The leader of Iran's joint military command threatened Wednesday to halt trade in the Gulf region if the U.S. does not lift its blockade of Iranian ports. Even so, U.S. President Donald Trump said the war in Iran was "very close to over" in an interview that aired Wednesday.
Separately, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent warned that the U.S. is preparing to ramp up economic pain on Iran by levying secondary sanctions on financial institutions that do business with the Middle Eastern nation. Bessent called the measure the “financial equivalent” of the bombing campaign.
Mediators' efforts to extend a U.S.-Iran ceasefire made progress as the two sides are expected to hold another round of negotiations, regional officials said. But a senior U.S. official said Washington has not formally agreed to extend the ceasefire. A Pakistani delegation arrived for talks in Tehran in the latest diplomatic move.
Israel, meanwhile, is pressing ahead with its aerial and ground war against the militant group Hezbollah in Lebanon, a day after the two nations held their first direct talks in decades.
Military adviser to Iran’s supreme leader says he does not support extending ceasefire, according to state media
“We are subject to the decisions of the relevant officials, but personally I do not agree to extend the ceasefire,” said Mohsen Rezaei, formerly a commander in the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps who now advises Mojtaba Khamenei on military affairs, Iranian state media reported.
Rezaei also urged officials to be more cautious than they had been before in negotiations over economic matters with the U.S.
He said Iran was setting the preconditions in the next round of talks, not the U.S.
“Unlike the Americans who are afraid of continuous war, we are fully prepared and familiar with a long war,” he said, according to the report.
Blockade ‘has been fully implemented,’ US admiral says
That’s according to Adm. Brad Cooper, head of U.S. Central Command, who says: “U.S. forces have completely halted economic trade going in and out of Iran by sea.”
The command said Wednesday that no vessels have made it past its forces during the blockade’s first 48 hours. The blockade began Monday.
Central Command noted that 10 vessels have complied with directions to turn around and return toward an Iranian port or Iran’s coastal area.
The blockade is being enforced “impartially against all vessels of all nations entering or leaving coastal areas or ports in Iran,” the Command said. Vessels avoiding Iranian ports are not affected.
The action could put serious pressure on the Iranian economy, while Tehran's earlier cutoff of the waterway crucial to oil and gas supplies has sent energy prices higher.
Wall Street hits a record on hopes for an end to the Iran war
The U.S. stock market hit a record Wednesday after adding to its two-week rally built on hopes the war won't create a worst-case scenario for the global economy.
The S&P 500 rose 0.8% and eclipsed its prior all-time high set in January. After falling nearly 10% below its record in late March, the index at the heart of many 401(k) accounts has since roared more than 10% higher.
Much of the rally was due to expectations for calming tensions in the war and a resumption of the full flow of oil from the Persian Gulf. Hopes remained high as regional officials told The Associated Press that the U.S. and Iran had an "in principle agreement" to extend a ceasefire to allow for more diplomacy.
US aircraft carrier sets deployment record
The world’s largest aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald R. Ford, broke the U.S. record Wednesday for the longest post-Vietnam War deployment, a nearly 10-month span that saw it take part in both the military raid that captured Venezuela’s leader and the Iran war.
The ship’s 295th day at sea surpassed the previous longest modern deployment by an aircraft carrier, when the USS Abraham Lincoln was sent out for 294 days in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to data compiled by U.S. Naval Institute News, a news outlet run by the nonprofit U.S. Naval Institute.
Sen. Tim Kaine said the record-breaking deployment has taken “a serious toll” on the mental health and well-being of the crew.
“They should be home with their loved ones, not sent around the world by a President who acts like the U.S. military is his palace guard,” the Virginia Democrat said.
Iran’s imprisoned Nobel Peace Prize laureate in ‘critical’ condition after heart attack
Narges Mohammadi 's family and lawyers visited her in Zanjan prison twice in the last month, a statement by the Narges Mohammadi Foundation said on X Wednesday, finding that her health condition was dire. She is weak, pale and has lost weight, said the statement.
The report comes after Mohammadi had a heart attack in the prison on March 24, according to a cardiologist she saw soon after, according to the statement.
