China pushed Iran towards a ceasefire in order to score diplomatic capital with the Trump administration, and hopes to use that credit to begin shifting U.S. policy toward the position that Taiwan is a "breakaway province that should reunite with the mainland" - WSJ

Vahid Online is reporting sounds of explosions in Tehran, Iran.

First Lady Melania Trump issued a rare statement from the White House this morning denying any involvement or association with the late convicted sex offender and trafficker Jeffrey Epstein. She also called on Congress “to act” against his co-conspirators and accomplices and to hold public hearings for Epstein’s victims.

In a lengthy post on Truth Social earlier, President Donald J. Trump sharply criticized several former allies, including conservative commentators Tucker Carlson, Megyn Kelly, Candace Owens, and Alex Jones. The group has recently voiced criticism of Trump over issues such as the Iran war and the Epstein files, arguing these actions conflict with his “MAGA” and “America First” agenda. In the post, Trump referred to the commentators as “low IQ,” “stupid people,” and “nut jobs” and “troublemakers.” He also dismissed their platforms as “third-rate podcasts,” claiming they no longer reflect the views of the MAGA movement and asserting that his electoral success demonstrates continued support for his positions.

After UK Defense Secretary John Healey revealed Russian undersea activity near the UK’s critical infrastructure, the Ministry of Defence said it had, together with other NATO allies, tracked two vessels from Russia’s “shadow fleet” as they were escorted through the English Channel by the frigate Admiral Grigorovich. The Telegraph first reported the story.

According to Reuters, citing three European diplomats, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte informed member states that U.S. President Donald J. Trump is seeking commitments to a Strait of Hormuz framework within the next few days. One diplomat added, “We recognize the frustration in Washington, but allies were not consulted either before or after the conflict began.”

According to Axios, citing an Israeli official, Israel will not consider Lebanon as a part of the currently in place ceasefire framework during negotiations with Lebanon. Israel-Lebanon negotiations on the disarmament of Lebanese Hezbollah are set to commence in the coming days.

Container (green) and tanker (red) vessel traffic through the Strait of Hormuz via MarineTraffic since the announcement of the ceasefire shows that the few vessel transits that have occurred continued to deviate out of the main channel around the north side of Larak Island for inspection by Iran.

According to CBS News, citing survivors of the deadly Iranian strike in Kuwait that killed six U.S. servicemembers from the Army’s 103rd Sustainment Command, the circumstances of the attack may have been significantly misrepresented by officials. Survivors said the strike was a direct hit and that defensive measures around the installation were insufficient. They also reported that an “all clear” had been issued from a prior alarm before the impact, leading personnel to return to their posts and remove protective gear. Despite the conditions, survivors described how servicemembers immediately rushed to assist their wounded comrades following the strike.

UK Defence Secretary John Healey said today that Russia has been carrying out covert undersea operations near critical infrastructure north of the United Kingdom in recent months. According to Healey, the activity involved a Russian Akula-class attack submarine along with two submarines linked to Russia’s Main Directorate of Deep-Sea Research (GUGI). He stated that a Royal Navy warship and a Royal Air Force P-8 maritime patrol aircraft were deployed to track the vessels. The Akula-class submarine has since withdrawn from the area, while the two GUGI-linked submarines remain in place and continue to be monitored.

In a now deleted post on the Pentagon’s Defense Visual Information Distribution Service (DVIDS), a Sailor working on an EA-18G “Growler” Electronic Warfare Aircraft assigned to “The Gray Wolves” of Electromagnetic Attack Squadron 142 (VAQ-142), deployed onboard the USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN-78), can be seen wearing a morale patch which says: Join the U.S. Navy Save the Big Booty Venezuelans!

Tucker Carlson: “If the United States is the strongest military in the world, why can’t it force Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz? The reality is—we’re not as powerful as we’ve claimed. How did this so-called ‘primitive country’ manage to humiliate us? That’s not just embarrassing—it’s dangerous, because it invites further aggression. We need to confront what actually happened here. No more pretending. No more lies.”

An oil industry consultant to Politico on Iran’s Hormuz toll: “We didn’t have to do that before — and I thought we won the war.”

GM NOSTR 🫡

The Trump administration is considering a plan to punish some members of the NATO alliance that he believes were unhelpful to the U.S. and Israel during the Iran war - WSJ Along with repositioning troops, the plan could involve closing a U.S. base in Spain or Germany.

Newly released photos taken by Artemis ll and published by NASA show, with amazing detail, hundreds of craters and basins, some seen for the first time in history having formed since the Apollo Program ended in the 1970s, on the far side of Earth’s Moon.

Donald J. Trump said that U.S. forces deployed as part of the military buildup in the Middle East will remain in the region until a full agreement with Iran is reached.  He added that, in the meantime, troops are resting and “looking forward” to what he described as the “next conquest.”

According to data provided to The New York Times by ship-tracking firm Kpler, no oil or natural gas tankers transited the Strait of Hormuz in the past 24 hours, despite the ongoing two-week ceasefire between Iran and the United States. Only four bulk cargo vessels passed through the strait on Wednesday—the lowest daily total recorded so far in April. This stands in contrast to claims from the White House that traffic through the strait had increased. Meanwhile, Iranian state media has renewed threats to “fully close” the waterway, citing continued Israeli strikes against Hezbollah and infrastructure in Lebanon, which reportedly caused multiple civilian casualties on Wednesday.

Sen. John Fetterman: Every single thing Iran done and is is an entire war crime.

According to the Financial Times, Iran is reportedly demanding that oil tankers transiting the Strait of Hormuz pay tolls using cryptocurrency, including Bitcoin and stablecoins such as Tether’s USDT and the Trump-linked USD1. Vessels are said to be instructed to contact Iranian authorities via email before entering the strait, providing details about their cargo. In response, authorities reportedly issue a fee quote for passage—set at around $1 per barrel of oil—to be paid in digital currency.