TOP DEVELOPMENTS
As the West Asia conflict, triggered by US-Israeli strikes on Iran entered the eleventh day, oil prices soared passed $100 a barrel for the first time since the beginning of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
G7 'not there yet on oil reserves': French Finance Minister said Monday the G7 was "not there yet" in terms of any release of strategic oil reserves, after talks with his counterparts of the world's leading industrialised nations.
Trump news conference: US President Donald Trump said he would hold a news conference Monday, his first formal question-and-answer session with reporters since launching military operations against Iran.
Lebanon death toll: The toll from Israeli strikes on Lebanon rose to 486 people killed and 1,313 wounded since the start of fighting last week, the Lebanese health ministry said.
Iran death toll: Iran's health ministry said on Monday that more than 1,200 people had been killed, including around 200 women and 200 children under the age of 12 with more than 10,000 civilians injured.
Iran names Khamenei's successor: Iran's ruling clerics have appointed slain leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's son, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, as the country's new supreme leader, defying threats from the United States and Israel.
Crude oil prices surpass $100 a barrel: Oil prices eclipsed $100 per barrel for the first time in more than three and a half years Sunday as the Iran war hinders production and shipping in the Middle East.
Bahrain's interior ministry said early Tuesday an Iranian attack on a residential area in the capital Manama killed one person and injured others.
"Initial reports indicate one person died and others were injured in a blatant Iranian attack targeting a residential building in the capital," the ministry said.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Monday urged Iraq's leadership to keep protecting the US embassy after violent protests over the US-Israeli attack on neighboring Iran.
In a call with Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, Rubio "reiterated the importance of the Iraqi government taking all possible measures to safeguard US diplomatic personnel and facilities," State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott said.
Rubio also "strongly condemned terrorist attacks by Iran and Iran-aligned terrorist militia groups in Iraq, including in the Iraq Kurdistan Region," Pigott said.
The Israeli military said on Monday it had launched a wave of "broad strikes" on Tehran, the second of the day.
"For the second time today: the IDF (Israeli military) has begun a broad wave of strikes in Tehran... against terror targets," the military said in a statement.
UN chief Antonio Guterres's office warned Monday of "serious environmental consequences" from recent strikes on oil facilities and desalination plants in the Middle East, saying they pose significant threats to air quality and drinking water.
"We continue to raise the alarm over the humanitarian impact of escalating violence across parts of the Middle East, which is driving rising civilian casualties, damage to civilian infrastructure and growing displacement of people," the secretary-general's spokesman Stephane Dujarric told a press conference.
He added that the United Nations was "particularly concerned by the number of reports of recent strikes on oil facilities, which could have serious environmental consequences across the region, with immediate possible impacts on safe water, on air that people need to breathe, and on food."
US President Donald Trump said Monday that the war against Iran would be a "short-term excursion," while insisting the offensive would continue "until the enemy is totally and decisively defeated."
"We took a little excursion because we felt we had to do that to get rid of some people. And I think you'll see it's going to be a short-term excursion," Trump told a gathering of Republicans at his golf club in Doral, Florida.
A powerful explosion was heard in the Iranian capital just after midnight local time on Tuesday at the same time as aircraft were heard overhead, according to a report by AFP.
Several journalists dispersed across the city reported the blast, which was felt from many kilometres away. It was not immediately clear what had been hit.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian spoke by phone with his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday, after an incoming Iranian missile was intercepted in Turkey's airspace.
"The Islamic Republic of Iran has always declared its readiness to reduce tension in the region; provided that the airspace, soil and waters of our neighbours are not used to attack the Iranian people," Pezeshkian said in a statement about the call.
The missile was the second fired from Iran to be shot down in Turkish airspace in five days.
British warplanes have begun "defensive air sorties" in support of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and taken out drones elsewhere in the Middle East amid the ongoing war, the UK defence ministry said Monday.
The development came as Britain's response to the conflict was under criticism, including from the US president and the Cypriot government.
Wall Street stocks vaulted into positive territory Monday after President Donald Trump described the US-Israeli war with Iran as "pretty much" over without giving details of any solution to the conflict still raging in the Middle East.
All three major indices moved suddenly higher after the comments were reported, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average finishing 0.5 percent up at 47,740.80, a swing of 1,125 points from earlier in the day.
Since the US and Israel unleashed strikes on Iran on February 28, war has spread across the region and casualties have been reported in countries across the Middle East.
The figures are based on numbers released by governments, militaries, health authorities and rescue organisations in the affected countries.
