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Washington and Mogadishu at Odds Over Somaliland

Staff Reporter — Mon, 31 Aug 2026 09:19:28 +0000

Relations between Somalia and the United States are entering a sensitive phase as debates intensify over the future of Somaliland, Washington’s policy toward the Horn of Africa, and the legal status of thousands of Somalis living in the United States.

The developments come at a time when the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump is reassessing aspects of its foreign and immigration policies, raising questions about how these decisions could affect both Somalia’s territorial integrity and the Somali diaspora in America.

Reports circulating in diplomatic and media circles claim that the Somali government has conveyed a message to Washington through its embassy in the United States, urging the Trump administration not to recognize Somaliland as an independent state.

The reports further suggest that Mogadishu has expressed a willingness to cooperate with the United States on issues related to Somali nationals residing in the country without legal status.

Neither the Somali government nor U.S. officials have publicly confirmed the details of the reported discussions.

However, the claims have drawn attention because they touch on two of the most politically sensitive issues in U.S.-Somalia relations: Somaliland’s quest for international recognition and immigration policies affecting Somali citizens.

Somaliland Recognition Remains a Key Concern

Somaliland, which declared independence from Somalia in 1991, has spent decades seeking international recognition as a sovereign state.

Despite maintaining its own government, security forces, currency, and institutions, Somaliland has not received formal recognition from the United States as an independent state.

The Federal Government of Somalia continues to insist that Somaliland remains an integral part of Somalia and has repeatedly argued that any foreign recognition of Somaliland would violate Somalia’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.

The issue carries particular significance because of the United States’ influence in the Horn of Africa. Any shift in Washington’s position on Somaliland would likely have major diplomatic and geopolitical consequences for the region.

In recent years, Somaliland supporters in Washington have stepped up lobbying efforts aimed at encouraging U.S. policymakers to reconsider longstanding American policy, which has traditionally supported Somalia’s unity while maintaining engagement with Somaliland authorities.

Analysts note that Washington’s approach to Somaliland is closely linked to broader strategic considerations in the Horn of Africa, including regional security, maritime trade routes, counterterrorism cooperation, and competition among global powers for influence in the region.

End of TPS Creates Uncertainty for Somali Community

Another issue affecting U.S.-Somalia relations is the termination of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Somalia, a decision that has created uncertainty for many Somali nationals living in the United States.

The U.S. government announced in January 2026 that it intended to end TPS protections for Somalia. The decision was originally scheduled to take effect on March 17, 2026, but implementation was temporarily blocked by a federal court.

Following subsequent legal proceedings, a federal court in Boston ruled on August 14, 2026, in a way that allowed the Trump administration to proceed with ending the program.

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) later confirmed that Somalia’s TPS designation officially ended on August 14, 2026.

TPS is a temporary immigration protection granted to nationals of countries experiencing armed conflict, natural disasters, or other extraordinary conditions.

Individuals covered by TPS are generally protected from deportation and are authorized to work legally in the United States while the designation remains in effect.

The end of TPS means that Somali nationals who do not possess another legal immigration status could lose those protections and may become subject to immigration enforcement proceedings.

However, immigration experts emphasize that the termination of TPS does not automatically result in the deportation of all Somali nationals previously covered by the program.

Each case depends on an individual’s immigration status, pending applications, asylum claims, or other legal protections.

Strategic Partnership Under Pressure

Any discussions between Mogadishu and Washington regarding undocumented Somali nationals are likely to require careful diplomatic handling.

Somali officials face the challenge of protecting the interests of their citizens abroad while maintaining strong bilateral relations with one of Somalia’s most important international partners.

The United States remains a key ally of Somalia, providing support in security, counterterrorism, humanitarian assistance, and state-building efforts. American assistance has played a significant role in Somalia’s fight against Al-Shabaab and in strengthening national institutions.

Somalia’s strategic location along the Gulf of Aden, the Indian Ocean, and major international shipping routes further enhances its importance to U.S. interests in the Horn of Africa.

Washington views stability in Somalia as critical to regional security, maritime trade, and efforts to counter extremist groups operating across East Africa.

As debates over Somaliland and immigration policy continue, analysts say the coming months could prove pivotal for U.S.-Somalia relations.

While both countries share important security and strategic interests, decisions made in Washington on recognition, immigration, and regional policy could have lasting implications for Somalia’s political future and for the Somali diaspora in the United States.

