‘Wartime speaker’ indicates he will press forward with aid package, which would force him to rely on Democrats to pass it

Defiant and determined, the House speaker Mike Johnson pushed back on Tuesday against mounting Republican anger over his proposed US aid package for Ukraine, Israel and other allies, and rejected a call to step aside or risk a vote to oust him from office.

“I am not resigning,” Johnson said after a testy morning meeting of fellow House Republicans at the Capitol.

Continue reading...

In fact, terror attacks and hostage-taking sparked several recent conflicts that US presidents of both parties labeled genocide

My old boss Chuck Schumer, the Senate majority leader, bravely said recently what Joe Biden has been afraid to: “Palestinian civilians do not deserve to suffer for the sins of Hamas, and Israel has a moral obligation to do better. The United States has an obligation to do better.”

The ongoing violence, Schumer noted, threatens not just the lives of Palestinians but the security of Jewish people worldwide by alienating global allies appalled by the bloodshed. If Benjamin Netanyahu refuses to desist, he concluded, the US must start “shaping Israeli policy by using our leverage” – which obviously includes military, diplomatic and economic aspects.

Continue reading...

Benjamin Netanyahu yet to declare a decision as rest of world remains on high alert for potential escalation

• Middle East crisis – live updates

Israel’s war cabinet is to convene again as the country continues to deliberate how to respond to Iran’s unprecedented missile and drone assault on its territory.

The three-man war cabinet– the prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, his defence minister, Yoav Gallant, and Benny Gantz, a former defence minister and centrist Netanyahu rival, as well as several observers – will meet at 2pm local time (1200 BST) on Monday. It last convened late on Sunday.

Continue reading...

Mike Johnson has said he will aim to advance legislation to support Israel but has not clarified whether Ukraine funding will form part of package

• Middle East crisis live – follow for updates

The US House speaker, Mike Johnson, has said he will aim to advance a bill for wartime aid to Israel this week following Iran’s weekend attack, but did not clarify whether Ukraine funding would be part of the package.

US assistance for both nations has languished amid political bickering in Congress, with Johnson – an ally of presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump – blocking an earlier $95bn in aid sought by President Joe Biden for Israel, Ukraine and Taiwan which had passed the Senate.

Continue reading...

Ex- president known for chaotic foreign policy posts Republican senator’s praise of old Trump tweet telling Iran to ‘be cautious’

Donald Trump responded to Iran’s Saturday attack on Israel by reposting a 2018 all-caps tweet in which he threatened the president of Iran and said the US would not stand for “DEMENTED WORDS OF VIOLENCE & DEATH.”

“To Iranian President Rouhani: NEVER, EVER THREATEN THE UNITED STATES AGAIN OR YOU WILL SUFFER THE CONSEQUENCES THE LIKES OF WHICH FEW THROUGHOUT HISTORY HAVE EVER SUFFERED BEFORE. WE ARE NO LONGER A COUNTRY THAT WILL STAND FOR YOUR DEMENTED WORDS OF VIOLENCE & DEATH. BE CAUTIOUS!” read the 2018 tweet.

Continue reading...

Jubilant mood ignores fact almost all drones were shot down but Tehran suggests objectives were achieved

• Middle East crisis – live updates

A bullish Iranian government hailed its unprecedented direct strike on Israel as a success and said that as far as it was concerned the military operation was now over, saying it had struck most of the military targets it had intended as a reprisal for the Israeli assault on Iran’s consulate in Damascus on 1 April.

The chief of the general staff, Gen Mohammad Bagheri, claimed an Israeli intelligence centre close to the Syrian border and an airbase had been destroyed “to a significant extent and put out of operation”. Iran says the large Israeli airbase, nine miles (15km) south-east of Beersheba, near moshav Nevatim in the Negev desert, had been used by Israeli F-35s in its strike on Iran’s consulate.

Continue reading...

Tehran’s firing of over 300 drones and missiles at Israel threatens to draw region into wider conflict

• Middle East crisis – live updates

Tehran has warned it will strike again with greater force if Israel or the US retaliate for the Iranian strike on Israel by more 300 drones and missiles on Saturday night.

The air raids , the Islamic Republic’s first ever direct attack on the Israeli state, brought a years-long shadow war into the open and threatened to draw the region into a broader conflagration as Israel said it was considering its response.

Continue reading...

Islamic Republic’s first ever direct attack on Jewish state threatens to drag Middle East into regional conflagration

• Iran launches attack against Israel – live

Iran has launched hundreds of drones as well as cruise missiles towards Israel, the Islamic Republic’s first ever direct attack on the Jewish state, moving years of shadow war into the open and putting world capitals on high alert for major escalation as the six-month-old war in Gaza threatens to drag the Middle East into a full-blown regional conflagration.

The launch of what are believed to be powerful Iranian-manufactured Shahed drones was confirmed by both the Israeli military and what Iran’s state-linked Press TV described as military sources at about 11pm local time on Saturday. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said more than 100 drones had been launched.

Continue reading...

Ferdinand Marcos Jr says building trilateral ties vital, after the three countries criticise China’s ‘dangerous and aggressive behaviour’ in the region

A cooperation agreement by the Philippines, the United States and Japan will change the dynamic in the South China Sea and the region, the Philippine president has said, while seeking to assure China it was not a target.

“I think the trilateral agreement is extremely important,” Ferdinand Marcos Jr told a press conference in Washington on Friday, a day after meeting President Joe Biden and the Japanese prime minister, Fumio Kishida, in the nations’ first trilateral summit.

Continue reading...