War returns to Iran with Israel, US strikes

France’s Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot has said that he did not see an obvious end to the conflict in the Middle East in the short-term, but that France and its allies would continue to work towards trying to find a lasting solution, according to Reuters.

“There is no obvious short-term way out of the ongoing regional escalation, which has in some ways been unfolding since October 7, 2023. But this must in no way serve as a pretext for inaction,” Barrot told reporters after meeting with Israeli counterpart Gideon Saar in Tel Aviv.

Barrot said he had outlined Paris’ reservations about a possible Israeli ground operation in southern Lebanon, but said the Lebanese army had to do everything possible to disarm Hezbollah as demanded by the Lebanese government.

Scottish police have arrested two people accused of attempting to enter the UK’s ‌nuclear submarine base in the country, Al Jazeera reports.

Police say they arrested a man and a woman, aged 34 and 31, respectively, ⁠but did not comment on their nationality, adding in a statement that inquiries are ongoing.

The base on the west coast of Scotland also hosts the UK’s nuclear-armed submarine ⁠fleet.

Liquefied natural gas (LNG) supplies from Qatar to India could be impacted following Iranian ​strikes on energy facilities in the Middle Eastern ‌nation, a government official has said, as per Reuters.

India, the world’s fourth-largest LNG importer, relies on Qatar for about 41 per cent of its gas ​imports.

In 2024-25, India imported over 27 million metric tons ​of LNG, with Qatar supplying 11.2m tons, ⁠according to government data.

“(LNG) capacity of Qatar has been ​hit, this will hit us too,” Sujata Sharma, a ​joint secretary in the federal oil ministry, told a news conference. India is Qatar’s second biggest LNG customer.

He said two of Qatar’s 14 LNG trains and one of its two gas-to-liquids (GTL) facilities were damaged, with repairs expected to sideline 12.8m tons per ​year of ⁠LNG for three to five years.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has announced a sweeping package worth €5bn ($5.8 billion) aimed at cushioning the economic impact of the Middle East war, including a “drastic reduction” in energy-related taxes, AFP reports.

Speaking after an emergency cabinet meeting, the Socialist leader has said the 80-measure package was necessary to shield households and key sectors from surging costs.

“Extraordinary situations require extraordinary responses,” Sanchez said.

The package, set to take effect on Saturday following publication in the official gazette, includes cuts to value-added tax on gas and fuel expected to reduce pump prices by as much as €0.30 per litre, or roughly €20 per tank for the average car.

The government will also slash electricity taxes by 60 per cent, suspend a production tax and reduce the value-added tax on electricity to 10pc from 21pc.

Additional support includes a direct subsidy of €0.20 per litre of fuel for transport operators, farmers, ranchers and fishermen, along with equivalent aid for fertiliser purchases.

Sanchez has also announced a decree introducing a “temporary freeze” on rents nationwide, a measure that still requires parliamentary approval after tough negotiations with his coalition partner, the far-left Sumar party.

“Clearly, these measures will not prevent the effects of this illegal war from reaching Spain, but they will at least mitigate their impact and make them somewhat more bearable,” Sanchez has said.

Iranian military spokesman says Israeli and American officials and military personnel will not be safe in “resorts and tourist centres around the world” after Iranian officials were killed in strikes, Reuters reports, quoting state media.

Removing oil sanctions on stranded ​Iranian oil would ‌get supplies to Asia within three or four days, ​US Energy Secretary ​Chris Wright has said, Reuters reports.

Treasury Secretary Scott ​Bessent said a day earlier that the ​US may soon remove sanctions on Iranian oil ​stranded on tankers ​at sea, as Washington seeks ‌to ⁠curb soaring prices over Iran’s closure of the Strait of ​Hormuz.

“Within days, ​within ⁠three or four days, that ​oil will start ​to ⁠arrive at ports,” Wright said in an ⁠interview ​with Fox ​Business Network.

A facility linked to Israeli arms giant Elbit Systems has been set ablaze in the Czech Republic, with an underground group claiming responsibility and authorities launching an investigation, Al Jazeera reports.

Several buildings at the site, a joint operation involving a Czech company and Elbit Systems, were destroyed in the early morning attack.

Elbit Systems describes itself as a key supplier of land and air weapons used by the Israeli military in its wars, including in Gaza and Iran.

A group calling itself The Earthquake Faction said it carried out the attack, declaring on Telegram: “The site is central to the European operations of Israel’s biggest weapons producer. Now, it’s in flames.”

“We are in the belly of the beast, surrounded by the stench of evil,” the group said, adding: “There is no time to beg the complicit international governments… we will take necessary action to quash their means to kill.”

Ukraine has deployed military units to protect critical ​and civilian infrastructure against drones in five Middle Eastern ‌countries, Ukraine’s security council secretary Rustem Umerov said after a visit to the region, Reuters reports.

Umerov has visited the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, and ​Jordan in the past week. He said Ukrainian units had ​been deployed in those nations, and that further steps ⁠for “long-term security cooperation” with each of them had been outlined.

“Ukrainian military ​specialists are operating in each of these countries under the coordination ​of the National Security and Defence Council,” he wrote on X.

“Interception units have been deployed to protect civilian and critical infrastructure. Work is also underway to expand coverage areas.”

The head of International Energy Agency has warned that it could take six months to restore oil and gas flows from the Gulf, according to Reuters.

Spain’s cabinet will impose controls on business profit margins and extended rental contracts as part of a package of economic measures to counter the impact of the war in the Middle East, Reuters reports quoting Labour Minister Yolanda Diaz.

