KOENIG

Negotiations between Iran and the United States over Tehran’s rapidly advancing nuclear program will return Saturday to the secluded sultanate of Oman, where experts on both sides will start hammering out the technical details of any possible deal.

The talks seek to limit Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for the lifting of some of the crushing economic sanctions the US has imposed on the Islamic Republic, closing in on half a century of enmity.

US President Donald Trump has repeatedly threatened to potentially unleash airstrikes targeting Iran’s program if a deal isn’t reached.

Israel is deeply concerned that the US is closing in on a “bad deal” with Iran that will not meet Israel’s stated essential conditions for ensuring the regime cannot attain nuclear weapons, Israeli television reported Thursday.

Channel 12 news reported that Israel believes the negotiations ordered by President Donald Trump with Iran, led by envoy Steve Witkoff, are “very, very advanced,” and that the US is not sharing enough information with Israel on key specific issues. This, despite an ostensibly deep ongoing dialogue between Witkoff and Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer, the report said.

The TV report, which quoted unnamed diplomatic, political and security sources, said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Israel Katz and a senior IDF officer who cannot be named held an urgent consultation this week on the issue.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio hosted Qatari Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani on Tuesday, with the two leaders discussing “the important strategic partnership between the United States and Qatar,” according to a U.S. readout.

Rubio and Al Thani spoke about “close security and economic cooperation and shared efforts to address regional challenges in Gaza, Lebanon and Syria” and “reiterated both countries’ support for greater security and stability in the Middle East.”

Rubio also “expressed gratitude for Qatar’s efforts in securing the release of American citizens from Afghanistan.” 

Yom Hashoah, Israel’s Holocaust Martyrs’ and Heroes’ Remembrance Day, started at sundown on Wednesday night with the annual ceremony at the Yad Vashem World Holocaust Remembrance Center in Jerusalem.

The official state ceremony, held under the theme “Out of the Depths: The Pain of Liberation and Growth,” included speeches by Israeli Prime

In honor of Holocaust Remembrance Day, the Jerusalem Municipality is illuminating the Old City walls with the yellow patch symbol, alongside memorial candles and the words “Remember” and “Never Forget.”

An Israeli delegation is expected to depart in the coming days for talks aimed at advancing a hostage deal, a source familiar with the details told The Jerusalem Post Wednesday.

Sources informed on the matter told the Post that there has been no change in Hamas's position regarding the deal.

Hamas has made it clear to mediators from Egypt and Qatar that "we will not agree to a deal that includes a temporary [rather than permanent] ceasefire."

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke via phone on Tuesday with US President Donald Trump, the American leader said, declaring that the pair “are on the same side of every issue.”

The call covered “numerous subjects including Trade, Iran, etc.,” Trump wrote on his social media platform, Truth Social, adding that the conversation went “very well.”

Notably, Trump did not include Gaza or the 59 hostages being held there in his list of topics discussed amid the ongoing impasse in ceasefire negotiations between Israel and Hamas. However, according to a report in Axios, the pair did talk about efforts to reach a hostage release deal, with the Trump administration pushing for a breakthrough and Israel wary of any agreement that would end the war.

WASHINGTON, April 22 (Reuters) - India has the full support of the United States, President Donald Trump said on Tuesday after suspected militants opened fire on tourists in India's Jammu and Kashmir territory, killing at least 20 people.

"Deeply disturbing news out of Kashmir. The United States stands strong with India against Terrorism. We pray for the souls of those lost, and for the recovery of the injured. Prime Minister Modi, and the incredible people of India, have our full support and deepest sympathies," Trump said on Truth Social.

Companies in the United States were invited to partake in lucrative business opportunities involving Iran’s plan to erect over 19 additional nuclear reactors, Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on Monday.

“American companies could explore the trillion-dollar opportunity that the Iranian economy presented,” including companies that could “help generate clean electricity from non-hydrocarbon sources,” he added.

Pope Francis, the Argentine Jesuit who became the first Roman Catholic pontiff from the Americas, has died, the Vatican said Monday. He was 88.

Francis, who was elected the church’s 266th pope after the retirement of Benedict XVI in 2013, was born as Jorge Mario Bergoglio in the middle-class neighborhood of Flores in Buenos Aires on Dec. 17, 1936.

He was the first Jesuit pope and the first pope from the Southern Hemisphere. He was the first person from outside Europe selected to lead the church in nearly 1,300 years, after Pope Gregory III of Syria, who was chosen in 731.

U.S. Vice President JD Vance met briefly with Pope Francis on Sunday to exchange Easter greetings, after they got into a long-distance tangle over the Trump administration’s migrant deportation plans.

Francis... received Vance in one of the reception rooms of the Vatican hotel...

“I know you have not been feeling great but it’s good to see you in better health,” Vance told the pope. “Thank you for seeing me.”

