Global Pulse

分类： world

  • Iran keeps US waiting for response on peace plan

    Iran keeps US waiting for response on peace plan

    Renewed naval hostilities in the Persian Gulf have thrown US-Iranian peace diplomacy into uncertainty, with Tehran leaving Washington waiting for a formal response to a US-backed truce proposal as both sides trade accusations of ceasefire violations. The unfolding crisis, which entered its 10th week following the opening US-Israeli strikes on Iran, has put fragile diplomatic efforts at risk and raised new concerns over global energy security and regional stability.

    On Friday, US President Donald Trump publicly stated he expected Tehran to deliver its answer to the latest negotiating proposal, shared via Pakistani mediators, by the end of the day. As of Saturday, no official public response had been announced, with Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson confirming only that the plan remained “under review”. In a call with his Turkish counterpart, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi cast serious doubt on Washington’s commitment to diplomacy, pointing to repeated US violations of the existing fragile ceasefire.

    “The recent escalation of tensions by American forces in the Persian Gulf and their numerous actions in violating the ceasefire have added to suspicions about the motivation and seriousness of the American side in the path of diplomacy,” Araghchi said, according to an account of the conversation published by Iran’s ISNA news agency. Trump nonetheless told French broadcaster LCI reporter Margot Haddad in a brief interview Saturday that he still anticipated receiving Iran’s response “very soon”.

    The latest escalation came Friday, when a US fighter jet attacked and disabled two Iranian-flagged tankers that Washington accused of violating its blockade of Iranian ports. A senior Iranian military official told local media that the Iranian navy had retaliated with defensive strikes against US assets. The incident followed a separate flare-up just one day earlier in the Strait of Hormuz, the world’s most critical chokepoint for global oil shipments.

    Iran has long sought greater control over the strategic waterway as a tool to exert economic leverage against the US and its Western and regional allies, a goal Washington has repeatedly described as unacceptable. The US proposal delivered via Pakistan would extend the current fragile truce across the Gulf to create space for negotiations on a permanent end to the conflict, which began 10 weeks ago with joint US-Israeli military strikes on Iranian targets.

    Beyond the direct military clashes, the conflict has already created new environmental and economic risks. Satellite imagery collected by global monitoring firm Orbital EOS shows an oil slick spreading across more than 20 square miles off the west coast of Iran’s Kharg Island, the linchpin of the country’s oil export industry and a core asset for its war-battered economy. By Saturday, the UK-based Conflict and Environment Observatory reported the slick had shrunk significantly, adding that the leak likely stemmed from damaged or neglected oil infrastructure affected by ongoing conflict. Iran shut down most traffic through the Strait of Hormuz immediately after the war began on February 28, sending shockwaves through global energy markets and pushing oil prices sharply upward. The US responded with a full blockade of Iranian ports, and earlier this week Trump announced he was ending a short-lived US naval mission aimed at reopening the strait to commercial shipping.

    On Saturday, Britain announced it would deploy HMS Dragon, a Royal Navy destroyer, to the region as part of a joint British-French coalition planning to support commercial shipping and mine clearance once a durable ceasefire is reached. UK defence officials said the deployment is part of “prudent planning” intended to boost confidence among commercial vessel operators navigating the strategic waterway.

    Diplomatic efforts to de-escalate received support from Qatar, whose Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani met with US Vice President JD Vance in Washington DC Friday to discuss Pakistan’s brokered peace initiative. Qatar has nonetheless been drawn into the conflict: Iran has launched multiple attacks on Qatari territory in recent weeks, citing the country’s hosting of a major US military air base.

    Tensions are also running high on the conflict’s secondary front in Lebanon, where a parallel ceasefire between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah is also teetering amid daily cross-border exchanges of fire. Eight people were killed in Israeli air strikes across southern Lebanon Saturday, according to Lebanese authorities, while state media reported additional raids on a highway south of Beirut, an area outside Hezbollah’s traditional southern strongholds. An AFP correspondent on the scene documented two destroyed vehicles and emergency response teams working roughly 12 miles outside the Lebanese capital.

