The US and Israel on Feb 28 launched what they described as a “pre-emptive” joint strike against Iranian targets, with Trump announcing start of “major combat operations”
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman chaired a consultative meeting of the Gulf Cooperation Council in Jeddah, state media said, the first in-person meeting of Gulf leaders since their states became a front in the war on Iran two months ago, Reuters reports.
A Gulf official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the meeting aimed to craft a response to the thousands of Iranian missile and drone attacks Gulf states have faced since the US and Israel launched the war with strikes on Iran on February 28.
Saudi state media said the summit discussed “topics and issues related to regional and international developments, and the coordination of efforts regarding them”.
Israel’s top diplomat on Tuesday said Israel was not seeking to take territory in Lebanon, as its military presses operations in the south against Hezbollah despite a ceasefire, AFP reports.
“Israel has no territorial ambitions in Lebanon. Our presence in the areas by our northern border serves one purpose: protecting our citizens,” Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said at a joint news conference with his Serbian counterpart Marko Djuric.
Iran has banned the export of steel products, local media reported, citing customs authorities, according to AFP.
Fars news agency reported a directive from the Islamic republic’s customs authorities “regarding the prohibition of the export” of steel products, effective from April 26.
Iran has warned that submarine cables in the Strait of Hormuz were a vulnerable point for the region’s digital economy, raising concerns about potential attacks on critical infrastructure.
The narrow waterway, already a chokepoint for global oil shipments, is equally vital for the digital world.
Several fibre-optic cables snake across the seabed of the strait, connecting countries from Southeast Asia to Europe via the Gulf states and Egypt.
Qatar’s foreign ministry spokesman Majed al-Ansari has said that Qatar is giving Pakistan “ample room” for its mediation efforts, Al Jazeera reports.
He stressed that diplomacy is the “safest and most reasonable way” to end the war. Al-Ansari also noted that the Gulf states have been under “daily attacks”.
Sweden’s government has warned of a potential jet fuel shortage in the Scandinavian country due to supply disruptions caused by the Middle East war and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, AFP reports.
“We want to provide an early warning that there is a risk of a jet fuel shortage. This is based on an assessment by the Swedish Energy Agency,” Energy Minister Ebba Busch said at a press conference.
“Even if a lasting peace deal (between the United States and Iran) were to be in place tomorrow, it would likely still take time before oil and gas supplies are restored,” Busch said, speaking alongside Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson and Energy Agency director Caroline Asserup.
Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani has arrived in Jeddah to participate in the GCC meeting, Al Jazeera reports.
Saudi Arabia is hosting an exceptional meeting of the GCC today, the first in-person meeting of Gulf leaders since their states became a front in the Iran war two months ago.
New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said on the social media platform X that in his phone call with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, he thanked him for “his work facilitating a ceasefire between the United States and Iran and for Pakistan’s tireless efforts towards a longer-term peace”.
“The best pathway to a sustainable solution in the Middle East is through diplomacy,” he said.
Eurozone consumers have sharply increased their expectations for inflation, a European Central Bank (ECB) survey shows, after the Middle East war sent energy costs surging, according to AFP.
Inflation expectations are closely watched by the ECB, which is mulling whether it needs to hike interest rates if consumer prices rise faster due to the US-Israeli war against Iran.
Median expectations for inflation over the next 12 months increased to four per cent in March, from 2.5pc in February, the monthly survey shows.
Expectations for inflation three years ahead meanwhile climbed to 3pc from 2.5pc in February.
Qatar has cautioned against the possibility of a “frozen conflict” in the Gulf, as talks between the US and Iran for a peace deal appeared at an impasse, AFP reports.
“We do not want to see a return to hostilities in the region anytime soon, we do not want to see a frozen conflict that ends up being thawed every time there is a political reason,” Qatar’s foreign ministry spokesman Majed al-Ansari said at a press conference.
Five people were sentenced to life in Bahrain for plotting “terrorist and hostile acts” with Iran, AFP reports.
“The Public Prosecution affirms that the crime of communicating with hostile foreign entities against the Kingdom of Bahrain is considered one of the most serious crimes affecting national security,” Bahrain’s public prosecution said.
Iranian police have arrested several individuals accused of transmitting sensitive information and images to intelligence agencies using Starlink devices, reports Al Jazeera.
In Yusefabad, Tehran, the Tehran Metropolitan Police Command Information Centre said the suspects had rented an apartment that was “used as a base for espionage activities” and had used “advanced communication equipment, including Starlink satellite internet”, to send information to intelligence services and hostile networks abroad.
Israel’s military warned residents of more than a dozen villages and towns in southern Lebanon to immediately evacuate and head northwards, saying Hezbollah’s “violation of the ceasefire” was compelling it to act.
“The IDF does not intend to harm you, and out of concern for your safety, you are required to evacuate your homes immediately and move away from the specified area towards the Sidon District,” the military’s Arabic-language spokesman Avichay Adraee posted on X, adding that “anyone present near Hezbollah elements, their facilities, or their combat means is endangering their life.”
