US President Donald Trump has said allies must find a solution within days to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. Any operation would likely involve deploying military vessels and personnel to the region, despite initial reluctance from European allies.

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte has informed key member states of Trump’s demands following talks in Washington on Thursday.

Rutte is in the US capital for a three-day visit, which included meetings at the White House with Trump, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth. The conflict involving the US, Israel and Iran, as well as the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, was high on the agenda.

Ahead of the visit, Trump reiterated threats to reconsider US participation in NATO, criticising European allies for rejecting his calls to contribute assets to secure the strait, which has been largely closed to international shipping by Iran.

Following the talks, Rutte said Trump was “absolutely disappointed” over the issue.

“It was a very frank, very open discussion, but also a discussion between two good friends,” Rutte said of the private meeting held without media access.

On Thursday, Rutte reportedly contacted European capitals from Washington to relay Trump’s insistence that allies produce a plan to reopen the strait.

A NATO spokesperson confirmed to Euronews: “The Secretary General is in contact with allies about his discussions in Washington. It’s clear that the United States expects concrete commitments and action to ensure freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz.”

Trump also criticised allies on social media, saying “none of these people, including our own, very disappointing NATO, understood anything unless they have pressure placed upon them.”

Last week, more than 40 countries joined a coalition aimed at securing free passage through the strait, a critical shipping route for global energy supplies, once the most intense phase of the conflict between the United States, Israel and Iran ends.

Governments including the UK, Germany, Finland, Norway, France and Spain had initially said they would not deploy troops or naval forces, arguing they were not responsible for an offensive operation in Iran.

However, Trump has insisted he wants a plan within days, regardless of ongoing instability.

A source close to the discussions told Euronews it would be in the interest of NATO countries to respond positively, or risk wider consequences for collective security.

“What this all means for NATO is effectively up to the nations of NATO,” the source said. “Will they act, and if they do, will they act constructively towards their and the Alliance’s collective security and meet their obligations?”

NATO allies are now holding accelerated discussions on how to reopen the strait in the most practical and efficient way. Sources said Trump has told Rutte a plan must be developed “within days rather than weeks”.

“They are going to have to come up with some form of physical presence in the region,” the source said.

“As we know, this piece of geography is water-based, so this will likely involve some form of naval vessels and personnel to operate them,” they added.

Allies could also potentially rely on intelligence support and demining operations, sources told Euronews.

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A man imprisoned for nearly 30 years before being exonerated won a landmark election in New Orleans promising to fix a judicial system that failed him. Now, Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry and the GOP-controlled Legislature are racing to eliminate his job before he can be sworn in.

Calvin Duncan won 68% of the vote last November to become the Orleans Parish clerk of criminal court after pledging to reform the justice system based on his own experience fighting to access court records while in maximum security prison.

Duncan rebuilt his life, in part by running for and winning the clerk’s office. But Louisiana Senate Republicans on Wednesday voted to scrap Duncan’s new job as part of a broader GOP effort to streamline the judiciary in New Orleans, a Democratic hub with a predominantly Black electorate. The state Legislature is largely Republican and white, and the deeply red state has been leading efforts to gut the Voting Rights Act.

Duncan’s swearing in is scheduled for May 4.

He told The Associated Press he believes he’s being retaliated against by Louisiana officials who have long denied his innocence, even though his name is listed on the National Registry of Exonerations.

Republicans say it isn’t personal and defend the effort as a step toward government efficiency.

“The citizens of New Orleans overwhelmingly said: ‘I want to give this person a chance, he can make a difference,’” Duncan, a Democrat, told lawmakers during a March committee hearing. “What this bill does, it says: ‘Thank you but you wasted your time.’ It disenfranchises everybody.”

The wrongful conviction that landed Duncan in prison

The case started with the 1981 murder of 23-year-old David Yeager and landed Duncan in prison for more than 28 years. In 2011, on the eve of a hearing to consider new evidence, prosecutors offered to reduce Duncan’s sentence to time served if he pleaded guilty to manslaughter and armed robbery. Duncan was freed, but he didn’t give up trying to clear his name.

Finally, in 2021, a judge agreed that he had been unjustly convicted and vacated Duncan’s sentence altogether.

