Here's the latest
• Defense hearing: US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth slammed opposition to the Iran war during a congressional hearing today, describing lawmakers who criticize the effort as “the biggest adversary.” The hearing marks the first time he has testified since the conflict began and comes as the White House is seeking roughly $1.5 trillion for its defense budget.
• US blockade: US President Donald Trump and some of his top aides met with energy executives at the White House yesterday to discuss measures that could be taken to continue the blockade of Iranian ports for months, if needed, and how to limit the effects on consumers, White House officials told CNN.
• Peace talks: Pakistan could receive Iran’s revised peace proposal by Friday, sources say, as Trump responded to the current deadlock in peace talks by warning Iran “better get smart soon,” posting a mocked-up image of himself on his Truth Social platform holding a gun.
• Trump-Putin call: Trump and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin discussed the Iran ceasefire and other topics in a 1.5 hour call. Trump said afterwards that Putin had offered to help with Iran’s uranium stockpiles.
Iranian oil minister urges energy conservation amid US naval blockade
Iranian Oil Minister Mohsen Paknejad urged the public to cut consumption, calling “conservation and saving” a general principle “and a religious duty,” as he dismissed the impact of the US naval blockade.
“The enemy will achieve nothing through a naval blockade of Iran,” Paknejad said, according to Iranian official media on Wednesday.
He said there was “no worry” about the steady supply and distribution of fuel, adding that oil industry personnel are working around the clock to prevent any disruption in services.
“We saw during the war that many countries resorted to managing and reducing consumption due to fuel shortages,” Paknejad added.
The Iranian government has already started taking measures to avoid possible shortages of fuel and goods. Las week it launched a broad energy-conservation campaign amid the blockade, Iranian media outlets reported.
Government offices across Iran have been instructed to cut electricity use by up to 70% after 1 p.m., while households are being encouraged to reduce consumption with incentives such as discounts on electricity bills for those who lower their usage.
Trump says negotiations to end war with Iran are happening “telephonically”
President Donald Trump said Wednesday that negotiations to end the war with Iran are happening “telephonically,” lamenting the long travel required to send a delegation to Islamabad as talks have yet to bring an end to hostilities.
“We have talks, we’re having talks with them now, and we’re not flying anymore with 18-hour flights every time we want to see a piece of paper,” the president said in remarks from the Oval Office.
“We’re doing it telephonically, and it’s very nice. I make a call, or I have my people make a call, and you know the answer in 15 — I always like face to face, you know, I consider it better,” he continued. “But when you have to fly 18 hours every time you want to have a meeting, and you know what the meeting is all about, and you know they’re going to give you a piece of paper that you don’t like before you even leave, it’s ridiculous, and they’ve come a long way.”
Pakistan could receive Iran’s revised peace proposal by Friday, sources say. Trump has responded to the current deadlock in peace talks by warning Iran “better get smart soon,” posting a mocked-up image of himself on his Truth Social platform Wednesday morning holding a gun.
“The question is whether or not they’re going to go far enough, so at this moment, there will never be a deal unless they agree that there will be no nuclear weapons,” Trump added from the Oval Office.
Trump tells CNN Iran and Ukraine wars could end “on a similar timetable”
President Donald Trump told CNN Wednesday that wars in Iran and Ukraine could end “on a similar timetable,” following a conversation he had with Russian president Vladimir Putin.
“I think Ukraine, militarily, they’re defeated,” Trump said, appearing to misspeak when he meant to refer to Iran.
“You wouldn’t know that by reading the fake news, but militarily, maybe look, there are 159 ships – every ship is right now under water, typically, that’s pretty good… it’d be hard for them to make a naval comeback now,” he continued. “Do you think they’re doing well, where they have no navy, no air force, no anti-aircraft apparatus?”
Trump had previously forecast the Iran war, which the US launched on Feb. 28, to last four to six weeks. The Ukraine war has been underway since 2022, and there is no end in sight.
Earlier in the remarks, Trump said he talked “a little bit about Iran” with the Russian president, but Thursday’s call was mostly “about Ukraine.”
“I think we’re going to come up with a solution relatively quickly,” he said. ”I hope, I think, we’d like to see a solution that’s good.”
Trump says Putin offered to help with Iran's uranium stockpiles in phone call
President Donald Trump says his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin offered to assist in the war with Iran during a telephone call Wednesday, specifically in relation to enriched uranium.
