US attack on iran: 1)Trump threatens Iran following new wave of attacks on Gulf states and Israel; 2)Iran’s supreme leader says closure of Strait of Hormuz should be used as leverage; 3)World shares tumble as Iran war pushes crude prices over $110 a barrel; 4)Trump says Iran had a new site for developing nuclear weapons
1)Trump threatens Iran following new wave of attacks on Gulf states and Israel
Courtesy Barrie360.com and The Associated Press
By Jon Gambrell, David Rising And Sally Abou Aljoud
Iran launched multiple attacks early Friday on Gulf Arab states, including dozens of drones at Saudi Arabia, following warnings from its new supreme leader about hosting American bases, and U.S. President Donald Trump threatened major new retaliation.
“Watch what happens to these deranged scumbags today,” Trump wrote in a social media post. “Iran’s Navy is gone, their Air Force is no longer, missiles, drones and everything else are being decimated, and their leaders have been wiped from the face of the earth.”
The comments came the day after Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei vowed to “not refrain from avenging the blood” of Iranians killed, and warned Gulf Arab nations to shut U.S. bases, saying the notion of American protection was “nothing more than a lie.”
Intense airstrikes landed around Iran’s capital, Tehran early Friday, just before rallies were to begin for the annual Quds Day event in support of the Palestinians. Israel said its air force had hit more than 200 targets in Iran over the past 24 hours, including missile launchers, defense systems and weapons production sites.
With growing global concerns about a possible energy crisis and no end to the war in sight, the price of Brent crude oil, the international standard, remained stubbornly over $100 per barrel as Iran kept its stranglehold on shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, the strategic waterway through which a fifth of the world’s oil transits on its way from the Persian Gulf to the open seas.
Brent prices have spiked as high as about $120 per barrel and are currently some 40% higher than when Israel and the United States attacked Iran on Feb. 28 to start the war.
Iran has been attacking ships that try to transit the strait, and Khamenei’s comments — his first to the public since being named to replace his father, who was killed during the first day of the conflict — said Iran would continue to block the waterway.
In Iraq, recovery efforts were underway after an American KC-135 refuelling plane went down, according to U.S. Central Command. And a French soldier who was stationed in the north of the country was killed in an attack, the French president said Friday.
Iran launches new attacks on Gulf Arab countries
Iran has been attacking oil and other infrastructur e around the Gulf region, and on Friday Saudi Arabia that it had downed nearly 50 drones sent in multiple waves throughout the early morning hours.
In Oman, two people were killed when two drones crashed in an industrial area in the region of Sohar, the Oman News Agency reported.
Sirens also sounded in Bahrain warning of incoming fire, and in Dubai black smoke billowed from an industrial area after a blaze authorities said was sparked by debris from an interception.
A building at the Dubai International Financial Center also sustained damage when hit with debris from what authorities described as a “successful interception.”
The DIFC is an economic free zone for banks, capital traders and wealth managers, home to exclusive restaurants and nightclubs for the city-state’s elite. Iran said earlier this week that it would target banks and financial institutions after an airstrike hit a bank in Tehran.
Nearly 60 people were wounded in northern Israel after Hezbollah said it had fired several rocket salvoes toward the area and at Israeli troops in southern Lebanon. Almost all the injuries were described as very minor.
One person was killed in southwestern Beirut in an Israeli strike, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry, and another attack hit an apartment in the capital, leaving it engulfed in flames. Following the attacks, the Israeli army said it had been targeting a member of Iran-linked Hezbollah.
In eastern Lebanon, a strike on an apartment wounded a local official with the Lebanese branch of the Muslim Brotherhood and killed his two sons, the state-run National News Agency reported. Israel, for the past two years, has targeted officials with the group, known as al-Jamaa al-Islamiya or the Islamic Group.
More than 600 people have been killed in Lebanon since the fighting began, the Health Ministry has reported. and nearly 800,000 have been internally displaced, according to the U.N. refugee agency.
Iranian authorities say more than 1,300 people have been killed there, and Israel has reported 12 deaths. The U.S. has lost at least seven soldiers, while another eight have suffered severe injuries.
In his Friday morning post, Trump said that “we are totally destroying the terrorist regime of Iran, militarily, economically, and otherwise.”
“They’ve been killing innocent people all over the world for 47 years, and now I, as the 47th President of the United States of America, am killing them,” Trump said. “What a great honour it is to do so!”