    Hezbollah retaliated Saturday by launching an armed drone attack targeting Israeli soldiers in northern Israel. The Israeli military confirmed multiple explosive drones crossed into its territory, reporting one army reservist suffered severe wounds and two other service members sustained moderate injuries in the attack. The fresh escalation comes just days before Lebanon and Israel — which have been officially at war since 1948 — are set to hold direct peace negotiations in Washington next week, a process Hezbollah has publicly and vehemently opposed.

  • Indonesian police arrest 321 foreigners in an operation to crack down on banned online gambling

    Indonesian police arrest 321 foreigners in an operation to crack down on banned online gambling

    JAKARTA, Indonesia – In one of the most sweeping anti-illegal betting operations in the nation’s recent history, Indonesian national police announced Saturday that more than 300 foreign nationals have been taken into custody following a raid on a transnational online gambling hub based in central Jakarta.

    The 321 detainees, the vast majority of whom are Vietnamese citizens, were apprehended in a commercial building located near Jakarta’s Chinatown district, according to law enforcement officials. Investigators confirmed that the site functioned as the operational center for at least 75 separate online gambling platforms, all designed to target bettors based outside of Indonesia. Evidence collected from the raid, including digital server records and marketing materials, confirms the cross-border scope of the network.

    Wira Satya Triputra, director of general crimes for the Indonesian National Police, outlined the breakdown of detainees at a Saturday press briefing: 228 are from Vietnam, 57 are from China, and the remaining detainees hold citizenship from Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, Malaysia, and Cambodia. Triputra added that law enforcement is still actively tracing the network’s core leadership and shadowy financial backers who have overseen the operation.

    “We apprehended all suspects while they were actively engaged in gambling-related work,” Triputra told reporters. He explained that the criminal enterprise was structured like a formal corporate operation, with hired workers assigned specialized roles ranging from customer support and telemarketing to processing illegal financial transactions. Law enforcement investigations estimate the illegal operation had been running for roughly two months before the raid.

    Authorities note that transnational gambling syndicates regularly shift their base of operations across Southeast Asia to avoid detection, and often rely on low-cost foreign labor to run customer-facing digital services. Triputra confirmed that nearly all of the detained suspects entered Indonesia on short-term tourist visas, and had overstayed their immigration permits while working at the gambling hub. “In addition to charges of illegal gambling and money laundering, we have also uncovered widespread immigration violations across the group,” he said.

    Along with the arrests, police seized a large cache of evidence and contraband: cash held in multiple global currencies, hundreds of work computers and mobile phones, personal passports, and specialized networking equipment used to run the offshore betting platforms.

    As of Saturday evening, 275 of the detained people have been formally designated as criminal suspects, while the remaining 46 are still undergoing questioning to determine their level of involvement. If convicted on all charges, suspects face up to nine years in prison under Indonesian criminal and immigration law, plus a maximum fine of 2 billion Indonesian rupiah, equal to roughly $116,000 U.S. dollars.

    The Jakarta raid is part of a growing pattern of transnational cybercrime crackdowns across Indonesia. In the weeks leading up to this operation, similar large-scale busts have been carried out in Surabaya, Bali, and Batam, highlighting a growing shift of illegal gambling and scam networks into the country following crackdowns elsewhere in Southeast Asia.

    Untung Widyatmoko, secretary of Indonesia’s Interpol bureau, explained that after neighboring Cambodia and Myanmar implemented strict new enforcement measures against offshore gambling and scam operations, criminal groups have begun relocating their infrastructure to other Southeast Asian nations, including Indonesia. “We anticipated this shift after enforcement actions in Cambodia, and we have been preparing to respond,” Widyatmoko said.

    Recent weeks have already seen a string of high-profile busts of transnational cybercrime rings across Indonesia: On Wednesday, immigration and security officials arrested 210 foreign nationals from Vietnam, China, and Myanmar in a Batam Island apartment complex on suspicion of running illegal cross-border investment fraud. On Friday, authorities in Surabaya, Indonesia’s second-largest city, announced the arrest of 44 Japanese and Chinese citizens accused of running a transnational phone and online scam where they impersonated police officers to defraud victims overseas. That case stems from the arrest of 13 Japanese men in Bogor, West Java, back in March.