“He would like to be of help. I said, before you help me, I want to end your war,” Trump told CNN’s Kaitlan Collins in the Oval Office.
Earlier, Trump said the conversation with Putin was “very good,” and that a solution to the conflict in Ukraine would come “relatively quickly.”
“He told me he’d like to be involved with the enrichment. He can help us get it,” Trump said.
Moscow has previously proposed taking control of Iran’s stockpile of enriched uranium, mirroring its role in the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.
Trump on Wednesday did not explicitly rule out Iran shipping its uranium to Russia, but suggested he was more interested in resolving the Ukraine war.
“I’ve known him a long time. I think he was ready to make a deal a while ago,” he said of Putin. “I think some people made it difficult for him to make a deal.”
Hegseth defends protections for US troops while pressed on attack that killed six soldiers
US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth claimed today that the military put in “maximum defensive posture” capabilities in the Middle East before the war with Iran began in late February, but declined to specifically comment on the defenses in Kuwait where six US soldiers were killed in an Iranian drone attack.
Democratic Rep. Patrick Ryan pressed Hegseth on what defenses existed at the Shuaiba port in Kuwait where six Army Reserve soldiers were killed on March 1 in a strike on a makeshift operations center. CNN has previously reported that the operations center was not fortified against aerial threats like drones or missiles.
Patrick read reporting from CBS News in which survivors of the attack said there was not proper air defense at the position in Kuwait despite requests.
“Secretary Hegseth, that is obviously in direct contradiction to what you said from the Pentagon podium the next day. So are you saying that these soldiers, our soldiers, who survived this horrific attack, are lying?” Patrick said.
“What I’m saying is before the commencement of the conflict, we put in maximum defensive posture we could, we moved … 7,500 troops off of the X based on the intel,” Hegseth said.
“There’s a much larger picture at play here that included integrated air defenses, bunkers, moving people off the X to ensure they were not part of the target,” Hegseth continued. “We moved those troops and all across the theater, thousands of troops off the X, off of their bases because we knew what Iran was going to try to strike, we knew there could be a tragic moment where something could get through. Of course, that’s the consequence of conflict.”
Hegseth, when pressed later by Democratic Rep. Chris Deluzio about Pentagon officials’ statements dismissing claims that the port in Kuwait hadn’t been adequately defended, described the line of questioning as “disparaging.”
“I’m not calling our troops liars, and I don’t know if what you’re representing is correct or not,” he said. “I’ll take you at your word on that, but all I know is that we took every effort possible at the commencement of this campaign to ensure the defense of our troops.”
"On the front lines, we are not ceasing fire," Israel's military chief says in Lebanon
During a visit to southern Lebanon, Israel’s military chief Eyal Zamir told troops they are to continue operating on the “front lines,” as Israel continues to trade attacks with Hezbollah.
Zamir said that for now, the military would not go beyond what Israel calls the “Forward Defense Line” – an Israeli-occupied zone in southern Lebanon. But he stressed that threats to Israeli troops, even beyond the so-called Forward Defense Line and the Litani River, would be eliminated.
Under a previous ceasefire, the Litani River, just a few kilometers from Israel’s northern border, was intended to be a demarcation line – north of which Hezbollah would withdraw its fighters to, creating a de-facto buffer zone with Israel.
The Israeli military is currently holding positions up to 10 kilometers (6.2 miles) deep in Lebanon, an Israeli military official told CNN last month. Some government ministers have said they want to go even deeper, with declarations of plans to control territory all the way up to the Litani River.
Israel has reiterated that its troops would remain in southern Lebanon to combat threats to its troops and residents across the border in northern Israel
Putin and Trump discuss Iran ceasefire in 1.5 hour call, Kremlin says
Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump discussed the ongoing ceasefire with Iran, among other topics, in a 1.5 hour call today, according to Kremlin spokesperson Yury Ushakov.
Russia initiated the call, which was “frank and businesslike” in tone, Ushakov told reporters Wednesday.
Putin and Trump also discussed the war in Ukraine, with Putin raising the possibility of a ceasefire to coincide with Victory Day on May 9, when Russia celebrates the Soviet Union’s victory over Nazi Germany in World War II.
This post has been updated with additional details about the call between Putin and Trump.
US has spent $25 billion on Iran war, defense official says
The US military has spent roughly $25 billion on the war with Iran since it began in late February, the Pentagon’s top financial officer told lawmakers on Wednesday.