The U.S. military said American forces have now struck more than 6,000 targets since the operation against Iran began, including more than 30 minelaying vessels.
France says a soldier was killed in Iraq
On Friday, French President Emmanuel Macron said a French soldier was killed in an attack targeting Irbil in Iraq’s northern Kurdish region. France earlier said six soldiers had been hurt in a drone strike in Irbil, where French troops are deployed as part of a multinational counterterrorism mission supporting Iraqi forces in their fight against Islamic State militants.
In the same region, British officials said several U.S. personnel suffered minor injuries Wednesday when drone strikes hit a base in Irbil that houses both British and American troops.
Italy said that a base where it has troops in Irbil was also hit Wednesday, but that there were no injuries. The Italian contingent in the region trains local Kurdish troops at the request of the Iraqi government
Recovery efforts were underway in western Iraq on Friday after the American KC-135 refuelling aircraft crashed. It was not immediately clear whether there were any casualties, but the aircraft had five crew on board.
U.S. Central Command said the crash was not related to friendly or hostile fire, and that two aircraft were involved, including one that landed safely.
The KC-135 is the fourth publicly acknowledged aircraft to crash as part of the U.S. military’s operations against Iran. Last week, three American fighter jets were mistakenly downed by friendly Kuwaiti fire.
2) Iran War – Iran’s supreme leader says closure of Strait of Hormuz should be used as leverage
Courtesy Barrie360.com and The Associated Press
By Jon Gambrell, David Rising And Natalie Melzer, March 12, 2026
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei said Thursday that the leverage of closing the Strait of Hormuz should be used and that Iran’s attacks on Gulf Arab neighbors will continue.
His first statement since his appointment was read on state television by a news anchor. Khamenei did not appear on camera, and an Israeli assessment indicates he was wounded in the war’s opening salvo.
He vowed to avenge those killed in the war, including in a strike on a school. He said Iran would “obtain compensation” from its enemy, referring to the United States. If it refuses, Iran will “take from its assets” or destroy them to the same extent, he said.
Iran’s unrelenting attacks on shipping traffic and energy infrastructure in the Persian Gulf pushed oil back above $100 a barrel on Thursday, as American and Israeli strikes pounded the Islamic Republic with no sign of an end to the war in sight.
Iran is trying to inflict enough global economic pain to pressure the United States and Israel to halt their bombardment, which started the war on Feb. 28. Iran’s president said its attacks would continue until Iran gets security guarantees against another assault, indicating that even a ceasefire or U.S. declaration of victory might not halt the conflict.
U.S. President Donald Trump has meanwhile promised to “finish the job,” even though he claimed Iran is “virtually destroyed.”
Iran-backed Hezbollah militants meanwhile launched some 200 rockets from Lebanon at northern Israel while sirens rang out and loud booms from the interception of Iranian missiles could be heard in other areas. Israel launched another wave of attacks on Tehran and in Lebanon, where 11 people were killed.
The U.N. refugee agency said up to 3.2 million people in Iran have been displaced by the ongoing war. It said most have fled from Tehran and other major cities toward the north of the country or rural areas. It says at least 759,000 people have been internally displaced in Lebanon.
Iranian officials dismiss any notion of backing down
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian suggested online Thursday that for the war to end, the world would need to recognize Iran’s “legitimate rights,” pay reparations and offer guarantees against future attacks.
In addition to attacking energy infrastructure around the region, Iran has a stranglehold on the Strait of Hormuz, the waterway leading from the Persian Gulf toward the Indian Ocean through which a fifth of the world’s oil is transported.
Amid speculation that the U.S. might target Kharg Island in the Persian Gulf, Iran’s main oil terminal, Iran’s parliamentary speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf threatened in a social media post that any attempt to take Iranian islands would “make the Persian Gulf run with the blood of invaders.”
With traffic in the strait effectively stopped, the price of Brent crude oil, the international standard, rose another 9% to more than $100 a barrel, up some 38% over what it cost when the war started. Prices have swung back and forth in recent days, at one point surging to around $120 a barrel.
Iran and Hezbollah launch multiple attacks on Israel
It was a sleepless night for many Israelis as Hezbollah launched some 200 rockets at the country’s north and deeper into Israel, according to the Israeli military.
