Breaking news: President Biden said he would halt the shipment of U.S. weapons to Israel, which he acknowledged have been used to kill civilians in Gaza, if Israel invades Rafah — the first time he has threatened to withhold military aid in seven months. wapo.st/4a86bJj

Hannah Dreier The New York Times Sarah Stillman The New Yorker Sarah Conway City Bureau Invisible Institute Reuters The Washington Post Katie Engelhart NYT Magazine Vladimir Kara-Murza Justin Chang Los Angeles Times David E. Hoffman The Associated Press Yohance Lacour ProPublica Josh Kaplan Justin Elliott Brett Murphy Alex Mierjeski Kirsten Berg Eboni Booth Roundabout Basic Books UT Austin Congratulations to Jonathan Eig and Farrar,Straus&Giroux. #Pulitzer

Congratulations to Vladimir Kara-Murza for winning the 2024 The Pulitzer Prizes on Commentary for his extraordinary columns from prison in Vladimir Putin's Russia. You can read his columns here: washingtonpost.com/people/vladimi…

Hannah Dreier The New York Times Sarah Stillman The New Yorker Sarah Conway City Bureau Invisible Institute Reuters The Washington Post Katie Engelhart NYT Magazine Vladimir Kara-Murza Justin Chang Los Angeles Times David E. Hoffman The Associated Press Yohance Lacour ProPublica Josh Kaplan Justin Elliott Brett Murphy Alex Mierjeski Kirsten Berg Eboni Booth Roundabout Basic Books UT Austin Jonathan Eig Farrar,Straus&Giroux Simon & Schuster Simon & Schuster Cristina Rivera Garza Hogarth Books Random House Group University of Houston Georgia Review UGA Press UC San Diego Congratulations to Nathan Thrall and Metropolitan Books. #Pulitzer

John Kirby: 'There has been a response from Hamas to the hostage deal. We're currently reviewing that response and we're discussing it with our partners in the region...I won't be able to comment any further on this until we know where things stand.'

In Tehran for high-level meetings today.
With Foreign Ministry, Islamic Republic of Iran 🇮🇷 H.Amirabdollahian امیرعبداللهیان and علی باقری‌کنی, I proposed a set of concrete practical measures for the revitalization of the 4 March 2023 Joint Statement with aim of restoring process of confidence building and increasing transparency.

On World Press Freedom Day, thinking of our colleague Alsu who's been in Russian custody since October. #freeAlsu

rferl.org/a/biden-press-…

The unprecedented destruction of housing in Gaza hasn't been seen since World War II, the UN says apnews.com/article/un-rep…

“My soul is gone.”

Almost 14,000 children killed in Gaza since October 7, according to health authorities.

Jeremy Diamond reported on the deaths of ten children 2 weeks ago.

They are harrowing images, impossible to forget.

Now, his latest report on that Israeli strike.

Israeli officials increasingly believe that the International Criminal Court in The Hague is preparing to issue arrest warrants for senior government officials, including, possibly, against PM Netanyahu. W\Patrick Kingsley via The New York Times

(open link)
nytimes.com/2024/04/28/wor…

“You won’t take my daughter anywhere.” A brave Iranian mother stands up to morality police forces who are trying to arrest her daughter and take her away for defying the compulsory hijab rule. Iran is violently cracking down on women who refuse to wear the hijab.

#Iran : Worrying reports of a violent crackdown against women and girls under strict hijab laws. We urge the Government to act to eliminate gender-based discrimination and violence.

We also call on authorities to overturn the death sentence against rapper Toomaj Salehi.

Satellite images show that Israel's strike in Iran last week destroyed an air-defense radar. Iran then quickly pulled a switcheroo, hauling it away and sticking a similar (but incompatible) radar on the same spot so it could claim the strike was harmless. economist.com/middle-east-an…

Interestingly, Iranian President Raisi had nothing to say about the Israeli strike yesterday. Total silence.

We are aware of reports claiming that the United States conducted airstrikes in Iraq today. Those reports are not true. The United States has not conducted air strikes in Iraq today.

Busy days at ⁦Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty⁩’s ⁦Radio Farda⁩.
Our Persian language service covering Iran’s attack against Israel, and Israel’s response. ⁦⁦@RadioFarda_⁩ is a vital, trusted link for audiences inside Iran.Today I visited our teams at work: