U.S. imposes military blockade of Iranian ports on Strait of Hormuz

Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem on Monday urged Lebanon to cancel a planned meeting with Israel in Washington, reiterating his group’s rejection of direct negotiations with Israel.

“We call for a historic and heroic stance by canceling this negotiating meeting,” Qassem, whose Iran-backed terrorist group has been at war with Israel since March 2, said in a televised address.

The Lebanese and Israeli ambassadors to the United States are scheduled to meet on Tuesday.

President Trump told CBS News senior correspondent Norah O’Donnell on Monday that Pope Leo is “wrong on the issues” after previously lashing out at the pontiff late Sunday, calling him “WEAK on Crime, and terrible for Foreign Policy” in a lengthy Truth Social post.

In a phone interview, Mr. Trump confirmed that he had watched “60 Minutes,” which highlighted Pope Leo’s disapproval of mass deportations and the Iran war, before firing off the post. When asked if he plans to call the pope directly, Mr. Trump gave a firm “no.”

“He’s wrong on the issues,” Mr. Trump said of Pope Leo. “I don’t think he should be getting into politics. I think he probably learned that from this.” 

Mr. Trump also said he wasn’t sure whether Pope Leo, the first U.S.-born pontiff, would visit the U.S. during his presidency. “I have no idea,” he said. “It’s up to him, not up to me.”

Read more here.

Keith Sharman, Callie Teitelbaum, Roxanne Feitel

Fatih Birol, the executive director of the International Energy Agency (IEA), said Monday that there’s a disconnect between gas prices and what he called “the largest energy security threat in history” because of the war with Iran.

“Prices are, in my view, already high, but they are not reflecting the severity of the problem,” Birol said. “I think soon we will see that they will converge.”

Speaking at a forum in Washington with the Atlantic Council, a nonpartisan American think tank, Birol said the 400 million barrels of oil the IEA released from emergency reserves wasn’t a solution to the energy crisis.

“When and if we are going to release again, this will be depending on our assessment with discussion with our member countries,” Birol said. “I very much hope we don’t need to do it, but if it is needed, we are ready to act immediately.”

Even if the war were to end tomorrow, Birol said it could take up to two years for the energy market to return to normal, citing severely damaged energy facilities in the region.

Vice President JD Vance met with the deputy prime minister of the United Kingdom on Monday following his return from Pakistan.

“It is vital that the ceasefire continues and we get shipping flowing freely again through the Straits of Hormuz,” U.K. Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy said on X, posting a photo of him and Vance together in Washington.

“We continue to work together towards a just and lasting peace in Ukraine,” Lammy said.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz urged Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday to end fighting in southern Lebanon and engage in direct peace talks with the Lebanese government, a government spokesperson said.

Merz told Netanyahu in a phone conversation that “Germany is prepared to contribute to ensuring freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz” — but only following the “cessation of hostilities” and “provided the necessary conditions are met,” according to a spokesperson’s summary of the conversation.

The German chancellor also expressed his “grave concern” about developments in the Palestinian territories and demanded that there “must be no de facto partial annexation of the West Bank,” the German government spokesman said.

At a news conference last week, Merz said that while Germany was prepared to help secure the strait, a long-term ceasefire was first required. He added that Germany would need an international mandate from the U.N. Security Council and approval from the German parliament.

CBS/AFP

During a meeting in Beijing on Monday,Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi “emphasized that blocking the Strait of Hormuz is not in the common interest of the international community,” according to his office.

Wang met with Khaldoon Khalifa Al Mubarak, the United Arab Emirates’ special envoy to China. He told the envoy that China “understands the legitimate security concerns” of Gulf states in the Middle East “and supports the UAE in safeguarding its national sovereignty, security, and legitimate rights and interests,” the Chinese Foreign Ministry said.

Regarding the U.S.-Iran conflict, Wang said he supports “achieving a comprehensive and lasting ceasefire through political and diplomatic means.”

Blockading portions of the Strait of Hormuz is likely intended to pressure Iran, which has exported millions of barrels of oil since the war began. Much of it has likely been carried by so-called “dark transits” that evade Western sanctions and oversight.

