US President Donald Trump spoke with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on Wednesday, discussing the wars in Ukraine and Iran even as Washington pressed ahead with its naval blockade of Iranian ports. Trump told reporters as he met with astronauts from the Artemis II mission ‌in the Oval Office that the conversation was “very good” and that the US was “going to come up with a solution relatively quickly” over its ongoing conflict with Iran. “He told me he’d like to be involved with the...

Belgian Defence Minister Theo Francken said the US and Nato were faced with a “marriage crisis” as frustrations mount on both sides of the Atlantic, urging Washington to stand with its allies or risk America’s fall. Francken, speaking at a think tank event in Washington on Tuesday, likened the strained transatlantic relationship, which has held for close to 80 years, to a “crisis”, saying “it’s very difficult”. “I’m convinced that we’re having a marriage crisis … There’s a lot of frustration on...

Lebanon’s social affairs minister has backed calls for the disarmament of Hezbollah, but cautioned the process would take time before a “political settlement” could be reached, noting that the group is also a “community”. Haneen Sayed told a discussion in Washington on Monday that disarming Hezbollah – an Iran-backed militant group – was a demand of her government and its people, and that it “must happen”. “Of course, we understand that implementation is not easy. It’s not instant coffee. It...

Israel and Lebanon agreed on Thursday to extend their ceasefire by three weeks after a second round of negotiations between their envoys in Washington, despite reports of violations of the truce from both sides. US President Donald Trump announced the extension on social media, saying Washington “is going to work with Lebanon in order to protect itself from Hezbollah”. “The Ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon will be extended by THREE WEEKS,” he wrote, calling the meeting “very historic” and...