – The Hill
Iraq
An oil tanker loaded with Iraqi crude passed through the Strait of Hormuz close to the Iranian coast, a day after Iran said Iraq was exempt from any restrictions to transit the vital sea route, data from LSEG and Kpler showed. – Reuters
Passenger movement has returned to normal at the Shalamcheh border crossing between Iraq and Iran after it was closed following air strikes on the Iranian side that killed an Iraqi citizen, security sources and state news agency said on Saturday. – Reuters
Two drones hit the BP-operated (BP.L)North Rumaila oilfield in southern Iraq on Saturday, wounding three Iraqi workers, security and energy sources said. – Reuters
Turkey
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy announced greater security co-operation with Turkey after meeting his counterpart Tayyip Erdogan in Istanbul on Saturday, as Kyiv seeks to leverage its wartime know-how on the international stage. – Reuters
Russian President Vladimir Putin has held a phone call with Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, the Kremlin said on Friday. – Reuters
Amine Ayoub writes: Empty diplomatic protests are insufficient. Washington and Brussels must directly condition future military cooperation, NATO-related support, and defense procurement on the immediate repeal of the Social Media National ID Law. Furthermore, Israel’s foundational doctrine of the “Iron Wall”-the principle that adversaries must be met with unbreakable strength and deterrence-must be applied to Turkey’s aggressive posture. Tolerating Erdogan’s digital autocracy without strict consequences is not a pragmatic compromise; it is an active subsidization of a regime that fundamentally endangers the security of the Eastern Mediterranean. Israel and its allies must recognize this reality and act decisively before the consequences of Erdogan’s absolute power spill permanently beyond Turkey’s borders. – Arutz Sheva
Lebanon
An Israeli airstrike on Kfarhata, a village in south Lebanon, killed seven people on Sunday, including a 4-year-old child, Lebanon’s health ministry said in a statement. – Reuters
When the Israel- Hezbollah war broke out in early March, Hussein Shuman fled the heavy bombardment of the southern suburbs of Beirut, but he didn’t bother trying to rent an apartment elsewhere. – Associated Press
It was not how the Rev. Maroun Ghafari had envisioned this Holy Week — for years, he had held Easter sermons in his predominantly Christian village of Alma al-Shaab in southern Lebanon, near the border with Israel. – Associated Press
The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon said attacks by Israel and Hezbollah near its positions “could potentially draw return fire.” – Agence France-Presse
An Israel Defense Forces soldier was killed, and another was seriously wounded, in an incident of so-called friendly fire in southern Lebanon overnight, the military announced on Saturday. – Times of Israel
Gulf States
Vast development sites around Riyadh trumpet images of a shiny new future for Saudi Arabia—part of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s grandiose Vision 2030 agenda to turn the petrostate into an international hub of trade, technology and culture. – Wall Street Journal
An Iranian drone attack last month on the U.S. Embassy in Saudi Arabia did more extensive damage than previously disclosed, current and former American officials said, showing Iran’s ability to hit Washington’s assets in the kingdom. – Wall Street Journal
The American University of Beirut restricted access to all but essential personnel. Education City in Doha, Qatar, where Georgetown, Cornell, Northwestern and other universities maintain campuses, closed their premises until further notice. New York University’s Abu Dhabi operation in the United Arab Emirates has done the same. – Washington Post
The United Arab Emirates on Saturday condemned what it described as “riots, acts of vandalism, and assaults” outside its embassy and the residence of its head of mission in Damascus. – Reuters
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni flew to Saudi Arabia on Friday for a previously unannounced trip that will also include meetings in Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, a government official said. – Reuters
UAE official Anwar Gargash said any settlement of the U.S.-Iran war must guarantee access through the Strait of Hormuz, warning that a deal that fails to rein in Iran’s nuclear programme and its missiles and drones would pave the way for “a more dangerous, more volatile Middle East.” – Reuters
U.S. forces located on Kuwait’s Bubiyan island were targeted by Iran, the spokesperson of Iran’s Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters said in a video statement shared by state media on Monday. – Reuters
A man detained in Bahrain last month as the island kingdom came under missile attack from Iran vanished for days, until his family was called to retrieve his body from a military hospital. – Associated Press