“The noise was extraordinary, it was really scary,” said Naama Porat, a resident of the rural community of Klil, some 15 kilometers (9 miles) from the Lebanese border. As the sound of explosions and interceptions rang out, she dashed with her son to a shelter and spent the night there.
No serious injuries were reported, but the extent of the fire shook residents of the north, who have repeatedly been told by their leaders that Hezbollah was dealt a devastating blow in 2024 during its last war with Israel.
“They have stocks of weapons and it just doesn’t end. We don’t know how much and what to expect,” Porat said.
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz warned Lebanon that if its government does not prevent Hezbollah from attacking, Israel “will take the territory and do it ourselves.”
More than 20 killed in strikes on Lebanon and Iran
Israel, meantime, hit a car in a seaside area of Lebanon’s capital where dozens of displaced people have been sheltering, killing eight and wounding 31, the Lebanese Health Ministry said. The Israeli military said it was “not aware” of a strike at that location.
The Israeli military said it struck a nuclear facility in Iran in recent days. Israel had destroyed the “Taleghan 2” site in an airstrike in October 2024. Earlier this year satellite photos raised concerns that Iran was working to restore the facility.
The U.S. and Israel say that destroying whatever remains of Iran’s nuclear program is one of the central aims of the war. They have long suspected Iran seeks nuclear weapons, while the Islamic Republic says its nuclear program is peaceful.
In Tehran, security force checkpoints came under attack for the first time on Wednesday night, the semiofficial Fars news agency reported. At least 10 people were killed in the suspected drone assaults.
Israel and the U.S. military did not immediately respond to requests for comment over whether they were behind the attacks.
Iran fires at Gulf Arab countries and hits ship in Persian Gulf
Iran’s latest attacks on its Gulf neighbors flouted a U.N. Security Council resolution approved Wednesday.
Early Thursday, a container ship was hit with a projectile off the coast of Dubai, sparking a small fire, according to British military’s United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations Center. It said the crew were safe.
An Iranian attack sparked a major fire on Muharraq Island, home to Bahrain’s international airport. Kuwait authorities said an Iranian drone smashed into a residential building, wounding two people, and that a drone attack on Kuwait International Airport had caused damage but no casualties.
The UAE said it had activated air defenses twice to protect the futuristic city of Dubai from attacks, and firefighters extinguished a blaze at a tower after a drone hit.
Saudi Arabia, meanwhile, said it shot down a drone targeting the diplomatic quarter in its capital, Riyadh, and other drones in the east, including at least one trying to target its Shaybah oil field.
Following an attack on Iraq’s Basra port Wednesday that killed at least one person, officials said Thursday that operations were halted at all the country’s oil terminals.
In the UAE, Citibank said it would close all but one of its branches due to an Iranian threat — not yet realized — to target financial institutions in the region.
___Melzer reported from Mitzpe Hila, Israel and Rising from Bangkok. Associated Press writer Sally Abou AlJoud in Beirut contributed to this report.
3)World shares tumble as Iran war pushes crude prices over $110 a barrel
Courtesy Barrie360.com and The Associated Press
By Elaine Kurtenbach, March 9, 2026
Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 index plunged more than 5% and other Asian markets also tumbled Monday after oil prices soared to nearly $120 a barrel, casting a shadow over economies heavily dependent on imported crude and gas from the region.
The futures for the S&P 500, Nasdaq composite index and the Dow Jones Industrial Average were trading more than 1% lower after dropping more than 2% late Sunday.
A Chinese special envoy to the Middle East, Zhai Jun, called for an end to the attacks and said strikes on non-military targets and civilians should be condemned. Meanwhile, South Korean President Lee Jae Myung warned against hoarding, panic buying and collusion between refiners and gas stations.
“Please respond proactively to the growing volatility in the financial and foreign exchange markets, which are the lifeblood of our economy,” Lee said.
Oil prices rocketed higher after both sides in the war struck new targets over the weekend, including civilian ones. Bahrain accused Iran of hitting one of the desalination plants that are crucial for drinking water in Gulf countries. Israel struck oil depots in Tehran, sending up thick smoke and causing environmental alerts.
The Nikkei regained some of its earlier losses to shed 5.2% to 52,728.72. South Korea’s Kospi sank 6% to 5,251.87.
Chinese markets, which tend to be less affected by global trends, saw more moderate losses. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 1.6% to 25,343.77 the Shanghai Composite index was down 0.7% at 4,097.69.
