04-05 00:01 · 中东,局势,AlJazeera,中东
The motion argues that a ruling suspending the construction was ‘improper’ and left national security weaknesses.
The administration of United States President Donald Trump has filed an emergency motion to resume construction on its White House ballroom, arguing that completing the work is necessary for national security.
On Friday, lawyers for the Trump administration and the National Park Service called a recent court decision to pause construction “shocking, unprecedented, and improper”.
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They argued that the court-ordered suspension left a “massive excavation” site next to the executive mansion, “threatening grave national-security harms to the White House, the President and his family, and the President’s staff”.
“This order is untenable and must be stayed,” the motion (PDF) said. “The building is under construction, with deep Top Secret excavations, foundations, and structures, already built.”
The motion outlines various security measures slated to be incorporated into the ballroom project, including drone-proof roofing materials and glass meant to withstand bullets and blasts.
“Time is of the essence,” the motion reads.
Destroying the East Wing
The court filing was the latest response from the Trump administration to a March 31 ruling from Judge Richard Leon, an appointee of former Republican President George W Bush.
Judge Leon had issued a 35-page ruling (PDF) ordering construction on the project to stop, citing the need for congressional approval for a project so transformative.
Trump has long sought to leave his mark on Washington, DC, the nation’s capital. And upon his return to the White House for a second term, he quickly announced plans to revamp the White House.
Among his plans were proposals to pave over the Rose Garden and construct a ballroom with more space to accommodate White House functions. He cited his South Florida resort, Mar-a-Lago, as inspiration for the renovations.
Still, his designs alarmed historians, architects and preservation advocates, who worried that the changes could destroy existing designs and structures, including the East Wing, which was first built in 1902.
Trump dismissed such concerns and initially pledged to preserve the East Wing.
“It won’t interfere with the current building,” Trump said of his ballroom plans in July last year. “It’ll be near it but not touching it and pays total respect to the existing building.”
But in October, Trump abruptly demolished the East Wing, which was torn down in a matter of days.
The sudden reversal prompted widespread public outcry. After attempting to reach out to the White House and express concern, the National Trust for Historic Preservation, a nonprofit that protects historic sites, filed a lawsuit in December to stop the ballroom project.
The nonprofit argued that the Trump administration had failed to get the appropriate authorisations to build its new ballroom.
Inside Judge Leon’s decision
Judge Leon sided with the trust’s call for an injunction against further construction, though the injunction he granted in March was temporary.
He also included a period of time before the injunction took effect to allow the Trump administration to appeal.
“The President of the United States is the steward of the White House for future generations of First Families. He is not, however, the owner,” Leon wrote in his decision.
His ruling did acknowledge the Trump administration’s argument that leaving the construction site incomplete would “imperil national security”. But Leon brushed aside that suggestion, saying that the defence was “grasping for straws”.
“While I take seriously the Government’s concerns regarding the safety and security of the White House grounds and the President himself, the existence of a ‘large hole’ beside the White House is, of course, a problem of the President’s own making!” Leon wrote.
“Bald assertions of ‘national security’ cannot excuse the Government’s failure to follow the law and then insulate those failures from judicial review.”
Leon did, however, issue an exception to his injunction against further construction. Under his order, the Trump administration was allowed to proceed with limited construction to “ensure the safety and security of the White House”.
For the rest, Leon said Trump must petition Congress for approval. “Unfortunately for Defendants, unless and until Congress blesses this project through statutory authorization, construction has to stop!”
Commissions grant approval
The Trump administration, however, has appealed Leon’s injunction against the project and has claimed broad authority to make changes to the White House, citing past renovations under earlier presidents.
Since Trump announced the ballroom last year, the project has grown from a $200m structure to a nearly $400m one, by current estimates.
Trump has pledged to use private d
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04-05 00:01 · 中东,局势,AlJazeera,中东
Trump does not reference a downed US jet in his post but points to a deadline for Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
United States President Donald Trump has issued another threat to Iran, writing that it has two days to “make a deal or open up the Hormuz Strait”.