    Just last month, 16 suspects from a Chinese, Malaysian, and Taiwanese scam network were arrested in Sukabumi Regency, West Java, while 26 alleged online scammers from the Philippines and Kenya were deported from Indonesia after being taken into custody in Bali.

    Online gambling is strictly illegal across Indonesia, the world’s largest Muslim-majority nation, and authorities have ramped up enforcement efforts in recent years amid growing concerns about links between unregulated online betting, organized transnational crime, and cross-border cyber fraud. Indonesian police say the ongoing investigation into the Jakarta gambling network is expected to lead to additional arrests as they untangle the network’s connections to larger international criminal groups.

  • Steve Rosenberg: This year’s Victory Day parade in Moscow felt very different

    Steve Rosenberg: This year’s Victory Day parade in Moscow felt very different

    For veteran foreign correspondent Steve Rosenberg, who has covered dozens of Victory Day parades on Moscow’s iconic Red Square, the 2026 iteration stood out as fundamentally unlike any he had witnessed before. In years past, Rosenberg recalled scrambling from media drop-off points near St. Basil’s Cathedral to claim a usable spot in the overcrowded press pen, a race that was completely unnecessary this year. Attendance for international press was sharply curtailed: most foreign news outlets were denied press credentials entirely, leaving only a tiny handful of foreign journalists on site.

    When Rosenberg took his place on the press stand, a Russian television crew approached him to film a segment framing his presence as proof that international access remained open. Rosenberg’s dry response cut through the narrative: he could not spot a single other foreign reporter on the entire square.

    Beyond the depleted press corps, the event saw far fewer dignitaries in the guest stands, with only a small handful of foreign leaders traveling to Moscow for the annual commemoration. But the most striking departure from tradition only became clear once the parade officially got underway: none of the massive rolling military armor that the Kremlin typically displays to project Russian power to a global audience – no tanks, no rocket launchers, no intercontinental ballistic missiles – rolled across Red Square this year.

    Russian authorities explained the dramatic downsizing by citing urgent security concerns, revealing that intelligence pointed to a high risk of Ukrainian drone strikes targeting the Red Square event. For President Vladimir Putin, the choice to scale back the parade – a carefully choreographed centerpiece of Russian national pride that has long been used to showcase military strength – was undoubtedly a difficult one, but the threat of an attack left no other viable option.

    In a last-minute turn of diplomacy, former U.S. President Donald Trump brokered a temporary ceasefire between Moscow and Kyiv that eliminated the immediate threat of an attack during the event. In the end, the parade concluded without any security incidents. Still, Kyiv’s public framing of the ceasefire move drew sharp pushback from the Kremlin: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy issued an official decree “permitting” Russia to hold its parade on Ukrainian territory that Moscow currently occupies, a deliberate act of political trolling that Kremlin spokespeople rejected out of hand, noting that Russia required no permission from any third party to hold its national commemorations.

    While live military hardware was absent from the streets of Red Square, the Kremlin found a work-around: pre-recorded footage of tanks, multiple rocket launchers, fighter jets, submarines and other advanced weapons systems was broadcast on massive digital screens erected across the square. It was a clear signal that the leadership remained determined to highlight its military capabilities, even without a live display.

    In his keynote address to the gathered crowd, Putin struck a familiar defiant tone, declaring “We always were and always will be victorious!” The 2026 parade marks 81 years since the Soviet Union’s victory over Nazi Germany in 1945, a historical event Russia calls the Great Victory – a milestone that holds deep legitimate national meaning, marking the Soviet Union’s defeat of an invading aggressor.

    Yet the context of 2026 casts a very different shadow over the commemoration. More than four years have passed since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, and as the parade unfolded, there was no visible path to a Russian victory in the ongoing conflict, turning this year’s muted celebration into a quiet reflection of the current strains of Moscow’s ongoing military campaign.