Taiwan’s benchmark dived 4.4% and other regional markets also swooned.
As of 0600 GMT, the price for a barrel of Brent crude was $103.54 a barrel. U.S. benchmark crude rose to $107.35. Both were about 15% above their closing prices Friday.
Crude prices have spiked to their highest levels in at least 14 years as the war, now in its second week, ensnares countries and places that are critical to the production and movement of oil and gas from the Persian Gulf. . They last rose above $100 shortly after Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022.
“The market woke up to the sound every macro trader dreads. The oil alarm bell. And this time it was not a polite chime. It was a fire siren,” Stephen Innes of SPI Asset Management said in a commentary.
Surging oil and gas prices, if they persist, could ripple across the globe, further complicating matters for countries still adjusting to higher tariffs on exports to the United States under President Donald Trump.
Gas prices across Canada average $1.52 per litre for regular. British Columbia is at the high end at $1.71. The price in Barrie has climbed 19 cents a litre in the last week, averaging $1.48.
On Friday, the S&P 500 dropped 1.3% after a report showed U.S. employers cut more jobs last month than they created and after oil prices shot above $90 per barrel. The combination of a weak economy and high inflation is a worst-case scenario for investors because the Federal Reserve has no good tool to fix both problems at the same time.
The Dow plunged as many as 945 points before finishing with a loss of 453, or 0.9%, and the Nasdaq composite sank 1.6%.
Early Monday, the U.S. dollar, which retains its status as a safe haven for investors bracing against uncertainty, gained against other major currencies. It was trading at 158.46 Japanese yen, up from 158.09 yen late Friday. The euro rose to $1.1558, up from $1.1556.
4)Trump says Iran had a new site for developing nuclear weapons
Courtesy Barrie 360 and The Associated Press
By Canadian Press, March 9, 2026
U.S. President Donald Trump said Monday that the war with Iran began because that country was starting work on a new site for developing material for nuclear weapons. Trump also told reporters at a news conference that Iran was “going to take over the Middle East” if he hadn’t acted and that he was disappointed with the selection of Mojtaba Khamenei to succeed his father, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, as Iran’s supreme leader. Ali Khamenei was killed in U.S. and Israeli strikes. Trump also had a call Monday with Russian President Vladimir Putin to discuss the war and other issues. The Kremlin says the two leaders had a “frank and businesslike” conversation that lasted about an hour.
1. Heavy U.S. and Israeli bombardment of Iran has been going on for more than a week, while Iran has launched more attacks on Israel and Gulf countries. Israel is striking Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon, while the militant group fires rockets into Israel.
2. Iranian state TV announced early Monday that Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei was named supreme leader, in defiance of threats by Trump. Khamenei is seen as even more hard-line than his father, the supreme leader killed on the first day of the war. He will now be in charge of Iran’s armed forces and any decision about Tehran’s nuclear program.
3. U.S. stocks closed higher following a remarkable reversal as oil prices fell from nearly $120 per barrel below $90.
4. A 26-year-old Army staff sergeant from Kentucky was identified as the seventh U.S. service member killed during the Iran war, after being wounded on a base in Saudi Arabia on March 1. The first six deaths were Army reservists killed the same day at a Kuwaiti port.
5. New footage has raised the likelihood that the U.S. military struck an Iranian elementary school where a blast killed at least 165 people, mostly children.
Here is the latest:
Senate Democrats demand public hearings on Iran war
A handful of Senate Democrats are threatening to impede the Senate’s work unless the Trump administration provides public hearings on the war with Iran.
A vote on a war powers resolution, which would have required congressional approval for any further attacks on Iran, failed last week mostly along party lines. But a group of Democratic senators has filed several similar pieces of legislation and could potentially force repeated votes on them if they choose.
New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker said they were going to “use every lever that we have to stop business as usual” unless there is an agreement from Republicans.
The tactic showed how Democrats are desperate to force a debate on the Iran war, but because they have minorities in both chambers of Congress, they are getting creative to force the issue into the public view.
Trump claims Iran has access to Tomahawk missiles when asked about school strike
The president erroneously claimed that Iran has access to the American Tomahawk cruise missile, the weapon likely used to strike a girls’ school in Iran, killing 165 people.
Asked if the U.S. would accept responsibility for the strike, Trump argued that the cruise missile, which is made by the American defense contractor Raytheon, is “sold and used by other countries” and that Iran “also has some Tomahawks.”