The statement said that following the heart attack Mohammadi was unconscious without anyone resuscitating her for over an hour.
Her brother, Hamidreza Mohammadi, said in the Wednesday statement that the cardiologist who saw her after the collapse told the family it was partially due to the medicines she’d been prescribed by prison doctors.
He added that she was being kept in a cell with people convicted of murder and that she’d faced threats from them on numerous occasions.
Mohammadi is a rights lawyer who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2023 while in prison. She was arrested in December during a visit to the eastern Iranian city of Mashhad and sentenced to seven more years in prison.
Iranian state media says Iran-Pakistan talks have started
Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi took part in a preliminary meeting with the Pakistani Army Chief of Staff, Asim Munir, in Tehran Wednesday, according to a report on IRIB, Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting.
The report said more extensive talks would continue Thursday to discuss latest communications with the US.
Pakistan is mediating talks between Washington and Tehran.
US official says Trump would welcome an end to the Israel-Hezbollah conflict
A U.S. official says President Donald Trump would welcome an end to the Israel-Hezbollah conflict as part of a broader peace agreement between Israel and Lebanon but has not specifically asked for one.
The official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the Trump administration’s position during closed-door talks between Israel and Lebanon, said an Israel-Hezbollah truce is not part of peace negotiations the U.S. is having with Iran.
Iran has demanded a truce between Israel and its proxy Hezbollah as a condition to return to talks with the United States.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Tuesday hosted the first talks in decades between high-level Israeli and Lebanese officials.
Israeli prime minister says forces will continue push in south Lebanon
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the current fighting is concentrated in the strategic south Lebanon town of Bint Jbeil, where Israeli troops are about to “eliminate this great stronghold of Hezbollah.”
Netanyahu, in a video address Wednesday evening, said he has given instructions for the military to continue to widen the security zone in south Lebanon — a reference to areas close to the border that the Israeli army now occupies — and to spread it eastward.
He said Israel is concurrently negotiating with Lebanon, with two central goals: disarming Hezbollah and a sustainable peace. “Peace through strength,” he added.
He also said the U.S. was updating Israel on the talks with Iran and that Israel was prepared for any scenario, should the fighting with Iran resume.
Senate Republicans again reject effort to halt Trump’s Iran war
The Republican-led Senate on Wednesday rejected the latest Democratic attempt to halt President Donald Trump's war in Iran, turning aside a resolution that would require the U.S. to withdraw forces from the conflict until Congress authorizes further action.
The 47-52 vote was the fourth time this year that the Senate has voted to cede its war powers to the president in a conflict that Democrats say is illegal and unjustified. Republicans say they will keep faith in Trump's wartime leadership, for now, citing Iran's nuclear capabilities and the high stakes of withdrawal. But GOP lawmakers are also anxious for the conflict to end — and they may not defer to the executive branch indefinitely.
Some Republicans have already made clear that they are eyeing future votes that could become an important test for the president if the war drags on.
Treasury sanctions Ali Shamkhani-linked network, warns of secondary sanctions
The U.S. is imposing sanctions targeting an Iranian oil smuggling network tied to the deceased senior Iranian security official Ali Shamkhani.
Sanctions include dozens of individuals and companies accused of transporting and selling Iranian and Russian oil through front companies, many of which are in the UAE.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a statement, that banks “should be on notice that Treasury will leverage all tools and authorities, including secondary sanctions, against those that continue to support Tehran’s terrorist activities.”
Naval expert: Evasion efforts unlikely to affect blockade enforcement
Certain ships navigating waters around the Strait of Hormuz may be disguising their identities or destinations to evade interception under the U.S. blockade, but Joshua Tallis, director of security affairs at the Center for Naval Analyses, said the U.S. Navy likely has the tools to track them, even if doing so requires more resources.
Some ships appear to have slipped through, according to maritime trackers, but the blockade’s effectiveness depends less on individual crossings than on how Washington defines success, Tallis said.
A campaign aimed at pressuring Iran back to negotiations differs sharply from one intended to inflict enough economic pain to threaten the government itself. Blockades typically operate cumulatively, with economic repercussions unchanged if a ship or two pass through, Tallis said.
