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The U.S. Treasury Department announced on Friday that it has dropped virtually all sanctions against Syria.

The department’s issuing of a general license for transactions previously prohibited under the Syrian Sanctions Regulations and a waiver of the sanctions imposed under the Caesar Syria Civilian Protection Act amounts to “effectively lifting sanctions on Syria,” per the department.

“As President Trump promised, the Treasury Department and the State Department are implementing authorizations to encourage new investment into Syria,” Scott Bessent, the U.S. treasury secretary, stated.

The fifth round of nuclear talks between the United States and Iran began on Friday in Rome, The Jerusalem Post has learned.

In a video statement released Thursday evening, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed the nation and the international community with a sharp condemnation of what he called the “moral blindness” of several Western leaders. 

He defended Israel’s ongoing military campaign while linking it directly to a global war against terrorism—one that claimed the lives of two young Israeli diplomats just days earlier in Washington, D.C.

He warned that Israel is now engaged in what he called a “seven-front war,” directed by Iran. “This is not just a fight against Hamas. It is a coordinated campaign by Iran and its proxies against Israel and against the free world. Hezbollah, the Houthis, militias in Syria and Iraq—they are all part of the same Iranian war effort.”

Two Israeli embassy staffers were shot and killed on Wednesday evening outside the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington, D.C., according to Kristi Noem, U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security.

“We are actively investigating and working to get more information to share. Please pray for the families of the victims,” Noem wrote on X. “We will bring this depraved perpetrator to justice.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday condemned the killing of two Israeli embassy staffers in Washington, D.C., calling it a “heinous antisemitic murder.” Netanyahu attributed the attack to “blood libels against Israel,” suggesting that incitement and false accusations against the Jewish state had fueled the violence. According to a statement from his office, Netanyahu spoke with Israel’s Ambassador to the United States Yehiel Leiter and received “an immediate update on the details of the incident,” while also expressing his support for the envoy and the embassy staff.

Iran’s top diplomat insisted Wednesday that Tehran will never stop enriching uranium, further underlining the Islamic Republic's red line in negotiations with the United States over its rapidly advancing nuclear program.

The comments by Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi come after multiple rounds of talks between the two nations, including at an expert level over the details of a possible deal. However, none has been reached yet and American officials including President Donald Trump, Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff and Secretary of State Marco Rubio maintain that Iran must give up enrichment — something it didn't do in its 2015 nuclear deal with world powers.

“I have said it before, and I repeat it again: uranium enrichment in Iran will continue — with or without an agreement,” Araghchi said, according to state television.

New intelligence obtained by the United States suggests that Israel is making preparations to strike Iranian nuclear facilities, CNN reported on Tuesday, citing multiple US officials familiar with the intelligence.

It was not clear whether Israeli leaders have made a final decision and there was disagreement within the US government about whether they would ultimately decide to carry out strikes, CNN added, citing the officials.

The report could not immediately be confirmed. The National Security Council did not respond to a request for comment

U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday formally unveiled plans for a $175 billion American missile defense system dubbed “Golden Dome,” a program he says will emulate and expand on the success of Israel’s Iron Dome.

“This design for the Golden Dome will integrate with our existing defense capabilities and should be fully operational before the end of my term,” Trump said during an Oval Office announcement. “Once fully constructed, the Golden Dome will be capable of intercepting missiles even if they are launched from other sides of the world and even if they are launched from space.”

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced on Tuesday evening that after a week of “intensive” hostage talks in Doha, high-level members of Israel’s negotiating team have been recalled to Israel, while a number of working-level representatives will remain in the Qatari capital. The announcement followed reports that the renewed ceasefire and hostage deal talks in Qatar, which began last week following the release of Israeli-American hostage Edan Alexander, had yet to make any progress.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday criticized the leaders of France, the United Kingdom and Canada after they warned of “concrete actions” unless Jerusalem halts its war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

“By asking Israel to end a defensive war for our survival before Hamas terrorists on our border are destroyed, and by demanding a Palestinian state, the leaders in London, Ottawa, and Paris are offering a huge prize for the genocidal attack on Israel on Oct. 7, while inviting more such atrocities,” he said according to a statement from his office.

Saudi Arabia and France plan to convene a peace conference in June in New York aimed at establishing a Palestinian state without Israeli involvement. Paris is organizing a preliminary conference to begin advancing this initiative.

Behind the initiative stands not only French President Emmanuel Macron but also his adviser on Middle East affairs and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Ofer Bronchtein.

