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The US president has continued to butt heads with Pope Leo over the Iran war
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Donald Trump has again lashed out at Pope Leo’s stance on Iran, saying the pontiff should be reminded that the country must be nuclear weapon-free.
In response to a meeting between the Pope and Democrat and Chicago mayor Brandon Johnson on Friday, the US president wrote on Truth Social: “Someone should explain to the Pope that the Mayor of Chicago is useless, and that Iran cannot have a Nuclear Weapon!”
The two have repeatedly clashed over America’s invasion of Iran, with Trump earlier claiming the pontiff was “endangering Catholics” by supporting Tehran’s nuclear programme.
Pope Leo responded: “If someone wants to criticise me for proclaiming the Gospel, let them do so truthfully. For years, the Church has spoken out against all nuclear weapons, so there is no doubt on that point.”
Meanwhile, an adviser to Iran’s supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei accused Donald Trump of “betraying diplomacy for the third time” in his response to a current peace proposal.
Mohsen Rezaei was pointed at Trump’s continuing a naval blockade imposed on Iran and what he described as excessive demands in negotiations, as he blamed the White House for the failure to reach a peace deal.
Donald Trump has said the US “shouldn’t have been in Iran” while defending strikes on the country and claiming they prevented Tehran from obtaining a nuclear weapon.
Speaking to Fox News, Trump compared the conflict to the Iraq war and said: “We did so bad. It was such a foolish thing what we did. We shouldn’t have been there in the first place.”
“We shouldn’t have been in Iran, but Iran has the capability,” he added. “If we didn’t hit them with B-2 bombers nine months ago, they would have a nuclear weapon right now and will be a whole different story. You probably wouldn’t have had Israel, but you probably wouldn’t have had a Middle East, and then where do they go from there?”
Trump also claimed the US had intentionally avoided targeting much of Iran’s military leadership.
“Their military, we sort of left it alone because we think that their military is somewhat moderate,” he said. “We’ve taken different forms of leadership out. We’ve actually left their military alone.”
US defence secretary Pete Hegseth said he was “quite confident” Donald Trump would secure an agreement with Iran, saying negotiations were moving in Washington’s favour.
Speaking to reporters at the Shangri-La Dialogue defence summit in Singapore, Hegseth said Iran “knows very, very clearly what our expectations are”.
“They’re coming in our direction and the talks have been productive,” he said. “They know where it needs to go, and I’m quite confident with our president who makes nothing but great deals.”
Hegseth also repeated that Trump would only agree to terms he considered beneficial “for our country and the world”.
“You saw it in how he’s been talking about it publicly. The goalposts haven’t shifted at all. The closer they come to that reality, the closer we’re going to get to that kind of a deal.”
He added that concerns over the Strait of Hormuz had been raised repeatedly during talks with allies at the summit, but said the US had reassured partners over the situation.
After 88 days of a widespread internet shutdown in Iran, the Islamic Republic partially restored access for some users this week.
State media described the move as the “return of the internet”, but an investigation by Independent Persian, global data and reports sent to us from across Iran suggest that users still only have limited, slow and unstable access.
Donald Trump has reportedly asked for changes to the proposed Iran agreement negotiated by US envoys, triggering another round of talks with Tehran.
The revisions focus on Tehran’s nuclear programme, its enriched uranium stockpile, and the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, according to US officials cited by Axios. One official said Trump wanted more detail on “how the US gets the material and the timing”, referring to Iran’s enriched uranium stockpile.
The proposed memorandum of understanding would reportedly extend the ceasefire by 60 days and create a framework for negotiations over Iran’s nuclear programme.
US officials told Axios they expect Tehran to respond within three days. “At the turn of the week, we hope to have something,” a senior administration official said.
The US military said it disabled a cargo ship attempting to breach its blockade of Iranian ports by firing a missile into the vessel’s engine room.
US Central Command said the Gambia-flagged cargo ship Lian Star ignored more than 20 warnings overnight as it attempted to enter an Iranian port. A US official said the ship was left adrift in the Gulf of Oman and had not been boarded by American forces.
The US military said it has now stopped six ships attempting to breach the blockade, while redirecting another 116 vessels.
Washington imposed the blockade on 17 April after Iran effectively shut the Strait of Hormuz during the war. A ceasefire has held since 7 April, but Donald Trump has yet to decide whether to approve a proposed deal to extend it by another 60 days.
Donald Trump appeared on his daughter-in-law Lara Trump’s Fox News show on Saturday night, where he said he is in “no hurry” to make a deal with Iran.
“I’m in no hurry. I’d like to say I’m in a hurry, because you know what, gasoline prices are going to come tumbling down, but if you’re going to be in a hurry, you’re not going to make a good deal,” Trump told his daughter-in-law.
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Iran has issued another warning to commercial and military vessels trying to pass through the Strait of Hormuz, reasserting its control over the shipping route.
A statement from the Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters on Saturday reminded vessels that they must abide by proscribed guidelines while passing through the strait.
According to local media, the statement underlined the need for all vessels to obtain prior permission from the IRGC navy before crossing.
It said any vessel attempting to interfere with management would be met with decisive action.
Lebanon’s prime minister has defended negotiations with Israel at the Pentagon on Friday.
Nawaf Salam said: “Are the negotiations guaranteed to succeed? Certainly not. But they are the least costly path for our country and our people, compared to the other options available today,” CBS reported.
The two sides held two-day talks in the US on Thursday and Friday.
Hezbollah urged the government to withdraw from the talks last week, calling them a concession and urging “indirect negotiations.”
Our senior foreign reporter James Reynolds reports:
Negotiations for a comprehensive peace deal with Iran could “take a few days,” US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said, tempering expectations for an imminent resolution to the nearly three month-old conflict in the Middle East.
While Iran’s foreign ministry spokesperson indicated that conclusions had been reached on many points within a potential 14-point memorandum of understanding, officials stressed this does not signal a swift end to the conflict.
Following a ceasefire in early April, both sides remain at loggerheads over several issues including Iran’s nuclear ambitions, Israel‘s conflict in Lebanon with the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militia, and Tehran‘s demands for sanctions relief and the unfreezing of assets.
After weeks of largely indirect discussions, both Washington and Tehran claim progress on a memorandum of understanding designed to halt the war and provide negotiators with a 60-day window to finalise a deal.
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