Further to my earlier post, the IDF has now confirmed in a brief post on Telegram that it has completed a “wide-scale wave of strikes” on “the heart of Tehran”, targeting what it described as regime infrastructure.
Updated
US 'committed to finishing the job' in Iran, says Rubio, adding this should take 'weeks not months'
Earlier, US secretary of state Marco Rubio told Al Jazeera the strait of Hormuz will be open “one way or the other” and said the US remains focused on its war objectives, which they aim to achieve in “weeks not months”.
That includes destroying drone capabilities, as well as Iran’s navy and air force, he said, though he added on the timeline: “I’m not going to tell you how many weeks.” ( Karoline Leavitt earlier suggested that Trump still felt the war would last for four to six weeks total, adding, “we’re on day 30, so you do the math”).
Rubio told the outlet:
We are well on our way, or ahead of schedule … Then we’ll be confronted with this issue of the strait of Hormuz, and it’ll be up to Iran to decide. If they choose to try to block the strait, then they will have to face real consequences, not just from the United States, but from regional countries and from the world.
“Now the United States is committed to finishing the job,” he went on, adding this “needed to be done now” because it could have been more dangerous in the future if Iran had built more weapons.
That was intolerable. That’s why this needed to be done.
Updated
Meanwhile, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have said that Iranian missiles are heading towards Israel and its defensive systems are working to intercept them.
Reports of fresh strikes on Iran
Iranian outlets are reporting on fresh explosions in some parts of Tehran tonight (the local time is almost 11pm). The BBC also reports that the strikes are happening, with three sources in west Tehran saying the strikes are heavy, and two other sources reporting strikes in the neighbouring city of Karaj.
Two more peacekeepers killed in Lebanon, UN says
Earlier, the United Nations announced the deaths of two more Indonesian peacekeepers in south Lebanon, where Israel says it is fighting against Hezbollah.
UN’s Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) said:
Two UNIFIL peacekeepers were tragically killed in south Lebanon today, when an explosion of unknown origin destroyed their vehicle near Bani Hayyan.
A third peacekeeper was severely injured, and a fourth was also hurt.
It follows the death of another Indonesian peacekeeper in southern Lebanon yesterday.
Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, said on Sunday that his military would expand its invasion of southern Lebanon, widening the existing so-called “buffer zone” in the country.
Karoline Leavitt is asked about Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the head of the Catholic church in the Holy Land, who was blocked from entering the Church of the Holy Sepulchre by police which stopped him from celebrating Palm Sunday Mass. All holy sites in Jerusalem’s Old City are currently closed.
She said the US “did express our concerns with Israel, with respect to these holy sites being shut down.
“We want worshippers to be able to access these holy sites. Of course, safety is a top priority, but we understand Israel is working on those security measures to reopen the sites throughout Holy Week, and that’s something that we’re appreciative of.”
Updated
Leavitt is asked about comments made by Pope Leo on Sunday who said God ignores the prayers of leaders who wage war and have “hands full of blood”, in what was seen as an apparent rebuke to the Trump administration.
She said: “Our nation was a nation founded 250 years ago almost on Judeo-Christian values, and we’ve seen presidents, we’ve seen the leaders of the Department of War, and we’ve seen our troops go to prayer during the most turbulent times in our nation’s history.
“I don’t think there’s anything wrong with our military leaders or with the president calling on the American people to pray for our service members and those who are serving our country overseas.”
Updated
Referencing a post Trump sent out on Truth Social today where he said the US would “conclude our lovely ‘stay’ in Iran’” by “completely obliterating all of their Electric Generating Plants, Oil Wells and Kharg Island”, Leavitt is asked why the president, by striking civilian infrastructure, is threatening to carry out a potential war crime under international law.
Leavitt said the statement shows that Iran’s “best move is to make a deal”.
“The United States armed forces has capabilities beyond their wildest imagination, and the president is not afraid to use them,” she said.
She added: “Of course, this administration and the United States Armed Forces will always act within the confines of the law, but with respect to achieving the full objectives of Operation Epic Fury, president Trump is going to move forward unabated, and he expects the Iranian regime to make a deal with the administration.”
Updated
Leavitt is asked whether Donald Trump would seek approval from Congress if the US went ahead with a ground war in Iran.
She said the Trump administration would “always” abide by Congress and the “rule of law”. Leavitt said: “The president has been asked about boots on the ground or alleged ground operations various times.
“He’s obviously declined to rule them out. It’s the Pentagon’s job to provide maximum optionality to the president.”
She added it “does not mean he’s made a decision, nor would he ever notify the media of such decision as not to tip off our enemy”.
On Sunday, James Lankford, a Republican senator, appearing on NBC’s Meet the Press, was asked if the president needed congressional approval to deploy US troops in Iran. Lankford demurred, saying it was “contingent” on how they are used.
Senate Republicans have previously rejected multiple war powers resolutions aimed at limiting Trump’s ability to launch further military action against Iran without congressional approval.
Updated
Trump interested in calling on Arab states to help pay for Iran war, White House says
Donald Trump would be interested in calling on Arab countries to pay for the cost of his war on Iran, Leavitt says, adding that she thinks the president would have more to say on the issue.