  • Indonesia rescuers retrieve hiker’s body after volcanic eruption

    Indonesia rescuers retrieve hiker’s body after volcanic eruption

    Three hikers are dead after a sudden eruption of one of Indonesia’s most active volcanoes, and rescuers have recovered the first of the victims’ remains as hazardous conditions forced a temporary pause in search operations, Indonesian disaster management officials confirmed this weekend.

    Mount Dukono, located on Indonesia’s Halmahera Island in North Maluku, erupted Friday, blasting a dense ash plume 10 kilometers (6 miles) into the atmosphere. The eruption did not threaten populated areas nearby, with no towns or villages located close enough to face immediate danger, according to geological officials. However, the blast hit a group of 20 hikers who had entered the closed exclusion zone surrounding the volcano’s crater.

    Local police chief Erlichson Pasaribu confirmed Friday that three hikers were killed: two citizens of Singapore and one Indonesian national. The remaining 17 members of the hiking group, including seven other Singaporeans, were evacuated from the dangerous area unharmed, authorities said.

    On Saturday, a joint team of search and rescue personnel recovered the body of one victim, found alongside the hiker’s backpack at approximately 2:30 p.m. local time (0530 GMT), said Iwan Ramdani, head of the local search and rescue agency. Ramdani did not release the victim’s nationality prior to formal identification. The remains were transferred to a nearby local hospital for official identification processing. Photos released by the rescue agency show the recovery team carrying the victim, sealed in a black body bag, down the volcanic slope on a hand-built stretcher.

    Search operations for the two remaining victims have been temporarily suspended due to heavy rainfall and persistent volcanic ash in the area, Ramdani added. Teams are scheduled to resume their search on Sunday, weather conditions permitting.

    Indonesia’s national Centre for Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation reported that Mount Dukono continued to experience fresh eruptions through Saturday, including one blast that sent an ash column 3 kilometers (1.8 miles) into the sky. Abdul Muhari, spokesman for Indonesia’s national disaster mitigation agency, said preliminary positioning data places the two remaining Singaporean victims roughly 20 to 30 meters (65 to 100 feet) from the volcano’s crater rim.

    Singapore’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed it is coordinating with the country’s embassy in Jakarta to provide consular support to affected citizens and their families, according to local Singaporean media reports.

    Mount Dukono has been classified at level two on Indonesia’s four-tiered volcanic alert system since 2008, marking it as an active, potentially dangerous volcano. In December 2024, Indonesian geological authorities expanded and enforced a 4-kilometer (2.5-mile) exclusion zone around the volcano’s crater, restricting all public access to the dangerous area, confirmed Lana Saria, head of the national Geology Agency.

    Despite repeated warnings, the group of hikers intentionally ignored both official warning signs posted at the trail entrance and public appeals shared on social media to stay out of the restricted zone, police chief Pasaribu said Friday.

    As a sprawling archipelagic nation located along the Pacific Ring of Fire, the geologically active boundary where multiple tectonic plates collide, Indonesia experiences hundreds of seismic and volcanic events every year. The country is home to roughly 130 active volcanoes, making it one of the most volcanically active regions on Earth.

  • Canary Islands brace for arrival of hantavirus-hit cruise ship

    Canary Islands brace for arrival of hantavirus-hit cruise ship

    A cruise ship grappling with a deadly hantavirus outbreak is making its way to Spain’s Canary Islands, where authorities are preparing to evacuate nearly 150 passengers and fly them back to their home countries after weeks of isolation at sea. Three fatalities have already been linked to the outbreak on the Dutch-flagged MV Hondius, and multiple other passengers have fallen ill with the rare pathogen, which is most commonly carried and spread by rodent populations.

    The vessel, which departed Cape Verde after three infected people were evacuated earlier this week, is projected to reach offshore waters near Tenerife by early Sunday dawn, between 03:00 and 05:00 GMT. World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus is personally assisting with coordination of the complicated evacuation operation, after meeting with Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez in Madrid Saturday ahead of traveling to the archipelago with the country’s health and interior ministers.