“Whether it’s Iran or somebody else … a Tomahawk is very generic,” he said.
While Raytheon sells the missile to allied countries like Japan and Australia, there is no evidence to suggest that Iran has gotten its hands on the cruise missile.
When asked why he was the only person in his administration making the claim, Trump replied: “Because I just don’t know enough about it.” He added that “whatever the report shows, I’m willing to live with that report.”
Trump says Iran would have ‘taken over’ the Middle East if he hadn’t acted
“If I didn’t hit them first, they were going to hit our allies first. I believe upon information and belief,” the president told reporters, before adding, “They were going to take over the Middle East.”
“Upon information and belief” is a phrase often used in legal settings, including in affidavits.
It is usually meant to denote declarations that a statement is based on secondhand information, but is also believed to be true by the speaker.
Trump was indicted in four criminal cases, and also faced civil charges related to his business practices, before returning to the White House. He’s no stranger to being in court or talking to lawyers.
A deadly day in Israel, with a dozen detected missile launches from Iran
Israel’s military announcement just minutes before midnight of more missiles fired at the country from Iran closed a Monday marked by relentless waves of attacks.
In all, Israel’s military alerted the population 12 times throughout the day about incoming missile salvos from Iran. From Lebanon, Iran-backed Hezbollah also fired rockets into Israel on Monday.
One man was killed by Iranian missile fire, raising the country’s death toll to 11. More were injured — at least two of them seriously — in the attacks and as they made their way to shelters, according to Israel’s emergency services.
Sirens alerting the population in different parts of Israel to seek shelter immediately have been wailing at intervals throughout the day and night since the war started.
Trump says Vance ‘maybe less enthusiastic’ about striking Iran than he is
Trump said he and Vice President JD Vance “get along very well” on issues related to Iran, but the president noted that his No. 2 was “maybe less enthusiastic about going” than he was.
Vance, Trump also noted, is “philosophically a little bit different than me.”
Vance has largely opposed U.S. intervention abroad. While still in the U.S. Senate and before Trump tapped him as his running mate, Vance cited Trump’s lack of foreign military entanglement as part of why he backed him for president in the 2024 campaign.
Trump says he’s ‘disappointed’ by Iran’s choice of a new leader
The president told reporters that he thought the pick of Mojtaba Khamenei to succeed his father as Iran’s supreme leader would lead to “more of the same” for a country that he seeks to change.
Trump said it “would be inappropriate” to say whether Iran’s new leader would be targeted for a lethal assault as was his father, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Trump said he liked “the idea” of a leader drawn from an “internal” group of candidates, saying that this process “works well” with Venezuela’s new leader, Delcy Rodriguez, following the capture by U.S. forces of Nicolas Maduro to face drug trafficking charges in the U.S.
Trump also elevated his expectations by saying he would like a candidate in Iran who was “internal and eternal.”
Trump says war is ‘very complete’ but it’s also ‘the beginning’ of a ‘a new country’
The president was asked about his comments earlier Monday in which he told a reporter that the war was “very complete,” while the Pentagon on Monday said on social media: “We have Only Just Begun to Fight.”
Trump was asked whether it was the end or the beginning and said, “It’s the beginning of building a new country,” a comment that seemed to suggest the U.S. might be engaged in the building of a new Iran.
Trump says US is undertaking Iran operation ‘for the other countries in the world’
Though the president has long professed an “America First” policy prioritizing the U.S., Trump suggested at his news conference that the war was for the benefit of other nations, especially those dependent on oil that’s shipped through the Strait of Hormuz.
“I mean, we’re doing this for the other parts of the world, including countries like China,” Trump said.
Trump says Iran had a new site for developing nuclear weapons protected by ‘granite’
Trump told reporters at a news conference that the war with Iran began because that country was starting work on a new site for developing material for nuclear weapons.
Trump said the new site was meant to replace facilities bombed last year by the U.S.
“But they were starting work at another site, a different site, different kind of a site — and that was protected by granite,” Trump said.
The president added that Iran wanted to use the “exponentially growing ballistic missile threat to make it virtually impossible to prevent them from obtaining a nuclear weapon,” claiming that Iran would have otherwise been able to take over the Middle East.
Multiple strikes shake Tehran
Citizens in Iran’s capital heard more than 20 heavy explosions as many rushed to safer places.
