LONDON (AP) — A senior member of the British government said Tuesday that Ye should “absolutely not” play the Wireless Festival as the performer offered to meet members of the U.K.’s Jewish community and show he has changed since provoking outrage with antisemitic statements.
The rapper formerly known as Kanye West is booked to perform in front of around 150,000 revelers over July 10-12 at the open-air festival in London’s Finsbury Park.
Organizers are under mounting pressure from sponsors and politicians to cancel the gigs by the rapper, who has drawn widespread condemnation for making antisemitic remarks and voicing admiration for Adolf Hitler.
Last year, he released a song called “Heil Hitler” and advertised a swastika T-shirt for sale on his website. The 48-year-old apologized in January with a letter, published as a full-page advertisement in The Wall Street Journal. He said his bipolar disorder led him to fall into “a four-month long, manic episode of psychotic, paranoid and impulsive behavior that destroyed my life.”
Wireless sponsors Pepsi, Rockstar Energy and Diageo have pulled out of the festival since Ye was announced as the headliner, and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer called the booking “deeply concerning.”
In a statement Tuesday, Ye, who changed his name in 2021, said he “would be grateful for the opportunity to meet with members of the Jewish community in the U.K. in person, to listen.
“I know words aren’t enough — I’ll have to show change through my actions,” he said. “If you’re open, I’m here.”
Phil Rosenberg, president of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, said the group would be willing to meet with the musician if he pulled out of the festival.
“The Jewish community will want to see a genuine remorse and change before believing that the appropriate place to test this sincerity is on the main stage at the Wireless Festival,” Rosenberg said.
Organizer Festival Republic stood by Ye. In a statement issued Monday, managing director Melvin Benn urged people to offer the performer “forgiveness and hope.”
“We are not giving him a platform to extol opinion of whatever nature, only to perform the songs that are currently played on the radio stations in our country and the streaming platforms in our country and listened to and enjoyed by millions,” the statement said.
U.K. Health Secretary Wes Streeting dismissed the organizers’ statement as “absurd” and said Ye should “absolutely not” perform at Wireless. He said Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood is considering whether to ban the rapper from entering the U.K.
Benn acknowledged that Mahmood had the power to revoke Ye's visa to come to Britain.
“If she does, she does, and then the issue is over,” he told the BBC on Tuesday.
A representative for Ye didn’t reply to a request for comment.
FILE - Kanye West appears at the 67th annual Grammy Awards in Los Angeles on Feb. 2, 2025. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP, File)
FILE - Kanye West, who changed his name to Ye in 2021, performs at the Coachella Music & Arts Festival in Indio, Calif., on April 20, 2019. . (Photo by Amy Harris/Invision/AP, File)
Iran rejected a 45-day ceasefire proposal and said it wants a permanent end to the war as U.S. President Donald Trump's ultimatum to make a deal ticked closer with an expanded threat of strikes against the Islamic Republic to include all power plants and bridges.
Trump said Monday he is “not at all” concerned about committing possible war crimes as he again threatened to destroy Iranian infrastructure if Tehran does not meet his Tuesday 8 p.m. EST deadline to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres warned the U.S. that attacking civilian infrastructure is banned under international law, his spokesperson said Monday.
Israel carried out a new wave of attacks on Iran early Tuesday, while Iran responded with missile fire against Israel and its Gulf Arab neighbors.
More than 1,900 people have been killed in Iran since the war began, but the government has not updated the toll for days.
In Lebanon, more than 1,400 people have been killed and more than 1 million people have been displaced. Eleven Israeli soldiers have died there.
In Gulf Arab states and the occupied West Bank, more than two dozen people have died, while 23 have been reported dead in Israel and 13 U.S. service members have been killed.
Here is the latest:
The United Nations health agency has suspended evacuations from the Gaza Strip through the Rafah Crossing with Egypt after the death of one of its contractors.
World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a social media post that the contractor was killed Monday in what he described as a “security incident.”
Two WHO staffers were present but were not hurt, he said without elaborating.
