US Iran War Highlights: Trump claims Tehran wants US to open Strait of Hormuz quickly

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A fully loaded supertanker associated with Japan has reportedly completed a transit through the Strait of Hormuz, potentially marking the first successful passage by a Japanese oil carrier out of the Persian Gulf since the start of the Iran war, as per Bloomberg.

The vessel Idemitsu Maru began moving late Monday toward the strait from a position northwest of Abu Dhabi, where it had remained inactive for over a week, according to tanker-tracking data compiled by Bloomberg. The ship then took a Tehran-approved northern route near the islands of Qeshm and Larak before successfully exiting the strait on Tuesday, the data indicated.

The human rights organisation issued a statement on Tuesday after a video circulating on social media showed Israeli military excavators demolishing solar panels in the Lebanese border village of Debel, along with its water station, as per AP.

On Saturday, the Israeli military said it was reviewing the incident after the footage surfaced. Debel is the same village where earlier this month a soldier was filmed destroying a statue of Jesus, an act that drew widespread international criticism.

“Amnesty International has previously documented extensive destruction by the Israeli military along Lebanon’s border before and after the November 2024 ceasefire,” the group mentioned. It added it called for reparations and war crimes investigations. “So far, neither has appeared.”

UAE Energy Minister Suhail Mohamed al-Mazrouei told Reuters that the decision followed a thorough review of the country’s energy strategy.

When asked whether the UAE had discussed the move with OPEC’s de facto leader and regional heavyweight Saudi Arabia, he said the matter was not raised with any other country.

"This is a policy decision, it has been done after a careful look at current and future policies related to level of production," said the energy minister.

Israel’s foreign minister says Gideon Saar defends Israel’s military-controlled buffer zone extending 10 km into Lebanon, says buffer zone is essential to protect residents in northern Israel

-Accuses Hezbollah of turning southern Lebanon’s front line into a “network of terrorist infrastructure”

-Claims Lebanese government has failed to adequately address the Hezbollah threat

Remarks made during joint press conference in Jerusalem with Marko Đurić

Israel military says multiple explosive drones launched by Hezbollah were detonated near its troops in southern Lebanon

No injuries reported among Israeli soldiers despite the drone blasts

Israeli forces fired interceptors at another drone detected over the operational area

Incident highlights security risks despite a fragile ceasefire

Both Israel and Lebanon-based forces continue to accuse each other of ceasefire violations

International Committee of the Red Cross chief Mirjana Spoljaric arrives in Iran to assess humanitarian impact of the ongoing conflict

ICRC chief to meet Iranian officials and local affiliates

Discussions to focus on expanding relief deliveries via the Iranian Red Crescent Society

ICRC has already delivered over 170 tonnes of essential aid this month

Additional medical supplies and forensic equipment currently en route

Visit part of a broader regional tour aimed at strengthening humanitarian response

Talks to include ensuring compliance with international humanitarian law (rules of war) (AP)

US consumer confidence saw a modest increase in April even as concerns intensified over rising energy costs linked to the Iran war. The Conference Board reported on Tuesday that its consumer confidence index edged up to 92.8 from 92.2 in March, staying near its lowest point since the COVID-19 pandemic, reported AP.

This is the first inflation report to reflect the impact of the Iran conflict. Gas prices have jumped to an average of $4.18 per gallon this week, more than a dollar higher than before the war, increasing financial strain on households. The surge is expected to squeeze budgets and reduce incomes, making it harder for lower- and middle-income families to manage essential expenses like food and rent.

The military said on Tuesday that multiple explosive drones detonated close to Israeli soldiers operating in southern Lebanon, though no injuries were reported, as per AP.

It added that interceptors were launched at another drone spotted over the area where troops were deployed, and the outcome of that interception is still being assessed.

A fragile ceasefire is currently in place in Lebanon, but both sides continue to accuse each other of violating the truce

Jorge Leon, head of geopolitical analysis at Rystad Energy, said that the expected peak in global oil demand has changed producers’ incentives, shifting them away from coordinated output restraint toward maximising earnings from their reserves in the present, as per AP.

He added that the United Arab Emirates, with a production capacity of 4.8 million barrels per day and scope to further increase output, is “particularly well positioned to pursue such a strategy outside the group.”

