Donald Trump said he was surprised that US Gulf allies had been targeted by Iran in retaliation for the US-Israeli war, but added that the US might carry out more strikes on a vital Iranian oil export hub “just for fun,” claiming US attacks had “totally demolished” most of Kharg Island.
Joint US-Israeli strikes have killed more nearly 1,400 people, including 223 women and 202 children, over the past two weeks. The latest attack hit a factory in the central Iranian city of Isfahan, killing at least 15 people, with Iran's Revolutionary Guards vowing to target Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Gulf states reported new missile and drone attacks after Tehran threatened to widen its retaliatory campaign and called for the evacuation of three major ports in the United Arab Emirates. Sirens sounded in Bahrain ahead of an anticipated assault, while Saudi Arabia’s defence ministry said its systems intercepted and destroyed 10 drones over the kingdom’s capital, Riyadh, and its eastern region.
Lebanon’s health ministry said Israeli strikes have killed 850 people since the start of the war, including 65 women, 106 children, and 31 paramedics.
23:00 The New York Times report said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu proceeded with strikes on Iranian oil storage facilities despite advice from US President Donald Trump and the commander of US Central Command to avoid targeting energy infrastructure.
According to US officials, Netanyahu believed that setting Iranian oil tanks ablaze could create turmoil within Iran’s leadership and weaken its ability to sustain the war.
The bombing of the oil storage facilities was followed by Iranian retaliatory attacks on energy sites across the region, raising fears of wider disruptions to global oil supplies.
Meanwhile, US officials said a mission to escort commercial ships through the Strait of Hormuz could take weeks to organise before it becomes operational.
Officials also claimed that Iran’s Revolutionary Guard may retain nuclear fuel as leverage in future negotiations with Washington as the conflict unfolds.
22:30 US President Donald Trump and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer spoke Sunday about the "importance" of reopening the Strait of Hormuz, currently blocked by Iran, the UK leader's office said.
"The leaders discussed the ongoing situation in the Middle East and the importance of reopening the Strait of Hormuz to end the disruption to global shipping, which is driving up costs worldwide," a Downing Street spokeswoman said in a statement.
On Saturday, Trump urged other countries such as China, France, Japan, South Korea and Britain to send warships to help the United States secure the strait.
Iran's military is effectively blocking the crucial waterway in retaliation for US-Israeli strikes, aiming to damage the world economy and pressure Washington as oil prices soar.
Starmer also "expressed his condolences for the American service personnel who have lost their lives during the conflict," the statement said.
22:00 Tehran has had “good cooperation with these countries: politically, economically, even militarily,” Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told MS NOW.
Russia and China are aiding Iran in a number of ways, including by providing "military cooperation," Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said.
According to Politico on March 15, Araghchi called Russia and China strategic partners for Tehran during its war with the US and Israel, in an interview with broadcaster MS NOW on Saturday.
"We have had close cooperation in the past, which continues, and that includes military cooperation as well," said the foreign minister. Iran has had "good cooperation with these countries: politically, economically, even militarily," he added.
21:00 The Israeli military said it still has thousands of targets to hit across Iran, with new ones identified every day, as the war entered its third week.
"We have a precise plan. We still have thousands of targets in Iran, and we are identifying new targets every day," military spokesman Brigadier General Effie Defrin said in a televised briefing.
20:30 Several drones and rockets targeted a military base at the Baghdad airport complex, which also houses a US diplomatic facility, three security sources told AFP.
"Nine attacks with drones and rockets targeted the Victory military base in the airport," a security official said, with an AFP journalist reporting hearing explosions in the capital.
Another security source said at least three drones were downed. It remains unclear if the military base was directly hit.
20:00 Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu posted a short video addressing rumours circulating on social media that he had died.
“I’m dead for coffee,” Netanyahu said in a clip posted on his official account on X showing him receiving a steaming cup of coffee at a cafe outside Jerusalem.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) on Sunday threatened to kill Netanyahu as the US-Israel war on Iran entered its third week.
“IRGC vows to pursue and kill ‘child-killer’ Netanyahu if he is still alive,” Iran’s state news agency Islamic Republic News Agency said in a post on X.
Iranians attend the funeral of Iran's Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) commanders, army commanders and others killed in the early days of the United States and Israeli strikes on Iran, at Enghelab Square in Tehran. AFP
19:00 Strategic oil reserves will be released "immediately" in Asia and Oceania, and as early as the end of March in America and Europe, the International Energy Agency said Sunday.
IEA members agreed on March 11 to tap oil stockpiles to cushion the surge in prices caused by the war in the Middle East, in by far the largest-ever response of its kind.
