Main Points
- US president Donald Trump says ‘a whole civilization will die tonight’ if agreement is not reached with Iran
- The United States and Iran are engaging in negotiations ahead of Trump’s deadline to reach a deal before 1am on Wednesday (Irish time)
- Israel and the US struck 17 civilian targets in Iran on Tuesday morning, the Iranian Red Crescent said, in attacks that the humanitarian NGO have decried as war crimes
- The US has hit Kharg Island, a key Iranian oil export terminal, ahead of Trump’s deadline for a deal, an AP source has reported
Key Reads
- Fintan O’Toole: Trump’s random gibberish is more terrifying than lies
- ‘We got him’: How rescue of downed US airman in Iran unfolded
Trump agrees to suspend bombing of Iran for two weeks
US president Donald Trump says he agrees to suspend bombing and the attack of Iran for a two week period.
He said it will be a double sided ceasefire.
“Based on conversations with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Field Marshal Asim Munir, of Pakistan, and wherein they requested that I hold off the destructive force being sent tonight to Iran, and subject to the Islamic Republic of Iran agreeing to the COMPLETE, IMMEDIATE, and SAFE OPENING of the Strait of Hormuz, I agree to suspend the bombing and attack of Iran for a period of two weeks,” Trump wrote on social media.
He said “we received a 10 point proposal from Iran and believe its a workable basis on which to negotiate.
Almost all various points of past contention have been agreed to between the United States and Iran, he said.
Trump said, a two week period will allow an agreement to be finalised and consummated.
“We are very far along with a definitive agreement concerning long term peace with Iran,” he added. - Reuters
Saudi Arabia says it intercepted five missiles
Saudi Arabia’s defence ministry has said its military had intercepted five missiles fired towards the east.
The ministry’s spokesperson announced the “interception and destruction of five ballistic missiles launched towards the eastern region.”
Personal envoy of UN secretary general Antonio Guterres plans to visit Iran
A personal envoy of UN secretary general Antonio Guterres plans to visit Iran as part of his efforts to encourage an end to the Iran war, but his travel plans will depend on security and logistics, a UN source has told Reuters.
Jean Arnault, a veteran UN diplomat Guterres named as his envoy on the conflict last month, headed to the Middle East on Monday.
UN rights chief Volker Turk has decried the “incendiary rhetoric” in the Middle East war, warning that deliberate attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure was “a war crime”. - Guardian
Egypt and Pakistan discuss joint efforts to reach ‘understandings’ between US and Iran on ceasefire
Egypt’s foreign minister Badr Abdelatty discussed with Pakistani counterpart Ishaq Dar joint efforts to reach “understandings” between the US and Iran to stop fighting, a statement by the Egyptian foreign ministry said on Tuesday.
Pakistan and Egypt have emerged as key intermediaries, with Islamabad hosting a meeting recently to discuss regional de-escalation and proposals to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. - Reuters
Iranian hackers have begun cyber-attacks aimed at US water and energy systems
Federal security agencies say that Iranian hackers have begun cyber-attacks aimed at water and energy systems in the United States hours after Donald Trump threatened “every power plant in Iran will be out of business, burning, exploding and never to be used again.”
In a joint statement, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, Federal Bureau of Investigation, National Security Agency and the Energy Department said hackers backed by the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps had begun cyber-attacks on US power infrastructure. - Guardian
Qatar and UAE respond to attacks
On X, Qatar confirmed its armed forces successfully intercepted a missile attack.
The United Arab Emirates, in a post on X, said its air defences are engaging with missile attacks and incoming drones from Iran.
It also added that any noises heard were from the UAE air defence systems intercepting ballistic missiles, cruise missiles and drones.
Qatar’s interior ministry said that four people, including a child, were injured after debris fell on a house in the Muraikh area following an interception of Iranian missiles.
Turkish foreign minister Hakan Fidan held a phone call with Pakistan foreign minister Muhammad Ishaq Dar as part of diplomatic efforts aimed at ending the Iran war, Turkish foreign ministry sources said. - Reuters
Iran ready for peace and war
A senior Iranian official has said Iran is ready for both peace and for war.
Iran’s top joint military command says it will deal with infrastructure of US and its allies in the region in a way that will deprive them from the region’s oil and gas for years.
The command also said it will continue attacks on military, security and economic infrastructure of Israel and the US in the region with greater intensity. - Reuters
Iran’s Amirkabir petrochemicals plant in Mahshahr has been attacked. - Reuters
US secretary of state Marco Rubio and UK foreign secretary Yvette Cooper spoke on Tuesday about “the need for international efforts” in response to the escalating crisis in the Middle East, according to the US state department.
According to department spokesperson Tommy Pigott, the pair spoke about “the Iranian regime’s ongoing attacks across the Middle East and the critical importance of restoring freedom of navigation in the strait of Hormuz.”
“The secretary and foreign secretary agreed on the need for international efforts to ensure shipping can move freely and energy supplies can reach global markets,” he added. - Guardian
Trump says Iran’s call for people to form human shields around power plants ‘totally illegal’
In a brief phone call with NBC News, president Donald Trump declined to provide any update on the status of any supposed negotiations with Iran, but he sharply criticised Tehran’s call for young people to line up as human chains around the power plants Trump has threatened to bomb.