Saturday’s brief, three-sentence post on Truth Social did not reference the ongoing search for a US pilot who is believed to have ejected over Iran after an F-15 fighter jet crashed in the country. Iran has taken responsibility for the downing, the first of its kind since the US and Israeli launched attacks on Iran on February 28.
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A separate incident on Friday saw Iran claim it shot down an A-10 Warthog near the Strait of Hormuz, raising questions about Trump’s earlier assertion that the US has established dominance over Iran’s airspace.
Rather than remark on the recent crashes, Trump’s post focused on a 10-day deadline he announced on March 26.
He had called on Iran to open the Strait of Hormuz to international traffic, or else face the “destruction” of its energy plants. That 10-day period is set to expire on Monday.
“Remember when I gave Iran ten days to MAKE A DEAL or OPEN UP THE HORMUZ STRAIT,” Trump wrote. “Time is running out – 48 hours before all Hell will reign down on them. Glory be to GOD!”
Iran’s central military command responded to the post hours later, with General Ali Abdollahi Aliabadi deriding the threat as a “helpless, nervous, unbalanced and stupid action”.
In a statement from the Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters, Aliabadi referenced Trump’s rhetoric, saying the “simple meaning of this message is that the gates of hell will open for you”.
Stalled negotiations
While Trump did not provide further details about Saturday’s threat, in a series of posts this week, he pledged to attack Iran’s power plants, oil facilities and “possibly all desalinization plants”.
During a national address on Wednesday, he also threatened to bomb Iran “back to the Stone Ages”, and on Friday, he cheered a strike on a bridge that connects Tehran to the Caspian Sea.
Just this week, more than 100 international law experts published an open letter, warning that targeting civilian infrastructure is a violation of the Geneva Convention and could constitute war crimes.
The Trump administration has also offered shifting objectives and plans for ending the war.
Administration officials have repeatedly said that the US prefers a diplomatic solution. Trump, meanwhile, has touted “victories” even as he has hinted at more weeks of attacks.
At the same time, Iran and the US have sent contradictory messages on the progress of peace talks.
On Saturday, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Tehran remained open to diplomacy, after Iran rejected an “unreasonable” 15-point plan put forward by the Trump administration.
“What we care about are the terms of a conclusive and lasting END to the illegal war that is imposed on us,” Araghchi said in a post on X.
The US, however, has argued that Iran’s demand that it maintain “sovereignty” over the Strait of Hormuz is a non-starter.
Pakistan has indicated it will continue to try to support ceasefire negotiations despite the ongoing “obstacles”.
No mention of downed pilot
While Trump has not publicly addressed the ongoing search for the US pilot, NBC News reported on Friday that he did not believe the incident would affect any negotiations with Iran.
“No, not at all. No, it’s war,” he reportedly told the network in a phone call.
Nevertheless, experts have warned that the possible Iranian capture of the pilot could create a crisis for Washington, giving Tehran a major leverage point that could snarl any diplomatic resolution.
The incident could also undermine US claims it has a dominant position in negotiations.
Marina Miron, a researcher at King’s College London, said the shooting down of the F-15 undercuts statements from Trump and Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth that the US has established complete control over Iranian airspace.
“Now we have a visible example that Iran still has the capability to target and successfully shoot down US aircraft, making this, of course, very important for Iran to demonstrate the capability to resist,” Miron told Al Jazeera.
“Most likely, the kinds of air defences that Iran is using, such as man-portable air defences, will be much more difficult to locate.”
Any US efforts to rescue the pilot would risk US casualties, Miron added, heightening the risk of further military escalation.
“It’s a race for time, because right now we have this critical window of up to 72 hours where both sides are trying to get hold of the pilot for both military and political purposes,” she said.
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04-05 00:01 · 中东,局势,AlJazeera,中东
In a statement, the US State Department has accused Hamideh Soleimani Afshar of being an ‘outspoken supporter’ of Iran.