Salem Alketbi writes: What is needed today is not just repositioning, but a clear equation: security built on indigenous capabilities, reinforced by institutional international partnerships, and managed regionally without being entrusted to the region. In the end, when Gargash says that “out thinking does not stop at a ceasefire,” he is not describing a passing stance. He is announcing the end of an entire phase – one where slogans substituted for strength, consensus-constrained decision-making, and regional pressures set ceilings on partnerships. Today, that ceiling has collapsed, and with it, the right of those who brought it down to object to what comes after. – Jerusalem Post
Middle East & North Africa
Satellite imaging firm Planet Labs said on Saturday it will indefinitely withhold visuals of Iran and the region of conflict in the Middle East to comply with a request from the U.S. government. – Reuters
Egypt’s Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty held separate calls to discuss proposals for regional de-escalation with U.S. Envoy Steve Witkoff and regional counterparts including Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi, the ministry said in a statement on Sunday. – Reuters
Egypt has raised electricity prices for higher-use residential consumers and commercial users starting in April, the electricity ministry said on Saturday, citing a severe global energy crisis linked to the war in the Gulf region. – Reuters
Korean Peninsula
South Korea must accept a degree of risk in importing crude oil from the Middle East amid blockages of the Strait of Hormuz, President Lee Jae Myung said on Monday. – Reuters
South Korean President Lee Jae Myung on Monday expressed regret to North Korea over a drone incursion that he said was carried out by a South Korean individual without government approval, stressing Seoul’s commitment to preventing future incidents. – Reuters
North Korea’s test of a solid-fuel rocket engine is intended for intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM) built with carbon fibre to extend range and allow for delivery of heavier and possibly multiple warheads, South Korean lawmakers said on Monday. – Reuters
South Korea’s spy agency now believes North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s teenage daughter has been positioned as his successor, lawmakers said on Monday, citing a recent public display of her driving a tank that was likely intended to dispel any doubts. – Reuters
North Korea appears to have razed towns near one of the country’s key missile and satellite testing stations in a sign of possible expansion plans, adding to security concerns in a region already facing uncertainties as the war in Iran drags on. – Bloomberg
China
China has taken the unusual step of reserving swaths of offshore airspace without explanation for a period of 40 days, issuing alerts similar to those used to warn aviation authorities of Chinese military exercises, which typically last no more than a few days. – Wall Street Journal
Chinese leader Xi Jinping has ousted a third member of the Communist Party’s elite Politburo in less than six months, extending a withering purge that has scythed through the top echelons of power in Beijing. – Wall Street Journal
As the war in Iran erupted five weeks ago, social media sleuths across Western and Chinese platforms flagged a wave of viral posts detailing equipment at U.S. bases, the movements of American carrier groups and granular breakdowns of how military aircraft were assembling for strikes on Tehran. – Washington Post
China dominates the global drone industry. But it is fast becoming one of the toughest places to fly one. New regulations are sharply tightening rules for recreational and civilian operators. Since January, officials have ramped up the penalties for unauthorized flying of drones to include possible jail time. – New York Times
U.S. President Donald Trump is due to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping in May during his first visit to China in eight years, a closely watched trip that comes just a year after Washington rolled out sweeping and at times erratic global tariffs. – Reuters
China is willing to continue to cooperate with Russia at the U.N. Security Council and make efforts to cool down the Middle East situation, Foreign Minister Wang Yi told his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov in a phone call on Sunday. – Reuters
France said China has executed a French citizen convicted of drug trafficking after keeping him on death row for more than 15 years. – Associated Press
Scott Garrett writes: The U.S. intelligence community strongly urged it to do so, and it’s easy to see why. The resulting larger company is expected to be a tough global competitor against Huawei, the massive conglomerate and arm of the Chinese state that seeks to dominate the world’s 5G and AI future. This kind of creative thinking is exactly what the U.S. needs to maintain its competitive edge. Right now, the Trump administration is focused on winning the war against Iran. But it should also keep up the economic pressure on China — and make sure the U.S. is set to thrive long after the fighting stops. – Washington Examiner
