Gulf countries reported new attacks Sunday morning, a day after Iran called for the evacuation of three major ports in the United Arab Emirates, threatening for the first time a neighboring country's non-U.S. assets.
Tehran accused the United States of using "ports, docks and hideouts" in the UAE to launch strikes on Kharg Island, home to the main terminal handling Iran's oil exports, without providing evidence, as the war showed no signs of ending.
U.S. President Donald Trump said he hoped allies would send warships to help secure the vital Strait of Hormuz.
Meanwhile, Israeli strikes have deepened Lebanon's humanitarian crisis, with more than 800 people killed and over 850,000 displaced.
Here is the latest:
Rockets strike near Baghdad airport for 2nd time in a day
Four rockets landed near Baghdad International Airport late Sunday, marking the second such incident in a day, an Iraqi security official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief the media.
Two militia sources said the rockets targeted Victoria Base, a former U.S. base next to the airport that still provides logistical support for American operations.
The attack followed an earlier strike that wounded four airport security personnel and staff. Iran-backed militias in Iraq have launched a series of attacks on U.S. facilities in the country since the U.S. and Israel launched strikes on Iran, triggering the ongoing war in the Middle East.
— By Qassim Abdul-Zahra
Israeli strikes kill 5 in southern Lebanon, health ministry says
One strike in the Tyre district on Sunday killed three people and wounded three others, Lebanon’s health ministry said. Another strike in the Marjeyoun district killed two people and wounded four others.
Israeli strikes have killed 850 people in Lebanon, including 107 children and 66 women, since the conflict between Hezbollah and Israel reignited on March 2 after Hezbollah fired a salvo of rockets toward northern Israel, the ministry said. It added that it also wounded 2026 people.
US crude oil surpasses $100 per barrel
The price of U.S. crude oil has gone above $100 per barrel as the Iran war continues to hinder shipping and production in the Middle East.
West Texas Intermediate, the light, sweet crude oil produced in the United States, was selling for about $101.02 a barrel shortly after trading resumed on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, or 2.3% more than its Friday close of $98.71.
The price for a barrel of Brent crude, the international standard, was trading at $ 10 6 . 39 Sunday, up 2 . 4%.
The price for both WTI and Brent has soared more than 40% since the start of the war. Attention is focused on the Strait of Hormuz, through which one-fifth of global oil exports normally pass.
Israel says it is striking Hezbollah in Beirut
The Israeli military said early Monday it is striking more Hezbollah infrastructure in Beirut. Moments before the announcement, a powerful strike hit Beirut’s southern suburbs.
There were no immediate reports of casualties. The Israeli army had issued evacuation orders for almost the entirety of those neighborhoods in Beirut as well as southern Lebanon, displacing over 800,000 people.
Britain’s prime minister speaks with Trump
A British spokeswoman says Keir Starmer’s call with Trump discussed “the importance of reopening the Strait of Hormuz to end the disruption to global shipping.” Starmer also spoke with Canada’s prime minister about it separately.
Trump on Saturday called on Britain and other countries to send warships to secure passage for vessels in the Strait of Hormuz off Iran
Iran’s internet blackout further deepens
An internet watchdog said Sunday that Iran’s internet blackout deepened, disrupting even semiofficial Iranian news organizations.
It was not immediately clear what caused the disruption.
“Connectivity rapidly collapses from 12:00 p.m. UTC,” Alp Toker, the founder of NetBlocks, told The Associated Press. Iranian state media social accounts that usually post frequently on X, including Fars News Agency, also abruptly stopped updating around the same time, coinciding with the disruption, he added.
This is the first time a disconnection at that scale happened during the war that is entering its third week, but Netblocks observed “a similar blackout during the early part of the blackout during Iran’s January protests, so it isn’t unprecedented.”
While the Iranian public have been heavily restricted from accessing the internet since the start of the war on Feb. 28, many Iranians were still able to get online using VPNs or Starlink connections. The latest disruption appears to have affected many of those routes, leaving significantly fewer users able to connect
Media reports 5th Iranian soccer team member gives up asylum in Australia
Australian Broadcasting Corp. reports a fifth member of the Iranian women’s soccer team who accepted a refugee visa to stay in Australia has left the country.
Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke’s office on Monday did not immediately confirm the news media report that the player departed on Sunday.
Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke’s office on Monday did not immediately confirm the news media report that the player departed on Sunday. The reported departure leaves two of an initial seven squad members in Australia.
Israel’s military says it has struck over 200 targets
Its statement Sunday said the targets it struck in western and central Iran over the past day included command centers and weapons storage and production sites.
German minister indicates his country won’t participate in a Strait of Hormuz mission now
Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul said on ARD television Sunday: “Will we soon be an active part of this conflict? No.”
Wadephul said that “we will only get security for the Strait of Hormuz … if there is a negotiated solution.”