The United States has revoked the permanent residency of two women it says are related to Qassem Soleimani, the late major general who led Iran’s Quds Force, the foreign branch of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), from 1998 until his assassination in 2020.
In a statement on Saturday, the US Department of State asserted that Soleimani’s niece, Hamideh Soleimani Afshar, and her daughter were arrested on Friday night.
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Both are currently being held by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), as the US seeks their departure from the country.
The case raises questions about the limits of free speech rights in the US and the extent to which family members should be punished for their relations.
Citing media reports and social media posts, the State Department described Soleimani Afshar as “an outspoken supporter of the totalitarian, terrorist regime in Iran”. It added that such speech would not be tolerated under US President Donald Trump.
“The Trump Administration will not allow our country to become a home for foreign nationals who support anti-American terrorist regimes,” the statement said.
But Iranian media quoted Soleimani’s daughter, Zeinab Soleimani, as issuing a denial that the two women arrested had any ties whatsoever to the late Quds Force leader.
“The individuals arrested in the United States have no connection whatsoever to martyr Soleimani, and the claim made by the US State Department is false,” Zeinab said in a statement.
The arrests come at the five-week mark of the US and Israeli war on Iran, which began on February 28.
Saturday’s announcement is the second known instance this month that the Trump administration has stripped legal immigration status from individuals allegedly related to Iranian leaders.
On social media, Secretary of State Marco Rubio took credit for the decision to nix the two women’s green cards. He pointed to Soleimani Afshar’s comments as the reason for her and her daughter’s arrest.
“This week, I terminated both Afshar and her daughter’s legal status,” Rubio wrote.
“She is also an outspoken supporter of the Iranian regime who celebrated attacks on Americans and referred to our country as the ‘Great Satan’.”
The State Department also highlighted Soleimani Afshar’s “lavish lifestyle” in Los Angeles in its statement. As part of the decision, Soleimani Afshar’s husband is also barred from entering the US.
Public pressure to remove relatives of Iran’s officials
According to the State Department, similar action was taken this month against Fatemeh Ardeshir-Larijani, the daughter of the late Ali Larijani, formerly the head of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council.
She and her husband Seyed Kalantar Motamedi saw their legal US immigration status revoked, and they were subsequently barred from re-entering the country.
Larijani, one of the senior-most figures in the Iranian government, was killed in an Israeli air strike on March 17, as part of the ongoing war.
Soleimani, meanwhile, was assassinated in January 2020 in a US drone attack outside Baghdad International Airport during Trump’s first term in office.
The removal of Larijani’s and Soleimani’s relatives from the US follows pressure from conservative political figures and activists seeking their expulsion.
Shortly after Saturday’s announcement, far-right influencer and Trump ally Laura Loomer wrote on social media that she had reported Soleimani’s niece to the State Department, and she thanked Rubio for his actions.
“This is a big scalp,” she said of Soleimeini Afshar’s removal.
An online petition, started two months ago on the website Change.org, also called for Soleimeini Afshar to be deported, and after the war began, it gained more than 4,000 signatures.
Ardeshir-Larijani, meanwhile, had worked in oncology at the Emory University School of Medicine in the southern state of Georgia.
After Iran initiated a deadly crackdown against antigovernment protesters in December and January, demonstrators gathered at the university’s cancer institute to demand Ardeshir-Larijani’s removal.
A Change.org petition calling for her deportation had gathered 157,017 signatures, as of Saturday.
The petition underscored Ardeshir-Larijani’s familial ties to the government of Iran’s late Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, who was killed on the first day of the war.
“While she lives peacefully in the U.S., countless young Iranians are dying in Iran due to the policies and decisions made by Ali Khamenei and his inner circle, including her father,” the petition reads.
US Congressman Earl “Buddy” Carter of Georgia also lent his voice to the push, calling for Ardeshir-Larijani to have her state medical licence revoked.
