分类： politics

A sharp public rift between the first American-born head of the Catholic Church, Pope Leo XIV, and the Trump administration has deepened this week, centered on the controversial use of religious rhetoric to justify the seven-week US-Israeli war on Iran. The escalating war of words reached a new peak on Thursday, when Pope Leo issued his most direct rebuke to date of leaders who twist sacred scripture to advance military and political ambitions.

In a post on the social platform X, the Pope repeated a pointed line from a recent address he delivered during a visit to Cameroon: “Woe to those who manipulate religion and the very name of God for their own military, economic, and political gain, dragging that which is sacred into darkness and filth.” He expanded on this condemnation in his original speech, adding that the globe is currently being exploited by a small group of authoritarian actors who put their own interests above global peace.

Coinciding nearly exactly with the Pope’s post, US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth made his own religious reference during a press briefing in Washington D.C. Hegseth, who has repeatedly framed the war against Iran as a divine mission for the United States in regular Pentagon press briefings, compared journalists covering the conflict to Pharisees — the biblical figures Christians believe witnessed Jesus’ miracles but rejected his teachings. His analogy implied reporters were refusing to acknowledge what he framed as miraculous US military achievements in the war, which official counts confirm have killed more than 3,000 Iranian civilians and combatants to date.

This framing of the war as a religious cause has been a particular point of friction with Pope Leo, a longstanding public advocate for global peace and diplomatic conflict resolution. While the Pope’s anti-war stance aligns with longstanding Vatican policy, it has put him in direct conflict with President Donald Trump, who has launched a series of public attacks against the American pontiff for contradicting what he frames as core US interests.

The feud has stretched on for nearly a week, with Trump attempting to fracture the Pope’s public standing by highlighting the pontiff’s brother, Louis Prevost, who is an open supporter of Trump’s Make America Great Again movement. Speaking to reporters Thursday, Trump sought to downplay the intensity of the dispute, claiming “I’m not fighting with him. I have nothing against the Pope. His brother is Maga all the way.” Trump also falsely claimed that Pope Leo supports Iran acquiring a nuclear weapon, a claim the Pope has never publicly made, as he has declined to weigh in on US allegations of an Iranian nuclear weapons program.

Earlier in the week, the conflict sparked widespread controversy after Trump shared an AI-generated image that depicted him as Jesus Christ, healing a sick man in a hospital bed. After widespread public backlash, Trump removed the post, later claiming he had believed the image showed him as a doctor associated with the Red Cross, telling reporters “It’s supposed to be me as a doctor making people better. And I do make people better. I make people a lot better.” Observers widely rejected the explanation, noting the image clearly showed Trump in a holy robe with glowing, miraculous hands positioned over the patient.

The public attack on the Pope came immediately before that controversial post, with Trump launching a tirade against Pope Leo on social media that criticized his positions on crime and foreign policy. The former president also brought up COVID-era restrictions on religious gatherings, writing “He talks about ‘fear’ of the Trump Administration, but doesn’t mention the FEAR that the Catholic Church, and all other Christian Organizations, had during COVID when they were arresting priests, ministers, and everybody else, for holding Church Services, even when going outside, and being ten and even twenty feet apart. I like his brother Louis much better than I like him. I don’t want a Pope who criticizes the President of the United States.”

This is not the first time Pope Leo has broken with the Trump administration: he has already publicly condemned Israel’s ongoing war in Lebanon and Trump’s hardline crackdown on undocumented immigrants inside the United States. The broader Catholic Church hierarchy has largely stood behind Pope Leo, creating new religious divisions between American Catholics and the Evangelical Christian community that forms one of Trump’s core political support bases.

Multiple senior Catholic cardinals spoke out against the administration’s war agenda in an interview with CBS’s 60 Minutes that aired Sunday. Just one day earlier, Washington D.C.’s archbishop Cardinal Robert McElroy delivered an uncommonly direct political rebuke during a public peace mass, calling on Christian believers to move past passive prayer and actively advocate for an end to the conflict. “As citizens and believers in this democracy that we cherish so deeply, we must advocate for peace with our representatives and leaders. It is not enough to say we have prayed. We must also act… our president will move to re-enter this immoral war,” McElroy said. “No. Not in our name. Not at this moment. Not with our country.”

