German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has none of President Trumpâs penchant for controversy or headline-grabbing language â but these days, heâs putting emphatic distance between Berlin and Washington all the same.
Merz is not only declining to answer Trumpâs call for help in reopening the vital Strait of Hormuz. He is being scathing of the presidentâs decision to wage war on Iran in the first place.
âTo this day, there is no convincing plan for how this operation could succeed,â Merz told German legislators on Wednesday, Reuters reported.
âWashington 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.â
Trumpâs call for help has found few takers elsewhere.
French President Emmanuel Macron said at a Tuesday Cabinet meeting that his nation would ânever take partâ in efforts to open the Strait of Hormuz while the current conflict rages.
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At least one U.S. Navy warship carrying more than 2,000 Marines is on its way to the Middle East, signaling an additional military buildup in the area and fueling speculation about American ground forces being deployed in Iran.
Iran hit with âwide-scale wave of strikesâ as the war enters its third week. U.S. airstrikes hit oil-production hub. More Marines and warships being sent to the Middle East.
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.
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.
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.





