“America’s medical institutions must not serve as a safe harbor for indivi
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04-05 00:01 · 中东,局势,AlJazeera,中东
Iran rejects Trump’s threat to destroy country’s vital infrastructure if it does not accept peace deal within 48 hours.
Iran’s central military command has rejected US President Donald Trump’s threat to destroy the country’s vital infrastructure if it does not accept a peace deal within 48 hours.
Trump had warned “all hell will rain down” on Iran if the Strait of Hormuz is not reopened by Monday, the warning coming as search for the weapons officer of a US fighter jet shot down over Iran entered a second day.
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04-04 00:02 · 中东,局势,AlJazeera,中东
Judge Boasberg says Trump administration’s arguments ‘do not come close to convincing Court’ of subpoenas’ legitimacy.
A United States federal judge has once again batted down a pair of subpoenas from the administration of President Donald Trump seeking information about Jerome Powell, the chairman of the Federal Reserve, the country’s central bank.
In a brief, six-page opinion published on Friday, Judge James Boasberg rejected the Department of Justice’s motion to reconsider his earlier ruling rejecting the subpoenas.
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“The Government’s arguments do not come close to convincing the Court that a different outcome is warranted,” Boasberg wrote.
On March 13, Boasberg, a judge for the federal court in the District of Columbia, nullified the subpoenas on the basis that they were issued for an “improper purpose”: to pressure Powell into compliance with the president’s demands.
Trump and Powell — an appointee from the president’s first term — have been at loggerheads since the Republican leader returned to the White House in January 2025.
Although the Federal Reserve is an independent government agency, not subject to political demands, Trump has repeatedly called on the bank to slash interest rates, and he has denounced Powell as “incompetent”, “crooked” and a “fool” for not following suit.
For months, pressure had been building from the Trump White House to investigate Powell and push him prematurely from his job as Federal Reserve chair. Powell’s term is slated to expire in May.
Much of the Trump administration’s focus has fallen on renovations to the Federal Reserve’s historic 1930s buildings in Washington, DC, which have gone over budget.
The administration has pointed to the cost overruns as evidence of malfeasance.
Last July, for instance, Trump appointee William Pulte called on Congress to investigate Powell for “political bias” and “deceptive” testimony related to the renovation project.
The following month, Trump posted on his platform Truth Social that he was considering “a major lawsuit against Powell” in response to “horrible, and grossly incompetent” work on the renovations.
The pressure reached a climax on January 11, when Powell made a rare statement announcing he was under a Justice Department investigation over the renovation project. He dismissed the probe as a “pretext” to undermine the Federal Reserve’s leadership over monetary policy.
“The threat of criminal charges is a consequence of the Federal Reserve setting interest rates based on our best assessment of what will serve the public, rather than following the preferences of the president,” Powell said.
The Federal Reserve has since sought to have the subpoenas into Powell’s behaviour tossed.
Boasberg sided with the central bank in his initial ruling, and in Friday’s opinion, he called the Trump administration’s efforts to change his mind insufficient.
The Justice Department had argued that it does not need to produce evidence of a crime to seek a grand jury subpoena.
Boasberg agreed with that point, but he said subpoenas were also subject to a legal standard that bars them from being issued for “improper” purposes.
“The subpoena power ‘is not unlimited’ and may not be abused,” Boasberg wrote, citing court precedent.
He therefore ruled that the lack of evidence overall against Powell was relevant to the legality of the subpoenas.
“The controlling legal question is what these ‘subpoena[s’] dominant purpose’ is: pressuring Powell to lower rates or resign, or pursuing a legitimate investigation opened because the facts suggested wrongdoing,” Boasberg said.
“Resolving that question requires probing whether the Government’s asserted basis for the subpoenas — suspicions of fraud and lying to Congress — is colorable or tenuous. That inquiry, in turn, means asking how much evidence there is to back up the Government’s assertions.”
Boasberg underscored that he has seen no suggestion that Powell committed criminal wrongdoing and pointed to the long list of statements Trump has made attacking the Federal Reserve chair, suggesting an ulterior motive.