“Totally illegal. They’re not allowed to do that,” he said.
Asked what motivated him to post this morning that “a whole civilisation will die tonight”, Trump said: “You’ll have to figure that out.” - Guardian
Trump will respond to Pakistani proposal soon
US president Donald Trump is aware of Pakistan’s proposal for a two-week extension to a deadline he imposed on Iran, and a response will come soon, Axios reported on Tuesday, citing White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt.
Iran is positively reviewing Pakistan’s request for a two-week ceasefire, a senior Iranian official told Reuters on Tuesday.
Italy says Iranian people must not be made to pay for the actions of their government
The Iranian people must not be made to pay for the actions of their government, Italy said on Tuesday, after US president Donald Trump threatened that “a whole civilization will die tonight.”
A statement from prime minister Giorgia Meloni’s office condemned Iran’s attacks on its neighbours but said the actions of a “regime” must be clearly separated from the fate of ordinary people.
“The Iranian civilian population can not and must not be made to pay the price for the guilt of its government,” the statement said. - Reuters
Preliminary UN probe blames Israel and likely Hizbullah for peacekeeper deaths
Preliminary findings in a UN probe into the deaths of three Indonesian peacekeepers in Lebanon last month show one was killed by an Israeli tank projectile and two others by an improvised explosive device most likely placed by Hizbullah, the UN said on Tuesday.
“These are preliminary findings, based on initial physical evidence,” UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric told a news briefing, adding that a full investigation process was continuing that included engagement with the parties concerned.
Dujarric called the incidents “unacceptable” and said they could amount to war crimes under international law.
He said the United Nations had requested that the cases be investigated and prosecuted by national authorities to bring the perpetrators to justice.
The Indonesian peacekeepers were killed in two separate incidents in southern Lebanon on March 29th and 30th after a bloody weekend in which Lebanese journalists and medics were also killed in Israeli strikes. - Reuters
Pakistan requests two-week extension on US deadline for Iran to end oil blockade
Pakistan’s prime minister Shehbaz Sharif has asked Donald Trump to extend the deadline he imposed on Iran to end its blockade of Gulf oil by two weeks.
Pakistan has been the main go-between for proposals shared by Iran and the US, but there has been no sign of a compromise.
In a post on X, Sharif said: “Diplomatic efforts for peaceful settlement of the ongoing war in the Middle East are progressing steadily, strongly and powerfully with the potential to lead to substantive results in near future.
“To allow diplomacy to run its course, I earnestly request president Trump to extend the deadline for two weeks. Pakistan, in all sincerity, requests the Iranian brothers to open strait of Hormuz for a corresponding period of two weeks as a goodwill gesture.
“We also urge all warring parties to observe a ceasefire everywhere for two weeks to allow diplomacy to achieve conclusive termination of war, in the interest of long-term peace and stability in the region.” - Guardian
Protesters break into Kuwaiti consulate in Iraq’s Basra after rocket attack kills three
Angry protesters stormed the Kuwaiti consulate in the Iraqi city of Basra, police sources said on Tuesday, after a rocket attack fired from the direction of Kuwait, killing three people.
At least three people were killed and five others wounded when rockets fired from the direction of Kuwait hit a house in Khor al-Zubair near Basra, security and health officials told Reuters.
Police said the death toll could rise as some family members remained under the debris. - Reuters
France urges US not to go ahead with threat to erase Iran’s ‘whole civilisation’
The French foreign minister Jean-Noel Barrot said on Tuesday that he hoped Donald Trump would not go ahead with his latest threats against Iran.
“One does not erase a civilisation … This ultimatum is not the first that president Trump has set since the war started,” Barrot told France 2 television.
“Obviously I hope he does not go ahead with his threats that would push the region but also the world in a new escalation that would be particularly dangerous,” he added. - Guardian
Pope Leo says threats against Iran are ‘unacceptable’
Pope Leo said on Tuesday that threats against the population of Iran are “unacceptable,” in an unusual appeal hours after US president Donald Trump said “a whole civilisation will die tonight” in a social media post that shocked world leaders.
The pope, who has emerged as an outspoken critic of the Iran war, called on citizens across the world to contact their political representatives and ask them to bring the expanding regional conflict to an end. - Reuters
Iranian media publishes a warning to residents and citizens crossing a number of bridges and roads in Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Bahrain.
Iran’s Tasnim cites a military source as saying that Iran will add oil facilities of Aramco and Saudi Arabia’s Yanbu and UAE’s Fujairah pipeline to its targets if Trump attacks the country’s power plants. - Reuters
Trump warns Iranian ‘civilisation will die tonight’ as his deadline looms
The UK urged Donald Trump to step back from his threat to wipe out “a whole civilisation” as his deadline for Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz drew closer.
The US president has given Tehran until 1am on Wednesday Irish time to end its blockade of the strait or face obliteration.
Downing Street again said the UK’s focus was on “de-escalation” and a “negotiated settlement” for the region, but Trump ratcheted up his rhetoric and the US-Israeli bombing campaign continued.
