Iran Military Official Says Renewed War with US ‘Likely’

A woman walks past an anti-US graffiti painted on the wall of the Tehran University on Enqelab-e-Eslami street in downtown Tehran, Iran, Saturday, April 25, 2026. (AP)
A woman walks past an anti-US graffiti painted on the wall of the Tehran University on Enqelab-e-Eslami street in downtown Tehran, Iran, Saturday, April 25, 2026. (AP)
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Iran Military Official Says Renewed War with US ‘Likely’

A woman walks past an anti-US graffiti painted on the wall of the Tehran University on Enqelab-e-Eslami street in downtown Tehran, Iran, Saturday, April 25, 2026. (AP)
A woman walks past an anti-US graffiti painted on the wall of the Tehran University on Enqelab-e-Eslami street in downtown Tehran, Iran, Saturday, April 25, 2026. (AP)

A senior Iranian military officer said on Saturday that renewed fighting between the US and Iran was "likely", hours after President Donald Trump said he was "not satisfied" with a new Iranian negotiating proposal.

Iran delivered the draft to mediator Pakistan on Thursday evening, state media reported without detailing its contents.

The war, launched by the United States and Israel in late February, has been on hold since April 8, with one failed round of peace talks having taken place in Pakistan since then.

"At this moment I'm not satisfied with what they're offering," Trump told reporters, blaming stalled talks on "tremendous discord" within Iran's leadership.

"Do we want to go and just blast the hell out of them and finish them forever -- or do we want to try and make a deal?" he added, saying he would "prefer not" to take the first option "on a human basis".

On Saturday morning, Mohammad Jafar Asadi, a senior figure in the Iranian military's central command, said "a renewed conflict between Iran and the United States is likely", in quotes published by Iran's Fars news agency.

"Evidence has shown that the United States is not committed to any promises or agreements," he added.

- 'Stuck in purgatory' -

Iran's judiciary chief Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei said on Friday that his country had "never shied away from negotiations", but added it would not accept an "imposition" of peace terms.

The White House has declined to provide details on the latest Iranian proposal, but news site Axios reported that US envoy Steve Witkoff had submitted amendments putting Tehran's nuclear program back on the negotiating table.

The changes reportedly include demands that Iran not move enriched uranium from bombed sites or resume activity there during talks.

News of the Iranian proposal briefly pushed oil prices down nearly five percent, though they remain about 50 percent above pre-war levels amid the ongoing closure of the Strait of Hormuz.

Iran has maintained a stranglehold on the strait since the war began, choking off major flows of oil, gas and fertilizer to the world economy, while the United States has imposed a counter-blockade on Iranian ports.

Tehran resident Amir told Paris-based AFP journalists that the stalemate "feels like we are stuck in purgatory", and he expressed little hope for the Iranian proposal.

"This is all to waste time," he said, predicting the United States and Israel "will attack again".

Despite the ceasefire in the Gulf, fighting has continued in Lebanon, where Israel has carried out deadly strikes despite a separate truce with the Iran-backed armed group Hezbollah.

Lebanon's health ministry said 13 people were killed in strikes in the south, including in the town of Habboush, where the Israeli military had issued an evacuation warning.

- 'Terminated' -

In Washington, lawmakers were wrestling with a legal dispute over whether Trump had breached a deadline to seek congressional approval for the war.

Administration officials argue that the ceasefire pauses a 60-day limit, after which congressional authorization would be required -- a claim disputed by opposition Democrats.

Trump faces growing domestic pressure, with inflation rising, no clear victory in sight and midterm elections approaching.

"There has been no exchange of fire between United States Forces and Iran since April 7, 2026," Trump said in letters to congressional leaders, adding that the hostilities "have terminated".

In Iran, the war's economic toll is deepening.

Washington has imposed new sanctions on three Iranian currency firms and warned others against paying a "toll" for safe passage through Hormuz, as demanded by Iran.

The US military says its blockade of Iranian ports has stopped $6 billion in Iranian oil exports, while inflation in Iran, already high before the war, has surged past 50 percent.

"For many people, paying rent and even buying food has become difficult, and some have nothing left at all," 28-year-old Iranian Mahyar told an AFP reporter based outside the country.

Supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei said on Friday that "the owners of damaged businesses should avoid, as much as possible, layoffs and separation of their workforce".

He also threatened Iran's enemies with "economic and cultural" war.



Germany Says Withdrawal of US Troops Was ‘Expected’

A US Air Force aircraft takes off from the Ramstein Air Base, headquarter of the US Air Forces in Europe, near Landstuhl, Germany, 09 March 2026. (EPA)
A US Air Force aircraft takes off from the Ramstein Air Base, headquarter of the US Air Forces in Europe, near Landstuhl, Germany, 09 March 2026. (EPA)
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Germany Says Withdrawal of US Troops Was ‘Expected’

A US Air Force aircraft takes off from the Ramstein Air Base, headquarter of the US Air Forces in Europe, near Landstuhl, Germany, 09 March 2026. (EPA)
A US Air Force aircraft takes off from the Ramstein Air Base, headquarter of the US Air Forces in Europe, near Landstuhl, Germany, 09 March 2026. (EPA)

Germany's defense minister on Saturday said the withdrawal of American troops from Germany had been expected and that Europe needed to do more to ensure its own security.

"That US troops are withdrawing from Europe and also from Germany was to be expected," Boris Pistorius said in a statement sent to AFP by his ministry. "We Europeans must take greater responsibility for our security," he added.

The Pentagon on Friday announced the withdrawal of about 5,000 troops from Germany within the next year, the latest rift in transatlantic ties over the Middle East war.