    Confirmed cases on the ship have been identified as Andes virus, the only strain of hantavirus capable of spreading between human beings — a detail that has sparked widespread international concern over potential secondary transmission. To mitigate this risk, regional Canary Islands authorities have rejected requests to allow the ship to dock at a local port. Instead, the MV Hondius will remain anchored offshore during the evacuation, which is scheduled to take place between Sunday and Monday, the only window health officials say weather conditions will permit for the complex operation.

    On the quay at Granadilla de Abona port, AFP reporters observed emergency response teams have already erected white screening tents, but daily life across the island has continued largely unchanged. Local lottery vendor David Parada noted that while there is underlying worry about potential community risk, most residents have not panicked over the situation. Tedros sought to further calm public fears in an open letter to Tenerife residents Saturday, stressing that “this is not another Covid” and that the population-wide risk of transmission from the ship remains “low”.

    Spanish officials have echoed these assurances, outlining strict protocols to prevent any contact between passengers from the ship and local communities. After completing medical screenings on board the MV Hondius, passengers will be transferred via small boats to shore, then bussed directly to the airport along fully sealed routes. A maritime exclusion zone will be enforced around the anchored vessel, and all areas passengers transit through on shore will be closed off to the public. Evacuations will proceed in groups organized by nationality, with the 14 Spanish citizens on board set to leave first, according to Spanish Health Minister Monica Garcia Gomez. A portion of the crew will remain on the ship to sail it onward to the Netherlands after the evacuation is complete.

    As of Friday, the WHO confirmed six positive hantavirus cases out of eight earlier suspected cases on the vessel, and no new suspected cases remain on board. Global health authorities are now conducting extensive contact tracing for passengers who disembarked the MV Hondius earlier in its voyage, which began on April 1 when it departed Ushuaia, Argentina for a transatlantic cruise to Cape Verde. Argentine health officials have concluded that the initial infected Dutch passenger almost certainly did not contract the virus in Ushuaia, based on the pathogen’s incubation period.

    Multiple secondary testing and monitoring efforts are underway across the globe: A KLM flight attendant who developed mild symptoms after coming into contact with an infected passenger tested negative for the virus, though a Spanish woman who sat two rows away from one of the fatal cases on a Johannesburg-Amsterdam flight has been isolated in a Spanish hospital for testing, with officials noting her infection remains highly unlikely. Two former passengers in Singapore tested negative but will remain in quarantine as a precaution, and British health authorities are investigating a suspected case on the remote South Atlantic outpost of Tristan da Cunha, which is home to just 220 permanent residents.

  • Rosenberg: Scaled-back Victory Parade in Moscow’s Red Square

    Rosenberg: Scaled-back Victory Parade in Moscow’s Red Square

    In a marked departure from tradition, Moscow’s iconic Red Square played host to a significantly scaled-back Victory Day Parade this year, according to analysis from the BBC’s senior Russia correspondent, who reported on the ground from the Russian capital.

    Annual Victory Day celebrations mark the Soviet Union’s victory over Nazi Germany in World War II, and for decades, the event has been defined by elaborate military displays, thousands of marching troops, fleets of armored vehicles rolling across Red Square’s cobblestones, and flyovers by Russian air force jets that draw tens of thousands of spectators and global media attention. This year, however, the public event unfolded in an unprecedentedly subdued atmosphere.

    The BBC’s Russia editor, who has covered Victory Day events in Moscow for years, noted that the usual crowds of onlookers lining the streets leading to Red Square were absent, and the scope of military hardware on display was dramatically reduced compared to previous years. Many traditional fanfare elements that have long been central to the celebration were cut from the official program, leading to a far quieter observance than the nation has come to expect.

    Local authorities had announced adjustments to the event weeks earlier, citing security concerns as the primary reason for the scaled-back format. The muted celebration has drawn international attention, as analysts point to it as a visible reflection of shifting priorities and current security dynamics facing Russia amid ongoing regional tensions.

  • War in the Middle East: latest developments

    War in the Middle East: latest developments

    As the Middle East grapples with sustained regional conflict, a cascade of new developments has unfolded across the Gulf, the Israel-Lebanon border, and global diplomatic channels over the past 24 hours, deepening uncertainty for both regional populations and international stakeholders. Ongoing dual blockades imposed by the United States Navy and Iran continue to choke commercial shipping movement into and out of the Gulf, creating a protracted logjam that has left thousands of seafarers stranded for more than two months.

