Trump warns of military consequences 'at a level never seen before' if Iran mines Strait of Hormuz

European Central Bank chief Christine Lagarde said on Tuesday that "everything necessary" will be done to keep inflation in check during the Middle East war that has already pushed up oil prices.

"We will do everything necessary to keep inflation under control and ensure that the French and the Europeans do not experience inflation increases like those we saw in 2022 and 2023" partly caused by Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Lagarde told the France 2 and France Inter broadcasters.

She said the situation now was "very different" to the last inflation crisis.

The draft resolution condemns Iran’s attacks on Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Jordan and calls for an immediate end to all strikes and threats against neighbouring states, including through proxies.

A vote has been scheduled for Wednesday afternoon, three diplomats said, speaking on condition of anonymity ahead of an official announcement.

The draft, sponsored by Gulf Cooperation Council members, would be the first Security Council resolution considered since Israel and the United States launched airstrikes on Iran and Tehran responded with attacks against Israel and across the region.

The Iranian ambassador to the United Nations accused the Security Council on Tuesday of ignoring what he called a "war crime" after Iran said Israel killed four of its diplomats in a weekend strike on a Beirut hotel.

"The Council is turning a blind eye to this grave violation despite its primary responsibility under the UN Charter to maintain international peace and security," Amir Saeid Iravani told reporters in New York.

“If they were ready for a diplomatic solution, it is achievable,” Johann Wadephul said during a visit to Jerusalem.

“But for now, this is what we hear from Tehran, they are not ready for a diplomatic solution. And as long as this is not the case, we still have to wait.”

Wadephul met with his Israeli counterpart, Gideon Sa’ar.

It is the first visit by a European official to Israel since the beginning of the war with Iran on 28 February.

Iran is not seeking a ceasefire in the war against the United States and Israel, the powerful Iranian parliament speaker said on Tuesday, adding that the "aggressor" should be punished.

"Certainly we aren't seeking a ceasefire," Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, a former top commander in Iran's Revolutionary Guards and key figure after the killing of former supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, wrote in an English-language post on X.

"We believe the aggressor must be punished and taught a lesson that will deter them from attacking Iran again," he added.

Air defence systems have been activated in Doha on Tuesday night, Euronews journalists based in the Qatari capital say.

The Qatari Defence Ministry says it intercepted the attack but gave no further details.

Earlier in the day, Qatar said it had intercepted five Iranian ballistic missiles launched, with no casualties or damage reported.

The Pentagon says about 140 US service members have been wounded in the war with Iran.

“The vast majority of these injuries have been minor and 108 service members have already returned to duty,” Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said in an emailed statement.

Eight are currently “severely injured,” Parnell added.

These numbers are the first insight into the broader toll of injuries sustained by US troops after a barrage of retaliatory rocket and drone strikes from Iran that also killed seven soldiers in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia.

Explosions were heard on Tuesday night in Bahrain's capital Manama, two journalists reported, as Iran continued its retaliatory strikes across the Gulf.

Bahrain has been targeted by waves of Iranian drones and missiles, which have so far killed two people in the country, according to authorities.

Iran's Revolutionary Guards said on Tuesday that no US Navy vessel has "dared" approach the Strait of Hormuz, after a senior official in Washington said a warship had escorted a tanker through the strategic waterway.

"None of the US warships have dared to approach even the Sea of Oman, the Persian Gulf or the Strait of Hormuz during the war," Guards spokesman Ali Mohammad Naini said, calling the claim a "pure falsehood."

US Energy Secretary Chris Wright had initially said the navy had escorted an oil tanker through the strait, but the post was deleted minutes after it was published.

Russian President Vladimir Putin noted the need for a political settlement to the war during his phone call on Tuesday with his Iranian counterpart Masoud Pezeshkian.

Putin also reaffirmed his “principled position in favour of a quick de-escalation of the conflict,” the Kremlin said in a readout, adding that Pezeshkian thanked Putin for Russia’s support, including humanitarian assistance.

The two men last spoke by phone on Friday and their second official call of the war comes a day after the Russian leader discussed the conflict with Trump.

Humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher will brief the UN Security Council at an emergency meeting Wednesday morning, spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said on Tuesday.

France called for the meeting with support from the council’s other European members: the United Kingdom, Denmark, Greece and Latvia.

Paris expressed deep concern about escalating violence in Lebanon, where Israel has resumed deadly airstrikes and condemned Hezbollah’s attacks on Israel since 1 March.

France’s Foreign Ministry urged Hezbollah “to end its operations and hand over its weapons” and Israel “to refrain from any land-based or long-term interventions in Lebanon.”

A post by US Energy Secretary Chris Wright saying that the US Navy had escorted an oil tanker through the Strait of Hormuz was deleted on Tuesday, minutes after his account had posted it.

