• US naval forces seized an Iranian-flagged cargo ship near the Strait of Hormuz, prompting Iran to label the action as 'bullying behaviour' and 'act of piracy'.
• The operation occurred two days before a two-week ceasefire with Iran was set to expire, amid fragile diplomatic efforts and threats of retaliation.
• Tehran insists on securing freedom of navigation in the strait, vital for one-fifth of global oil trade, before engaging in US talks, heightening energy security risks.
US president’s desperation for war to end has seen him trying to speed through a process he does not fully controlMiddle East crisis – live updatesA set of mismanaged and premature media announcements by Donald Trump and Tehran has led to the collapse of any progress towards a peace settlement between Iran and the US.The recent missteps ended with Iran saying it would reinstate a complete block on the movement of commercial shipping through the strait of Hormuz and that it would not allow any of its stockpile of highly enriched uranium to be exported out of the country. Continue reading...
Defense secretary spoke to reporters in first press briefing since Trump announced ceasefire deal after 40 days of warAfter 40 days and 40 nights of war, Pete Hegseth, the US defense secretary, on Wednesday pointed to divine providence while telling reporters that Iran’s weapons factories had been reduced to rubble, its military rendered ineffective for years and its supreme leader left wounded and disfigured, all for a temporary ceasefire.“Iran begged for this ceasefire, and we all know it,” Hegseth said Wednesday morning at the Pentagon’s first press briefing since Donald Trump announced a two-week pause in hostilities Tuesday night. “Operation Epic Fury decimated Iran’s military and rendered it combat ineffective for years to come.” Continue reading...
Donald Trump abandoned his threat for Iran to surrender or face destruction after a last-minute intervention led by Pakistan. Plus, why some people are ‘bad texters’Good morning.The US and Iran agreed to a two-week conditional ceasefire deal on Tuesday evening, which includes a temporary reopening of the strait of Hormuz.How does the ceasefire affect Israel and Lebanon? The Israel prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said Israel backed the US ceasefire with Iran – but that the deal did not cover fighting against Hezbollah in Lebanon. Israeli attacks have killed more than 1,500 in Lebanon.What has Trump said about the Iranian 10-point plan? He has called it a “workable basis on which to negotiate”. Here’s what’s in it.Follow our liveblog for the latest developments.How much of a margin do Republicans have in Georgia? The GOP currently holds the state House with a three-vote margin. Continue reading...
Iran’s parliamentary speaker decries US president’s ‘reckless moves’ after expletive-ridden threat; Israeli PM says Trump ‘expressed his appreciation for Israel’s help’Trump warns Iran to reopen strait of Hormuz by Tuesday or face ‘hell’‘Unhinged madman’: US politicians react to Trump Iran threatIran’s central military command has warned of “much more devastating” retaliation if the US hits civilian targets.If attacks on civilian targets are repeated, the next stages of our offensive and retaliatory operations will be much more devastating and widespread.” Continue reading...
• The US-led military campaign struck Iran's B1 bridge near Karaj, one of the tallest structures in the Middle East, causing significant collapse, civilian casualties, and outrage in Tehran.
• President Trump shared footage of the strike on social media, warned Iran of more attacks, and hinted at targeting additional infrastructure if Tehran does not agree to a deal.
• In retaliation, Iranian state media and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps published a list of eight major Gulf and regional bridges as potential targets for counter-strikes, signaling dangerous escalation.
Downing of fighter plane – the first shot down over Iran since start of war – prompts frantic US rescue effort A US F-15E fighter has been shot down over Iran, prompting a frantic US search and rescue effort for its two-strong crew, in the first such incident since the start of the war.Images of a tail fin and other debris were released by Iranian state media early on Friday accompanied by an initial claim that an advanced US F-35 and been hit by a new air defence system over central Iran and the pilot probably killed. Continue reading...
Two people reported killed in attack on newly completed suspension bridge after strike splits structure in halfMiddle East crisis – live updatesDonald Trump claimed responsibility for destroying Iran’s largest bridge, a day after he threatened to bomb the country “back to the stone ages” if a deal to end the five-week-long war he started was not reached.The US president shared footage of part of the newly built 136 metre-high $400m B1 suspension bridge between Tehran and Karaj collapsing dramatically on to the causeway below amid a rising plume of black smoke. Continue reading...
