Latest News
US lifts naval blockade as Iran’s supreme leader says Trump made deal ‘out of desperation’
The US has dropped its naval blockade of Iran after the two countries signed a deal to end the war in the Middle East.
US Central Command confirmed the end of the blockade on X “in accordance with the President’s direction”, and said some US vessels would remain “in the general area”.
Soon afterwards, Iran’s Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei said he had approved the deal with the US despite having a “different view”, without elaborating. He said he allowed it to go ahead after assurances from Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian that he would “protect the rights of the Iranian nation”.
Khamenei said President Trump had “out of desperation, used all kinds of leverage” to bring the deal about.
The supreme leader said that while there would be “in-person negotiations in the future” between Tehran and Washington, this “will not mean acceptance of the enemy’s position”.
This is the first time Khamenei has responded to the agreement. He has not been seen in public since he took office in March following the killing of his father and predecessor, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in the 28 February US-Israeli strikes on Iran that sparked the regional war.
Trump did not directly respond to Khamanei’s statement, but posted on Truth Social that he expects a ceasefire to take effect “on all fronts”, including between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon, and that he expects countries in the Middle East to “maintain their commitment to allowing our negotiations” to take place.
The US-Iran deal centres around 14 core points, including the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, a requirement that Iran should never have a nuclear weapon, and a commitment to a $300bn (£227bn) fund for the “reconstruction and economic development” of the country – although the US is not required to contribute.
It also binds both sides to achieving a final deal in a “maximum” of 60 days, which could be extended with mutual consent.
The official signing ceremony had been set to take place in Switzerland on Friday. However, mediator Pakistan told the BBC it had been cancelled because the deal had already been signed remotely. US and Iranian representatives are still expected to meet in Switzerland for further talks.
Speaking to reporters at a White House briefing, US Vice-President JD Vance said the deal had come into effect, triggering the 60-day period of further talks, and that he would likely head to Switzerland for “technical negotiations”.
He did not confirm when, adding that Iran was “not an easy country to get out of” and that they were “trying to figure out exactly when that was going to happen”.
Trump’s decision to end the war with Iran has raised criticism from some in the US, including Republicans dismayed by the terms of the deal – especially the provision of a reconstruction fund for Iran.
Republican Senator Bill Cassidy described the agreement as the “worst foreign policy blunder in decades”.
“Iran’s nuclear ambitions were not curbed, and they have learned that threatening the Strait of Hormuz works,” he said.
Vance defended the deal on Thursday, saying that Iran will not receive money or sanctions relief unless it meets obligations set out in the agreement.
He said the deal, known as the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), requires Iran to destroy its stockpile of enriched uranium, and show it will not fund proxy groups in the region.
Vance also castigated members of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s cabinet for criticising the Iran deal, saying they should “wake up and smell the reality”.
“If I was in the cabinet of the Israeli government, I might not be attacking the only powerful ally that I have anywhere left in the entire world,” the vice-president told reporters.
In an interview with the New York Times also published on Thursday, Vance named Israel’s national security minister Itamar Ben Gvir and finance minister Bezalel Smotrich as critics of the deal.
He said: “I guess my response to them would be – what is your exact proposal? You’re a country of nine million people. You can’t just kill your way out of solving every single national security problem that you have.”
Netanyahu himself stressed the importance of maintaining Israel’s close ties with the US on Thursday, saying Washington had stood “shoulder to shoulder” with the country during the war with Iran.
But both Israel and Hezbollah have carried out strikes against each other since the US-Iran agreement was announced, including strikes reported in Lebanon on Thursday that killed three people.
Israel argues its conflict against Hezbollah is separate from its war on Iran. Hezbollah has also rejected the terms of the deal between Iran and the US.
Vance told reporters that Israel would have to respect the peace process with Iran, which he said was good for them, stating that attacks in Lebanon’s capital Beirut that kill civilians are “not acceptable”.
[BBC]
“Obviously, it depends on the team management… what we plan to do in this match. That is a different thing. But I think it is a very thin line between trying to give somebody an opportunity and you being unfair to some other player.”
Seattle Orcas had won just one of their first three games in MLC 2026, but it all came together beautifully for them against Washington Freedom on Thursday. The 88-run win was enough for them to jump straight to No. 2 on the points table, behind the unbeaten Los Angeles Knight Riders.