Pope Francis reiterated his call for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza in an Easter Sunday message read aloud by an aide as the pontiff, still recovering from pneumonia, looked on during a brief appearance on the main balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica.

In the Easter message, the pontiff said the situation in Gaza was “dramatic and deplorable”. The pope also called on Palestinian militant group Hamas to release its remaining hostages and condemned what he said was a “worrisome” trend of antisemitism in the world.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday night pledged to continue the war against Hamas until all objectives are met, rejecting recent ceasefire proposals that would leave the terror group in power in Gaza.

“Our war is not over,” Netanyahu declared in a nationally televised statement. “We will not end this war before destroying Hamas, returning all our hostages, and ensuring Gaza never again poses a threat to Israel.”

Rejecting calls to halt the fighting, Netanyahu said Israel would not accept Hamas’s demands, which he said include full IDF withdrawal, a ceasefire and reconstruction funding that would allow the group to rearm.

A senior Israeli official has acknowledged that if the US and Iran sign a new nuclear deal, it will become "much harder" for Israel to carry out military action against Iran's nuclear program. Nevertheless, he stressed that despite the political difficulty that such a deal would create, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would not hesitate to act, even with President Donald Trump in the White House.

By Tania Curado-Koenig

Returning to America this week—on my first international trip since the elections—I sensed something profound had changed. In the spirit, it was unmistakable. The atmosphere has shifted. America is not the same.

There is a tangible sense of breakthrough—strongholds breaking, darkness lifting, and angelic activity intensifying. You can feel it. You can see it if your spirit is tuned. As Scripture declares:

“Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, the people He chose for His inheritance.” (Psalm 33:12)

Since the inauguration, laws have been signed by the President of the United States that disrupted dark spiritual agendas. Doors long held open to unrighteousness were suddenly shut. In their place, new declarations were made—ones that honor truth, righteousness, and freedom of belief.

We’re receiving reports from pastors who have labored day and night alongside senior government officials, including the President and the Secretary of State. These are not vague impressions—they are testimonies from the front lines of intercession and influence.

Just this Wednesday, during a time of intense prayer with a believer working inside the U.S. State Department, we cried out for justice, exposure, and the end of oppressive agendas. Within two hours of that prayer, 200 employees—those directly involved in deplatforming Americans for expressing dissent from radical DEI ideologies—were fired and walked out.

Then, only three hours later, Secretary of State Marco Rubio issued an extraordinary internal directive across the entire State Department and every U.S. embassy in the world. He requested that every employee come forward with any experience of religious discrimination—specifically as Christians. He urged them to report, in full detail, the incidents, individuals involved, and the impact.

One of our dear friends, working closely on the Israel desk, is now drafting his formal report. He’s been deeply affected by both the actions and the hostility toward faith that has been allowed to fester inside the system. That discrimination has not only harmed individuals—it has weakened America’s moral clarity and our covenantal relationship with Israel.

Now, for the first time, he will have the opportunity to speak truth—to document what has happened, and to testify.

And this is what I believe with all my heart: the same power that raised Christ from the dead is now at work in our nation.

As Paul wrote:

“That I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death…”

(Philippians 3:10)

…and that same resurrection power is at work in you, in your home, and in the very atmosphere around you.

This is Resurrection Sunday. And this is resurrection power.

We are witnessing the mercy of God in motion.

We are seeing light break through the shadows.

We are living in days when prayer is shifting policy.

PRAISING JESUS FOR SUCH REPORTS!

Let every believer rise with boldness. Let the Church awaken to her hour.

He is risen—and He is moving.

I. The Pattern of Passover: Obedience Brings Protection

In Exodus 12, every family in Israel was saved—not by religion, lineage, or heritage—but by one thing: the blood of the lamb applied in obedience.

The lamb was slain. The blood was in the basin. But it did not protect a single soul until it was transferred—by faith and obedience—to the doorposts of their homes. And the transfer came through something simple: a little bunch of hyssop.

That hyssop represents something powerful in our lives today: our testimony.
Paul says in 1 Corinthians 5:7:
“Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us.”

His blood has been shed. The sacrifice is complete. But just like Israel, we must still apply the blood—not with literal hyssop, but by the word of our testimony.

II. Testimony: The Hyssop in Your Hand

Revelation 12:11 gives us heaven’s battle strategy:
“They overcame him [Satan] by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony…”

Your confession—when it agrees with God’s Word—is not just helpful. It is essential. It is what transfers the blood from basin to doorpost. It brings the finished work of the cross into living reality.

No confession, no High Priest.
No testimony, no overcoming.
No alignment with God’s Word, no legal authority in the spirit realm.

You must speak what the blood has done. And you must speak it in faith.