But the effects will be felt far beyond Iran. The price of Brent crude oil, the international standard, rose 7% to hover around $102 per barrel on Monday. It cost roughly $70 per barrel before the war.

Addressing and working to potentially stave off skyrocketing energy prices are top priorities for British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron, who are holding a summit this week to encourage international efforts to unblock the strait and end the conflict.

Macron said in a social media post that the conference will draw together nations prepared to contribute to a “peaceful multinational mission aimed at restoring freedom of navigation in the strait.” He stressed that the mission would be “strictly defensive” and “separate from the warring parties to the conflict.”

CBS/AP

Asked whether the goal of blockading the Strait of Hormuz is to force Iran back to the negotiating table or reopen the strait so that energy costs come down, President Trump told reporters on Monday: “Maybe everything.”

“Both of those things, certainly, and more,” Mr. Trump said. “We can’t let a country blackmail or extort the world. Because that’s what they’re doing. They’re really blackmailing the world. We’re not going to let that happen.”

The president did not share details about plans for further talks with Iran. But, he said, “we’ve been called by the other side” since negotiations fell apart in Islamabad. 

“They’d like to make a deal. Very badly, very badly,” he added.

The British Defense Ministry said it has deployed additional military planners to the U.S. Central Command “to explore the options for making the Strait of Hormuz accessible and safe once the hostilities have ceased.”

That latest update on U.K. operations in the Middle East followed British Prime Minister Keir Starmer announcing that his country would not enforce the U.S. blockade. Starmer told CBS partner BBC News that U.K. minesweepers and anti-drone systems would continue operating in the region, but British military assets would not be used to block Iranian ports.

Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told France’s Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot that “progress was made on many issues” during negotiations with the U.S. over the weekend, according to the Iranian Foreign Ministry. But, in a phone call with his French counterpart, Araghchi blamed U.S. delegates for preventing an agreement “due to excessive demands and constantly changing positions.”

Barrot reiterated France’s support for ending the conflict diplomatically and said he hoped continued talks would result in an agreement. According to the Iranian ministry, both Araghchi and Barrot “stressed the continuation” of ongoing discussion.

Engagement between the U.S. delegation and Iranian leaders has continued since the weekend’s failed round of peace talks in Islamabad, officials told CBS News on Monday. One official said there is “forward motion on trying to get to an agreement.”

An Iranian defense spokesperson pushed back against the U.S. blockade on Monday, warning that foreign military action in the Strait of Hormuz “would escalate the crisis and instability in global energy security,” according to Iranian state media.

“Iran, based on clear and logical principles, is responsible for the security and management of the Strait of Hormuz,” Gen. Reza Talaei-Nik, spokesperson for  Iran’s Defense Ministry, told the state-owned organization Press TV. 

He said Iran “will not allow any interference or aggression by U.S. or other foreign forces” and will not hesitate to respond decisively “to any aggressor, including Israel and the United States, in the Strait of Hormuz and elsewhere.”

The son of Iran’s ousted shah said Monday he is in regular contact with various elements of the highly-divided Iranian opposition in exile, reiterating his desire “to serve as a unifying national figure, not a partisan one.”

Reza Pahlavi was speaking during a visit to Stockholm, where he gave a speech on the premises of the country’s parliament, invited by the conservative Christian Democrats and the far-right Sweden Democrats.

Pahlavi, whose father Mohammad Reza was brought down by the 1979 Islamic revolution, has repeatedly said he was ready to lead a transition if the Islamic republic fell in the war with the United States and Israel that erupted in late February.

The Iranian opposition remains deeply fragmented, with groups drawn from ethnic minorities, liberal circles and left-wing movements opposed to him and his supporters.

Asked what he was doing to bring together the different parts of Iranian society, Pahlavi replied that he was in regular contact with them. “I talk to them, I hold dialogue with them, I meet them,” he said, without specifying exactly with whom.

He said there was “enough room” for anyone who subscribed to the four basic principles he believed formed the foundation of a “democratic discourse.” The four principles were Iran’s territorial integrity, a clear separation of state and religion, equality of all citizens before the law, and the establishment of a mechanism to organize free and fair elections.