Writing on his Truth Social platform he said: “A whole civilisation will die tonight, never to be brought back again.
“I don’t want that to happen, but it probably will.”
But Trump, who has previously extended his deadline for action, said the “complete and total regime change” in Iran had resulted in a situation where “different, smarter, and less radicalised minds prevail”.
He said: “Maybe something revolutionarily wonderful can happen, WHO KNOWS? We will find out tonight, one of the most important moments in the long and complex history of the world.”
Trump has said the US will destroy Iran’s bridges and power stations, saying he was “not at all” concerned that attacks on civilian infrastructure could constitute a war crime. - Press Association
US citizens told to reconsider travel to Saudi Arabia
The US embassy in Riyadh has advised US citizens to reconsider travel to the country amid the war, per a travel advisory from the Saudi authorities.
It also advised Americans to reconsider “participation in Hajj this year” – the annual Muslim pilgrimage to the holy city of Mecca – “due to the ongoing security situation and intermittent travel disruptions”. - Guardian
Kuwait residents asked to stay home in ‘precautionary measure’
Kuwait’s interior ministry has asked residents to stay home from midnight to 6am on Wednesday.
The “precautionary measure” spans the timing of President Donald Trump’s threats against Tehran.
It “aims to maintain safety, support security operations and ensure stability,” the ministry said in a post on X.
“Everyone is asked to follow instructions and cooperate with authorities.” - Guardian
Iranian hackers’ targeting of US critical infrastructure has escalated since start of war, US says
Iranian hacking campaigns targeting equipment used across multiple US critical infrastructure sectors are escalating in response to hostilities, US cybersecurity, law enforcement and intelligence agencies said on Tuesday.
The hackers are targeting publicly exposed programmable logic controllers and supervisory control and data acquisition displays, according to the advisory.
The targeted devices are used to interact with or control certain critical infrastructure-related equipment and systems, the advisory said.
The hackers are seeking to cause “disruptive effects within the United States,” according to the advisory.
“In a few cases, this activity has resulted in operational disruption and financial loss."
The warning comes as president Donald Trump warned that “a whole civilisation will die tonight” if Iran fails to make a deal with the US, while Iran said it would attack additional infrastructure targets across its Gulf neighbors.
In some cases the hackers interacted with data files in the systems to alter display data, while also extracting device project data, according to the advisory.
The hacking operations targeted unnamed critical infrastructure organisations in the government services and facilities, water and wastewater systems and energy sectors, according to the advisory.
The advisory was issued by the FBI, the National Security Agency, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Energy and US Cyber Command’s Cyber National Mission Force. - Reuters
Envoy says Iran will take ‘proportionate’ action if Trump follows through on attack threats
Iran’s representative to the UN said that Tehran will “take immediate and proportionate” action if president Donald Trump follows through on his threats to attack the country’s “whole civilisation”.
Amir-Saeid Iravani said Trump’s threats that a “whole civilisation will die” if Iran does not make a deal “constitute incitement to war crimes and potentially genocide”.
During a UN Security Council session on the Strait of Hormuz earlier, he urged the international community to call out Trump’s rhetoric before it’s too late.
Iran will not stand idle in the face of such egregious war crimes. It will exercise, without hesitation, its inherent right of self-defense and will take immediate and proportionate reciprocal measures, he said. - Guardian
White House says only Trump knows ‘where things stand and what he will do’
The White House has reiterated Trump’s demand that Tehran reach a deal within the next few hours, saying that only the US president knows how he will respond if Tehran fails to comply.
“The Iranian regime has until 8pm Eastern Time [00:00 GMT] to meet the moment and make a deal with the United States,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt has told several outlets including Al Jazeera and the Wall Street Journal.
Trump earlier threatened that “a whole civilisation will die tonight” if Iran – a nation of 90 million people - does not accept his demand to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. - Guardian
Italy’s defense minister stands by US base denial on Iran
Italian defense minister Guido Crosetto defended the decision to deny the US use of an Italian air base for operations in Iran, insisting that the government was following procedures in place for decades.
Crosetto addressed lawmakers on Tuesday to explain why Italy denied the US, a longtime ally and NATO partner, the use of the Sigonella base in Sicily last month.
“It’s not necessary to be courageous to say ‘No’ to the US if they make a request we can’t satisfy,” Crosetto said. “The law shows us the path to follow.”
Tensions between Europe and Washington have been rising since the US and Israel attacked Iran on February 28th. US president Donald Trump has frequently expressed his displeasure with European allies, including Spain and France, who have shown increased resistance to participation in the conflict.
The use of Italian bases by the US is regulated by agreements signed in the 1950s which remain classified. Premier Giorgia Meloni has said the accords don’t allow for combat operations, and said that any such requests would be put to parliament for debate.
“Respecting these agreements doesn’t entail partaking in a war — that as everyone knows none of us wanted — but respecting engagements within the confines of the law and the constitution,” Crosetto told lawmakers. “We are not at war with Iran or any other party.” - Bloomberg
The US justice department has provided counsel to the White House, Pentagon and state department regarding Iran, acting US attorney general Todd Blanche said on Tuesday.
