Foreign
US Senate rebukes Trump on Venezuela in war powers vote
The US Senate took a major step Thursday toward passing a resolution to rein in President Donald Trump’s military actions in Venezuela, a rare bipartisan rebuke following alarm over the secretive capture of leader Nicolas Maduro.
The Democratic-led legislation, which bars further US hostilities against Venezuela without explicit congressional authorization, got through a key procedural vote with support from five Republicans.
The vote on final passage, expected next week, is now seen as little more than a formality, and would mark one of Congress’s most forceful assertions of its war-making authority in decades.
The effort is seen as largely symbolic, however, as the resolution faces a steep climb in the US House and almost no prospect of surviving a likely veto by Trump.
It followed a dramatic escalation in US action — including air and naval strikes and the nighttime seizure of Maduro in Caracas — that lawmakers from both parties said went beyond a limited law-enforcement operation and crossed unmistakably into war.
“Less than courageous members of Congress fall all over themselves to avoid taking responsibility, to avoid the momentous vote of declaring war,” said Senator Rand Paul, the Kentucky Republican who broke with much of his party to co-sponsored the measure.
“But make no mistake, bombing another nation’s capital and removing their leader is an act of war, plain and simple. No provision in the Constitution provides such power to the presidency.”
Trump said in an interview published Thursday the United States could run Venezuela and tap into its oil reserves for years, telling The New York Times “only time will tell” how long Washington would demand direct oversight of the South American nation.
Democrats are framing the resolution as a constitutional line in the sand after what they described as months of misleading briefings, including assurances from the administration as recently as November that it had no plans for strikes on Venezuelan soil.
The administration has argued the Maduro operation was legally justified as part of a broader campaign against transnational drug trafficking, characterizing it as a battle with cartels designated as terrorist organizations.
Republican leaders largely defended the president, touting his authority to conduct limited military actions in defense of US national security.
“This is something that should have taken place, probably in a previous administration,” Senator Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma told reporters Wednesday.
“Only President Trump had the backbone to pull it off, to pull out an indicted, illegitimate president that was holding Venezuela hostage.”
Since Trump returned to office, war powers resolutions on Venezuela have been rejected twice in the Senate and twice in the House.
Over the last century, only one congressional resolution has successfully imposed a broad, lasting limit on unilateral presidential military action abroad: the War Powers Resolution of 1973, passed over then-president Richard Nixon’s veto.
President Donald Trump on Tuesday said he was extending a ceasefire with Iran to give more time for negotiations but would maintain a US naval blockade of the country’s ports.
Trump posted on social media that he would “extend the ceasefire” until Iran came up with a proposal to end the conflict. However, he “directed our military to continue the blockade.”
Trump’s ceasefire extension came hours before it was believed to be set to expire.
It also came as the White House said Vice President JD Vance would not be going to Pakistan for what had been expected to be a second round of peace talks.
“The trip to Pakistan will not be happening today. Any further updates on in-person meetings will be announced by the White House,” a White House official said in a statement.
The US president cast the breakdown in more talks as resulting from Iranian infighting, adding that Pakistan’s leaders had asked him to extend the truce.
“Based on the fact that the government of Iran is seriously fractured, not unexpectedly so and, upon the request of Field Marshal Asim Munir, and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, of Pakistan, we have been asked to hold our attack on the country of Iran until their leaders and representatives can come up with a unified proposal,” Trump posted on his Truth Social site.
But the blockade of ports on Iran’s coast in the Strait of Hormuz will remain in place, Trump said, while the US military will “in all other respects, remain ready and able.”
The ceasefire, he said, will be extended “until such time as their proposal is submitted, and discussions are concluded, one way or the other.”
US federal prosecutors said Sunday an Iranian national was arrested at Los Angeles International Airport for allegedly trafficking arms to Sudan on behalf of Tehran.
Shamim Mafi, 44, is charged with “brokering the sale of drones, bombs, bomb fuses and millions of rounds of ammunition manufactured by Iran and sold to Sudan,” US Attorney Bill Essayli wrote in an X post.
A resident of the Los Angeles suburb of Woodland Hills, Mafi “is an Iranian national who became a lawful permanent resident of the United States in 2016,” the prosecutor said.
Mafi was arrested Saturday and faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison if convicted.
The post was accompanied by images of a woman presumed to be Mafi surrounded by federal agents at the airport, a large drone on a tarmac, a woman’s ID image and bundles of cash.
The United Nations recently warned that Sudan is at risk of slipping into “full-scale famine and collapse,” as the war between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) enters its fourth year.
The UN Sudan chief, Denise Brown, told AFP Thursday that Sudan is facing the world’s largest humanitarian crisis, and weapons from outside sources deserve part of the blame.
The UN has repeatedly called on foreign powers to stop fueling the war, but has not accused specific states.
On one side, the Sudanese army has been backed by Egypt and Saudi Arabia, and deployed Turkish and Iranian-made drones.
However, most of the blame has been pointed at the United Arab Emirates, which denies evidence that it has funnelled arms to the RSF, who have been accused of genocide.
AFP
United States President Donald Trump has claimed that Iran has agreed to hand over its remaining stockpile of enriched uranium and abandon ambitions for a nuclear weapon, describing negotiations as being on the verge of a major breakthrough.
Speaking to reporters at the White House on Thursday before departing for Las Vegas, Trump said: “We’re very close to making a deal with Iran. We had to make sure that Iran never gets a nuclear weapon… They’ve totally agreed to that. They’ve agreed to almost everything.”
He added that Iran had consented to return its enriched uranium, which he has repeatedly called “nuclear dust”, material believed to be buried deep underground following earlier U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities.
“They’ve agreed to give us back the nuclear dust,” Trump stated. He also suggested that the next round of talks could take place over the weekend and expressed uncertainty about whether the current fragile ceasefire would need extension.
The comments come amid efforts to end six weeks of conflict in the Middle East that has disrupted global energy supplies and raised fears over the Strait of Hormuz, a vital chokepoint for oil exports.
However, Iran has not publicly confirmed Trump’s assertions. Multiple reports indicate that Tehran has previously pushed back against similar claims, describing them as exaggerated.
Recent direct talks in Islamabad on April 11-12 collapsed without agreement, with core disputes remaining over the future of uranium enrichment inside Iran and the removal of existing stockpiles.
The White House has been discussing a possible second round of negotiations in Pakistan, with officials expressing optimism.
A U.S. naval blockade of Iranian ports remains in place, adding pressure on Tehran.
Analysts caution that any final deal would require strict verification mechanisms, especially given the deeply buried nature of the material in question.
For Nigeria and other oil-producing nations, progress toward de-escalation could help stabilise crude prices, which have spiked due to fears of prolonged disruption in the Strait of Hormuz.
A lasting agreement might also open the door for sanctions relief on Iran, potentially shifting global energy dynamics.
Trump has maintained that preventing Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons is a non-negotiable red line, while offering the prospect of broader regional stability in return for Iranian concessions.
No immediate reaction from Iranian officials was available as of press time. Further developments are expected in the coming days as diplomatic channels continue.
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