A superyacht belonging to Russian billionaire Alexey Mordashov was allowed to pass through the blockaded Strait of Hormuz after maintenance work in Dubai, as neither Iran nor the United States raised objections, a source close to him said on Tuesday, reported Reuters

The luxury multi-deck yacht, named Nord and valued at more than $500 million, sailed through the strategically important waterway on Saturday. Its passage had drawn attention as shipping traffic in the area has been heavily restricted since February amid tensions linked to the US-Iran conflict.

According to the source, the yacht was sailing under a Russian flag and crossed the strait using an approved route in line with international maritime law.

US President Donald Trump claimed on Tuesday that Iran had indicated it was in a “state of collapse” and wanted the United States to open the Strait of Hormuz as soon as possible.

In a social media post, Trump claimed that Iran was seeking urgent action to restore access through the crucial waterway, though he did not specify how Tehran had conveyed the message.

He said, “Iran has just informed us that they are in a “State of Collapse.” They want us to “Open the Hormuz Strait,” as soon as possible, as they try to figure out their leadership situation (Which I believe they will be able to do!).”

The United Arab Emirates has decided to withdraw from the OPEC and OPEC+ oil producer groups as part of a strategic realignment following the Iran war, as per Bloomberg.

In a statement issued on Tuesday, the Energy Ministry said the UAE’s exit will take effect from May 1 and will help the country respond to changing global demand. It also noted that the UAE plans to gradually increase its oil production.

The country’s push to utilise its expanded production capacity has led to tensions with regional rival Saudi Arabia during OPEC meetings in recent years.

Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency reported that Israeli airstrikes targeted the southern villages of Chakra, Tebnine, and Kafra on Tuesday, reported AP.

The agency also said a drone strike hit a motorcycle in the village of Mansouri.

There was no immediate information on any casualties following the attacks.

United Nations General Assembly President Annalena Baerbock on Tuesday stressed the urgent need for efforts to secure a ceasefire in the Iran war, according to AP.

Speaking during her visit to New Delhi, Baerbock warned that the ongoing conflict is hampering global supply chains and worsening regional crises. She said attacks and blockades in the Strait of Hormuz have led to a sharp rise in oil and fertilizer prices across the world.

“Every effort to come to a ceasefire is highly needed,” Baerbock said, noting that the escalation is diverting attention from humanitarian crises in Gaza. “It overshadows the devastating situation for the people in Gaza. The humanitarian situation in Gaza is still heartbreaking."

Bahrain has sentenced 30 people to life imprisonment and 10-year jail terms over allegations of spying for Iran and aiding Iranian attacks against the island nation, as per AP.

The public prosecution said on Tuesday that five individuals, including two Afghan nationals, were handed life sentences after being found guilty of espionage for Iran’s Revolutionary Guard.

In a separate case, 25 others were each sentenced to 10 years in prison for allegedly supporting what authorities described as Iran’s “terrorist acts” in Bahrain.

Qatar on Tuesday warned against the chance of a "frozen conflict" in the Gulf, as discussions between the US and Iran for a peace deal seemed at a stalemate, as per AFP.

"We do not want to see a return to hostilities in the region anytime soon, we do not want to see a frozen conflict that ends up being thawed every time there is a political reason," Qatar's foreign ministry spokesman Majed al-Ansari mentioned at a press conference.

Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Tuesday spoke with New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon over the phone, updating him on Pakistan’s diplomatic initiatives aimed at promoting regional peace and reducing tensions, reported AP.

According to Sharif’s office, Luxon appreciated Pakistan’s diplomatic outreach, including its engagement with the United States and Iran.

Sharif thanked the New Zealand Prime Minister for his support and reiterated Pakistan’s commitment to peace, dialogue, and maintaining regional stability.

“Iran’s illegal behavior in the Strait of Hormuz should be a wakeup call for all of us with regard to the need to secure our supply chains and reduce our dependencies on unreliable countries and geographies,” Secretary of State for Political Affairs Allison Hooker stated during a panel discussion in the southern Adriatic Sea city of Dubrovnik, reported AP.

“We all need to do more. The world is changing under our feet." Hooker said.