Most of that spending is on munitions, but some of it is on maintenance and replacing equipment, Jules “Jay” Hurst told the House Armed Services Committee.
The precise cost of the war has eluded lawmakers and has increasingly become a political issue as Congress considers President Donald Trump’s $1.5 trillion defense budget request for fiscal 2027.
“I’m glad you answered that question, because we’ve been asking for a hell of a long time, and no one’s given us the number,” Rep. Adam Smith, the top Democrat on the committee, said in response to Hurst.
Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna grilled Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on that price tag, telling him that experts disagree with the Pentagon’s figure. The congressman also made the case that the war is increasing food and gas prices for Americans.
“I would simply ask you what the cost is of an Iranian nuclear bomb,” Hegseth responded.
Khanna also asked Hegseth how much tax payer money was spent on the strike on an elementary school in Iran in the early days of the war, to which the secretary said “that unfortunate situation” is under investigation. “But I wouldn’t tie a cost to that,” he added.
Hegseth told Khanna that any supplemental funding request for the war with Iran specifically would be less than $25 billion, “but there’s a lot more we would ask for beyond just Iran.”
Thirteen US service members have been killed to date in the war, which is currently subject to a fragile ceasefire.
Democrat congressman argues with Hegseth over success of US blockade
Democratic Rep. Seth Moulton and Defense Secretary Pete Hegesth – both veterans, and critics, of the Iraq War – sparred over whether the US blockade of Iranian ports is anything to claim victory over.
“How is this war going? Do you think we’re winning?” Moulton asked Hegseth at the House Armed Services Committee hearing.
“Militarily, on the battlefield? It’s been an astounding military success,” Hegseth replied. “Absolutely.”
“Do you call Iran closing the Strait of Hormuz winning?” Moulton countered.
Hegseth began to describe the US naval blockade, but Moulton cut him off with a reference to the War of 1812, when the British military set fire to parts of the US capital.
Moulton: “They blockaded us and then we blockaded their blockade. That’s like saying, ‘Tag, you’re it.’ Or, you know, if President Madison had said, ‘Well, the British just burned down Washington, but don’t worry, we’re going to burn it down as well.’”
Trump says he won't lift blockade until Iran negotiates on nuclear program
US President Donald Trump said Wednesday that he has rejected the Iranian proposal of lifting the US blockade and opening the Strait of Hormuz.
He first wants some guarantees on curbing the Iranian nuclear program, telling Axios in a phone interview that “they can’t have a nuclear weapon.”
“The blockade is somewhat more effective than the bombing. They are choking like a stuffed pig. And it is going to be worse for them. They can’t have a nuclear weapon,” Trump added.
While Trump praised the efficacy of the blockade, he would not discuss potential military plans during the interview.
“They want to settle. They don’t want me to keep the blockade. I don’t want to [lift the blockade], because I don’t want them to have a nuclear weapon,” he said.
"Who you cheering for here?" Hegseth rejects claim that Iran war is a "quagmire"
US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth offered a fiery defense of the war with Iran after a lawmaker called the conflict a “quagmire” that the country is “stuck in.”
“My generation served in a quagmire in Iraq and Afghanistan. Years and years of, of nebulous missions and utopian nation-building that led us to nothing,” Hegseth said in response to Democratic Rep. John Garamendi.
The secretary went on to accuse the congressman of “stain(ing) the troops,” though Garamendi, at the top of his remarks, thanked US service members “for their bravery.”
Garamendi also accused Hegseth and President Donald Trump of “lying to the American public about this war from day one.”
The UAE was “chained” by OPEC, expert tells CNN
The United Arab Emirates has been “chained” by OPEC and forced to stick to quotas that “don’t make sense for its economic strategy,” an Emirati expert said.
In an interview with CNN’s Becky Anderson, Tareq Alotaiba, a fellow in the Middle East Initiative at Harvard University’s Belfer Center, said that the Persian Gulf state has evolved economically beyond its need for the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, or OPEC, from which Abu Dhabi has announced it will withdraw.
This also includes OPEC+, a larger group that consists of other oil producers such as Russia.
Alotaiba said that the UAE’s decision to leave OPEC would give it “flexibility” to not only meet demands of customers but also to set its strategy in terms of exports.
Abu Dhabi’s national oil company, ADNOC, has previously announced it plans to raise oil production capacity to 5 million barrels per day by 2027. The OPEC quota is around 3.4 million barrels.
