Spain’s Sanchez Says Venezuela’s Machado Declined to Meet Him

Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez and Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva (Not Pictured) attend a press conference during the summit between Spain and Brazil in Barcelona, Spain, April 17, 2026. (Reuters)
Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez and Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva (Not Pictured) attend a press conference during the summit between Spain and Brazil in Barcelona, Spain, April 17, 2026. (Reuters)
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Spain’s Sanchez Says Venezuela’s Machado Declined to Meet Him

Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez and Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva (Not Pictured) attend a press conference during the summit between Spain and Brazil in Barcelona, Spain, April 17, 2026. (Reuters)
Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez and Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva (Not Pictured) attend a press conference during the summit between Spain and Brazil in Barcelona, Spain, April 17, 2026. (Reuters)

Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado was offered a meeting with Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez and his government during her visit to Spain but she declined because she did not consider it "opportune", Sanchez said on Friday.

Machado's lack of contact with any members of Spain's leftist coalition government contrasts with her planned encounters with the country's right-wing opposition to Sanchez.

The prime minister said he was ‌nonetheless happy ‌to meet with the 2025 Nobel Peace ‌laureate ⁠whenever she wanted.

"Our ⁠doors are open to all (Venezuelan) opposition leaders," Sanchez said, underlining that many of them were living in exile in Spain.

Sanchez, speaking at a press conference alongside Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva after a bilateral meeting, said Venezuela's future needed to be ⁠democratically decided by its citizens without any foreign ‌interference.

Machado has held ‌talks with world leaders including US President Donald Trump and French ‌President Emmanuel Macron since leaving Venezuela, where she ‌had been in hiding.

She has been lobbying for the Venezuelan opposition to be given a role in determining the country's future after the US ousted longtime leader Nicolas Maduro ‌in January.

Earlier on Friday, Machado met with the leader of the conservative People's ⁠Party, Alberto ⁠Nunez Feijoo. Later in the day, she is set to hold a joint news conference with Santiago Abascal, head of far-right party Vox.

On Saturday, Machado will be welcomed by the regional leader of Madrid, Isabel Diaz Ayuso, one of Sanchez's fiercest critics.

Ayuso will bestow the region's gold medal on Machado, while Madrid's Mayor Jose Luis Martinez-Almeida - also of the PP - will hand her the keys to the city ahead of a rally with Venezuelan supporters.



Iran Command Says Has Closed Hormuz Again over US Blockade

A satellite image shows the ship movement at the Strait of Hormuz on April 2, 2026, in Space. EUROPEAN UNION/COPERNICUS SENTINEL-2/Handout via REUTERS
A satellite image shows the ship movement at the Strait of Hormuz on April 2, 2026, in Space. EUROPEAN UNION/COPERNICUS SENTINEL-2/Handout via REUTERS
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Iran Command Says Has Closed Hormuz Again over US Blockade

A satellite image shows the ship movement at the Strait of Hormuz on April 2, 2026, in Space. EUROPEAN UNION/COPERNICUS SENTINEL-2/Handout via REUTERS
A satellite image shows the ship movement at the Strait of Hormuz on April 2, 2026, in Space. EUROPEAN UNION/COPERNICUS SENTINEL-2/Handout via REUTERS

Iran's central military command announced on Saturday it would resume "strict management" of the Strait of Hormuz, reversing a decision to unblock the strategic channel as part of negotiations with Washington.

In a statement shared on state television, the headquarters said Washington had broken a promise by continuing its naval blockade of ships sailing to and from Iran's ports.

Until the United States restores freedom of movement for all vessels visiting Iran, "the situation in the Strait of Hormuz will remain strictly controlled," the statement said.

The announcement came after US President Donald Trump said the blockade of the Strait will remain and attacks will resume if no agreement is reached with Iran.


Australia, Japan Sign Contracts to Start $7 Billion Warship Deal

Australia's Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Defense Richard Marles (R) listens to Japan's Minister of Defense Koizumi Shinjiro (L) during a Defense Ministers' Meeting at the Commonwealth Parliament Offices in Melbourne on April 18, 2026. (Photo by William WEST / AFP)
Australia's Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Defense Richard Marles (R) listens to Japan's Minister of Defense Koizumi Shinjiro (L) during a Defense Ministers' Meeting at the Commonwealth Parliament Offices in Melbourne on April 18, 2026. (Photo by William WEST / AFP)
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Australia, Japan Sign Contracts to Start $7 Billion Warship Deal

Australia's Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Defense Richard Marles (R) listens to Japan's Minister of Defense Koizumi Shinjiro (L) during a Defense Ministers' Meeting at the Commonwealth Parliament Offices in Melbourne on April 18, 2026. (Photo by William WEST / AFP)
Australia's Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Defense Richard Marles (R) listens to Japan's Minister of Defense Koizumi Shinjiro (L) during a Defense Ministers' Meeting at the Commonwealth Parliament Offices in Melbourne on April 18, 2026. (Photo by William WEST / AFP)

Australia and Japan signed contracts on Saturday launching their landmark A$10 billion ($7 billion) deal to supply Australia with warships, Tokyo's most consequential military sale since ending a military export ban in 2014.

Defense Ministers Richard Marles and Shinjiro Koizumi signed a memorandum "reaffirming the Australian and Japanese governments' shared commitment to the successful delivery" of the warships, Marles said in a statement.

The deal struck in ⁠August anchors Japan's ⁠push away from its postwar pacifism to forge security ties beyond its alliance with the US to counter China.

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries is to supply the Royal Australian Navy with three upgraded Mogami-class ⁠multi-role frigates built in Japan from 2029. Eight more frigates will be built in Australia.

Japan's Defense Ministry posted on X that Koizumi and Marles welcomed the "conclusion of contracts for General Purpose Frigates, and confirmed to further strengthen bilateral defense ties" in the signing in Melbourne.

Contracts were signed for the first three frigates, to be built ⁠in ⁠Japan, before there is a "transition to an onshore build" at the Henderson shipyard near Perth in Western Australia, Reuters quoted Marles as saying.

Australia plans to deploy the ships - designed to hunt submarines, strike surface ships and provide air defense - to defend critical maritime trade routes and its northern approaches in the Indian and Pacific Oceans, where China's military footprint is expanding.


Iran Partially Reopens Airspace

FILE - Two police officers walk in front of an anti-US billboard in Tehran, Iran, Sunday, April 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi, File)
FILE - Two police officers walk in front of an anti-US billboard in Tehran, Iran, Sunday, April 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi, File)
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Iran Partially Reopens Airspace

FILE - Two police officers walk in front of an anti-US billboard in Tehran, Iran, Sunday, April 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi, File)
FILE - Two police officers walk in front of an anti-US billboard in Tehran, Iran, Sunday, April 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi, File)

Iran partially reopened its airspace on Saturday to international flights crossing the eastern part of its territory, the country's Civil Aviation Authority said.

"Air routes in the eastern section of the country's airspace are open for international flights transiting through Iran," it said, adding that some airports had also reopened at 7:00 am (0330 GMT).

More than three hours later, however, flight tracker websites still showed no international flights crossing Iran, and several avoiding its airspace by making long detours.