live Iran, U.S. make competing claims over control of Strait of Hormuz
Iran says the Strait of Hormuz remains under its control, rejecting U.S. President Donald Trump’s claim of “total control” over t...
U.S. President Donald Trump said any peace deal between Ukraine and Russia would require both sides to cede territory, ahead of his planned talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska on Friday.
Speaking at a White House press conference on Monday, Trump said the upcoming meeting with Putin would be a “feel-out” session to assess whether Moscow is willing to make a deal to end the conflict. He added that he could know “within two minutes” if progress was possible.
“So I’m going in to speak to Vladimir Putin, and I’m going to be telling him, you’ve got to end this war. You’ve got to end it,” Trump told reporters.
The president said a future meeting could involve Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, potentially turning into a three-way discussion aimed at securing a rapid ceasefire. Trump also said he planned to speak to European leaders soon after his meeting with Putin.
While Trump has previously mentioned the idea of land swaps, neither Kyiv nor Moscow has shown interest in ceding territory. European officials have expressed concern that major concessions to Russia could undermine Western security in the long term.
Ukraine has been attempting to reclaim areas occupied since the start of the conflict in February 2022, which it describes as an unprovoked invasion. Russia, which currently holds about a fifth of Ukraine’s territory, claims it acted to address security threats from Kyiv’s move towards closer ties with the West.
“There’ll be some land swapping going on,” Trump said, adding that Russia had taken “very prime territory” but that “we’re going to try to get some of that territory back” for Ukraine.
However, Ukraine said it will not cede a single inch of its territory, including Donbas, in exchange for a ceasefire. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned that any withdrawal would unblock a clear path for renewed Russian attacks, potentially toward Zaporizhzhia, Dnipro and Kharkiv.
His warning comes just days before the Trump-Putin summit in Alaska on Friday - talks that Zelenskyy has been excluded from, stoking fears in Kyiv that President Vladimir Putin is angling to win territory on the table.
Disruption in the Strait of Hormuz has increased the strategic importance of Bab al-Mandab, raising fears that instability in both waterways could trigger a wider global energy and trade crisis.
Flights at Catania airport in Sicily will remain suspended until early Friday as ash from Mount Etna continues to disrupt air travel, following hundreds of cancellations and diversions over the past week.
Iran says the Strait of Hormuz remains under its control, rejecting U.S. President Donald Trump’s claim of “total control” over the strategic waterway and insisting it will not reopen until Washington fulfils its commitments under an interim deal.
Iran and the United States remain at loggerheads over efforts to agree a permanent end to the war in the Gulf, according to a senior Iranian source who said there had been no progress in talks to revive the interim deal agreed in June and define a timeframe to implement it.
Russia has accused Ukraine of threatening global grain supplies after recent strikes on Black Sea agricultural infrastructure, while Moscow carried out a new overnight attack on Ukraine’s major Danube port of Izmail.
The suspension of two major grain terminals in Russia’s Black Sea port of Novorossiysk could increase pressure on Kazakhstan’s agricultural market if Russian exporters divert supplies to Central Asia at discounted prices.
Georgia’s Prime Minister says the EU’s inclusion of a major Black Sea cable project on a key infrastructure list is fresh evidence of the country’s importance to regional energy and digital connectivity.
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has dismissed Security Council Secretary Armen Grigoryan and appointed former parliament speaker Alen Simonyan as his replacement.
Central Asia’s economy has surpassed $543 billion, driven by Kazakhstan’s economic weight, strong exports and foreign investment, while growing trade across Asia points to an increasingly connected region.
The United Nations refugee agency is planning a settlement and carpet-weaving workshop for Afghan returnees in Kabul as the country grapples with large-scale returns and growing pressure on housing, jobs and basic services.
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