The incident is being investigated and the evacuations of patients and wounded people will be halted until further notice, Tedros said.
The Rafah Crossing was reopened in February after long delays in a key but mostly symbolic step in the Israel-Hamas ceasefire deal.
A previous version of this item incorrectly reported two WHO staffers were wounded.
At least four northern Italian airports have imposed restrictions on jet fuel due to shortages, giving priority to long-haul and medical flights.
The restrictions at Milan Linate, Bologna, Venice and Treviso airports involve supplier Air Bp Italia, the British Petroleum group’s aviation division, and will remain until at least April 9.
Priority will be given to ambulance flights, state flights and flights of more than three hours, according to an official notice.
For nonpriority flights, the airports have imposed a supply ceiling of 2,000 liters (528 gallons) per aircraft.
The Venice airport has requested pilots ensure they have enough fuel from the previous airport for the following flight.
Ahead of U.S. President Donald Trump’s Strait of Hormuz deadline, Iranians have expressed both their hopes and fears about the war.
“I had expected Trump would offer us something fancier than hell,” said Mahmoud Azimi, 35, who was carrying home milk and a sack of potatoes. “We have experienced an inferno because of many bad things like sanctions, assassinations and wars. So, at the end, hell is being replaced by hell!”
Reza Alaghemand 24, who runs an ice cream stall, urged Iran to keep fighting against Israel and the U.S.“
“If we stop the war, they soon wage another war,” he said. “Once and for all, we should teach them an unforgettable lesson not to attack us.”
Maryam Mehrabi, a 67-year-old retiree, recounted how it was the third war she’d seen in her life.
“There was the 1980s war that Iraq waged against Iran. Then the June war that the U.S. and Israel launched and I lost a close friend,” she said. “I have no idea what is waiting for us ahead of these threats.”
One young couple, in a coffee shop in central Tehran, offered their opinions on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals.
“I hate this situation. Why are officials on both sides only threatening to go into a deeper war with more damages?” the woman asked. “All night long, we hear the sound of strikes and bombings and then in the daytime, we are occasionally stopped by mushrooming checkpoints.”
Her partner shrugged.
“I feel we are stuck between the blades of a pair of scissors,” he said. “It is more than a month that we have had no Internet and now we are going to face a power cut.”
An airstrike targeting Iran’s Alborz province northwest of Tehran killed at least 18 people, state media reported Tuesday.
The strike also wounded 24 people, the judiciary’s Mizan news agency reported.
It wasn’t immediately clear what had been targeted.
A series of intense airstrikes have pounded Iran’s capital, Tehran, including a possible weapons depot in the mountains and residential neighborhoods.
The Israelis have conducted a campaign of airstrikes killing top officials in the theocracy and its military.
Facing a looming U.S. deadline, Iran’s president said Tuesday that 14 million Iranians, including himself, have volunteered to sacrifice their lives in the war.
President Masoud Pezeshkian made the comment on X just ahead of U.S. President Donald Trump’s deadline to bomb power stations and bridges in Iran if it doesn’t loosen its chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz.
The figure is double other figures mentioned by state media in the past about volunteers the government had been soliciting by text messages and media as the war went on.
Iran is home to 90 million people. Many remain angry at the government over its bloody crackdown on nationwide demonstrations and the 14 million figure likely is aimed at trying to dissuade the promised American bombing campaign.
“More than 14 million Iranian people have declared their readiness to sacrifice their lives in the (self-sacrificing) campaign,” Pezeshkian wrote. “I too have been, am, and will remain ready to give my life for Iran.”
Nearly 1-in-5 service stations in France had run dry of at least one type of fuel Tuesday morning as motorists filled tanks after Easter weekend.
There is no risk of broader fuel shortages and “oil is arriving in France,” government spokeswoman Maud Bregeon said, adding that shortages at some pumps resulted from transport difficulties that were being urgently addressed.
Around 18% of service stations were short of at least one fuel type, but 83% of those belong to TotalEnergies, which has capped prices. Weekend lines formed at some of the company’s stations because its fuels are often cheaper than other distributors.