Asked whether Arab countries would step up to help pay for the war, Leavitt said she would not get ahead of the president but that Trump has had this idea.
I think it’s something the president would be quite interested in calling them to do. It’s an idea that I know that he has and something that I think you’ll hear more from him on.
Updated
Leavitt is asked what Trump is thinking about the current timeline of his war with Iran.
She says he has said from the start that the operation in Iran will last about four to six weeks in total.
“We’re on day 30,” she says. “So, you do the math on how much longer the Pentagon needs to fully achieve the objectives of Operation Epic Fury.”
Earlier, Donald Trump said he was in discussions with a “new and more reasonable regime” in Tehran.
Asked how confident the US is that the people they’re talking to are legitimate and actually in charge, Leavitt says that “anything they say to us privately will be tested”.
We will ensure that they are being held accountable to their word, and if they are not the president has laid out the military consequences that the Iranian regime will see.
She adds that the people they’re speaking to seem “more reasonable behind the scenes” than previous leaders.
Updated
Trump issued a 10-day pause to “postpone” planned strikes on Iran’s power plants and energy infrastructure, Leavitt says.
This remains a truly once in a generation opportunity for the regime to make a good deal with the United States.
Leavitt adds that if Iran rejects this opportunity, the US military “continues to stand by” to provide the US president with “every option available to ensure this regime continues to pay a grave price”.
Updated
White House continues to insist US and Iran are in talks
The “remaining elements” of the Iranian regime are “increasingly eager to end the destruction and come to the negotiating table, while they still can”, Leavitt claims.
She says that despite the Iranian regime’s “public posturing” and the news media’s “false reporting”, talks between the US and Iran are “continuing and going well”.
Iranian officials have repeatedly denied they are in formal talks with the US, while Donald Trump continues to claim that Washington and Tehran are having “very good and productive conversations” about ending the war.
Esmaeil Baqaei, spokesperson for the Iranian foreign ministry, reaffirmed on Monday that Iran has not had any direct negotiations with the US, and that US proposals to bring about an end to fighting are “excessive and unreasonable”.
He said:
What has been discussed are messages we received through intermediaries stating that the US wants to negotiate.
Iran has been clear about its position from the beginning, and we know very well what the framework is that we are considering. The material conveyed to us has been excessive and unreasonable requests.
Updated
Leavitt says the US military operation in Iran is “moving ahead successfully and according to plan”.
More than 11,000 enemy targets have been struck to date, she says, adding Iran’s missile and drone attacks are down by about 90% since the start of the war.
“Our military continues to obliterate Iran’s defence industrial base with nearly 70% of their missile, drone and naval production facilities and shipyards damaged or destroyed,” she says.
The US has also “decimated” the navy, destroying more than 150 vessels, including “92% of their largest vessels”, she says.
Iran’s ability to pose future threats in the region has been “significantly reduced”, she adds.
Updated
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt is due to hold a news briefing with reporters shortly, I’ll bring you all the relevant lines once that gets under way.
The commander of the foreign operations branch of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards issued a rare message on Monday hailing Iranian proxy groups for helping create a “new regional order”.
Esmail Qaani became head of the Guards’ Quds Force after the killing of Qassem Soleimani in a US strike in Iraq in 2020.
His message, just the second attributed to him since the US-Israeli war against the Islamic republic began on 28 February, was posted on X under the handle @general_Qaani, although the social media giant then rapidly suspended the account with a note that “X suspends accounts which violate the X Rules.”
The message was also widely published by Iranian news agencies and state television.
Qaani said that Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu wanted to create a “security belt across the region” but the actions of Tehran-backed militant groups including Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Houthis in Yemen had “exposed the regime’s false promises”.
“Get used to the new regional order,” he said.
Nato says it intercepted Iranian missile heading towards Turkey
Nato has now confirmed that its forces intercepted an Iranian missile heading towards Turkey, following an earlier announcement by the Turkish defence ministry.
“On Monday 30 March, Nato again successfully intercepted an Iranian ballistic missile heading to” Turkey, alliance spokeswoman Allison Hart said.
“Nato is prepared for such threats and will always do what is necessary to defend all allies,” she added.
Updated
As thousands of US soldiers and marines arrive in the Middle East, Iran is accusing Washington of privately plotting a ground assault while publicly touting ceasefire talks.
Donald Trump threatened to “obliterate’” Iran’s energy infrastructure, said his “preference would be to take the oil” in Iran and that US forces could seize the regime’s export hub on Kharg Island, while also claiming he was in talks with a new “reasonable regime”.
Yemen’s Houthi forces have also entered the conflict, bringing the threat of further damage to the global economy.
Lucy Hough speaks to the Guardian columnist and host of Politics Weekly America, Jonathan Freedland…
A Lebanese soldier was killed on Monday and five others were wounded after an Israeli attack on an army checkpoint in southern Lebanon, the Lebanese army has said.
War in the Middle East is having an uneven impact on global economies but “all roads” lead to higher prices and slower economic growth, an influential economic body has warned.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF), which advises on policy and gives financial aid to member countries, said it was stepping up support, especially to the most vulnerable economies.
The war’s impact is “both global and highly uneven”, with some countries likely to face a renewed cost-of-living squeeze, IMF economists wrote in a blog post on Monday.