The strikes around midnight were the heaviest air raids on Tehran since beginning of the war.
The sound of bombers and warplanes flying overhead was constant for about half an hour. Witnesses reported explosions in western areas of the city. Electricity was cut off in some neighborhoods.
Similar explosions in other Iranian cities were reported on social media.
Iranian media did not report on damage and casualties from the strikes.
After volatile swings in oil prices, Trump claims to be bringing down prices
The U.S. president told House Republicans that he’s beaten inflation, even as swings in the oil market have gasoline costs rising in America after the start of the war with Iran.
Trump said that Democrats before his second term caused affordability to be a problem, “but we’re really bringing down prices.”
Gas prices have risen 20% in the past month to a national average of $3.48 a gallon, according to AAA.
Trump didn’t bother to address that, saying of prices that, “We’re even bringing them down further. They’ll be way down.”
State Department orders drawdown at more Mideast diplomatic missions
The move comes as the State Department is under increasing but historically familiar criticism for not doing enough to prepare embassies, consulates and American citizens living abroad for conflict.
The department on Monday ordered the departure of nonessential staff and families from Saudi Arabia and the consulate in Adana, Turkey, in response to escalating Iranian retaliation to U.S.-Israeli attacks.
That means 10 U.S. embassies and consulates in the region have reduced staffing, although only two have fully suspended operations. The reductions are the largest since the Iraq War began in 2003.
— By Matthew Lee
▶ Read more about the State Department’s crisis response.
Trump says that the US would have been attacked by Iran ‘within a week’
The president dismissed criticism from some Democratic officials that there was no reason for the U.S. and Israel to strike Iran.
“Well, I’ll give you the best reason of all. Within a week they were going to attack us, 100%. They were ready,” Trump said.
He did not offer any information to support that statement but said Iran had “all these missiles, far more than anyone thought.”
However, Trump administration officials told congressional staff in private briefings that U.S. intelligence did not suggest Iran was preparing to launch a preemptive strike against the U.S.
— By Michelle L. Price
Saudi Arabia intercepts 12 drones fired toward oil field
Saudi Arabia’s Defense Ministry said Monday night it downed the drones over the Empty Quarter desert that were fired toward its massive Shaybah oil field.
The 12 drones arrived in two waves; the first had three drones and the second had nine, the ministry’s spokesperson said.
The Defense Ministry has repeatedly posted in recent days that it intercepted drones heading toward the Shaybah field.
Trump says family of soldiers killed in Middle East told him to ‘win’ in Iran
The U.S. president briefly recounted what family members of soldiers killed as part of the ongoing war with Iran told him during the dignified transfer of their remains Saturday in Dover, Delaware.
“But they all said one thing to me: ‘Make sure you win, sir. Make sure you win,’” Trump said.
Trump called the dignified transfer “a beautiful thing, but it’s also a very sad thing.”
Trump tells Republican House members that Mideast war will be ‘short term’
Trump opened his address to the lawmakers by talking about Iran, saying “we took a little excursion” to the Middle East “to get rid of some evil. And, I think you’ll see it’s going to be a short-term excursion.”
The legislators met earlier in the day at Trump’s golf club near Miami.
Kuwait’s military intercepts missiles and drones
There was no immediate word on casualties or damage, but a statement from the Kuwaiti army said the sound of explosions late Monday were from interception efforts.
Hours earlier, Kuwait’s ruling emir gave a speech saying the country has been attacked by a “neighboring Muslim country,” without naming it.
The emir insisted that Kuwait’s territory, air space and coasts have not been used in any military operations against that neighboring country, and “this was repeatedly conveyed through our diplomatic channels.”
Kuwait, a small, oil-rich Gulf nation, has carefully managed its relationship with Iran.
Prewar US intel assessment found intervention in Iran wasn’t likely to change leadership
The National Intelligence Council’s assessment in February concluded that neither limited airstrikes nor a larger, prolonged military campaign would be likely to result in a new government taking over in Iran, even if the current leadership was killed.
That’s according to two people familiar with the finding, who spoke on condition of anonymity to describe the classified report.
The determination undercuts the administration’s assertion that it can complete its objectives in Iran relatively quickly, perhaps in a matter of weeks.
A spokesperson for the Office of the Director of National Intelligence declined to comment on the assessment on Monday and referred questions to the White House.