"Individual implementation plans have been submitted to the IEA by Member countries. These plans indicate that stocks will be made available by IEA Member countries in Asia Oceania immediately," said the IEA.
"Stocks from IEA Member countries in the Americas and Europe will be made available starting from the end of March," it added.
The IEA said a total of 271.7 million barrels of government-managed stocks would be released worldwide.
"The war in the Middle East is creating the largest supply disruption in the history of the global oil market," it said.
It said the emergency stockpile release, the sixth in the history of the global energy body, and the first since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, was a "significant and welcome buffer."
The announced releases have not had a significant impact on the price of oil, which hovers around $100 a barrel, the highest since 2022 and up from below $70 before the start of the war.
The IEA added that "the most important factor in ensuring a return to stable flows is the resumption of regular transit of shipping through the Strait of Hormuz."
Iran has effectively blocked the strategic strait since the war started on February 28 with US-Israeli air strikes on Iranian targets.
"Adequate insurance mechanisms and physical protection for shipping are key to the resumption of flows," the IEA said.
This photograph shows the General Cargo SIDER SONJA and the Chemical Tanker CORAL STAR waiting in the Grand Port Maritime de Marseille-Fos in Fos-sur-Mer, off the Mediterranean coast of southern France. AFP
18:00 Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Iran was not interested in talks with the United States, pushing back on President Donald Trump's stance that Tehran wants a deal to end the war.
"We are stable and strong enough. We are only defending our people," Araghchi told CBS's "Face The Nation," in an interview aired Sunday.
"We don't see any reason why we should talk with Americans, because we were talking with them when they decided to attack us," the top diplomat said.
Araghchi added that Iran was ready to talk to countries that want to negotiate for selected oil tankers to pass through the key Strait of Hormuz export route.
"I cannot mention any country in particular, but we have been approached by some countries that want to have a safe passage for their vessels," he said.
17:30 At least eight people were injured in Israel following repeated missile launches from Iran, at least two of which contained cluster munitions according to Israeli authorities.
By late midday on Sunday, seven missile salvos were launched from Iran toward the State of Israel, some of which were intercepted.
The incident follows media reports that Israel was running low on missile interceptors crucial to its air defences.
Citing US officials, news outlet Semafor had reported that Israel had informed the United States that it was "running critically low on ballistic missile interceptors," as the US-Israeli war against Iran entered its third week.
An Israeli military source on Sunday denied the reports in remarks to AFP, saying, "As of now, there is no interceptor shortage...We are continuously monitoring the situation."
16:45 Italy's military said there had been a drone attack on the Ali Al Salem airbase in Kuwait, hosting Italian and US forces, but said all its personnel were safe.
"This morning, Ali Al Salem base in Kuwait was the target of a drone attack that hit a shelter housing a remotely piloted aircraft of the Italian Task Force Air (TFA), which was destroyed," Chief of the Defence General Staff, General Luciano Portolano, said in a statement posted by the military on X.
16:08 Mehr News Agency says Iran’s Intelligence Ministry has identified 18 individuals who attempted to send photos of bombing sites and vital targets to Israel. It said earlier that it detains 20 people affiliated with the Israeli regime in Urmia.
15:51 The UAE air defenses says intercepted 4 ballistic missiles and 6 drones, the UAE’s Ministry of Defence said in a statement shared on social media.
It added that air defences have “intercepted 298 ballistic missiles, 15 cruise missiles, and 1,606 drones” since the start of the US-Israel war on Iran.
15:46 Lebanon's health ministry said that Israeli attacks have killed 850 people in the country during the two weeks of Israel’s aggression.
The ministry statement said the toll included 66 women, 107 children and 32 health workers, with 2,105 other people wounded.
15:33 Trump’s energy secretary Chris Wright told NBC 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.
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 guarantee in war.”
15:29 Iran says the strategic strait is 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.
“The Strait of Hormuz is not generally closed, but only to the US and its allies, and we will continue this policy as long as the attacks continue,” he was quoted as saying.
15:04 US Ambassador to the UN Mike Waltz says Trump is weighing options to hit Iran’s oil hub.
Waltz was asked on CNN whether the US president was prepared to target oil facilities on Kharg Island, which handles 90 percent of Iran’s crude oil exports, and if so, if he was worried that 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.”
US Central Command posted on X that it had struck military targets on the island, but preserved the oil infrastructure.
14:28 Lebanese resistance movement Hezbollah said its fighters targeted Israel's Palmachim air base south of Tel Aviv with "an advanced missile," as Israel has kept up strikes on Lebanon.
