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President Trump has been saying the Iran war is “very close to over” for weeks now. But many signs point to the opposite.

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In a bid to cobble together a “golden age of peace” in the world’s most volatile, perennially embattled region, the president is trying to land a deal with a duplicitous terrorist state.

• No wonder things aren’t going smoothly.

It’s unlike any “peace” effort in history. In fact, it looks an awful lot like war.

• On Friday, Iran said the Strait of Hormuz was open to commercial traffic while the Israel-Hezbollah 10-day ceasefire holds. President Trump posted: “Iran has agreed to never close the Strait of Hormuz again. It will no longer be used as a weapon against the world!” Wonderful news! Brent crude plunged to less than $90 a barrel.
• Not so fast. Trump clarified that he would keep America’s blockade of Iranian ports in place until Iran signed a deal. So on Saturday Iran again reasserted control and closed the strait.
• Iran then tried to run the blockade, leading America to fire on and capture an Iranian civilian ship. Iran called it “maritime armed robbery” and vowed retaliation. It said peace talks were off.

But President Trump hasn’t given up. Yesterday, he dispatched negotiators to Pakistan as Iran’s “last chance” for a deal.

He posted, “We’re offering a very fair and reasonable deal, and I hope they take it because, if they don’t, the United States is going to knock out every single power plant, and every single bridge, in Iran. No more Mr. Nice Guy!”

The two-week U.S.-Iran ceasefire is set to end in two days.

• Today, however, Trump is reportedly considering breaking the deadlock in peace talks by ending the U.S. blockade as abruptly as he started it.
• Somehow he remains convinced that some enchanting combination of sticks and carrots—wielded in bewildering sequence or simultaneously, or by feeding the Iranians sticks and beating them with carrots—will effect a change of heart.

President Trump is proving himself willing to do virtually anything to get a deal done.

• Case in point: On Saturday, President Trump reportedly shocked Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu by posting that Israel was “prohibited” from conducting further air strikes in Lebanon. He declared, “Israel will not be bombing Lebanon any longer. Enough is enough!!!”
• Axios reported, “The implication of Trump’s post—that he was issuing an order that Israel had no choice but to obey—would have been unthinkable under other U.S. administrations.”
• It wouldn’t be the first time America tied Israel’s hands from striking down a murderous terror group.

But if this turbulent process does yield an Iran deal of some kind, any notion of it having any durability is folly.

Well did the Prophet Isaiah say, “The way of peace they know not; and there is no judgment in their goings: they have made them crooked paths: whosoever goeth therein shall not know peace.”

Did the Pope Really Make Peace With the President?

Pope Leo xiv appeared to bury the hatchet with Donald Trump over the weekend, but appearances can be deceiving.

• The leader of the Vatican accused news media of spreading “a certain narrative that has not been accurate in all of its aspects,” publishing “commentary on commentary, trying to interpret what has been said.”

He never intended to criticize the president, Leo implied, pointing to comments he made at an April 16 meeting in Cameroon:

The world is being ravaged by a handful of tyrants …. Blessed are the peacemakers …. But woe to those who manipulate religion and the very name of God for their own military, economic and political gain, dragging that which is sacred into darkness and filth.

An old message? The pope said that message “was prepared two weeks ago, well before the president ever commented on myself and on the message of peace that I am promoting.”

• That may be true, but those remarks are not the most direct ones he has leveled at the president. When asked specifically about Donald Trump on April 13, he replied, “I don’t think that the message of the gospel is meant to be abused in the way that some people are doing.”

The pope has stepped up his attack on war dramatically over the last few weeks.

• “God does not listen to the prayers of those who wage war,” the pope said on March 29, misapplying Isaiah 1:15. The comment came after U.S. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth encouraged Americans to pray for victory.
• “God does not bless any conflict,” the pope posted on X on Friday. “Anyone who is a disciple of Christ, the Prince of Peace, is never on the side of those who once wielded the sword and today drop bombs.”
• “Enough of the idolatry of self and money!” he said on Saturday. “Enough of the display of power! Enough of war! True strength is shown in serving life.”
• “Dear brothers and sisters, there are certainly binding responsibilities that fall to the leaders of nations,” he said in the same message. “To them we cry out: Stop! It is time for peace! Sit at the table of dialogue and mediation, not at the table where rearmament is planned and deadly actions are decided!”

The idea that the pope is repeatedly attacking the actions of Donald Trump is clearly not something the media has concocted, simply putting their own spin on preplanned statements, as the pope implied.

His statements helped widen the divide between Europe and the U.S., prompting Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni to turn from a Trump supporter to an opponent.

• With that done, the pope is working to have his cake and eat it too, and avoid alienating American Catholics more than necessary.

The vice president is content to bury the hatchet. JD Vance, who is Catholic, responded on X:

I am grateful to Pope Leo for saying this. While the media narrative constantly gins up conflict—and yes, real disagreements have happened and will happen—the reality is often much more complicated. Pope Leo preaches the gospel, as he should, and that will inevitably mean he offers his opinions on the moral issues of the day. The president—and the entire administration—work to apply those moral principles in a messy world. He will be in our prayers, and I hope that we’ll be in his.

But the leader of the Vatican is clearly asserting that the leaders of the United States have “abused the gospel.” This administration needs to see that the Vatican is directly opposed to its foreign policy.