A former national security adviser for Pakistan told CBS News 24/7 that his country is trying to get the U.S. and Iran — either virtually or physically — back into the negotiation room after marathon talks over the weekend failed to secure a peace deal.

Moeed Yusuf, who is a senior fellow at Harvard Kennedy School, said the U.S. is in “a position of frustration” after the talks in Islamabad over the weekend because “it’s not quite clear” how to move forward.

“I think the talks, from what I understand from Islamabad, were not bad. There was some chemistry in terms of both sides wanting to move forward,” he said. “Pakistan played a role of an active mediator, and I think it was too much to ask for, to try and get a formal deal out of one day of conversations.”

Yusuf said the first step would be to secure an extension to the ceasefire. He said the imposition of the U.S. blockade on the Strait of Hormuz is “going to essentially raise Iran’s economic costs.”

“The hope, I think, in Washington is that this will force Iran into an economic situation where they won’t be able to hold for too long, and they’ll come back to the table to agree to what (Vice) President Vance said was the U.S.’s best offer,” he added.

Watch the full interview here.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer says world leaders will meet this week to push for a reopening of the Strait of Hormuz.

Starmer said that with French President Emmanuel Macron, “I will convene a summit of leaders this week to drive forward the international effort” to end the conflict and unblock the key oil route.

He told lawmakers in the House of Commons on Monday the strait must reopen with “no conditions” and “no tolls.”

France and the U.K. have in recent weeks been spearheading international efforts to increase pressure on Iran to stop blocking the strait. They have also convened military planning meetings for an operation to provide security for shipping once the conflict ends.

It’s unclear what impact a U.S. blockade of Iran’s ports announced by Trump will have on those plans.

At least two oil/chemical tankers turned away from the Strait of Hormuz on Monday after the U.S. began its blockade of the waterway.

Rich Starry, a ship laden with oil that had said its destination was China, turned back from the Strait about 20 minutes after the blockade began, according to MarineTraffic, a maritime analytics provider. The ship’s flag was Malawi, which is a landlocked country, so it is a false flag.

Meanwhile, Ostria, a false-flagged Chinese oil/chemical tanker that was partially laden with oil, turned back from the Strait, according to MarineTraffic. The ship is sailing under the flag of Botswana, which is a landlocked African country.

President Trump warned on Monday that any ships that target the U.S. naval blockade of Iranian ports and the Strait of Hormuz will be “immediately ELIMINATED.”

“Iran’s Navy is laying at the bottom of the sea, completely obliterated – 158 ships,” he wrote in a Truth Social post. “What we have not hit are their small number of, what they call, ‘fast attack ships,’ because we did not consider them much of a threat. Warning: If any of these ships come anywhere close to our BLOCKADE, they will be immediately ELIMINATED, using the same system of hill that we used against drug dealers on boats at Sea.”

He added: “It is quick and brutal.”

Mr. Trump’s warning came as a U.S. blockade began at 10 a.m. EDT on Monday.

A U.S. naval blockade of Iranian ports in the Strait of Hormuz took effect at 10 a.m. EDT. It was not immediately clear if the U.S. Navy ships had begun their operation.

On Sunday, Mr. Trump, in a Truth Social post, said that he had instructed the Navy to “seek and interdict every vessel in International Waters that has paid a toll to Iran,” and that the U.S. would begin “destroying the mines the Iranians laid in the Straits.”

“Any Iranian who fires at us, or at peaceful vessels, will be BLOWN TO HELL!” he added.

The threat sparked swift condemnation from Iran and other world leaders. Iran’s Revolutionary Guard said the strait remained under Iran’s “full control” and was open for non-military vessels, but military ones would get a “forceful response,” two Iranian news agencies reported.

The move came after marathon negotiations between the U.S. and Iran, with Pakistani mediators, failed to result in an agreement.

The U.S. military currently has the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier, 11 destroyers and the USS Tripoli amphibious group operating in the Middle East, which could be part of the naval blockade in the Strait of Hormuz, the Navy told CBS News.

The Navy did not share more detailed locations, describing them as being in the North Arabian Sea and in the Red Sea.

The USS Gerald Ford and other destroyers are deployed in the Mediterranean.