In a statement, Hezbollah said it targeted the Palmachim air base, around 140 kilometres (85 miles) from the Lebanese-Israeli border, with "an advanced missile," after claiming several other attacks on sites in northern Israel and on Israeli troops in Lebanon near the frontier.
13:43 Iranian state TV says the 54th wave of Operation True Promise was launched, using the Sejjil ballistic missile for the first time since the war began.
Iranian attacks have occurred roughly every 90 minutes since last night, Israel Channel 12 said. Meanwhile, Air raid sirens sounded in Safed, Avivim, and several towns in the Upper Galilee after a drone infiltration was detected.
13:36 Pope Leo XIV renewed his appeal for peace in the Middle East, calling for an end to the war and reopening of dialogue.
"Dear brothers and sisters, for two weeks the peoples of the Middle East have suffered the atrocious violence of war," the US pontiff said at his weekly Angelus prayer at the Vatican.
"Thousands of innocent people have been killed, and countless others have been forced to flee their homes.
"I renew my closeness to all those who have lost loved ones in the attacks that have hit schools, hospitals, and residential areas."
Leo said the situation in Lebanon was a particular cause for concern.
"On behalf of the Christians of the Middle East and of all women and men of goodwill, I address those responsible for this conflict," he said in Italian.
"Cease fire! Let paths of dialogue be reopened!
"Violence can never lead to the justice, stability and peace that people await."
13:08 Israel said no direct talks were planned with Lebanon to end the war, a day after a Lebanese official said Beirut was preparing a delegation to negotiate with Israel.
Asked whether Israel was set to hold such talks, Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said, "No."
Yesterday, a Lebanese official told AFP that preparations were underway for potential negotiations with Israel, but that Beirut was waiting for an "Israeli commitment to a truce."
A report by Axios claiming that Paris had submitted a proposal to end the war in Lebanon, which would require the Lebanese government to recognize Israel, was denied by the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which said there “is no French plan.”
An Israeli self-propelled howitzer artillery gun fires rounds towards southern Lebanon from a position in the upper Galilee in northern Israel near the border on March 15, 2026. AFP
12:40 Israeli occupation army issued new forced displacement orders for several neighbourhoods in Beirut’s southern suburbs ahead of Israeli attacks.
It said the warning especially applies to residents of Haret Hreik, Ghobeiry, Laylaki, Bourj El-Barajneh, Ghadir Perimeter, and Shiyah.
12:35 Israel has approved an $827 million emergency budget allocation for military purchases, Israeli media reported.
The funds will be drawn from the state budget, totalling $222 billion and approved by the government on 12 March; it is expected to be adopted by the Knesset by 31 March, according to the reports.
12:30 Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty headed to the Qatari capital, Doha, at the start of a tour of several Gulf Arab states aimed at coordinating positions, consulting with regional partners, and discussing the rapidly unfolding developments in the region.
12:23 Switzerland said it refused permission for two overflights by US reconnaissance planes “in the context of the war in Iran.”
The government said Switzerland’s neutrality law forbids overflights by parties to a conflict for military purposes related to that conflict. However, it allows humanitarian and medical flights, as well as flights unrelated to the conflict.
Switzerland said it gave clearance for two US transport aircraft to fly over the country on Sunday and for a newly serviced plane to transit on Tuesday.
12:15 Overnight Israeli strikes on southern Lebanon killed at least four people, the Lebanese government said.
Lebanon's state-run National News Agency (NNA) said Israel struck "an apartment in a residential building" in a northern district of the coastal city of Sidon, killing one person and causing a fire.
Israeli army tanks deploy at a position in the Upper Galilee in northern Israel near the border with Lebanon. AFP
To the southeast of Sidon, in the village of Al-Qatrani, three people were killed in an overnight Israeli strike, according to Lebanon's health ministry.
According to Lebanon's health ministry, Israeli airstrikes have killed 826 people in Lebanon since the start of the latest war.
An Israeli self-propelled howitzer artillery gun fires rounds towards southern Lebanon from a position in the upper Galilee in northern Israel near the border. AFP
12:00 Iran launched more missiles toward Israel, according to the Israeli army, which says its defence systems are operating to intercept them, including on Eilat, in northern Israel, while the Israeli Ambulance Service said at least three Israelis were injured due to the Iranian missile attack on southern Tel Aviv.
Bomb disposal experts are deployed at several sites in Tel Aviv where missile fragments landed following the latest barrage, Israeli police said.
Israeli security forces and first responders inspect a building hit by an Iranian projectile strike in Bnei-Brak, on the eastern outskirts of Tel Aviv. AFP
Iran has launched its 53rd wave of attacks, targeting sites in Israel and three US bases with missiles and drones in the Gulf.
