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”
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has warned that any financial institution aiding Iran’s “shadow bank” networks is “at risk of severe consequences”.
In a post on X, Bessent says Tehran’s illicit banking system serves as a “critical financial lifeline for its armed forces, enabling activities that disrupt global trade and [fuelling] violence across the Middle East”.
“Illicit funds funnelled through this network support the regime’s ongoing terrorist operations, posing a direct threat to US personnel, regional allies, and the global economy,” he adds. “Financial institutions are on notice: any institution that facilitates or engages with these networks is at risk of severe consequences.”
An Israeli airstrike on the town of Majdal Zoun, close to the Israeli border in the Tyre district, has killed at least five people, including three paramedics trapped under the rubble after an earlier attack, Al Jazeera reports citing Lebanon’s health ministry.
At least two Lebanese soldiers accompanying the rescue team have also been wounded.
Saeed Siah-Sarani, deputy for cultural affairs of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Navy, vows that no oil shipments will go through the Strait of Hormuz if restrictions are imposed on Iran’s maritime access, Anadolu reports citing the semi-official Mehr news agency.
Speaking at a ceremony in the city of Qom, he warns Iran will not allow “even a single litre of oil” to transit the strategic waterway under such conditions.
“Our hands are on the trigger,” he says, adding that Iranian forces are fully prepared to act and defend the country across land, sea and air.
He also says the strategic waterway remains under Iran’s management, adding that vessels must comply with Iranian regulations, including designated transit routes.
United States Central Command (Centcom) claims that 20 vessels are moored at the Iranian port of Chahbahar, as US forces “cut off economic trade going into and coming out of Iran during the ongoing blockade”.
Centcom adds that prior to the blockade, only five ships were moored at the port.
Energy prices are projected to surge by 24 per cent this year to their highest level since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, as the war in the Middle East sends a severe shock through global commodity markets, the World Bank Group said in its latest Commodity Markets Outlook.
Overall, commodity prices are forecast to rise 16pc in 2026, driven by soaring energy and fertiliser prices and record-high prices for several key metals, according to the assessment.
“The shock will have serious implications for job creation and development,” the analysis indicates.
The World Bank noted: “Attacks on energy infrastructure and shipping disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz, which handles about 35pc of global seaborne crude oil trade, have triggered the largest oil supply shock on record, with an initial reduction in global oil supply of about 10 million barrels per day.
“Even after moderating from their recent peak, Brent oil prices remained more than 50pc higher in mid-April than they were at the start of the year. Brent oil is forecast to average $86 a barrel in 2026, up sharply from $69 a barrel in 2025.”
US intelligence agencies are studying how Iran would respond if President Donald Trump were to declare a unilateral victory in the two-month-old war that has killed thousands and become a political liability for the White House, Reuters reports, citing two US officials and a person familiar with the matter.
The intelligence community is analysing the question along with others at the request of senior administration officials. The goal is to understand the implications of Trump potentially pulling back from a conflict that some officials and advisers worry could contribute to deep Republican losses at the midterm elections later this year, according to the sources.
The sources have spoken on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive intelligence matters.
It is not clear when the intelligence community will complete its work, but it has previously analysed the likely reaction of Iran’s leaders to a US declaration of victory.
In the days following the initial bombing campaign in February, intelligence agencies assessed that if Trump were to declare victory and the US drew down its forces in the region, Iran would likely view it as a win, one of the sources says.
If Trump instead said the US had won but maintained a heavy troop presence, Iran would likely see it as a negotiating tactic, but not one that would necessarily lead to the end of the war, the source adds.
The CIA and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence have declined to comment.
A woman walks past a billboard featuring an image of the late Supreme Leader of Iran, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, on a building in Tehran, Iran on April 27, 2026. — Reuters
Two Lebanese soldiers were wounded when Israel targeted a patrol conducting a “citizen rescue operation”, Al Jazeera reports, quoting a statement from the Lebanese army.
The soldiers were deployed alongside “elements from civil defence and two civilian bulldozers”, it says, adding that the attack took place in the town of Majdal Zoun, close to the Israeli border in the Tyre district.
US President Donald Trump says German Chancellor Friedrich Merz does not know what he is talking about regarding Iran, a day after Merz sharply rebuked the US over its handling of the conflict, Reuters reports.
“The Chancellor of Germany, Friedrich Merz, thinks it’s OK for Iran to have a nuclear weapon. He doesn’t know what he’s talking about!” Trump writes on Truth Social.
Trump claims that if Iran did possess a nuclear weapon, “The whole world would be held hostage.
“I am doing something with Iran, right now, that other nations, or presidents, should have done long ago,” he adds. “No wonder Germany is doing so poorly, both economically and otherwise!”
Ambassador Asim Iftikhar Ahmad, Pakistan’s envoy to the UN, says that the “root cause of instability in the Middle East remains the unresolved question of Palestine and the continued Israeli occupation of the Arab lands”.
Addressing the UN Security Council, Ahmad adds that ending occupation and realising a Palestinian state through the two-state solution is “the only pathway to a just, lasting and comprehensive peace for all in the region”.
“Pakistan will continue to support that objective, while reaffirming its unwavering solidarity with the Palestinian people and their just cause,” he adds.
A statement by Lebanon’s civil defence body, quoted by the official National News Agency, says its members have been trapped during a rescue operation in the town of Majdal Zoun, southern Lebanon, according to Al Jazeera.