Bregeon said about 900 trucks, hundreds more than a normal day, were traveling to Total stations with resupplies Tuesday.
“There are no problems at the refineries. When trucks go to depots, they can load up” with unleaded and diesel, Bregeon said. “We can expect a progressive improvement.”
Airstrikes pounded sites across Iran’s capital, Tehran, on Monday, including residential areas. Strikes also were reported in Qom, the Shiite seminary city to the south of Tehran.
Iranian state television acknowledged the strikes in an online message, saying more details would be released.
Areas around Parchin, a military base associated with Iran’s ballistic missile program, and points south of downtown Tehran were struck.
Khorramabad International Airport also came under attack Tuesday, the judiciary’s Mizan news agency reported.
Video circulated online showing what appeared to be a cruise missile targeting one site in Iran.
Residential strikes in the past have targeted Iranian government and security officials.
The King Fahd Causeway, a key bridge linking Saudi Arabia and the island of Bahrain, reopened Tuesday morning after closing for hours over possible threats from Iran.
The King Fahd Causeway Authority made the announcement in a post on X, saying the only route by road between Bahrain and the Arabian Peninsula reopened.
Bahrain’s airport has been closed over the Iranian attacks for weeks.
The hourslong closure came after a ballistic missile attack from Iran targeted Saudi Arabia and may have done damage to energy infrastructure there.
The kingdom has not elaborated on damage from that attack.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot said attacks targeting civilian and energy infrastructure “are barred by the rules of war, international law” and would surely trigger reprisals from Iran.
He spoke ahead of the Tuesday evening deadline for possible strikes against Iran set by U.S. President Donald Trump.
“In the framework of the war in Iran, they would without doubt trigger a new phase of escalation, of reprisals, that would drag the region and the world economy into a vicious circle that would be very worrying and, most of all, very damaging to our own interests,” the minister said Tuesday morning on France Info television.
“We’re already seeing a surge of fuel prices. If energy facilities in Iran were struck, we can expect reprisals from the Iranian regime that would further worsen an already worrying situation,” he said.
Pakistan Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar spoke early Tuesday with Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty about the latest regional developments in the face of an approaching deadline for the opening of the Strait of Hormuz set by U.S. President Donald Trump.
Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the leaders “underscored the need for de-escalation and dialogue” and agreed to remain closely engaged as the situation evolves.
Pakistan, with the support of regional countries, has been engaged in diplomatic efforts to bring the U.S. and Iran to the negotiating table.
Abdelatty also spoke with U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff and Iraqi Foreign Minister Fouad Hussein.
The calls included “an assessment of the rapidly evolving situation and the efforts ... to reach understandings between the U.S. and Iran to achieve de-escalation and reduce tensions,” the Egyptian foreign ministry said.
Iran has reported fatalities from airstrikes overnight into Tuesday.
At least nine people were killed in the city of Shahriar, west of the capital, Tehran, Iranian media reported.
In the city of Pardis, east of Tehran, at least six people were killed in a strike and recovered from buildings, Iranian media reported.
A Revolutionary Guard general in Iran has urged parents to “send your kids to man checkpoints.”
Gen. Hossein Yekta, previously identified as leading plainclothes units of the all-volunteer Basij force, made the comments on an Iranian state television channel.
“Moms, dads, take your kids hands and go out on streets,” he said. “Do you want your kid to become a real man? Let him feel like a hero standing right at the heart of the battlefield. Moms, dads, at night send your kids to man checkpoints. They become men!”
Basij checkpoints have been repeatedly targeted in airstrikes.
The Basij has been accepting children as young as 12 to man checkpoints. Amnesty International has warned some even carry firearms, calling their recruitment a war crime.
During nationwide protests in January, Yekta warned parents to keep their children home or they would be shot.
An adviser to Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the president of the United Arab Emirates, says they have lost trust in the Iranian government after its attacks on Arab neighbors.
“We are facing a perfidious regime that cannot be trusted,” Anwar Gargash wrote in a social media post Tuesday, adding that his country had sought to avoid the war.
