Indian Army Reports 'First Calm Night' after Kashmir Truce with Pakistan Holds

A Pakistani security official stand guard at the scene of a suicide bomb blast targeting a vehicle of police in Peshawar, Pakistan, 11 May 2025. EPA/BILAWAL ARBAB
A Pakistani security official stand guard at the scene of a suicide bomb blast targeting a vehicle of police in Peshawar, Pakistan, 11 May 2025. EPA/BILAWAL ARBAB
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Indian Army Reports 'First Calm Night' after Kashmir Truce with Pakistan Holds

A Pakistani security official stand guard at the scene of a suicide bomb blast targeting a vehicle of police in Peshawar, Pakistan, 11 May 2025. EPA/BILAWAL ARBAB
A Pakistani security official stand guard at the scene of a suicide bomb blast targeting a vehicle of police in Peshawar, Pakistan, 11 May 2025. EPA/BILAWAL ARBAB

The frontier between arch-foes India and Pakistan was peaceful and had the "first calm night in recent days", the Indian army said Monday, after a surprise weekend ceasefire.

The truce was agreed to on Saturday after four days of missile, drone and artillery attacks between the two countries which killed at least 60 people and sent thousands fleeing, reported AFP.

It was the worst violence since the nuclear-armed rivals' last open conflict in 1999 and sent global shudders that it could spiral into full-blown war.

There were initial doubts as the two sides accused each other of breaching the ceasefire just hours after it was unexpectedly announced by US President Donald Trump on social media.

"The night remained largely peaceful across... Kashmir and other areas along the international border," the Indian army said.

"No incidents have been reported, marking the first calm night in recent days," the statement added.

It was also the second straight night without gunfire or shelling at Poonch, the frontier town in the part of divided Kashmir administered by India.

Poonch was one of the worst-hit regions in the latest conflict, with at least 12 residents killed and most of the estimated 60,000 residents fleeing their homes.

On Sunday, people started trickling back to the town, although many still remained worried that the ceasefire would not last.

The alarming spiral towards all-out conflict began before dawn on Wednesday, when India launched missile attacks destroying what it called "terrorist camps" in the Pakistani part of Kashmir.

This followed an April 22 attack on tourists in Indian-administered Kashmir, which killed 26 civilians.

India accused Pakistan of backing the attack but Islamabad denied involvement and immediately responded to the strikes with heavy artillery fire.

It claimed to have downed five Indian fighter jets -- something New Delhi has not commented on.

Militants have stepped up operations in Kashmir since 2019, when Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Hindu nationalist government revoked the region's limited autonomy and took it under direct rule from New Delhi.

Divided Muslim-majority Kashmir is claimed in full by both countries, who have fought several wars over the territory since their independence from Britain in 1947.



Iran Says Redirects US-sanctioned Oil Tanker to Its Shores

FILE PHOTO: An aerial view of the Iranian shores and the island of Qeshm in the strait of Hormuz, December 10, 2023. REUTERS/Stringer/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: An aerial view of the Iranian shores and the island of Qeshm in the strait of Hormuz, December 10, 2023. REUTERS/Stringer/File Photo
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Iran Says Redirects US-sanctioned Oil Tanker to Its Shores

FILE PHOTO: An aerial view of the Iranian shores and the island of Qeshm in the strait of Hormuz, December 10, 2023. REUTERS/Stringer/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: An aerial view of the Iranian shores and the island of Qeshm in the strait of Hormuz, December 10, 2023. REUTERS/Stringer/File Photo

Iran said on Friday it redirected a US-sanctioned oil tanker carrying Iranian oil back to its shores, though it was unclear from its statement why it would have returned it, reported AFP.

"The Islamic Republic of Iran's navy, through a specially planned operation in the Sea of Oman, seized the offending tanker Ocean Koi," the army said in a statement carried by state television, adding that the oil belonged to Iran.

It said the ship was redirected to Iran's southern shores after it sought "to damage and disrupt Iran's oil exports," without elaborating.


Meloni Meets Rubio as Iran War Strains Italy-US Ties

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio leaves the San Damaso courtyard after meeting Pope Leo XIV at the Vatican, May 7, 2026. REUTERS/Yara Nardi
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio leaves the San Damaso courtyard after meeting Pope Leo XIV at the Vatican, May 7, 2026. REUTERS/Yara Nardi
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Meloni Meets Rubio as Iran War Strains Italy-US Ties

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio leaves the San Damaso courtyard after meeting Pope Leo XIV at the Vatican, May 7, 2026. REUTERS/Yara Nardi
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio leaves the San Damaso courtyard after meeting Pope Leo XIV at the Vatican, May 7, 2026. REUTERS/Yara Nardi

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni met US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Friday at a moment of unusual strain between her government and President Donald Trump's administration, driven largely by the war with Iran.