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Trump Threatened Military Action Against An African Country He Accused of Islamic Extremism

Staff Reporter — Sun, 02 Nov 2025 10:01:50 +0000

Washington (KAAB TV) – On November 1, 2025, U.S. President Donald Trump announced via his social media platform (Truth Social) that he had directed the Pentagon to begin preparations for a possible military intervention in Nigeria.

He accused the Nigerian government of allowing the killing of Christians, describing the West African nation as “a now-disgraced country” and declaring that if the government fails to act, the United States “may very well go into that … guns-a-blazing to completely wipe out the Islamic terrorists who are committing these horrible atrocities.”

In his post, President Trump also stated that the United States would immediately end all aid and assistance to Nigeria unless Nigerian authorities take urgent action to protect Christians from attacks by radical Islamist groups.

Trump further characterized Christianity in Nigeria as facing an “existential threat,” and alleged that “radical Islamists are responsible for this mass slaughter.”

The Nigerian government, led by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, swiftly rejected the characterization.

It emphasized that religious freedom and tolerance are constitutionally enshrined in Nigeria and reaffirmed its commitment to protecting citizens of all faiths.

Analysts note that the security challenges in Nigeria are complex. While there have been attacks targeting Christians, the majority of victims of armed groups are reported to be Muslims, especially in the country’s north.

The violence stems from multiple overlapping causes—terrorist insurgencies (such as Boko Haram and Islamic State’s West Africa Province), communal and ethnic clashes, farmer–herder disputes, and resource competition—not solely religious persecution.

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U.S. Announces Resumption of Testing After Russian Missile and Torpedo Revelations

Staff Reporter — Fri, 31 Oct 2025 13:19:49 +0000

Washington (KAAB TV) – This week brought critical developments in nuclear-weapons diplomacy and signalling. Two major announcements have shifted the global landscape.

Vladimir Putin declared that Russia had successfully tested a nuclear-powered and nuclear-capable underwater drone/torpedo system.

Specifically, he claimed that the device—known as Poseidon—was launched from a submarine, its reactor activated, and that it could strike coastal regions via a massive radioactive wave.

In subsequent remarks, Putin also referenced a successful test of the nuclear-powered cruise missile Burevestnik (also called SSC-X-9 “Skyfall”) that flew ~14,000 km in about 15 hours.

In response, Donald Trump declared via social media that the United States Department of Defense (mis-referred to as “Department of War”) has been instructed to “immediately” begin testing the U.S. nuclear-weapons arsenal “on an equal basis” with other countries.

He wrote:

“Because of other countries testing programs, I have instructed the Department of War to start testing our Nuclear Weapons on an equal basis. That process will begin immediately.”

Trump claimed that the U.S. “has more nuclear weapons than any other country … this was accomplished … during my First Term in office.”

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US Supreme Court backs Trump on aggressive immigration raids

Staff Reporter — Mon, 08 Sep 2025 17:57:11 +0000

Washington (KAAB TV) – The U.S. Supreme Court again backed President Donald Trump’s hardline immigration approach on Monday, letting agents proceed with Southern California raids targeting people for deportation based on their race or language in a decision that a dissenting justice said makes Latinos “fair game to be seized at any time.”

The court granted a Justice Department request to put on hold a judge’s order temporarily barring agents from stopping or detaining people without “reasonable suspicion” that they are in the country illegally, by relying on race or ethnicity, or if they speak Spanish or English with an accent, among other factors. The administration quickly vowed to continue “roving patrols.”

The Supreme Court’s three liberal justices publicly dissented, directing pointed criticism at its conservative majority.

The administration “has all but declared that all Latinos, U.S. citizens or not, who work low-wage jobs are fair game to be seized at any time, taken away from work, and held until they provide proof of their legal status to the agents’ satisfaction,” Justice Sotomayor wrote in the dissenting opinion.

“Rather than stand idly by while our constitutional freedoms are lost, I dissent,” Sotomayor added.

Los Angeles-based U.S. District Judge Maame Frimpong found on July 11 that the Trump administration’s actions likely violated the U.S. Constitution’s Fourth Amendment protection against unreasonable searches and seizures. The judge’s order applied to her court’s jurisdiction covering much of Southern California.

The Supreme Court’s order was brief and issued without any explanation, a common way it handles emergency matters, but one that has generated confusion in lower courts and criticism from some of the justices themselves. The court has a 6-3 conservative majority.

Trump-appointed U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi called Monday’s decision a “massive victory,” writing on social media that immigration enforcement officers now can “continue carrying out roving patrols in California without judicial micromanagement.”

