War returns to Iran with Israel, US strikes

CNN correspondent Frederik Pleitgen, reporting from Tehran, has described that it “is raining oil” in the Iranian capital after “major airstrikes” on the city’s oil facilities.

In his video on X, Pleitgen said, “The sky above the city is covered in very thick black clouds. You can see that everywhere.”

Noting that it was also raining in Tehran, he added, “You can see that the rain, the rainwater is actually black, also saturated, it appears with oil […] This sort of oil-filled rain that we have right now on the Iranian capital.”

The US and Israel have discussed sending “special forces” into Iran to secure its stockpile of highly enriched uranium at a later stage of the war, Axios reports, citing four sources with knowledge of the discussions.

An Israeli defence official was quoted as saying that Donald Trump and his team are seriously considering sending special operations units into Iran for specific missions.

“A US official said the administration has discussed two options: removing the material from Iran entirely, or bringing in nuclear experts to dilute it on-site,” Axios added.

“Administration officials” told Axios that there has also been discussion of seizing Kharg Island, which the outlet described as a strategic terminal responsible for roughly 90pc of Iran’s crude oil exports.

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Three Indonesian crew members are missing after the UAE-flagged tugboat Musaffah 2 sank in the Strait of Hormuz on Friday, Jakarta’s foreign ministry has said, AFP reports.

“One Indonesian survivor is currently receiving burn treatment at a hospital in the city of Khasab, Oman. The other three Indonesians are still being searched for by the local authorities,” the ministry said.

Before it sank, the Musaffah 2 experienced an explosion that caused it to catch fire, the statement said, adding that an investigation is ongoing by local authorities.

Fuel distribution in Tehran has been “temporarily” halted after strikes on oil depot sites, AFP quotes an Iranian official as saying.

The Pakistani embassy in the UAE has said its consulate in Dubai is in direct contact with local authorities to “assist” the family of a Pakistani national who lost his life due to falling debris after a missile was intercepted.

“Our Consulate General in Dubai is in direct contact with local authorities to assist the family and facilitate the repatriation process as quickly as possible,” the embassy said on X.

“In this hour of grief, we share in the family’s pain and offer our most sincere prayers,” it added.

The Israeli military has threatened that it would continue pursuing every successor of Iran’s slain Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Reuters reports.

In a post on X in Farsi, the Israeli military also warned it would pursue every person who seeks to appoint a successor for Khamenei, referring to the body charged with choosing the Islamic Republic’s supreme leader.

The threat comes as the body is set to meet to choose Iran’s next supreme leader.

Kuwait’s interior ministry has said that two of its officers were killed “while performing duties”, Reuters reports.

The ministry said both were “from the personnel of the General Department for Land Border Security, who were martyred while performing their duty as part of the national missions entrusted to the Ministry of Interior”.

It did not provide further details, but Kuwait has been intercepting drones and missiles launched from Iran following US and Israeli attacks on the republic.

Iranian state media has reported explosions in central Yazd province, according to AFP.

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) has said that its forces have targeted Al-Adiri airbase in Kuwait with drones and missiles, Al Jazeera reports, citing Fars news agency.

The report quoted the IRGC as saying that the base destroyed US helicopter repair centres, fuel tanks and command centre.

“After this wave of attack, a terrible fire broke out in this base, and thick, black smoke is still rising from this base and can be seen from far away,” the report said.

At least four tanker drivers have been killed in Israel’s attacks on Iranian oil sites in Tehran and Alborz, reports Al Jazeera, citing the Fars news agency.

Fars said Israeli attacks hit four oil storage facilities and a petroleum products transfer centre in Tehran and Alborz.

Israel has issued evacuation orders for the residents of Nabatieh governorate in southern Lebanon, threatening them with imminent strikes, Al Jazeera has reported.

Avichay Adraee, Arabic-language spokesman for Israel’s army, said in a statement that the attack would target Hezbollah fighters, facilities and weapons.

“Any home used by Hezbollah for military purposes may be subject to targeting,” he added.

At least 11 people have been killed in US-Israeli attacks on several manufacturing workshops and a horse-riding club in Iran’s Isfahan province, Al Jazeera reports, citing Tasnim news agency.

