War returns to Iran with Israel, US strikes

US Senator Tim Kaine says he has “serious constitutional concerns” that the White House may exceed the 60-day limit for military action in Iran without Congressional approval, Al Jazeera reports.

Speaking at a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing, Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth has been pressed on whether the Trump administration intends to seek authorisation.

Under the War Powers Act of 1973, a US president can wage war without Congress for only 60 days — a deadline the Iran conflict is set to hit tomorrow. Hegseth, however, said the fact that the US has reached a ceasefire with Iran gives the administration more time.

“We are in a ceasefire right now, which [in] our understanding means the 60-day clock pauses or stops in a ceasefire,” he tells the Senate committee.

Kaine has responded, “I do not believe the statute would support that.”

The US says that the 44th commercial vessel attempting to enter or exit Iranian ports had been redirected under its blockade, Anadolu reports.

“As of today, 44 commercial vessels have been directed to turn around or return to port,” Centcom says on X.

The Pentagon’s spending on its war with Iran could cover the UN’s entire 2026 aid appeal and bring lifesaving support to more than 87 million people, its aid chief tells AFP.

The US Department of War says it has spent $25 billion so far on the conflict in the Middle East, while the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has sought $23bn for this year’s aid appeal.

“I know what we could do with 25bn,” OCHA head Tom Fletcher tells AFP. “We have a direct comparison of what we can do with that money.”

The OCHA appeal target is “less than one per cent of what the world is spending on guns and arms and defence in the coming year,” he adds.

Fletcher says the war, and the resulting closure of the Strait of Hormuz, has doubled fuel prices and driven up food costs by 20pc.

“That makes our job much harder. But it also pushes more people into hunger and starvation,” he says.

Israeli warplanes have carried out air strikes on the town of Qlawiyah in Lebanon’s Bint Jbeil district, Al Jazeera reports citing Lebanon’s official National News Agency.

A convoy of vehicles was also hit in the town, killing one person, the report adds.

The latest casualties bring the total number of those killed by Israeli attacks in Lebanon today to at least 28, according to NNA reports.

FIFA President Gianni Infantino has announced that Iran will participate in this year’s World Cup, Al Jazeera reports.

The head of the international self-regulatory governing body of association football, in an address to FIFA’s Congress in Vancouver, says, “Let me start by the outset, confirming straightaway that of course Iran will be participating at the FIFA World Cup 2026.

“And of course, Iran will play the United States of America,” he adds.

Trump administration officials are in active conversations with members of Congress about congressional authorisation for the Iran war ahead of tomorrow’s deadline, US broadcaster CBS reports citing a White House official. 

Under the War Powers Resolution of 1973, the president has 48 hours to notify Congress after entering the US into new hostilities, then a 60-day clock begins. At the end of that 60-day period, the president must terminate the use of force without explicit congressional approval. The deadline is tomorrow (Friday). 

White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly says, “President Trump has been transparent with the Hill since before Operation Epic Fury began, and administration officials provided over 30 bipartisan briefings for members of Congress to keep them apprised of military updates.”

“The President’s preference is always diplomacy, and Iran wants to make a deal,” she adds.

Maritime shipping tracker MarineTraffic says that a “continued directional imbalance” was observed in the Strait of Hormuz over the past 24 hours, with all 12 verified crossings travelling west to east and “no eastbound return traffic” recorded.

Citing data from Kpler, MarineTraffic adds, “Transit volumes rose slightly from the previous day, suggesting stable but gradually strengthening activity, though still below peaks earlier in the month.”

An Israeli air strike on Jebchit in Lebanon’s Nabatieh district has killed four people and wounded nine others, Al Jazeera reports citing Lebanon’s National News Agency (NNA).

In a statement, the Ministry of Public Health says, “The Israeli enemy raid on the town of Jebchit in the Nabatieh district resulted in 4 martyrs, including two children and a woman, and 9 wounded, including 3 children and 4 women.”