  • Putin chides NATO in speech at scaled-back Victory Day parade

    Putin chides NATO in speech at scaled-back Victory Day parade

    On Saturday, Russia’s annual Victory Day commemoration marking the Soviet Union’s 1945 defeat of Nazi Germany unfolded far differently than usual on Moscow’s Red Square, with a drastically downsized parade overshadowed by the ongoing full-scale war in Ukraine and punctuated by a new US-brokered three-day truce between Moscow and Kyiv.

    For 25 years, Russian President Vladimir Putin has centered the legacy of the Soviet World War II victory as a core ideological pillar of his leadership, with past celebrations featuring elaborate displays of military hardware, thousands of marching troops, and dozens of high-profile foreign dignitaries. But this year, a wave of recent long-range Ukrainian strikes on Russian territory forced the Kremlin to tighten security measures and slash the scale of the event, marking the first time in nearly 20 years that no heavy military equipment was featured in the parade. Only a small group of foreign leaders, most from Russia’s close allied nations, attended the ceremony: the heads of state of Belarus, Malaysia, Laos, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan, a sharp drop from 2024’s guest list that included Chinese President Xi Jinping.

    In his opening address to the assembled parade participants – which included Russian military units and a contingent of soldiers from North Korea – Putin invoked the World War II victory to rally domestic support for what Russia calls its “special military operation” in Ukraine, framing the conflict as a fight against a NATO-backed aggressive force. “The great feat of the generation of victors inspires the soldiers carrying out the goals of the special military operation today,” Putin told the crowd. “They are confronting an aggressive force armed and supported by the entire NATO bloc. And despite this, our heroes move forward. I firmly believe that our cause is just.”

    The scaled-back event came amid growing war fatigue among many Russian residents in Moscow, where strict security measures included widespread street closures and intentional mobile internet disruptions. Speaking to AFP, 36-year-old Moscow economist Elena summed up the muted public mood: “Nothing. I need the internet, and I don’t have it,” she said, adding she had no plans to watch the parade broadcast.

    The lead-up to the parade was marked by escalating tensions: Russia had threatened to carry out a massive strike on central Kyiv if Ukraine disrupted the Moscow commemoration, and urged foreign diplomatic staff to evacuate the Ukrainian capital ahead of the event. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had initially pushed back against the idea of a truce tied to the Russian celebration, warning Russia’s allies against attending the event.

    That changed after former US President Donald Trump, who has prioritized ending the Ukraine war, announced a three-day ceasefire agreement between the two warring parties that would take effect starting May 9, accompanied by a large-scale prisoner exchange. “Hopefully, it is the beginning of the end of a very long, deadly, and hard fought War,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform Friday. The Kremlin later clarified that as of the announcement, there were no plans to extend the temporary truce beyond its three-day timeline.

    Zelensky ultimately confirmed Ukraine would abide by the ceasefire, issuing a formal order barring Ukrainian forces from launching attacks to disrupt the parade and noting the truce would allow for the exchange of 1,000 detained service members from each side. “Red Square is less important to us than the lives of Ukrainian prisoners who can be returned home,” Zelensky said in a statement.

    In the first overnight period of the truce, both the Ukrainian Air Force and Russian Ministry of Defense reported a sharp drop in drone attacks compared to previous nights, a promising sign for the temporary agreement. This ceasefire marks the third attempted truce between Russia and Ukraine this week, after two earlier agreements fell apart quickly.

    Now entering its fifth year, the war in Ukraine has killed hundreds of thousands of people and become the deadliest conflict in Europe since World War II. US-mediated peace talks have stalled since February, when the United States shifted its diplomatic and military focus to its ongoing conflict with Iran. While the current truce has reduced violence temporarily, it remains unclear whether it will open a path to longer-term negotiations to end the wider war.