U.S. Central Command on Sunday said two guided-missile destroyers – the USS Frank E. Peterson and the USS Michael Murphy – crossed through the Strait of Hormuz “as part of a broader mission to ensure the strait is fully clear of sea mines previously laid by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps.”

Lawmakers are returning to Washington this week from a two-week break to face major developments in the war with Iran.

Congress has been away from Washington since well before President Trump threatened that a “whole civilization will die tonight” if Iran didn’t agree to a deal to end the war, followed by a two-week ceasefire. Vice President JD Vance left Islamabad after marathon talks over the weekend failed to yield an agreement. And Mr. Trump announced on Sunday that the U.S. Navy will impose a blockade preventing ships from passing through the Strait of Hormuz.

Now, support for the war is expected to come center stage on Capitol Hill. And Democrats are vowing to force votes aimed at limiting the president’s ability to carry out further military action in Iran.

Read more here.

Spain’s defense minister condemned President Trump’s threats of a Strait of Hormuz blockade, saying it “makes no sense.”

“Since the war began, everything has been senseless,” Margarita Robles told Spanish broadcaster TVE on Monday. “Nobody knows the reason why this war started, a war that was supposed to be quick. This is just another episode of the downward spiral we have been dragged into, and that they have tried to drag the entire world into.”

Spain, under Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, has been one of Europe’s loudest critics of the U.S-Israeli war against Iran. Last month, the NATO member closed its airspace to U.S. planes being used in Iran and disallowed the U.S. from utilizing jointly operated military bases in southern Spain in the war effort.

Spain’s stance has infuriated Mr. Trump, who threatened to cut all U.S. trade ties.

CBS/AP

Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian weighed in Monday on the ongoing feud between President Trump and Pope Leo XIV, condemning the attacks by the U.S. leader.

“His Holiness Pope Leo XIV, I condemn the insult to Your Excellency on behalf of the great nation of Iran, and declare that the desecration of Jesus, the prophet of peace and brotherhood, is not acceptable to any free person,” he wrote on X. “I wish you glory by Allah.”

Earlier Monday, Leo pushed back at Mr. Trump’s criticism of him over the U.S.-Israel war in Iran, telling reporters that the Vatican’s appeals for peace and reconciliation are rooted in the Gospel.

A spokesman for the Iranian parliament’s National Security Commission said President Trump’s threat to impose a maritime blockade of Iran amounts to a “bluff rather than reality.”

The spokesman, Ebrahim Rezaei, warned that Tehran was prepared to respond if the situation escalates militarily.

“The claim that Trump has said he will begin a naval blockade of Iran is bluff rather than reality, because such a move would be considered an act of war and we would respond. It would further complicate the situation he has already gotten himself into and would unsettle markets that are already reacting with anger,” Rezaei wrote on X, adding that Iran “may also reveal other ‘cards’ that we have not yet used in this game.”

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov warned on Monday against a U.S. blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, saying it will likely hurt global trade markets.

“Most likely, such actions will continue to negatively impact international markets,” he said when asked to comment on President Trump’s announcement of a blockade on Iran’s ports and coastline. “This can be assumed with a high degree of certainty.”

Peskov told reporters: “Many details remain unclear and incomprehensible, so I would refrain from making any substantive comments at this time.”

The Strait of Hormuz is a chokepoint for shipments of oil, fertilizer and other vital goods. U.S. Central Command said on Sunday that the blockade will begin at 10 a.m. EDT on Monday.

CBS/AP

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Monday that Israel supports President Trump’s decision to impose a naval blockade on Iran, adding that his government is coordinating fully with Washington on the matter.

“Iran violated the rules (of the peace talks in Pakistan), President Trump decided to impose a naval blockade,” Netanyahu said at a cabinet meeting, according to a video statement released by his office.

“We, of course, support this firm position, and we are in constant coordination with the United States.”

Netanyahu also said Vice President JD Vance, who led the U.S. delegation to the weekend peace talks in Pakistan between the U.S. and Iran, updated him on those talks and “made it clear that the main issue is the removal of all (of Iran’s) enriched (nuclear) material and ensuring that there is no more enrichment.”