For Somalia's malnourished children, already suffering the twin catastrophes of looming famine and radical cuts in foreign aid, the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran means more than soaring petrol pump prices; it is a matter of life and death, a Reuters report said

Shortages of lifesaving therapeutic foods exacerbated by shipping disruptions are forcing clinics to turn away severely malnourished children and ration supplies, Reuters reporting shows.

Almost half a million children under 5 suffer from "severe acute malnutrition" or "wasting", the most life-threatening form of hunger, and the delays are worsening the effect of the aid reductions.

SOMALIA'S CHILDREN RELY ON EVER-SHRINKING FOOD AID

Health workers in Baidoa and Mogadishu say they have had to stretch out meagre stocks of specialised milk and nutrient-dense peanut-based paste vital to saving these children.

"Since the needs are large and we don't have a lot of supplies, we have had to keep reducing the amount we give children," nurse Hassan Yahye Kheyre said.

The 225 cartons of peanut paste remaining at his clinic, which treats more than 1,200 children, will probably be exhausted within two weeks, according to the International Rescue Committee, which supplies the facility.

"If treatment is on-and-off, the children will become very weak, physically and mentally. And it may not be possible to reverse it," Kheyre added.

The IRC is one of three aid groups that said transport delays and rising costs linked to the war in Iran were making an already complicated situation worse.

At the clinic in the southwestern city of Baidoa, run by IRC's local partner READO, mother-of-nine Muumino Adan Aamin has been trying to get peanut paste for Ruweido, her 11-month-old daughter.

Ruweido is on a regimen of three sachets a day but Aamin has been turned away twice because the clinic had run out each time.

Aamin nearly lost her daughter Anisa to hunger when a previous drought pushed Somalia to the brink of famine in 2017. "Just bone and skin," the toddler only survived because of peanut paste, Aamin said.

Nine years on, a new drought has pushed 6.5 million people, or one in three Somalis, into acute hunger, and aid groups are desperately trying to plug gaps.

An IRC order for peanut paste that would have fed over 1,000 children got stuck two months ago in the Indian port of Mundra, now congested with diverted cargoes unable to dock in the Gulf, said Shukri Abdulkadir, IRC's Somalia coordinator.

After being told that the peanut paste, made in India, would take at least 30 more days to arrive, IRC cancelled the order.

It placed an emergency order for 400 cartons from Nairobi, and is moving supplies in Mogadishu to Baidoa while awaiting them.

But the increase in freight and manufacturing costs has pushed the price of a single carton to $200 from $55, according to CARE International, whose latest order now buys enough for only 83 children rather than 300.

LIFE-SAVING FOOD AID TAKES LONGER AND COSTS MORE

In 2024, deliveries of therapeutic milk and ready-to-use therapeutic food (RUTF) from Europe to Somalia typically took 30–35 days, increasing to 40–45 days in 2025 as vessels diverted around Africa owing to security threats in the Red Sea.

Since the United States and Israel attacked Iran on February 28 and Iran closed the entrance to the Gulf, a lack of ships has pushed that out to 55–65 days, said Mohamed Omar, head of Health and Nutrition at Action Against Hunger (ACF) in Mogadishu.

Meanwhile in Somalia, the IPC global hunger monitor says more than 2 million people are now in the "Emergency" phase, one level before famine.

Admissions of severely malnourished children in January-March to health centres supported by ACF were up 35% from last year.

Staff at Daynile General Hospital, which is treating 360 children for wasting, said on April 20 that they barely had enough supplies for the week.

"Some children's nutritional status has already worsened," said health and nutrition supervisor Xafsa Ali Hassan.

Somalia was not among 17 impoverished nations singled out to receive a share of this year's funds allocated to the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) by the U.S., which has made the most drastic cuts among foreign aid donors.

OCHA says more than 200 health facilities have been closed and mobile teams disbanded.

It said in December that over 60,500 severely malnourished children had gone untreated as a result, and that the number could rise to 150,000 if funding gaps persisted.

Then, when the Iran war erupted, domestic fuel prices leapt 150%.

"Somalia is really hard hit by the Iran war because people are still reeling from the impact of the previous drought," said IRC's Abdulkadir. "It's very difficult for people to absorb these shocks."

OCHA has appealed for $852 million from global donors to stave off a full-blown famine.

This is far below the $1.42 billion it requested last year - yet it has still barely received 14% of this amount.