Large energy importers in Asia and Europe are bearing the brunt of higher fuel prices and input costs due to the effective closure of the strait of Hormuz, which has caused shipments of oil and gas to grind to a halt.
Countries like the UK and Italy have been particularly exposed by their reliance on gas-fired power, while France and Spain were relatively protected by their greater use of nuclear and renewable energy sources, according to the IMF.
US secretary of state Marco Rubio has voiced hope for working with elements within Iran’s government, saying the United States privately had received positive messages.
Rubio said there were internal “fractures” inside the Islamic republic and that the United States hopes figures with “power to deliver” take charge.
“We are hopeful that that’s the case,” Rubio told the ABC News programme ‘Good Morning America’.
“There are clearly people there talking to us in ways that previous people in charge in Iran have not spoken to us in the past, some of the things they’re willing to do,” he said.
“These people are lunatics. They are insane. They are religious zealots who can never be allowed to possess a nuclear weapon because they have an apocalyptic vision of the future,” Rubio added.
Updated
G7 ministers pledge 'all necessary measures' to ensure stability of energy market
The Group of Seven (G7) economic powers have said they stood ready to take “all necessary measures” to safeguard energy market stability and limit broader economic spillovers from recent volatility.
After an online meeting of finance ministers and central bankers, the G7 also called in a statement on countries “to refrain from imposing unjustified export restrictions on hydrocarbons and related products”.
The statement added that G7 central banks remain strongly committed to maintaining price stability, with monetary policy staying data-dependent.
“We stand ready to take all necessary measures in close coordination with our partners, including to preserve the stability and security of the energy market,” they said in a joint statement.
“We recognise the importance of coordinated international action to mitigate spillovers and safeguard macroeconomic stability.”
Danish shipping firm Maersk announced Monday that Oman’s port of Salalah, which was hit by a drone at the weekend, would start to reopen from Tuesday.
The Oman authorities said one worker was injured and minor damage caused by the strike on the port, which is run by Maersk subsidiary APM Terminals and is one of the key shipping facilities in the Gulf state.
Maersk said the area damaged was “limited” and that the port’s management would take “necessary measures” to progressively build up to full capacity.
Some “constraints” would remain but additional safety and “preventive” measures had been taken because of the strike, it added.
A ballistic missile launched from Iran entered Turkish airspace before being shot down by Nato air and missile defences deployed in the eastern Mediterranean, Turkey’s defence ministry said.
The incident marked the fourth such incident since the start of the Iran war, following three earlier interceptions by Nato systems earlier this month that promoted Ankara to protest and warn Tehran.
The ministry said all necessary measures were being taken “decisively and without hesitation” against any threat directed at Turkey’s territory and airspace.
The internet blackout in Iran has entered its 31st day, according to internet monitoring group NetBlocks. It said in a post:
It has now been over 720 hours since Iran fell off the global internet with the digital blackout entering its 31st day.
As the shutdown continues into its second month, misinformation and propaganda increasingly fill the void both domestically and internationally.
Those without access to Starlink or alternative ways to communicate – which are often expensive – are cut off, not only from the outside world but the blackout also severely curtails Iranian’s ability to communicate with each other, making mobilisation, for example, much more difficult.
Key event
The US treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, said the global oil market is well supplied, with more boats travelling through the strait of Hormuz.
“Over time, the US is going to retake control of the straits and there will be freedom of navigation, whether it is through US escorts or a multinational escort,” Bessent told Fox News.
Iran has all but halted shipping through the strait, using the vital waterway as leverage. Its effective closure has sent oil prices rocketing to more than $100 a barrel.
Iran has said “non-hostile vessels” may transit the waterway if they coordinate with Iranian authorities. It has meant a trickle of cargo ships and tankers – most of them Iranian, but some from Thailand and China – have made it through the strait since the start of the war.
Donald Trump’s call for countries, including France and the UK, to send warships to help unblock the strait was met with a cool response earlier this month, despite governments around the world being hit by surging energy prices.
The US has eased oil sanctions on Russia and Iran in an attempt to contain soaring energy prices but there are still fears that the economic damage from the war could be so great that it could cause a global recession.
Updated
Bahrain’s defence force, meanwhile, said its air defence systems have intercepted and destroyed 398 drones and 182 missiles launched by Iran since 28 February, when US-Israeli airstrikes on Iran triggered Tehran to launch strikes across Gulf countries, which have close ties to Washington and host several American military bases.
Updated
The UAE says its air defences have intercepted 11 ballistic missiles and 27 drones launched from Iran so far today. The defence ministry said it has engaged 1,941 drones and 440 missiles since the war began. It said the Iranian attacks have killed 11 people and injured 178 others.
“The Ministry of Defence affirmed that it remains fully prepared and ready to deal with any threats and will firmly confront anything that aims to undermine the security of the country, in a manner that ensures the protection of its sovereignty, security and stability and safeguards its interests and national capabilities,” it said in a statement shared on social media.
An industrial building and a fuel tanker in Israel’s northern city of Haifa were hit by debris from an intercepted missile, Israel’s fire and rescue service said on Monday.
It was not immediately clear where the missile was fired from.
