Jonathan Sacerdoti

As Donald Trump’s 8 p.m. deadline crept closer by the minute, accompanied by increasingly furious posts from the president online, the last-minute scramble to achieve a ceasefire by diplomacy became ever more desperate. Within the final 90 minutes it was announced that there would be a two-week pause in the fighting, based on a ten-point plan submitted by Iran. Details emerged only gradually overnight, alongside predictable claims of victory from all sides. The truth, as ever, will take longer to emerge. What is clear is that this is not a peace deal, nor even a fully implemented ceasefire. It is, at best, a pause – fragile, conditional and already under strain. This is not a peace deal, nor even a fully implemented ceasefire.

‘WE GOT HIM!’ Donald Trump’s announcement was immediate and emphatic. The operation was ‘one of the most daring Search and Rescue Operations in US History,’ he said. Two American aircrew recovered from deep inside Iran, in separate missions, without a single US casualty. That was the headline. America has not lost control of the ongoing war with Iran. Cut through the triumphant tone of the President’s post, however, and there is truth. The Islamic Republic’s only tangible achievement in this incident was the original downing of an American aircraft. But in war, such things happen. Aircraft are tools, they fail, they are lost, they are replaced.

Houthi forces in Yemen have confirmed that they launched a barrage of ballistic missiles toward southern Israel overnight, with the Eilat region identified as the primary target. Their military spokesperson, Yahya Saree, stated that the missiles were aimed at sensitive Israeli military installations. Israeli air defence systems intercepted all incoming projectiles. No casualties were reported, and no physical damage was sustained. The launch comes as Iran faces sustained pressure on its infrastructure from American and Israeli operations The strike marks the first direct attempt by the Houthis to hit Israeli territory during the current phase of United States and Israeli military operations against Iran.

Two weeks into the war in Iran, Donald Trump’s critics have intensified their attacks not only on his conduct of the war, but on his decision to start it at all. As oil prices, global trade routes and energy markets come under strain, endless strategic and economic debates produce more speculation than answers. Does the war weaken America against China, or strengthen it? Was the decision legal? Is there a long term strategy for this confrontation? Just as technology empowers ideological extremists, ideological self-doubt weakens many Western societies All are important questions. Yet we must not overlook another perspective, increasingly unfashionable but repeatedly invoked by President Trump and his administration in statements and briefings.

President Trump said on Saturday that the United States is seeking an international naval coalition to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. In a message posted on Truth Social, he said ‘many countries’ affected by Iran’s attempted blockade, including China, France, Japan, South Korea and Britain, should deploy warships alongside the U.S. Navy to secure the waterway. In the meantime, he warned that American forces would continue attacking Iranian maritime assets and coastal positions, after the U.S. had carried out one of its most significant direct attacks on Iranian military infrastructure since the war began with its large-scale precision strike on Kharg Island, Iran’s principal oil export hub in the northern Persian Gulf.

The government has approved a request from the Metropolitan Police to ban the annual Al-Quds day march in London, which was due to take place this Sunday. The Home Secretary, Shabana Mahmood, said the decision was necessary to prevent ‘serious public disorder’. The Met cited the expected scale of the protest, the likelihood of large counter-demonstrations, and the wider tensions generated by the conflict in the Middle East. Each year the same scenes returned: Hezbollah banners, chants celebrating the ‘resistance’, speakers denouncing Zionism as an open expression of hostility towards Jews The march itself will not take place. A stationary protest may still occur under strict conditions. While this is a significant decision, it is also absurdly late.