US ready to hit Iran with economic pain equivalent to bombings, top Trump official says
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent warned on Wednesday that the U.S. is preparing to ramp up economic pain on Iran, saying the Republican administration is preparing action that will be the “financial equivalent” of the bombing campaign.
Bessent said the administration has “told companies, we have told countries that if you are buying Iranian oil, that if Iranian money is sitting in your banks, we are now willing to apply secondary sanctions, which is a very stern measure. And the Iranians should know that this is going to be the financial equivalent of what we saw in the kinetic activities.”
The warning comes the day after Treasury Department sent a letter to financial institutions in China, Hong Kong, the United Arab Emirates, and Oman, threatening to levy secondary sanctions for doing business with Iran.
White House says talks with Iran are ongoing
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the U.S. had not “formally requested an extension of the ceasefire” with Iran.
The ceasefire announced on April 7 is currently slated to expire next Tuesday.
“At this moment, we remain very much engaged, in these negotiations, in these talks,” Leavitt said, adding that there are “discussions” about more talks being held unperson “but nothing is official until you hear it from us here at the White House.”
She said that the possible next rounds of talks “would very likely” be in the Pakistani capital of Islamabad as they were previously.
Bessent says Americans can choose if they want to use their tax refunds to buy increasingly pricey gasoline
Asked if the tax refunds would go toward gasoline averaging more than $4 a gallon, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the public is free to spend its money however it wants.
“Americans have more money. They can decide how they want to spend it,” Bessent said.
Higher prices at the pump because of the Iran war has created the risk that President Donald Trump’s tax cuts will offset the cost of fueling up autos to go to work and run errands, instead of boosting spending in ways that could help overall economic growth.
Bessent ‘optimistic’ that gasoline prices going back to $3 a gallon this summer
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told reporters that he believes gasoline prices will be closer to $3 gallon this summer, saying pumping oil can resume within a week of the Strait of Hormuz opening.
“I’m optimistic that sometime between June 20th and September 20th that we can have $3 gas again,” said Bessent.
Gas prices are averaging $4.11 a gallon, up from $3.17 a year ago, according to AAA.
US Navy says it will use force to compel compliance with Iran blockade
U.S. Navy warships are telling merchant ships in and around Iran that they are ready to board them and use force to compel compliance with the blockade on ships trading with Iran.
“Vessels will be boarded for interdiction and seizure transiting to or from Iranian port,” a Navy radio message, posted to social media by U.S. Central Command, said. A military official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss an ongoing military operation, confirmed the message is currently being broadcast to all ships in the region.
“If you do not comply with this blockade, we will use force,” the radio message added.
—- Konstantin Toropin
Iranian and Emirati officials discuss de-escalation efforts
UAE Vice President Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan and Iran’s parliamentary Speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf discussed regional developments on a phone call and ways to de-escalate tensions, UAE state-run news agency WAM reported, without further details.
US bishops’ chairman on doctrine defends Pope Leo
The chairman of the U.S Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Doctrine is defending Pope Leo XIV’s comments on the church’s “just war” doctrine.
The statement doesn’t directly refer to the Iran war, President Trump or Vice President Vance. But it cites “recent public comments” regarding church teachings on war and peace. It comes after Trump blasted the pope on social media. Vance, a Catholic convert, said Leo should be “careful” addressing such matters.
Bishop James Massa said the Catholic Church has long taught that “a nation can only legitimately take up the sword ‘in self-defense, once all peace efforts have failed.’”
That, said Massa, is the basis of Pope Leo’s comment that God “does not listen to the prayers of those who wage war.’”
The pope is “not merely offering opinions on theology, he is preaching the Gospel and exercising his ministry as the Vicar of Christ,” Massa said.
UN allocates $12M for Iran aid
UN Relief Chief Tom Fletcher said $12 million has been allocated for humanitarian support in Iran.
“Thousands of civilians killed. Infrastructure destroyed. Essential services disrupted. This funding will help our partners deliver life-saving assistance at scale,” he wrote on X.