Rubio is in Italy for a two-day trip aimed at easing ties with Pope Leo after unprecedented attacks on the pontiff by Trump, while also addressing Washington's frustration over Italy's refusal to support the US-Israeli war on Iran.

Meloni had been one of Trump's firmest supporters in Europe, cultivating close ties with him and presenting herself as a natural ‌bridge between Washington ‌and other EU states that had no natural political ‌affinity ⁠with the Republican ⁠US leader.

But that alignment has come under increasing strain in recent months, as the Iran war has forced her to balance loyalty to the United States against Italian public animosity to the war and the growing economic cost of the conflict.

Before heading to the prime minister's office, Rubio met Italy's Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani, who said the talks had been positive.

"I am convinced ⁠that Europe needs America, Italy needs America, but the United ‌States also needs Europe and Italy," Tajani ‌told reporters.

Meloni and Rubio were expected to discuss the situation in the Gulf, as ‌well as Russia's war on Ukraine, US tariffs on European goods and ‌the outlook for Cuba, which Washington is seeking to isolate both diplomatically and economically.

TRUMP'S ATTACKS ON POPE

The Italians will also be keen for a readout on Rubio's meetings at the Vatican. Trump's recent attacks on Pope Leo crossed a sensitive ‌line in overwhelmingly Catholic Italy and prompted Meloni to call them "unacceptable."

Her criticism in turn drew a sharp rebuke ⁠from Trump, who said ⁠she lacked courage and had let Washington down. He subsequently threatened to withdraw US troops from Italy.

Meloni said on Monday she would not support such a move, but acknowledged that the decision "doesn't depend on me".

Italy last month refused to allow US aircraft to use the Sigonella air base in Sicily for combat operations linked to the Iran conflict. Italian officials have said Washington had not sought prior authorization from Rome for the use of the site.

Defense Minister Guido Crosetto, a close Meloni ally, later warned that the Iran war was putting US global leadership at risk and said he feared the "madness" of nuclear escalation.

Pollsters say Meloni's ties to Trump could prove a potential liability with voters ahead of national elections due next year.


Trump Says Ceasefire Still Holds after Fighting Between the US and Iran Flares

US President Donald Trump looks on as he speaks to reporters near the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool as it undergoes renovations, in Washington, D.C., US, May 7, 2026. REUTERS/Kylie Cooper
US President Donald Trump looks on as he speaks to reporters near the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool as it undergoes renovations, in Washington, D.C., US, May 7, 2026. REUTERS/Kylie Cooper
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Trump Says Ceasefire Still Holds after Fighting Between the US and Iran Flares

US President Donald Trump looks on as he speaks to reporters near the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool as it undergoes renovations, in Washington, D.C., US, May 7, 2026. REUTERS/Kylie Cooper
US President Donald Trump looks on as he speaks to reporters near the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool as it undergoes renovations, in Washington, D.C., US, May 7, 2026. REUTERS/Kylie Cooper

US and Iranian forces clashed in the Gulf, but President Donald Trump said a ceasefire was still holding despite the flare-up, which dented hopes for a swift diplomatic resolution to the crisis.

The escalation came as Washington awaited Tehran's response to a US proposal to end the war, which began on February 28 when the US and Israel launched airstrikes on Iran.

Trump said on Thursday three US Navy destroyers were attacked as they moved through the Strait of Hormuz, a conduit for around a fifth of the world's oil and liquefied natural gas flows that Iran has all but closed since the conflict began.

"Three World Class American Destroyers just transited, very successfully, out of the Strait of Hormuz, under fire. There was no damage done to the three Destroyers, but great damage done to the Iranian attackers," Trump wrote on Truth Social.

He later told reporters the ceasefire remained in effect and played down the exchange.

"They trifled with us today. We blew them away," Trump said in Washington.

Iran, however, accused the United ⁠States of breaching ⁠the ceasefire, an agreement that has been punctuated by intermittent clashes since it was announced on April 7.

Iran's top joint military command said US forces had targeted an Iranian oil tanker and another ship, and carried out air attacks on civilian areas on Qeshm Island in the Strait of Hormuz and nearby coastal areas. It said Iranian forces responded by attacking US military vessels east of the strait and south of the port of Chabahar.

A spokesperson for Iran's Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters said the Iranian strikes inflicted "significant damage," but US Central Command said none of its assets were hit.

Iranian state media later signaled a de-escalation, with Press TV reporting that, after several hours of exchanges, "the situation on Iranian islands and coastal cities by the Strait of Hormuz is back to normal now."