Activists accuse Iran’s regime of crackdown on civil society as whereabouts of Nasrin Sotoudeh are unknownIs Iran using the war to hide a surge in executions?The prize-winning Iranian human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh has been arrested in Tehran, according to her family, as activists accused the regime of cracking down on civil society under cover of the war with Israel and the US.Sotoudeh’s daughter Mehraveh Khandan said her mother was taken from her home in Tehran late on Wednesday and that her whereabouts were unknown. Khandan suspected the arrest may be related to recent interviews about the war, in which Sotoudeh criticised the government. Continue reading...
Kuwait says fire broke out after Iranian attack on giant tanker and warns of possible oil spill in surrounding watersHello and welcome to our continuing live coverage of the US-Israel war on Iran and its impact on the region, the world and the global economy.Iran attacked and set ablaze a fully loaded crude oil tanker off Dubai on Monday while Donald Trump warned the US would obliterate Iran’s energy plants and oil wells if it did not open the strait of Hormuz.Blasts were heard in Tehran and power cuts hit some areas of the capital, Iranian media reported on Tuesday. Israel earlier carried out missile strikes on what it called military infrastructure in Tehran and infrastructure used by Iran-backed Hezbollah in Beirut, leaving black smoke hanging over the Lebanese capital.Two successive Iranian missile launches targeted central Israel, the Times of Israel reported, quoting the emergency service as saying it had not received any reports of injuries.Turkey reported a ballistic missile launched from Iran had entered Turkish airspace before being shot down by Nato air and missile defences.Oil prices were headed on Tuesday for a record monthly rise while Asian shares were headed for their steepest fall since 2022, capping a tumultuous month as the war fanned fears of higher inflation and slower growth. Bonds were headed for their largest decline in months, while the dollar recorded its strongest gain in eight months.The US national average retail price of fuel crossed $4 a gallon for the first time in more than three years on Monday, data from price-tracking service GasBuddy showed, as tightening global supplies pushed US crude prices above $101 a barrel.Three UN peacekeepers from Indonesia were killed in two separate incidents in southern Lebanon.Thousands of soldiers from the US Army’s elite 82nd Airborne Division have started arriving in the Middle East, two US officials told Reuters. , as part of a reinforcement that would expand Trump’s options to include the deployment of forces inside Iranian territory, even as he pursues talks with Tehran.The White House later said talks with Iran were progressing and Trump wanted to reach a deal with Tehran before a 6 April deadline he set last week after extending an earlier deadline he had set for Iran to open the largely blocked strait of Hormuz oil route.Trump had told aides he is willing to end the military campaign against Iran even if the strait or Hormuz remains largely closed and leave a complex operation to reopen it for a later date, the Wall Street Journal later reported.Iran said on Monday it had received US peace proposals via intermediaries and that they were “unrealistic, illogical and excessive”. Continue reading...
• The Israeli Defense Force conducted widespread strikes targeting Iran's missile and nuclear infrastructure on Thursday, marking escalation in the month-long Operation Roaring Lion with strikes on facilities including the Arak Reactor.
• Oil prices surged and US stock markets fell sharply Thursday amid renewed uncertainty about potential conflict resolution, with investors expressing doubt over prospects for ending the Iran war.
• The escalation coincides with Houthi forces joining the conflict through attacks on Israel and a critical April 6 deadline for potential wider regional military engagement.
