Iran: Rolling Ultimatums, Moscow "at the EU table"?

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In a week of movable ultimatums set by President Trump, to “obliterate Iran’s power plants”, a deadline was set initially of Monday at Midnight, then extended by five days on account of “very productive conversations”, then to ten days with Trump claiming “talks are ongoing” and “going very well”.

Tehran claimed suggestions of negotiations were Fake News, and US talk of de-escalation was a front designed to buy time for a ground invasion with an amphibious force of US marines heading from the far east to the Persian gulf.

Washington presented a 15 point plan to end the conflict. Iran set out its own five conditions reportedly relayed via Pakistan.

But assassinations of the regime have continued, so too Iran’s defacto chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz, with both sides using the media to mock the other:

It’s been a week of intensified Israeli air strikes and ground operations in the south of Lebanon, with the IDF blowing up bridges along the Litani river which bisects the south of the country and meets the Mediterranean Sea.

For what end? Israel says it’s creating a ‘defensive buffer zone” against Iranian backed Hezbollah fighters attacking northern Israeli towns. Lebanon’s President says it’s a violation of sovereignty which cuts off civilians from dozens of towns and villages from the rest of the country. Nationwide 1 in 5 people are reported to have fled their homes, and the UN warns of the risk of a Gaza-style siege in the south:

Its been a week where millions of travellers at US airports felt the effects of a partial government shutdown. Tens of thousands of transport security staff haven’t been paid for more than a month, and the effect is sporadic chaos, snaking lines at airport gates and the longest wait times on record..

There’s been political deadlock since February, with Democrats blocking full funding for Homeland Security because of disputes over immigration and customs reforms that the Republicans want. President Trump’s solution: send in ICE agents to airports…raising questions for the US border czar Tom Homan over how useful they would be:

It’s been a week of elections in Europe.

In Denmark, political drama fit for an episode of Borgen as the prime minister Mette Frederiksen resigned for the second time in her career after her decision to call a snap election failed to pay off at the polls. Aiming for a so-called Greenland bounce after holding firm against US pressure in January, the result was that her centre left party lost seats, and her coalition lost its majority, the Social Democrats west result since 1903:

It’s been election week in Slovenia too, and a fragmented result from a contest framed as the liberals against the populists .. the party of the current, pro-EU prime minister, Robert Golob against former leader Janez Janša, who denied accusations that he hired a private investigator to dig for dirt on his rival, But Mr Golob ended up winning by the narrowest of margins. Coalition building begins.

And here in France, all of the main parties seemed to claim partial victories after municipal elections, easy to do with 35,000 seats up for grabs! The French left took the three biggest cities, Lyon Marseilles and in Paris, where the new Mayor, socialist Emmanuel Grégoire, took a victory lap around the capital on a rental bike with supporters.

While the far right failed in winning its targets in the south, but exponentially built on its voter base, and the party leader Jordan Bardella still tops the latest polls for the Presidential election next year.

Produced by Gavin Lee, Rebecca Gnignati, Daniel Whittington, Alessandro Xenos.