  • Iran warns the US against attacks on its oil tankers and other ships but ceasefire appears to hold

    Iran warns the US against attacks on its oil tankers and other ships but ceasefire appears to hold

    DUBAI, United Arab Emirates – Just one month into a tentative ceasefire between the U.S. and Iran, regional tensions are reigniting, with competing military escalations and high-stakes diplomatic negotiations unfolding across the Persian Gulf. In a stark public warning issued Saturday by the naval branch of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, any offensive targeting Iranian commercial and oil vessels will trigger a devastating retaliatory strike against both U.S. military bases in the region and enemy shipping, the force confirmed.

    The warning came 24 hours after U.S. forces intercepted two Iranian oil tankers attempting to break Washington’s blockade of Iranian ports, a move that has cast significant doubt over the durability of the month-long truce that U.S. officials continue to insist remains in effect. As tensions mount, Bahrain – the small Persian Gulf island nation that hosts the U.S. Navy’s Fifth Fleet and regional headquarters – announced the arrest of 41 individuals it claims are connected to an Iran-aligned network linked to the Revolutionary Guard.
    According to Bahrain’s interior ministry, investigations have confirmed the group maintained direct communication with the Revolutionary Guard and was raising funds to transfer back to Iran to support what it describes as terrorist activities. The Sunni-ruled monarchy, which is home to a majority Shiite population like Iran, has long faced accusations from international human rights groups that it weaponizes regional tensions between Washington and Tehran to crack down on domestic political dissent.
    Iran has issued a sharp rebuke to Bahrain over its actions. Ebrahim Azizi, head of the Iranian parliament’s national security commission, warned in a social media post that aligning with U.S.-backed initiatives will carry severe long-term consequences. “The Strait of Hormuz is a vital global energy lifeline; do not risk closing it off to yourselves forever,” Azizi said.
    Since the U.S. and Israel launched their military campaign against Iran on February 28, Tehran has largely blocked access to the strategic Strait of Hormuz, the chokepoint through which nearly 20% of global oil supplies transit daily. The closure triggered an immediate spike in global fuel prices and sent shockwaves through international financial markets. In response, the U.S. imposed its own naval blockade of Iranian ports, with U.S. Central Command confirming Saturday that its forces have turned away 58 commercial vessels and disabled four ships since the blockade went into effect on April 13.

    As regional powers and global actors work to de-escalate, Western nations are already positioning military assets to secure the strait once a lasting truce is reached. Britain’s defense ministry announced Saturday it is deploying the Type 45 destroyer HMS Dragon to the Middle East to preposition for a future multinational mission protecting commercial shipping through the Strait of Hormuz once hostilities cease. The destroyer will prepare to join a U.K.- and French-led international security initiative, after France announced earlier this week it is moving its full aircraft carrier strike group to the Red Sea in preparation. The two countries have coordinated talks with more than 30 nations to build a coalition to reestablish freedom of navigation in the strait, but have emphasized the mission will not launch until a sustainable ceasefire is in place and the global maritime industry can be assured of safe passage.

    Diplomatic efforts to cement a lasting peace deal are continuing around the clock, with multiple global mediators working to bridge gaps between Washington and Tehran. U.S. President Donald Trump has reiterated his threat to resume full-scale bombing campaigns against Iran if Tehran rejects Washington’s proposal, which calls for reopening the Strait of Hormuz and rolling back Iran’s disputed nuclear program in exchange for lifting sanctions. On Friday, Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei dismissed U.S. pressure tactics, telling state-run news agency IRNA that Iran is not paying attention to arbitrary American deadlines.
    Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif confirmed his government has been holding continuous talks with both U.S. and Iranian officials to extend the current ceasefire and reach a permanent negotiated settlement. Both Russia and Saudi Arabia have publicly called for intensified diplomatic efforts to reach a sustainable, long-term agreement to end the conflict, according to Russia’s foreign ministry. Russian President Vladimir Putin also confirmed that Moscow’s longstanding proposal – to transport Iran’s enriched uranium out of the country to build trust and facilitate negotiations – remains on the table. Putin explained the plan would put all of Iran’s enriched uranium stockpile under the full oversight of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog, allowing the international community to verify the size and location of Iran’s nuclear materials. Egypt and Qatar’s top diplomats also reaffirmed in a recent phone call that diplomacy is the only viable path to resolving the conflict.