Israel renewed its bombardment of Beirut’s southern suburbs on Monday while continuing air strikes on Lebanon’s south, one of which targeted an army checkpoint and killed a soldier.
Lebanon was pulled into the Middle East conflict when Tehran-backed armed group Hezbollah fired rockets at Israel on 2 March in revenge for the killing of Iran’s supreme leader, the opening salvo in the US-Israeli war against the Islamic republic, AFP reported.
Israel has responded with large-scale air strikes across Lebanon and a ground offensive in the south. Lebanese authorities say more than 1,200 people have been killed since the hostilities broke out.
On Monday, two strikes hit Beirut’s southern suburbs, one of them targeting an apartment in a residential building, according to an AFP photographer, who said Hezbollah gunmen imposed a security cordon at the site after the attack.
A security source told AFP that three Hezbollah members were killed in the strike and three others wounded. An eyewitness who declined to be named said victims were evacuated from the site following the strike.
Israel’s military has said it had struck a university in Tehran run by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, claiming the institution was used for advanced weapons research.
“In recent days, one of the IRGC’s central military infrastructure sites was recently struck, located within the compound of Imam Hossein University – the IRGC’s primary military academic institution, which also serves as an emergency asset for the regime’s military bodies,” a military statement said.
Trump threatens to ‘obliterate’ Kharg Island and Iran’s oil wells if a deal is not reached ‘shortly’
In his latest post on Truth Social, Donald Trump claimed that the US is in “serious discussions” with a “new and more reasonable regime” to end its war on Iran, but threatened to “obliterate” Iran’s strategically crucial Kharg Island if a deal is not reached shortly.
Great progress has been made but, if for any reason a deal is not shortly reached, which it probably will be, and if the Hormuz Strait is not immediately “Open for Business,” we will conclude our lovely “stay” in Iran by blowing up and completely obliterating all of their Electric Generating Plants, Oil Wells and Kharg Island (and possibly all desalinization plants!), which we have purposefully not yet “touched.”
This will be in retribution for our many soldiers, and others, that Iran has butchered and killed over the old Regime’s 47 year “Reign of Terror.”
As my colleague Lorenzo Tondo notes in this story, last week the US, via Pakistan, which is acting as a mediator, presented Iran with a 15-point ceasefire proposal, including reopening the strait of Hormuz and curbs on Iran’s nuclear programme, but Tehran has rejected the proposals and offered alternatives.
Crucially, Iran wants Israel to stop attacking Iranian allies in the region, something Israel is unlikely to agree to. Tehran also reportedly wants reparations for war damage and the removal of American bases from the Middle East.
Last week after Trump said the US and Iran had held “very good and productive conversations” about ending the war, Iranian officials quickly denied any such talks had occurred. Iran has said the US is secretly plotting a ground attack while displaying a message of diplomacy. The US is reportedly considering plans to occupy or blockade Kharg Island to pressure Tehran to reopen the strait of Hormuz.
Updated
Egyptian president Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has said his US counterpart, Donald Trump, is the only person who can stop the war.
“I tell President Trump: Nobody can stop the war in our region in the Gulf but you,” Sisi said at the opening ceremony of Egypt’s Energy show Egypes.
“Please, Mr. President, please. Please help us stop the war. You are capable of doing so,” he added.
Though Egypt is not involved directly in the US-Israeli war on Iran, it is among the most impacted by the conflict’s far-reaching repercussions, including higher oil prices and disrupted shipping routes.
The government imposed new nationwide closing times on Saturday for stores, restaurants and cafes, ordering them to shut early as part of measures to conserve energy.
Updated
Spain closes airspace to US planes involved in Iran war, defence minister says
Spain, a Nato member, has closed its airspace to US planes involved in attacks on Iran, the country’s defence minister, Margarita Robles, told reporters in Madrid this morning.
“We don’t authorise either the use of military bases or the use of airspace for actions related to the war in Iran,” she said.
Spanish newspaper El Pais, which first reported the news on Monday, said the closure of the airspace forces military planes to bypass Spain en route to their targets in the Middle East, but it does not include emergency situations, in which case the aircraft will be permitted to transit or land.
“We have denied the United States the use of the Rota and Morón bases for this illegal war. All flight plans involving operations in Iran have been rejected. All of them, including those for refuelling aircraft,” Spanish prime minister Pedro Sánchez, a vocal critic of the US-Israeli war on Iran, was quoted as having said last Wednesday in Congress.
Military sources told El Pais that Spain is also denying airspace access to US aircraft stationed in third countries, including France and the UK.
The US president, Donald Trump, has threatened to cut trade with Madrid for denying the American use of Spain’s bases in the war, which many legal experts agree was launched by the US and Israel in violation of international law.
Updated
Fire erupts at Israeli oil refinery after reported missile attack
An industrial building and a a fuel tanker at the Bazan oil refinery in Israel’s northern city of Haifa were struck by debris from an intercepted missile, the Times of Israel has cited the country’s fire and rescue service as having said.
There were no immediate reports of any casualties or damage to production facilities.
The Wall Street journal is among those reporting that the oil refinery was hit in by an Iranian missile, though this has not been something we have been able to independently verify.
The Reuters news agency has some comments from Esmaeil Baqaei, who has been speaking to journalists.