Netanyahu said he visited Israeli troops Sunday in the security zone they established in southern Lebanon separating it from Israel.

“Of course the fighting continues,” he said. “It has not stopped. It continues all the time. Yesterday and today, it was concentrated in Bint Jbeil” in southern Lebanon.

Strikes by Israel on Iran proxy-Hezbollah in Lebanon and by Hezbollah into Israel have become a key bone of contention in the Mideast war.

Negotiations between Israel and the Lebanese government are expected to begin Tuesday in Washington after a surprise announcement from Netanyahu’s office that he had authorized the talks. 

CBS/AFP

Iranian state TV released what appears to be Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-supplied footage Sunday depicting what’s described as a tense radio exchange between an Iranian IRGC naval station and a U.S. Navy destroyer near the Strait of Hormuz.

During the exchange, Iranian forces repeatedly ordered the U.S. warship to change course and warned that it would be targeted if it continued approaching, while claiming it was under surveillance by drones and naval assets. Excerpts of the exchange in English can be heard in the footage.

The U.S. vessel responded by issuing warnings of potential fire while maintaining its course.

The narration then shifts to Iranian commentary, claiming that missiles and drones were locked onto the vessel, an escort helicopter was forced to land, and that the U.S. ship ultimately complied and turned back toward the Indian Ocean.

The Iranian narrator frames the episode as evidence of a U.S. retreat, failed deterrence systems and successful Iranian control of the area.

Iran’s military has threatened to retaliate against the U.S.’s looming blockade of the Strait of Hormuz and Iranian ports.

“If the security of the ports of the Islamic Republic of Iran is threatened, no port in the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman will be safe,” a spokesperson for the Khatam al-Anbiya Central Command headquarters said Monday.

“As we have repeatedly said, vessels affiliated with the enemy do not and will not have the right to pass through the Strait of Hormuz,” they added.

On Sunday, a spokesperson for Iran’s parliamentary National Security and Foreign Policy Commission called the U.S. blockade threats a “bluff.”

“The claim that Trump has said he will begin a naval blockade of Iran is bluff rather than reality, because such a move would be considered an act of war and we would respond,” Ebrahim Rezaei wrote on X. “It would further complicate the situation he has already gotten himself into and would unsettle markets that are already reacting with anger, and we may also reveal other ‘cards’ that we have not yet used in this game.” 

“If you want the situation to improve,” he added, “respect Iranians, accept your defeat, and do not demand at the negotiating table what you failed to achieve in war.”

Oil prices once again rose above $100 per barrel on Monday after weekend U.S.-Iran peace talks failed to produce an agreement and President Trump announced blockades of the Strait of Hormuz and Iranian ports.

Brent crude, the international benchmark, hit $101.88 per barrel, while U.S. crude reached $104.69.

Oil prices spiked to nearly $120 per barrel earlier in the conflict but had come down last week in the hope that the peace talks would yield some stability. 

However, after those talks ended without a deal, Mr. Trump announced that the U.S. would blockade all ships entering and leaving Iranian ports and the Strait of Hormuz, in an effort to cut Iranian oil revenue. 

But the blockades appear set to push up prices at the pump for consumers around the world, with some experts predicting the price of a barrel could hit $110.

Around one-fifth of global oil and liquified natural gas moves through the Strait of Hormuz, making it one of the most important shipping lanes in the world — and perhaps Iran’s most important strategic lever in its ongoing conflict with the U.S. and Israel.

Read more here.

Pope Leo has responded to President Trump’s attack on him by saying he has “no intention to debate” Mr. Trump on Iran.

On Sunday, Mr. Trump lashed out at the pontiff on social media, calling him “WEAK on Crime, and terrible for Foreign Policy.”

“I don’t want a Pope who thinks it’s OK for Iran to have a Nuclear Weapon,” he added.

Leo had called Mr. Trump’s threat to wipe out Iranian civilization “truly unacceptable” and encouraged people to contact “political leaders … to ask them, tell them to work for peace.”

Speaking to journalists on the papal plane en route to Algeria for the start of his trip to Africa on Monday, Leo directly addressed Mr. Trump’s accusations.