New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has lauded Pakistan’s diplomatic efforts in the Middle East in a phone call with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, the Prime Minister’s Office says.
According to PMO, the two leaders “exchanged views on the evolving situation in the Middle East” and PM Shehbaz briefed Luxon on Pakistan’s “ongoing diplomatic outreach”.
Luxon “expressed deep appreciation for Pakistan’s constructive diplomatic initiatives, including its outreach to both Washington and Tehran, and conveyed his best wishes for the success of the mediation efforts,” PMO said.
Both leaders agreed to remain in “close contact,” as per PMO.
Russia’s ambassador to the UN said Iran has every right to limit traffic and control the Strait of Hormuz, while also accusing Western countries of hypocrisy and piracy, Al Jazeera reports.
“There was an attempt to pin full responsibility on Iran as if it was Iran which attacked its neighbours,” Russia’s ambassador to the UN, Vassily Nebenzia, said.
“In times of war, a coastal state that is under attack may limit navigation in its territorial waters for the purpose of security.”
Nebenzia went on to compare Western states to pirates, and called out the European countries supporting Ukrainian strikes on Russian trade vessels in the Black Sea.
Iran’s Ambassador to Pakistan Reza Amiri Moghadam has appreciated Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar, as well as the “veteran, competent and career diplomats” of the foreign ministry, for their “tireless endeavours in facilitating, coordinating, and meticulously preparing the arrangements for the delegations and talks”.
“Diplomats are the architects of peace, entrusted with navigating the delicate complexities of international relations through the patient craft of dialogue, empathy, and understanding,” the ambassador said in a post on X.
On Pakistan’s foreign ministry diplomats, he said, “Their dedicated efforts translate political will and principled determination into the practical avenues and arrangements necessary for any diplomatic process to take shape.
“This is diplomacy in its truest sense, not merely words, but the quiet, persistent labour that makes dialogue possible and peace attainable.”
The head of Israel’s Mossad has praised the spy agency’s “groundbreaking” operations in the war against Iran and Hezbollah, claiming it acquired intelligence “from the heart of the enemy’s secrets”, reports AFP.
“In the campaigns against Iran and Hezbollah, we worked shoulder-to-shoulder with the IDF, on both defence and offence,” David Barnea claimed, referring to the Israeli military.
His remarks were delivered during a commendation ceremony at Mossad headquarters on Monday and published on Tuesday.
“We acquired strategic and tactical intelligence from the heart of the enemy’s secrets,” Barnea claimed, adding that Mossad had “proved new, groundbreaking operational capabilities in target countries”.
Iran has said that the United States was no longer able to “dictate” what other countries do, as Washington weighed a new proposal from Tehran on ending the Middle East war, AFP reports.
“The United States is no longer in a position to dictate its policy to independent nations,” defence ministry spokesman Reza Talaei-Nik said, according to state TV, adding Washington would “accept that it must abandon its illegal and irrational demands”.
Iran is ready to share its defensive weapons capabilities with “independent countries, especially members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO)”, Deputy Defence Minister Reza Talaei-Nik said during a meeting of SCO defence ministers held in the Kyrgyz capital, Reuters reports, citing Iranian state media.
A liquefied natural gas tanker managed by UAE’s ADNOC has crossed the Strait of Hormuz and appears to be near India, ship-tracking data showed. If confirmed, this will be the first loaded LNG tanker to cross the strait since the Iran war started on February 28, Reuters reports.
The 136,357-cubic-meter tanker, which is managed by Adnoc Logistics & Services and was last seen in the Gulf on March 30, has shown up off the west coast of India, suggesting it has crossed the Strait of Hormuz after several weeks without signal, according to data from ICIS LNG Edge, Marine Traffic and LSEG.
The Israeli military has said its forces have destroyed more than 1,000 “infrastructure sites” used by Hezbollah in southern Lebanon.
It also claimed to have confiscated “hundreds of weapons, including: machine guns, Kalashnikov-type weapons, grenades, mines, pistols, anti-tank missiles, ammunition, RPG rockets, and mortar bombs”.
Thailand’s economic growth and tourist arrivals are forecast to drop this year as the Middle East war roils global energy prices, the finance ministry said, AFP reports.
The country’s GDP growth is projected to dip to 1.6 per cent, the ministry said in a statement, down from 2.4pc in 2025.
Growth in the Southeast Asian nation is anaemic, with the tourism sector vital but arrivals yet to return to their pre-Covid highs.
The government said in February that this year’s growth forecast was between 1.5 to 2.5pc.
Marjorie Taylor Greene, a former Trump ally turned critic, has taken to social media to condemn the war on Iran and the impact the conflict is having on US farmers, Al Jazeera reports.
She wrote, “One day in the future, parents will tell their children that it was because of Trump’s war on Iran that caused farms to fail bc farmers couldn’t afford fertilizers and the cost of farming was too high.”
She was responding to a survey by the American Farm Bureau Federation that found some 70 per cent of US farmers cannot afford the fertiliser they need and are planning to reduce their crop size to compensate.