When asked whether the UAE’s decision could weaken OPEC or affect the country’s relationship with other gulf countries in the group, Alotaiba said that gulf states were resilient in resolving disagreements.
He added that the UAE’s shift toward Western allies “makes sense,” given its integration into complex economies in the West and its Western allies’ support during Iran’s attacks on the country.
The UAE has done a “cost benefit analysis,” Alotaiba said, and “OPEC lost out.”
Hegseth spars with lawmaker over purpose of war and Iran's nuclear "ambitions"
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth insisted Wednesday that the Iran war was necessary because Iran had not let go of its “nuclear ambitions,” even though he and his chief spokesperson said Iran’s nuclear ambitions were “obliterated” in US strikes in June last year.
“Their nuclear facilities have been obliterated, underground they’re buried, and we’re watching them 24/7 so we know where any nuclear material might be,” Hegseth said during a House Armed Services Committee hearing.
“We had to start this war, you just said, 60 days ago, because the nuclear weapon was an imminent threat. Now you’re saying it was completely obliterated?” Rep. Adam Smith, the ranking Democrat on the committee, asked.
“They had not given up their nuclear ambitions,” Hegseth said. “And they had a conventional shield of thousands of—”
Smith interrupted Hegseth.
“So Operation Midnight Hammer accomplished nothing of substance and left us at exactly the same place we were before,” Smith said. “So much so that we had to start a war.”
“You’re missing the point,” Hegseth pressed. “Their facilities were bombed and obliterated; their ambitions continued.”
Hegseth said last June that “Iran’s nuclear ambitions have been obliterated.” Chief Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell repeated the assessment in July, saying Operation Midnight Hammer led to the “total obliteration of Iran’s nuclear ambitions.”
CNN reported last year that the US military’s strikes in Iran did not destroy the core components of Tehran’s nuclear program and likely set it back only by months. Before starting Operation Epic Fury in late February, President Donald Trump had also repeatedly claimed that the “Iran nuclear threat,” Iran’s “nuclear capacity,” “nuclear capability” and “nuclear hopes” were obliterated in the 2025 strikes.
Israeli strikes continue despite ceasefire, authorities say
Despite a declared ceasefire, Israeli strikes killed at least 10 people throughout southern Lebanon on Tuesday and into early Wednesday, according to Lebanese authorities and state media.
Lebanese Civil Defense said that two civilians were killed in an initial strike on a building in Majdal Zoun, a town near Tyre. Another strike at the same location afterward killed three Civil Defense personnel who were “assisting people wounded” from the earlier strike, the organization added.
Two Lebanese army soldiers were wounded in the second strike, both Civil Defense and the army said.
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun’s office condemned the strikes in a statement on X, adding that Aoun considered the attacks part of “a series … that targeted relief and first aid workers.”
The Israeli military told CNN on Wednesday that the strike in Majdal Zoun targeted a “Hezbollah commander.”
Separately, Lebanese state media reported that Israeli strikes killed two people in the southern Lebanese towns of Tebnine and Shaqra, and the Ministry of Health reported that a strike in the town of Jwaya killed one.
The Health Ministry later said that an airstrike on the town of Jebchit killed at least two and wounded 13.
The Israel Defense Forces told CNN it was “not aware” of the strike in Tebnine and said the strike in Jwaya was on a “military structure” belonging to the Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah.
On Monday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Israeli military personnel that the terms of the ceasefire with Lebanon allow Israel to continue bombing throughout the country.
At least 2,521 people have been killed in Lebanon since March 2, and over 7,800 have been injured, according to a total released by the Health Ministry on Monday.
CNN’s Mustafa Qadri contributed to this report.
Israeli strikes in southern Lebanon kill at least 5, including family of 3, news agency says
Fresh Israeli strikes in southern Lebanon have killed at least five people including a family of three, according to the Lebanese National News Agency (NNA).
One attack killed a mother, father and child in Hanniyeh, Tyre district, NNA reported, while in Jwaya, another neighborhood in Tyre district, two bodies have been recovered with searches under way for a least four people missing.
Lebanon’s health ministry later said that the strike on Jwaya killed two people and wounded 22 others, including five children.
CNN has reached out to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) for comment.
More than 2,500 people have been killed and over 7,900 injured since the war began, the ministry of health says, with the toll continuing to rise despite a ceasefire being in place.