“The things that I say are certainly not meant as attacks on anyone, and the message of the Gospel is very clear: ‘Blessed are the peacemakers,'” he said.

“I will not shy away from announcing the message of the Gospel, of inviting all people to look for ways of building bridges for peace and reconciliation, of looking for ways to avoid war any time that’s possible.”

“To put my message on the same plane as what the president has attempted to do here, I think is … not understanding what the message of the Gospel is, and I’m sorry to hear that. But I will continue on with what I believe is the mission of the church in the world,” he said.

“I am not a politician,” Leo added. “I have no intention to debate with [Mr. Trump]. The message is the same: to promote peace.”

Read more here.

The U.K. won’t take part in the planned U.S. blockade of Iran’s ports, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said Monday.

Speaking to BBC News, he said the U.K. was instead focused on getting the Strait of Hormuz — a shipping channel key to global oil and gas supplies — open again to reduce soaring energy prices “as quickly as possible.”

After marathon weekend talks between the U.S. and Iran ended without a peace deal, President Trump posted Sunday that the U.S. would begin “BLOCKADING any and all Ships trying to enter, or leave, the Strait of Hormuz.”

The blockade will include all vessels navigating to and from Iranian ports, including those in the Arabian Gulf and Gulf of Oman, according to the U.S. Central Command. 

Since the start of the war, Starmer has ruled out direct British military involvement.

Approximately one-fifth of the world’s oil and liquified natural gas passes through the strait, which Iran has largely cut off since US-Israeli strikes began pumeling the country on Feb. 28.

A senior Pakistani government official has confirmed to CBS News that Islamabad has intensified diplomatic efforts to bring Tehran and Washington back to the negotiating table.

Despite the lack of a breakthrough in the historic face-to-face round of talks over the weekend, Pakistani authorities say they remain cautiously optimistic about the prospects for continued engagement between both sides.

Notably, there appears to be an element of rebranding underway, with officials now increasingly referring to the “Islamabad Talks” as the “Islamabad Process,” a shift that suggests an effort to frame the engagement as an ongoing diplomatic track rather than a one-off meeting.

The top-level source also said Monday that Pakistan is in active contact with both Washington and Tehran, urging them to resume dialogue at the earliest opportunity. The primary objective is to reach a workable understanding before the current ceasefire — set to expire around April 22 — ends, in order to prevent a return to all-out-war. Efforts are now underway to facilitate a second round of talks within this narrow window.

According to the source, these diplomatic initiatives are being pursued under the direct instructions of Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Army Chief Field Marshal Asim Munir. Both played a key role in bringing the two sides together, were present at varying times throughout the 21-hours of inconclusive talks and have been working intensely to move the process forward.

CBS News has been told Pakistan is now waiting for responses from both the U.S. and Iran.

Read more here.

President Trump posted on Truth Social shortly after midnight EDT Monday: “The United States to Blockade Ships Entering or Exiting Iranian Ports on April 13 at 10:00 A.M. ET. Thank you for your attention to this matter! President DJT.”

Mr. Trump has also said the U.S. will blockade the Strait of Hormuz. Iran has been controlling traffic through the narrow waterway vital for shipping oil, fertilizer and other important goods, with only a fraction of the usual number of ships passing since the war began.

But the U.S. Central Command says the U.S. Navy won’t stop vessels heading through the strait to and from non-Iranian ports.

The U.S. moves would come after marathon talks in Islamabad over the weekend among U.S., Iranian and Pakistani negotiators failed to reach agreement on ending the Mideast war.

Iran’s military says a U.S. naval blockade set to begin Monday would be illegal and amount to piracy, warning that no Gulf ports would be safe if its own are threatened.

“The restrictions imposed by criminal America on maritime navigation and transit in international waters are illegal and constitute an example of piracy,” said a statement issued by the Iranian military’s central command center, Khatam Al-Anbiya, that was read on state television. 

“If the security of the Islamic Republic of Iran’s ports in the waters of the Persian Gulf and the Arabian Sea is threatened, no port in the Persian Gulf and the Arabian Sea will be safe,” it added. 