Boaz Golany writes: The war weakens the “Iran corridor,” since Iran can no longer function as a stable anchor, and the overland routes to the Middle East become unreliable. Instead, the BRI is likely to increase its reliance on alternative routes through Central Asia – Russia (despite Ukraine war complications) and maritime routes via Southeast Asia. Instead of one integrated system, the BRI is likely to experience increased fragmentation into regional “mini corridors” with more selective investments. Thus, the war doesn’t just slow BRI – it forces China to rethink the entire concept from expansion to resilience. – Jerusalem Post
South Asia
Anil Ambani, one of India’s most prominent businessmen, was eager in the early days of the first Trump administration to figure out where India might fit into the new president’s national security strategy. – New York Times
India began counting its population this week, setting off a yearlong process of tallying some 1.4 billion people. The results will shape how India is governed and who benefits from its welfare system over the next decade. – New York Times
Indian refiners have purchased Iranian oil amid the Middle East conflict that has disrupted supplies through the Strait of Hormuz, the oil ministry said on Saturday. – Reuters
A criminal case against Myanmar’s newly-elected President Min Aung Hlaing was filed in Indonesia on Monday by a group of civil society organisations, accusing the leader of acts of genocide against the Rohingya ethnic group. – Reuters
Widespread flooding, landslides and lightning strikes triggered by heavy rain and storms across Afghanistan have left 77 people dead and 137 injured over the past 10 days, the country’s Disaster Management Authority said Saturday. – Associated Press
Asia
The oil shock set off by the war in Iran is already rippling through Asia, where factories are curbing production to save energy and some gas stations are telling drivers they can fill up only partway. Economists say it is a sign of things to come for countries in Europe and Africa that also rely on imports from the Middle East. – Wall Street Journal
Taiwan opposition leader Cheng Li-wun leaves on Tuesday for China and a potential meeting with President Xi Jinping on what she says is a peace mission as Beijing makes a renewed push to convince Taiwanese to support “reunification”. – Reuters
Taiwan has received supply assurances from the energy minister of a “major” liquefied natural gas-producing country, the island’s economy minister said on Saturday, speaking about the Iran war’s impact on Middle East energy imports. – Reuters
Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul is cracking down on fuel smugglers whom he called “evil” as authorities tighten enforcement to protect domestic supply. – Bloomberg
Editorial: Taiwan’s military gives it leverage and deterrence against a hostile takeover. Support from America could prove decisive in maintaining deterrence. That’s a good outcome for the world economy and a good reason for the United States to maintain the most powerful military on the planet. But America won’t do the job alone. The Iran war shows how the United States is more likely to support highly capable partners such as Israel. If the Taiwanese don’t show seriousness about their own defense, they shouldn’t be surprised if Washington goes wobbly. The more obviously committed they are, the more credible the joint deterrent — and the more durable the peace. – Washington Post
James P. Farwell writes: Takaichi openly models herself on Thatcher, the “Iron Lady” whose strong leadership made her an ideal partner for Reagan. They did not always agree, but their alliance enabled each nation to project unprecedented power and technological excellence that helped bring down the Soviet Union. Takaichi and Trump share common interests in containing Chinese imperialism, which is bolstered by China’s technologically supercharged economy. Trump has successfully asserted American preeminence in the Western Hemisphere. As he focuses on Asia, it will be evident that Takaichi and Trump can and must build a much-needed U.S.-Japan partnership that provides a robust counter to Chinese imperialism. – Washington Examiner
Europe
Trans-Atlantic ties between the U.S. and Europe are deteriorating rapidly, with tensions over the Iran war adding to a growing sense that the world’s most important geopolitical partnership is sliding toward a divorce. – Wall Street Journal
Pope Leo XIV used his first Easter speech Sunday to deliver a resounding call for peace in times of renewed war, declaring, “Let those who have weapons lay them down!” – Washington Post
When Vice President JD Vance heads to Budapest this week, his support for Hungary’s embattled prime minister, Viktor Orban, will represent a last-ditch bid to rescue the pro-Kremlin Hungarian who has forged ties to the top of the MAGA movement but is trailing in the polls ahead of a national election on April 12. – Washington Post
Two men and a 17-year-old appeared in a London court on Saturday to face charges in connection with an arson attack that destroyed ambulances belonging to a Jewish volunteer service. A fourth suspect in the attack showed up at the hearing and was arrested, the police said. – New York Times