He said Iran received messages via intermediaries indicating the US’s willingness to negotiate, but deemed American proposals to be “unrealistic, illogical and excessive”.
“Our position is clear. We are under military aggression. Therefore, all our efforts and strength are focused on defending ourselves,” he added.
No direct US-Iran negotiations have taken place - Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson
Esmaeil Baqaei, spokesperson for the Iranian foreign ministry, has reaffirmed that Iran has not had any direct negotiations with the US, in comments carried by the Tasnim news agency.
“What has been discussed are messages we received through intermediaries stating that the US wants to negotiate,” he was quoted as having said.
“Iran has been clear about its position from the beginning, and we know very well what the framework is that we are considering. The material conveyed to us has been excessive and unreasonable requests.”
Pakistan, seen as a potential mediator between Washington and Tehran, hosted a four-way meeting with Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Egypt on Sunday, but nothing significant appeared to emerge from the talks and the war is showing no signs of de-escalation.
As my colleague Lorenzo Tondo notes in this story, last week the US presented Iran with a 15-point ceasefire proposal, including reopening the strait of Hormuz and curbs on Iran’s nuclear programme, but Tehran has rejected the plan and offered alternatives. Crucially, Iran wants Israel to stop attacking Iranian allies in the region, something Israel is unlikely to agree to.
Last week after Donald Trump said the US and Iran had held “very good and productive conversations” about ending the war, Iranian officials quickly denied any such talks had occurred.
Updated
Bahrain’s interior ministry said earlier today that a fire that had broken out in a commercial building in Al Dair, a coastal village near Bahrain International Airport, had been extinguished.
“No injuries were reported. Investigations are underway to determine the cause of the fire,” it said in a social media post.
Updated
Here are some of the latest images being sent to us over the newswires from the Lebanese capital of Beirut following Israeli airstrikes.
The Israeli military said in a post on X about an hour ago that it was striking Hezbollah’s “infrastructure” in Beirut.
But the IDF’s attacks regularly damage civilian property and hit residential areas, killing many civilians with nothing to do with Hezbollah, an Iranian-backed Lebanese militant group and political party.
Updated
In its latest update, Israel’s health ministry said that 6,008 injured people have been evacuated to hospitals since the beginning of the war, of whom 121 are currently hospitalised – including one in critical condition, and 16 in serious condition.
The Iranian government has “repeatedly” used cluster munitions delivered by ballistic missiles in attacks on Israel since the US-Israeli war on Iran started on 28 February, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in a report.
HRW said at least four civilians have been killed in the airstrikes, which may amount to war crimes.
“Iran’s use of cluster munitions in populated areas in Israel pose a foreseeable and long-lasting danger to civilians,” Patrick Thompson, a researcher in the crisis, conflict and arms division at HRW said.
“Cluster munition bomblets are dispersed over a wide area, making them unlawfully indiscriminate in violation of the laws of war.”
As my colleague Lorenzo Tondo notes in this story, since the start of the war, Iran’s cluster munitions – which disperse dozens of bomblets mid-air – have tested Israel’s highly advanced, multi-tier missile defence network, including Iron Dome, which is designed to counter threats across ranges, altitudes and speeds, exposing gaps that interception alone has struggled to close.
As well as its war with the US on Iran and its expanding assault on Lebanon, Israel is continuing its attacks on Gaza, where airstrikes are still killing civilians and the humanitarian situation remains dire despite a ceasefire.
At least three Palestinian people were killed this morning in an Israeli airstrike that targeted a group of civilians near a mosque in the Zeitoun neighbourhood south of Gaza City, according to Palestinian news agency Wafa, which cited medical sources in its report.
In its latest update, Gaza’s health ministry said at least 72,278 Palestinian people have been killed and 172,013 others injured in Israeli attacks on Gaza since 7 October 2023.
At least 702 Palestinian people have been killed in Israeli attacks since a ceasefire came into effect in October 2025, according to the ministry, whose figures the UN generally find reliable. Most of the people killed have been civilians and the true death toll is likely much higher given the number of people still buried under rubble across the Gaza Strip.
Many legal scholars and organisations such as Amnesty International have said Israel has been committing genocide in Gaza. The 1948 UN genocide convention defines it as any of five “acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group”. Israel is fighting allegations at the world’s top court, the international court of justice, of committing genocide in Gaza.
Updated
Iran confirms death of IRGC naval commander
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) have confirmed the death of Alireza Tangsiri, the IRGC naval commander who was killed in an Israeli airstrike last Thursday, according to a statement by the guards being carried in Iranian media.
According to the US Treasury, which sanctioned him in 2019 and in 2023, Tangsiri oversaw the IRGC Navy’s testing of cruise missiles and sat on the board of a company that developed armed drones.
Tangsiri had reportedly been leading Iran’s successful effort to effectively close the strait of Hormuz – through which around 20% of the world’s oil supply normally passes – to almost all shipping traffic.
Updated
Israel’s defence ministry said it signed a $48m (£36.2m; 150m shekels) deal with Elbit Systems for “tens of thousands” of 155mm artillery shells.
