U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a cabinet meeting
| Photo Credit: Reuters

Earlier President Donald Trump said on social media that negotiations were “proceeding nicely”.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian meets with the Chief of Defence Forces of Pakistan, Field Marshal Asim Munir, in Tehran, May 23, 2026.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf met with chief of Defence Forces of Pakistan, Field Marshal Asim Munir, in Tehran, Iran, on May 23, 2026.
| Photo Credit:
Iranian Parliament Speaker Office/WANA via Reuters

Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said on Sunday (May 24, 2026) that he hoped Pakistan could soon host the next round of peace talks between Iran and the United States. “Pakistan will continue its peace efforts with utmost sincerity and we hope to host the next round of talks very soon,” Mr. Sharif, whose country has played a key role in mediating between Washington and Tehran, posted on X.

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Saturday (May 23, 2026) a deal with Iran had been “largely negotiated,” with the proposal including opening the crucial Strait of Hormuz, though the agreement was “subject to finalisation.” Among the West Asia countries whose leaders joined a call on Saturday (May 23, 2026) to discuss the deal were Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Egypt, Jordan and Bahrain, Mr. Trump said. He added that he had a separate call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, saying it “likewise went very well.”

Iran’s chief negotiator Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf had warned earlier that Washington would face a tough response if it resumed hostilities, after U.S. media reports raised the prospect of new strikes and Iranian officials accused the U.S. side of making “excessive demands.

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Republicans struggled Thursday (May 21, 2026) to find the votes to dismiss legislation that would compel President Donald Trump to withdraw from the war with Iran, delaying planned votes on the matter into June.

The House had scheduled a vote on a war powers resolution, brought by Democrats, that would rein in Mr. Trump’s military campaign. But as it became clear that Republicans would not have the numbers to defeat the bill, GOP leaders declined to hold a vote on it.

Republicans are also working to ensure they have the votes to dismiss another war powers resolution in the Senate that advanced to a final vote earlier this week, when four GOP senators supported the resolution and three others were absent from the vote.

The actions by congressional leaders showed the increasing difficultly of maintaining political backing for Mr. Trump’s handling of the war. Rank-and-file Republicans are increasingly willing to defy the president over the conflict.

Frustration with Iran war grows on Capitol Hill

On Capitol Hill, patience with the war has worn thin as the stalemate in the Strait of Hormuz disrupts global shipping and elevates gas prices in the U.S Another House war powers resolution nearly passed last week, falling on a tie vote as three Republicans voted in favor.

Democratic Rep Gregory Meeks of New York, who sponsored the war powers resolution, had said he expected to have the votes this time around.

“Congress has a constitutional duty. It has a duty to act, not to cheerlead, especially not to cheerlead an open-ended war of choice,” Mr. Meeks said.

The lone Democrat who voted against the war powers resolution last week, Rep Jared Golden of Maine, had said he would vote in favour of the legislation this time. Meanwhile, leaders of both parties dealt with several absences that could have shifted the vote either way in the closely divided chamber.

Republicans have been broadly supportive of Mr. Trump’s efforts to destroy Iran’s nuclear capabilities, but some are now saying the president’s legal timeline to wage a war without congressional approval has expired. Under the War Powers Resolution of 1973, presidents have 60 days to engage in a military conflict before Congress must either declare war or authorise the use of military force.

“We have to follow the law,” said Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, a Pennsylvania Republican, shortly after he voted for an Iran war powers resolution for the first time last week.

The dispute over war powers

The White House argues that the requirements of the War Powers Resolution no longer apply because of the ceasefire with Iran. At the same time, Trump has said he was just an hour away from ordering another strike on Iran earlier this week, but held off because Gulf allies said they were engaged in negotiations to end the war.

Still, Mr. Trump said on social media that military leaders should “be prepared to go forward with a full, large scale assault of Iran, on a moment’s notice, in the event that an acceptable Deal is not reached.” Trump has repeatedly set deadlines for Tehran and then backed off.

Sen Thom Tillis, a Republican who has so far voted against the war powers resolutions, expressed frustration with the Trump administration’s stance, especially from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.

“The current status quo, Pete Hegseth demonstrates how incompetent he is,” Tillis told reporters, adding that he would be willing to vote for an authorization for use of military force.

Democratic senators rallied outside the Capitol Wednesday alongside VoteVets, a left-leaning veterans’ advocacy group. They placed signs on the Capitol lawn noting that the nationwide average price of gasoline had risen to USD 4.53.

Sen Tammy Duckworth, an Illinois Democrat who served in the Iraq War with the Air National Guard, argued that the Iran war has amounted to a strategic blunder for Trump.

“Trump started a war, and he’s made things worse than before,” Duckworth said, pointing to Iran’s new leadership and the country’s willingness to put a chokehold on commercial shipping through the Strait of Hormuz.

Republican leaders praised Mr. Trump for taking what they said was bold action to directly confront Iran, a nation that has been a US adversary for decades.

“I’m an American. I don’t believe in getting hit and walking away and pretending as though it didn’t happen,” said Rep. Brian Mast, the Republican chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

For Congress, the growing momentum to pass a war powers resolution could eventually lead to a legal showdown over who has the final authority over military conflicts.

The legislation before the House Thursday was a concurrent resolution that lawmakers said would take effect without Trump’s signature if it passed both chambers of Congress.

But Mr. Trump has also argued that the 1973 law — passed by Congress during the Vietnam War era in an attempt to take back its power over foreign conflicts — is unconstitutional.

Published – May 22, 2026 06:18 am IST

Vice President J.D. Vance reassured Americans on Tuesday (May 19, 2026) that President Donald Trump’s war with Iran will not become ‌a “forever war,” using a White House briefing to defend his boss’s policies as speculation about ​his potential successor builds.