Markets have been roiled by the US-Israel war on Iran and oil dropped sharply after Wright's initial announcement. It pared back some of those losses after the post was deleted.

A global mediating force over the last years, Qatar issued a full-frontal warning to Iran as well as the US and Israel on Tuesday that since 2023 it has constantly warned the world about the “catastrophic results we are seeing across the region” and the ensuing global repercussions of the Iran war escalation underway.

Aadel Haleem and Peter Barabas have this report from Doha.

Qatar warns the world Iran war could yield ‘catastrophic results’

“This is the biggest I told you so in the history of I told you sos in the world,” Qatari Foreign Ministry spokesman Dr Majed Al-Ansari told the media in a str…

Toronto Police Deputy Chief Frank Barredo said two individuals emerged from a white Honda CRV SUV at around 4:30 am local time and fired multiple shots at the US consulate building before fleeing. Nobody was injured.

Royal Canadian Mounted Police Chief Superintendent Chris Leather called it a national security incident and said the American and Israeli consulates as well as embassies in Ottawa will see more security.

Police said it’s too early to determine a motive but Ontario Premier Doug Ford hinted at a possible link to the war in Iran.

“This is just me speaking. I believe that there are sleeper cells all over the world as we know. They are in the US, they are in Canada here. We have to weed these people out and hold them accountable,” Ford said.

Toronto has a large Iranian community and there have been demonstrations outside the US consulate both in support of and in protest against the war.

IEA chief Fatih Birol convened the agency’s 30 member states for talks on Tuesday to assess security of oil supplies and "inform a subsequent decision on whether to make emergency stocks of IEA countries available" now that the situation in the Middle East “is creating significant and growing risks” for the oil market.

IEA member countries, including the US, currently hold over 1.2 billion barrels of public emergency oil stocks.

The IEA hosted a meeting at its Paris headquarters earlier in the day with G7 energy ministers.

Journalists with the AFP news agency say they heard three explosions in Tehran on Tuesday evening, more than a week into the Middle East war that began with US-Israeli strikes on the Islamic republic.

The blasts shook the windows of one of the apartment in northern Tehran one of the journalists lives in. There was no immediate information as to the intended targets.

The British government said in Tuesday that the number of commercial flights from the United Arab Emirates to the UK is returning to normal levels.

The Foreign Office says 32 flights operated from Dubai to Britain on Monday and another 36 are scheduled for Tuesday.

The British government has also operated a handful of chartered flights from Oman and Dubai. More than 45,000 UK citizens have returned from the Gulf since the conflict began.

However, British Airways said it has suspended flights to and from Jordan, Bahrain, Qatar, Dubai and Tel Aviv until later this month.

Bahrain’s defence ministry said on Tuesday it continues to deal with Iran’s “heinous terrorist attacks,” that it says targeted civilian infrastructure and private property.

The tiny Gulf island nation, home to the US Navy’s 5th Fleet headquarters, said it has intercepted 105 ballistic missiles and 176 drones since the war began.

Meanwhile, Qatar said it intercepted five Iranian ballistic missiles launched on Tuesday afternoon, with no casualties or damage reported.

Iran accused Israel on Tuesday of killing four of its diplomats in a weekend strike on a seafront hotel in Beirut, according to a letter addressed to the United Nations chief.

"In the early hours of Sunday, 8 March 2026, the Israeli regime carried out a deliberate terrorist attack against the Ramada Hotel in Beirut, which resulted in the assassination and martyrdom of four diplomats of the Islamic Republic of Iran," Tehran's permanent mission to the UN said.

US Energy Secretary Chris Wright said on Tuesday the US Navy escorted an oil tanker through the Strait of Hormuz, in what was understood to be the first such operation since the launch of the US-Israel war on Iran.

"The US Navy successfully escorted an oil tanker through the Strait of Hormuz to ensure oil remains flowing to global markets," Wright posted on social media, as fighting raged in a war that has roiled oil markets and brought many shipments of the commodity to a standstill.

For days, Iran has effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz to oil and gas exports with a mixture of drone strikes and fear that has prompted major companies like Maersk and Hapag-Llloyd to suspend operations in the Middle East.

A fifth of the world’s crude oil and LNG supplies passes through the waterway. Kpler said on 4 March that traffic through the strait was down 90%.

US House Speaker Mike Johnson said the military operation in Iran is “by design limited in scope and mission.”

He also told reporters in Florida on Tuesday that he thinks the mission “is being achieved.”

“It’s nearly completed,” the Republican said.

He characterised rising US fuel prices as a “temporary blip” that would come down in “a couple of weeks."

The Syrian military said on Tuesday that the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah had launched shells towards Syrian army positions near the border town of Serghaya, state-run news agency SANA reported.

The Syrian military said in a statement that “appropriate options are being studied to do what is necessary” and the army “will not tolerate any aggression targeting Syria.”