In an unexpected announcement posted to social media Thursday, former U.S. President Donald Trump revealed that the Israeli and Lebanese national governments have reached an agreement for a 10-day ceasefire set to go into effect the same evening. Alongside the ceasefire reveal, Trump stated he will invite Lebanese President Joseph Aoun and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to the White House for talks aimed at forging a more durable long-term truce between the two neighboring nations.

The announcement comes weeks after Israel launched a sweeping military campaign of intensive airstrikes and a ground incursion into Lebanon that has already killed and injured thousands of people and forced more than one million Lebanese civilians from their homes. But despite the optimistic framing of the deal from Trump, experts have highlighted critical gaps that cast serious doubt on the ceasefire’s ability to hold: the agreement was struck solely between the two national governments, and does not include Hezbollah, the primary Lebanese political and militant group that has been the main target of Israel’s military operations.

Nicholas Grossman, an international relations professor at the University of Illinois, pointed out a fundamental flaw in the negotiated arrangement. “A ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon is a weird thing to tout, since Lebanon isn’t a combatant,” he explained, noting “there is no Lebanese fire for the Lebanese government to cease.”

The announcement also sparked internal friction in Israel: Amichai Stein, diplomatic correspondent for Israeli outlet i24News, reported that multiple members of Netanyahu’s Cabinet expressed outrage during a closed-door meeting, criticizing Trump for publicly announcing Israel’s consent to the ceasefire before the Israeli Security Cabinet granted formal approval.

Diplomatic context further complicates the situation: Iran has repeatedly stated that a ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon is a non-negotiable precondition for continuing nuclear and security negotiations with the U.S. – talks that stem from Trump’s unauthorized February military action against Iran, launched without congressional approval.

Even as the ceasefire was being announced, a group of 24 United Nations independent experts issued a harsh condemnation of Israel’s ongoing military assault on Lebanon Wednesday, describing the campaign as “a blatant violation of the UN Charter, a deliberate destruction of prospects for peace, and an affront to multilateralism and the UN-based international order.”

The experts, which included UN special rapporteurs Farida Shaheed (right to education), Ben Saul (right to food), and Francesca Albanese (occupied Palestinian territories), emphasized that Israel launched its largest coordinated wave of airstrikes on Lebanon since 1980 even as ceasefire negotiations were being finalized. “We are witnessing the continuing utmost contempt for the international legal order, for diplomacy, and above all for the lives of civilians and the environment in Lebanon,” the group said, rejecting Israeli claims that the operation is an act of self-defense: “This is not self-defense.”

The experts also drew a parallel between the situation in Lebanon and the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, noting that Israel’s blanket evacuation orders and systematic destruction of civilian housing align with patterns of “domicide” first seen in the Gaza campaign. “Forced displacement of a civilian population constitutes crimes against humanity and is a war crime under international law,” the statement added.

On-the-ground humanitarian data underscores the severity of the crisis. Since Israel escalated its offensive in early March, more than one million people – over 20 percent of Lebanon’s entire population – have been displaced. UNICEF USA confirmed Thursday that at least 600 children have been killed or wounded in Israeli attacks since March 2, with more than 390,000 children displaced by the violence. “Nowhere is safe for children in Lebanon,” the organization warned.

As of Wednesday, Israeli military forces continued to carry out intensive bombing campaigns across southern Lebanon, leveling entire towns, destroying civilian infrastructure including homes and schools, and killing non-combatants. Lebanese officials reported that an Israeli triple-tap airstrike on the southern Lebanese town of Mayfadoun Wednesday killed three paramedics responding to earlier strikes.

In their formal demand, the UN experts called on Israel to “immediately cease all military operations in Lebanon” and urged the United States – Israel’s closest ally and primary supplier of military arms – to leverage its considerable influence to force an end to the bombing campaign.

In a continuation of his official visit to China, Vietnam’s top leader To Lam, who holds both the positions of President of Vietnam and General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam Central Committee, has arrived in South China’s Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region following a cross-country high-speed train trip.

To Lam departed from Beijing on Thursday, according to official updates from China Daily. The journey spanned approximately 2,400 kilometers and took nearly 10 hours before the train pulled into Nanning East Railway Station, the main high-speed rail hub serving Guangxi’s capital city Nanning. A photo from China Daily photojournalist Zou Hong documents the arrival.

This leg of To Lam’s trip comes after earlier engagements in Beijing, and Guangxi holds unique strategic importance for China-Vietnam relations as a major border province that shares a long land and maritime boundary with Vietnam. The high-speed rail journey itself also highlights the connected transportation infrastructure that supports growing people-to-people and economic ties between the two neighboring countries.