President Trump lashed out at Pope Leo XIV in a lengthy social media post Sunday night, calling the pontiff “WEAK on Crime, and terrible for Foreign Policy” adding, “I don’t want a Pope who thinks it’s OK for Iran to have a Nuclear Weapon.”

Leo has been critical of the war in Iran and has previously made statements at odds with other priorities of the Trump administration, such as the ongoing crackdown on illegal immigration.

Mr. Trump repeated several of his thoughts on Leo to reporters Sunday night after arriving back in Washington, D.C., saying, “We don’t like a pope who says it’s OK to have a nuclear weapon.”

Leo had called Mr. Trump’s threat to completely destroy Iranian civilization “truly unacceptable,” and encouraged people to “contact the authorities — political leaders, congressmen — to ask them, tell them to work for peace and to reject war, always.” 

On Saturday, while he did not mention Mr. Trump by name, Leo said during a prayer vigil for peace at St. Peter’s Basilica, “Enough with the idolatry of self and money! Enough with the display of force! Enough with war! True strength is manifested in serving life.”

Read more here.

Iranian authorities executed at least 1,639 people in 2025, the highest number since 1989, two non-governmental organizations said Monday, warning it risked using capital punishment even more extensively after protests in January and the war against Israel and the U.S.

The number of executions represented an increase of 68 percent from the 975 people Iran put to death in 2024 and included 48 women who were hanged, the Norway-based Iran Human Rights (IHR) and Paris-based Together Against the Death Penalty (ECPM) said in their annual joint report.

If the Islamic Republic “survives the current crisis, there is a serious risk that executions will be used even more extensively as a tool of oppression and repression,” the report said.

IHR — which requires two sources to confirm an execution, the majority of which are not reported in Iranian official media — said the figure represented an “absolute minimum” for the number of hangings in 2025.

The report said the number of executions was by far the highest since IHR began tracking it in 2008 and was the most reported since 1989, in the early years of the Islamic revolution.

The NGOs also warned that “hundreds of detained protesters remain at risk of death sentences and execution” after being charged with capital crimes over January 2026 protests against the authorities — quashed by a crackdown that rights groups say left thousands dead and tens of thousands arrested.

“By creating fear through an average of four to five executions per day in 2025, authorities tried to prevent new protests and prolong their crumbling rule,” said IHR director Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam.

Hours after President Trump claimed other countries would join the U.S. blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, a senior NATO military official told CBS News, “The U.K. is leading planning efforts of a coalition comprised of more than 40 nations from around the world, many of which are from NATO, to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and protect freedom of navigation.”

The official did not provide specific details on what that might look like, but said, “They are discussing what to do and when to do it, including the pre-positioning of assets now.”  

Mr. Trump has been highly critical of NATO throughout the war. He told reporters Sunday night, “I’m very disappointed in NATO, they weren’t there for us. We pay trillions of dollars for NATO, and they weren’t there for us.” 

Iranian parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf posted a map of gas stations near the White House, saying, “Enjoy the current pump figures.”

“With the so-called ‘blockade’, Soon you’ll be nostalgic for $4–$5 gas,” Qalibaf said on X.

As the situation in the Strait of Hormuz sends global energy costs skyrocketing, AAA reports the price of a gallon of regular has increased 40% since the day before the war with Iran began.

When asked in an interview with Fox News on Sunday if the price of oil and gas will be lower before the midterm elections in November, President Trump said: “It could be, or the same, or maybe a little bit higher, but it should be around the same.”

Vice President JD Vance landed back in Washington Sunday afternoon after a 56-hour Pakistan journey for high-level talks with Iran in Islamabad. No deal was reached during the talks.

He made phone calls from Air Force Two on his trip back from Pakistan, including to Israel’s ambassador to the U.S., according to a U.S. government official. 

The U.S. and Iran did not reach agreements on several of America’s red lines to end the war during the first round of negotiations, according to a U.S. official. 

The official said Iranian delegates could not agree on Iran ending uranium enrichment, dismantling major nuclear enrichment facilities, allowing the retrieval of its highly enriched uranium, accepting a framework for broader peace, security and deescalation that includes regional allies, ending funding for Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis, and fully opening the Strait of Hormuz without charging passage tolls.