Hezbollah said Israeli helicopters landed an infantry force in Serghaya as part of an attempted incursion into eastern Lebanon and that it clashed with them.

In a statement on Tuesday, it denied firing on Syrian troops and said “we have no intent of opening a (second) front while we are engaged with the Israelis.”

Many Americans worry Trump’s recent military decisions have made the US less safe, according to new polling.

About half of voters in Quinnipiac and Fox News polls said the US military operations in Iran makes the US “less safe,” while only about three in 10 in each poll said it made the country safer.

A CNN poll found about half of US adults thought the military action would make Iran “more of a threat” to the US, while only about three in 10 thought it would lessen the danger.

In the same CNN poll, about six in 10 American adults said they trusted Trump “not much” or “not at all” to make the right decisions about the use of force in Iran.

Iran launched a new salvo of missiles on Tuesday at Israeli cities including Tel Aviv and US targets in the region, the Revolutionary Guards said, as fighting between the sides showed no signs of letting up.

The latest salvo utilised "strategic" missiles, including some of the most powerful in Iran's arsenal, such as the Fattah, Emad and Khaibar missiles, the Guards said in their statement.

Ukrainian military experts are due this week in Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told journalists on Tuesday, where they will share expertise on downing Iranian drones.

"The first three countries to which we sent them, according to our agreements, are Qatar, the Emirates, and Saudi Arabia," Zelensky said in an audio message sent to reporters.

For more on what the Ukrainian teams are likely to share with their allies in the Gulf, you can read Sasha Vakulina’s full report below.

Eleven countries ask Ukraine for help with Iran’s drone warfare

Kyiv is reviewing official requests from countries neighbouring Iran, as well as from the US and European countries, which are now asking Ukraine for help with…

Iran's parliamentary speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf warned on Tuesday that any attack on the Islamic republic's infrastructure would result in a tit-for-tat response.

"The enemy should know that whatever they do, undoubtedly it will have a proportionate and immediate response," Ghalibaf wrote on X, more than a week into the Middle East war that began with US-Israeli strikes on Iran.

"We today go with the rule of 'an eye for an eye' without compromise, without exception," he said. "If they start a war on infrastructure, we will undoubtedly target infrastructure."

Iran's intelligence ministry announced on Tuesday the arrests of 30 people accused of spying, including one foreigner, on the 11th day of the Middle East war.

The foreigner, whose nationality was not revealed, "was spying on behalf of two Persian Gulf countries” and was arrested in northeastern Iran, the ministry said in a statement published by the judiciary's Mizan Online news portal.

The individual is accused of "transmitting to the enemy information about the location and movements of police and army forces" and military installations, the ministry said, without revealing when the person was arrested.

Ministers from the Group of Seven industrialised nations have met twice in two days to prepare for a potential use of their strategic oil reserves to bring down prices inflamed by the Iran war.

A first meeting of G7 finance ministers on Monday “decided in principle to use all available tools in order to stabilise markets, including the potential release of stockpiling,” said French Finance Minister Roland Lescure. France currently holds the G7’s rotating presidency.

Lescure was speaking after a follow-up meeting of G7 energy ministers on Tuesday who “decided to go further down the route of working to get ready (for) any opportunity,” he said.

The ministers asked the Paris-based International Energy Agency for updated data on oil stocks and “details that we could have at hand were we to decide to use the stocks,” he said.

“We want to be ready to react at any moment.”

The Spanish government announced on Tuesday that it will provide €9 million in humanitarian aid to Lebanon, including an initial emergency humanitarian aid package of €2.4 million, which will include food and water, sanitation and basic healthcare.

Medicines, shelter materials and food will be sent later, depending on specific needs.

Some of the aid will be channelled through Spanish organisations on the ground, Foreign Minister José Manuel Alabares said at a press conference.

Israelis have set up a makeshift memorial in Tel Aviv for the six US service personnel killed in Kuwait during the ongoing war in the Middle East.

Some people walking by the memorial in Dizengoff Square paused in silence and some brought flowers to lay in front of photos of the six soldiers.

A sign said “For the American heroes, your courage and dedication will not be forgotten.”

“Both of the countries are fighting together against a common enemy and I think it’s really beautiful to see the solidarity between the people,” said Tel Aviv resident Gili Klein, whose boyfriend and several friends are currently serving in the Israeli military.

The Army Reserve soldiers were working in logistics when a drone hit their command centre in Port Shuaiba, Kuwait, a day after the US and Israel launched their military campaign against Iran.

Fatih Birol, the executive director of the International Energy Agency, said IEA member government representatives would meet on Tuesday to assess "the current security of supply and market conditions" amid the US-Israel war on Iran.

"I have convened an extraordinary meeting of IEA member governments, which will take place later today to assess the current security of supply and market conditions to inform a subsequent decision on whether to make emergency stocks of IEA countries available to the market," Birol said following a meeting of G7 energy ministers.