Iran's army said it had targeted a police unit and a satellite communications centre in Israel with drone strikes.
In a statement carried by the official IRNA news agency, the army said, "It has targeted the security centres and police headquarters of the Zionist terrorist regime, including the regime's special police unit called 'Lahav 433' and the 'Gilat Defence' satellite communications centre with powerful drone attacks."
According to the Israeli Broadcasting Authority, the United States has begun operating an air bridge to deliver additional ammunition to the Israeli Air Force, despite Israel’s foreign minister stating that the country is not facing a shortage of interceptor missiles.
Meanwhile, Israel's army said in a post on X that it had launched a wave of “extensive strikes” across western Iran.
Israel claims it is striking the “infrastructure” of the Iranian regime, but it has killed more than one thousand Iranian civilians in its attacks over the last two weeks.
11:59 The Iranian Tasnim news agency reported that 153 health facilities across the country have been damaged in US-Israeli attacks.
The report said Kermanshah University, in western Iran, suffered the most damage among medical universities.
Ten people, three employees and seven members of the public, were reportedly killed in the attacks.
11:55 The International Organization for Migration said deteriorating conditions in Iranian cities were “driving increasingly complex mobility patterns.”
It says the destruction of homes and facilities that provide basic services is pushing many Iranians to northern provinces, where they think they could be safer.
The UN agency said people have been displaced to more than 20 provinces and that shelters were facing strain throughout Iran.
Iranians are also fleeing to neighbouring states, the agency said, including nearly 32,000 to Afghanistan and nearly 4,000 to Pakistan, even though airports and most border crossings, especially to Iraq, are closed.
11:49 Bahrain said its air defences have intercepted 125 missiles and 211 drones since the war with Iran began.
The small island nation, home to the US Navy’s Fifth Fleet, has been among the most affected by Iranian strikes, which have hit ports, a hotel, a refinery, and a water desalination plant. At least one person has been killed in the attacks.
11:41 Tankers continue to load oil on Iran’s Kharg Island.
A tanker was seen loading oil on Iran’s Kharg Island, two days after the US struck military facilities there.
The vessel-tracking platform TankerTrackers said seven more tankers are seen at the anchorage. Five had already loaded fuel oil, while two are waiting to load, according to satellite imagery. It was not immediately clear who the tankers belonged to.
11:37 The US State Department ordered nonessential government employees and family members of all government employees to leave Oman due to "safety risks."
Yesterday, the US embassy in Baghdad told all American citizens to leave Iraq immediately, reversing its guidance from just 24 hours earlier, which had urged them to maintain a “low profile” but not to evacuate.
11:23 In his interview with Al-Araby Al-Jadeed, Abbas Araghchi added that Iran’s new Supreme Leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, is in good health and oversees the situation.
"The leader of the revolution is in good health and fully in control of the situation," the Iranian top diplomat said.
"The situation in Iran is stable, with no splits in state institutions or the military," he emphasized.
11:22 Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told Arabic-language media outlet Al-Araby Al-Jadeed that countries in the region were putting forward ideas to end the war as part of mediation efforts, and that Iran was "ready to study any proposals."
He said his country is ready to form a committee with countries in the region to investigate who was behind strikes in civilian or residential areas in the Middle East. He denied Iran had targeted such areas.
Araghchi said lines of diplomatic communication were open with Gulf states, including Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and Oman.
He said that the war will only end when Tehran can be certain it will not be restarted.
"This war will end when we are certain it will not be repeated and that reparations will be paid. We experienced this last year: Israel attacked, then the United States... they regrouped and attacked us again," Araghchi added, referring to Iran's war with Israel and the US in June 2025.
"We have ample evidence of this: satellite imagery and electronic surveillance demonstrate that US bases in this region are being used for attacks," he insisted
Earlier, he told his French counterpart, Jean-Noel Barrot, during a phone call, that no country should escalate the conflict.
Araghchi called on other countries to "refrain from any action that could lead to escalation and expansion of the conflict," according to an Iranian foreign ministry statement.
He added that the United States and Israel are the main causes of insecurity in the region and the Strait of Hormuz.
His remarks came after US President Donald Trump called for other nations' warships to help protect world oil supplies passing through the Strait of Hormuz, which has been virtually blocked by the threat of attacks.
He said Iran’s actions target only the military bases and installations of aggressors and should not be considered attacks on regional states.
11:09 Another three members of Iran's women’s soccer team who accepted humanitarian visas to stay in Australia have decided to return to their homeland, Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke said.
The departure leaves three of the initial seven squad members in Australia.
“Overnight, three members of the Iranian Women’s Football Team made the decision to join the rest of the team on their journey back to Iran,” Burke said in a statement.
