US eases sanctions on Iranian oil as Trump claims he is considering ‘winding down’ the war

Several Nato members and other US-allied nations have pledged to join “appropriate efforts to ensure safe passage” through the strait of Hormuz.

But the joint statement from the leaders of more than a dozen nations – including the UK, France, Germany, Japan, Canada, South Korea, Sweden and Bahrain – did not provide details on how they would do this.

That followed a recent bashing by Donald Trump, who called alliance members “cowards” for not wanting “to help open” the strait of Hormuz, as you can read in our latest summary of Trump administration news amid the Iran war.

The Nato allies’ pledges comes as the US is reportedly preparing to send three more warships and thousands more troops to the Middle East.

But at the same time, as mentioned, Trump said was considering “winding down” the US war on Iran. As for a ceasefire? The president said no thanks.

“Look, we can have dialogue but I don’t want to do a ceasefire,” Trump told reporters on Friday. “You don’t do a ceasefire when you’re literally obliterating the other side.”

The full summary’s here:

The Israeli military says it is now attacking Hezbollah targets in Beirut.

It made the announcement in a short post on social media, after warning residents in the Lebanese capital’s southern suburbs hours earlier to evacuate immediately.

In that warning, the Israeli military’s Arabic-language spokesperson listed seven neighbourhoods in the southern area, which is a stronghold of the Iran-backed Lebanese militant group.

Avichay Adraee said in the post:

The Defense Army continues its operations and strikes against military infrastructure belonging to the terrorist Hezbollah in various parts of the suburbs with increasing force.

Lebanese state media is saying the death of one person and the wounding of two others came after an Israeli airstrike hit a house in a southern town early on Saturday.

“Israeli fighter jets launched a heavy strike at dawn on a house in the town of Ghandouriyeh … resulting in one martyr and two wounded people who were pulled from under the rubble,” said Lebanon’s official National News Agency, cited by Agence France-Presse.

Israeli strikes have killed one person and wounded two in south Lebanon, state media is being quoted as saying.

We’ll have more on this soon.

Saudi Arabia has intercepted and destroyed 10 drones in its eastern region, the defence ministry is saying on social media.

The ministry said a while earlier that it had intercepted six drones in the east.

In the previous couple of hours the United Arab Emirates’ defence ministry said it was responding to missile and drone attacks from Iran.

Kuwait’s army also said it was also “confronting hostile missile and drone attacks”.

The US treasury has authorised the purchase of some Iranian oil that is already at sea, exempting buyers from its own sanctions.

The sanctions licence permits the purchase of oil from Iran if it was loaded on to a vessel by 12.01am ET (5.01am GMT) on Friday. The exemption runs until 19 April.

The licence aims to stem the surge in oil prices caused by the US-Israeli war on Iran.

The move had been telegraphed earlier this week by US treasury secretary Scott Bessent, who told Fox Business Network’s Mornings With Maria: “In the coming days, we may un-sanction the Iranian oil that’s on the water. It’s about 140m barrels.”

“That’s about 10 days to two weeks of supply that the Iranians had been pushing out that would have all gone to China,” he added.

In essence, we will be using the Iranian barrels against the Iranians to keep the price down for the next 10 to 14 days as we continue this campaign.

United Airlines chief executive, Scott Kirby, has said the airline will cancel about 5% of this year’s planned flights in the short term, as the escalating war in the Middle East causes jet fuel prices to soar.

“If prices stayed at this level, it would mean an extra $11bn in annual expense just for jet fuel,” Kirby said in a message to employees, according to Reuters.

The airline’s current plan is to restore its full flight schedule this fall, Kirby added.

Missiles have been launched from Iran towards Israel, the IDF has said in the past few minutes.

“Defensive systems are operating to intercept the threat,” it said in a statement on Telegram.

It urged residents to follow instructions issued by Israel’s Home Front Command, which “has sent a precautionary directive directly to mobile phones in the relevant area”.

Several more countries on Friday joined leading European nations, Japan and Canada in signing a joint statement saying they were ready to join appropriate efforts to ensure safe passage through the strait of Hormuz and would take steps to stabilise energy markets (though they do not specify what this means in practice).