Canada urges US and Iran not to target civilian infrastructure
Canadian officials urged all sides in the Middle East war to avoid hitting civilian sites, responding after US president Donald Trump threatened that “a whole civilisation will die” if Iran doesn’t meet his demands.
Prime minister Mark Carney said every country in the conflict must follow international law and established rules of engagement.
“That means not targeting, certainly, civilians or civilian infrastructure and we urge all parties in this war to follow those responsibilities,” he said at a news conference near Toronto.
Public statements often differ from what’s happening in private negotiations, Carney noted.
Regardless of how those talks progress, he said they must ultimately lead to a “cessation of hostilities and a re-establishment of security and peace in the region.” - Bloomberg
Vatican aid convoy to southern Lebanese town forced back by bombardment
Bombardment in southern Lebanon on Tuesday forced a convoy of humanitarian aid organised by the Vatican’s embassy for a besieged Christian town to turn back, a priest in the town told Reuters.
Thousands of Christians in several southern Lebanese towns have stayed in their homes despite the escalating fighting between Israel and Lebanese armed group Hizbullah, hoping their towns would be spared if they stayed on the sidelines of the conflict.
But clashes and Israeli air strikes on surrounding villages have made travel in and out of the towns too dangerous and food, water and medicine are running short.
An aid delivery organised by the Vatican’s embassy was meant to deliver aid to the Christian town of Debel on Tuesday but shelling forced it to turn back at the last minute, said Fadi Falfil, a priest in Debel.
“We don’t have basic medication like insulin - we don’t even have drinking water,” he told Reuters.
Falfil said the convoy was first organised for Easter Sunday but heavy shelling delayed it to Tuesday.
“We were waiting all day, and they were at pains all day to try to get this aid to us. It was five minutes away and it had to turn back,” Falfil said. - Reuters
Madagascar declares state of emergency
Madagascar has declared a nationwide state of energy emergency for 15 days due to the fallout of the Iran war, its cabinet said on Tuesday. - Reuters
Portugal says US uses Azores base on condition no civilian infrastructure targeted
Portugal said it had authorised 76 landings by US aircraft at the Lajes air base in the Azores and 25 overflights of its territory since the start of the US-Israeli war on Iran, on condition they were not used to bomb civilian infrastructure.
Foreign minister Paulo Rangel told a parliamentary hearing the US had complied with the condition, in the spirit of “loyal cooperation” between the two NATO allies, but said that on several occasions landings had also been refused.
Spain, France, Italy, Austria and Switzerland have restricted or refused US military aircraft access to their airspace or bases in connection with the war in Iran.
“We are against any attack on civilian infrastructure and we made that a condition for the use of the Lajes air base,” Rangel said, explaining that Lisbon grants authorisation to use the base for military action in the event of an attack on the United States, provided the response is “necessary and proportional” and does not target civilians. - Reuters
Iran saw the highest rate of attacks in the last 10 days on Monday
Israel and the US struck 17 civilian targets on Tuesday morning, the Iranian Red Crescent said, in attacks that the humanitarian NGO have decried as war crimes.
Nearly 3,600 people have been killed in the US-Israeli strikes on Iran since attacks began, including at least 1,665 civilians, the Human Rights Activists news agency (HRANA) said.
Of those numbers, at least 248 of those killed were children.
At least 49 civilians were killed and 58 others were injured on Monday, according to HRANA, which recorded 573 attacks across 215 incidents in 20 provinces over that 24-hour period – the highest rate of attacks seen in the last ten days.
Oil and gas crisis from Iran war worse than 1973, 1979 and 2022 together, says IEA
The oil and gas crisis triggered by the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz is “more serious than the ones in 1973, 1979 and 2022 together”, the head of the International Energy Agency (IEA) has said.
Speaking as president Trump’s deadline for Iran to reopen the waterway approached, Fatih Birol told Le Figaro newspaper that the impact of the Middle East conflict on the oil market was larger than the combined force of the twin shocks of the 1970s and the fallout from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The IEA executive director also warned that the countries most at risk were developing nations, which would suffer from higher oil and gas prices, higher food prices and a general acceleration of inflation, while European countries, Japan and Australia would also feel an impact.
Oil prices seesawed around the $110 (€95) a barrel mark on Tuesday, rising above that level after Trump warned that a “whole civilization will die tonight” unless Iran made a deal, before later easing to just below. - Guardian
Trump ‘not at all’ concerned attacks could amount to war crimes
The UN rights chief decried the “incendiary rhetoric” in the Middle East war, warning that deliberate attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure was “a war crime”.
“Under international law, deliberately attacking civilians and civilian infrastructure is a war crime. Anyone responsible for international crimes must be held to account by a competent court,” Volker Turk said in a statement, without naming the United States, Israel nor Iran.
President Donald Trump says the US will bomb Iran’s power plants and bridges if Tehran fails to meet his latest deadline to reopen the strait of Hormuz.
He is “not at all” concerned that such attacks on civilian infrastructure could amount to war crimes and a “whole civilisation will die tonight” if Iran doesn’t agree to a deal. - Guardian
Israeli military issues warning for vessels in a maritime area in Lebanon
The Israeli military issued a warning for all vessels anchoring or sailing in the maritime area between Lebanon’s Tyre and Ras Naqoura, signalling a likely imminent attack.