“The Government’s fundamental problem is that it has presented no evidence whatsoever of fraud,” he concluded.
Friday’s ruling is likely to set the stage for the Trump administration to appeal. US Attorney Jeanine Pirro has previously denied any political motivation for the investigation.
She has also asserted that Boasberg is “without legal authority” to nullify the subpoenas.
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04-04 00:02 · 中东,局势,AlJazeera,中东
Traore reneged on promises to hold elections and has since scrapped political parties in the country.
Burkina Faso’s military leader, Ibrahim Traore, says that people need to “forget” about democracy, just three months after his government dissolved all political parties in the West African nation.
Speaking to journalists in a lengthy interview on state television on Thursday, Traore referenced Libya as an example of a country where he said outsiders attempted to “impose democracy” but failed.
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“People need to forget about the issue of democracy,” he said. “We have to tell the truth: democracy isn’t for us.”
“Democracy kills”, Traore said, according to French broadcaster RFI.
“Look at Libya, it’s a prime example right next to us! Everywhere they try to establish democracy in the world, it’s done with bloodshed … Democracy is slavery…”
It’s the latest sign of Traore’s government distancing itself from the initial promises it made to set the country back on a democratic path.
Traore seized power in September 2022, eight months after an earlier military coup he was involved in overthrew the democratically elected government of President Roch Marc Kabore.
The military governments promised to battle al-Qaeda and ISIL-linked armed groups that have swarmed the country and now control large areas of territory. However, the country has continued to come under repeated attacks and hundreds of thousands of civilians are displaced.
Traore, who has gained widespread admiration from the African diaspora for his anti-Western rhetoric, initially promised to organise elections in 2024. A year later, the leader reneged and said elections would not be held until all parts of Burkina Faso are safe for voting.
Concerns from political opposition, journalists, lawyers
In January, Traore’s government scrapped more than 100 political parties in the country and seized their assets.
Parliament and all political activity had previously been suspended after Traore took power. The Independent National Electoral Commission was dissolved in July 2025 after Traore’s government claimed the agency was too expensive.
Analysts have also raised concerns about the government’s apparent targeting of other institutions, including the media and judiciary.
Journalists, political opposition leaders and prosecutors critical of the military government have been forcibly conscripted and sent to the front lines in recent months, with some later released.
Similar moves against political parties have been taken by neighbouring military governments in Niger and Mali, which are also battling armed group violence.
All three countries exited the regional Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) bloc to form their own Alliance of Sahel States (AES) last January after pressure to hold elections.
They have also turned to Russian paramilitary fighters after evicting former colonial power, France, which had deployed some 5,000 soldiers to help fight armed groups in the Sahel region.
Violence has continued to mar Burkina Faso. Fatalities tripled in the three years since Traore took power reaching 17,775 by last May. That’s compared with the three years prior, when combined recorded deaths were 6,630, according to analysis by the US-based Africa Center for Strategic Studies.
Most of those killed were civilians, many by government forces and allied militias.
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04-04 00:02 · 中东,局势,AlJazeera,中东
CMA CGM’s vessel becomes the first French-owned ship to traverse Hormuz since the US–Israel war on Iran began.
A French container ship, three Oman-linked tankers and a Japanese-owned gas carrier have crossed the Strait of Hormuz, as some vessels make the passage through the contested waterway.
The container belonging to French shipping giant CMA CGM is the first Western vessel known to have made the passage since Iran effectively closed the strait, the Marine Traffic vessel website showed on Friday.
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The Malta-flagged Kribi, owned by CMA CGM, crossed the Strait on April 2. It was not immediately clear how the vessel, which the data shows is sailing south along the coast of Oman, secured safe passage.
There was no immediate comment from CMA CGM.
However, LSEG shipping data showed the vessel on Thursday changed its destination to “Owner France”, signalling to Iranian authorities the nationality of its owner, before crossing the strait’s Iranian territorial waters.
The vessels appear to have switched off their AIS transponders during the crossing because their signal disappeared on vessel-tracking data.
