Iran-US war latest: Trump’s ‘Project Freedom’ received backlash from allies: reports – The Independent
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Israel launches strikes on Beirut for the first time since the 16 April ceasefire
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Donald Trump said that the war with Iran would “be over quickly” as Tehran reviewed a new US peace proposal aimed at ending the conflict
The US president said he had “very good talks” with Iran over the past 24 hours but stressed that there’s “never a deadline” on when Tehran will respond back to the proposal.
“We’re in good shape,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. “Now we’re doing well, and we have to get what we have to get. If we don’t do that, we’ll have to go a big step further. But with that being said, they want to make a deal.”
Iran said a US proposal to end the war is “still being considered”.
It comes as sources claimed the proposal could formally end the war, though major disagreements remain over Tehran’s nuclear programme and the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz.
Trump also announced a pause in his plan for the US to escort ships through the Strait of Hormuz, dubbed “Project Freedom”.
Meanwhile, Israel launched strikes on Beirut for the first time since the 16 April ceasefire. The Israeli military said it is targeting the commander of the militant group’s elite Radwan force.
Shipping container giant Maersk has revealed it is facing a 500 million US dollar (£367 million) hit each month from disruption caused by the Iran war and is passing on costs to customers through higher freight rates.
The Danish group, which carries around one in five of the world’s seaborne containers, said costs will surge in the current quarter and next, but it is so far fully offsetting this through price rises.
Chief executive Vincent Clerc said the closure of the Strait of Hormuz could start impacting global trade and consumer demand.
Israel says it has killed the commander of Hezbollah’s Radwan force in a strike on Beirut’s southern suburbs.
The Radwan group is the most elite faction of the armed group.
Hezbollah is yet to comment on the reports.
Iran and the United States are closer than ever to agreeing on a peace deal to bring an end to the war, sources have claimed, with Donald Trump declaring there have been “good talks over the last 24 hours”.
The White House is currently awaiting Tehran’s response to a one-page memorandum of understanding (MOU) aimed at ending the war and setting a framework for future nuclear negotiations, Axios reported.
Some officials in the US, who expect a response before the weekend, told the outlet that the two sides are “not far, but there is no deal yet”.
Alex Croft and James C Reynolds report:
Iranian president Masoud Pezeshkian said on Thursday that he met with supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei recently, according to Mizan news agency.
The eldest son of slain supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has not been seen in public since his father’s death in a US-Israeli strike on 28 February.
Since then, he has had written messages conveyed to the media through various means. Reports suggest that he is still in contact with the political and military establishment and is issuing orders.
US defence secretary Pete Hegseth previously said the leader was “wounded and likely disfigured.”
US secretary of state Marco Rubio arrived at the Vatican on Thursday for a potentially fraught encounter with Pope Leo as President Donald Trump has continued a series of disparaging attacks on the Catholic leader over the Iran war.
Rubio’s convoy drove through the central Roman boulevard leading to the Vatican under tight security, arriving at 9am GMT for the first visit between the pope and a Trump cabinet official in nearly a year.
The closed-door meeting between Leo and Rubio, who also serves as Trump’s national security adviser, is expected to last about a half-hour. Rubio will meet afterwards with the Vatican’s top diplomat, Italian Cardinal Pietro Parolin.
A farming group controlled by the Duke of Westminster is warning of “dramatic” rises in food prices due to spikes in fertiliser costs linked to the war in Iran.
The closure of the Strait of Hormuz in the Gulf, through which large quantities of oil, gas and other fuels usually pass, has already led to jumps in fuel costs in the UK.
This week, the British Retail Consortium (BRC) warned that supermarkets were already absorbing huge extra costs due to the conflict in the Middle East and said those costs would inevitably filter through to consumers. It wants the government to delay new tax and regulatory rules.
President Donald Trump dramatically backtracked on Project Freedom after just two days because its Gulf ally Saudi Arabia blocked access to its military bases and airspace, according to reports.
Just 48 hours after announcing the operation to escort ships through the Strait of Hormuz, the US leader paused the initiative to enable negotiations between Washington and Tehran. Iran had attacked ships across the Gulf and struck a port in the UAE, on Tuesday.
It has now emerged that Trump’s decision to pause the operation was driven by complaints by Saudi Arabia, two US officials told NBC News.
Maersk has said that it does not expect the war in the Middle East to have a material impact on its financial results.
However, CEO Vincent Clerc said that the conflict has had a huge impact on its energy costs.
“The large part of our higher costs due to rising bunker fuel prices will be covered by our customers,” he said on Thursday.
Clerc said that although the oil supply chain is deeply disrupted the trade the company does has been less impacted. The company stuck to its profit forecast after beating its first-quarter profit forecasts.
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