The ministry said in a LinkedIn post that the deal will help “reduce reliance on external munitions sources and grow Israel’s domestic defence production base”. The US is overwhelmingly the biggest supplier of arms to Israel.
Donald Trump’s latest comments that he wants to “take the oil” have failed to calm the markets with the price of Brent crude rising again. You can follow all the developments on our business blog with my colleague Julia Kollewe.
A strike hit Beirut’s southern suburbs on Monday, after Israel issued a warning for people in the Hezbollah stronghold to leave.
The strike is the first since Friday in the area, which is now largely deserted since Israel began frequent attacks against Hezbollah in early March.
Pictures from AFP showed plumes of smoke rising from the southern suburbs.
Trump claims Iranians to let 20 oil tankers through strait of Hormuz
Donald Trump has also claimed that Iran had agreed to allow 20 ships carrying oil through the Strait of Hormuz starting Monday morning and continuing over the next few days as a “present”.
“They gave us 10 [ships through the strait],” he said. “Now they’re giving 20…”
Trump added that Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, Iran’s parliamentary speaker, had authorised the additional tankers.
“He’s the one who authorised the ships to me,” Trump told the Financial Times. “Remember I said they’re giving me a present? And everyone said: ‘What’s the present? Bullshit.’ When they heard about that they kept their mouth shut and the negotiations are going very well.”
Yesterday Ghalibaf said that Iranian forces were “waiting for the arrival of American troops on the ground to set them on fire and punish their regional partners for ever”.
He also accused the US of secretly preparing a ground assault while publicly seeking talks.
Updated
Interim summary
In case you’re just tuning in to today’s live coverage of the US-Israel war on Iran, here’s a recap of the latest developments. It’s 9.30am in Tehran, 9am in Tel Aviv and Beirut and 2am in Washington DC.
Donald Trump has said his “preference would be to take the oil” in Iran and that US forces could seize the regime’s export hub on Kharg Island, the Financial Times is reporting. But as about 2,500 US Marines reportedly arrived in the Middle East, Trump also told the paper that “my favourite thing is to take the oil in Iran, but some stupid people back in the US say: ‘why are you doing that?’” He also said: “Maybe we take Kharg Island, maybe we don’t. We have a lot of options.”
Trump said separately that the US and Iran had been meeting “directly and indirectly” and that Iran’s new leaders had been “very reasonable”. His remarks came after Pakistan – which is acting as an intermediary between Tehran and Washington – said it was preparing to host “meaningful talks” in the coming days aimed at ending the month-long war.
Oil prices rallied and stocks tumbled again on Monday as the Middle East crisis escalated with the entry of Yemen’s Houthis into the war and concerns the US will send in ground troops. The price of brent crude had now gone over $116 a barrel, while stock markets slumped in Asia as investors dig in for a protracted conflict.
Indonesia condemned the death of an Indonesian peacekeeper with the UN mission in Lebanon (Unifil) on Monday, after a projectile exploded at one of its positions near a southern Lebanese village on Sunday. Unifil said earlier that another peacekeeper was critically injured.
The Israeli air force intercepted two drones launched from Yemen, the IDF posted online.
The Israeli military said early on Monday it was attacking the Iranian regime’s infrastructure “throughout Tehran”. It said later it was responding to missiles fired from Iran.
Benjamin Netanyahu earlier announced an expansion of Israel’s invasion of southern Lebanon as his forces target Hezbollah and expand the “existing security buffer zone”. “We are determined to fundamentally change the situation in the north,” the Israeli PM said.
Iranian parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said Iranian forces were “waiting” for US ground troops to arrive so they could “rain fire upon them”. It came after reports that the Pentagon was preparing for weeks of possible “ground operations” in Iran.
Trump is weighing a military operation to extract nearly 1,000 pounds (454kg) of uranium from Iran, the Wall Street Journal is reporting, citing unnamed US officials.
Power has reportedly been restored across parts of Iran after Israeli strikes hit “electricity infrastructure”, Iran’s energy minister said.
The International Atomic Energy Agency confirmed that Iran’s heavy-water production plant at Khondab – which Israel attacked on 27 March – had “sustained severe damage and is no longer operational”. It added that the Khondab heavy water research reactor “contains no declared nuclear material”.
A fire at an industrial site in southern Israel was brought under control, hours after being declared a “hazardous materials incident” in the area.
Iranian supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei thanked the Iraqi people and religious leadership for their support of Iran “in the face of aggression”, Iranian state media reported.
On Palm Sunday, the Pope said God rejected the prayers of leaders who started wars and had “hands full of blood”, in an apparent rebuke to Trump’s administration.
Updated
The entry of Yemen’s Houthi forces into the US-Israel war on Iran represents a dangerous spread of the conflict and brings the threat of more damage to the global economy.
But who exactly are the militant group that have previously caused huge disruption to global trade through attacks on Red Sea shipping?
My colleague Jonathan Yerushalmy explains that they emerged from a years-long civil war in Yemen as the country’s most powerful political force and are part of Iran’s “axis of resistance” in the region.
See more in this quick rundown:
Trump says Iran's new leaders 'very reasonable'
Donald Trump has said the US and Iran have been meeting “directly and indirectly” and that Iran’s new leaders have been “very reasonable”.