Bronchtein is a French-Israeli “peace activist,” and president and co-founder of the Paris-based International Forum for Peace.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office says the leaders of the United Kingdom, France, and Canada are “offering a huge prize” for the October 7, 2023 attack by calling on Israel in a joint statement earlier this evening threatening “concrete actions” is Israel didn’t halt its military campaign in Gaza and allow aid into the Strip.

The White House stressed Monday that US President Donald Trump wants the war in Gaza to end, as American officials denied reports that Washington was threatening to “abandon” Israel if it didn’t follow suit.

Trump “has made it very clear he wants to see this conflict in the region end,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said in response to a question during a briefing about whether Washington supports Netanyahu’s comments from earlier in the day that Israel will take over all of Gaza as it massively expands its military campaign in the Strip.

“The president is moving as quickly as he possibly can and working overtime to end these conflicts in both Israel and Gaza and also the Russia-Ukraine war,” Leavitt added. “The president made it very clear to Hamas that he wanted to see all hostages released.”

The Israel Defense Force announced Sunday that it has begun “broad” ground operations in several areas of the Gaza Strip, as part of the opening phase of a new major offensive. Palestinian officials reported more than 100 people killed over the past 24 hours in Israeli strikes.

“Over the past day, IDF troops in the Southern Command, both the standing army and reserves, began a broad ground operation throughout the northern and southern Gaza Strip, as part of the start of Operation Gideon’s Chariots,” the military said in a statement.

Visiting Gaza on Sunday, IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir said that the military would press forward with the offensive, but at the same time allow flexibility in order not to torpedo talks for a hostage deal that are ongoing in Qatar.

The U.S. State Department read out a phone call between Marco Rubio, the U.S. secretary of state, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for the second time in 48 hours.

Rubio talked with the Israeli premier from Rome on Saturday, according to Tammy Bruce, the U.S. State Department spokeswoman. The two spoke about “the situation in Gaza and their joint efforts to secure the release of all remaining hostages,” Bruce stated.

Saturday’s readout was terser than the one on May 15, in which Bruce stated that the secretary “stressed the deep U.S. commitment to its historic relationship with Israel and the ironclad U.S. support for Israeli security.”

White House envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff delivered an updated proposal to Israel and Hamas a few days ago for a deal to release the remaining hostages and to implement a ceasefire in Gaza, and is putting pressure on both sides to accept it, according to a senior Israeli official and a separate source familiar with the details.

Although Israel and Hamas have negotiating teams in Doha, the talks on Witkoff's proposal are currently taking place through other channels, according to the sources. This channel was critical to the release of Israeli-American hostage Edan Alexander last week, according to the report. Senior Hamas officials were disappointed that the release of Alexander did not lead to a more positive US stance toward the terrorist organization, a source familiar with the matter said.

Witkoff is holding direct talks with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his close associate, Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer, and with the Hamas leadership in Doha, through the indirect channel of talks run by Palestinian-American businessman Bishara Bahabah.

An apocalyptic ‘wall of dust’ is barreling across Chicago — so vast, it’s visible from space.

Satellite imagery shows the storm swallowing highways and buildings, plunging the city of 2.6 million people into darkness.

It has triggered visibility warnings, halted traffic, and left Chicago residents choking on dust.

The National Weather Service (NWS) issued a dust storm warning, only the second time in history it has done so.

Israeli fighter jets carried out a wave of airstrikes in Yemen on Friday afternoon, targeting two Houthi-controlled ports in the west of the country, in response to the Iran-backed group’s ongoing missile and drone attacks on Israel.

Israel had waited until the end of US President Donald Trump’s visit to the region before launching its reprisal strikes on the Houthis. Since the Israel Defense Force’s last strike on Yemen, on May 6, the Houthis launched at least seven missiles and two drones at Israel, the latest of them on Thursday night.

US President Donald Trump on Wednesday urged Syria’s President Ahmed al-Sharaa to join the Abraham Accords normalizing relations with Israel, the White House said, as the two leaders met in Riyadh, in a first encounter between leaders of the countries in 25 years.

Trump also asked Sharaa to “deport Palestinian terrorists” and tell foreign fighters to leave the country, as well as to take control of camps for captured ISIS fighters, currently run by Kurdish militants opposed by Turkey, the White House said.

The meeting in Saudi Arabia came after Trump’s announcement that he would lift sanctions on Syria and move to restore ties with its new leader — a move that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, it was reported on Wednesday, had requested Trump not make, when the premier was in Washington last month.