He said he is skeptical about expanding the European Union’s naval mission in the Red Sea, called Operation Aspides, to the Strait of Hormuz because it hasn’t been effective in its current area.
Wadephul added: “It is completely clear that Europe always gives constructive support when it comes to securing sea routes, but I see neither an immediate necessity nor above all Germany participating.”
Iraqi agency: Rockets hit Baghdad airport and surroundings injuring 5
Iraq’s Security Media Cell, affiliated with the country’s security forces, said Sunday that Baghdad International Airport and its surroundings were hit by rockets, injuring four airport security personnel and staff, as well as an engineer.
Two security officials said a former U.S. base adjacent to the airport, which still provides logistical support to U.S. operations, was targeted with drones and Katyusha rockets.
Iran-backed militias in Iraq have launched a series of attacks on U.S. facilities in the country since the U.S. and Israel launched strikes on Iran, triggering the ongoing war in the Middle East.
The Security Media Cell added that the rocket launch platform was found hidden inside a vehicle in an area west of the capital and seized. It said that authorities have relieved a number of sector commanders and intelligence officers of their duties and initiated legal procedures over the incident.
Ahmed Laibi, spokesperson for the Ministry of Justice, said in a separate statement that attacks on the airport in recent days had landed near the al-Karkh Central Prison nearby “raising concerns regarding the impact on the security of a prison that houses high-risk terrorist inmates.”
— By Qassim Abdul-Zahra
Israel says Gaza’s crucial Rafah crossing will reopen
The military’s statement says the territory’s crossing with Egypt will open Wednesday for “limited” movement in both directions: people only, not cargo. It says procedures will be the same as before the crossing closed.
Israel closed Gaza’s crossings on the first weekend of the Iran war. Rafah has been critical for medical evacuations abroad.
UN says peacekeepers were fired on in southern Lebanon
The U.N. statement says the gunfire “likely by non-state armed groups” happened while peacekeepers were patrolling around their bases on Sunday. It says two patrols fired back and no peacekeepers were injured.
Hassett says Trump administration attacks on Iran have cost $12 billion
Director of the National Economic Council Kevin Hassett was speaking on CBS News’ Face the Nation on Sunday.
“The latest number I was briefed on was 12,” Hassett said.
Pentagon estimates provided to Congress said the war would cost $11.3 billion in its first week. Hassett did not specify the time frame for the $12 billion in spending.
Asked whether the U.S. will need to request more money from Congress, Hassett responded: “I think right now we’ve got what we need, whether we have to go back to Congress for more is something that I think that Russ Vought and OMB will look into.”
OMB is the United States Office of Management and Budget.
Iranian government shows journalists part of Tehran heavily damaged by a US-Israeli strike
A strike on the Javadieh neighborhood of southern Tehran on Friday hit a police station and several surrounding buildings.
Elham Movagghari, a resident of the area who spoke to journalists Sunday, said she was shocked by the attack.
“We were confused and didn’t know what had happened,” she said. “We just ran away.”
Another resident, Hossein Ghardashi, said the strike threw him across the room.
“When I got up and came to my senses, I saw that two or three pieces of glass had gone into my face and head” he said.
Italy’s chief of defense staff says a drone hit a base in Kuwait housing Italian and US forces
Gen. Luciano Portolano said the attack on the Ali Al Salem base occurred on Sunday morning and destroyed an Italian drone inside a shelter on the base.
No Italian personnel were injured, he said, in comments posted on X.
Italian troops are stationed at the base as part of a coalition task force combating the Islamic State militant group.
The Chief of Defense Staff’s post said the Italian task force’s assets “had been preemptively reduced” in recent days due to the ongoing war. It said some personnel remain at the base to carry out essential activities. It did not say how many Italians remain.
For residents of Israel’s north, the missile fire continues
Some Israelis in northern Israel have little faith their communities will soon quiet down, after seeing the last Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire falter and fall apart. They fear the conflict thundering ahead could continue beyond the Iran war.
“There was a war, there was an agreement, and today again another war and there will be another agreement, and another war, and another agreement,” said Ahmad Zbidat, a renovation foreman at a hotel in Metula, just across the border from Lebanon.
Some 100,000 Israeli troops have amassed along the U.N.-mandated Blue Line that divides the two countries, in an anticipated ground invasion.
Israeli police officer thanks citizens for showing ‘discipline’ and entering safe rooms
Security forces have flocked to the site where a missile fell in Tel Aviv, leaving a small crater in the ground.
It was one of at least 23 sites that the Israeli rescue service United Hatzalah said were damaged in one of several barrages from Iran on Sunday.
Shlomo Shlezinger, head of operations for the Israeli police, said a few cars and a motorcycle were damaged but no one was injured or killed at the site.
“Everyone was inside the safe rooms,” he said. “Thank you to all the civilians for their civilian discipline.”