More US troops have arrived in the Middle East, meanwhile, and Tehran warned it would not accept humiliation.
Trump’s remarks on Sunday came after Pakistan – which is acting as an intermediary between Tehran and Washington – said it was preparing to host “meaningful talks” in the coming days aimed at ending the month-long Iran war.
Reuters reports the US president as telling reporters aboard Air Force One on Sunday:
I think we’ll make a deal with them, I’m pretty sure, but it’s possible we won’t.
Trump said he thought the US had already accomplished regime change in Iran after strikes killed the country’s supreme leader and other top officials, but said twice that their replacements seemed “reasonable”.
An initial Israeli strike on 28 February killed Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was replaced by his son Mojtaba.
Pakistani foreign minister Ishaq Dar said talks between regional foreign ministers on Sunday covered ways to bring an early end to the war, and potential US-Iran talks in Islamabad.
It was not clear whether the US and Iran had agreed to attend.
Islamabad is attempting high-wire diplomacy between US and Iran – but Israel could spoil any chance of success, writes Saeed Shah in Islamabad. His analysis is here:
Updated
The Egyptian government is seeking ways to conserve oil-powered electricity during the US-Israel war with Iran, enacting at least one policy that threatens Cairo’s identity as a city that never sleeps.
The government imposed new nationwide closing times at the weekend for stores, restaurants and cafes, ordering them to shut early and interfering with their ability to operate during critical hours.
The decision is one of a series of measures the government has taken in recent weeks to mitigate the fallout of the energy crisis, which has shaken the Middle East and the global economy.
Egypt is not a party to the widening conflict but the country is one of the most impacted by the war’s far-reaching repercussions, including higher oil prices and disrupted shipping routes.
The early closures will have dire repercussions on hundreds of thousands of small businesses found on almost every street, alley and lane across the country. Some of them – including many eateries, juice shops and cafes – usually operate nonstop.
Trump considering mission to extract uranium from Iran – report
Donald Trump is weighing a military operation to extract nearly 1,000 pounds (454kg) of uranium from Iran, the Wall Street Journal is reporting, citing unnamed US officials.
The mission would likely put American forces inside the country for days or longer, the report says.
It quotes the officials as saying the US president hadn’t made a decision on whether to go ahead, and that he was considering the danger to US troops.
But the president remains generally open to the idea, according to the officials, because it could help accomplish his central goal of preventing Iran from ever making a nuclear weapon.
The report could not be independently verified.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said any Pentagon preparations “does not mean the president has made a decision”, the WSJ report said. The Pentagon did not comment and a spokesperson for US Central Command declined to comment.
Trump told reporters on Sunday night that Iran must do what the US demands or “they’re not going to have a country”, the report said. Referring to Iran’s uranium, he said: “They’re going to give us the nuclear dust.”
Updated
What is the real significance of Yemen’s Houthis making their long-awaited entry into the Iran war?
As Patrick Wintour explains, it depends on whether the Tehran-backed proxy group is intending to send a few missiles and drones from a distance towards Israel or will instead capitalise on its proximity to the narrow Bab al-Mandab strait to effectively close off the Red Sea to shipping, just as Iran has in effect shut the strait of Hormuz.
The Guardian’s diplomatic editor continues:
The combined effect of both waterways being shut to commercial traffic from countries that neither the Iranians nor Houthis favour would be devastating.
Napoleon Bonaparte’s remark that “the policy of a state lies in its geography” has never seemed more apt.
See the full analysis here:
Oil prices surge and stocks sink again as war widens
Oil prices rallied and stocks tumbled again on Monday as the Middle East crisis escalated with the entry of Yemen’s Houthis into the war and concerns the US will send in ground troops.
The surge in oil prices and the prospect of an extended conflict put more pressure on equities amid fears about a surge in inflation that could hit the world economy.
Tokyo sank more than 4% and Seoul more than 3%, while Hong Kong, Shanghai, Sydney, Singapore, Wellington, Taipei, Jakarta and Manila were also sharply down, reports Agence France-Presse.
The losses followed a bad day on Wall Street, where all three main indexes tumbled after the US and Israel struck Iranian nuclear sites.
“The market is now reacting to higher crude pricing and towards the fallout in the economic consequences,” wrote Pepperstone’s Chris Weston.
Updated
The Israeli military is reportedly saying it is responding to missiles fired from Iran.
Updated
Qatar says there has been a garage fire in an industrial area and that civil defence has it has brought it under control.
No injuries were reported, the interior ministry said on X on Monday, without giving more details.
On Sunday Qatar and Bahrain said they had intercepted missiles and drones fired towards them.
Israel attacks regime sites across Tehran
The Israeli military has just said it is currently attacking the Iranian regime’s infrastructure “throughout Tehran”.
The brief post on X gave no further details.
Updated
Jakarta condemns death of Indonesian peacekeeper in Lebanon
Indonesia denounced the death of an Indonesian peacekeeper with the UN mission in Lebanon (Unifil) on Monday, after a projectile exploded at one of its positions near the southern Lebanese village of Adchit al-Qusayr on Sunday.
Indonesia’s foreign ministry said harm towards UN peacekeepers was unacceptable, and reiterated its condemnation of Israeli attacks in southern Lebanon, calling on all parties to respect Lebanon’s sovereignty.