A lawsuit challenging the raids accused the administration of using roving patrols by masked and heavily armed agents who have conducted interrogations and detentions based on racial profiling that resemble “brazen, midday kidnappings.”

“Individuals with brown skin are approached or pulled aside by unidentified federal agents, suddenly and with a show of force, and made to answer questions about who they are and where they are from,” the lawsuit stated.

A group of Latino people caught up in the raids, including some who are U.S. citizens, filed the proposed class action lawsuit in Los Angeles federal court in July.

Concurring with Monday’s decision, conservative Justice Brett Kavanaugh said that “apparent ethnicity alone cannot furnish reasonable suspicion” but it can be a “‘relevant factor’ when considered along with other salient factors.”

Kavanaugh added: “If the officers learn that the individual they stopped is a U.S. citizen or otherwise lawfully in the United States, they promptly let the individual go.”

In a written filing, the Justice Department defended targeting people using a “reasonably broad profile” in a region where, according to the administration, about 10% of residents are in the country illegally.

Trump’s administration has repeatedly asked the Supreme Court this year to allow it to proceed with policies that lower courts have impeded after casting doubt on their legality.

The court has backed Trump in most of these cases. For instance, it has allowed Trump to deport migrants to countries other than their own without offering a chance to show harms they may face and to revoke temporary legal status previously granted by the government on humanitarian grounds to hundreds of thousands of migrants.

PROMISES OF DEPORTATIONS

Trump won election last year to a second term as president with promises of record-level deportations. His administration’s immigration raids, including in Los Angeles, have prompted panic in immigrant communities as well as protests, and have drawn lawsuits over the aggressive tactics employed by masked and armed federal enforcement agents.

In May, Trump senior aide Stephen Miller demanded that Immigration and Customs Enforcement ramp up deportations, setting a goal of 3,000 daily arrests.

Trump sent National Guard troops and U.S. Marines into Los Angeles in June in response to protests against the federal immigration raids, marking an extraordinary use of military force within the United States to support civilian police operations.

Local officials and California Governor Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, contested the deployment of troops, calling it unlawful and saying the action was unnecessary and only served to inflame tensions.

Frimpong issued the temporary restraining order halting stops or arrests based on race, language, presence at a particular location such as a car wash or tow yard, or type of work to establish “reasonable suspicion” of illegality. The judge was appointed by Democratic former President Joe Biden.

The San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Aug. 1 refused to lift Frimpong’s order.

In the lawsuit, one plaintiff, Jason Gavidia, said that agents roughed him up after disbelieving his statements to them that he is a U.S. citizen, demanding to know the name of the hospital where he was born.

(Reuters).

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Canadian Military Member Found Dead in Latvia After Four-day Search

Staff Reporter — Sun, 07 Sep 2025 10:43:57 +0000

WASHINGTON (KAAB TV) – A Canadian Armed Forces member who went missing in Latvia earlier this week has been found dead, the Canadian military said on Saturday.

Warrant Officer George Hohl, 20-year military veteran deployed on NATO’s Operation REASSURANCE, was found dead on Friday after disappearing Tuesday in the Baltic nation where Canada maintains troops as part of a multinational brigade.

Hohl was a Vehicle Technician from 408 Tactical Helicopter Squadron based in Edmonton, Alberta. He had been serving with the Aviation Battalion under NATO’s Multinational Brigade-Latvia when he went missing near the Ādaži military base.

Canadian Forces Military Police are assisting Latvian authorities in investigating the circumstances surrounding Hohl’s death, though officials said “there is no indication this incident poses an increased threat to our deployed members’ safety and security.”

Chief of Defence Staff General Jennie Carignan called the loss devastating for the entire Canadian Armed Forces, saying Hohl would be remembered for his dedicated service.

The warrant officer had multiple deployments including domestic disaster relief operations and previous tours on Operation REASSURANCE, Canada’s contribution to NATO’s enhanced forward presence in Eastern Europe established following Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea.

Operation REASSURANCE involves approximately 2,200 Canadian personnel rotating through the Baltic state.

An investigation into Hohl’s death is ongoing, according to the Canadian military’s statement.

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Trump Urges Swift Israeli Military Action to Rescue Hostages in Gaza

Staff Reporter — Sun, 24 Aug 2025 08:36:46 +0000

Washington (KAAB TV) – Former President Donald Trump has called for an immediate end to the ongoing crisis in Gaza, urging the Israeli military to take swift and decisive action to secure the release of hostages currently held by Hamas.

