(2026-04-20). Vance has not yet left for Iran talks in Pakistan, source says. al-monitor.com WASHINGTON, April 20 (Reuters) – Vice President JD Vance is still in the United States and has not yet departed for Pakistan, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters, as prospects for a second round of negotiations with Iran remain unclear.President Donald Trump has said he would send a U.S. delegation to Pakistan for additional talks before a ceasefire is set to expire in the coming days. Iran is considering attending the peace talks, a senior Iranian official told Reuters on Monday, but no decision had been made.
(2026-04-20). Lebanon president says aiming to end hostilities with Israel talks. al-monitor.com Lebanese President Joseph Aoun said Monday that planned talks with Israel aim to end hostilities and the occupation in the south, even as Hezbollah and its supporters rejected the negotiations.Hezbollah lawmaker Hassan Fadlallah told AFP it was in Aoun's and Lebanon's "interest" to withdraw from the talks, however adding that his group also wanted a ceasefire to last.US President Donald Trump on Friday announced a 10-day truce pausing more than six weeks of war between Hezbollah and Israel.
(2026-04-20). Catholics finally splitting with Trump over Iran war and Israel. responsiblestatecraft.org In 2024, President Donald Trump handily beat Vice President Kamala Harris with Catholic voters by a 12-point margin.Almost a year-and-a-half into Trump's second term, he began attacking Pope Leo XIV, personally and aggressively. Then he shared an image depicting himself as Jesus Christ, days after his defense secretary called for war in the name of Jesus Christ. Between Trump's second inauguration in January 2025 and today, tensions have steadily grown between the president and the Catholic strain of his coalition. This relationship started ripping apart during Israel's brutal war against Gaza and is now shat…
(2026-04-20). Outrage as Trump disguises himself as Jesus Christ, mocks Pope. ummid.com A massive outrage erupted on Sunday April 12, 2026 — the Orthodox Easter Day, after U.S. President Donald Trump disguised himself as Jesus Christ and mocked Pope Leo XIV.
(2026-04-20). Mojtaba's 'mosquito boats' turn into Trump's nightmare in Hormuz Strait as US blockade 'flops' | Iran. hindustantimes.com Even as Donald Trump claimed Iran's navy was "obliterated," analysts warn a new threat is emerging in the Strait of Hormuz. Iran's IRGC has deployed a "mosquito fleet" of small, fast attack boats, drones, and coastal missiles that are cheap, agile, and hard to detect. These units have already disrupted shipping lanes, slowing global trade and raising insurance costs. Experts say Iran does not need to fully block Hormuz to exert pressure—just make it dangerous enough. With one-fifth of global oil flowing through the strait, even minor disruptions carry massive global consequences.
(2026-04-20). Trump: New deal with Iran will be better than old one. al-monitor.com WASHINGTON, April 20 (Reuters) – President Donald Trump said on Monday he believed a nuclear deal the U.S. is currently negotiating with Iran will be better than a 2015 international agreement to curb Tehran's nuclear program."The DEAL that we are making with Iran will be FAR BETTER than the JCPOA, commonly referred to as 'The Iran Nuclear Deal'," Trump wrote in a social media post after concerns expressed by Democrats and some nuclear experts that he is rushing negotiations on a highly complex topic.
(2026-04-20). 65 yrs after first one, Trump's 'Bay of Pigs' may take many forms. responsiblestatecraft.org Sixty-five long years after the Kennedy White House launched a CIA-led paramilitary invasion at the Bahia de Cochinos, the specter of that failed attack haunts the current crisis in US-Cuba relations. Almost daily the Trump administration has escalated its threats to once again use military force in an attempt to overthrow the Cuban government; the White House has now issued a directive to the Pentagon to be ready. "Military planning for a possible Pentagon-led operation in Cuba is quietly ramping up, in case President Donald Trump gives an order to intervene," USA Today reported just this week.Trump has give…
(2026-04-20). Trump threatens to bomb Iran's power plants and bridges after IRGC closes the Strait of Hormuz. wsws.org In Truth Social posts Saturday night and Sunday morning, Trump wrote that unless Iran accepts his terms, "the United States is going to knock out every single Power Plant, and every single Bridge, in Iran."
(2026-04-20). Confused closures and opaque openings: continuing dramas in the Hormuz Strait. onlineopinion.com.au The Strait of Hormuz isn't reopened, it's contested, armed and volatile. Trump's claims lasted barely a news cycle.
(2026-04-20). Pope Leo vs US President Donald Trump. ummid.com Pope Leo's sharp criticism of war, sectarian manipulation and the political misuse of religion has cast fresh attention on the narratives shaping the US-Israel confrontation with Iran.
(2026-04-20). Liberals need to reconsider loyalty to the American Alliance. onlineopinion.com.au The honour, respect, and support for the American Alliance has been greatly dissipated by Donald Trump's tariffs, the Iran war, and unconditional support for Israel.