Two very large crude carriers and one LNG tanker operated by Oman Shipping Management also exited the Gulf on Thursday, according to MarineTraffic and LSEG data.
Japan’s Mitsui OSK Lines said on Friday that the LNG tanker, Sohar LNG, which it co-owns, had crossed the strait, making it the first Japan-linked vessel and the first LNG carrier to do so since the conflict began on February 28.
Only about 150 vessels, including tankers and container ships, have transited the strait since March 1, according to data firm Lloyd’s List Intelligence. Most were linked to Iran and countries such as China, India and Pakistan.
Beijing expressed “gratitude” on Tuesday after three of its ships passed through the strait, including two container ships on Monday belonging to state-owned shipping giant Cosco.
Energy crisis
Until the war led to the effective blocking of the strait, it was the route for about a fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas supplies. As a result, fuel prices have skyrocketed worldwide.
On Wednesday, US President Donald Trump insisted that petrol prices would fall quickly once the war concluded, but offered no solution for reopening the Strait of Hormuz. Instead, he invited sceptical US allies to do it themselves. He insisted that the war would be worth it.
French President Emmanuel Macron said on Thursday it would be unrealistic to launch a military operation to open the strait, and that only diplomatic efforts would work.
Macron has worked with European and other allies to build a coalition to guarantee free passage through the strait once hostilities have stopped.
Meanwhile, writing in the US journal Foreign Affairs, Iran’s former top diplomat said that Tehran should make a deal with the United States to end the war by offering to curb its nuclear programme and reopen the Strait of Hormuz in exchange for sanctions relief.
Tehran could “declare victory and make a deal that both ends this conflict and prevents the next one”, wrote Mohammad Javad Zarif, foreign minister from 2013 to 2021.
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04-04 00:02 · 中东,局势,AlJazeera,中东
Years of war have fundamentally changed Israel’s politics, economy and society, analysts say.
Two and a half years of launching brutal attacks on its neighbours and the besieged enclave of Gaza have transformed Israel’s politics, economy and society, analysts say.
Now, as Israel engages in what many within the country have been repeatedly told is an “existential battle” with regional nemesis Iran, what the future might hold for Israel remains to be seen. The conflict’s ultimate end will likely be determined by lawmakers in Washington rather than planners in Israel.
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Even before its war on Iran, Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza had taken its toll on the country’s standing and financing. According to the Bank of Israel’s own numbers, the nation’s wars on Gaza, the Houthis, Lebanon and Iran since October 2023 have already cost it 352 billion shekels ($112bn), equating roughly to an average cost of 300 million shekels ($96m) per day.
At the International Court of Justice, Israel faces what jurists have already ruled are credible accusations of genocide, while both its prime minister and former minister of defence are the subject of arrest warrants for war crimes issued by the International Criminal Court in November 2024. Now, economically, the country is bracing for what could be the catastrophic financial consequences of its war on Iran.
And it seems no definite end is in sight.
Long road ahead
Israel’s stated war aims of degrading Iran’s military capabilities and creating the conditions whereby its public might rise up against the government seem somewhat distant.
After four weeks of constant bombardment, there are no strong signs of public disquiet in Iran or challenges to the government.
Despite United States officials’ public claims to have essentially defanged Iran militarily, Reuters reported on March 27 that only one-third of Tehran’s missile stock had been destroyed, citing five sources within US intelligence.
In the meantime, Israel’s public faces irregular but frequent air raid warnings, signalling yet another retreat to the shelters and shattering any semblance of normality each time.
There is a paradox at play. At home, emergency measures which have seen many schools closed while parents are expected to continue working have increased strain on families. But analysts within Israel say these same families still regard the war they are experiencing as always having been inevitable.
“There’s a graveness that’s fallen over people, a sort of a pall,” political consultant and pollster Dahlia Scheindlin told Al Jazeera from a location near Tel Aviv. She described something close to a grim public determination among Jewish Israelis to press on with the war for the time being, however.