Orcas got the sort of start they wanted, reaching 59 for no loss after the powerplay even as they slowed down to get to 79 for 2 at the halfway stage. But then they really turned in on thanks to Shimron Hetmyer and Marcus Stoinis. Matthew Breetzke had given the innings some momentum in partnership with Hetmyer, but when Breetzke got out in the 15th over, Orcas were solid without being spectacular at 138 for 3. Around 200 was expected, but not the 227 they got.
And that was down to Stoinis, their captain. Hetmyer was already on 44 off 20 balls and got to his half-century off 24 deliveries soon after, but Stoinis almost caught up with Hetmyer in a blaze of sixes. He hit five of them in one over, the 17th, bowled by medium pacer Ian Holland. From 4 off six balls, Stoinis was on 34 off 12, and though there was another big one in the next over, bowled by Marco Jansen, Stoinis fell for 42 off 16 deliveries the next ball.
Hetmyer, meanwhile, left it till the last over, which started with Orcas on 208 for 5. Jack Edwards was the bowler, and Hetmyer went 6, 6, 6 off the first three balls. That was enough to take Orcas to a huge total, and for Hetmyer to finish on 79 not out off 33 balls.
With that many runs to chase down, Freedom needed a solid start. Instead, they were 42 for 5 after the powerplay, having lost most of the big guns: Steven Smith, Mitchell Owen, Andries Gous, Glenn Maxwell and Edwards. Jasdeep Singh had four of the five wickets, including three in his second over – the fifth of the innings – where he got Gous first ball, Maxwell off the next, and Edwards off the fifth. Smith was already in the bag from his first over, and Jasdeep came back in the 14th to complete his five-for with Jansen’s wicket.
At one point, it looked like the record for the biggest victory margin (by runs) in MLC – currently 123 from when San Francisco Unicorns beat Freedom last season – would be broken. That it wasn’t was thanks to runs from Freedom’s Nos. 8, 9 and 10. Amila Aponso top-scored for Freedom with 31 not out from 13 balls from No. 10, and the men before him, Holland and Jansen, contributed 46 from 39 deliveries between them.
The latest defeat, their second in three games, left Freedom at the bottom of the table.
Scores:
Seattle Orcas 227 for 6 in 20 overs (Tim Seifert 37, Shayan Jahangir22, matthew Breetzket 32, Shimron Hetmyer 79*, Marcus Stoinis 42, Ali Sheikh 11; Marco Jansen 3-33, jack Edwards 1-56, Ian Holland 2-49) beat Washington Freedom 139 in 16.2 overs (Andries Gous 18.Obus Pienaar 10, Marco Jansen 20, Ian Holland 26, Amila Aponso 31*; Marcus Stoinis 1-20, Jasdeep Singh 5-24, ottneil Baartman 1-11, Cameron Gannon 2-16, Harmeet Singh 1-40) by 88 runs
[Cricinfo]
Over 40 persons have been injured (some critically) as two buses one travelling from Galle to Ampara and the other from Tangalle to Matara crashed head on at Talalla Matara this morning.
The injured have been admitted to the Matara General Hospital and Bathhegama District Hospital.
Should not drop someone just to give Sooryavanshi an opportunity: Sitanshu Kotak
Hetmyer, Stoinis and Jasdeep combine to hand Freedom 88-run defeat
Row over alleged theft of donations from India’s landmark Ram temple
Over 40 persons injured in head on crash at Talalla
Turkiye beat US 3-2 with stoppage-time goal in dead rubber
Japan draw 1-1 with Sweden at World Cup to finish second in Group F
‘Dates have the highest sugar content to fight Coronavirus’
Sunday Island 27 December – Headlines
#SundayIsland 17th December – Headlines
Sunday Island – 28th March
Sunday Island Headlines – 21 March
Sunday Island – 21st February – Headlines
-
News7 days agoCreditor not yet paid
-
News7 days agoConsumers bearing 22% tax burden despite 18% VAT claim: Dr. Harsha de Silva
-
Features6 days agoNanda Pethiyagoda Wanasundara as three generations of family saw her
-
Features5 days agoSri Lanka developing independent hydrographic capabilities
-
Editorial6 days agoFuel crisis: Beyond price debate
-
Opinion4 days agoRanasinghe Premadasa: The man who would not take ‘No’ for an answer
-
Latest News5 days agoSooryavanshi thumps fastest List A fifty as India A win tri-series
-
News3 days agoUS Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs meets President