UEFA cancels Argentina vs. Spain Finalissima in Qatar
European soccer’s governing body said Sunday that the security of the marquee game had been plunged into doubt by increasing tensions in the Middle East.
The Finalissima between South American champion Argentina and European champion Spain had been scheduled to take place in Doha on March 27.
Argentina and Spain were to play at Lusail Stadium, which staged the epic 2022 World Cup final. Argentina won a penalty shootout against France after Lionel Messi scored twice and Kylian Mbappé secured a hat trick in a thrilling 3-3 draw.
The violence in the Middle East has impacted international sport beyond the Finalissima. Formula 1's races in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, scheduled for April, have been called off due to the war, while Trump has suggested that Iran will not participate in this summer's World Cup that is co-hosted by the U.S.
Emergency stocks of oil ‘will soon start flowing to global markets,’ the International Energy Agency says
The Paris-based agency, which is helping to coordinate the international effort to lower prices, says its member countries in Asia and Oceania plan to release stocks “immediately” and that reserves from Europe and the Americas “will be made available starting from the end of March.”
“This emergency collective action, by far the largest ever, provides a significant and welcome buffer,” it says in a statement.
The IEA announced Wednesday that it will make 400 million barrels of oil available from members' emergency reserves — more than double the 182.7 million barrels that the IEA's 32 countries released in 2022 in response to Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
The IEA’s update on Sunday said its members have so far committed to making available a total of nearly 412 million barrels from government, industry and other stocks — of which 72% will be crude oil and the rest as oil products.
Israel’s prime minister shows the world he is alive and has only 10 fingers
Benjamin Netanyahu posted his latest video Facebook to seemingly clear up confusion over an earlier post. Some who watched the earlier video thought it was an AI creation because at one point he appeared to have more than 10 fingers, and speculated that the Israeli leader might have died.
In a video filmed in an Israeli cafe and posted online Sunday, Netanyahu picks up a cappuccino with showy ease and pivots to the camera.
“They are saying on the internet that the prime minister’s dead? I’m dying for coffee,” he said.
Then he spread the fingers on each hand to show he has only 10, and sipped his coffee.
Israel maintains it has enough interceptors to sustain air defense against Iran
An Israeli military source told The Associated Press on Sunday that the country has enough interceptors to continue defending its skies against missiles from Iran.
The source spoke on condition of anonymity in line with military protocol.
The comment appeared to be an effort to tamp down growing speculation that Israel’s vaunted air defense system is running low.
Interceptors are the missiles that Israel’s air defense system uses to destroy incoming rockets before they hit populated areas.
Egypt’s president calls Gulf leaders to discuss how to end conflict
President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi made a series of phone calls Sunday, speaking with Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani; Jordanian King Abdullah II; and UAE President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan.
Egypt’s foreign minister is touring the Gulf region.
El-Sissi said in a statement that Egypt is intensifying efforts seeking a de-escalation of tensions in the region.
Iranian foreign minister says there’s ‘no reason’ to talk with Trump’s envoys
Abbas Araghchi told CBS’ “Face the Nation” on Sunday that Iranian negotiators were in talks with U.S. envoys when the decision to attack his country was made.
Araghchi said “we don’t see any reason why we should talk with Americans” about how to end the war and that Iran has had no “good experience talking with Americans.”
Araghchi says Iran is “open to countries who want to talk to us about the safe passage of their vessels” through the Strait of Hormuz and has been approach by “a number’’ of nations about that. He didn’t name them.
Asked about the fate of his country’s nuclear material, the minister said it was under rubble from attacks on Iran’s nuclear facilities and “we have no plan to recover” it from there.
Israel says the brother of a man who attacked a Michigan synagogue was a Hezbollah commander killed in an airstrike
The military said it had struck Ibrahim Ghazali — the brother of Lebanese-born Ayman Ghazali, who attacked the synagogue last week — because he managed weapons for a Hezbollah unit that fired rockets at Israel.
The Associated Press was not able to verify that Ibrahim Ghazali was a militant.
A Lebanese official, who requested anonymity because he could not publicly discuss details of the airstrike, confirmed that Ibrahim Ghazali was killed.
The official told AP that Ghazali’s children, Ali and Fatima, and brother, Kassim, were also killed in the strike that hit their home just after sunset.
Authorities have said 41-year-old Ayman Ghazali attacked the Temple Israel synagogue outside Detroit after learning that four of his family members had been killed in an Israeli strike.
By Bassem Mroue
Funeral held for Turkish truck driver killed in missile strike in Iran
Crowds gathered Sunday for the burial of 29-year-old Huseyin Firat in Reyhanli, southern Turkey, the Demiroren News Agency reported.
He died from wounds sustained in a March 6 attack on a convoy returning from Afghanistan to Turkey, according to Turkish media reports.