III. The Sevenfold Sprinkling of His Blood: Fulfilled at the Cross

In the Old Testament, on the Day of Atonement, the high priest would sprinkle blood seven times before the presence of God (Leviticus 16). Every drop was prophetic. Every act pointed to Messiah.

Jesus fulfilled it—precisely and painfully—through His suffering:

1. In the Garden of Gethsemane – His sweat became great drops of blood (Luke 22:44)
2. At the high priest’s house – They struck His face with rods (Mark 14:65)
3. They plucked His beard – Tearing skin and drawing blood (Isaiah 50:6)
4. He was scourged – Flesh torn by bone-laced Roman whips (John 19:1)
5. A crown of thorns – Pierced into His scalp (Matthew 27:29–30)
6. Nails in His hands and feet – Crucifixion (John 20:25)
7. A spear in His side – Blood and water flowed (John 19:34)

Each wound fulfilled Isaiah’s words:
“He poured out His soul unto death” (Isaiah 53:12).
“The life is in the blood… I have given it to you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls.” (Leviticus 17:11)

The soul is in the blood. And Jesus poured out His soul—His very life—as your substitute.

IV. How to Appropriate the Blood of Jesus

It’s not enough to believe it happened. You must learn to apply it:

1. Know what the Word says about the blood.
You cannot testify to something you don’t understand.
2. Speak it out loud.
Your testimony is the legal transfer from the basin to your life.
3. Stay under the blood.
Obedience matters. You must remain in the place where the blood has been applied.

V. The Seven Declarations of Victory

These are not just truths—they are weapons. When spoken in faith, they become your hyssop:

1. Redemption
Through the blood of Jesus, I have been redeemed out of the hand of the devil. (Ephesians 1:7) 

2. Cleansing
While I walk in the light, the blood of Jesus cleanses me now and continually from all sin. (1 John 1:7)

3. Justification
Through the blood of Jesus, I am justified—just as if I had never sinned. (Romans 5:9)

4. Sanctification
Through the blood of Jesus, I am sanctified—set apart for God, made holy. (Hebrews 13:12)

5. Reconciliation
Through the blood of Jesus, I have peace with God. I am no longer far away. (Colossians 1:20)

6. Access to God
Through the blood of Jesus, I have bold access to the presence of God. (Hebrews 10:19)

7. Victory over Satan
Through the blood of Jesus and the word of my testimony, I overcome Satan. (Revelation 12:11)

VI. The Power of Total Commitment

Revelation 12:11 gives us one final key:

“They loved not their lives unto the death.”

These are not casual Christians. These are committed soldiers in the army of the Lord.

Total commitment terrifies Satan. The one who is not afraid to die is the one who truly lives.

“The world passes away… but he who does the will of God abides forever.” (1 John 2:17)

We overcome by the blood.

We overcome by our testimony.

And we overcome by not clinging to our lives—even unto death.

Final Word: Apply the Blood

We are living in prophetic times—days of shaking, sifting, and intensifying spiritual warfare. And yet, the ancient pattern of Passover still holds firm. Christ has died. His blood has been shed. But protection, purity, and transformation only come when that blood is applied—by faith, through obedience, and with the bold confession of our mouths.

The blood is in the basin.
The hyssop is in your hand.
What will you declare?

Let the Church arise and speak. Let every believer make the confession of faith that transfers the power of the cross into their daily lives. Let every household come under the blood. Let every father, every spiritual leader, take their place at the doorpost—applying the blood through intercession, through leadership, and through the word of their testimony.

Because we overcome by the blood of the Lamb—and by the word of our testimony.

This is not just remembrance.
This is war.
This is victory.

Blessed Good Friday and Happy Passover!

With reverence and boldness,
Tania Koenig

About the author: https://watch.org/node/130515

A second round of negotiations between Iran and the United States over Tehran’s rapidly advancing nuclear program ended Saturday after several hours of talks, Iranian and American officials said.

There was no immediate US readout on how the talks went at the Omani Embassy in Rome’s Camilluccia neighborhood. A convoy carrying US envoy Steve Witkoff left as Iranian state television announced the talks’ conclusion, with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi leaving a few minutes later.

Araghchi later told Iranian state television that talks were “moving forward” after a positive meeting.

He said the next round of talks would be held next weekend in Oman.

Iran told the United States in talks last week it was ready to accept some limits on its uranium enrichment but needed watertight guarantees US President Donald Trump would not again ditch a nuclear pact, a senior Iranian official said on Friday. He also vowed that Iran would never agree to dismantle its centrifuges for enriching uranium.

Iran and the United States are set to hold a second round of talks on Saturday in Rome, a week after a first round of negotiations in Oman, which both sides described as positive.

Trump, meanwhile, reiterated Friday that he would not allow Iran to get nuclear weapons.