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April 29, 2026

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President Donald Trump gives a speech during the State Arrival Ceremony on the South Lawn on April 28, 2026, in Washington.

Trump speaks with Netanyahu, Putin as Iran pressure campaign escalates

President Donald Trump spoke by phone separately with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Russian President Vladimir Putin, discussing the situation in Iran and the possibility of extending the ceasefire.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio (C), alongside US State Department Counselor Michael Needham (2L) and US Ambassador to Lebanon Michel Issa (2R), speaks during a meeting.

US seeks to train Lebanon army units to disarm Hezbollah: What to know

Funding for such a program remains unclear, though the Pentagon has requested $36 million for fiscal year 2027 to support Lebanon’s army.

ANWAR AMRO/AFP via Getty Images

Analysis

Despite Trump pressure to limit Israel's Lebanon attacks, Aoun-Netanyahu meeting still unlikely

As President Donald Trump pressures Israel to limit its strikes in Lebanon, Hezbollah is taking advantage of the situation.

In Tel Aviv, reporting on national security, Israeli politics, defense

French President Emmanuel Macron speaks to journalists as he arrives for an informal meeting of the European Council in Nicosia, Cyprus, April 24, 2026.

Why US, Israel are freezing France out of Lebanon talks

With talks between Israel and Lebanon being held in Washington, Paris still insists that it must be involved to balance possible American bias and to protect Beirut’s interests.

Latest News

Why did the Met Opera lose its Saudi funding deal?

A person walks past the closed Metropolitan Opera at Lincoln Center on Jan. 7, 2021, in New York City.

Analysis

Israel fears Trump angling for Lebanon deal to offset Iran missteps

US Ambassador to Lebanon Michel Issa (R) holds a signed "Make America Great Again" hat while (L-R) US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Lebanon Ambassador to the US Nada Hamadeh Moawad listen to US President Donald Trump speak during a meeting with Lebanon Ambassador to the US and Israel Ambassador to the US, at the White House in Washington, DC on April 23, 2026. US President Donald Trump met Lebanese and Israeli envoys at a new round of peace talks Thursday, with Beirut seeking a one-month extension of a

In Tel Aviv, reporting on national security, Israeli politics, defense

How are Iran-linked tankers still moving through Hormuz blockade?

BAY ISMOYO / AFP via Getty Images

Analysis

Israel sees chance of US-Iran deal as almost 'non-existent,' readies for war

ATTA KENARE / AFP via Getty Images

In Tel Aviv, reporting on national security, Israeli politics, defense

Adam Lucente

News and Business Correspondent

In New York City, reporting on regional news, militancy, climate change

Elizabeth Hagedorn

Diplomatic Correspondent

In Washington, DC, reporting on diplomacy, regional politics, human rights

Jared Szuba

Defense and Security Correspondent

In Washington, DC, reporting on defense, national security, military

Joyce Karam

Editor-in-Chief

Rosaleen Carroll

News Reporter and Supporting Editor

In Washington, DC, US, reporting on the Middle East

Paul J. Saunders

In Washington, DC, reporting on Russia in the Middle East

French President Emmanuel Macron speaks with U.S. President Donald Trump ahead of a meeting at the Prefecture of Caen, on the sidelines of D-Day commemorations marking the 75th anniversary of the World War II Allied landings in Normandy, France, June 6, 2019. Ludovic Marin/Pool via REUTERS - RC13F1587560

Trump, Macron talk Iran as French envoy heads to Tehran to try to defuse crisis

French President Emmanuel Macron mediates to try to defuse Iran crisis.

Abbas Araqchi, Iranian deputy foreign minister for political affairs (R), Behrouz Kamalvandi, Iran's Atomic Energy Organization spokesman (L) and Iran's government spokesman Ali Rabiei attend a news conferenece in Tehran, Iran July 7, 2019. Tasnim News Agency/Handout via REUTERS. THIS IMAGE HAS BEEN SUPPLIED BY A THIRD PARTY. - RC188882BBC0

Iran raises nuclear enrichment to 4.5%

Iran officially announced it has taken its second step in reducing nuclear commitments and warned that unless the others fulfill their side of the nuclear deal, Iran would take the third step as well.

