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Gantz Demands US Retains ‘Military Option’ to Deter Iran

Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz inspecting the K-135 air refueling unit at the US Central Command headquarters in Florida
Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz inspecting the K-135 air refueling unit at the US Central Command headquarters in Florida
    Asharq Al-Awsat - Heba El Koudsy
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Gantz Demands US Retains ‘Military Option’ to Deter Iran

Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz inspecting the K-135 air refueling unit at the US Central Command headquarters in Florida
Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz inspecting the K-135 air refueling unit at the US Central Command headquarters in Florida

Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz said that the United States needs to maintain a viable "military option" against Iranian nuclear facilities, even if a new agreement is reached with Tehran.

Gantz met with US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan on Friday.

During the meeting, he indicated he had reached a "strong agreement" with Washington to enhance operational capabilities to confront Iran and coordinate defenses to counter its influence in countries such as Lebanon, Syria, and Iraq.

Informed sources indicated that the meeting lasted for about an hour. Gantz stressed that Israel will also retain its operational freedom even if an agreement is reached and that the dispute over the proposed deal does not prevent the alliance between the US and Israel against Iranian violations.

Gantz expressed his belief that the nuclear agreement “is not a peace treaty,” stressing the Israeli vision of the necessity of preserving the military option, which helps create a deterrent force even with a deal on the table, according to the Jerusalem Post.

Gantz spoke with Sullivan about the need to continue joint US-Israeli activities against Iran as part of global efforts to undermine Tehran’s nuclear progress.

NSC Spokesperson Adrienne Watson said Sullivan met with the Israeli Minister of Defense to continue consultations on security issues of mutual concern.

Sullivan emphasized President Biden’s unwavering commitment to Israel’s security, and the two exchanged views on ways to deepen the US-Israel security partnership, including via regional cooperation and coordination.

They discussed the US commitment to ensuring Iran never obtains a nuclear weapon and the need to counter threats from Iran and Iran-based proxies.

Officials said that Gantz and Sullivan had two main concerns about the potential deal: the so-called sunset clause, which will lift limitations on Iran’s nuclear program when the accord expires; and the sanctions relief that would allow Iran to increase funding to its proxies.

Newsweek magazine quoted a National Security Council spokesman said that the aim is to restore Iran's compliance with that deal.

“The focus on sunsets is a red herring. The deal blocks every pathway to a weapon."

Israeli government officials have failed to arrange an “urgent” phone call between Prime Minister Yair Lapid and US President Joe Biden, Channel 13 reported.

When asked by Israeli officials for the phone call, the White House replied that Biden was unavailable as he was on “vacation.” It, however, said that the conversation between the two would eventually occur, and possibly soon.

The channel also indicated that Gantz, who left for Washington on Wednesday evening, will not be able to meet his US counterpart Lloyd Austin since he is also outside Washington.

Gantz arrived in the United States on Thursday and began his meetings by visiting the Central Command Center in Florida and holding a meeting with General Michael Corella, the head of the US Central Command, and Staff Sergeant John Innoha.

Israeli officials have sounded the alarm recently amid reports of an emerging nuclear pact with Iran.

Mossad chief David Barnea has reportedly called the agreement between Iran and the West a "very bad" deal that would only benefit the Islamist republic, while Defense Minister Benny Gantz arrived in the United States to relay Israel's concerns, reported Israel Hayom.

However, US officials said the nuclear deal restoration could not be linked to the safeguards issue.

US State Department deputy spokesperson Vedant Patel said in a press briefing on Thursday that the US has been clear that “we do not believe there should be any conditionality between reimplementation of the JCPOA and the investigations related to Iran’s legal obligations,”

He said the only way to address these issues is for Iran to answer International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) questions.

“Once the IAEA director general reports to the board of governors that the outstanding issues have been clarified and resolved, we expect them to come off the board’s agenda, but not before that,” he said.

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NATO Intercepts Russian Military Aircraft Flying Over the Baltic Sea

In this photo, provided by the French Army on Monday, April 20, 2026, a Russian supersonic Tu-22M3 strategic bomber, right, and an escorting Su-35 Russian fighter jet fly together over the Baltic Sea. (Etat-Major des Armees via AP)
In this photo, provided by the French Army on Monday, April 20, 2026, a Russian supersonic Tu-22M3 strategic bomber, right, and an escorting Su-35 Russian fighter jet fly together over the Baltic Sea. (Etat-Major des Armees via AP)
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NATO Intercepts Russian Military Aircraft Flying Over the Baltic Sea

In this photo, provided by the French Army on Monday, April 20, 2026, a Russian supersonic Tu-22M3 strategic bomber, right, and an escorting Su-35 Russian fighter jet fly together over the Baltic Sea. (Etat-Major des Armees via AP)
In this photo, provided by the French Army on Monday, April 20, 2026, a Russian supersonic Tu-22M3 strategic bomber, right, and an escorting Su-35 Russian fighter jet fly together over the Baltic Sea. (Etat-Major des Armees via AP)

NATO intercepted Russian strategic bombers and fighter jets that flew over the Baltic Sea on Monday, a muscular display of air power on the alliance’s eastern flank away from the spotlight on the Middle East.

