In a week of movable ultimatums set by US President Donald Trump to "obliterate Iran’s power plants", a deadline was set initially of Monday at midnight, then extended by five days on account of "very productive conversations", then to 10 days with Trump claiming "talks are ongoing" and "going very well".

Tehran claimed suggestions of negotiations were fake news, and US talk of de-escalation was a front designed to buy time for a ground invasion with an amphibious force of US marines heading from the Far East to the Persian Gulf. 

Washington presented a 15-point plan to end the conflict. Iran set out its own five conditions, reportedly relayed via Pakistan.

But assassinations of the regime's top figures have continued, as has Iran's de facto chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz, with both sides using the media to mock the other.

It's also been a week of intensified Israeli air strikes and ground operations in the south of Lebanon, with the IDF blowing up bridges along the Litani River which bisects the south of the country and meets the Mediterranean Sea.

For what end? Israel says it's creating a "defensive buffer zone" against Iranian-backed Hezbollah fighters attacking northern Israeli towns. Lebanon's president says it's a violation of sovereignty which cuts civilians from dozens of towns and villages off from the rest of the country. Nationwide, one in five people are reported to have fled their homes, and the UN warns of the risk of a Gaza-style siege in the south.

It's also been a week where millions of travellers at US airports felt the effects of a partial government shutdown. Tens of thousands of transport security staff haven't been paid for more than a month, and the effect is sporadic chaos, snaking lines at airport gates and the longest waiting times on record. There's been political deadlock since February, with Democrats blocking full funding for Homeland Security because of disputes over immigration and customs reforms that the Republicans want. Trump's solution is to send ICE agents to airports, raising questions for US border czar Tom Homan over how useful they will be.

It's also been a week of elections in Europe. Denmark saw political drama fit for an episode of "Borgen" as Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen resigned for the second time in her career after her decision to call a snap election failed to pay off at the polls. Aiming for a so-called Greenland bounce after holding firm against US pressure in January,  her centre-left party actually lost seats and her coalition lost its majority, in the Social Democrats' worst result since 1903.

It's been an election week in Slovenia too, and a fragmented result from a contest framed as the liberals against the populists. The party of the current, pro-EU Prime Minister Robert Golob faced former leader Janez Janša, who denied accusations that he hired a private investigator to dig for dirt on his rival. Golob ended up winning by the narrowest of margins and coalition building now begins. 

Here in France, all the main parties seemed to claim partial victories after municipal elections, which was easy to do with 35,000 seats up for grabs. The French left took the three biggest cities, Lyon, Marseille and Paris, where the new mayor, Socialist Emmanuel Grégoire, took a victory lap around the capital on a rental bike with supporters.

Meanwhile the French far right failed to win its targets in the south, but exponentially built on its voter base, and party leader Jordan Bardella still tops the latest polls for the presidential elections next year.

Produced by Gavin Lee, Rebecca Gnignati, Daniel Whittington, Alessandro Xenos.