Key ReadsIsrael issues more forced evacuation orders for towns and villages in southern Lebanon<\/p>\n
The Israeli military has ordered residents of towns and villages in southern Lebanon to evacuate immediately \u201cby a distance of at least 1,000 meters to open areas\u201d in advance of attacks on these areas.<\/p>\n
The affected towns and villages are: Arzun, Tayr Debba, al-Bazouriyeh and al-Hawsh, according to a social media post by the IDF\u2019s Arabic-language spokesperson, Avichay Adraee.<\/p>\n
The IDF claims the attacks are being launched due to Hizbullah, the Iranian backed Lebanese militant group, violating the US-mediated ceasefire agreement Israel signed with the Lebanese state in mid April.<\/p>\n
The attack have sparked criticism from international law experts, who say many of Israel\u2019s warnings are inconsistent and often open-ended and leading to the slaughter of innocent people.<\/p>\n
In a new update, the Lebanese health ministry said since March 2nd, Israeli attacks have killed at least 2,869 people, including many women and children.<\/p>\n
More than one million people have already been displaced by the conflict.<\/p>\n
![\"Smoke](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/HPXJBJZH72ZWP7K5DOOFTH26GI.jpg\")
Smoke rising from the site of an Israeli airstrike that targeted the area of Ras Al-Ain on Tuesday. Israel has intensified its attacks in south Lebanon. Photograph: Kawnat Haju\/AFP\/Getty Images Iran war unpopular in US as fuel prices rise<\/p>\n
In the US, surveys show the war is unpopular with US voters who are paying more for fuel less than six months before nationwide elections that will determine whether Trump\u2019s Republican Party retains control of Congress.<\/p>\n
Two out of three US adults, including one in three Republicans and \u200calmost all Democrats, think Trump has \u2060not clearly explained why the country has gone to war, according to a Reuters\/Ipsos poll completed on Monday. <\/p>\n
Washington has also struggled to build international support, with Nato allies refusing to send ships to reopen the waterway without a full peace deal and an internationally \u200cmandated mission.<\/p>\n
In separate statements on Monday, the state department said US secretary of state Marco Rubio held separate calls with his Australian and British counterparts to discuss \u201congoing efforts to restore freedom of navigation in \u200bthe Strait of Hormuz.\u201d It did not elaborate.<\/p>\n
Oil prices continue to rise<\/p>\n
Brent crude oil prices extended gains in early Asian trade on Tuesday, climbing above $104.50 \u200ca \u200cbarrel, \u200bas the deadlock left the Strait of Hormuz largely closed, Reuters reports.<\/p>\n
Before the war began on February 28th, the narrow waterway carried one-fifth of the world\u2019s oil and liquefied natural gas shipments, and has since become a central pressure point in \u2060the conflict.<\/p>\n
Disruption caused by the near-closure of the strait has forced \u200boil producers to cut exports, and Opec oil output dropped further in April \u200bto the lowest in more than two decades, a Reuters survey showed on Monday. <\/p>\n
The United States on Monday imposed new sanctions on individuals and companies it said \u200cwere helping Iran ship oil to China, part of efforts \u200bto cut off funding for Tehran\u2019s military and nuclear programs, while also warning banks about attempts to evade existing curbs.<\/p>\n
Traffic through Strait of Hormuz slows to a trickle<\/p>\n
Traffic through the Strait of Hormuz is at a trickle compared with before the war. Shipping data on Kpler and LSEG showed that three tankers laden with crude exited the waterway last week, with trackers switched off to avoid an Iranian attack. <\/p>\n
A second Qatari LNG tanker was attempting to transit the strait, the data showed, days after the first such cargo crossed under an arrangement involving Iran and Pakistan. <\/p>\n
Hakan Fidan, the foreign minister of Turkey, which has been liaising \u200bclosely with the US, Iran and mediator Pakistan since the start of the war, will hold talks in Qatar on Tuesday on the conflict and on ensuring navigational safety in the strait, a Turkish diplomatic source said. – Reuters <\/p>\n
Peace deal on \u2018life support\u2019 – Trump<\/p>\n
Hopes for a peace deal on Iran faded on Tuesday after Donald Trump said a ceasefire with \u200cIran was \u201con life support\u201d as Tehran rejected a US proposal to end the conflict and stuck to a list of demands the US president described as \u201cgarbage\u201d. Iran has called for an end \u200bto the war on all fronts, including Lebanon, where US ally Israel is fighting Iran-backed Hezbollah militants. Tehran also emphasized its sovereignty over the Strait of Hormuz, demanded compensation for war damage, and an end to the US naval blockade, among other conditions. Trump said Iran\u2019s response threatened the status of a ceasefire that began on April 7th.<\/p>\n
\u201cI would call it the weakest right now, \u200bafter reading that piece of garbage they sent us. I didn\u2019t even finish reading it,\u201d Trump, who has repeatedly threatened to end the ceasefire, told reporters.<\/p>\n
Trump is expected to arrive \u2060in Beijing on Wednesday, where Iran is set to be among \u2060the topics discussed with Chinese president Xi \u200bJinping. – Reuters <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Main Points US president Donald Trump says the ceasefire with Iran is \u201con massive life support\u201d He pointed…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":480616,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[6222,9,10,356,13,14,6,18929,71,45036,11,12,14407,15,16,5,9951,168834,7,8,107,65,66,67],"class_list":{"0":"post-480615","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world","8":"tag-binyamin-netanyahu","9":"tag-breaking-news","10":"tag-breakingnews","11":"tag-donald-trump","12":"tag-featured-news","13":"tag-featurednews","14":"tag-headlines","15":"tag-iran","16":"tag-israel","17":"tag-israel-iran-conflict","18":"tag-latest-news","19":"tag-latestnews","20":"tag-lebanon","21":"tag-main-news","22":"tag-mainnews","23":"tag-news","24":"tag-oil","25":"tag-strait-of-hormuz","26":"tag-top-stories","27":"tag-topstories","28":"tag-us","29":"tag-world","30":"tag-world-news","31":"tag-worldnews"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/116560843021951434","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/480615","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=480615"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/480615\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/480616"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=480615"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=480615"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=480615"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}