April 7 (Reuters) - Iran wants to charge fees for ships to pass through the Strait of Hormuz as part of its proposals to end the war with Israel and the United States after blocking most traffic through the crucial energy waterway for weeks.

The Strait, a strip of water only 34 km (21 miles) wide between Iran and Oman, provides passage from the Gulf to the Indian Ocean and is the main route for about a fifth of world oil supplies and other vital goods including fertilisers.

WHAT IS IRAN PROPOSING?

Iraq's powerful armed group Kataeb Hezbollah on Tuesday released US journalist Shelly Kittleson, a week after she was kidnapped in Baghdad, the Iranian-backed group and the United States said.

Her release was announced hours before the United States and Iran agreed to a ceasefire in more than one month of war, which spread into a regionwide conflict.

April 7 (Reuters) - At a vote in the U.N. Security Council on Tuesday, China and Russia vetoed a Bahraini resolution encouraging states to coordinate efforts to protect commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz.

The 15-member Security Council voted 11 in favor of the resolution, with two against - China and Russia - and two abstentions.

"The draft resolution has not been adopted, owing to the negative vote of a permanent member of the Council, Bahrain's Foreign Minister Abdullatif bin Rashid Al Zayani told the Council.

Russia and China vetoed a UN Security Council resolution Tuesday on reopening the Strait of Hormuz, a text already diluted to remove Gulf states' desired green light to use force to protect the key shipping lane.

The draft resolution prepared by Bahrain and supported by the United States received 11 votes in favor, two against and two abstentions. Bahrain's Foreign Minister Abdullatif bin Rashid Al Zayani said Gulf states "regret" the outcome.

Flooding the internet with posts from embassies across the world, sharing Lego videos mocking Donald Trump and even maintaining live accounts in the name of its slain supreme leader -- Iran has charged headlong into the battlefield of social media.

Five weeks into the war against Israel and the United States, Iranian authorities have pulled out all the stops to aggressively promote the Islamic republic's narrative online.

Two French nationals headed home from war-stricken Iran on Tuesday after spending more than three years in an Iranian prison on espionage charges, authorities said.

Cecile Kohler, 41, and Jacques Paris, 72, were due back in France on Wednesday, Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said as he hailed their departure from the country facing US threats of devastating attacks.

The couple had been under house arrest at the French embassy in Tehran since they were freed in November.

April 7 (Reuters) - U.S. Vice President JD Vance lashed out on Tuesday at what he called "disgraceful" interference by the European Union in an election in Hungary, as he lauded Prime Minister Viktor Orban as an ally of Donald Trump in the defence of Western civilisation.

Following is a rundown of key quotes from their joint news conference in Budapest.

VANCE ON HUNGARIAN ELECTION

April 7 (Reuters) - Iran on Tuesday attacked Saudi Arabia's Jubail petrochemical complex, the heart of the kingdom's downstream sector, its Revolutionary Guards said, the latest evidence of Tehran's ability to strike back in response to U.S.-Israeli attacks ahead of a U.S. deadline to open the Strait of Hormuz or face annihilation.

Iran said the attack was in response toattacks against its Asaluyeh petrochemical plants, which are connected to its massive South Pars gas field and were reportedly hit by multiple explosions overnight.

By Canan Sevgili

April 7 (Reuters) - An attacker was killed in a gun battle with police outside the building housing the Israeli consulate in Istanbul on Tuesday, according to authorities and Reuters witnesses.

Below is a list of major militant attacks in Turkey in recent years:

December 29, 2025 - Three Turkish police officers and six Islamic State militants were killed in a gunfight in northwest Turkey in Yalova.

PARIS, April 7 (Reuters) - French nationals Cecile Kohler and Jacques Paris are "free and on their way to France, after three and a half years of detention in Iran," President Emmanuel Macron said on Tuesday in a post on social media platform X.

Lawmakers greeted the announcement with a standing ovation at the National Assembly.

(Reporting by Dominique Vidalon and Elizabeth Pineau; Writing by Makini Brice; Editing by Charlotte Van Campenhout)