Hezbollah calls US sanctions a ‘badge of honour’ 🚨
Earlier, we reported that the US Treasury Department announced new sanctions targeting nine individuals in Lebanon accused of aiding Hezbollah.
In a statement, Hezbollah called the sanctions “an American attempt to intimidate the free Lebanese people in order to support the Zionist aggression against our country”.
“These sanctions are a badge of honour for those included in them, and further confirmation of the correctness of our choice,” it said.
Hezbollah reaffirmed its determination to resist Israeli and US pressure, saying sanctions are “not worth the ink they were written with”.
The sanctions come before a meeting later this month between Pentagon officials and their Lebanese counterparts.
Hezbollah called the move a “blatant attempt to intimidate our official security institutions and subject the state to the conditions of American guardianship”.
Iran reportedly says no deal reached with US but gaps narrowing 🚨
A senior Iranian official has told Reuters news agency no deal has been reached with the United States but gaps have been narrowed.
Iran’s uranium enrichment and Tehran’s control over the Strait of Hormuz remain among the sticking points, the unnamed source added.
Earlier, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said there are “some good signs” in peace talks with Iran, but “I don’t want to be overly optimistic … let’s see what happens over the next few days.”
🇺🇸 Marco Rubio at 4:00 PM — “Trump’s preference is always for a peaceful negotiated agreement.”
🇮🇷 Iran at 5:00 PM — “Yeah, he is very peaceful. He started a war, bombed a school and killed 170 innocent children, and struck us while negotiations were underway. He is a madman.”
🇵🇰🤝🇨🇳 China and Pakistan eye new high-tech alliance 🚨
The next phase of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) will move beyond energy and infrastructure to focus on agriculture, industry, IT, mining, and the digital economy, Senator Mushahid Hussain told Sputnik — just ahead of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif's visit to Beijing
Key points:
🔸 Phase 1: $26B Chinese investment, 255,000 jobs, 8,000 megawatts to national grid added, 600 km of highways — laying groundwork for Phase 2.
🔸 New cooperation: Digital financial infrastructure including mobile banking, crypto, blockchain initiatives, currency swaps, and Ph.D. training for 8,000 Pakistani students.
This new partnership will match "Chinese technology and expertise with Pakistan’s human technological skills and proficiency in English language," Hussain said.
‘Some good signs’ that US-Iran deal can be reached, Rubio says 🚨
The US secretary of state says Pakistani officials will be travelling to Tehran today. “So, hopefully that will advance this further,” he told reporters.
“The president’s preference is to do a good deal, that’s his preference. It’s always been his preference. If we can get a good deal done, that would be great,” Rubio said.
“But if we can’t get a good deal, the president has been clear – he has other options. I’m not going to elaborate on what those are, but everybody knows what those are.”
He added, “There are some good signs, but … I don’t want to be overly optimistic, as well, so let’s see what happens over the next few days.”
Rubio says tolls in Strait of Hormuz would make US-Iran deal unfeasible 🚨
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio says a deal between Washington and Tehran would be unfeasible if Iran moves forward with a tolling system in the Strait of Hormuz.
We’ll bring you more of Rubio’s remarks when we can.
Trump ‘very disappointed’ in NATO over Iran war response: Rubio 🚨
The top US diplomat has pointed to Spain’s refusal to allow the Trump administration to use its military bases during the US-Israeli war on Iran as part of Washington’s growing frustration with the NATO alliance.
“I know why NATO is good for Europe, but why is NATO good for America? Because it gives us bases in the region that allow us to project power during a contingency in the Middle East or somewhere else,” Marco Rubio told reporters.
“So when that is the key rationale for why you’re in NATO and then you have countries like Spain denying us the use of these bases, well then why are you in NATO? That’s a very fair question.”
He added that US President Trump has been “very disappointed” in how NATO countries responded to the US war effort.
Lebanese economy projected to contract 7% over war 🚨
The ongoing war in Lebanon is expected to shrink the country’s economy by at least 7 percent this year and could cost the country an estimated $20bn.
Finance Minister Yassine Jaber told the Reuters news agency he expects the current war to prompt an economic contraction of between 7 percent and 10 percent in 2026.
The 2024 war cost Lebanon at least $8.5bn in physical damage and economic losses, according to the World Bank. Lebanon’s real GDP contracted by 7.1 percent in 2024, the World Bank said, leading to a cumulative GDP decline of nearly 40 percent since 2019.
In January, the World Bank projected a modest recovery of 4 percent GDP growth in 2026 if the country remained stable, brought in some reconstruction aid and kept up efforts to introduce financial reforms.
Jaber said the government had hoped for a budget surplus this year, but instead allocated $50m in public funds to support more than one million people displaced by the war.
Trump says US wants Strait of Hormuz ‘free’ without tolls 🚨
Asked about Iran’s proposal to impose tolls in the Strait of Hormuz, Trump said, “We’re looking at it.”
“We have total control of the Strait of Hormuz, as you know, with our blockade. The blockade has been 100 percent effective. Nobody has been able to get through it; it’s like a steel wall,” the US president told reporters.
As we reported earlier, Iran’s IRGC navy said 31 ships transited the critical Gulf waterway over the past 24 hours.
“We want it free, we don’t want tolls. It’s international, it’s an international waterway,” Trump said during in his news conference at the White House, referring to the strait.