The West Asia conflict, triggered by US-Israeli strikes on Iran, entered its eleventh day as attacks across the Gulf region roiled markets, upended global energy and transport sectors and pushed oil prices past $100 a barrel for the first time in years, even as Washington and Tehran remained poles apart on when the war might end.
TOP DEVELOPMENTS
Trump says war will end 'soon': US President Donald Trump pushed the idea of the Iran war ending soon, but remained vague on a timeline. further warning of 'much, much harder' if Tehran blocks oil supplies.
Fight 'as long as needed': Iran’s foreign minister Abbas Araghchi said on Tuesday Tehran is prepared to continue attacks for "as long as necessary" and ruled out talks, after Trump said the war would end "very soon". The Revelutionary Guards said Iran will "determine the end of the war."
War 'not done yet': Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned that the country's military offensive against Iran was "not done yet", saying the operation was degrading Iran's clerical leadership.
US to waive some oil sanctions: Trump said the US will waive some sanctions on oil to boost supply and bring down prices, due to market turmoil over the war. He added that Washington may keep sanctions lifted on unspecified countries if the war came to an end.
Israeli strikes in Lebanon continue: Israel struck southern and eastern Lebanon overnight at the IDF claimed that it had targetted Hezbollah’s financial arm, al-Qard Al-Hasan.
Death toll: Iran’s health ministry said on Monday that over 1,200 people had been killed, including about 200 women and 200 children under 12, with more than 10,000 civilians injured. In Lebanon, the health ministry said Israeli strikes had killed 486 people and wounded 1,313 since fighting began last week.
Sirens sounded in Jerusalem on Tuesday after Israel's military warned of incoming missiles from Iran, AFP journalists reported.
The warning came as the US-Israeli war against Iran entered its 11th day, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu saying Israel was "not done yet" with its military campaign.
The Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas has set up a committee to review supplies of commercial cooking gas as the hospitality sector experiences a shortage of liquefied petroleum gas cylinders.
India relies heavily on oil and gas shipped through the Strait of Hormuz. Iran has attacked several ships in the strait and threatened any ships that try to pass through, effectively closing it.
Industry groups in India say restaurants in some major cities including Mumbai and Bengaluru are struggling to secure cooking gas cylinders. They warn some eateries could shut within days if supplies are not restored.
Indian authorities have prioritized LPG supplies for household use, tightening availability for commercial users such as hotels and restaurants.
Israel's military said on Tuesday it would soon strike Hezbollah infrastructure in the southern Lebanese cities of Tyre and Sidon, warning residents to move away from targeted buildings.
"Urgent warning to the residents of Tyre and Sidon. The IDF will soon attack military infrastructure belonging to the terrorist organisation Hezbollah," one of the military's Arabic-language spokesmen, Avichay Adraee, posted on X.
"We urge residents of the buildings marked in red on the two attached maps and the nearby buildings: you are located near buildings used by Hezbollah. For your safety, you must evacuate immediately and move at least 300 metres away," he added.
Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned that the country's military offensive against Iran was "not done yet", saying the operation was degrading Iran's clerical leadership.
"Our aspiration is to bring the Iranian people to cast off the yoke of tyranny... ultimately, it depends on them. But there is no doubt that with the actions taken so far, we are breaking their bones -- and we are not done yet," Netanyahu said during a visit to the National Health Command Centre on Monday night, according to a statement published Tuesday.
Iran’s judiciary is warning its local media about what and how it reports as the war with Israel and the United States goes on. That was a comment made by judiciary spokesman Asghar Jahangir as reported by the state-run IRNA news agency.
It said 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.
Egypt raised domestic fuel prices by up to 30 percent on Tuesday, blaming "exceptional" global energy pressures caused by the Middle East war, which has disrupted oil supplies and shipping routes.
The increases, announced by the petroleum ministry, apply to gasoline, diesel and natural gas used in vehicles.
"This comes in light of the exceptional situation resulting from the geopolitical developments in the Middle East region and their direct impacts on the global energy markets," the ministry said in a statement.
Turkey said Tuesday a Patriot missile defence system was being deployed in the country's centre, a day after NATO intercepted a second ballistic missile fired from Iran in Turkish airspace.
"A Patriot system assigned to support the protection of our airspace is being deployed in Malatya," said a defence ministry statement. The area is known as the location of the Kurecik air base, which houses a NATO early-warning radar system that can detect Iranian missile launches.
The Israeli military on Tuesday reiterated the call for all residents of southern Lebanon to evacuate their homes as it planned to “operate forcefully” in the southern area against Hezbollah.
Israel issued similar warnings during its war with Hezbollah in 203-2024, displacing hundreds of thousands of people.