All vessels must immediately sail north of the Tyre area, the military said. - Reuters
Heads of IEA, IMF and World Bank to meet next Monday to discuss energy crisis
The leaders of the International Energy Agency (IEA), the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank will discuss the energy crisis triggered by the Iran war next Monday, IEA executive director Fatih Birol said.
“This energy crisis calls for all hands on deck and international cooperation,” Birol said on social media platform X, stressing the need for the three institutions to support governments worldwide amid the economic fallout from the war.
Birol, the IMF’s chief Kristalina Georgieva and the World Bank’s Ajay Banga agreed last week to form a coordination group to help deal with the regional disruption that has caused one of the largest supply shortages in global energy market history.
Their response mechanism could include targeted policy advice, assessing potential financing needs and providing support, including through low- or zero-percent financing, as well as unspecified risk mitigation tools, they said. - Reuters
Iraqi armed group to release abducted US journalist
Iraqi armed group Kataib Hizbullah, which is Iran-aligned, said on Tuesday it would release abducted US journalist Shelly Kittleson, adding that she must leave Iraq immediately.
Kittleson was abducted in late March in Baghdad.
Middle East news site AL-Monitor said Kittleson was a US freelance journalist based in Rome who had covered several wars in the region and had contributed articles to the outlet.
Fuel prices could continue to rise after Strait of Hormuz reopens
Fuel prices could keep rising for months even after the Strait of Hormuz reopens, the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) said on Tuesday, deviating from President Donald Trump’s assurances that consumers will see immediate relief when he ends the war with Iran.
However, the EIA, the US department of energy’s statistical arm, was less certain in its short-term energy outlook report. The trajectory of fuel prices depends on a number of variables, including the duration of the Strait of Hormuz’s closure and the amount of oil production that has been shut in the Middle East due to it, both of which the agency can only estimate, it said.
“Just as we had never before seen the strait close, we’ve never seen it reopen. What exactly that looks like remains to be seen,” the EIA said.
The EIA said it expects full restoration of flows through the Strait of Hormuz will take months even after the conflict ends, and it expects uncertainty around future supply disruptions to keep oil prices above pre-conflict levels through the rest of this year. - Reuters
Young Iranians urged to form human chains to protect power plants
Iranian officials have urged young people to form human chains to protect power plants, as US president Donald Trump warned that a “whole civilization will die tonight” if Tehran does not meet his latest deadline for the Islamic Republic to agree to a deal.
Meanwhile, airstrikes hit two bridges and a train station in Iran, and the US struck military targets on the Iranian oil hub of Kharg Island. The attack marked the second time the island was hit by American forces.
Trump has extended previous deadlines for Iran to agree to a deal that includes reopening the crucial Strait of Hormuz, but suggested the one set for 8pm in Washington was final.
The rhetoric on both sides has reached fever pitch, leaving Iranians on edge. - Associated Press
Three people killed by rockets in Iraq
At least three people were killed and five others wounded on Tuesday when rockets fired from the direction of Kuwait hit a house in Khor al-Zubair near Basra in Iraq, security and health officials told Reuters.
Police said the death toll could rise as some family members remained under the debris. - Guardian
China and Russia veto UN resolution on protecting Strait of Hormuz
At a vote in the UN Security Council on Tuesday, China and Russia vetoed a Bahraini resolution encouraging states to co-ordinate efforts to protect commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz.
The 15-member Security Council voted 11 in favor of the resolution, with two against and two abstentions.
“The draft resolution has not been adopted, owing to the negative vote of a permanent member of the Council, Bahrain’s Foreign Minister Abdullatif bin Rashid Al Zayani told the Council.
Reuters reports that the situation in Iran’s Kharg Island is under control and there is no damage to infrastructure following a US-Israeli attack.
US lawmakers slam Trump’s social media post saying that a ‘whole civilization will die tonight’
Chuck Schumer, the top Senate Democrat, has called president Donald Trump an “extremely sick person” in response to the his recent post on Truth Social – in which he said “a whole civilization will tonight” if Iran fails to meet his 8pm ET deadline to reopen the strait of Hormuz.
“Each Republican who refuses to join us in voting against this wanton war of choice owns every consequence of whatever the hell this is,” Schumer added.
Other Democrats have slammed Trump’s most recent comments, hours before he promises to follow through on his threat to target civilian infrastructure and power plants in Iran.
Chris Murphy, a Democratic senator who sits on the foreign relations committee, said that Trump’s plan is to “murder thousands of innocent Iranians and hope for a civil war that somehow ends up with the strait of Hormuz reopening”. - Guardian
Three people injured in Israel
Israel’s emergency services said three people were lightly injured on Tuesday after over 20 alerts sounded throughout the day, warning of incoming missiles from Iran or rocket fire from Lebanon.
In the coastal town of Nahariya, less than 10 kilometres from Israel’s northern border with Lebanon, the Magen David Adom emergency service said it treated a woman approximately 20 years old “in mild condition with a head injury from debris thrown by the blast”, following rocket fire.
