Trump and Netanyahu held ‘long and dramatic’ call, Israeli report says

Iran’s digital blackout entered its 82nd day on Wednesday, with the country still largely cut off from the global internet after 1,944 hours, internet monitor NetBlocks said.

“In an era when a disconnection lasting minutes would be a crisis, Iran continues to shatter records, destroying livelihoods and eroding rights,” it added.

France has no certainty at this stage that mines have been laid in the Strait of Hormuz, Defence Minister Catherine Vautrin said on Wednesday after reports that at least 10 mines had been identified in the area.

“At this moment, I have no certainty on the subject, but in any case we are preparing for the necessity to potentially remove mines,” Vautrin told France Info radio.

She said demining ships were being sent to the region as part of a possible future Franco-British-led mission, and that France already had one at its base in Djibouti.

CBS News reported earlier that a recent US intelligence assessment showed American forces had identified at least 10 mines in the Strait of Hormuz, citing US officials familiar with the matter who spoke anonymously to discuss sensitive national security issues.

The novel, translated from German by Ruth Martin, begins after Iran’s 1979 revolution and follows different family members, including a revolutionary father, a literature-loving mother, a daughter visiting Iran for the first time and a son drawn into politics by the 2009 Green Movement.

Prize organizers described the book as a moving novel about oppression, resistance and the desire for freedom.

The International Booker Prize is awarded annually to a book translated into English and published in the UK or Ireland.

“Taiwan Travelogue” by Yáng Shuāng-zǐ, translated from Mandarin Chinese by Lin King, won the 2026 International Booker Prize.

The other shortlisted books were “She Who Remains” by Rene Karabash, “The Witch” by Marie NDiaye, “On Earth As It Is Beneath” by Ana Paula Maia, and “The Director” by Daniel Kehlmann.

Germany has begun final reviews of visa applications filed in Tehran before the start of the military conflict, especially for work and student applicants, the German foreign ministry told Iran International on Wednesday.

The ministry said that once the reviews are completed, Germany’s embassy in Yerevan, Armenia, can issue entry visas.

Applicants will be contacted individually by Germany’s embassy in Tehran or the Federal Office for Foreign Affairs to arrange appointments in Yerevan, it said.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards warned on Wednesday that any renewed strikes on Iran could expand the war beyond the region.

“If aggression against Iran is repeated, the promised regional war will this time be taken beyond the region,” the IRGC said in a statement.

The IRGC said it had not used all its capacities against the United States and Israel, warning of “crushing blows” in places that the adversaries do not expect.