People are exhausted, but for now, 78 percent of Jewish Israelis told the Israel Democracy Institute in late March that they supported continuing the war.
Significantly, however, a majority also thought that planners in the US and Israel had underestimated Tehran’s abilities.
How long they will continue to support the conflict, therefore, Scheindlin can’t say. “It’s not like the 12-day war [between Israel and Iran in June 2025] because this has gone on for so much longer. And it’s not like rocket fire from Hamas in the past.
“Iran fires ballistic missiles, meaning that everyone needs to shelter each time. It’s also gone on for much longer, and how long it will continue, we don’t know,” she said.
“To be honest, I don’t know how we’ll emerge from this. No one does. We’re still in the middle of it all.”
Politics on the edge
The backdrop to all this is a politics which few would recognise from that which ratified the Oslo Accords in the 1990s. Or that which in the 1980s expelled the ultranationalist Meir Kahane, the proponent of extremist beliefs that hardline National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and many of his Jewish Power party’s current members implicitly support.
Indeed, figures such as Ben-Gvir and ultra-Orthodox Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich – a settler whose movement believes it is biblically entitled to the land of the West Bank – now play central roles in government with both cross-party and public support.
Then there were the celebrations that greeted the passage of Ben-Gvir’s death penalty law, designed specifically to target Palestinians.
Topping it off this week was the passing of a record $271bn budget – voted on by lawmakers from a fortified bunker – which diverted millions of shekels to the country’s ultra-Orthodox and hardline settler groups in what analysts and opposition groups say was a bid to shore up support for Netanyahu’s government in the face of continued military action.
“Anyone who votes against the budget is voting against Israel’s security, against tax reli
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04-04 00:02 · 中东,局势,AlJazeera,中东
Despite weeks long Iranian blockade on Strait of Hormuz, US president claims Washington can ‘easily’ reopen waterway.
Donald Trump has suggested that the United States is looking to seize Iran’s oil industry, appearing to argue that more time is needed for the war.
“With a little more time, we can easily OPEN THE HORMUZ STRAIT, TAKE THE OIL, & MAKE A FORTUNE,” the US president wrote in a social media post on Friday.
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“IT WOULD BE A ‘GUSHER’ FOR THE WORLD???”
It is not clear how the US would open Hormuz, which Iran effectively blocked early in the conflict, sending energy prices soaring.
Trump has been promising for weeks that the US will reopen the strait soon. One month ago, he said that US Navy ships would accompany oil ships through the strategic waterway.
But the US military has said that it is “not ready” to escort slow-moving vessels in the narrow strait, where its ships could become an easy target for Iranian drones and missiles.
Trump’s assertion that the US would “take” Iran’s oil marks an escalation in his rhetoric.
The US president appeared to double down on his call later on Friday. “KEEP THE OIL, ANYONE?” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.
Under the international law doctrine of Permanent Sovereignty over Natural Resources, which was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 1962, oil and minerals belong to the countries where they are located.
“The free and beneficial exercise of the sovereignty of peoples and nations over their natural resources must be furthered by the mutual respect of States based on their sovereign equality,” the resolution says.
Trump has regularly called for “taking the oil” in countries where the US has been militarily involved, including Iraq and Venezuela.
The Iranian governing system has remained intact despite the assassinations of some of its top officials and the daily bombardment by the US and Israel, and it remains in control of the country’s natural resources.
The US has no publicly known military presence on the ground inside Iran. Trump did not provide details on how his administration plans to control the country’s oil.
In Venezuela, since US forces abducted President Nicolas Maduro in January, his successor, Delcy Rodriguez, has been working with the Trump administration to sell large amounts of oil.
Earlier this week, Trump suggested that replicating the Venezuelan model in Iran is possible, but it would require prolonging the war.
“We could just take their oil. But, you know, I’m not sure that the people in our country have the patience to do that, which is unfortunate,” Trump said.
“They want to see it end. If we stayed there, I prefer just to take the oil. We could do it so easily; I would prefer that. But people in the country sort of say, ‘Just win. You’re winning so big, just win. Come home.'”