Speaking during a press appearance on Saturday, Trump emphasized the urgency of the situation, stating that the hostages would be safer if Israel moved quickly and forcefully. “The situation must be resolved immediately,” Trump said. “Israel has the power to act, and they must do so now to ensure the safety of their people.”

Trump acknowledged the sensitive nature of a potential military operation in Gaza, noting that not all the families of the hostages oppose the idea of an Israeli ground intervention. “Some families understand that strong action may be the only way to bring their loved ones home,” he said.

He also commented on the number of hostages reportedly held by Hamas, suggesting that around 20 individuals remain captive. However, he admitted that this figure is uncertain, adding that at least two of those hostages may no longer be alive.

Trump’s remarks come amid growing regional tension, as violence continues to escalate in and around the Gaza Strip. The humanitarian situation remains dire, while debates intensify over both the fate of the hostages and the broader future of Gaza, which has been increasingly isolated in recent months.

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Future of US-Kenya Strategic Partnership in Question Amid Proposed Review of Ally Status

Staff Reporter — Thu, 07 Aug 2025 14:11:28 +0000

Washington (KAAB TV) – In a move that could significantly impact diplomatic and security relations between Washington and Nairobi, former U.S. President Donald Trump has called for a review of Kenya’s designation as a Major Non-NATO Ally (MNNA) of the United States. This comes just months after Kenya became the first sub-Saharan African country to receive this prestigious status.

Kenya was officially designated as a Major Non-NATO Ally on June 24, 2024, during President William Ruto’s historic state visit to the United States in May. The designation marked a milestone in U.S.-Kenya relations, solidifying Kenya’s role as a key partner in Africa in areas such as defense cooperation, counterterrorism, economic development, and regional security.

The MNNA status, while not entailing a mutual defense pact like NATO membership, grants Kenya a variety of military and financial advantages, including access to certain defense technologies and increased joint military training opportunities with the U.S.

However, the future of this strategic relationship has been cast into doubt following a recent legislative development. U.S. Senator James Risch has introduced an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2026 that mandates a comprehensive review of Kenya’s MNNA designation within 90 days.

The proposed review will evaluate multiple aspects of Kenya’s foreign policy alignment, including its diplomatic and economic engagement with global rivals of the U.S., such as China, Russia, and Iran. The legislation also calls for scrutiny of Kenya’s potential or existing agreements with these countries and any ties—direct or indirect—with armed groups such as al-Shabaab and the Sudanese Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

Analysts suggest that this development signals a shift in how the U.S. is recalibrating its strategic partnerships in Africa, particularly in light of growing Chinese and Russian influence across the continent. Should the review find inconsistencies with U.S. foreign policy interests, Kenya’s MNNA status could be downgraded or revoked—a decision that would carry major diplomatic repercussions.

For Kenya, the review poses both diplomatic and strategic risks, especially at a time when the country is positioning itself as a stable, democratic hub in East Africa with increasing regional and global influence.

Whether this proposed review leads to a reassessment or reaffirmation of Kenya’s ally status remains to be seen, but it undoubtedly marks a turning point in the evolving dynamics of U.S.-Africa relations.

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US To Deport Permanent Residents Alleged To Have Supported Designated Haitian Gang

Staff Reporter — Mon, 21 Jul 2025 20:22:58 +0000

WASHINGTON (KAAB TV) – The United States will deport some U.S. permanent residents after determining that they supported and collaborated with Haitian gang leaders connected to a designated Haitian foreign terrorist organization, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Monday.

“The United States will not allow individuals to enjoy the benefits of legal status in our country while they are facilitating the actions of violent organizations or supporting criminal terrorist organizations,” Rubio said in a statement.

The individuals, who were not named, are alleged to have supported and collaborated with Haitian gang leaders connected to Viv Ansanm, according to the statement.

(Reuters).

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Trump Wins As Supreme Court Curbs Judges, But May Yet Lose On Birthright Citizenship

Staff Reporter — Sun, 29 Jun 2025 08:04:29 +0000

WASHINGTON (KAAB TV) – The U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark ruling blunting a potent weapon that federal judges have used to block government policies nationwide during legal challenges was in many ways a victory for President Donald Trump, except perhaps on the very policy he is seeking to enforce.

An executive order that the Republican president signed on his first day back in office in January would restrict birthright citizenship – a far-reaching plan that three federal judges, questioning its constitutionality, quickly halted nationwide through so-called “universal” injunctions.

