ADVISORY  Watch: The World This Week — ‘Playing with fire,’ at 8 tonight EDT. Joe Lauria of Consortium News talks with former CIA analyst Ray McGovern and former U.S. Marine Corps intelligence officer Scott Ritter about the Trump administration’s “playing with fire” in the Persian Gulf and in Ukraine. Click HERE at 8 p.m. EDT to livestream, and later for video.

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For now, link to reports from the Associated Press and National Public Radio, and to a commentary from Indian Punchline; others are accessible by clicking on its name or initials. (Scroll down for IRAN 5-7-26.  Scroll up for today’s MEDIA and ALL OF IT so far.) — MCM

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A fragile ceasefire holds as U.S. awaits Iran response, Bahrain detains dozens, by Adam Schreck and Samy Magdy | AP  DUBAI — A tenuous ceasefire appeared to be holding today after the United States struck two Iranian oil tankers, while the country that hosts the U.S. Navy’s regional headquarters said it arrested dozens of people it alleged were linked to Iran’s Revolutionary Guard. READ MORE . . .

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FROM MAY 8  Why Trump’s efforts to force Iran to concede to U.S. demands aren’t working. Jackie Northam of NPR gets the assessments of  four observers focusing on the current U.S. approach to end war. Click HERE to listen and read.

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An expert on Iranian politics reviews the status of negotiations to end the war on Iran. Elissa Nadworny of NPR talks with Mehrzad Boroujerdi of the Missouri University of Science and Technology about the status of the Trump Administration’s negotiations to end the war on Iran. Click HERE later to listen and, still later, read; and HERE for links to both Iran war-related reports from NPR’s “Weekend Edition Saturday.”

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FROM MAY 5  Can China curb Trump’s gambit in Hormuz? by M.K. Bhadrakumar | Indian Punchline  China’s shock warning to the U.S. President Donald Trump that his road to Beijing goes through the Strait of Hormuz has been an audacious move directly linking his planned visit to China on May 14-15 with the situation around Iran. READ MORE . . .

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TO BE CONTINUED