Paramedics also treated a 46-year-old man in the south of the country who was “in mild condition with injuries to the upper limbs from interceptor debris”, as well as a 36-year-old man in the north “with a shrapnel injury to his lower limbs”.
The three were evacuated to hospitals, Magen David Adom said. - Guardian
Lebanon’s health ministry said on Tuesday that the death toll in more than a month of war between Israel and the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah had reached 1,530.
The toll includes 102 women and 130 children, as well as 57 heath workers, a ministry statement said, adding that 4,812 people have been wounded.
In recent weeks, more than one million people in Lebanon have been forced to flee their homes. - Reuters
Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu said Israel on Tuesday struck railways and bridges in Iran “used by the Revolutionary Guards”, after Iranian officials reported damage to at least two bridges and railway infrastructure.
“We are crushing the terror regime in Iran ... with even greater vigour and with increasing force,” Netanyahu said in a video released by his office.
“Yesterday, our pilots destroyed transport aircraft and dozens of helicopters at an Iranian Air Force base. Today they struck the railways and bridges used by the Revolutionary Guards.” - Reuters
At the Reform UK press conference today, leader Nigel Farage was pressed on Iran and whether he would give America permission to use British airbases for attacks on civilian infrastructure in Iran that Donald Trump has threatened.
Farage indicated he would allow Donald Trump to use British bases for the attacks, if the US president gave assurances about the “end game” of the attacks.
Asked specifically if he would let America use British bases for attacks on civilian infrastructure in Iran, Farage said: “If I was the British prime minister, I’d say to Trump, what is the aim? What is the objective? What is the end game? What is the way out?
“Provided that I received satisfactory answers to those questions, I would say the continued use of our bases was the right thing to do.”
Earlier, Lib Dem leader Ed Davey urged British prime minister Keir Starmer to stop letting the US use British military bases for some of its Iran war operations to stop the UK being “an accomplice to war crimes”. - The Guardian
Closer to home, Dublin Fianna Fáil MEP Barry Andrews described Trump’s language as “genocidal” and “shameful”.
Schumer calls Trump ‘extremely sick person’
Chuck Schumer, the top Senate Democrat, has called Donald Trump an “extremely sick person” in response to the president’s recent post on Truth Social – in which he said “a whole civilization will die tonight” if Iran fails to meet his deadline to reopen the Strait of Hormuz tonight.
“Each Republican who refuses to join us in voting against this wanton war of choice owns every consequence of whatever the hell this is,” Schumer said.
Other Democrats have criticised Trump’s most recent comments, hours before he promises to make good on his threat to target civilian infrastructure and power plants in Iran.
Chris Murphy, a Democratic senator who sits on the foreign relations committee, said Trump’s plan was to “murder thousands of innocent Iranians and hope for a civil war that somehow ends up with the Strait of Hormuz reopening”. - The Guardian
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said Israel targeted railways and bridges in Iran today, confirming earlier reports. - Reuters
Iran and the US continue to exchange messages through Pakistan, a senior Iranian source told Reuters on Tuesday, but Tehran will not show flexibility as long as Washington continues to demand its “surrender under pressure”.
The senior Iranian source, who asked not to be named, said Qatar on Monday had conveyed Tehran’s message to the United States and regional countries that if Washington attacks Iran’s power plants, “the entire region and Saudi Arabia will fall into complete darkness with Iran’s retaliatory strikes”. - Reuters
Starmer warned he could make UK ‘accomplice to war crimes’ if he keeps letting US use British airbases
Ed Davey, the Liberal Democrats leader, has urged British prime minister Keir Starmer to stop letting the US use British military bases for some of its Iran war operations to stop the UK being “an accomplice to war crimes”.
In a post on social media, Davey said Donald Trump’s latest “shocking” threat to Iran made cancelling American use of British bases even more urgent.
Davey also said that, if the UK does continue to allow the US to dispatch bombers from British soil for “defensive operations”, it should publish details of the conditions that apply, monitor every flight that leaves and report to parliament on where those planes actually went.
Currently the government is giving almost no details about what exactly American planes flying to Iran from UK bases have been doing.
Davey outlined his concerns in more detail in an open letter to Starmer co-written with Calum Miller, the Lib Dem foreign affairs spokesperson, and signed by Lib Dem MPs.
Davey said Trump’s explicit threats to target civilian infrastructure in Iran signal a clear intent to breach international law. - The Guardian
Protester says fuel costs have doubled since war started
Reporter Cian O’Connell is speaking to protesters on O’Connell Street in Dublin city centre.
Agricultural contractor Brian Brady said it used to cost him €300 to fill his diesel tractor each day but he is now spending €600. Brady travelled with his colleague, Aidan Ennis, from Cavan to attend the protest.
Brady wants to see reductions on fuel taxes, including removing the carbon tax, which is now levied at €71 per tonne of carbon dioxide emitted.
Brady heard about the protest through social media, catching word of it on Facebook. “There’s no real organisation behind it,” he said.
“It’d be nice if [the Government] showed a bit of respect for everybody that came up for the day, but time will tell.”
Read the full report here.