    Amid all the diplomatic and military activity, one key figure remains out of public view: Iran’s new Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei, who has not been seen or heard publicly since the war began. The lack of public appearances has sparked widespread speculation about his health and status. On Friday, a senior Iranian official close to the office of the late Ayatollah Ali Khamenei – Mojtaba’s father, who was killed in the opening days of the U.S.-Israeli offensive – told a pro-government gathering that the new supreme leader is in full good health and will appear public once his recovery is complete. Mazaher Hosseini confirmed Mojtaba sustained knee and back injuries in the opening bombardment, but said those wounds have largely healed.
    The Associated Press contributed reporting from Cairo and London to this article.

  • Indonesian rescuers find 1 body after volcano eruption as search continues for 2 more

    Indonesian rescuers find 1 body after volcano eruption as search continues for 2 more

    JAKARTA, Indonesia — A week of tragic misadventure on one of Indonesia’s most active volcanoes entered its second day Saturday, after rescuers recovered the body of a local Indonesian hiker killed in Mount Dukono’s latest eruption, while search efforts continue for two missing Singaporean climbers amid ongoing volcanic unrest.

    The three fatal and missing hikers were part of a group of 20 people who deliberately ignored official safety restrictions to scale the 1,355-meter (4,445-foot) peak on Halmahera, a remote eastern Indonesian island, when Dukono erupted early Friday. The blast sent a dense ash plume 10 kilometers (6 miles) into the sky, trapping the entire group before they could descend to safety.

    Iwan Ramdani, head of the local Search and Rescue Office, confirmed that the recovered victim, a local hiker identified only as Enjel, was found Saturday afternoon roughly 50 meters (165 feet) from the volcano’s main crater. As of Saturday evening, the two Singaporean climbers’ locations remain undetermined, with rescue teams navigating persistent volcanic activity to continue their search.

    By hours after the initial eruption, 17 members of the climbing group had been successfully pulled to safety. The evacuated group includes seven Singaporean nationals and two Indonesian hikers who later joined rescue operations to share critical details about the victims’ planned routes before the blast. Ten of the 17 survivors sustained minor burn injuries from the eruption.

    Over 100 rescue personnel, supported by aerial drone reconnaissance, restarted the search at dawn Saturday, concentrating their efforts on a 700 square-meter (7,500 square-foot) zone where investigators uncovered new potential clues during initial sweeps. The operation has been complicated by the volcano’s unstable terrain and repeated fresh eruptions that force teams to pause and pull back repeatedly.

    “Every step of this search requires careful calculation and a deliberate, well-planned evacuation strategy,” Ramdani explained in a video statement. “We have to constantly factor in the risk of sudden volcanic escalation, as well as the safety of every member of our rescue team. The main challenge is that we are racing against ongoing eruptions. When conditions are declared safe, we advance closer to the crater, but if a new eruption begins, we have to immediately pull all personnel back to safety.”

    Indonesia’s national volcanology agency recorded multiple fresh eruptions between early and late Saturday, including new ash plumes reaching 3,000 meters (nearly 10,000 feet) above the crater. Monitoring posts near the peak also spotted lava bursts overnight Friday into Saturday.

    Mount Dukono has been classified at the second-highest alert level for volcanic activity since 2008, and officials established a 4-kilometer (2.5-mile) exclusion zone around the active crater in December 2024. Local authorities formally closed all hiking routes to the peak in early 2025, and strengthened the ban in the wake of Friday’s tragedy.

    Indonesia’s National Disaster Management Agency has warned that anyone entering restricted volcanic zones could face legal penalties, and has urged all hikers and tour operators across the country to abide by official safety guidelines. Similar exclusion and access restrictions are currently in place for dozens of other active volcanoes across Indonesia that are also experiencing elevated activity.

    As a sprawling archipelago nation home to more than 270 million people, Indonesia sits along the Pacific Ocean’s geologically active “Ring of Fire,” and hosts more than 120 active volcanoes within its borders.