Diplomatic efforts to de-escalate tensions across the Middle East have taken a sharp turn after Saudi Arabia successfully pushed the United States to prioritize a ceasefire in Lebanon, with the goal of preserving fragile negotiations between Washington and Tehran and clearing the way for the reopening of the strategically vital Strait of Hormuz, multiple senior sources from the US, European and Arab nations have confirmed to Middle East Eye.

According to Arab and Western officials familiar with the exchange, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman directly pressed US President Donald Trump on the urgency of a ceasefire between Israel and Lebanese armed groups during a private telephone conversation held Wednesday. Just 24 hours after that call, Trump made a public announcement of a planned 10-day ceasefire in Lebanon, a step multiple sources attribute directly to intensive lobbying from Riyadh.

Despite the announcement, major questions remain unresolved: it is still uncertain whether Israel will adhere to the truce terms, and it remains unclear what level of pressure the Trump administration will ultimately bring to bear on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to enforce the pause. Domestically, Lebanon has also faced internal friction over the deal: Hezbollah has publicly criticized the Lebanese government for holding rare direct negotiations with Israel over the ceasefire framework.

A Western official with direct knowledge of the phone call between the two leaders told Middle East Eye that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman made clear that securing a Lebanon ceasefire is a non-negotiable prerequisite to reopening the Strait of Hormuz and ending broader regional hostilities.

Further diplomatic meetings are already in the works, sources confirm: Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan is scheduled to hold talks with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio as early as next week, and Saudi Defense Minister Khalid bin Salman – the crown prince’s brother and close senior advisor – is expected to join the meeting. Saudi diplomatic teams have also begun circulating a formal negotiation position paper across regional and international capitals, according to Western and Arab officials.

Last week, Trump stated that Netanyahu had agreed to “scale back” Israeli military operations in Lebanon following formal complaints from Iran over ongoing strikes, but a formal, publicly announced ceasefire represents a far more significant step toward de-escalation. Tehran has repeatedly made clear that no meaningful talks with Washington can proceed without a full ceasefire in Lebanon. Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf and a top Iranian nuclear and security negotiator have both reaffirmed this position in recent statements.

A two-week US-Iran truce, mediated by Pakistan, was announced earlier this month and explicitly included Lebanon in its terms, but Israeli strikes on Lebanese territory continued uninterrupted after the deal was struck. If the newly announced 10-day ceasefire holds, it is expected to clear the way for Washington and Tehran to extend their bilateral truce, which is set to expire on April 21. Trump confirmed Wednesday that formal negotiations could resume in the Pakistani capital of Islamabad as soon as within the next 48 hours.

Pakistan has publicly emerged as the primary intermediary between the US and Iran, but multiple Western and Arab officials note that Islamabad’s diplomatic maneuvering would not be possible without extensive backing from Saudi Arabia, a long-time strategic ally and major financial patron of Pakistan. The two nations maintain a formal mutual defense pact, and Riyadh has repeatedly stepped in to provide critical economic support to Islamabad during periods of financial strain. Just this week, Saudi Arabia agreed to issue a $3 billion loan to cash-strapped Pakistan to help the country cover an urgent debt repayment to the United Arab Emirates.

A senior Western official noted that Saudi Arabia holds unique influence to encourage Trump to prioritize mediation and acknowledge the importance of Iran’s demand for a Lebanese ceasefire. The kingdom has walked a careful diplomatic line in recent months: it initially opposed large-scale US military strikes on Iran, but ultimately provided limited support to Washington, including opening the King Fahd Air Base in Taif to US operations after Iranian strikes damaged infrastructure at the US-run Prince Sultan Air Base, a development first revealed exclusively by Middle East Eye. Riyadh also previously pushed the US to maintain targeted strikes on Iranian positions after Iranian-aligned groups attacked Saudi and regional energy infrastructure.

“Saudi Arabia answered the US call and did the minimum necessary to appease Trump. But now they are focused on reopening the Strait of Hormuz and a ceasefire. They don’t want further escalation. It’s a dance,” the senior Western official told Middle East Eye. This aligns with earlier reporting from The Wall Street Journal, which revealed that Saudi Arabia has already urged Trump to reject proposals for a US blockade of the Strait of Hormuz.