French Rafale fighters were deployed from a Lithuanian air base where they are stationed as part of a decades-long NATO air-policing effort. The fighters armed with air-to-air missiles joined jets from Sweden, Finland, Poland, Denmark and Romania. They all took to the skies to inspect and keep watch on the Russian flight, the French detachment said.

The Russian mission included two supersonic Tu-22M3s, as well as about 10 fighters — both SU-30s and SU-35s — that took turns escorting the larger strategic bombers, according to the statement.

The Russian Defense Ministry said the long-range bombers' flight was scheduled and occurred in airspace over the neutral waters of the Baltic Sea. The flight took more than four hours, the ministry said Monday on Telegram.

“At certain stages of the route, the long-range bombers were accompanied by fighters of foreign states,” the ministry said. “Crews of long-range aviation regularly conduct flights over the neutral waters of the Arctic, the North Atlantic, the Pacific Ocean, as well as the Baltic and Black Seas. All flights of Russian Aerospace Forces aircraft are carried out in strict compliance with international rules for the use of airspace.”

The ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Tuesday. It often reports flights by its strategic bombers over the Baltic Sea, including in January — when NATO jets also flew up to meet them — and at least four times last year.

NATO’s Allied Air Command also did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Tuesday.

The military alliance routinely scrambles fighter aircraft to intercept Russian warplanes that approach or fly near NATO airspace. NATO says the Russian planes it intercepts often fail to use their transponders and don't communicate with air traffic controllers or file a flight plan. NATO jets are sent up to identify them.

Many of the Russian flights that NATO monitors with its Baltic air policing mission, in place since Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia joined the alliance in 2004, are to and from the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad. Even before the war in Ukraine, NATO was intercepting Russian planes around 300 times each year, mostly over waters around northern Europe.

A journalist from The Associated Press witnessed the French detachment's response on Monday from the sprawling Šiauliai Air Base in Lithuania. NATO uses the base for fighter patrols that police the skies on the alliance’s eastern flank.

Two French Rafale fighter jets’ two-man crews — a pilot and a navigator — were seen racing in two vans to the planes’ hangars from the headquarters building the French detachment uses during its four-month deployment on the air base.

The crews were already suited up because they’d been on standby, so they would be ready to take to the air within minutes if scrambled.

The two crews quickly took their places in their planes’ cockpits. They were then put on hold, with the planes’ jet engines ignited, until they got the order to take off. Then they taxied out of their hangars and roared off into the clear skies.

Monday's flight was the latest in Russia's maneuvers over the Baltic Sea.

Lithuania's defense ministry said NATO jets were scrambled four times from April 13-19 to intercept Russian aircraft that violated flight rules that included turning off flight transponders and flying without a flight plan.

World

Iran Arrests More Than 3,600 on Charges Related to War, Says NGO

People walk past a banner with a picture of the late Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) commander Mohammad Pakpour, in Tehran Bazaar, amid a ceasefire between US and Iran, in Tehran, Iran, April 21, 2026. Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via Reuters
People walk past a banner with a picture of the late Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) commander Mohammad Pakpour, in Tehran Bazaar, amid a ceasefire between US and Iran, in Tehran, Iran, April 21, 2026. Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via Reuters
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Iran Arrests More Than 3,600 on Charges Related to War, Says NGO

People walk past a banner with a picture of the late Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) commander Mohammad Pakpour, in Tehran Bazaar, amid a ceasefire between US and Iran, in Tehran, Iran, April 21, 2026. Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via Reuters
People walk past a banner with a picture of the late Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) commander Mohammad Pakpour, in Tehran Bazaar, amid a ceasefire between US and Iran, in Tehran, Iran, April 21, 2026. Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via Reuters

Iranian authorities have arrested more than 3,600 people on charges related to the US-Israeli war ranging from sharing videos with media outlets based overseas to possessing Starlink internet terminals, an NGO said on Tuesday.

Norway-based Iran Human Rights (IHR) said the figure, based on state media reports and its own research, represented a minimum given the current internet restrictions in the country, and that the actual number of arrests was "likely much higher".

It said at least 3,646 people had been arrested since the war broke out on February 28, with at least 767 of the cases reported after the start of a ceasefire on April 8.

"The charges levelled against the detainees predominantly include espionage, communicating with foreign intelligence services, transmitting images or coordinates of sensitive locations to foreign-based media, and attempting to establish operational cells or conduct armed activities," it said.

People have also been arrested for using and distributing Starlink satellite-based internet terminals to circumvent internet blackouts, and for alleged cooperation with pro-monarchist groups.

IHR said more than 100 civil society activists were among those arrested, including prize-winning rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh, who was detained on April 2.

Sotoudeh's daughter Mehraveh Khandan wrote on Instagram on Saturday that her mother had telephoned for the first time since her arrest, saying she was being held by the intelligence ministry but was not allowed to disclose where.

Her fellow rights activist and 2023 Nobel Peace Prize winner Narges Mohammadi remains in prison after her arrest in December, which took place before the war and mass protests in January.