Video footage taken days later showed his vehicle shredded by shrapnel and a large crater near the city of Zanjan, in northwest Iran.
The US expects other countries to back American efforts on Hormuz, Wright says
U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright says he’s been “in dialogue” with some of the countries that Trump hopes will send warships to counter Iran’s efforts to restrict shipping in the Strait of Hormuz. He’s not saying which ones.
Asked on NBC’s “Meet the Press” whether shipping through the critical waterway is safe at the moment, Wright responded: “No, it is not.”
He noted that many other countries, especially in Asia, are more dependent than the United States on energy supplies that are shipped through the strait.
“So of course the whole world will be united on the need to open Hormuz and clearly we will have the support of other nations to achieve that objective,” he said.
Wright said he expected China to “be a constructive partner” in efforts to reopen the strait.
Egypt pledges unity with Qatar and other Gulf nations that have been struck by Iran
Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi promised “full support and solidarity” in a message to Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani.
Americans will feel the effects of energy disruption for some weeks yet, Trump’s energy secretary says
Chris Wright told NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday that there’s been a “short-term disruption’ to the flow of energy and that “Americans are feeling it right now. Americans will feel it for a few more weeks.”
Asked whether the war will be over in a matter of weeks, Wright said: “I think that’s the likely time frame, yes.”
He said gas prices will start to come back down after the war is over.
“At the end, we will have removed the greatest risk to global energy supplies. We’ll go to a world more abundant in energy, more affordable energy.”
Asked about whether pump prices will fall below $3 per gallon by the summer travel season, Wright said: “there’s a very good chance that’ll be true. There’s no guarantees in war.”
A violent storm hammers displaced Lebanese people on Beirut’s waterfront
The displaced struggled to keep their tents intact as pouring rain and fierce winds hammered the city’s downtown waterfront area Sunday.
An AP team on the ground witnessed one tent succumb to the winds, blowing away entirely.
Fadi Younes, one displaced man who fled to the beach from Beirut’s southern suburbs, found himself battling with his collapsed tent. He had already rebuilt it once after a storm two days ago, he said.
He gestured to new mattresses, now waterlogged, that he bought after the last ones got soaked through.
“I hope that today things in the country will be set right and everyone can return to their homes. A person only truly feels at ease in their own home,” he said.
Younes is among more than 830,000 people displaced by Israeli strikes and evacuation warnings in Lebanon. The Norwegian Refugee Council says that amounts to one in every seven people.
UN Ambassador Mike Waltz says Trump is weighing options to hit Iran’s oil hub
Waltz was asked on CNN Sunday whether the U.S. president was prepared to target oil facilities on Kharg Island, which handles 90% of Iran’s crude oil exports, and if so, if he was worried that could risk even more of an escalation in the war.
“President Trump’s not going to take any options off the table,” Waltz said. “I would certainly think he would maintain that optionality if he wants to take down their energy infrastructure.”
U.S. Central Command posted on X Saturday that it had struck military targets on the island, but preserved the oil infrastructure.
Iran says strategic strait open to all vessels except the US and its allies
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi’s comments about the reopening of the crucial Strait of Hormuz came in an interview with the London-based Al-Araby al-Jadeed published Sunday.
“The Strait of Hormuz is not generally closed, but only to the U.S. and its allies, and we will continue this policy as long as the attacks continue,” he was quoted as saying.
Aluminium Bahrain to gradually stop some production
The world’s largest aluminum smelter outside China said Sunday it would gradually shut down nearly one-fifth of its production capacity as exports remain blocked through the Strait of Hormuz.
Aluminum Bahrain, or Alba, promised a “controlled and safe shutdown strategy.”
Smelters run at high temperatures and take time to shut down or restart without endangering equipment or damage the containers that hold molten metals.
The company told buyers last week it couldn’t meet its obligations. The timeline of a phased partial shutdown means global aluminum supplies could remain tight even if transit through the Strait of Hormuz quickly returns to normal, keeping upward pressure on prices for products such as construction materials and cars.
Aluminum and oil make up a big part of Bahrain’s economy and limits on production and export threaten to deepen woes in the Persian Gulf Island nation being hit with Iranian airstrikes.
The United Arab Emirates said it was attacked Sunday by 4 ballistic missiles and 6 drones from Iran
There was no immediate word on damage or casualties.
Latest Iranian missile attack on Israel injures 2 and damages apartment building
It was one of the multiple barrages targeting Israel Sunday. It damaged an apartment building in the central Israeli ultra-Orthodox city of Bnei Brak.
The country’s Magen David Adom rescue services said that one man was injured by glass shrapnel. Photos and video showed a blackened hole in place of the apartment’s windows.
Magen David Adom also said paramedics were treating another man in the nearby city of Ramat Gan who sustained blast injuries. It comes after an earlier barrage hit 23 sites in the Tel Aviv area and injured two people.
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