When senior officials from 40 countries met virtually this week to discuss how to bring shipping traffic back to the Strait of Hormuz, Italy’s foreign minister had a proposal. He urged them to establish a “humanitarian corridor” allowing safe passage for fertilizer and other crucial goods headed to impoverished nations. – New York Times
Dutch police on Saturday said they were investigating reports of an explosion overnight at the Israel Centre in the central Dutch town of Nijkerk. – Reuters
Britain is deploying its Rapid Sentry air defence system to Kuwait to help protect British and Kuwaiti interests in the Gulf, Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s office said on Friday, after an overnight Iranian drone attack on a Kuwaiti oil facility. – Reuters
The European Union should end sanctions on Russian oil and gas imports, take steps to restore Druzhba oil pipeline flows and end the war in Ukraine to tackle the energy crisis stemming from the war in Iran, Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico said on Saturday. – Reuters
Serbian police and army uncovered explosives next to a major gas pipeline that supplies much of the country and neighboring Hungary, where pivotal parliamentary elections are scheduled in a week’s time. – Bloomberg
Austria’s government is considering steps to tackle its espionage problem by expanding the universe of illegal activities and protecting international agencies operating out of its capital. – Bloomberg
Authorities detained two more people in connection with the arson attack on a Czech optics and drone factory last month, Czech police and a public prosecutor’s office said on Saturday. – Times of Israel
Editorial: NATO remains important to America’s interests, but as the U.S. looks to the Indo-Pacific and the growing threat of China, it will need European partners to take on more of the defense burden. This is going to happen one way or the other, and the smart bet is for our friends to start today, not tomorrow. When then-Secretary of Defense Robert Gates retired in 2011, his farewell speech was a warning to our partners in NATO that they needed to step up and do more. That was 15 years ago. Words must now be followed with action. – Washington Examiner
Alexander Rodnyansky writes: That starts with honesty. Europe should admit that self-preservation is now a central motive of its support. It should also stop treating military endurance as the only measure that matters. Aid should be tied to battlefield needs and to institutional development: legislative function, transparency, anticorruption enforcement, competence rather than the blind celebration of supposed political savvy, limits on arbitrary power, and a clear understanding that wartime necessity cannot become a permanent political principle. Otherwise, Europe risks creating the very outcome it claims to want to avoid: a source of instability on its frontier. A buffer can buy time. But if not handled carefully, it can also become the next problem. – Wall Street Journal
Lionel Laurent writes: China, which also gets much of its energy supplies via the Gulf, could play a key role by offering incentives to Iran to de-escalate. Beijing has been enjoying the harm Trump is inflicting on America’s longstanding security ties, and there might be a chance here to step into the vacuum by helping the Europeans and Gulf monarchies. […] There might even be some upside for London and Brussels, as the UK and European Union are pushed closer together again by the antics of the White House. Considering this year marks 70 years since Suez and a decade since the Brexit vote, that would be a welcome change indeed. – Bloomberg
Africa
Senegal’s government has suspended all non-essential foreign travel by ministers and top officials, warning of “extremely difficult” times ahead as the U.S.-Israeli conflict with Iran drives global oil prices higher, straining the nation’s budget. – Reuters
Democratic Republic of Congo will receive third-country nationals deported from the United States under a new deal with the Trump administration, the government in Kinshasa said in a statement on Sunday. – Reuters
Nigeria’s army said on Sunday that it had rescued 31 civilians who were taken hostage during an attack on a church in northwest Kaduna state, while five people were found dead at the scene. – Reuters
Cameroon’s parliament on Saturday overwhelmingly approved a constitutional amendment to reintroduce the position of vice president, a measure the government says will ensure continuity but which the opposition say will consolidate executive power. – Reuters
Nigerian security forces were in pursuit of gunmen after a large group of bandits abducted residents from villages in northwest Zamfara state, police said, following one of the region’s largest recent attacks. – Reuters
Ethiopia’s finance ministry said on Friday it had reached an agreement with China on debt treatment, reaffirming both nations’ commitment to progress within the G20 Common Framework to formalise a bilateral deal. – Reuters
Madagascar’s top prosecutor said a plot to assassinate the country’s president, an army colonel who took power in a coup in October, has been foiled. – Bloomberg