The move came as US President Donald Trump announced that tariffs on cars and trucks from the European Union would increase to 25 percent next week, accusing the bloc of not complying with a trade deal signed last summer.

Trump has renewed criticism of German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who said Monday that Iran was "humiliating" Washington at the negotiating table. Trump said Merz "thinks it's OK for Iran to have a Nuclear Weapon. He doesn't know what he's talking about!"

On Wednesday, the American leader said Washington was "studying and reviewing the possible reduction" of US troops in Germany, and that he would decide in a "short period of time".


Nobel Laureate Mohammadi in Iran Hospital After ‘Cardiac Crisis’, Foundation Says

A picture of Nobel Peace Prize winner Narges Mohammadi on the wall of the Grand Hotel in central Oslo before the Nobel banquet, in connection with the awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize 2023, in Oslo, Norway December 10, 2023. (NTB/Javad Parsa via Reuters)
A picture of Nobel Peace Prize winner Narges Mohammadi on the wall of the Grand Hotel in central Oslo before the Nobel banquet, in connection with the awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize 2023, in Oslo, Norway December 10, 2023. (NTB/Javad Parsa via Reuters)
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Nobel Laureate Mohammadi in Iran Hospital After ‘Cardiac Crisis’, Foundation Says

A picture of Nobel Peace Prize winner Narges Mohammadi on the wall of the Grand Hotel in central Oslo before the Nobel banquet, in connection with the awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize 2023, in Oslo, Norway December 10, 2023. (NTB/Javad Parsa via Reuters)
A picture of Nobel Peace Prize winner Narges Mohammadi on the wall of the Grand Hotel in central Oslo before the Nobel banquet, in connection with the awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize 2023, in Oslo, Norway December 10, 2023. (NTB/Javad Parsa via Reuters)

Nobel Peace Prize winner Narges Mohammadi was in an Iranian hospital after a "catastrophic deterioration of her health," including a "cardiac crisis", a foundation run by her family said.

The secretary of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, which awarded Mohammadi the 2023 prize, expressed concern on Thursday that the condition of the Iranian human rights activist was worsening after she had suffered a heart attack in prison.

Mohammadi, in her 50s, won the prize while in prison for her campaign to advance women's rights and abolish the ‌death penalty in ‌Iran.

The activist "was urgently transferred to a hospital ‌in Zanjan ⁠today following a ⁠catastrophic deterioration of her health, including two episodes of complete loss of consciousness and a severe cardiac crisis," the Narges Mohammadi Foundation said in a statement on its website on Friday.

"This transfer was done as an unavoidable necessity after prison doctors determined her condition could not be managed on-site, despite standing medical recommendations that ⁠she be treated by her specialized team in ‌Tehran."

Reuters could not immediately confirm the ‌statement, which said her transfer was a “desperate, last-minute” measure that might come ‌too late to address her critical health needs.

Mohammadi was sentenced ‌to a new prison term of 7-1/2 years, the foundation said in February, weeks before the US and Israel launched their war against Iran. The Nobel committee at the time called on Tehran to free ‌her immediately.

She was arrested in December after denouncing the death of lawyer Khosrow Alikordi. Prosecutor Hasan ⁠Hematifar told reporters ⁠then she made provocative remarks at Alikordi's memorial ceremony in the northeastern city of Mashhad and encouraged those present "to chant norm-breaking slogans" and "disturb the peace".

On Friday morning, Mohammadi fainted after days of dangerously high blood pressure and severe nausea, the foundation said. After multiple bouts of vomiting, she blacked out and was moved to the prison medical unit for emergency intravenous fluids.

The activist, who has undergone three angioplasty procedures, faces a "direct and immediate" threat to her right to life, her family said. “We call for all charges to be dropped immediately and for all sentences imposed for her peaceful human rights work to be unconditionally annulled.”


Two Killed in Russian Attack on Bus in Kherson

The interior of the damaged flat in an apartment building hit by a Russian drone strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Odesa, Ukraine May 1, 2026. (Reuters)
The interior of the damaged flat in an apartment building hit by a Russian drone strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Odesa, Ukraine May 1, 2026. (Reuters)
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Two Killed in Russian Attack on Bus in Kherson

The interior of the damaged flat in an apartment building hit by a Russian drone strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Odesa, Ukraine May 1, 2026. (Reuters)
The interior of the damaged flat in an apartment building hit by a Russian drone strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Odesa, Ukraine May 1, 2026. (Reuters)

A ‌Russian drone attack on a bus in Ukraine's southern city of Kherson killed two people and injured seven more early on Saturday, officials said.

Most of the casualties were public utilities workers, regional governor Oleksandr Prokudin added on Telegram. He posted images from the site that showed the bus with ‌blown-out windows and ‌a body with traces ‌of ⁠blood lying on ⁠its floor.

"Such attacks are part of a systemic policy of terror against the civilian population," Dmytro Lubinets, Ukraine's human rights ombudsman, said on the Telegram app.

Kherson, the only regional ⁠capital seized by Russian forces in ‌their 2022 ‌full-scale invasion, was recaptured by Ukrainian troops later ‌that year but has increasingly ‌come under attack from Russian forces across the Dnipro River.

Ukrainian officials and human rights organizations have accused Moscow's troops of deliberate ‌and systemic small-drone attacks on civilians across areas close to the ⁠frontline, ⁠in particular in Kherson.

The southern Odesa region, targeted by Russian strikes almost daily over the last couple of months, also came under attack overnight, the regional governor Oleh Kiper said.

A warehouse and neighboring buildings were damaged at a port, he added on Telegram.

Ukraine's air force said it downed 142 out of 163 long-range drones launched by Russia overnight.