A forecast clash: After Pope Leo was elected, we wrote in the Philadelphia Trumpet:

The Holy Roman Empire is flooding America with illegal immigrants while it gears up to besiege it economically. The election of a Peruvian-American bishop promising to defend Catholic economic teachings is an escalation of this trend.

Germany and the Vatican are building a transcontinental alliance that will ultimately include 10 European kings, a loyal network of Latin American vassal states and an anti-Iran, anti-Israel alliance of Arabic regimes. …

One way or another, Leo xiv may not be pope for long. Nevertheless, even with a short reign he is well positioned to help unite Europe and Latin America against the Anglo-Protestant world.

That is exactly what Pope Leo has done in his clash with the president.

Bulgaria: Europe Gets a New Orbán?

Preliminary results from yesterday’s national elections in Bulgaria show former President Rumen Radev’s Progressive Bulgaria party as winning a clear majority, receiving the most votes by a single party since 1997.

• It won an estimated 44.7 percent of the vote, enough for an absolute majority in the Bulgarian parliament, with Radev as prime minister.

After eight national elections in the past five years, this result promises to end years of political uncertainty. But it also raises concerns for the European Union.

• Bulgaria has been an EU member since 2007, and it joined the eurozone at the beginning of this year.

Pro-Russia? In foreign policy, specifically when it comes to relations with Russia, Radev has advocated for greater national independence. In the past, he has argued that Russia should not be seen as an enemy, that sanctions against it should be lifted, and that Bulgaria should not send weapons to Ukraine.

• Fears are mounting that Radev could block critical EU votes, as Hungary’s Viktor Orbán did in the past few years. (After 16 years in power, Orbán just lost the Hungarian elections last week.)
• However, a senior EU diplomat told Politico that Radev is in a “much different league” when it comes to his desire or ability to upend European policy and that he and others like Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico “don’t come close [to Orbán] in experience, tenacity, network and ideas.”

A core Europe: Orbán has long blocked Germany’s goals in the EU, and as a result, the EU’s largest economies started to come together in January to create a more unified European core. This allows these core nations to adopt key policies while leaving others that disagree behind.

• Some, like former German Defense Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg, have feared that this group would lose momentum with Orbán gone. However, Bulgaria’s election provides at least some measure of new motive.

Biblical prophecies in Daniel 2 and Revelation 17 forecast the rise of a power bloc ruled by 10 kings just before the return of Jesus Christ. The late Herbert W. Armstrong identified this as modern Europe reviving the Holy Roman Empire. Current events are leading directly toward the fulfillment of these prophecies. The EU’s hatred for dissenters will cause Europe to condense into 10 nations or nation groups.

IN OTHER NEWS

Libyan rivals come together: The opposing governments in Libya participated in U.S. special forces exercises in Sirte on Tuesday. This is the first time the rival factions’ militaries have exercised together since before the Second Libyan Civil War started almost 12 years ago. Less than a week before, the two sides agreed on the nation’s first unified state budget since 2013. The Bible prophesies that Libya, bitterly divided for years, will soon become not only united but also a significant ally—of Iran.

EU to stress-test NATO alternative: The European Union will test its ability to defend itself without nato, Politico reported on April 17. The EU’s chief diplomat, Kaja Kallas, will hold an exercise in the EU’s Political and Security Committee to test how the union’s mutual defense clause could work in practice on the political level. The 2007 Treaty of Lisbon established that if any member state is attacked, other members must assist it “by all the means in their power,” an equivalent provision to Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty. The timing of this exercise is notable because it occurs as confidence in nato is dying.

Serbia wants to be a regional leader in drone warfare: On Wednesday, Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić called on his nation’s military to create special military units equipped with attack drones as part of its ongoing rapid remilitarization program. This came the day after Vučić announced a partnership with Israel to produce “the best drones” in that “part of the world.” Serbia’s militarization efforts pose a threat to Germany’s dominance in the Balkans, which the Germans are unlikely to tolerate.

U.S. forces have withdrawn from Syria: Syria’s Foreign Ministry announced on April 16 the completion of the “handover of military sites where United States forces were previously present in Syria to the Syrian government.” U.S. Central Command confirmed it had “completed turning over all of our major bases in Syria.” The U.S. organized a large-scale military presence in Syria in 2011 under President Barack Obama to counter the Islamic State. Yet the U.S. seems to have no qualms handing things over to the current Syrian government, which has connections to al Qaeda. Bible prophecy states that the more the U.S. helps build up Syria, the more it is walking into a trap.

President Trump orders review of psychedelic drugs: President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Saturday to speed up government reviews of certain psychedelic drugs, including ibogaine. These powerful mind-altering substances remain illegal under the strictest federal laws. Trump wants faster research to see if they can treat serious problems like post-traumatic stress disorder, depression and addiction—especially for combat veterans who say other treatments have failed. Trump said the order will help suffering people “reclaim their lives” and find real happiness. Yet the Bible gives a different warning. Galatians 5:19-21 list “works of the flesh” that keep people from God’s Kingdom, including “witchcraft.” The original Greek word is pharmakeia, which means the use or administering of drugs—often tied to sorcery and seeking spiritual experiences apart from God. Today, many turn to drugs like these to fill a deep spiritual emptiness. Governments are increasingly approving them, but the Bible shows this path leads to self-destruction not true healing.