War continues to escalate with Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis confirming a second wave of attacks on Israel since they joined the war on SaturdayRead the full reportHello and welcome to our live coverage of events in the Middle East as the war enters its second month.The war only continues to escalate as Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis confirmed a second wave of attacks on Israel since joining the conflict on Saturday. They have vowed to continue strikes in the coming days, posing a threat not just to worsening regional security but also global trade.In a televised speech, Houthi military spokesperson, Yahya Saree, said the Iran-backed group had launched a “barrage of cruise missiles and drones” in a second attack on Israel, targeting key military sites. He vowed the Houthis would continue military operations in the coming days until Israel “ceases its attacks and aggression”.The entry of the Houthis, poses a direct threat to the Bab al-Mandab strait at the southern end of the Red Sea, a second major choke point in the supply chain of energy supplies and other trade in and out of the Middle East. With Iran’s near total closure of the strait of Hormuz, a shutdown of the Bab al-Mandab, located between Yemen and the Horn of Africa, would amplify the already grave impact of the war on the global economy, and could also reignite a Saudi-Yemen conflict.The Pentagon is preparing plans for weeks of ground operations in Iran – potentially including raids on Kharg Island and coastal sites near the strait of Hormuz – though President Donald Trump has not yet approved any deployment, the Washington Post is reporting. Any ground operation would stop short of a full-scale invasion, instead involving raids by special operations forces and conventional infantry troops, the Post said, citing unnamed officials.Exiled Iranian Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi has told one of the US’s biggest annual gatherings of conservatives that he is ready to lead a new Iranian government and would call on the country’s citizens to rise up when the “right moment arrives”, AP reports. Pahlavi is the son of the shah, a monarch deposed in 1979 when the Islamic theocracy came to power.Iran’s Revolutionary Guard threatened to target US universities in the Middle East after saying US-Israeli strikes had deliberately targeted two Iranian universities. “If the US government wants its universities in the region to be free from retaliation... it must condemn the bombing of the universities in an official statement by 12 noon on Monday, March 30, Tehran time,” said the statement published by Iranian media.Pakistan has said it would host a meeting of Middle Eastern powers on Monday in an effort to find a regional approach to ending the conflict. But the talks, which bring together the foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Egypt, did not appear to include any of the warring parties, casting further doubt on persistent US claims of diplomatic progress.Israeli attacks killed three journalists in a targeted strike on their car in southern Lebanon, which the Lebanese president condemned as a “blatant war crime”. The strike killed Ali Shoeib, from Hezbollah-owned al-Manar TV, Fatima Ftouni and her brother and cameraman Mohammed Ftouni from pro-Hezbollah outlet al-Mayadeen.Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the director general of the World Health Organisation, called for an end to attacks on medical staff after nine paramedics were killed in southern Lebanon on Saturday.The Israeli military bombarded Tehran with a “wide-scale wave of strikes”, damaging residential areas, civilian infrastructure, and research and educational buildings. The IDF also said it had hit Iran’s headquarters for naval weaponry.Iran has allowed 20 oil tankers from Pakistan to pass through the strait of Hormuz. Ishaq Dar, Pakistan’s deputy prime minister, said two ships would cross per day. The country has been playing a key mediatory role in the conflict. Continue reading...
• Israel's military launched a wave of airstrikes in the heart of Tehran early Friday, March 27, while U.S. President Donald Trump delayed his deadline to strike Iran's energy plants until April 6 amid ongoing Strait of Hormuz tensions.
• The conflict has resulted in over 1,900 deaths in Iran, nearly 1,100 in Lebanon, 18 in Israel including four soldiers, and 13 U.S. military members, with millions displaced in both countries.
• Trump cited Iran's request for a grace period and stated talks on a 15-point proposal are going 'very well,' despite Tehran's public denials of negotiations.
• Israel's military launched a wave of airstrikes targeting the heart of Tehran early on March 27, 2026, as confirmed by military statements, while smoke rose over Beirut.
• The strikes coincide with US President Donald Trump extending his deadline to bomb Iran's energy plants until April 6, 2026, after Iran's request, claiming talks are 'going very well' despite Tehran's denials.
• Trump referenced a 15-point US proposal to end the conflict, amid convulsing stock markets and Iran's insistence on no direct negotiations, heightening global tensions over the Strait of Hormuz closure.
• The Embassy of Switzerland's Foreign Interests Section in Tehran has temporarily closed due to the deteriorating security situation in Iran, effective until further notice.
• The closure reflects heightened tensions in the region as the U.S. and Israeli military operations continue against Iran, now entering their fourth week.
• The suspension of Swiss diplomatic operations, which typically represent U.S. interests in Iran due to the absence of direct U.S.-Iran diplomatic relations, indicates serious concerns about personnel safety in the capital.
Diplomats say US president’s latest claimed plan probably based on now outdated framework put forward in May 2025Middle East crisis – live updatesThe 15-point framework plan for peace with Iran that Donald Trump has said is being discussed is based on a proposal put forward by his negotiating team during nuclear talks almost a year ago, diplomats with knowledge of the talks believe.That original 15-point plan was the basis for negotiations in late May 2025, shortly before the talks collapsed due to Israeli airstrikes on Iran’s nuclear programme. Continue reading...
