TV News LIES

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has none of President Trump’s penchant for controversy or headline-grabbing language — but these days, he’s putting emphatic distance between Berlin and Washington all the same.

Merz is not only declining to answer Trump’s call for help in reopening the vital Strait of Hormuz. He is being scathing of the president’s decision to wage war on Iran in the first place.

“To this day, there is no convincing plan for how this operation could succeed,” Merz told German legislators on Wednesday, Reuters reported.

“Washington has not consulted us and did not say European assistance was necessary. … We would have advised against pursuing this course of action as it has been pursued.”

Trump’s call for help has found few takers elsewhere.

French President Emmanuel Macron said at a Tuesday Cabinet meeting that his nation would “never take part” in efforts to open the Strait of Hormuz while the current conflict rages.

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The U.S. military dropped multiple 5,000-pound deep-penetrator bombs on “hardened” Iranian anti-ship missile sites on Tuesday along the country’s coastline near the Strait of Hormuz.

“The Iranian anti-ship cruise missiles in these sites posed a risk to international shipping in the strait,” the U.S. Central Command (Centcom) said.

The employment of the munitions, known as Coastal Defense Cruise Missiles, comes as the Iranian military has attacked ships in the strait, through which about 20 percent of the world’s oil supply flows. 

Mojtaba Khamenei, Iran’s new supreme leader, previously said the strait would remain closed off in response to the airstrikes by the U.S. and Israel, a joint operation that kicked off on Feb. 28. 

Since the war began, gas prices have gone up in the U.S. and around the world due to disruptions in oil markets.

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Iran hit with “wide-scale wave of strikes” as the war enters its third week. U.S. airstrikes hit oil-production hub. More Marines and warships being sent to the Middle East.

Trump warns allies against refusing to send ships to Strait of Hormuz. Araghchi says Strait of Hormuz only closed to “enemies.” IRGC aerospace chief claims Iranian missile “hit rate” has doubled. Iran launches multiple missile waves at Israel, Iraq, and Kuwait.

Iran claims regional attacks are “false flag” operations meant to frame Tehran. Goldman Sachs warns Gulf economies could contract sharply; U.S. Energy Secretary says war “will definitely come to an end in the next few weeks.”

Senate set for weeks-long debate and vote on SAVE America Act starting Tuesday. Illinois primaries on Tuesday. FCC Chair threatens to revoke broadcast licenses over Iran war coverage.

Afghan U.S. ally dies hours after ICE arrest in Texas. ICE released Haitian asylum seeker alone in Pittsburgh; she was found dead days later.

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Israel's Minister of National Security Itamar Ben Gvir has authorised residents of Jewish neighbourhoods in Jerusalem to carry firearms, local media reported on Monday.

Under Ben Gvir’s order, residents of 41 Jewish neighbourhoods in the city can now apply for a licence to carry a gun, part of the far-right minister’s wider policy of expanding civilian gun permits. 

Reports suggest that around 300,000 Jewish residents of Jerusalem could now be eligible.

Previously, only those living near the separation wall were permitted to carry firearms, as the areas were deemed high-risk due to their proximity to the occupied West Bank. The latest expansion now includes the western neighbourhoods of the city.

"Especially amid the war and during Ramadan, Jerusalem residents have a basic right to defend themselves and their families," Ben Gvir told Israel Hayom on Sunday before issuing the order the day after.

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After spending two consecutive Ramadans behind bars, Leqaa Kordia was freed from US immigration detention on Monday, in what her lawyers have described as a "staggering" $100,000 bond.

Her legal team said the bond was "nonetheless...paid immediately". 

The 33-year-old Palestinian immigrant, whose home is in New Jersey, was released from the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Prairieland Detention Center in Alvarado, Texas, after the Trump administration chose not to challenge what was a third release order by an immigration judge. 

It had previously appealed the first and second orders for her release.

"I’m free! I’m free! Finally, after one year," Kordia said as she walked out to a group of waiting supporters, with a Palestinian keffiyeh draped around her shoulders.

“There is a lot of injustice in this place,” she added. “There is a lot of people that shouldn’t be here in the first place.”

Kordia's cousin, Hamzah Abushaban, told Middle East Eye on Tuesday that Kordia was in relatively good spirits and already at the mosque for Ramadan prayers by Monday evening.

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President Volodymyr Zelensky stated that 201 Ukrainian military experts are currently deployed in the Middle East and Gulf region, helping to defend against Shahed drones, with another 34 specialists ready for deployment.

The Ukrainian President made this statement during an address to members of the UK Parliament, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

“Right now, there are 201 Ukrainians in the Middle East and Gulf region, and another 34 are ready to deploy. These are military experts – experts who know how to help, how to defend against Shahed drones. Our teams are already in the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and on the way to Kuwait,” Zelensky said.

He noted that Ukraine is also cooperating with several other countries and that relevant agreements have already been concluded.

“We do not want this terror of the Iranian regime against its neighbors to succeed,” he emphasized.

The President added that he had sent the military experts at the request of partners, including the United States. According to him, this is effectively part of a drone-related agreement proposed by Ukraine to the U.S., which is still on the table.

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Daniel Biss, the mayor of Evanston, Ill., has won the Democratic primary for the state's 9th congressional district, according to a race call by The Associated Press, topping a crowded field in the race for a Chicago-area seat that has not been open for nearly three decades.

His victory in the safe blue district ends a highly contested primary of more than a dozen Democrats running to succeed retiring Democratic Rep. Jan Schakowsky, 81, who first took office in 1999.

With endorsements from Schakowsky and other national leaders such as Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., Biss was seen as the frontrunner heading into the race. On the campaign trail, he sought to differentiate himself by emphasizing both his background in elected office and his willingness to push for progressive causes and against President Trump's agenda.

"I just don't think we can afford to compromise on either of those two things," he told NPR in an interview ahead of the primary.

Tuesday's results serve as an early indication of what Democratic voters are looking for from the next generation of party leaders, and how much change they feel is needed in this moment when the party is shut out of power in Washington, D.C.

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