American firm Planet Labs PBC said on Tuesday it had further delayed access to its satellite imagery of the Middle East to 14 days to protect US-allied countries there.

The California-based Planet had already imposed a 96-hour delay last week for access to its high-resolution satellite images, which are usually available a few hours after they are taken.

"After consulting with experts inside and outside of government...Planet has decided to take additional, proactive measures to ensure our imagery is not tactically leveraged by adversarial actors to target allied and NATO-partner personnel and civilians," a statement said.

From now on, all data covering "all of Iran and nearby allied bases, in addition to the Gulf States and existing conflict zones" will be blocked for 14 days, it said.

Planet, founded in 2010 by former NASA scientists, did not say whether the decision was taken in response to a request from US authorities.

The Netherlands and Denmark announced on Tuesday that they are relocating their respective embassy staff in Tehran to Azerbaijan.

"Due to the growing security risks for our employees, it has been decided to temporarily transfer the activities of the Dutch embassy in Iran to Baku, Azerbaijan," Dutch Foreign Minister Tom Berendsen said on X.

"If the security situation allows, we will decide when and in what form our embassy in Iran can resume its activities in Tehran," he added.

Denmark's Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen said its decision had been taken a few days ago and was not communicated until the Danish staff had left Iran.

Løkke Rasmussen said while the embassy was closed "diplomatic relations with Iran are handled from Copenhagen."

Spain, Austria and Italy are among the countries to have temporarily closed their embassies in Tehran and transfer staff to Azerbaijan in recent days.

The United Arab Emirates’ Defence Ministry said in a statement that nine drones hit the country on Tuesday, while it intercepted eight missiles and 26 drones.

It said the attacks on the Gulf country have so far killed six people and injured 122 others.

Countries across the Gulf have been subjected to repeated air strikes from Iran. Tehran says it is targeting US military assets spread across the region but those strikes have also hit civilian and energy infrastructure.

“There is no other alternative than increasing fuel prices by this amount (about 8%) at this time in order to manage the crisis related to the oil prices,” government spokesman and media minister Nalinda Jayatissa told the media on Tuesday.

Long queues formed at fuel stations across the country last week to collect fuel as people feared a shortage due to the Iran war.

As fuel sales doubled and nearly tripled, shrinking supplies compelled the authorities to purchase new fuel consignments at high prices.

Qatar’s ministry of defence has released footage showing the armed forces intercepting missiles fired from Iran.

The video of the intercepts on Monday shows the moment air defence systems engaged incoming air strikes.

Shots were fired at the US consulate in Toronto early on Tuesday but no one was injured, police said, days after protests outside the building against the war in Iran.

The Toronto Police Service said it received reports of a firearm being discharged at the consulate before dawn in the downtown area of Canada's largest city.

"Police are on the scene," the force said on X, adding that there were no reports of injuries.

The US consulate is located on University Avenue, a major north-south road that includes several hospitals and leads toward the provincial legislature.

Protesters rallied outside the consulate last weekend to denounce the Middle East war triggered by US and Israeli strikes on Iran.

UAE air defences on Tuesday intercepted nine Iranian ballistic missiles aimed at the Gulf country, of which eight were destroyed, while one missile fell into the sea, authorities said.

A total of 35 drones were also detected, with 26 intercepted, while nine fell within the country's territory, the UAE Ministry of Defence said in a statement.

"Since the onset of the blatant Iranian attacks, 262 ballistic missiles have been detected. Of these, 241 were destroyed, 19 fell into the sea, and two struck within the state territory," the statement said.

"A total of 1,475 Iranian UAVs have also been detected, of which 1,385 were intercepted, while 90 fell within the country's territory. 8 cruise missiles were also detected and destroyed."

Iranian attacks resulted in six deaths, according to authorities.

Euronews journalists have reported that fighter jets could be heard above Dubai for at least two hours on Tuesday, as UAE defences worked to neutralise the threat.

The Lebanese and Syrian presidents agreed on the need to "control the border" between the two countries, after both traded accusations over cross-border gunfire.

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun received a phone call from his Syrian counterpart, Ahmad al-Sharaa, during which they agreed that "the current sensitive situation requires enhancing coordination and consultation...especially with regard to the necessity of controlling the border", a Lebanese presidency statement said.

Meanwhile, the border crossings between Syria and Lebanon have witnessed an unprecedented reverse exodus, with tens of thousands of Syrians returning home to escape the ongoing Israeli military escalation on Lebanese territory.

Wessam Al Jurdi spoke to some of them and has this report.

Syria opens border for return of thousands fleeing strikes in Lebanon

The reopenings are not limited to the Jussiyeh and Yabous crossings, but have been extended to the Masnaa border crossing in Lebanon’s Bekaa region, the main l…

A strike hit Beirut's southern suburbs on Tuesday, state media reported, after the Israeli military renewed its warning for people to evacuate the area.