At present, Saudi Arabia is able to bypass Iranian control of the Strait of Hormuz via the East-West pipeline that connects Gulf oil fields to the Red Sea, allowing the kingdom to export roughly 5 million barrels of crude oil per day despite the closure. Riyadh’s current top priority is preventing the closure of the Bab el-Mandeb Strait by Houthi forces in Yemen, another critical chokepoint for global energy trade.

In a sweeping announcement from the Pentagon Thursday, the top U.S. military official outlined a new, expanded policy that will see American forces intercept any vessel suspected of carrying material support to Iran — a mission that extends beyond the Middle East to the Indian and Pacific Oceans.

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Dan Caine confirmed that the order targets all ships carrying prohibited supplies, regardless of flag, including the unregulated “dark fleet” tankers that have become Iran’s primary transport for crude oil and petroleum products amid longstanding U.S. sanctions. “The Joint Force, through operations and activities in other areas of responsibility, like the Pacific… will actively pursue any Iranian-flagged vessel, or any vessel, attempting to provide material support to Iran,” Caine told reporters.

The announcement comes days after the U.S. launched a formal maritime blockade of Iran, a move that followed Tehran’s recent imposition of new transit rules in the Strait of Hormuz, the strategically critical waterway connecting the Persian Gulf to global markets. Under Iran’s new system, the country has prioritized passage for its own vessels exiting the Gulf while blocking most ships heading to neighboring Arab states. Tehran is also moving forward with a plan to implement a new toll system for transit, which could charge commercial vessels as much as $2 million for passage through the strait.

Caine pushed back on characterizations that the U.S. action blocks access to the Strait of Hormuz itself, clarifying that enforcement operations will target areas along Iran’s coastline and territorial seas, as well as adjacent international waters. “This is a blockade of Iran’s ports and coastline, not a blockade of the Strait of Hormuz,” Caine said.

The decision to extend interception operations into the Pacific has already stoked geopolitical concern, particularly given China’s extensive economic and strategic ties to Iran, analysts told Middle East Eye. While Beijing has repeatedly avoided direct military confrontation with Washington, analysts note that China holds major stakes in the region and in trade routes that could be significantly disrupted by the expanded U.S. policy.

Under the weight of crippling U.S. economic sanctions, Iran has built up a shadow network of unregistered oil tankers disconnected from Western insurance and financial systems, commonly referred to as the “dark fleet.” The vast majority of these ships carry Iranian oil and petroleum products to Chinese refineries, which are the Islamic Republic’s largest remaining customer for energy exports. Maritime experts have previously noted that while multiple vessels carrying Iranian cargo have transited the Strait of Hormuz in recent days, none have exited into the Gulf of Oman, where the U.S. Navy maintains a large deployed presence.

The expanded blockade has drawn renewed attention to Sino-U.S. friction over Iran policy, with widespread speculation about whether U.S. forces will attempt to board and search Chinese-flagged vessels carrying cargo to or from Iran. Earlier this week, unconfirmed remarks attributed to China’s defense minister circulated on social media, claiming Beijing would refuse to comply with the U.S. blockade. But Yun Sun, director of the China program at the Washington-based Stimson Center, confirmed to Middle East Eye that the remarks have never been authenticated by the Chinese government and have been disavowed by Chinese state media.

In official diplomatic engagement this week, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi spoke with his Iranian counterpart Abbas Aragchi on Wednesday. In a public readout of the call released by Beijing, Wang called on all parties to respect the “sovereignty, security and legitimate rights and interests of Iran as a country bordering the Strait of Hormuz,” while also adding that “the freedom and security of navigation in the internationally accessible strait should also be guaranteed.”

Sun noted that Beijing has little incentive to challenge U.S. naval dominance in the Strait of Hormuz, which sits thousands of miles from China’s core territorial claims. At the same time, China has actively positioned itself as a leading strategic power in the Pacific, creating a potential flashpoint if U.S. interception operations target Chinese vessels in the region.

Beyond energy trade, the expanded U.S. blockade also casts a spotlight on ongoing military cooperation between Beijing and Tehran. Multiple recent reports have confirmed Chinese military exports to Iran: Chinese firms have already shipped sodium perchlorate — a key chemical used to produce solid propellant for ballistic missiles — to Iran via maritime transport. Middle East Eye previously reported that China supplied air defense systems to Iran following the June 2025 attacks on the country, and has since delivered unmanned aerial vehicles. The New York Times also reported Saturday that Beijing may have shipped shoulder-fired surface-to-air missiles to Iran, though the exact route of those shipments remains unclear.