President Emmanuel Macron has said that France would press ahead with its efforts to back Ukraine, speaking after the country’s navy intercepted an oil tanker sailing from Russia, according to AFP.

“We are staying the course,” Macron said on X.

“The war in Iran will not deter France from supporting Ukraine, where Russia’s war of aggression continues.”

Police in the United Arab Emirates have said they have arrested over 100 people for filming and posting “misleading” information during the Middle East war, as Gulf countries crack down on footage and posts related to Iran’s attacks.

“Abu Dhabi Police announced the arrest of 109 individuals of various nationalities who filmed sites and incidents and circulated incorrect information via social media platforms during current events,” it said in a statement on X, adding that some of the people had shared “misleading information”.

Switzerland has said it would not issue licences for companies to export weapons to the United States due to the ongoing attacks on Iran, citing its neutrality, Reuters reports.

“The export of war materiel to countries involved in the international armed conflict with Iran cannot be authorised for the duration of the conflict,” the government said in a statement.

“Exports of war materiel to the USA cannot currently be authorised,” it added.

The United States and Israel have struck 16 Iranian cargo vessels in port towns on the Gulf on Friday, local media reports as per AFP, saying the ships were burnt.

“Following the American-Zionist air attack, at least 16 cargo vessels belonging to citizens of the towns of Bandar Lengeh and Bandar Kong were completely burnt in the fire,” a local offical from the southern Hormozgan province said, quoted by the Tasnim news agency.

Israel’s military has said it was launching strikes in Iran’s Nur region on the shores of the Caspian Sea, as it kept up its bombing campaign after almost three weeks of war.

“The IDF has begun striking targets belonging to the Iranian terror regime,” the army said in a statement.

The fresh strikes come after Israel’s military claimed yesterday its jets had hit several Iranian naval vessels in the Caspian Sea.

An Israeli warplane broke the sound barrier over Beirut in the morning, state media said, as AFP journalists heard loud booms reverberate across the city and in distant mountains.

Lebanon’s official National News Agency said “a strong sonic boom, in two successive waves, shook the skies over Beirut and its suburbs” on the morning of Eidul Fitr.

The incident set social media abuzz.

“On a day without shelling — so far — the Israelis are greeting the people of Beirut and its suburbs with two sonic booms,” one internet user, Salah Halawi, wrote on X.

A member of the French navy using an app to track his jogging performance broadcast the exact position of his country’s flagship aircraft carrier, Le Monde has reported.

According to Reuters, France deployed the Charles de Gaulle — and accompanying frigates — to the Mediterranean in early March. It has been in the eastern Mediterranean since March 9 as part of what Emmanuel Macron has called a “purely defensive” posture.

Le Monde reported that the runner jogged in circles on a ship in movement on March 13 in the middle of the sea northwest of Cyprus, according to his public profile on the Strava fitness tracking app, while satellite images showed the aircraft carrier was in the immediate vicinity at the time.

The same person had also been running in Copenhagen, Denmark, in late February, across a bridge from Malmo, Sweden, where the Charles de Gaulle was anchored at the time, Strava data showed.

The French armed forces told AFP appropriate measures would be taken if the report was true, as members of the navy were regularly reminded about the risk of security breaches using such apps.

The Trump administration is considering plans to occupy or blockade Iran’s Kharg Island to pressure Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, Axios reports, citing four sources with knowledge of the issue.

“He wants Hormuz open. If he has to take Kharg Island to make it happen, that’s going to happen. If he decides to have a coastal invasion, that’s going to happen. But that decision hasn’t been made,” a senior administration official told Axios.

Read more here.

Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa has said he is working to keep his country away from the Middle East war, Al Jazeera reports, citing state media SANA.

In a speech delivered after the Eidul Fitr prayer in the presidential palace in Damascus, Sharaa said: “It is important to remember that Syria has always been an arena of conflict and strife during the past 15 years and before that, but today it is in harmony with all neighbouring countries regionally and internationally.”

“What is happening now is a major and rare event in history that we haven’t witnessed since World War II. We are carefully calculating our steps and working to keep Syria away from any conflict, so that it can maintain its path of development and reconstruction,” the president added.

The owner of an Israeli oil refinery hit by ​an Iranian missile strike has said that essential infrastructure was damaged in the attack, but that most production facilities are operating and the rest ​are being restarted, Reuters reports.

Oil Refineries Ltd said ​in a statement that there had been “localised ⁠hits” at its complex in Haifa, northern ​Israel, striking electrical infrastructure supplying a service facility ​and an open area adjacent to an administrative building.

There were no injuries or casualties, it said in a ​statement to the Tel Aviv stock exchange.

The ​essential infrastructure belongs to a third party, it said, and ‌was ⁠expected to return to operations within a few days.

Oil Refineries Ltd did not identify the third party, specify how many production facilities were ​operating or ​when the ⁠production facilities were expected to return to full operations.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has called for de-escalation in the Gulf hostilities in a phone conversation with his Malaysian counterpart, Dato Seri Anwar bin Ibrahim.

“While praying for peace and harmony of the Ummah, the two leaders called for de-escalation of the ongoing hostilities in Iran and the Gulf region and agreed to continue to work together for advancing peace efforts in this regard,” the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) said in a statement on X.

PM Shehbaz also felicitated the Malaysian premier, government and people on the occasion of Eidul-Fitr, while both leaders expressed satisfaction at the positive momentum in bilateral ties, the statement added.

More than a dozen Israeli drones have been shot down over Iran during the ongoing war, according to Israeli military officials, who claimed that losses were up to 20, reports Al Jazeera.