"Israeli warplanes launched a raid a short while ago on the southern suburbs, the first after the warning issued by the enemy," Lebanon's state-run National News Agency said.

Footage broadcast on the live feed of the AFP news agency showed smoke rising from the southern suburbs, where Hezbollah holds sway, while the Israeli military said it began "striking Hezbollah infrastructure" in the area.

The spokesperson for Qatar’s foreign ministry said at a press conference on Tuesday that his country had warned for years that unchecked escalation in the region would lead to “catastrophic results.”

“Right now as we speak, you can put a map of the region in front of you and you will not be able to find a space where escalation is not happening,” Dr. Majed Al Ansari said.

“This is the biggest ‘I told you so’ in the history of ‘I told you sos’ in the world.”

“What we are seeing right now is a regional war. It still can be contained, but the trajectory we are going through right now is a very dangerous trajectory for the region,” he added.

“I think the partnership between Europe and the GCC has proven its worth in this crisis... And this is the time when you know your friends and work with the friends and the partnerships we have with them and Europe has proved its worth many times during this conflict," he told Euronews.

Qatar has been subject to repeated air strikes from Iran. Tehran says it is targeting US military assets spread across the Gulf countries but strikes have also hit civilian and energy infrastructure.

Iran's security chief Ali Larijani issued a veiled threat to US President Donald Trump on Tuesday, warning him to be careful "not to be eliminated" and saying Tehran was not afraid of his "empty threats."

While it is questionable whether Tehran has the means or the capacity to make good on its words, Larijani's immense stature within the regime should not be underestimated.

Babak Kamiar takes a look at Tuesday’s war of words and what might happen next. 

What we know about Ali Larijani, Tehran’s most influential powerbroker

Although Ali Larijani could not have succeeded Ali Khamenei and holds no position in the interim leadership council, his current status makes him one of top ta…

A merchant vessel escorted by Pakistan Navy warships docked overnight in the southern port city of Karachi and another was expected to enter Pakistan’s territorial waters in the Arabian Sea later on Tuesday in the nation’s maritime security operation.

About 90% of Pakistan’s trade moves by sea, making maritime routes vital for the country’s economy and energy imports from Saudi Arabia and other gulf countries.

Pakistan’s military said its navy launched Operation “Muhafiz-ul-Bahr” or Maritime Guardian in response to potential disruptions to key sea lanes.

Germany’s Chancellor Friedrich Merz voiced concern on Tuesday that the United States and Israel appear to have "no common plan" for bringing the war against Iran "to a swift and convincing end."

"The United States and Israel have been waging war against Iran for over a week. We share many of these goals, but with each day of the war, more questions arise," Merz said.

"We are particularly concerned that there is apparently no common plan for how this war can be brought to a swift and convincing end."

Iraqi authorities are exploring alternative routes to export the country's oil after transit through the Strait of Hormuz was disrupted by the Middle East war, an oil ministry spokesperson said on Tuesday.

Saheb Bazoun said that "much like other countries in the region, oil production and marketing have been severely impacted, leaving the government no choice but to seek alternative" export routes.

Iraq has several oil shipments stuck at sea, he said.

US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth called Tuesday the “most intense day” of US strikes on Iran as he decried the “barbaric savages” in the regime and accused Tehran of engaging in a “race to a nuclear bomb.”

"Today will be yet again our most intense day of strikes inside Iran," Hegseth told journalists at a briefing at the Pentagon.

Hegseth’s statement came shortly after he said that “the last 24 hours have seen Iran fire the lowest amount of missiles they have fired yet” and said Iran’s leaders are "desperate, scrambling."

"For 47 years, these barbaric savages in the Iranian regime have murdered our brothers in arms, my guys, your guys, our guys, through their terrorist proxies and cowardly attacks, now they race toward a nuclear bomb to hold the world hostage," he said.

Meanwhile, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Dan Caine said joint US-Israeli strikes had resulted in a 90% reduction in Iranian missile launches against Israel and Gulf countries.

Caine said the joint strikes had hit 5,000 targets in Iran and that the US was continuing to degrade the Iranian navy. 

US and Israeli strikes have hit an airport in southern Iran, damaging part of the site as well as aircraft, local media reported on Tuesday.

"(After an) attack on Kerman Airport, part of it was damaged and two old, out-of-service aircraft were hit," Iran's Tasnim news agency said, quoting a statement from the governor's office.

It is not clear whether there are any military facilities at or near the site.

On Monday the Israeli military said it had completed a "wave of strikes against six military airfields" in Iran, hitting planes and runways as well as defence and detection systems.

Earlier this week strikes hit another airport in the southeastern city of Bushehr, damaging aircraft and the terminal, according to Iranian media.