Iran's Revolutionary Guards said on Tuesday they targeted a US base in Iraq's Kurdistan region as the war with the United States and Israel continues.
"The headquarters of the invading US army in Al-Harir Air Base in the Kurdistan region was targeted with five missiles," the Guards said in a statement on their Telegram channel.
The Israeli military said on Tuesday that it had completed a series of strikes targeting Hezbollah’s financial arm, al-Qard Al-Hasan.
Israel says Hezbollah uses al-Qard al-Hasan to finance its military activities.
Israel targeted several of the group’s branches in southern and eastern Lebanon last week.
Four fighters from the Tehran-backed Kataeb Imam Ali group were killed on Tuesday in air strikes blamed on the US in northern Iraq, the armed faction announced. The group said its fighters were killed in an "American aggression" on their position in the Debs district in Kirkuk province.
The West Asia war has unleashed a torrent of AI-driven disinformation. Beyond entirely fabricated visuals, another kind of content is spreading: authentic images "enhanced" in ways that experts say are subtly distorting perceptions of what's happening on the ground.
In one striking photo, a kneeling US pilot is confronted by a Kuwaiti local, moments after parachuting from his jet. The high-quality image was widely shared online and even published by media outlets. Yet the pilot appears to have only four fingers on each hand.
Fact-checkers ran the photo through AI detection tools and found it contained a SynthID, an invisible watermark meant to identify images made with Google AI. But that's not the whole story.
The United Arab Emirates said it was intercepting a drone and missile attack from Iran on Tuesday.
"UAE air defences are currently responding to incoming missile and drone threats from Iran," the defence ministry posted on X.
Iran's foreign minister said Tuesday his country was prepared to continue attacks for as long as necessary and ruled out talks after President Donald Trump said the war with Iran would be over "very soon".
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told US broadcaster PBS News that his country was prepared to continue missile attacks and that negotiations with the United States were "no longer on the agenda."
Israeli strikes hit southern and eastern Lebanon overnight, state media reported on Tuesday, as Israel targets Iran-backed Lebanese group Hezbollah.
"Enemy warplanes launched strikes overnight on the towns of Almajadel, Shaqra, and Srifa," the National News Agency (NNA) reported, adding strikes had also taken place in the Bekaa Valley.
Air raid sirens were activated across Bahrain on Monday, with the Ministry of Interior urging residents to head to the nearest safe place and remain calm.
An airstrike hit a camp for Iran-backed militias in northern Iraq early Tuesday, killing at least five people, officials said.
The attack also wounded four other militants, said the officials.
Iran’s Mehr news agency says there’s been a US missile attack on a school in the central city of Khomeyn.
It identified the site as Dr Hafez Khomeni School and said a number of residential homes around the building were damaged.
There was no immediate report of casualties.
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.
Trump says war 'pretty much' complete: US President Donald Trump pushed the idea of the Iran war ending soon, but remained vague on a timeline. further warning of 'much, much harder' if Tehran blocks oil supplies.
Iran's new supreme leader: Large crowds have gathered across Iran in support of new Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei, as US and Israel’s deadly bombardment continues.
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.
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.
The Lebanese armed group says it launched a missile attack on the Givaa drone control base, east of the Israeli city of Safed and fired rockets at the Yiftah barracks near the border in the early hours of this morning.
Hezbollah also said it carried out a drone attack on the Tziporit base east of Haifa on Monday morning and a missile attack on the Tel Hashomer base near Tel Aviv in the evening.
US Vice President JD Vance on Monday attended the dignified transfer ceremony for the seventh soldier killed in the Middle East war.
US Army Sgt. Benjamin Pennington, 26, died March 8 from injuries sustained in a March 1 strike on Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia.
Pennington's hometown was Glendale, Kentucky, and he was assigned to the 1st Space Battalion, 1st Space Brigade out of Fort Carson, CO.
Egypt hiked fuel prices by up to 17% on Tuesday as the war in the Middle East sent prices of oil soaring.
According to the Petroleum Ministry the cost of a liter 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%.
Syria said Iran-backed Hezbollah had fired artillery shells into its territory from Lebanon overnight, state media reported on Tuesday.
Syrian army officials said artillery shells fired from Lebanon landed near the town of Serghaya, west of Damascus, the state news agency SANA reported.
The US president pledged aggressive action against Iran if it continues to block the shipment of oil in the Strait of Hormuz.
“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 posted on social media.
“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 president said his threat was a “gift” to China, among other nations, because it relies on oil from the Middle East.
The paramilitary Revolutionary Guard said on Tuesday that the end of the war will be determined by Iran.
Spokesperson Ali Mohammad Naini said in a statement published in various Iranian state media and apparently in response to Trump’s remarks Monday that
“Iran will determine when the war ends.”
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.