British investigators are circumspect, but experts and security officials say incident has hallmarks of Iranian intelligenceMiddle East crisis – live updatesFrom Golders Green, where four ambulances belonging to a Jewish charity were set alight in the early hours of Monday, a tangled trail likely leads across two continents to Tehran.British investigators are circumspect. Speaking at an event on Monday evening, Sir Mark Rowley, the head of the Metropolitan police, described a “very relevant and rolling threat” from Iran to the UK and specifically to Jewish targets but warned it was still “too early” to attribute the attack in north London to Tehran. Continue reading...
Iran has dismissed the US president’s claim of talks, saying there had been none since Washington began bombing the country. Plus, how sleeping 11 minutes more can cut your risk of heart attackGood morning.Donald Trump said there have been talks between the US and Iran over the past day in which the two sides had “major points of agreement” – but Tehran denied the claim, saying there had been no talks since the US began bombing Iran 24 days ago. Continue reading...
Israeli military says it will continue operations in line with Israeli government directives until told otherwiseMiddle East crisis – live updatesThe Israeli military said it had launched a new wave of strikes on Tehran, after Donald Trump signalled a pause in US attacks against energy infrastructure after what he said were talks with Iran.The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) said it would continue operations in line with Israeli government directives until told otherwise. Continue reading...
The move would be a major escalation in the US-Israel war against Iran. Plus, FBI director admits to buying data tracking Americans’ locationsGood morning.Donald Trump threatened to “massively blow up” the world’s largest gasfield after Israeli strikes on Iran’s South Pars field led Tehran to take revenge on energy facilities across the Middle East.What’s happening to oil and gas prices? Brent crude rose by 8% to $116 a barrel. European gas prices jumped, with the Dutch wholesale gas price up 24%.What do we know about the war’s economic cost? The war cost the US $12.7bn by day six – the total is likely to have now exceeded $18bn. Here’s a visualization of how that has been spent.Could US-Israeli attempts to take out Iranian leaders backfire? Some analysts think so. “It is not an approach that produces Jeffersonian democrats but hardened resistance fighters. It breeds more resistance,” said Sanam Vakil, an Iran expert at Chatham House.Follow our live coverage here.Who has spoken out? Labor rights activist and co-founder of the UFW Dolores Huerta, 95, released a statement on Wednesday saying: “I have kept this secret long enough. My silence ends here.” The report also includes the stories of two women, who were daughters of organizers in the movement, who said they were children when the grooming and abuse began. Continue reading...
US president claims Israel will not attack South Pars again – but threatens to destroy ‘extremely important and valuable’ site if Iran continues to attack gas facilities in QatarMiddle East crisis – live updatesDonald Trump threatened to “massively blow up” the world’s largest gasfield after Israeli strikes on the Iranian site prompted Tehran to step up attacks on energy facilities across the Middle East.Israel’s decision to target the South Pars gasfield on Wednesday marked a major escalation of the war, heightening fears of significant disruption to international energy supplies. Continue reading...
• Israel conducted an overnight airstrike in Tehran, killing Iran's intelligence minister amid escalating US-Israel operations against Iran since February 28.
• Iran's Ministry of Health reports at least 1,444 killed and nearly 19,000 injured in ongoing US-Israeli attacks, with a Red Crescent worker assisting victims.
• Senior Israeli officials warned US diplomats that Iranian protesters against their government would 'get slaughtered,' despite Israel's promotion of anti-regime demonstrations.
UAE and Qatar condemn targeting of South Pars gas field; Esmail Khatib confirmed killedIran threatens Gulf energy facilities after Israeli attack on its largest gasfieldFighting intensifies between Israel and Hezbollah in southern LebanonIran is still exporting millions of barrels of oil, with about 90 ships, including oil tankers, having crossed the strait of Hormuz since the beginning of the war with Iran, according to maritime and trade data platforms reports.This is despite Iran saying it had closed the vital waterway to vessels from the US and its allies. Continue reading...
On March 13, 2026, thousands filled Tehran's streets for Al-Quds Day celebrations marking the third week of war with the US and Israel, highlighting ongoing anti-Western sentiment. Concurrently, polls show waning American tolerance for the protracted conflict, with growing domestic calls for de-escalation amid economic strain. The rallies underscore Iran's resolve, potentially complicating diplomatic efforts as the US bolsters its Middle East presence.