The US government has announced it is imposing sanctions on 35 entities and individuals for their role in Iran’s shadow banking architecture, accusing them of facilitating the movement of tens of billions of dollars tied to sanctions evasion and Iran’s sponsorship of terrorism, Reuters reports citing the US Treasury Department.
German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul has called on Iran to end its blockade of the Strait of Hormuz as oil prices surge and the world economic outlook dims, Al Jazeera reports.
Posting on X, Wadephul says the UN Security Council “must play a role” after it held a high-level debate on the escalating crisis in the critical waterway, which has caused thousands of cargo vessels and about 20,000 seafarers to be stranded.
The Council should “assume responsibility and pass a resolution”, he says, adding that Germany wants to “take on responsibility” and is running for a seat on the body.
European Commissioner for Climate Wopke Hoekstra says the energy crisis stemming from the US-Israeli war on Iran underlines an economic and energy security imperative to phase out fossil fuels, Al Jazeera reports.
“We already had a very good reason to move on [from fossil fuels] for climate action … we now also have it for commercial reasons, and reasons of energy independence,” Hoekstra says at the first global talks on exiting fossil fuels in Santa Marta, Colombia.
The closure of the Strait of Hormuz has taken a huge chunk of oil supplies off the market, sending prices soaring globally, with most EU countries relying on imports.
The Israeli military claims it has discovered a large Hezbollah tunnel network used by fighters in south Lebanon, near Israel’s northern border, AFP reports.
Troops found “two Hezbollah terror tunnels, constructed over approximately a decade” that stretched two kilometres with shafts “connecting to positions with launchers directed toward Israeli territory”, a statement says.
An Israeli strike on Lebanese troops and rescuers during a rescue operation in the village of Majdal Zoun in southern Lebanon has wounded two Lebanese soldiers, Reuters reports citing the Lebanese army.
US President Donald Trump’s approval rating has fallen to the lowest level of his current term, as Americans grow increasingly sour on his handling of the cost of living and an unpopular war with Iran, Reuters reports citing a new Reuters/Ipsos poll.
The four-day poll, completed on Monday, shows that 34 per cent of Americans approve of Trump’s performance in the White House, down from 36pc in a prior Reuters/Ipsos survey conducted from April 15 to 20.
Trump’s standing with the US public has trended lower since taking office in January 2025, when 47pc of Americans gave him a thumbs-up.
His popularity has taken a beating since the US and Israel launched a war against Iran on February 28, which led to a surge in gasoline prices.
Only 22pc of poll respondents approve of Trump’s performance on the cost of living, down from 25pc in the prior Reuters/Ipsos poll.
The survey, conducted nationwide and online, gathered responses from 1,014 US adults and had a margin of error of 3 percentage points.
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks at an arrival ceremony for Britain’s King Charles and Queen Camilla on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, DC, the US on April 28, 2026. — Reuters
United States Central Command (Centcom) says that US Marines boarded the Blue Star III merchant vessel over suspicion of “attempting to transit to Iran, in violation of the US blockade of Iranian ports”.
“US forces released the vessel after conducting a search and confirming the ship’s voyage would not include an Iranian port call,” Centcom has said on X.
It adds that since the blockade was enforced, 39 vessels have been redirected from Iranian ports.
Lebanon’s Foreign Minister Youssef Raggi told his Polish counterpart that Beirut has decided to “engage in direct negotiations” with Israel in the aim of reaching a “permanent ceasefire and ensuring the complete Israeli withdrawal from Lebanese territories”, Al Jazeera reports.
The Lebanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs posts on X that the Polish Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister, Radosław Sikorski, called Raggi by phone and that the pair discussed “the latest security developments in Lebanon”.
Sikorski gave his country’s support for Lebanon, emphasising Poland’s “categorical rejection” of any attempts to annex “any portion of Lebanese territory” or to alter the nation’s internationally recognised borders.
Israeli Ambassador to the UN Danny Danon says that Lebanon “will not be able to talk about sovereignty as long as Hezbollah controls it”, according to Arab News.
Addressing the UN Security Council, the envoy criticised the international community’s conduct towards Lebanon, stating, “You cannot talk about peace in Lebanon without mentioning Hezbollah.”
Danon claims that the group continues to fire on Israeli civilians and operates without interference.
“If the Security Council wants to help Lebanon, it should ask [the] Lebanese government hard questions: how many Hezbollah weapons have been seized, which tunnels have been destroyed, and what is being done to stop arms smuggling from Iran,” he says.
“International support for Lebanon must depend on results on the ground and not more empty statements.“
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni says her current priority is to restrain inflationary pressures on prices, especially energy, given the impact of the US-Israeli war on Iran, AFP reports.
“In the current context of international crisis we’re facing, the issue of keeping prices and energy under control, of preventing an inflationary impact that clearly crushes GDP growth, has to be considered a step forward,” Meloni has said during a press conference.
France says that the objective of preventing Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon will be pursued through diplomacy, Anadolu reports quoting a statement from a foreign ministry spokesperson.
“The [French foreign] minister … reaffirmed the objective that Iran never acquires a nuclear weapon, and reiterated the determination of France and its E3 partners to achieve this objective through diplomacy,” the statement says.
The spokesperson adds that the minister expressed full support for the International Atomic Energy Agency in implementing its mandate to verify non-proliferation obligations and promote the peaceful use of nuclear energy under safe and responsible conditions.
It further says the talks took place during the 11th Review Conference of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, where discussions focused on broader backing for the treaty framework.
