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A war of words erupted Monday between the world's two most influential Americans, President Trump and Pope Leo XIV, over the war in Iran in a feud that could upend Mr. Trump's support among the Christian right.

The Trump administration ramped up pressure on Tehran on Monday with a comprehensive U.S. naval blockade of Iranian ports, but the Islamic republic's pre-war preparation could give the regime significant economic staying power.

Hezbollah urged Lebanon on Monday to step down from scheduled direct talks with Israel set to take place in Washington, the first in decades.

An Army veteran accused of revealing classified information about an elite commando unit - members' names, tactics and a unit alias among them - to a journalist and on social media will be released awaiting a possible trial, a judge ruled Monday.

Iran reached out to the U.S. because it wants to make a deal "very badly," President Trump said Monday as he implemented a blockade of Iranian ports to punish Tehran and force it to the negotiating table.

President Trump said Monday that his blockade of Iranian ports is designed to get Tehran back to the negotiating table and compel the Iranians to relinquish their chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz.

President Trump on Monday threatened to blow up Iranian ships that attempt to disrupt his blockade of Iranian ports, as both sides jockey for leverage during a tenuous ceasefire.

All that newborn Shiman knows of the world is a flimsy tent along Beirut's waterfront - the stench of mildewed blankets, stings of swarming insects and screams of Israeli warplanes striking the Lebanese capital.

Pope Leo XIV arrived in Algeria on Monday on a first-ever papal visit, calling for peace and the end of "neocolonial tendencies" in world affairs, while facing an extraordinary broadside by President Donald Trump over his criticism of the U.S.

Fierce fighting rocked the strategic southern Lebanese town of Bint Jbeil on Monday, as Israeli troops appeared to encircle the area while Hezbollah militants launched rockets and artillery in an effort to push them back.