JERUSALEM, Israel – President Trump is turning up the pressure on Iran as Tehran threatens the Strait of Hormuz and its terror proxies continue attacks across the region. Israel is also pressing its campaign against Hamas in Gaza as negotiations focus on disarmament.
Trump indicated that “There are no talks or conversations with Iran.” Posting on Truth Social, he wrote, “The U.S. Naval blockade remains in full force and effect” and he posted a map showing the Strait of Hormuz as “new U.S. territory.”
While U.S. Envoy Jared Kushner was in Israel, he told Fox News that the president is waiting for the right deal.
“If Iran is willing to finish the deal that they’ve been discussing with us to give up their ability to create a nuclear weapon, then obviously he’s going to make a deal that could be great for the Iranian people, and that would be something he would be open to, but right now they’re not showing any interest in doing something that makes sense for us.”
While talks stall, Iran remains defiant, testing U.S. military restraint by continuing its attacks. A vessel was hit on Tuesday, killing one person.
The United Arab Emirates claims it detected two missiles, and in Yemen, Iranian-backed Houthi terrorists struck a refinery in Saudi Arabia with drones.
Still, Abbas Araghchi, Iran’s foreign minister, insisted, “We do not want a ceasefire, we want an end to the war.”
In Gaza, the Israel Defense Forces announced that the military struck during a meeting of Hamas commanders and terrorists planning attacks on Israeli troops, killing six. The IDF says it took measures to minimize harm to civilians.
The strike came as Kushner pressed for a roadmap requiring Hamas to disarm.
“They said all things, but obviously it’s very, very hard to trust a terrorist organization that committed these terrible atrocities. But we had a very cordial meeting, and they said all the right things, and so we’d give them a chance to perform, but it’s gonna happen based on actions and steps, and I hope it will be true,” Kushner said.
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In Syria, meanwhile, U.N. nuclear inspectors are excavating a site linked to the former Assad government’s suspected nuclear program.
And concerning Judea and Samaria, U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee remarked that the embassy is involved in the situation between a Palestinian-American citizen and Israeli settlers, in which the home of the Palestinian was besieged.
“And when it happens to an American citizen, as it did recently, then it is our responsibility as an American embassy to engage and to be as strong as we can be in saying ‘this is unacceptable behavior,” Huckabee stated.
He called those involved, not settlers, but “unsettlers,” noting that it represents a tiny minority of the Israelis living there.”They are hurting Israel,” he declared. “They’re hurting its reputation, and they are hurting the Jewish people.”
