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🇺🇸🇮🇷 BREAKING: The Pentagon has approved deploying a Marine Expeditionary Unit of up to about 2,500 Marines to the Middle East after a request from CENTCOM, as Iran intensifies attacks around the Strait of Hormuz, according to WSJ.
Even with the additional warships, the U.S. wouldn't begin escorting any vessels through the Strait of Hormuz until the threat from Iran is reduced.
🇺🇸🇮🇷 NEW: The Pentagon is considering sending additional warships to the Middle East in preparation to escort oil tankers through the Strait of Hormuz, according to the WSJ, citing two U.S. officials.
Israel says it has carried out over 1,100 strikes in Lebanon, targeting Radwan Force positions, missile launchers, command centers, and buildings used by Hezbollah, and claims more than 380 Hezbollah and allied fighters have been killed.
🇮🇱🇱🇧 The IDF is reinforcing forces in northern Israel as fighting with Hezbollah intensifies.
Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir ordered a major troop buildup, including units from the 98th Division, while reservists from the 252nd Division will replace them in Gaza.
🇺🇸🇮🇷🕊 BREAKING: A U.S. official told Al Jazeera that 14 American personnel have died since the beginning of the war against Iran, including one soldier who died in a "non-combat incident."
🇮🇱🇱🇧 An Israeli airstrike also struck the Al-Rahabat district in the city of Nabatieh, southern Lebanon.
🇮🇱🇱🇧 An Israeli airstrike struck the Al-Midan neighborhood in Nabatieh, southern Lebanon.
🇮🇱🇱🇧 Destruction in Al-Ghaziyah, southern Lebanon, as a result of an Israeli airstrike.
🇺🇸🇮🇶 BREAKING: U.S. Central Command announces the death of all six crew members aboard the U.S. KC-135 refueling aircraft that crashed in western Iraq yesterday.
An investigation is underway, while the military notes that the loss of the aircraft was not due to hostile fire or friendly fire.
Shari’at was a low-profile or “shadow” figure whose identity had not been publicly known in Iran.
Israel is now assessing whether the attack may have eliminated a large portion of the army’s intelligence leadership.
🇮🇱🇮🇷 Israeli officials are checking whether a strike in Tehran killed Amir Shari’at, believed to be the head of the Iranian army’s intelligence, along with his deputy and several other senior officers, Kan News reports.
🇦🇪🇮🇷 Alerts warning of an Iranian attack have been sent to residents of Dubai.
🇱🇧🇮🇱 Lebanese President Joseph Aoun: I have expressed my readiness to negotiate, but so far we have not received a response from the other party.
However, there is no guarantee the talks will progress, and EU navies are not prepared to escort ships without a "permissible environment."
🇫🇷🇮🇹🇪🇺🇮🇷 FT: France and Italy have opened discussions with Tehran aimed at securing safe passage for their ships through the Strait of Hormuz.
Shipments through the chokepoint are negligible after Iranian attacks and a vow by the new supreme leader to keep it closed.
He told the leaders "we need to finish the job" to avoid another war with Iran in five years.
G7 leaders, deeply concerned over the war's economic fallout, urged Trump to end the conflict quickly and secure the strait.
Trump was "ambiguous and noncommittal" on his objectives and timeline, with some participants believing he wants to wind it down while others felt the opposite.
He claimed to have "got rid of a cancer that was threatening us all" and suggested there were no officials left alive in Tehran with the power to make that decision, stating:
"Nobody knows who is the leader, so there is no one that can announce surrender."
🇺🇸🇪🇺🇬🇧🇫🇷🇩🇪 Axios: U.S. President Donald Trump told G7 leaders during a virtual meeting on Wednesday that Iran is "about to surrender."
Asked about helping oil tankers pass through the key shipping strait, Trump said:
"We would do it if we needed to. But, you know, hopefully things are going to go very well."
🇺🇸🇮🇷 U.S. President Donald Trump said the United States would escort vessels through the Strait of Hormuz if needed, adding in a Fox News interview that the US plans to strike Iran "very hard over the next week."
A Trump adviser said:
"He is allowing the hawks to believe the campaign continues, wants markets to believe the war might end soon and his base to believe escalation will be limited."
Trump is juggling competing narratives—allowing hawks to believe the campaign continues while signalling to markets it may end soon.
Political aides urge Trump to define victory narrowly and signal the operation is limited, sources said.
A third faction presses him to avoid another prolonged Middle East conflict.
🇺🇸🇮🇷 Reuters: A White House tug‑of‑war is driving U.S. President Donald Trump's shifting statements on the Iran war, as aides debate when to declare victory.
Economic advisers warn surging gas prices could exact a political cost, while hawks urge sustained military pressure.
Vance, who has long questioned U.S. military interventions due to his experience in Iraq, worried about the chances of success and opposed the war initially. However, officials say that once Trump made the decision, Vance supported the administration’s policy publicly.
🇺🇸🇮🇷 Vice President JD Vance was privately skeptical about launching U.S. strikes on Iran before President Trump decided to begin the war, according to POLITICO, citing two senior administration officials.
🇫🇷🇮🇹🇮🇷 NEW: Italy and France have initiated talks with Iran in hope of allowing their tankers safe transit through the Strait of Hormuz, according to FT.
🇧🇷 Brazil's ex-president Jair Bolsonaro was hospitalized after he fainted in prison.