Several others were wounded, the agency reported.

At least eight cities were hit in the central province, including Isfahan, Najafabad, Aran, Bidgol, Barkhar, Khomenei Shahr, Shahreza, Falavarjan and Mobarakeh, Tasnim reported.

The United States and Israel have hit five oil facilities in overnight strikes in and near the Iranian capital, an official told state TV, according to AFP.

“Last night, four oil depots and a petroleum products transport centre in Tehran and the Alborz were attacked by enemy aircraft,” the CEO of the National Iranian Oil Products Distribution Company Keramat Veyskarami told state TV.

He added that the five facilities “were damaged” but the “fire was brought under control”.

A member of Iran’s Assembly of Experts, Mirbaqeri, has been quoted by the Mehr news agency as saying that the body’s majority has reached consensus over assassinated Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei’s successor, reports Reuters.

“Some obstacles regarding the process need to be resolved,” he has been quoted as saying.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian says his country “will be forced to respond” to any attack or invasion attempt from a neighbouring country, in remarks aired by state TV, reports AFP.

If Iran’s enemies “try to use any country to attack or invade our land, we will be forced to respond to that attack. Responding does not mean we have disputes with that country or wish to harm its people — we would be responding out of necessity,” said Pezeshkian.

Falling missile debris has injured three people and damaged a university building in Bahrain, the interior ministry has said, according to AFP.

“As a result of the blatant Iranian aggression, 3 people were injured and material damage was inflicted on a university building in the Muharraq area after missile fragments fell,” the ministry said in a statement, referring to an island area northwest of Manama.

Bahrain has said a water desalination plant has been damaged in an Iranian drone attack, reports AFP.

As the Israel-US war on Iran is entering its second week, President Donald Trump has demanded an “unconditional surrender” by the Persian Gulf Islamic Republic.

But within hours, President Masoud Pezeshkian of the beleaguered nation retorted: they will take their dreams of Iranian people surrendering unconditionally to their grave.

So what can influence the course of this war, including its end?

Apart from claims by the Israel-US coalition of decimating Iran’s nuclear facilities and missile production and launch capabilities, besides decapitating its leadership and destroying its command and control systems, and equally defiant statements by Iran about its own military might, evidence is in short supply about how the war is going.

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Pakistanis have felt the first direct economic tremor of the escalating confrontation between the US-Israel combine and Iran, where it hurts the most: at the petrol pump.

The government’s decision to increase petrol and diesel prices by Rs55 per litre reflects the immediate spill-over of high global oil prices triggered by the conflict. It is the single sharpest petroleum price adjustment in recent memory — alongside even steeper increases in kerosene and light diesel oil.

The increase is extraordinary by any standard. Yet it also reflects how vulnerable Pakistan’s economy remains to geopolitical shocks.

With the closure of the Strait of Hormuz and Iran’s attacks on US military installations across the Gulf, global oil markets have been thrown into turmoil.

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As the conflict in the Middle East escalates, Pakistan’s Planning Commission has cautioned about possible economic impacts on the country, including increased energy costs, strain on remittance inflows, and potential interruptions to exports and financial stability.

The ministry has warned that instability in the region, especially around the strategic Strait of Hormuz, could drive up global oil prices and sharply increase Pakistan’s import costs, given the country’s heavy dependence on petroleum imports from the Middle East, according to the Ministry of Planning’s Monthly Development Update for March.

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Though Pakistan is not part of the ongoing conflict in the Middle East, it is the first victim in the region as the government raised oil prices while the high-cost oil is still at sea; the 28-day stocks are being sold at prices yet to reach consumers.

India kept petrol and diesel prices stable despite global price spikes, but LPG prices were increased. The Indian government has so far managed high import costs for crude.

Trade and business people are disappointed with the sudden jump in oil and diesel prices by Rs55 per litre, while ordinary citizens were highly concerned about the ripple effects of this oil price hike.

“The easiest way to extract money is to bomb the common citizens and destroy the already ailing economy,” said Syed Shakil, a textile industry worker.

He said the textile industry was facing tough times and could face the most difficult times in the wake of the Middle East war.

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