At the outset of the conflict, the Trump administration said the war would last four to six weeks.
The war will enter its sixth week on Saturday.
Trump has been claiming that US forces have crushed Iran’s military capabilities, but Tehran continues to block Hormuz and fire missiles and drones at Israel and other targets across the entire region.
Trump has been threatening to bomb civilian infrastructure across Iran, including power stations and water desalination plants.
On Wednesday, he shared footage of the destruction of a major civilian bridge in Iran, warning of similar attacks in the future.
Bombing civilian sites amounts to collective punishment and is prohibited under international law, legal experts say.
On Friday, Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei likened the US attack on the bridge to ISIL (ISIS) tactics.
“This DAESH/ISIS-style terrorist war crime, along with similar attacks on Iran’s critical infrastructure, reveals one undeniable truth: their ultimate goal is the destruction of Iran,”
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04-04 00:02 · 中东,局势,AlJazeera,中东
Trump says downing of F-15 will not affect talks as Iranian forces say they also struck an A-10 aircraft near Hormuz.
Iranian forces have said they struck down two fighter jets belonging to the United States military, one over the southwest part of the country and another around the Strait of Hormuz.
A spokesperson for the Iranian military’s Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters said on Friday that air defences completely destroyed one F-15 jet. Later in the day, the Iranian military said it targeted an A-10 US aircraft that crashed into the Gulf.
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The New York Times had cited unidentified officials as saying that the A10’s pilot was safe after the crash.
But the fate of at least one pilot from the downed F-15 crew is unknown. Several US media outlets reported that one crew member of the jet was located and rescued by US forces, but the other remains missing.
US President Donald Trump told NBC News on Friday that the downing of the jet will not affect the prospect of talks with Tehran. “No, not at all. No, it’s war. We’re in war,” he said.
State media outlets in Iran showed photos of the wreckage of the F-15 jet and what appears to be an ejection seat with an attached parachute.
After the jet was downed, Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf mocked Trump’s repeated claims of victory in the war.
“After defeating Iran 37 times in a row, this brilliant no-strategy war they started has now been downgraded from ‘regime change’ to ‘Hey! Can anyone find our pilots? Please?'” Ghalibaf wrote in a social media post.
There was no immediate comment on the incident from the Pentagon and US Central Command (CENTCOM), which oversees military operations in the Middle East and much of Asia.
After past Iranian claims of downing US jets, CENTCOM has been quick to deny the reports.
Iranian officials called on civilians to be on the lookout for survivors. The governor of Iran’s Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad province said whoever captured the crew “would be specially commended”, according to the semi-official Iranian news agency ISNA.
Several US politicians acknowledged reports of the downed jet and expressed support for the US military.
“I’m praying for the safe return of the crew aboard the fighter jet and all of those working to rescue them in these dangerous conditions,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said on the social media platform X.
Since the start of the war on February 28, the US has lost three F-15 fighter jets in what it said was a friendly fire incident over Kuwait. A US military refuelling aircraft also fell over Iraq last month, killing all six crew members.
In addition, Iran has claimed to have struck down dozens of US drones over the country.
Trump and his top aides have repeatedly asserted that the US destroyed all of Iran’s air defences since the war began.
Reporting from Tehran, Al Jazeera’s Ali Hashem said Iranian officials offered a reward for the downed pilots and called for locals to join in the search.
“The Iranians over the past days, since the March 19, been saying that they’ve introduced a new system that they developed after the 12 day war,” Hashem said.
Myles Caggins, a retired US Army colonel and non-resident senior fellow at New Lines Institute, a foreign policy think tank, called the downing of the jet a “significant event” for the US military.
“Iran’s primary air defence weapons were destroyed in the first days of the war through airstrikes or taken offline through sophisticated cyber attacks, but there are still manned portable air defence systems, and possibly that is the type of system that’s carried by one person that could have shot down this F-15,” Caggins said.
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