But the Supreme Court’s ruling on Friday, while announcing a dramatic shift in how judges have operated for years deploying such relief, left enough room for the challengers to Trump’s directive to try to prevent it from taking effect while litigation over its legality plays out.

“I do not expect the president’s executive order on birthright citizenship will ever go into effect,” said Samuel Bray, a Notre Dame Law School professor and a prominent critic of universal injunctions whose work the court’s majority cited extensively in Friday’s ruling.

Trump’s executive order directs federal agencies to refuse to recognize the citizenship of children born in the United States who do not have at least one parent who is an American citizen or lawful permanent resident, also called a “green card” holder.

The three judges found that the order likely violates citizenship language in the U.S. Constitution’s 14th Amendment.

The directive remains blocked while lower courts reconsider the scope of their injunctions, and the Supreme Court said it cannot take effect for 30 days, a window that gives the challengers time to seek further protection from those courts.

The court’s six conservative justices delivered the majority ruling, granting Trump’s request to narrow the injunctions issued by the judges in Maryland, Washington and Massachusetts. Its three liberal members dissented.

The ruling by Justice Amy Coney Barrett, who Trump appointed to the court in 2020, emphasized the need to hem in the power of judges, warning against an “imperial” judiciary.

Judges can provide “complete relief” only to the plaintiffs before them, Barrett wrote.

A HOST OF POLICIES

That outcome was a major victory for Trump and his allies, who have repeatedly denounced judges who have impeded his agenda. It could make it easier for the administration to implement his policies, including to accelerate deportations of migrants, restrict transgender rights, curtail diversity and inclusion efforts, and downsize the federal government – many of which have tested the limits of executive power.

In the birthright citizenship dispute, the ruling left open the potential for individual plaintiffs to seek relief beyond themselves through class action lawsuits targeting a policy that would upend the long-held understanding that the Constitution confers citizenship on virtually anyone born on U.S. soil.

Bray said he expects a surge of new class action cases, resulting in “class-protective” injunctions.

“Given that the birthright-citizenship executive order is unconstitutional, I expect courts will grant those preliminary injunctions, and they will be affirmed on appeal,” Bray said.

Some of the challengers have already taken that path. Plaintiffs in the Maryland case, including expectant mothers and immigrant advocacy groups, asked the presiding judge who had issued a universal injunction to treat the case as a class action to protect all children who would be ineligible for birthright citizenship if the executive order takes effect.

“I think in terms of the scope of the relief that we’ll ultimately get, there is no difference,” said William Powell, one of the lawyers for the Maryland plaintiffs. “We’re going to be able to get protection through the class action for everyone in the country whose baby could potentially be covered by the executive order, assuming we succeed.”

The ruling also sidestepped a key question over whether states that bring lawsuits might need an injunction that applies beyond their borders to address their alleged harms, directing lower courts to answer it first.

STATES CHALLENGE DIRECTIVE

The challenge to Trump’s directive also included 22 states, most of them Democratic-governed, who argued that the financial and administrative burdens they would face required a nationwide block on Trump’s order.

George Mason University constitutional law expert Ilya Somin said the practical consequences of the ruling will depend on various issues not decided so far by the Supreme Court.

“As the majority recognizes, states may be entitled to much broader relief than individuals or private groups,” Somin said.

New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin, a Democrat who helped lead the case brought in Massachusetts, disagreed with the ruling but sketched out a path forward on Friday. The ruling, Platkin said in a statement, “recognized that nationwide orders can be appropriate to protect the plaintiffs themselves from harm – which is true, and has always been true, in our case.”

Platkin committed to “keep challenging President Trump’s flagrantly unlawful order, which strips American babies of citizenship for the first time since the Civil War” of 1861-1865.

Legal experts said they expect a lot of legal maneuvering in lower courts in the weeks ahead, and the challengers still face an uphill battle.

Compared to injunctions in individual cases, class actions are often harder to successfully mount. States, too, still do not know whether they have the requisite legal entitlement to sue. Trump’s administration said they do not, but the court left that debate unresolved.

Meanwhile, the 30-day clock is ticking. If the challengers are unsuccessful going forward, Trump’s order could apply in some parts of the country, but not others.

“The ruling is set to go into effect 30 days from now and leaves families in states across the country in deep uncertainty about whether their children will be born as U.S. citizens,” said Elora Mukherjee, director of Columbia Law School’s immigrants’ rights clinic.

(Reuters).