Editorial: In fact, foreign aid is no longer the continent’s main source of capital. It’s foreign investment and remittances from Africans working abroad. Africa has deepened ties with alternative global partners — China and the Gulf Arab states. They believe more in building infrastructure and strengthening trade ties than aid. In February President Donald Trump signed a one-year extension of the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act, which gave duty-free access to U.S. markets for qualifying countries. He wants changes to the program to open African markets to U.S. goods through bilateral trade deals. African nations are showing that they don’t want to be charity cases. Will the U.S. have the foresight to do business with them? Or will Washington simply allow China to fill the void? – Washington Post
The Americas
Ilres Théophile, a farmer living north of Haiti’s capital, said he woke in the middle of the night last Sunday to the unmistakable sound of heavy gunfire. Gran Grif, a feared gang in the area, had warned for days that it planned to attack a nearby community. – New York Times
The Trump administration has all but cut off Cuba’s oil supplies since January to force its Communist government to the negotiating table, causing more nationwide blackouts and worsening a humanitarian crisis. – New York Times
Cuba began releasing prisoners from its jails on Friday just hours after its communist-run government announced a sweeping amnesty coinciding with the most intense pressure campaign applied by the U.S. in decades. – Reuters
Right-wing candidate Keiko Fujimori holds first place in the polls one week before Peru’s presidential election, according to three polls released on Sunday. – Reuters
Editorial: The Argentine president frequently sings the praises of his Minister of Deregulation and State Transformation Federico Sturzenegger, who has now modified or slashed over 14,000 regulations in under a year and a half. That will stoke private investment and growth. Argentina’s rapid transformation from nearly a century of socialism to free market capitalism continues to prove the superiority of the latter. It is rare that we get to witness such a radical experiment in real time. It is no surprise, however, that it’s working. – Washington Post
Mary Anastasia O’Grady writes: Recently the Morena mayor of Tequila Jalisco was arrested on charges of extortion in collusion with the Jalisco New Generation Cartel. He hasn’t publicly commented on the federal charges. In the state of Sinaloa, advocates for missing persons have long alleged that there are ties between the political class and organized crime. Mexico has extradited 92 alleged high-ranking cartel members to the U.S. during President Trump’s second term. It’s hard to believe those suspects don’t know where the missing—dead or alive—are and the names of the capos’ political allies. Mexicans deserve the truth even if it’s inconvenient for Ms. Sheinbaum. – Wall Street Journal
United States
Top aides have privately made the case to President Trump in recent days that Iran’s power-generating facilities and bridges are legitimate military targets because destroying them could cripple the country’s missile and nuclear programs, officials say. – Wall Street Journal
President Trump didn’t attack Iran to help the U.S. economy at the expense of its allies. Nonetheless, that is more or less what has happened. Despite high gasoline prices, the U.S. economy is holding up. Abroad, though, interest rates and inflation risks have shot up, fuel is being conserved, and economic forecasts are darkening. – Wall Street Journal
A state visit by a British monarch is typically an exercise in flummery, smooth diplomacy and a royal spectacle. But King Charles III and Queen Camilla’s trip to Washington later this month risks being overshadowed by mounting calls for the him to meet victims linked to the late financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, whose ties to the king’s younger brother, Andrew, have stirred ongoing controversy. – Washington Post
The C.I.A., which traditionally assists with efforts to rescue American pilots trapped behind enemy lines, developed a deception plan to buy time to find the airman by keeping the Iranians away from where he might be, according to a senior administration official. The official and others spoke under the condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive rescue operation and intelligence collection. – New York Times
President Donald Trump and other U.S. officials cast the rescue of a U.S. airman in Iran as an “Easter miracle” on Sunday, framing the operation in religious terms that portrayed the war as a just cause and divinely blessed. – Reuters
U.S. federal agents have detained the niece and grand-niece of late Iranian military commander Qassem Soleimani after Secretary of State Marco Rubio revoked their lawful permanent resident status, the State Department said on Saturday. – Reuters
This is not the run-up to the midterm elections that Republicans wanted. A year and a half after winning the White House by promising to lower costs and end wars, Donald Trump is a wartime president overseeing surging energy costs and an escalating overseas conflict. – Associated Press
A $656 million judgment against Palestinian authorities has been reinstated by appeals judges, following a U.S. Supreme Court ruling in favor of Americans killed or wounded in attacks in Israel. – Associated Press