Fuel protests causing significant traffic delays
The slow-moving convoys protesting fuel prices are causing significant traffic delays on a number of roads. Follow the latest updates in our live story here.
Vance says Trump’s deadline ‘has been followed by us and everybody else’
US vice-president JD Vance, who is in Budapest to back far-right Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán ahead of Sunday’s election, said Trump’s deadline for a deal “has been followed by us and everybody else”.
When asked about the strikes on Kharg Island, Vance said the plan was to hit “some military targets” there and “I believe we have done so”.
“The president’s deadline is has been followed by us and everybody else. And he said very clearly, we’re not going to strike energy and infrastructure targets until the Iranians either make a proposal that we can get behind or don’t make a proposal. But he’s given them until Tuesday at 8pm [1am on Wednesday, Irish time].
“So I don’t think the news and Kharg Island represents a change in strategy or represents any change from the president.”
Vance then joked about Iran leaders being “not the fastest negotiators”, but said he hoped to get an answer by the deadline. - The Guardian
US strikes Kharg Island, key Iranian oil export terminal
The US has hit Kharg Island, a key Iranian oil export terminal, ahead of Trump’s deadline for a deal, an AP source has reported.
Iran’s Mehr news agency earlier said US-Israeli strikes had hit the terminal. The official said the US hit military targets on the island.
The strikes came hours ahead of a deadline Trump has set for Iran to capitulate to his demands or face a major attack. - The Guardian
Airstrikes pounded Tehran on Tuesday, and Iranian officials urged young people to form human chains to protect power plants.
Trump has extended previous deadlines but suggested this latest one was final, and the rhetoric on both sides reached a fever pitch, leaving Iranians on edge.
The US president has threatened to destroy all of Iran’s power plants and bridges if Tehran does not allow traffic to fully resume in the strait, through which a fifth of the world’s oil transits in peacetime.
Iran’s president said 14 million people, including himself, have volunteered to fight.
While Iran cannot match the sophistication of US and Israeli weaponry or their dominance in the air, its chokehold on the strait is causing major damage to the world economy and raising the pressure on Trump both at home and abroad to find a way out of the standoff.
Officials involved in diplomatic efforts said talks were ongoing — but Iran has rejected the latest American proposal, and it was unclear if a deal would come in time to head off Trump’s threatened attacks. - AP
Trump warns ‘a whole civilization will die tonight’ if agreement not reached with Iran
With the Trump-set deadline for negotiations nearing expiry, the US president has taken to social media to suggest that if agreement is not reached with the Iranian regime, “a whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back”. We are, therefore, reaching “one of the most important moments in the long and complex history of the World”, he said.
Trump’s full post on Truth Social reads: “A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again. I don’t want that to happen, but it probably will.
“However, now that we have Complete and Total Regime Change, where different, smarter, and less radicalized minds prevail, maybe something revolutionarily wonderful can happen, WHO KNOWS?
“We will find out tonight, one of the most important moments in the long and complex history of the World. 47 years of extortion, corruption, and death, will finally end. God Bless the Great People of Iran!”
The war against Iran is costing the US hundreds of millions of dollars a day – and about a tenth of that is the price of military equipment destroyed in the fighting, according to recent analysis.
US losses of soldiers and materiel are light by the standards of wars in which the two sides are more evenly matched, defence experts say, but Iran’s destruction of costly US radar systems has left Washington more vulnerable in the event of future conflicts in other theatres such as China.
You can read more of the analysis here.
Last-ditch negotiations before Trump’s deadline
The United States and Iran are engaging in negotiations in advanceahead of Trump’s deadline to reach a deal before 1am on Wednesday (Irish time).
The two sides are in last-ditch talks, according to officials in Pakistan’s Islamabad, which is acting as an intermediary for the indirect negotiations between the US and Iran.
The fact that talks are still going on is a “big thing”, according to an official briefed on the dialogue, adding that “they have to find a way”. An Iranian official said “more hopes are emerging”.
Pakistan has also offered to host talks between Iran and the US, which could follow any ceasefire agreement.
Pakistani, Egyptian and Turkish diplomats are working to bridge the large gap between the demands of Tehran and Washington.
The Egyptian foreign minister, Badr Abdelatty, is in contact with Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff. - The Guardian
‘No winners’ if war continues - Qatar
A Qatari foreign ministry spokesperson has said Hormuz is a natural strait, not a canal, and all countries in the region have the right to use it freely.
The spokesperson said there would be “no winners” if the war in the Middle East continues.
Attacks on civilian and energy infrastructure by any party should not be accepted, they added. - Reuters
An unknown projectile struck a container vessel south of Iran’s Kish Island, the UK Office of Maritime Trade Operations said on Tuesday. The crew is safe and no environmental impact has been reported.
The incident remains under investigation – it’s still unclear who launched the projectile and whether the container vessel was the intended target. - Reuters
Fuel convoy protests arrive in Dublin city centre
The various convoys protesting about rising fuel prices have begun to arrive in Dublin city. Reporter Cian O’Connell is on the scene at O’Connell Street.
A small number of tractors have parked up outside the GPO, where speeches by fuel protest organisers are set to take place this afternoon, he reports. Several dozen protesters have gathered there on foot.