Hegseth says lawmakers in Congress are "biggest adversary" in Iran war
US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth slammed opposition to the ongoing war with Iran during a congressional hearing today, describing lawmakers who criticize the administration as “the biggest adversary.”
He went on to point out that the criticism comes as the conflict has reached the two-month mark, arguing that it has been significantly shorter than the Iraq, Afghanistan and Vietnam wars.
“We are proud of this undertaking,” Hegseth added.
Oil prices up 5% on prospect of prolonged Strait of Hormuz shutdown
Oil prices have extended gains as traders dig in for what appears to be a prolonged shutdown of the Strait of Hormuz.
Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, is up 5% at $116.8 a barrel, extending a week-long rally. WTI, the US benchmark, is up 4.9% at $104.8 a barrel.
Supply concerns have been exacerbated by the apparent deadlock in talks between the United States and Iran.
President Donald Trump has indicated he is unhappy with Tehran’s latest proposal to end the war and has instructed aides to prepare for an extended blockade of Iran, the Wall Street Journal reported late Tuesday.
“The longer the current situation of no-war-but-no-peace lasts, the more negative it is for the macro picture,” said Mohit Kumar, chief European economist at Jefferies.
1.2 million in Lebanon to face acute hunger due to Iran war, study finds
Some 1.24 million people in Lebanon — nearly a quarter of the country’s population — are expected to face acute hunger due to the Iran war, according to a UN-backed report published Wednesday.
The joint study by the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization, the World Food Program and Lebanon’s Agriculture Ministry said this marked a rapid deterioration of food security and was caused by “conflict, displacement and economic pressures.”
The findings show that Lebanon’s food security situation remains highly sensitive to shocks, a statement said, adding that the situation is likely to deteriorate further in the months ahead without humanitarian assistance or economic or security improvement.
The report comes as Israeli strikes on Lebanon continue despite a ceasefire, with eight people killed throughout southern Lebanon on Tuesday, according to Lebanese authorities and state media.
At least 2,521 people have been killed in Lebanon since March 2, and over 7,800 have been injured, according to a total released by the Ministry of Health on Monday.
CNN’s Mohammed Tawfeeq and Max Saltman contributed reporting.
Trump discusses continuing blockade at meeting with energy executives at White House, sources say
President Donald Trump and some of his top aides met with executives at the White House on Tuesday, where they discussed measures that could be taken to continue the blockade for months, if needed, and how to limit the effects on American consumers, White House officials told CNN.
The conversation was part of a broader discussion about the continued strain on oil prices amid the war with Iran, among other topics such as oil exports from Venezuelan, the officials said.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent hosted the meeting, which was also attended by Vice President JD Vance, White House chief of staff Susie Wiles, special envoy Steve Witkoff and the president’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, one of the officials said.
Chevron CEO Mike Wirth attended, as did executives from Trafigura, Vitol and Mercuria.
“The President meets with energy executives frequently to get their feedback on domestic and international energy markets — and they met yesterday,” the official said. “The executives discussed many topics including domestic production, progress in Venezuela, oil futures, natural gas, and shipping.”
Another official said meeting attendees praised the blockade, encouraged Trump to keep it in place and asked for more Jones Act waivers.
The president granted a 90-day extension to the Jones Act waiver last week, making it easier to move oil, gas and other commodities throughout the US.
Axios first reported on the Tuesday meeting.
CNN’s Kaitlan Collins contributed to this report.
Netanyahu planning possible trip to Washington to meet Trump in near future
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is planning a possible trip to Washington, DC, to meet President Donald Trump in the near future, according to an Israeli source familiar with the matter.
The visit could be as soon as next week or the week after, as Trump tries to advance a broader ceasefire agreement between Israel and Lebanon. The current ceasefire, which Trump extended for three weeks, is set to end in mid-May.
In a statement on Wednesday, the Prime Minister’s Office said Netanyahu is not expected to travel to the US this coming week and that he is in close contact with Trump.
Trump has made clear his intent is to host what would be a landmark meeting between Netanyahu and Lebanese President Joseph Aoun. Israel and Lebanon do not have diplomatic relations, and top leaders of the two countries have not previously met.
Aoun recently declined to hold a direct call with Netanyahu, and it’s unclear if Aoun would be willing to take part in a direct meeting with Israeli leader, given the number of Israeli strikes in southern Lebanon.
CNN has reached out to the White House for comment.