NPR didn’t manage to quote a single member of the Michigan synagogue that was attacked last month by a crazed Hezbollah-supporting terrorist last month — but did manage to track down his pals 6,000 miles away in Lebanon, a new report reveals. – New York Post
Over half of all confirmed hate crimes in New York City in the first quarter of 2026 were antisemitic in nature, New York Police Department Commissioner Jessica Tisch confirmed in a press conference this weekend. – Jerusalem Post
Andy Kessler writes: Because of defeatism, we don’t follow through—no more of Woodrow Wilson’s “making the world safe for democracy.” A shame. Maybe the Trumpian way is to “make the world safe.” I wish we’d finish the task and encourage democracy. Democracy is worth fighting for. Maybe we can’t force it—purple fingers after voting in Iraq—but we can be ready to pounce. The Middle East is transforming. Someday, the masses in China will demand a political say now that they have an economic say. Same with a post-Vladimir Putin Russia. Global growth will be hard to hold back, but the world needs to be safe first. And safe from defeatists. – Wall Street Journal
Daniel J. Samet writes: Democrats didn’t used to be like this. While vying for the party’s nomination in 2019, Joe Biden said it would be “absolutely outrageous” for the U.S. to condition military aid on Israel’s adherence to policy directives from Washington. Eleven years earlier, Barack Obama prayed at the Western Wall during his first presidential campaign. Other past Democratic stalwarts, including John Kerry and Bill Clinton, sought their party’s nomination as strong supporters of Israel. That many likely 2028 Democratic presidential hopefuls are already denouncing Israel is telling. To be pro-Israel is to be out of step with the modern Democratic Party. – Washington Post
Cybersecurity
Cambodia’s parliament on Friday passed the first law dedicated to targeting scam centres accused of bilking international victims out of billions of dollars, as pressure mounts on governments to tackle the illicit businesses. – Reuters
Moving Wall Street’s trading infrastructure onto blockchain-based systems could accelerate financial crises beyond regulators’ ability to respond, even as the technology promises to cut costs and eliminate settlement delays, the International Monetary Fund says. – Bloomberg
Russia’s attempts to restrict the use of virtual private networks amid a clampdown on the Telegram messaging platform triggered the widespread banking outage seen across the country this week, the service’s billionaire founder Pavel Durov said. – Bloomberg
A global surge in ransomware attacks has driven the rise of specialist negotiators who are skilled at buying time, gathering intelligence and cutting deals with hackers. – Financial Times
President Donald Trump’s fiscal 2027 budget would slash the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency’s total by $707 million, according to a summary released Friday, which would deeply chop down an agency that already took a big hit in Trump’s first year. – Cyberscoop
Matthew Brooker writes: In the longer term, educating children in media-literacy and digital-competence skills may be the best way to build resilience. Children in Finland are taught from nursery-school age how to judge information critically; its model deserves to be studied. Openness is a virtue, but an excess of it in information wartime may be injurious to your national health. In a world that has become a lonely and threatening place for mid-sized defenders of liberal-democratic values, that’s a lesson Britain needs to learn quickly. – Bloomberg
Defense
For nearly two days, injured and alone, a U.S. aviator hid in a remote mountain crevice as Iranian forces and militias closed in on him with helicopters and drones. “God is good,” the Air Force colonel had radioed once he reached an elevated ridge, a message that was initially met with suspicion in Washington as a possible Iranian trap as officials scrambled to verify he was still alive. – Wall Street Journal
The next steps in the US military campaign against Iran will commit nearly its entire inventory of stealthy JASSM-ER cruise missiles, drawing them from stockpiles devoted to other regions. – Bloomberg
The Pentagon’s proposed fiscal 2027 budget blueprint is seeking 85 Lockheed Martin Corp. fighter jets — up from 47 requested last year — in a significant boost for the largest US weapons program. – Bloomberg
Editorial: President Trump is now recognizing the point about money with his proposal for $1.5 trillion in defense spending in fiscal year 2027. Americans take for granted that the volunteer force will keep them safe, and the military’s performance can create a sense of complacency about the world’s threats. But deterrence isn’t cheap, and adversaries who want to harm the U.S. are more determined than they’ve been since the end of the Cold War. The deterrent value of the Iran conflict will be determined by its outcome and the decisions Mr. Trump makes. But the performance of the U.S. military is reason to invest more to continue its record of success. – Wall Street Journal