— By Michelle L. Price and Mary Clare Jalonick
▶ Read more about the intelligence assessment on Iran.
Australia grants asylum to 5 members of the Iranian women’s soccer team
The Iranian athletes, who were visiting the country for a tournament, were transported from their hotel “to a safe location” by federal police officers in the early hours of Tuesday morning local time, Australia’s Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke said.
There, they met with Burke and the processing of their humanitarian visas finalized, the minister told reporters in Brisbane hours later.
Trump had said Monday that Australia’s prime minister was helping the Iranian team after Trump urged the U.S. ally to grant the players asylum rather than send them back to Iran.
Wall Street erases a big loss and closes higher as oil prices fall after surging near $120 a barrel
The U.S. stock market careened through a manic Monday, going from a steep early loss to a solid gain as worries turned into hope that the war with Iran may not last that long.
Oil prices whipped from nearly $120 per barrel, their highest since 2022, back toward $90.
The S&P 500 fell as much as 1.5% before flipping to a gain of 0.8%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 239 points, and the Nasdaq composite climbed 1.4%. They’re the latest hour-to-hour swings to pummel markets because of uncertainty about how high oil prices will go and how long they will stay there.
EU economy chief warns of stagflation if the Mideast war drags on
The European Union’s economic chief is warning of the threat of stagflation if the war in the Middle East drags on, but says it’s too early to know how great the conflict’s impact will be.
“Stagflation” is a toxic combination of still-high inflation and a weak or stagnant economy. It bedeviled the U.S. in the 1970s, when even deep recessions didn’t kill inflation.
“Persistent targeting of shipping and energy infrastructure risks exposing the global economy to a stagflationary shock over the longer term,” EU Economy Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis told reporters after a meeting of Eurogroup finance ministers.
But he said that “should the conflict quickly de-escalate, contain disruptions to energy supplies and infrastructure (it) would likely have limited impact.”
“We need to keep a cool head, so to say, and continue to monitor the situation,” he said.
Trump tells CBS News that Mideast war could end soon
Trump commented as rising oil and gasoline prices caused by the war spark international concern.
CBS News White House reporter Weijia Jiang posted on X that Trump told her over the phone Monday that the war is “very far ahead of schedule.”
“I think the war is very complete, pretty much,” Jiang quoted Trump as telling her. “They have no navy, no communications, they’ve got no Air Force.”
Trump had said the war could last about four weeks. It was launched on Feb. 28.
Asked about the Strait of Hormuz, Trump told Jiang that ships continue to move through the vital shipping channel but that he is “thinking about taking it over.”
Trump has a call with Putin to discuss the war in Iran and other issues, Kremlin says
Putin’s foreign affairs adviser Yuri Ushakov described the conversation as “frank and businesslike” and said it lasted about one hour.
He said the Russian president “voiced a few ideas aimed at a quick political and diplomatic settlement” of the conflict following his conversations with Gulf leaders and Iran’s president.
Trump offered his assessment of the developing situation, Ushakov said, “in the context of the ongoing U.S.-Israeli operation.” The two leaders had a “specific and useful” exchange of views, and they touched on Venezuela “in the context of the situation in the global oil market,” he said.
Tehran residents struggle to find safety from missiles
Iran’s capital has no citywide system of shelters or sirens to warn residents of incoming U.S. and Israeli strikes, leaving many to take cover in interior rooms and tape up windows to protect against shattered glass, a 41-year-old resident said. He said the city’s subway hasn’t become widely used as a shelter.
Because of Iran’s ongoing internet shutdown, many people there rely on satellite TV, state media and word-of-mouth for news about the war, he said, speaking on condition of anonymity out of security fears.
—By Shirin Hakim in New York.
A senior Hezbollah official says fighting Israel is the only option
Mohammad Raad, the leader of Hezbollah’s bloc in the Lebanese parliament, also slammed the government for criticizing the militant group’s rocket attacks on Israel.
He made the remarks in a televised statement as top government officials urged the international community for a diplomatic resolution that maintains Lebanon’s commitment to disarming Hezbollah.
“Lebanon today is not choosing between war and peace, as some claim,” Raad said, “but between war and submission to the humiliating conditions that the enemy wants to impose on our government.”
“We will fight the enemy with our teeth and nails until we expel them from our land, in fulfillment of our religious duty,” he said.