Iran: Iran's health ministry said on Monday that more than 1,200 people had been killed, including around 200 women and 200 children under the age of 12 with more than 10,000 civilians injured.
Israel: Israeli first responders and the country's military have reported 13 people in total killed in Israel.
Lebanon: Lebanon's health ministry said on Monday that 486 people had been killed and 1,313 wounded.
The Gulf: Authorities in Gulf states and the United States' Central Command (CENTCOM) have reported 23 people killed in the neighbouring states since the start of the Iranian attacks.
Most of those killed were military or security personnel, including seven US service members, and 10 civilians.
Iraq: Pro-Iran fighters in Iraq said 16 of their members had been killed in air strikes they blamed on Israel and the United States.
In Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region, authorities said one airport guard was killed in a drone attack on Erbil airport, while at least two Iranian Kurdish fighters were killed in Iranian strikes.
Jordan: Jordan's military spokesman Brigadier General Mustafa Hayari said 14 people had been injured in various parts of the country due to falling debris from Iranian missiles and drones.
No deaths have been reported in Jordan.
Russia's President Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump on Monday discussed the Iran war and Ukraine conflict during a "frank and constructive" telephone call, the Kremlin said.
"The accent was placed on the situation surrounding the conflict with Iran and the bilateral negotiations underway with the representatives of the United States on settling the Ukrainian question," Putin's diplomatic advisor Yuri Ushakov was quoted as saying by Russian news agencies.
US President Donald Trump said Monday that Australia had agreed to grant asylum to some of Iran's visiting women's football team, amid fears they could face retaliation back home for not singing the national anthem before a match.
The gesture ahead of the team's Asian Cup match against South Korea last week was seen by many as an act of defiance against the Islamic republic just two days after the United States and Israel attacked it.
Israeli war with Iran was "pretty much" over, without giving details of any solution to the conflict still raging in the Middle East.
"I think the war is very complete, pretty much. They have no navy, no communications, they've got no air force," Trump told CBS News by phone, repeating battle damage assessments that he has given in previous days.
Trump told the US broadcaster that the United States was "very far" ahead of his initially stated war time frame of four or five weeks.
Global shipping company MSC announced Monday it was formally halting certain export shipments from the Gulf due to the Middle East war and that "all affected cargo will be discharged".
"In light of the ongoing and exceptional security situation in the Middle East... it is necessary to declare an 'End of Voyage' for certain export shipments" from Gulf ports, "whether located ashore or already onboard", the shipping giant said in a customer advisory.
The head of Hezbollah's parliamentary bloc Mohamed Raad vowed to continue fighting Israel "whatever the cost", on Monday, in remarks broadcast by Hezbollah's Al-Manar TV.
Defending his party, and blasting the Lebanese government, Raad said the group's goal is to "to drive the enemy out of our occupied land... And quite plainly, we have no other option to preserve honour, pride and dignity than the option of resistance".
His address came hours after Lebanese president Joseph Aoun lashed out at the political party and militant group, saying it "wanted to bring about the collapse of the Lebanese state".
Oman's Sultan Haitham bin Tariq on Monday congratulated Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei on his appointment as Iran's new supreme leader, the official Oman News Agency reported.
"His Majesty Sultan Haitham bin Tariq -- may God protect and preserve him -- sent a cable of congratulations to His Eminence Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei on the occasion of his selection as Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran," the agency said.
Oman was a mediator in recent talks between Iran and the United States, which collapsed during the war triggered by joint US-Israel strikes on Iran.
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun on Monday accused Hezbollah of working to "collapse" the state and expressed Beirut's readiness for "direct negotiations" with Israel, drawing the backing of his Syrian counterpart for his goal of disarming the Iran-backed group.
Lashing out at Hezbollah over its March 2 attack against Israel, which has drawn a devastating Israeli retaliation, Aoun told European officials "Whoever launched those missiles wanted to bring about the collapse of the Lebanese state, plunging it into aggression and chaos... all for the sake of the Iranian regime's calculations".
To stop the war, the Lebanese president proposed a four-point initiative and called on the international community to help implement it.
The United Arab Emirates welcomed on Monday the United States' decision to label the Muslim Brotherhood in Sudan a terrorist organisation
"The United Arab Emirates welcomed the announcement by the administration of US President Donald Trump to designate the Muslim Brotherhood in Sudan as a terrorist organisation," the foreign ministry said in a statement on X.
The UAE has been widely accused of arming the Sudanese paramilitary Rapid Support Forces -- at war with Sudan's army since April 2023 -- but has repeatedly denied the allegations. Sudan's army has also been accused of links to the Brotherhood, which it denies.