A view shows a new S-400 "Triumph" surface-to-air missile system after its deployment at a military base outside the town of Gvardeysk near Kaliningrad, Russia March 11, 2019. Picture taken March 11, 2019. REUTERS/Vitaly Nevar - RC179E3FA920

Where will the S-400s be deployed?

Russian-made S-400 batteries are expected to arrive in Turkey before the end of July and be deployed in Ankara.

U.S. President Donald Trump, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan and Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau are seen at the start of the NATO summit in Brussels, Belgium July 11, 2018. REUTERS/Reinhard Krause - RC1C67E741D0

Pleasantries aside, can Trump deliver what Erdogan wants?

Turkey expects President Donald Trump to help it avoid US sanctions over the S-400 affair, but many in Turkey question whether Trump has that power.

Over ten-thousand Iranians joined in carrying 72 coffins, 07 July 1988 in Tehran, during the funeral service for those who died when an Iran Air passenger jet was shot down over the Gulf by Us navy. An Iranian commercial Airbus A300, operated by Iran Air from Bandar Abbas, Iran to Dubai, UAE, was shot down by mistake over the Southern Gulf by the US navy's guided missile cruiser USS Vincennes during confrontation with Iranian speedboats, 03 July 1988. 290 civilian passengers and crew members, including 66 c

Anniversary of Iran Air 655 tragedy offers lessons for US-Iran diplomacy today

Iran Air 655’s bitter legacy; Iraq as front line; Iran should talk … but it needs off-ramps.

Palestinian Authority woos Iraq, says Iran is no enemy

Nabil Shaath, an adviser to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, traveled to Iraq to galvanize Baghdad's support for the Palestinian cause and perhaps make new connections with Iran along the way.

Russian S-400 Triumph/SA-21 Growler medium-range and long-range surface-to-air missile systems drive during the Victory Day parade at Red Square in Moscow, Russia, May 9, 2015. Russia marks the 70th anniversary of the end of World War Two in Europe on Saturday with a military parade, showcasing new military hardware at a time when relations with the West have hit lows not seen since the Cold War. REUTERS/Host Photo Agency/RIA Novosti ATTENTION EDITORS - THIS IMAGE HAS BEEN SUPPLIED BY A THIRD PARTY. IT IS D

Intel: Why Washington still hasn’t sanctioned Turkey over Russian missile purchase

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has vowed that Turkey will receive the first shipment of the S-400 missile defense system from Russia next week.

Despite Trump's gushing at G-20, Ankara, Washington still on collision course

US President Donald Trump’s fawning over his Turkish counterpart at the Osaka summit carried little real meaning, and a Turkey-US collision is still very possible.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani attends the Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia (CICA) in Dushanbe, Tajikistan June 15, 2019. REUTERS/Mukhtar Kholdorbekov - RC16F9F1C360

Iran's president warns of increased enrichment but says measures reversible

Amid near-zero progress between Tehran and the European signatories to the 2015 Iran nuclear agreement, President Hassan Rouhani is sounding the alarm that reinstatement of uranium enrichment at pre-deal levels is only a few days away.

Is Iran bargaining chip for Russia in relations with the US?

Russia has a lot less incentives to bargain over Iran than the United States believes.

US envoy to Israel demolishes American Bahrain conference achievements

The participation of American Ambassador David Friedman in the tunnel-opening ceremony in Jerusalem undermines all his country's efforts at the Bahrain economic workshop.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius, German Foreign Minister Frank Walter Steinmeier, High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry (L-R) pose for a family picture after the last plenary session at the United Nations building in Vienna, Austria July 14, 2015. Iran and six major world powers

World powers implore Iran to stick with nuclear deal

European nations expressed regret that Iran had exceeded a 300-kilogram cap on its stockpile of low enriched uranium, but diplomats said they were seeking ways to keep Iran in the nuclear deal.