(CC BY 4.0/ Mehdi Karbakhsh/No changes made)

The Persian Gulf country was attacked with three missiles and a drone as Iran keeps up its strikes in the Middle East, authorities said on Tuesday.

One strike hit a residential building in the capital, Manama, killing a 29-year-old woman and wounding eight others, the Interior Ministry said.

Iran has repeatedly hit Bahrain, which hosts the US Navy’s 5th Fleet.

A drone attack caused a fire in an industrial zone in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday, authorities in the United Arab Emirates said, in an area that houses oil and energy infrastructure.

"Authorities in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi are responding to a fire at a facility within the Ruwais Industrial City, caused by a drone attack. No injuries have been reported so far," the Abu Dhabi media office said in a statement on X.

Authorities did not say whether any energy infrastructure had been hit.

A ship likely came under attack in the Persian Gulf off the coast of the United Arab Emirates’ capital, the British military said on Tuesday.

The possible attack on the bulk carrier would expand the radius of ongoing assaults against shipping by Iran during the war.

The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations centre reported the incident, saying a captain aboard the vessel reported seeing “a splash and heard a loud bang in close proximity of a bulk carrier.”

Iran's security chief Ali Larijani issued a veiled threat to US President Donald Trump on Tuesday, warning him to be careful "not to be eliminated" and saying the Islamic republic was not afraid of his "empty threats."

"Iran is not afraid of your empty threats. Even those greater than you could not eliminate the Iranian nation," said Larijani in a post on X.

His remarks came in response to a post by Trump threatening to hit Iran harder if it stops the oil flow through the strategic Strait of Hormuz.

"Take care of yourself not to be eliminated!" Larijani added.

In a post on Truth Social, Trump had said "if Iran does anything that stops the flow of Oil within the Strait of Hormuz, they will be hit by the United States of America TWENTY TIMES HARDER than they have been hit by us thus far."

Shipping traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, through which nearly 20% of the world's crude oil usually transits, has been severely disrupted.

Iranian forces have threatened to block "the export of a single litre of oil from the region" to allies of the United States and Israel as long as the war continues.

Mobile phone alerts and sirens just went off in the Qatari capital once again, Euronews journalists reported, as loud explosions could be heard from interceptions above Doha.

There are no reports of any damage at this time.

Earlier on Tuesday, Qatari foreign ministry spokesman said Iran was pressing its attacks, rejecting Tehran's justification for the bombardment.

"The targeting of civilian infrastructure continues... and we rebuke any justification that the Iranians are offering for these attacks," Qatar's foreign ministry spokesman Majed al-Ansari said.

A strike hit near the southern Lebanese city of Tyre on Tuesday, state-run media outlets reported, shortly after the Israeli military said it would target Hezbollah infrastructure there and warned residents to immediately evacuate.

"The Israeli enemy launched a strike on the threatened area,” said Lebanon's National News Agency.

The Israeli military had warned that it would strike a building there and another in the coastal city of Sidon.

The United Nations said on Tuesday that more than 100,000 people had been newly internally displaced within Lebanon in just 24 hours amid the war raging in Iran.

"As of today, more than 667,000 people in Lebanon have now registered on the (Lebanese) government's online platform as displaced,” said Karolina Lindholm Billing, the UN refugee agency's representative in Lebanon. “This is an increase of 100,000 in just one day.”

"That's a faster pace of displacement compared to 2024," she told reporters in Geneva, speaking from Beirut.

The Iran war could be disastrous for oil markets and it is vital to reopen the Strait of Hormuz shipping route, said Saudi Aramco's CEO and president Amin Nasser on Tuesday.

"There would be catastrophic consequences for the world's oil markets the longer the disruption goes on, and the more drastic the consequences for the global economy," he told a media call.

"It's absolutely critical that shipping resumes in the Strait of Hormuz," Nasser added.

The Group of Seven nations, or G7, held off releasing oil stocks to bring down prices but are picking up the issue again with more discussions between their energy ministers on Tuesday, according to French officials.

France, which currently holds the group’s rotating presidency, wants “to advance on that question, with one objective, which is to bring down prices,” government spokesperson Maud Bregeon told local broadcasters on Tuesday.

“France is working on that for a very simple reason: If you put volume back into the market, you can have an impact on the lowering of prices,” said Bregeon.

French Finance Minister Roland Lescure said the G7 ministers will meet virtually on Tuesday via video link. Lescure said “all options are on the table” adding that he, along with his counterparts, will collaborate on finding the best resolution and response to mitigate impacts of the crisis.  

Germany’s Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul says there is no need now to send his country’s warships or other military hardware to Cyprus or the eastern Mediterranean.

An Iranian Shahed drone struck a British air base in Akrotiri on Cyprus’ southern coast last week.

Wadephul praised Greece, France and Italy for dispatching warships to the region, calling it a “pragmatic step,” adding that Berlin would augment a European force presence if needed.