As state attorney general in 2023, Landry opposed Duncan’s petition to be compensated for his wrongful conviction. Duncan withdrew the petition after Landry’s successor, Liz Murrill, threatened to go after Duncan’s law license in the state. When Duncan ran for clerk, Murrill vowed to take “further action” against him if he did not stop calling himself “exonerated.”

Landry and Murrill have pointed to Duncan having accepted the 2011 plea deal for manslaughter and armed robbery.

“The Attorney General made it clear during the election that if I continued to accurately speak about my innocence and exoneration that I would face consequences from her office,” Duncan told The Associated Press. “We are seeing those consequences today as she and the Governor try to undo the will of 68% of voters in New Orleans.”

Murrill said she had “no involvement” in the move to eliminate the office.

Republicans say the current system needs an overhaul

Landry told the AP that eliminating Duncan’s elected office was about improving “government efficiency” and “cleaning up a system in Orleans Parish that has been plagued by dysfunction and corruption for years.”

Proponents of consolidating the criminal clerk of court with the civil clerk of court say the offices are combined in other parishes. Terminating the criminal clerk of court position would save the state an estimated $27,300, according to the office of the legislative auditor, which added that the costs of combining clerks’ offices were “unknown.”

The bill’s Republican author, Sen. Jay Morris, who represents a district in north Louisiana, acknowledged that once Duncan’s elected position is eliminated, the civil clerk of court might struggle to handle the influx of cases. The solution, he says, is to “hire someone.”

Other New Orleans elected judicial officials whose jobs may be eliminated in the future would be allowed to serve out their terms, but not Duncan.

Morris told lawmakers that the goal is to pass the law in time to prevent Duncan from taking office before the start of his four-year term.

The bill, on track to be passed by the GOP-controlled House and approved by Landry, would immediately go into effect with the governor’s signature.

“I have never seen something so barbaric,” Sen. Royce Duplessis, a Democrat representing New Orleans said on the Senate floor. “I understand politics and I know you all are going to vote how you are going to vote. But just know, when we are all done here, history has a record.”

Duncan, 62, was the driving force behind a 2020 U.S. Supreme Court decision that ended nonunanimous jury convictions. He has also founded a nonprofit dedicated to expanding incarcerated people’s access to the court system. He has said being elected to the clerk’s office was the culmination of his life’s work.

___

Cline reported from Baton Rouge.

___

Brook is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.

Israeli authorities arrested a 22-year-old Haifa resident for his involvement in an Iranian-backed plot to assassinate a high-ranking Israeli official, with the intended target believed to be former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, reports say.

Ami Gaydarov, 22, was arrested last month on suspicion that he was working with an Iranian agent to gather intelligence and build a bomb for use in a terror plot against a high-ranking Israeli official. Gaydarov was unaware of the target’s identity. A gag order on his arrest was recently lifted, allowing Israeli media outlets to report on the case.

Authorities said Gaydarov first made contact with his Iranian handler in August 2025 and was paid roughly $23,000 — most of it in cryptocurrency — to carry out tasks in preparation for the assassination plot.

Gaydarov allegedly rented an apartment in the city’s downtown area to serve as a laboratory for the bombs.

TOP IRANIAN OFFICIAL, COMMANDER KILLED IN STRIKE, ISRAEL DEFENSE MINISTER SAYS

“To facilitate the contacts with his handlers, Gaidarov purchased dedicated phones and rented an apartment in Haifa where he produced the explosive substance, while documenting his activities in videos and photos that were sent to his handler as proof of compliance,” the Israeli police force said.

In connection with the plot, Israeli authorities have also arrested three other suspects, including Sergey Leibman and Edward Shovtiuk. The fourth suspect has not been named. Authorities said indictments for the four suspects should occur in the “coming days.”

The terror plot was uncovered as part of Israel’s “Operation Roaring Lion,” a major military campaign launched against Iran on February 28, coinciding with the start of the war with Iran.

The arrest of the four men comes as Israeli authorities have won more than 40 indictments against more than 60 defendants working on behalf of the Iranian government. Just two months ago, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered that the citizenship of Israelis convicted of espionage for Iran be stripped of their citizenship.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

Since the outbreak of the war with Iran, pro-Iranian attacks linked to radical groups have been on the rise. Just last week, French officials reported that a pro-Iran group was behind a failed bomb plot on a Bank of America office in Paris.