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Israel and Iran Agree On Ceasefire To End 12-day War, Trump Says

Staff Reporter — Tue, 24 Jun 2025 02:17:51 +0000

WASHINGTON (KAAB TV) – U.S. President Donald Trump announced on Monday a complete ceasefire between Israel and Iran, potentially ending the 12-day war that saw millions flee Tehran and prompted fears of further escalation in the war-torn region.

Israel, joined by the United States on the weekend, has carried out attacks on Iran’s nuclear facilities, after alleging Tehran was getting close to obtaining a nuclear weapon.

“On the assumption that everything works as it should, which it will, I would like to congratulate both Countries, Israel and Iran, on having the Stamina, Courage, and Intelligence to end, what should be called, ‘THE 12 DAY WAR’,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social site.

There was no immediate comment yet from Israel. While an Iranian official earlier confirmed that Tehran had agreed to a ceasefire, the country’s foreign minister said there would be no cessation of hostilities unless Israel stopped its attacks.

Abbas Araqchi said early on Tuesday that if Israel stopped its “illegal aggression” against the Iranian people no later than 4 a.m. Tehran time (0030 GMT) on Tuesday, Iran had no intention of continuing its response afterwards.

There have been no reported Israeli attacks on Iran since that time.

“The final decision on the cessation of our military operations will be made later,” Araqchi added in a post on X.

A senior White House official said Trump had brokered the deal in a call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Israel had agreed so long as Iran did not launch further attacks.

Trump appeared to suggest that Israel and Iran would have some time to complete any missions that are underway, at which point the ceasefire would begin in a staged process.

Iran denies ever having a nuclear weapons program but Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has said that if it wanted to, world leaders “wouldn’t be able to stop us”.

Israel, which is not a party to the international Non-Proliferation Treaty, is the only country in the Middle East believed to have nuclear weapons. Israel does not deny or confirm that.

Qatar’s Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani secured Tehran’s agreement during a call with Iranian officials, an official briefed on the negotiations told Reuters on Tuesday.

U.S. Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff were in direct and indirect contact with the Iranians, the White House official said.

Neither Iran’s U.N. mission nor the Israeli embassy in Washington responded to separate requests for comment from Reuters.

Hours earlier, three Israeli officials had signaled Israel was looking to wrap up its campaign in Iran soon and had passed the message on to the United States.

Netanyahu had told government ministers whose discussions ended early on Tuesday not to speak publicly, Israel’s Channel 12 television reported.

Markets reacted favorably to the news.

S&P 500 futures rose 0.4% late on Monday, suggesting traders expect the U.S. stock market to open with gains on Tuesday.

U.S. crude futures fell in early Asian trading hours on Tuesday to their lowest level in more than a week after Trump said a ceasefire had been agreed, relieving worries of supply disruption in the region.

END TO THE FIGHTING?

There did not appear to be calm yet in the region.

The Israeli military issued two evacuation warnings in less than two hours to residents of areas in the Iranian capital Tehran, one late on Monday and one early on Tuesday.

Israeli Army radio reported early on Tuesday that alarms were activated in the southern Golan Heights area due to fears of hostile aircraft intrusion.

Earlier on Monday, Trump said he would encourage Israel to proceed towards peace after dismissing Iran’s attack on an American air base that caused no injuries and thanking Tehran for the early notice of the strikes.

Iran’s handling of the attack recalled earlier clashes with the United States and Israel, with Tehran seeking a balance between saving face with a military response but without provoking a cycle of escalation it can’t afford.

Tehran appears to have achieved that goal.

Iran’s attack came after U.S. bombers dropped 30,000-pound bunker-buster bombs on Iranian underground nuclear facilities at the weekend, joining Israel’s air war.

Much of Tehran’s population of 10 million has fled after days of bombing.

The Trump administration maintains that its aim was solely to destroy Iran’s nuclear program, not to open a wider war.

“Iran was very close to having a nuclear weapon,” Vice President JD Vance said in an interview on Fox News’ “Special Report with Bret Baier.”

“Now Iran is incapable of building a nuclear weapon with the equipment they have because we destroyed it,” Vance said.

But in a social media post on Sunday, Trump spoke of toppling the hardline clerical rulers who have been Washington’s principal foes in the Middle East since Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution.

Israel, however, had made clear that its strikes on Evin prison – a notorious jail for housing political prisoners – and other targets in Tehran were intended to hit the Iranian ruling apparatus broadly, and its ability to sustain power.

(Reuters).

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