Following talks with his Cypriot counterpart, Constantinos Kombos, Wadephul said he doesn’t have intelligence indicating “a real current threat” to Cyprus or another European country from the Iran war.

He stressed however that Belin will continue to monitor the situation, noting that situation can change rapidly from one day to the next.

“You can never predict what will happen the next day,” said the top German diplomat.

Saudi oil giant Aramco says it will reach capacity of its East-West pipeline “in a couple of days” to get its product out to the global market.

Amin Nasser, Aramco’s CEO and president, said the pipeline has a daily capacity of 7 million barrels.

“We should be reaching capacity, in a couple of days. It’s all been going on the repositioning of tankers from the East to West,” he said. “You know, this crisis happened all of a sudden, and tankers need to reposition to the West coast for loading.”

“The situation at the Strait of Hormuz is blocking sizable volumes of oil from the whole region,” added Nasser.

The East-West pipeline sends oil to the Red Sea for transport. Saudi Aramco operates the pipeline from the Aqaiq oil processing centre near the Persian Gulf to the Yanbu port on the Red Sea, avoiding the chokepoint of the Strait of Hormuz.

Tehran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard Corps said on Tuesday that the end of the war will be determined only by Iran.

The IRGC warned that it would not allow even "one litre of oil" to leave the region if attacks continue.

"We are the ones who will determine the end of the war," said Ali Mohammad Naini, IRGC spokesperson, according to state media.

The remarks come in an apparent response to Trump’s comments on Monday, where he offered contradictory information on when Washington may seek to end its war.

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed on Tuesday that Israel will continue striking Iran, in what seemingly contradicts remarks given by US President Donald Trump late on Monday, where he indicated that the joint war on Iran will end “very soon”.

“Our aim is to bring the Iranian people to cast off the yoke of tyranny, ultimately it depends on them,” said Netanyahu during a meeting with Israel’s hospital and health system leaders.

“But there is no doubt that with the actions taken so far, we are breaking their bones,” he added.

Thailand’s Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul told government agencies and state companies to urge staff not in public facing roles to work from home.

The government said on Tuesday that Thailand was also suspending overseas training and study trips. The announcement comes as countries in Southeast Asia move to counter disruptions to oil and gas supplies, and their soaring costs, from the war in Iran.

The Vietnamese government ordered similar measures, but also urged people to limit use of their private vehicles.

Fuel prices have climbed and long lines have formed outside gas stations as drivers and motorcycle riders rush to ensure they can fill their tanks.

Iran’s parliament speaker, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, dismissed any suggestion Tehran was seeking a ceasefire in the war with the US and Israel on Tuesday.

“We are definitely not looking for a ceasefire; we believe that the aggressor should be punched in the mouth so that he learns a lesson so that he will never think of attacking our beloved Iran again,” Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf wrote in a post on X.

“The Zionist regime sees its shameful existence in the continuation of the cycle of ‘war-negotiation-ceasefire and then war again’ to consolidate its dominance. We will break this cycle,” he added.

Israel’s military said it detected an Iranian missile launch targeting the country on Tuesday morning.

Sirens were sounded in Jerusalem and explosions could be heard in Tel Aviv as Israel’s military worked to intercept the incoming fire.

European gas prices dropped around 15% on Tuesday after US President Donald Trump signalled that the US-Israel war on Iran could end sooner than predicted.

The Dutch TTF natural gas contract, considered the European benchmark, fell to around €48, after rising sharply just one day prior.

"I think the war is very complete, pretty much," said Trump on Monday, a remark which has eased global markets slightly. 

Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi says his country does not plan to hold talks with Washington anymore after his country suffered what he described as a “bitter experience” on two counts during previous talks on Tehran’s nuclear programme.

Araghchi accused the US of not living up to its word, saying they had received assurances from the White House during negotiations ahead of the “12 Day War” in June and the latest rounds of talks this year that no US attacks on Iran were imminent.

The top Iranian diplomat says the US betrayed his country on both occasions and moved to attack them anyway, on behalf of Israel.

He also says the US-Israeli campaign has been nothing but a “failure”, as he accused them of having no endgame in mind and merely launching indiscriminate attacks on civilian areas.

“They failed to achieve their goals at the beginning, and now, 10 days later, they are aimless,” said Araghchi in an interview with US media outlet PBS. 

Azerbaijan has sent humanitarian aid to Iran, officials in Baku said.

The aid package includes 10 tonnes of flour, six tonnes of rice, more than two tonnes of sugar, over four tonnes of drinking water, about 600 kilograms of tea and about two tonnes of medicine and medical supplies.

The move comes in an effort to diffuse tensions which spiked between Baku and Tehran last week when Azerbaijan accused Iran of firing drones at its Nakhchivan exclave, targeting an airport and a school in two separate strikes. Iran denies those allegations.