This is the full text of the statement from Britain, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Japan, Canada, Republic of Korea, New Zealand, Denmark, Latvia, Slovenia, Estonia, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Czech Republic, Romania, Bahrain and Lithuania:

We condemn in the strongest terms recent attacks by Iran on unarmed commercial vessels in the Gulf, attacks on civilian infrastructure including oil and gas installations, and the de facto closure of the Strait of Hormuz by Iranian forces.

We express our deep concern about the escalating conflict. We call on Iran to cease immediately its threats, laying of mines, drone and missile attacks and other attempts to block the Strait to commercial shipping, and to comply with UN Security Council Resolution 2817.
Freedom of navigation is a fundamental principle of international law, including under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.

The effects of Iran’s actions will be felt by people in all parts of the world, especially the most vulnerable.

Consistent with UNSC Resolution 2817, we emphasise that such interference with international shipping and the disruption of global energy supply chains constitute a threat to international peace and security.

In this regard, we call for an immediate comprehensive moratorium on attacks on civilian infrastructure, including oil and gas installations.

We express our readiness to contribute to appropriate efforts to ensure safe passage through the Strait. We welcome the commitment of nations who are engaging in preparatory planning.

We welcome the International Energy Agency decision to authorise a coordinated release of strategic petroleum reserves.

We will take other steps to stabilise energy markets, including working with certain producing nations to increase output.

We will also work to provide support for the most affected nations, including through the United Nations and the IFIs (International Financial Institutions).
Maritime security and freedom of navigation benefit all countries.

We call on all states to respect international law and uphold the fundamental principles of international prosperity and security.

Moments ago Saudi Arabia’s defence ministry said in an update that it had intercepted and destroyed six drones in the country’s eastern region.

In the last couple of hours, the UAE defence ministry said it was responding to missile and drone attacks from Iran, while Kuwait’s army said it was also “confronting hostile missile and drone attacks”.

In a post on X a short while ago, the IDF’s Arabic-language spokesperson, Avichay Adraee, called on residents of Beirut’s southern suburbs to “evacuate immediately”, saying the Israeli military will target what it described as infrastructure belonging to Hezbollah.

He specified that the neighbourhoods of Haret Hreik, Ghobeiry, Laylaki, Hadath, Burj al-Barajneh, Tahwitat al-Ghadir and Chiyah are under threat of attack.

Israel has repeatedly launched deadly strikes on Beirut’s densely populated southern suburbs since its renewed offensive of Lebanon that began on 2 March – killing over 1,000 people, including at least 118 children, wounding over 2,500 others, and displacing over a million.

Donald Trump has said the US is “getting very close to meeting our objectives” and is considering “winding down” its war on Iran .

He repeated his claim that the US doesn’t use the strait of Hormuz, and so other nations who do will have to “guard and police” it. This is after US-Israeli attacks on Iran prompted Tehran to target vessels in one the world’s most vital shipping lanes.

The US will help “if asked” but that “shouldn’t be necessary”, he said in a post on Truth Social, saying it would be “an easy Military Operation” for those countries.

We are getting very close to meeting our objectives as we consider winding down our great Military efforts in the Middle East with respect to the Terrorist Regime of Iran.

The Hormuz Strait will have to be guarded and policed, as necessary, by other Nations who use it — The United States does not! If asked, we will help these Countries in their Hormuz efforts, but it shouldn’t be necessary once Iran’s threat is eradicated. Importantly, it will be an easy Military Operation for them.

• Donald Trump continued to make his disappointment with the British government known, saying the UK “should have acted a lot faster” in allowing the US military to use its bases in the Middle East. “I was a little surprised at the UK, to be honest with you. They should have acted a lot faster,” he told reporters as he departed the White House.

• Earlier, Downing Street approved US use of its bases “for the collective self-defence of the region”, including “defensive operations” degrading Iranian missile sites targeting ships in the strait of Hormuz. Britain had previously only allowed US forces to use its bases for operations to prevent Iran firing missiles that put British interests or lives at risk. Downing Street maintained that the UK will still not be directly involved in the strikes and insisted that “the principles behind the UK’s approach to the conflict remain the same”.

