For now, links to ELEVEN-plus reports, analyses, interviews and commentaries (21): from or via the Cradle, the Associated Press, Middle East Monitor, ScheerPost, CraigMurray.org.uk, Consortium News, the Glenn Deisen Show, National Public Radio, and Informed Comment; others are accessible by clicking on their names or initials as highlighted. (Scroll down for IRAN 4-9-26 and today’s WEST BANK, LEBANON and MEDIA so far.) — MCM

–   –   –

Conflicting reports emerge over arrival of Iranian delegation for Islamabad truce talks. From the Cradle. Conflicting reports emerge over arrival of Iranian delegation for Islamabad truce talks. From the Cradle. No Iranian delegation has arrived in Pakistan’s capital for talks with the U.S. on 10 April as Tehran continues to demand a ceasefire in Lebanon before participating in the negotiations, according to Persian and Arabic media reports. READ MORE . . .

–   –   –

U.S. and Iran prepare for ceasefire talks as Netanyahu authorizes negotiations with Lebanon, by Jon Gambrell and Sam Mednick | AP  DUBAI — Negotiators from Iran and the U.S. prepared for high-level talks with their ceasefire still shaky today, as Israel and Hezbollah traded fire and Tehran maintained its stranglehold on the Strait of Hormuz. READ MORE . . . Click HERE for same AP report in Spanish, and HERE for others.

–   –   –

U.S. reinforces military presence in Middle East despite ceasefire. From Middle East Monitor. The United States is reinforcing its military presence in the region despite the ceasefire with Iran, with navigational data showing ongoing movements of cargo and refueling aircraft toward the Middle East. READ MORE . . .

–   –   –

How aligned are Israel and the U.S. under the ceasefire? Leila Fadel of NPR talks with Danny Citrinowicz, senior researcher at Tel Aviv’s Institute for National Security Studies. Click HERE to listen and, later, read; and HERE and HERE for all 10 segments related to the Iran war from NPR’s “All Things Considered” Thursday and “Morning Edition” today.

–   –   –

Pakistan defence minister calls Israel ‘a curse for humanity.’ From Middle East Monitor. Pakistan’s Defence Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif‘s post on X, in which he also criticised those who established Israel on Palestinian land, prompted a swift response from the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and reportedly was later deleted. READ MORE . . .

–   –   –

FROM APRIL 9  Spain orders reopening of Tehran embassy, condemns Israel’s carpet bombing of Lebanon. From the Cradle. Spain is reopening its embassy in Tehran in hopes of achieving “peace” in the U.S.-Israeli war against Iran, Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares declared on Thursday. READ MORE . . .

–   –   –

FROM APRIL 9  Pakistan’s diplomatic ‘success’ and the illusion of peace in the Muslim world, by Faraz Fateh | Middle East Monitor  This moment of apparent calm should not blind us to a bitter historical pattern: ceasefires offered to Muslim nations are rarely acts of justice. More often, they . . . READ MORE . . .

* Among the news organizations with frequent war updates, photos and occasionally maps are Al Jazeera, the Associated Press, Middle East Eye, and Middle East Monitor: HERE, HERE, HERE, and HERE. AP and El País reports in Spanish are HERE and HERE. *

–   –   –

TO BE CONTINUED