Tehran’s judiciary is warning local media outlets about what and how it reports new developments as the war with Israel and the United States rages on.

That remarks were made by judiciary spokesman Asghar Jahangir as reported by the state-run IRNA news agency.

Jahangir said local outlets “that did not comply with security issues and had taken videos and photos of certain places solely for the purpose of informing were given the necessary warnings.”

“If this happens again, the necessary legal measures will be taken,” he said, without elaborating further.

Tehran has shut off the internet during the war and may be restricting reporting to hide what has been struck so far.

Turkey’s Defence Ministry said on Tuesday the Patriot missile defence system is being deployed in the central province of Malatya, which hosts a NATO radar base.

The move follows NATO defences intercepting a second ballistic missile fired from Iran that entered Turkish airspace on Monday.

Saudi Arabia’s oil giant Aramco reported profits of $104.7 billion (€90 billion) in 2025, down roughly 5.5% from the year before as the Iran war has seen its fields and facilities targeted.

Aramco released its annual results on Tuesday.

It planned to brief investors later in the day as the war that began on 28 February has seen Iranian drones and missiles target its facilities.

Aramco, formally known as the Saudi Arabian Oil Co., reported profits of $110 billion (€94.5 billion) in 2024.

The company, primarily state-owned, said its 2025 revenues were $445 billion (€382.4 billion), down from $480 billion (€412.4 billion) the year prior.

The Israeli military reiterated on Tuesday the call for all residents of southern Lebanon to evacuate their homes as it planned to “operate forcefully” in the area against what it says are Hezbollah positions.

The Israeli Defence Forces issued similar warnings during its war with Hezbollah in 2003-2024, displacing hundreds of thousands of people.

Lebanese officials say Israeli attacks across Lebanon, which started shortly after the United States opened fire on Iran, have so far killed at least 397 people and displaced approximately 500,000.

The Israeli military said on Tuesday it had completed a series of strikes targeting Hezbollah’s financial arm, al-Qard Al-Hasan.

The IDF said in a post on X that the Iran-backed group uses the financial institution to fund its military activities, purchase weapons and pay terrorist salaries.

Israel targeted several of the group’s branches in southern and eastern Lebanon on Monday and last week.

The United Arab Emirates says it will lower the volume of missile alerts sent to mobile phones in the overnight hours.

The UAE’s National Emergency Crisis and Disasters Management Authority made the announcement late night on Monday, saying that the loud blaring alarm would sound on phones from 9 am until 10:30 pm local time.

A standard text message chime would sound from 10:30 pm until 9 am, it said.

The blaring klaxon had sounded in the middle of the night since the US and Israel fired the war’s opening salvo on the 28^th of February.

The change in the alerts signals how Gulf Arab states are trying to adjust to the idea of the war grinding on, as there’s no immediate sign of an end to the fighting.

Egypt hiked fuel prices by up to 17% on Tuesday as the war in Iran sent prices of crude soaring.

According to the Petroleum Ministry, the cost of a litre of diesel, which is heavily relied on for public transport, increased by more than 17%. The price of the 92-octane gasoline rose by 15% and 95-octane gasoline increased by 14%, hitting the North African country hard.

The most populous Arab country, Egypt depends heavily on imported fuel. The Egyptian pound fell to a record low, trading at over 52 against the US dollar on Monday in response to the crisis.

To mitigate impact of the war, the government announced a series of measures, including reducing official overseas trips and tightening fuel consumption across sectors.

The US president vowed aggressive action against Iran if it continues to block the shipment of oil in the Strait of Hormuz, further destabilising already volatile energy prices.

“If Iran does anything that stops the flow of Oil within the Strait of Hormuz, they will be hit by the United States of America TWENTY TIMES HARDER than they have been hit thus far,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

“Additionally, we will take out easily destroyable targets that will make it virtually impossible for Iran to ever be built back, as a Nation, again — Death, Fire, and Fury will reign upon them — But I hope, and pray, that it does not happen!”

The Republican president said his threat was a “gift” to China, among other nations, because it relies on oil from the Middle East.

Truth Social

Truth Social is America’s “Big Tent” social media platform that encourages an open, free, and honest global conversation without discriminating on the basis of…

US President Donald Trump said late on Monday that he expects the war in Iran to end very soon, but declined to provide any indication as to when that might be.

His comments came as he addressed Republican lawmakers who convened in Florida, assuring them that Washington's "excursion" into the Middle East will only be "short term" and boasting about the US military's "tremendous success".

Speaking at a later event, Trump offered a contradictory tone, telling reporters that the war will only end when all of Washington's objectives are met, as he claimed, without providing evidence, that Tehran was plotting to "take over the Middle East".

Read the full article below:

Trump says he expects the war in Iran to be over ‘very soon’

Trump assured Republican lawmakers that the war in Iran could end “very soon” but declined to provide a specific timeline on when that might be. The US preside…