He also claimed the UAE’s position toward Iran’s attacks in the Gulf Arab countries is appreciated across the region.
Iranian state television on Tuesday claimed 14 million people had volunteered to fight for the country if there is a ground invasion by the United States and Israel.
The claim by state TV, which included no other information, doubles an April 2 claim by Iranian Parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf that 7 million had volunteered.
Iran is home to some 90 million people. Iran had conducted a bloody crackdown on nationwide demonstrations in January that killed thousands and saw tens of thousands detained.
State media and text message campaigns have urged people to volunteer. The government also has called on retired soldiers to express their interest in fighting, while the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard’s all-volunteer Basij force has begun accepting children as young as 12 into its ranks.
After the 1979 Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, for instance, called for a 20-million Basij force.
Iranian media reported Tuesday that a synagogue in the capital, Tehran, was damaged in an airstrike.
They identified the house of worship as the Rafi Niya Synagogue.
Video from the site showed rescuers moving around and what looked like a book of Hebrew scripture in the rubble.
Iran has a small Jewish population still living in the country. Many fled during the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
Likely signaling a new target for their airstrikes, the Israeli military warned Iranians in Farsi on Tuesday to avoid taking trains until at least 9 p.m. local time.
“Your presence puts your life at risk,” the warning posted on X read.
Iran has shut off access to the internet for weeks, making it difficult for the average Iranians to see these warnings. However, Farsi-language satellite news networks abroad report them, allowing the information to make its way back into the Islamic Republic.
South Korean President Lee Jae Myung is dispatching his chief of staff as a special envoy to Kazakhstan, Oman and Saudi Arabia in a diplomatic push to secure more fuel and mitigate the energy crunch caused by the war in the Middle East.
Kang Hoon-sik said he will depart Tuesday evening, with the visits aimed at securing additional sources of crude oil and naphtha, a key petroleum product used in plastics manufacturing.
South Korea last month reached an agreement with the United Arab Emirates to receive 24 million barrels of crude and initial shipments have arrived in recent weeks.
More than 60% of crude and 50% of naphtha supplies imported by South Korea last year passed through the Strait of Hormuz, a narrow waterway that is now largely blocked by Iran as it seeks to exert leverage against the U.S. and Israel.
The King Fahd Causeway, a key bridge linking Saudi Arabia to the island kingdom of Bahrain, closed early Tuesday over threats from Iranian attacks.
The King Fahd Causeway Authority made the announcement on X.
Vehicle movements had been “suspended as a precautionary measure” over Iranian attacks targeting Saudi Arabia’s Eastern Province, the authority said.
The 25-kilometer (15.5-mile) bridge is the only connection by road for Bahrain, home to the U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet, to the Arabian Peninsula.
While there has been no formal threat against the King Fahd Causeway, some hard-liners within Iran have increasingly identified it as a possible target.
That risk likely would grow if Trump carries out his threatened strikes against bridges in Iran.
Saudi Arabia said early Tuesday that seven ballistic missiles from Iran targeted the kingdom’s oil-rich Eastern Province, with “debris from the missiles” crashing into the ground near energy facilities.
The brief statement from Maj. Gen. Turki al-Malki, a spokesman for the Saudi military, did not elaborate on the extent of the damage on the ground, though he said an “assessment is underway.”
It wasn’t immediately clear what energies facilities had been impacted.
A man inspects the damage to cars and an apartment building struck by an Iranian missile in Ramat Gan, Israel, Monday, April 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty)
People drive their motorbikes past a billboard that shows a graphic depicting Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei in downtown Tehran, Iran, Monday, April 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
An excavator works removing the rubble as people walk at the site of Sunday's Israeli strike on a building in Beirut's Jnah neighborhood, Lebanon, Monday, April 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)
President Donald Trump departs after speaking with reporters in the James Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House, Monday, April 6, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
Displaced people wait to receive donated food beside the tents they use as shelters after fleeing Israeli bombardment in southern Lebanon, in Beirut, Lebanon, Monday, April 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)