The latest casualties bring the total number of those killed by Israeli attacks in Lebanon today to at least 27, according to NNA reports.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has assailed a naval blockade of his country’s ports by the United States, stating, “Continuation of this oppressive approach is intolerable.”

In a post on X, Pezeshkian says the world has witnessed Iran’s “tolerance and conciliation”.

“What is being done under the guise of a naval blockade is an extension of military operations against a nation paying the price for its resistance and independence,” he adds.

Lebanon’s National News Agency (NNA) is reporting yet another Israeli attack in southern Lebanon, this one in the town of Zebdin, Al Jazeera reports.

The drone attack has killed six people near the town’s cemetery, according to the agency.

Elsewhere, an Israeli raid has injured two people in the town of Dibbine, NNA says.

The latest casualties bring the total number of those killed by Israeli attacks in Lebanon today to at least 23, according to NNA’s reports.

US President Donald Trump faces a Friday deadline to end the war or make the case to Congress for extending it, according to Reuters.

Under the 1973 War Powers Resolution, the president can wage military action for only 60 days before ending it, coming to Congress for authorisation or seeking a 30-day extension due to “unavoidable military necessity regarding the safety of United States Armed Forces”.

Analysts and congressional aides expect Trump to either notify Congress that he plans a 30-day extension or disregard the deadline, with his administration arguing that a current ceasefire with Tehran marked an end to the conflict.

The Trump administration says it is seeking to loan up to 92.5 million barrels of crude from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) to energy companies as it aims to calm oil markets that have spiked due to the war with Iran, Reuters reports.

The US agreed in March to loan 172 million barrels from the SPR as part of a wider agreement with more than 30 countries in the International Energy Agency (IEA) to release about 400 million barrels to help relieve markets.

Until today, the US has offered 126 million barrels of crude in three batches, but oil companies have taken less than 80 million barrels or about 63 per cent of what was offered.

The new offer, if all of it is taken by oil companies, would fulfil the US goal to loan 172 million barrels.

Two members of the Iran delegation were permitted to be at the FIFA congress but chose not to attend after one was denied entry to Canada, a source with direct knowledge of the matter tells Reuters.

The Congress has opened at the Vancouver Convention Centre with no seats set up for Iran and only 210 out of the 211 members’ associations listed as present.

Hezbollah has introduced a new battlefield tactic against Israeli forces: deploying fibre-optic-guided drones that bypass electronic defences, marking a shift in the evolving conflict along the Lebanon border, Al Jazeera reports.

The small devices, connected to operators by ultra-thin cables, cannot be jammed like conventional drones. Their use mirrors tactics seen in Ukraine, where similar systems have proved difficult to counter.

Experts said the drones can fly low and approach targets undetected, posing a serious threat despite their size.

“If you know what you’re doing, it’s absolutely deadly,” Robert Tollast of the Royal United Services Institute tells The Associated Press.

Hezbollah has reportedly used the drones against Israeli troops in southern Lebanon and near the border, where traditional rockets and larger drones have been intercepted.

An Israeli air raid has killed a Lebanese soldier and several members of his family after targeting their home in Kfar Rumman, in the Nabatieh district, Al Jazeera reports citing Lebanon’s National News Agency.

The Lebanese Army has confirmed the deaths, describing the attacks as the result of a direct strike on a residential property.

Kenya will waive its fuel quality rules, the government announced Thursday, in an emergency measure to keep supplies running amid shortages caused by the Middle East war, AFP reports.

The east African country is heavily reliant on fuel imports from the Gulf and has been one of the most affected by the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz.

A request from the energy ministry and petrol suppliers “to temporarily waive the sulphur parameter to the maximum limit of 50mg/kg … for a period of six months” was approved by the Ministry of Investments, Trade and Industry, it says in a statement.

The measure is “intended to ensure continued fuel availability and sustain economic stability during the current period of global supply disruption”, it adds.

When asked about the cost of replacing munitions, repairing bases and injuries to US personnel, Pentagon Chief Financial Officer Jay Hurst has said it is “the hardest thing to estimate right now”.

“We don’t know what our future posture is going to be, or the future construction of those bases,” Hurst tells the Senate Armed Services Committee.