Mohammadi on Tuesday turned 54 behind the bars of her prison in the northern city of Zanjan, her foundation said, after warning last week her health was "critical" following a heart attack in March.

World

US Forces Board a Sanctioned Oil Tanker in the Indian Ocean, the Pentagon Says

Tankers and bulk carriers anchored in the Strait of Hormuz, Saturday, April 18, 2026. (AP)
Tankers and bulk carriers anchored in the Strait of Hormuz, Saturday, April 18, 2026. (AP)
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US Forces Board a Sanctioned Oil Tanker in the Indian Ocean, the Pentagon Says

Tankers and bulk carriers anchored in the Strait of Hormuz, Saturday, April 18, 2026. (AP)
Tankers and bulk carriers anchored in the Strait of Hormuz, Saturday, April 18, 2026. (AP)

US forces have boarded an oil tanker previously sanctioned for smuggling Iranian crude oil in Asia, the Pentagon said Tuesday, as it puts into place a global warning to track down vessels tied to Tehran.

US forces “conducted a right-of-visit maritime interdiction” and boarded the M/T Tifani “without incident,” the Pentagon said on social media.

The Tifani was captured in the Bay of Bengal — between India and Southeast Asia — and was carrying Iranian oil, according to a US defense official who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss an ongoing military operation. The US military will decide in the next four days what to do with the vessel, such as tow it back to the US or turn it over to another country, the official said.

It's the latest move in the US war on Iran to stop any ship tied to Tehran or those suspected of carrying supplies that could help its government, from weapons and oil to metals and electronics. The announcement comes ahead of the expiration of an already tenuous ceasefire between the US and Iran, and as Pakistan attempts to broker talks between Washington and Tehran.

It is the second vessel linked to Iran that has been interdicted by the US military. The US Navy attacked and seized an Iranian-flagged cargo ship Sunday that it said had tried to evade its blockade of Iranian ports, with President Donald Trump saying an American destroyer blew a hole in the ship’s engine room.

Targeting Iran-linked ships in international waters The Pentagon on social media described the Tifani as “stateless” despite it being a Botswana-flagged vessel.

“As we have made clear, we will pursue global maritime enforcement efforts to disrupt illicit networks and interdict sanctioned vessels providing material support to Iran — anywhere they operate,” the Pentagon announcement said, echoing previous statements from Trump administration officials. “International waters are not a refuge for sanctioned vessels.”

Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said last week that the enforcement actions would extend beyond Iranian waters and the area under control of US Central Command.

US forces in other areas of responsibility, he told reporters at the Pentagon, “will actively pursue any Iranian-flagged vessel or any vessel attempting to provide material support to Iran.” He specifically pointed to operations in the Pacific and said the US would target vessels that left before the blockade began outside the Strait of Hormuz, a crucial waterway for energy and other shipments.

The military also detailed an expansive list of goods that it considers contraband, declaring that it will board, search and seize them from merchant vessels “regardless of location.” A notice published Thursday says any “goods that are destined for an enemy and that may be susceptible to use in armed conflict” are “subject to capture at any place beyond neutral territory.”

Blockades can be lawful in wartime, expert says

The US military’s actions against Iranian-linked vessels, namely the attack over the weekend on the cargo ship named the Touska, have raised questions about the two-week ceasefire.

The US and Iran are operating in “an awkward space where the law doesn’t give you a clean yes-or-no answer” on whether the ceasefire was violated, said Jason Chuah, a law professor at the City University of London and the Maritime Institute of Malaysia.

“The United States seems to take the line that the conflict never fully switched off — that is there is still a state of armed conflict,” Chuah said. “By saying that, it can keep doing things like enforcing a blockade and even using limited force at sea.”

But Iran is treating the ceasefire as a pause on all hostile acts, Chuah said. Iran’s joint military command has called the armed boarding an act of piracy and a violation of the ceasefire.

The US earlier had instituted a blockade against sanctioned oil tankers linked to Venezuela but had never fired on those vessels.

Blockades and even limited attacks on vessels can be lawful in wartime, with merchant vessels becoming legitimate targets if they contribute to military actions, carry contraband or are incorporated into enemy logistics, Chuah said.

It's harder to prove that a ship such as the Touska is realistically contributing to military action against the US, Chuah said.

“The whole dispute really turns on a deceptively simple question: Did the ceasefire actually suspend the right to use force?” Chuah said. “If it did, then firing on vessels or seizing them is very hard to square with the United Nations Charter.”

Mark Cancian, a retired Marine colonel and a senior defense adviser with the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said a violation is up for interpretation because there were no defined terms.

“Trump announced it. The Iranians agreed. But there’s no formal agreement,” Cancian said. “So whether it broke the ceasefire or not depends on your perspective. ... Nothing was written down.”

Michael O’Hanlon, a defense and foreign policy analyst at the Brookings Institution, said the US did not violate the ceasefire because it was limited to bombing Iran, not the blockade.

“We agreed to stop dropping bombs on them, and that’s the basic thing they wanted,” O’Hanlon said, adding that the US still had to enforce the blockade “if you’re going to make it mean anything.”