House Speaker Mike Johnson defends Trump and Vance’s swipes at Pope Leo
“If you wade into political waters, I think you should expect some political response,” the Republican leader said at the Capitol. “The pope’s received some of that.”
Johnson insisted he’s not one to criticize clerics or religious leaders, but he leaned into what he called the just war doctrine when it comes to the U.S. military action against Iran. “The stakes are so high,” he said.
“I don’t want to engage in a theological debate with the pope,” he said. “These are matters that people of good faith and good sense can debate.”
Johnson a day earlier at the Capitol said that he had asked Trump to take down a social media post that was interpreted as the president depicting himself as Jesus.
Israel to convene security cabinet to discuss developments with Lebanon
An Israeli official said the meeting would be held Wednesday evening. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.
The meeting comes a day after Lebanon and Israel held their first direct diplomatic talks in decades in Washington, following more than a month of war between Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah militant group.
—- Melanie Lidman
No ships have made it past U.S. naval blockade, military says
U.S. Central Command said in a statement Wednesday that no vessels have made it past U.S. naval forces during the first 48 hours of the blockade on ships entering and exiting Iranian ports.
Central Command also said nine vessels have complied with direction from U.S. forces to turn around and return toward an Iranian port or Iran’s coastal area.
First crude tanker passes Strait of Hormuz since US blockade
A Malta-flagged vessel is the first crude oil carrier to head west through Strait of Hormuz since the United States blocked Iranian ports, according to a global shipping tracking monitor.
The Malta-flagged VLCC Agios Fanourios I is expected to arrive on Thursday in Basra, Iraq, where ports are not under U.S. blockade. Marine Traffic said the vessel attempted again a transit after anchoring in the Gulf of Oman for nearly two days.
US called on Iran to halt uranium enrichment for 20 years
The negotiating team led by Vice President JD Vance called for Iran to agree to a uranium enrichment moratorium as part of a potential deal to end the war, according to a regional official involved in the mediation efforts and a person briefed on the matter.
The Iranians rejected the U.S. plan laid out during last weekend’s talks in Islamabad and came back with a counteroffer to suspend enrichment for five years, the regional official and a person briefed on the matter. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment publicly on the negotiations.
The White House rejected the Iranian proposal that was conveyed by Tehran’s negotiators earlier this week.
The White House and the vice president’s office did not respond to requests for comment about the proposals.
The U.S. and Iranian proposals were first reported by the New York Times.
Democrats grill US envoy in first opportunity to question Trump administration on Iran
Attending a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on reforms to the United Nations, ambassador Mike Waltz unintentionally became the highest-level U.S. official to testify before Congress since U.S. and Israeli strikes started a war against Iran.
Democratic senators, including Chris Coons, Chris Murphy and Tim Kaine, took that opportunity to express their frustration with the Trump administration’s decision not to consult or further brief Capitol Hill on military action it is taking against Tehran.
“Those of us on the Democratic side do find it amazing that we still have not had an open hearing on this committee or the Armed Services Committee on this conflict,” Murphy, who represents Connecticut, told Waltz.
Asked several times about Trump’s threats last week to end Iranian civilization, Waltz defended it as “tough talk” and a “mean tweet” that yielded diplomatic results.
“They clearly got the message, and they clearly came back to the table,” he said.
3 teams of paramedics were struck, Lebanese health ministry says
The attacks in southern Lebanon killed three paramedics, wounded six others and left a fourth medic missing in the town of Mayfadoun, the health ministry said.
The ministry said Israel struck the first team of paramedics on Wednesday as it was heading to rescue wounded people, killing one paramedic. Another medical worker on that initial mission remains “missing,” the ministry said, without elaborating.
Israel struck the second team as it rushed to rescue the first, wounding three more paramedics.
In the third and final rescue attempt, Israel again hit ambulances heading to the site, killing two paramedics and wounding three more.
The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the strikes.
Lebanon’s health ministry denounced Israel’s attacks as “a flagrant crime” and warned that “paramedics have become direct targets, pursued relentlessly in a blatant violation (of) … international humanitarian law.”
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