• Iran’s foreign minister Abbas Araghchi said the British prime minsiter Keir Starmer “is putting British lives in danger by allowing UK bases to be used for aggression against Iran”. “Iran will exercise its right to self-defense,” he added.It followed the UK’s foreign secretary Yvette Cooper saying she warned Araghchi in a phone call on Thursday “against targeting UK bases, territory or interests directly”. Iran’s foreign ministry had earlier said the US use of British military bases for attacks would amount to the UK’s “participation in aggression”.

• Araghchi also accused the Trump administration of being “detached from reality” as it continues to insist that it is winning the war against Iran. Comparing Washington’s rhetoric to that of the US government during the Vietnam war, he said: “US government says one thing, reality says another.”

• Donald Trump also ruled out a ceasefire with Iran, after claiming the war was “militarily won”. “You don’t do a ceasefire when you’re literally obliterating the other side,” he said. He also said the US was “roaming free” in Iran, adding, “they’re finished” militarily.

• Asked if he thinks Israel will be ready to end the war when he’s ready, Trump said: “I think so, yeah.” The relationship is “a very good one”, he said, adding that, “more of less, we want similar things. We want victory, both of us, and that’s what we’ve got.” It comes amid increasing evidence that the US and Israel aren’t aligned on their war aims and how to proceed with their operation against Tehran.

• Trump also reiterated his criticism of Nato – whose members he earlier branded “cowards” – adding that “a lot of help” would be needed to secure the strait of Hormuz and that “it would be nice” if countries that use the strait, like China and Japan, would “get involved” in reopening the vital waterway.

From restaurant closures in the Philippines and petrol rationing in Sri Lanka, to Asian food production crises due to fertiliser shortages, my colleagues explore how the effects of the US-Israeli war on Iran are reverberating around the world.

Asked about the UK government’s decision to allow the US military to use UK bases in the Middle East to strike targets in defensive operations, Trump continued to make his disappointment known:

Well, it’s been a very late response.

A surprise, because the relationship is so good, but this has never happened before.

They were really pretty much our first ally all over the world, first ally, and they didn’t want us to use the island, the so-called island, which for some reason they gave up rights to it.

I was a little surprised at the UK, to be honest with you. They should have acted a lot faster.

Asked about the end of the war, Trump said:

Look we can have dialogue but I don’t want to do a ceasefire. You don’t do a ceasefire when you’re literally obliterating the other side.

Asked about reopening the strait of Hormuz to allow crucial oil and gas shipments, Trump reiterated his criticism of Nato saying they “haven’t had the courage to do so”, before adding:

We don’t use [the strait]. At a certain point, it will open itself.

He added that “a lot of help” would be needed to secure the strait and that “it would be nice” if countries that use the strait, like China and Japan, would “get involved”.

Donald Trump has been speaking to reporters outside the White House before he departs for his Mar-a-Lago residence in Palm Beach, Florida, for the weekend.

Asked if he thinks Israel will be ready to end the war when he’s ready, he said: “I think so, yeah.”

The relationship is “a very good one”, he said, adding that, “more of less, we want similar things. We want victory, both of us, and that’s what we’ve got.”

Asked if he has a plan for Kharg Island, he said:

I may have a plan, I may not, but how would I ever say that to a reporter … It is certainly a place that people are talking about.

Asked what he meant when he said the war was militarily won in Iran, he said the US was “roaming free” in Iran and “they’re finished” militarily.

More from Abbas Araghchi, who also said today that the UK prime minsiter Keir Starmer “is putting British lives in danger” by allowing the US to use British bases in its war on Iran.

“Vast majority of the British People do not want any part in the Israel-U.S. war of choice on Iran,” the Iranian foreign minister wrote on X. “Ignoring his own People, Mr. Starmer is putting British lives in danger by allowing UK bases to be used for aggression against Iran. Iran will exercise its right to self-defense.”

As I reported earlier, this follows the UK’s foreign secretary Yvette Cooper saying she warned Araghchi in a phone call on Thursday “against targeting UK bases, territory or interests directly”.

It came after Iran’s foreign ministry said the US use of British military bases for attacks would amount to the UK’s “participation in aggression”.