Senator Richard Blumenthal has expressed his dissatisfaction with the response and demanded a more accurate estimate.

“I think $25 billion is less than half, maybe less than a quarter of the total cost of the war … I think you owe it to the American people to give us the straight talk about wat the costs have been,” he says.

A US naval blockade of Iranian ports has shrunk Tehran’s oil exports, stranding a growing stockpile of crude on tankers as Iranian storage sites run out of space, shipping data showed and analysts said, according to Reuters.

With some vessels switching off tracking systems and US forces turning back Iranian tankers, how much crude Iran is delivering to customers, particularly its main customer China, is impossible to measure.

Just a handful of carriers carrying Iranian crude have left the Gulf of Oman between April 13-25, oil analytics firm Vortexa says. That’s down over 80 per cent from a comparable period in March, when Iran exported 23.4 million barrels, LSEG data shows.

“At this stage, we estimate that around 4 million barrels of Iranian crude has successfully moved out of the Gulf of Oman. We are not currently able to confirm whether any of those vessels have since been interdicted,” it says in an email to Reuters.

Read more here.

Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth has clashed with Democratic Senator Kirsten Gillibrand over the conduct of the war in Iran.

During a Senate hearing, the senator has grilled the war secretary over the lack of popular support for the war and the fact that it was not authorised by Congress.

“They have so many grave concerns over how this war is being prosecuted,” says Gillibrand, referring to the American public. “Why do you continue to prosecute a war the American people aren’t behind?”

Hegseth has replied by asking, “What is the cost of a nuclear-armed Iran?”

Israel’s defence ministry says the country has brought in 6,500 tonnes worth of military equipment, including air and ground munitions, in the last 24 hours, Al Jazeera reports.

In a Telegram post, the ministry says the equipment was brought in on two ships and several cargo planes before being driven to military bases throughout the country.

In a statement cited by the ministry, Defence Minister Israel Katz has said the deliveries are part of an effort to ensure Israel’s military has “all the means required” to “return to operating at full force against our enemies at any time and in any place required”.

When pressed about whether or not the US has achieved its military objectives in Iran, Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth insists that Washington is meeting its goals.

“Looking at the objectives we set out to achieve from the beginning … our military objectives have been stunningly effective,” Hegseth tells the Senate Armed Services Committee.

He claims that Iran’s defence industrial base is “incapable, at scale, at any level” of reconstituting its military capabilities.

“We have put the president in a very strong position to ensure that Iran does not get a nuclear weapon,” Hegseth adds.

While delivering his opening statement before the Senate Armed Services Committee, US War Secretary Pete Hegseth was interrupted by a protester in the public gallery, according to Reuters.

The protester could also be heard yelling, “What you’re doing is despicable”, and “You should be arrested.”

The Iran war is “supercharging” the world’s shift to renewable energy, as countries scramble to reduce their exposure to volatile oil and gas markets, Reuters reports quoting the UN climate secretary.

Early signs indicate that the US-Israeli war on Iran, which began two months ago, is speeding up some countries’ low-carbon transition. Demand for rooftop solar systems across Europe has surged, while countries including Pakistan have reported a jump in electric vehicle sales.

“Those who’ve fought to keep the world hooked on fossil fuels are inadvertently supercharging the global renewables boom,” says Simon Stiell, Executive Secretary of the UN’s climate secretariat UNFCCC.

“Renewables offer safer, cheaper, cleaner energy that can’t be held captive by narrow shipping straits, or global conflicts,” Stiell tells a meeting of government officials at the International Energy Agency in Paris.

However, the war has also prompted some nations to increase the use of highly polluting coal or furnace oil-based power generation as they struggle to replace gas from the Middle East.

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British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has accused Iran of wanting “to harm British Jews”, in the wake of the latest attack targeting the country’s Jewish community, AFP reports.

“We need stronger powers to tackle the malign threat posed by states like Iran, because we know for a fact that they want to harm British Jews,” he is quoted as saying in a statement delivered from Downing Street.