17/04/2026

FRIDAY | APR 17, 2026

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Trump imposes new sanctions on Iranian oil network

DAMASCUS: More than 277,000 people have crossed from Lebanon into Syria since early March amid escalating regional tensions and cross-border violence, straining already limited resources in the conflict-affected country, the United Nations (UN) refugee agency said on Wednesday, reported Xinhua. According to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, around 277,000 people entered Syria between March 2 and April 12. The UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic expressed concern over the impact on stability and human rights in the country, adding that many arrivals have been traumatised by years of war in Syria and recent shelling in Lebanon. The commission said it is continuing to investigate alleged violations of international human rights and humanitarian law and will report its findings in due course. – Bernama-Xinhua Over 277,000 flee Lebanon to Syria: UN will be delivered to IRCS by the end of the week. Additionally, 200 electricity generators and 100 water pumps, purchased from the local market in Iran, have been donated to IRCS. The committee is also preparing to send more medical supplies and other vital assistance, which it hopes will be delivered in the coming weeks as it scales up its support for IRCS humanitarian response. “At a time when humanitarian needs remain high across the country, we hope this shipment will bring some relief to communities enduring the devastating impact of the conflict,” said ICRC Iran delegation head Vincent Cassard. “We aim to expand our support in the coming weeks and continue backing the humanitarian efforts of IRCS. “Their response has been extraordinary, particularly given the challenging conditions in which they are operating.” – Bernama-MNA national security imperative. The talks took place amid reports that US military stockpiles were dwindling. Separately, the Pentagon has asked the White House to approve a funding request of more than US$200 billion (RM790 billion) to present to Congress to sustain the war in Iran, the Washington Post said . The request aims to ramp up the production of weapons used during the Iran war, three people familiar with the matter said . Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth has dismissed reports of munitions shortages, claiming that the United States has a “nearly unlimited stockpile” of precision bombs. – Bernama-Xinhua

been holding negotiations to extend a two-week ceasefire announced last week, which is set to expire on April 22. About 20% of global oil supply passes through the strait daily and heightened insecurity has driven up oil prices as well as shipping and insurance costs. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Wednesday an extension of the current US ceasefire with Iran is “not true at this moment”. Leavitt said the Trump administration is optimistic that the continued negotiations could yield a deal to end the weeks-long war. “We feel good about the prospects of a deal.” Leavitt also did not confirm when talks with Iran would resume, but said if there were talks, they would continue to be held in Pakistan following stalled talks in Islamabad over the weekend.

US President Donald Trump said on Tuesday fresh US-Iran talks “could be happening over next two days” in Pakistan. He also said earlier on Wednesday the US-Israeli war with Iran is “very close to being over”, without providing a clear timeline. In a separate matter, Iran arrested four suspected Israeli spies, state media reported yesterday. “The four agents linked to the Mossad were apprehended in Gilan governorate” in northern Iran, news agency IRNA said, citing a statement from Iran’s Revolutionary Guards. The Mossad is Israel’s foreign intelligence agency. “The arrestees had provided Mossad intelligence officers with images and locations of some sensitive and critical military and security sites via the internet.” The suspects have been handed to judicial authorities, the report added. – Bernama-Anadolu TEHRAN: International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has sent 171 tonnes of relief goods to the Iranian Red Crescent Society (IRCS) involving a shipment of five truckloads, Mehr News Agency reported. According to ICRC in Tehran, the shipment was the first batch of ICRC assistance to Iran since the onset of US-Israeli aggression and also one of the first cross-border humanitarian shipments to the country in the past six weeks. In total, 14 trucks were despatched from the ICRC warehouse in Jordan, containing essential household items to meet the needs of nearly 25,000 people. The supplies include blankets, water containers, cooking utensils, tarpaulins, hygiene kits, solar lamps, buckets and mattresses. The first delivery of the assistance consisted of five truckloads handed to IRCS for distribution. The remaining nine truckloads The ISTANBUL: Senior Pentagon officials have held talks with top executives at major US automakers about converting their manufacturing lines to produce weapons and military supplies, Anadolu Ajansi reported, citing the Wall Street Journal on Wednesday. Officials asked whether the automakers could rapidly shift factory capacity towards tactical hardware, counter-drone technology and missiles to supplement traditional defence contractors. They also asked executives to identify barriers to taking on defence work, from contracting requirements to bidding process hurdles. Officials framed the expansion of domestic weapons production as a

o Action aims to decisively limit Tehran ability to generate revenue: State Dept

WASHINGTON: The United States has imposed new sanctions targeting Iranian oil smuggling and financing networks, the Treasury Department said in a statement on Wednesday, Anadolu Ajansi reported. The Treasury Department said it has sanctioned more than two dozen individuals, companies and vessels connected to the network, as well as an alleged financier involved in exchanging Iranian oil for Venezuelan gold to benefit Hezbollah and Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. The State Department said in a separate statement the action aims to “decisively limit Iran’s ability to generate revenue” as shipping through the Strait of Hormuz remains highly disrupted. “The Treasury Department is

moving aggressively with economic fury by targeting regime elites, such as the Shamkhani family that attempt to profit at the expense of the Iranian people,” said Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. “Financial institutions should be on notice that the department will leverage all tools and authorities, including secondary sanctions, against those that continue to support Tehran’s terrorist activities.” Shipping through the Strait of Hormuz remains severely disrupted amid the US-Israeli war against Iran since Feb 28 and a US naval blockade announced on Monday, after Washington said weekend talks had failed to yield a deal. The United States and Iran have

Relief goods reach Tehran

Russia, Ukraine exchange strikes, five killed A rescuer examining the site of apartment buildings damaged by a Russian missile and drone strike in Dnipro, Ukraine yesterday. – REUTERSPIC

US to use car factories to produce weapons, military supplies

KYIV: Overnight strikes have killed five people, including a boy in Ukraine and two children in Russia, officials from both countries said yesterday. Moscow has fired hundreds of drones on its neighbour almost nightly since the beginning of the four-year war, with Kyiv regularly carrying out strikes within Russia in response to its attacks. Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said: “As a result of the enemy attack on the capital, two people died, namely a 12-year-old boy and a 35-year-old woman.“ Another individual was killed in Ukraine’s central city of Dnipro, said regional administration head Oleksandr Ganzha. Around 10 people were wounded

from the rubble of a residential building that collapsed in the Podilsky district, said Klitschko. The attack on the capital wounded at least 10 people, including several medics, he said. A blaze broke out at a building in the capital’s Obolonsky district, where missile debris fell and cars were on fire, he added. A drone strike on Ukraine’s northeastern city of Kharkiv also wounded a 77-year-old woman and a 66-year-old man, said regional military administration head Oleg Synegubov. Five people were wounded in an attack in the southern port city of Odesa, said the city’s military administration head Sergiy Lysak. – AFP

in the attack, with a 40-year-old woman hospitalised in “serious condition”, he said. It was not immediately clear if the hospitalised woman was the person reported dead. On the Russian side, two children were killed in the southern Krasnodar Krai region, its governor Veniamin Kondratyev said yesterday. “A terrorist drone attack on residential buildings in Tuapse has claimed the lives of two minors aged five and 14.“ Russia’s attack on Ukraine triggered a missile alert in the capital Kyiv, where its military administration head Tymur Tkachenko told residents to shelter until the warning was lifted. In Kyiv, rescuers pulled a child