(2026-04-20). Top Biden Official Supports Trump Iran Attack, Says Biden May Have Done The Same. truthout.org A top official from the Biden administration has said that he is supportive of President Donald Trump's attack on Iran from June of last year and suggested that Joe Biden may have done the same if he had been elected to a second term in office. Amos Hochstein, senior energy adviser to Biden within the State Department, said that the Biden administration had modeled similar scenarios to last… |
(2026-04-20). Tax the Corporations Cashing in on War. juancole.com By | ( This dynamic has been on full display since President Trump's attack on Iran. | Trump's invasion of one of the world's most oil…
(2026-04-20). US-Iran ceasefire: Iran rejects second round of negotiations accuses US of 'excessive demands, blame games'. ptcnews.tv US-Iran ceasefire: In a significant blow to the diplomatic efforts, Iran will skip the second round of negotiations with the US in Pakistan, state media reported. | The development came hours after US President Donald Trump said American negotiators would be in Islamabad on Monday, kindling hopes of a breakthrough before the ceasefire expires on April 22. | The hope to bring a breakthrough as ceasefire nears its expiration, faded away after Tehran confirmed its absence from the talks, blaming Washington's "excessive demands, unrealistic expectations, constant shifts in stance, repeated contradictions", and an on…
(2026-04-20). Pakistan confident Iran will attend US talks, senior Pakistani government source says. al-monitor.com April 20 (Reuters) – Pakistan is confident it can get Iran to attend talks with the United States, a senior Pakistani government official told Reuters on Monday. "We have received a positive signal from Iran. Things are fluid but we are trying that they should be here when we start the talks tomorrow or a day after," the source said, speaking on condition of anonymity. The source added Pakistan is actively engaged with Tehran and Washington as U.S. President Donald Trump's ceasefire deadline looms.
(2026-04-20). Trump blockade of Iran hampering efforts to resume talks. en.mehrnews.com TEHRAN, Apr. 20 (MNA) — Pakistan's army chief has told US President Donald Trump that continued US naval blockade of Iranian ports is hampering Islamabad's efforts to mediate a second round of negotiations between Iran and the United States.
(2026-04-20). Failed diplomacy and America's strategic retrenchment in Iran. en.mehrnews.com TEHRAN, Apr. 20 (MNA) — Donald Trump's failed diplomacy and empty threats against Iran changed nothing. America's Iran misadventure exposed the growing gap between hegemonic ambition and strategic reality.
(2026-04-20). Stormont pumps money into ICE surveillance tech. thecanary.co 
Invest Northern Ireland (Invest NI), Stormont's business development agency, has been ploughing funds into a software company making spying tools for Trump's Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) thugs. An investigation by the Belfast Telegraph revealed how Belfast-based Nisos make a range of programmes that can potentially be used to violate human rights. Nisos is a […] | By
(2026-04-20). Susan Watkins: Trump Abroad. newleftreview.org In which direction is America heading, amid the strategic cacophony of Trump's second term—counter-revolution in the Caribbean, onslaught on Iran, somersaults on China? Analysis of the political logics at stake as the US ratchets up from covert to overt assassinations; from wars of attrition to wars of overthrow.
(2026-04-20). Nausicaa Renner: Party and Class. newleftreview.org Nausicaa Renner on Paul Heideman, Rogue Elephant. Hollowed-out parties and capitalist sectoralization said to underlie the Trumpian capture of the GOP.
(2026-04-20). Rohana Kuddus: Prabowo's Year One. newleftreview.org A critical-analytical portrait of Southeast Asia's answer to Trump, as the Indonesian President—formerly the Suharto dictatorship's crown prince and chief butcher in East Timor—re-centralizes power in the archipelago, strengthening the Army's place within the civil administration.
(2026-04-20). The state of solar: Despite partisan rhetoric, the industry is still booming. grist.org 
The future looked dire for renewable energy in the United States last spring. Republicans in Congress started gutting the Inflation Reduction Act, forcing its generous tax credits for wind and solar into an early retirement. The Interior Department then
(2026-04-20). Tomgram: Liz Theoharis, Supreme Horror? warisacrime.org This article originally appeared at TomDispatch.com. To receive TomDispatch in your inbox three times a week, click here. TomDispatch authors don't usually have much in common with Donald J. Trump, but here's an exception. TomDispatch regular Liz Theoharis recently visited the Supreme Court to hear a case on immigrant asylum that her organization, the Kairos Center, …
(2026-04-20). Restoring capabilities: Iran's Trump card in war of attrition. en.mehrnews.com TEHRAN, Apr. 20 (MNA) — The war of attrition doesn't ask who strikes first. It asks who rebuilds fastest. Iran's answer is changing the balance before a possible next round of confrontation begins.
(2026-04-20). The Trump administration wants to take an ax to the East's last great forests. grist.org 
When most people think about national forests, they imagine vast Western landscapes: Alaska, the Rockies, the Pacific Northwest. But millions of acres of federal woodlands dot the eastern half of the country, too. These great swaths of vibrant ecosystems have long been free of roads, protected by a policy called, appropriately enough, the "roadless rule." | That may soon change. | Adopted in 2001 during the final days of the Clinton administration,