Iran-Israel war LIVE updates- May 20, 2026

Standing in for press secretary Karoline Leavitt, who is on maternity leave, Mr. Vance fielded ⁠questions from journalists for nearly an hour in a mostly measured manner, a contrast to Mr. Trump’s more confrontational style.

He declined to rule out using taxpayer money to compensate people convicted of assaulting police officers during the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. ‌Capitol, dismissed European concerns over Washington scrapping troop deployment to Poland as overblown and called a reporter’s suggestion that Mr. Trump’s recent stock purchases raised corruption concerns “absurd.”

The White House briefing room has emerged this ‌month as an informal audition stage in the race to succeed President Donald Trump in 2028. Mr. Vance’s appearance ‌at ⁠the podium came about two weeks after Secretary of State Marco Rubio, his possible future rival, drew ⁠wide attention for his debut briefing.

“Marco’s right, this really is chaos,” Mr. Vance quipped as reporters who packed the room shouted for his attention.

When a reporter referred to Mr. Vance as “a potential future candidate,” he rushed to correct her.

“I’m not a potential future candidate,” he said. “I’m a ​Vice-President, and I really like my job, and ‌I’m going to try to do as good of a job as I can.”

Iran war presents political test

Mr. Vance, 41, a former Marine who has long argued against U.S. entanglements in foreign wars, on Tuesday (May 19) said any escalation with Tehran in the absence of a diplomatic solution would serve long-term U.S. security interests.

“This is not ‌a forever war,” he said. “We’re going to take care of business and come home.”

The Iran conflict ​is likely to loom over the political futures of both Mr. Rubio and Mr. Vance. Since it began on February 28, it has shut down a large chunk of the global oil trade, ⁠sending U.S. gas prices about 50% higher and raising alarm among Republicans defending congressional majorities in the November midterm elections.

In a Reuters/Ipsos poll published on Tuesday (May 19), Mr. Trump’s presidential approval rating fell to nearly its lowest level since he returned to the ‌White House, with many Republicans souring on his handling of Americans’ cost-of-living concerns.

The poll, conducted between May 15-18, showed some 34% of Americans have a favourable view of Mr. Vance and 33% said the same of Mr. Rubio. In January 2025, 42% of respondents in a Reuters/Ipsos poll said they had a favourable view of Mr. Vance.

Even as both men downplay their 2028 ambitions, Mr. Trump has continued to fuel the succession talk. At a Rose Garden dinner last week, the President polled guests on his possible successors.

“Who likes J.D. Vance?” he asked. “Who likes Marco Rubio?”

Both questions drew strong applause. ‌Mr. Trump said the men running together would make “a perfect ticket” but added he was not offering either of them his endorsement.

Mr. Rubio’s recent turn ​at the White House podium drew praise from Mr. Trump. Republicans and even some Democrats noted his smooth performance, which included quips with reporters and a 1990s hip-hop reference to describe Iran’s negotiating ⁠position.

A State Department video capturing his remarks that he hoped America would be a place where “anyone from anywhere can achieve anything” ⁠went viral and fueled further speculation of a 2028 bid.

Mr. Vance, who has spent the last few weeks campaigning across states including Iowa, Maine and Missouri and raising money for Republican candidates, also tried out ‌some humour on Tuesday (May 19) in a reference to his wife, Usha Vance, who is pregnant with their fourth child.

“I told Karoline I would stand in for her today for the White House press briefing on the condition ​that when Usha has our baby in July, that she would be vice president for a couple weeks,” Mr. Vance said

Published – May 20, 2026 11:15 am IST

Qatar’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson, Majed Al Ansari.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

Israel launched a massive series of airstrikes on southern Lebanon on Saturday (May 16, 2026), despite an extension of the truce between the two countries.

Israel says it is targeting Hezbollah but the strikes were preceded by an evacuation warning covering nine villages.

And the continuing bombardment has only increased scepticism about the truce among the many thousands of Lebanese driven from their homes in the south.

Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency (NNA) reported strikes on more than two dozen villages on Saturday, including one more than 50 kilometres (30 miles) from the border.

– AFP

A fresh fuel price hike has catapulted petrol and diesel rates higher across the tri-state junction of Chittoor district, with petrol now hovering around ₹113 per litre and diesel at ₹100 per litre in most towns, highway outlets, and border-facing pumps. The overnight development is being felt not only as a sudden shock to consumers, but operators of the petrol pumps.

In many places of the erstwhile Chittoor district, from Kuppam to Satyavedu, fuel stations report that, even before Friday’s (May 15, 2026) hike, customers were already filling up locally, but only out of necessity. In border towns such as Nagari, Kuppam, V.Kota, Palamaner, and Madanapalle, petrol bunks are seeing a different pattern emerge. “We have to plan ahead and cross into Tamil Nadu or Karnataka, where fuel is still cheaper by several rupees per litre,” said Karthik Vinayagam (34), a lorry driver, working for a transport company in Trichy, shuttling between Theni and Bhubaneshwar.

A petrol bunk owner in Nagari, Ramesh, located just a few kilometres from the Tamil Nadu border, said the change has become harder to ignore. “Earlier, we used to have a steady flow throughout the day. Now, after every price hike, we see fewer vehicles, and the drivers just prefer two or three liters, hoping to cross into Tamil Nadu. It’s a vital decision for the public and transporters as well, because savings are the lifeline,” he said.

Dealers across the district say the issue is no longer temporary. The price gap has slowly altered customer behaviour, and highway stations, in particular, are feeling the pressure, with reduced sales and uneven demand throughout the day, impacting the fuel business across the interstate borders. — K. Umashanker