Official says at least 7 mariners have been killed around the Strait of Hormuz
The head of the International Maritime Organization says they were killed in “recent” attacks on merchant vessels. Arsenio Dominguez spoke earlier Monday and said several other mariners had been injured, “some of them gravely.”
He did not say who was behind the attacks and urged shipping companies to use “maximum caution” in the region. He said all parties must respect the freedom of navigation.
Macron proposes a multinational mission to escort tankers once the war stops
The French president said he started discussing a French-led initiative that will involve European and non-European nations helping to escort oil and gas tankers with the aim of gradually reopening the Strait of Hormuz off Iran “as soon as possible after the most intense phase of the conflict is over.”
Macron said he talked with some other European nations and India about the proposal, during a visit to Cyprus.
“We are preparing this mission with our partners,” he said. The mission’s purpose would be “strictly peaceful and defensive”, he said and would come only when most strikes stop. “It is essential to our economies and to the global economy” to ensure freedom of navigation and maritime security in the region, he said.
Iran-backed Yemeni group welcomes selection of new ayatollah
The leader of Yemen’s Houthi rebels congratulated Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei on being selected as the new supreme leader in Iran, calling it a “significant achievement in these exceptional circumstances.”
In a statement, Abdul-Malik al-Houthi says the group is supporting Iran “against aggression and tyranny” without saying whether the group would join the war.
Iran has long backed Houthis, considered the strongest within Iran’s self-described “Axis of Resistance” that includes Lebanon’s Hezbollah group and Hamas. The Houthis follow a branch of Shiite Islam that is almost exclusively found in Yemen.
A priest is killed by Israeli shelling in southern Lebanon, state media says
Just a few days ago, Father Pierre al-Rai had appeared in a widely circulated video saying that he would not leave the village, despite the escalating conflict between Israel and Hezbollah militants in the border area.
“I am ready to die in my home, because it is my home,” he said in the video, adding that “the only weapons we carry are peace, goodness and love.”
There was no Israeli statement on his death. The Israeli military has issued several broad evacuation warnings telling residents in the area south of the Litani River to leave, as it is carrying out heavy bombardment that it says targets Hezbollah sites.
Residents of Qlayaa protested to demand the Lebanese army increase its presence around the town and prevent armed groups from entering the area, the National News Agency reported.
Britain’s defense secretary says UK is conducting air defense to support the UAE
John Healey said Typhoon jets successfully took out two drones, one over Jordan and the second heading to Bahrain. He did not give more details.
He also confirmed that the first U.S. bomber landed at an air base in England on Friday, after the U.K. gave the U.S. permission to use British bases for specific defensive operations.
Healey added Monday the destroyer HMS Dragon would set sail for the eastern Mediterranean “in the next couple of days,” where it would join U.S. air defense vessels.
Footage shows moment an Iranian missile explodes in Israel
In the CCTV released by Or Yehuda municipality, a man is seen walking next to a road as a huge explosion occurs. The man is then seen falling down, while another person rushes to help him seconds after. The municipality of Or Yehuda said Monday the man was seriously injured.
On Monday, Israel said another man was killed by Iranian missile fire in the same area, raising the country’s death toll to 11. This marked the first death from missiles in Israel in a week.
A top Iranian official says economic pain, not diplomacy, will end the war
A foreign policy adviser to the office of the supreme leader told CNN on Monday that Iran is prepared for a long war with the United States, ruling out that diplomacy could end the conflict that started over a week ago.
“I don’t see any room for diplomacy anymore,” said Kamal Kharazi in an interview from Tehran. “There’s no room unless the economic pressure would be built up to the extent that other countries would intervene to guarantee (the) termination of aggression of Americans and Israelis against Iran”.
Putin says Russia increases oil and gas supplies to ‘reliable partners’
President Vladimir Putin on Monday said Russia has “repeatedly warned that attempts to destabilize the situation in the Middle East will inevitably jeopardize” the global energy market, raising prices and limiting supplies.
The Russian leader emphasized that Moscow is a “reliable energy supplier” and will continue to supply oil and gas to “countries that themselves are reliable partners,” like those in the Asia-Pacific region or Slovakia and Hungary in Eastern Europe. Moreover, Russia is “increasing supplies” to its reliable partners, Putin said.
He reiterated that Russia was pondering diverting gas supplies from the European Union, where a full ban on Russian gas from 2027 was agreed, to other markets, but added that if “European buyers” change their mind, Moscow was ready to work with them.