“After telling Australian officials they had made this decision, the players were given repeated chances to talk about their options,” he added.
Iran's team arrived in Australia for the Women’s Asian Cup last month, before the war with Iran began.
Initially, six players and a support staff member from a squad list of 26 players accepted humanitarian visas to stay in Australia before the rest of the Iranian contingent flew from Sydney to Malaysia on 9 March.
Another later changed her mind and left Australia. Three left Sydney for Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on Saturday night, a government official said. The rest of the team has remained in Kuala Lumpur since they left Australia.
Iran's Tasnim News Agency said the latest three to leave Australia were two players and a support staff member.
11:06 Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said, in an interview with Turkish broadcaster NTV, that the expansion of the war is not in Iran's interest and that Iran's current actions are defensive responses to US and Israeli military attacks.
"We did not start this war. Anyone who asks Iran to show restraint must be honest. When a country is attacked with missiles and bombs, when its people are targeted, and its infrastructure is struck, you cannot expect that country to give no response. Defending the homeland, honour, and dignity is a natural right," Baqaei added.
On strikes against US bases in Gulf countries, Baqaei said Iran had repeatedly asked those countries not to allow their territory to be used to attack Iran and that they had given assurances they would not.
11:03 Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said that missiles fired toward Turkey were not launched by Iran and proposed a joint Iranian-Turkish investigation committee to determine the origin of such attacks.
He said Tehran had communicated this directly to Ankara.
"Our armed forces officially denied the reports that missiles or drones were fired toward Türkiye. We also told our Turkish friends that the recent attacks were not carried out by Iran," he noted.
Baqaei described the Turkey-Iran border as "the safest of all our borders" and emphasized the depth of bilateral ties.
He raised the possibility that a third party, specifically Israel, was staging the attacks to drive a wedge between Iran and its neighbours, citing the 1954 Lavon Affair, also known as Operation Susannah, as a historical precedent.
"Think of a classic false flag operation. In 1954, the Israeli regime carried out sabotage operations targeting the relationship between Egypt and Britain and other countries. This is a very clear example," Baqaei said.
He warned that Israeli officials, including former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, have publicly named Turkey as a "next target."
In tandem, Iran’s joint military command accused in a statement "the enemy” (the United States and Israel) of using copycat Iranian drones to attack neighbouring countries and pin the blame on Tehran, state media reported.
The statement said copies of Iran's Shahed-136 drone, known as LUCAS, were used to hit “irrelevant targets in the regional states," including attacks on Turkey, Iraq, and Kuwait. No evidence was provided.
The military command also said Iran openly shares its targets, which it describes as US and Israeli interests, and urged trust and cooperation from regional countries.
10:55 Iranian authorities have arrested at least 20 people in the country's northwest on suspicion of cooperating with Israel, local media reported.
The arrests took place during raids on networks linked to Israel in the West Azerbaijan province, the Fars news agency said, quoting provincial prosecutor Hossein Majidi.
"Twenty people were arrested and detained" after they were found to be "sending details of military, law enforcement and security locations to the Zionist enemy," it added.
Authorities have carried out sweeping raids across Iran, arresting in recent days hundreds of people suspected of cooperating with Israel and the United States, local media reported.
10:37 Formula One races in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia have been cancelled as the Middle East war engulfs the region, motorsport's governing body, the FIA, announced.
"It has been confirmed today that, after careful evaluations, due to the ongoing situation in the Middle East region, the Bahrain and Saudi Arabian Grands Prix will not take place in April," the International Automobile Federation (FIA) said in a statement.
10:32 Gulf states reported new missile and drone attacks after Tehran threatened to widen its retaliation campaign.
Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates warned people that they were working to intercept incoming projectiles, a day after Iran called for the evacuations of three major UAE ports, threatening for the first time a neighbouring country’s non-US military assets.
A fire and plume of smoke rose after, according to authorities. Debris from an intercepted Iranian drone struck an oil facility in Fujairah, United Arab Emirates. AP
Iran earlier 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.
The UAE and other Gulf countries that host US bases have denied allowing their land or airspace to be used for military operations against Iran.
10:00 Iran's Revolutionary Guards vowed to target Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as the war with Israel and the United States continues.
"If this child-killing criminal is alive, we will continue to pursue and kill him with full force," said the Guards on their website, Sepah News.
A US-Israeli attack early this morning hit an impoverished residential neighbourhood in the southern city of Shiraz, Iran’s state-run news agency IRNA said.
The strike, which occurred southeast of the city, destroyed several housing units belonging to workers and people supported by the state welfare organization, the report said. It said several homes were destroyed and many people were injured.
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