White House offers shifting rationales for war with Iran

Live updates: U.S. closes two gulf embassies as Iran widens strikes; Israel bombs Lebanon

U.S. diplomatic outposts in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia were closed on Tuesday as Israel struck Iran and Lebanon and war spread into the fourth day....

Oil prices soar amid worries of sustained war in Iran

The war in the Mideast has effectively halted shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, threatening to push up gas prices and raise the cost of other goods....

Live updates: As war with Iran expands, U.S. pledges to send more troops and expects further casualties

Four U.S. service members have been killed, and Joint Chiefs Chairman Dan Caine said in a news briefing that more deaths are likely....

The Israeli military issued urgent evacuation orders to civilians across 18 villages in Lebanon, warning it...

Who runs Iran now? An uncertain path to new supreme leader after Khamenei’s death.

Iran’s constitution calls for an assembly of experts to choose the next supreme leader, but that may not be possible in wartime....

Democrats demand immediate vote to restrain Trump on Iran

Congress is expected to vote on two resolutions that seek to block further military action, the latest test of a long-shot strategy to reassert lawmakers’ war powers....

Pakistan says it is in ‘open war’ with Afghanistan as nations exchange strikes

Escalating tensions flared into open conflict as Pakistan’s defense minister said his country’s patience with the Taliban had run out....

U.S. Embassy in Israel advises nonessential personnel to leave ‘TODAY’

The departure warning came amid ongoing threats of a U.S. attack on Iran and the high probability of Iranian retaliation against Israel and U.S. forces in the region....

Iran, U.S. resume nuclear negotiations as Trump’s war clock ticks down

Tehran is expected to deliver a new proposal on nuclear enrichment in Geneva as the United States continues to amass military forces in the Middle East....

Russia opens probe of Telegram chief, claiming app has been used for terrorism

Russia is intensifying efforts to push users away from foreign messaging apps and toward a domestic platform that has been criticized as a surveillance tool....

Hungary blocks Europe’s aid for Ukraine on war’s fourth anniversary

Hungary’s veto over European funding could constrain Ukraine’s ability to fund its army and weaken its hand in U.S. talks with Russia over the war....

As invasion enters fifth year, the children of Ukraine learn to fight back

More than 385,000 Ukrainian teenagers are enrolled in a defense course, expecting war, or threats, to go on for years. In Russia, children are learning the same skills....

CIA intelligence helped Mexican forces track down slain cartel boss

The killing of El Mencho triggered violence across Mexico. In cities including Puerto Vallarta and Cancún, the U.S. warned citizens to shelter in place....

Israelis brace for another war as Trump mulls strikes on Iran

Israeli officials say they won’t initiate a strike on Iran but the public is bracing for the possibility of another war....

Trump talks peace in the Middle East as he readies war on Iran

The split screen between President Donald Trump’s talk of peace in Washington and drumbeats of war in the Middle East struck some critics as incoherent....

Ukraine protests renewed Paralympics participation by Russia, Belarus

The decision allowing Russia and Belarus to rejoin competition drew outrage in Ukraine and Europe following the disqualification last week of a Ukrainian skeleton athlete....

Talks break in Geneva with no end to Russia’s war or hard-line demands

After two hours of talks in Geneva on Wednesday, the head of the Russian delegation, Vladimir Medinsky, said negotiations had been “difficult but businesslike.”...

Pentagon conducts strikes on three more alleged drug boats, killing 11

Three new strikes against alleged South American drug boats come as the Pentagon pulls its warships back from the region to refocus on the Middle East....

Russia presses demands, and faces pressure, as Ukraine talks move to Geneva

High casualties and economic trouble signal time is no longer on Russia’s side, but Moscow isn’t backing off political and territorial demands to weaken Ukraine....

U.S. and Iran hold nuclear talks amid heavy military buildup

U.S. envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner are also responsible for Russia-Ukraine talks nearby, so they may be shuttling between venues....

Ukraine detains ex-energy minister as high-level corruption case widens

German Galushchenko’s arrest is connected to a $100 million corruption probe that has ensnared senior officials and shaken President Volodymyr Zelensky’s office....

‘Highly likely’ that rare poison killed Putin nemesis Navalny, Europeans say

Toxin found in poison dart frogs probably killed Alexei Navalny in a Russian prison, five countries announced on the two-year anniversary of his death....

Rubio says U.S., Europe ‘belong together,’ despite rifts over Trump policies

While some saw the remarks as reassuring, key European leaders renewed calls for more independence from the U.S. amid tensions over issues like Greenland and Ukraine....

U.S. orders second aircraft carrier to Middle East as Trump pressures Iran

The USS Gerald R. Ford, deployed since June, will cross the Atlantic for a second time despite a Navy warning that the warship needs maintenance....

Ukrainian athlete’s ban from Olympic skeleton event over helmet images is upheld

Vladyslav Heraskevych was removed from the men’s skeleton event for refusing to remove a helmet with portraits of Ukrainian athletes who’ve died in the war with Russia....

Vance visits Armenia, Azerbaijan as Trump eyes deals in Russia’s sphere

The vice president’s historic trip illustrates Trump’s transactional diplomacy and willingness to use economic muscle to elbow out rivals such as Russia and Iran....

Epstein built ties to Russians and sought to meet Putin, files show

Justice Department files show Jeffrey Epstein sought help from a Russian official after claiming a woman from Moscow was blackmailing “powerful businessmen” in New York....

Zelensky says Russia is proposing huge economic deals with U.S.

The Ukrainian president said the Trump administration was pushing for a June deadline to end Russia’s war....

U.S. and Iran hold nuclear talks amid threats of regional war

The negotiations over Tehran’s nuclear capabilities come against a backdrop of deadly protests inside Iran and a buildup of U.S. military assets in the region....

Top Russian general shot in Moscow as talks stall on Ukraine ceasefire

Lt. Gen. Vladimir Alekseyev, the deputy head of the GRU, Russia’s main foreign military intelligence agency, was targeted at his home in Moscow, officials said....