Updated
South Korean airlines have asked their government to help redirect jet fuel exports to the domestic market, threatening half of Australia’s imports of the critical fuel after Chinese authorities earlier this month flagged export restrictions.
Amid deepening concerns across Asia about the impact of the escalating Middle East conflict, an official at South Korea’s transport ministry told the Guardian that “some domestic carriers” had asked authorities to redirect export-bound jet fuel back to the local market due to supply concerns.
Any move to restrict exports would hit import-dependent countries particularly hard. For instance, Australia sources roughly a quarter of its refined fuel imports from South Korea, including 18% of our total jet fuel imports.
China, which supplies a third of Australia’s jet fuel, has according to reports already moved to restrict fuel exports, although Chris Bowen, Australia’s energy minister, late last week said Chinese jet fuel supplies were assured until late April or early May.
The price of brent crude had now gone over $116 a barrel, while stock markets have slumped in Asia as investors dig in for a protracted Gulf conflict that could bring a spike in inflation and the risk of recession to much of the globe.
Brent crude was just over $70 a barrel when the war started last month and prices have risen by more than 50% since.
Iran’s de facto closure of the vital strait of Hormuz has sent prices for oil, gas, fertiliser, plastic and aluminium surging, along with fuel for planes and shipping.
Much of Asia is highly dependent on energy from the Middle East, making the region particularly vulnerable in the ongoing crisis.
Japan’s Nikkei shed another 4.7% early on Monday, bringing losses for March to almost 14%. South Korea’s market fell 4.2%.
Updated
Welcome summary
Hello and welcome to our continuing live coverage of the Iran war and its impact on the region, the world and the global economy.
Donald Trump has said his “preference would be to take the oil” in Iran and that US forces could seize the regime’s export hub on Kharg Island, the Financial Times is reporting, as the US sends thousands of troops to the Middle East.
The US president compares the potential move to Venezuela, where the US intends to control the oil industry “indefinitely” following its ousting of president Nicolás Maduro in January.
Trump said in the interview with the FT on Sunday:
To be honest with you, my favourite thing is to take the oil in Iran, but some stupid people back in the US say: ‘why are you doing that?’ But they’re stupid people.”
Such a move would involve seizing Kharg Island, through which most of Iran’s oil is exported, the FT report continues. But an assault on the export hub would be risky, raising the chances of more US casualties and extending the cost and duration of the war.
“Maybe we take Kharg Island, maybe we don’t. We have a lot of options,” Trump said.
The newspaper also quoted Trump as stressing that, despite his threats to seize Iranian oil production, indirect US-Iran talks via Pakistani “emissaries” were progressing well.
Here are more key developments:
The UN peacekeeping mission in Lebanon said a peacekeeper was killed when a projectile exploded at one of its positions near the southern Lebanese village of Adchit al-Qusayr on Sunday. Another peacekeeper was critically injured, it said early on Monday.
The Israeli air force intercepted two unmanned aerial vehicles launched from Yemen, the IDF has posted online.
Benjamin Netanyahu announced an expansion of Israel’s invasion of southern Lebanon as his forces target Hezbollah. “I have just instructed to further expand the existing security buffer zone. We are determined to fundamentally change the situation in the north,” the Israeli PM said in a video statement from the northern command. Israeli forces are currently occupying the area south of the Litani River, and its destruction of key bridges connecting to the rest of Lebanon and forced displacement of residents have stoked fears of a protracted occupation.
Pakistan will soon host talks between the US and Iran, its foreign minister said, as top diplomats from Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Egypt met in Islamabad to discuss ways to de-escalate the war. Neither Washington nor Tehran have yet commented.
Earlier, Iranian parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said Iranian forces were “waiting” for US ground troops to arrive so they could “rain fire upon them”. It came after reports that the Pentagon is preparing for weeks of possible “ground operations” in Iran, and as thousands of US soldiers and marines arrive in the region.
Power has reportedly been restored across parts of Iran after Israeli strikes hit “electricity infrastructure”, Iran’s energy minister said.
The International Atomic Energy Agency confirmed that Iran’s heavy-water production plant at Khondab – which Israel attacked on 27 March – had “sustained severe damage and is no longer operational”. In a post on X, the agency added that the Khondab heavy water research reactor “contains no declared nuclear material”. The Israeli military had described the site as a “key plutonium production site for nuclear weapons” when it bombed the facility on Friday.
A fire at an industrial site in southern Israel has been been brought under control, hours after being declared a “hazardous materials incident” in the area. The IDF said the fire at the Neot Hovav industrial complex may have been caused by “a weapon fragment or interceptor fragment”.
Iranian supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei thanked the Iraqi people and religious leadership for their support of Iran “in the face of aggression”, Iranian state media reported, without saying how this message was conveyed. More than three weeks on from his appointment as supreme leader, Khamenei has still not been seen or heard from in public since he was injured in the US-Israeli airstrike that killed his father, the late ayatollah Ali Khamenei, his wife and son on the first day of the war.
On Palm Sunday, the Pope said God rejected the prayers of leaders who started wars and had “hands full of blood”, in an apparent rebuke to Trump’s administration.
Updated