At the top of O’Connell Street, Ggardaí are redirecting regular, southbound traffic away from the Rriver Liffey, though some trucks and larger vehicles are being allowed to pass through.
Read the latest updates here.
A spokesperson for the Qatar foreign ministry said the country supports Pakistan-led mediation efforts to end the war, but is not itself mediating between the US and Iran. - Reuters
The Israeli military said it completed a wide wave of attacks across Iran on Tuesday.
One of the strikes targeted a bridge on the Tabriz-Zanjan highway in Iran’s northwest, Iranian newspaper Etemad is reporting. - Reuters
Three people shot outside Israeli consulate in Istanbul
One person was killed and two others injured in an incident near the Israeli consulate in Istanbul on Tuesday.
Initial reports said three people were killed, but authorities have since said one person was killed and two others were injured.
Davut Gul, governor of Istanbul, told reporters at the scene that three individuals were armed with rifles and pistols before engaging police in a firefight.
According to Gul, one attacker was killed and two others were wounded. Two police officers were also wounded, he said.
It’s still unclear what the attackers were seeking to achieve.
Gul said there have been no Israeli diplomatic staff at the consulate in Istanbul for two and a half years.
Turkey’s interior minister Mustafa Çiftçi said the attackers had been “neutralised”.
“Three individuals who engaged in an armed clash with our police officers on duty in front of the Yapi Kredi Plaza Blocks in Istanbul have been neutralised,” he wrote in a post on X.
“In the clash, two of our heroic police officers sustained minor injuries. The identities of the terrorists have been identified.
“It has been determined that the individuals, who arrived in Istanbul by a rental vehicle from Izmit, include one with ties to an organisation that exploits religion; and it has also been established that one of the two terrorists, who are brothers, has a drug record.” - Reuters and The Guardian
A senior Iranian source has told Reuters that Tehran has rejected any temporary ceasefire with the US.
The source said Iran has set preconditions for talks with the US for “a lasting peace”.
Preconditions include an immediate halt to strikes, guarantees strikes will not be repeated and compensation for damages. - Reuters
Pilots must be given final say on flying in war zones, aviators’ group says
Pilots must be given a “final and non-negotiable” say allowing them to refuse to fly over or within conflict zones without influence from commercial pressures, global union group International Federation of Air Line Pilots’ Associations (IFALPA) said.
The position paper on Monday from IFALPA comes as the six-week-long Iran war is reshaping airspace across the Middle East and increasing disruptions to flights due to drone and missile attacks and interceptions, heightening safety risks for airline crew members and their passengers.
Montreal-based IFALPA said airlines should recognise how conflict zone operations can create mental and emotional strain in the cockpit.
“The Commander’s decision regarding the conduct or rerouting of a flight, including refusal to overfly a conflict zone, must be final and non-negotiable,” the paper said. “Additionally, this decision must not be influenced by financial or other incentives, career repercussions or other penalties, or commercial pressures.”
While many carriers have cancelled services to affected destinations, Dubai-based Emirates is now operating at about 69 per cent of its normal capacity and Qatar Airways at 26 per cent, according to Flightradar24 data. That equates to hundreds of flights per day in airspace that has been targeted by Iranian missiles and drones. - Reuters
Iran on Tuesday attacked a petrochemical complex in Saudi Arabia’s Jubail industrial city, located in the Eastern province, Iran’s semi-official Fars news agency said.
The Saudi government communications office, state oil giant Aramco and its petrochemicals subsidiary SABIC did not immediately respond to requests for comment. - Reuters
Add us as a preferred source in Google search
Israel and US strike civilian targets in Iran in possible war crimes
Israel and the US struck 17 civilian targets on Tuesday morning, the Iranian Red Crescent said, in attacks that the humanitarian NGO have decried as war crimes.
In a statement posted on X, the Iranian Red Crescent said there was no justification for attacking defenceless civilians and to do so was a war crime.
Donald Trump earlier said he was “not at all” concerned about committing possible war crimes as he again threatened to destroy Iran’s bridges and power plants if Tehran does not meet his deadline (1am on Wednesday, Irish time) to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
A spokesman for UN secretary general Antonio Guterres told the Associated Press on Monday international law bars the attacking of such infrastructure. “Even if specific civilian infrastructure were to qualify as a military objective,” Stephane Dujarric said, an attack would still be prohibited if it risks “excessive incidental civilian harm”. - Reuters
Kremlin says the world is lining up for Russian energy
The Kremlin said on Tuesday there were a huge number of requests for Russian energy supplies from a range of different places amid the global energy crisis.
Russia is the world’s second largest oil exporter after Saudi Arabia and holds the world’s largest natural gas reserves.
President Vladimir Putin has suggested switching supplies away from European customers who have repeatedly said they no longer want to buy Russian energy due to the war in Ukraine.
“Now that the world has confidently embarked on the path of a rather serious economic and energy crisis, which is growing day by day, the market and market conditions in the field of energy and energy resources have completely changed,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.
“There are a huge number of requests for the purchase of our energy resources from alternative sources. We are negotiating, we are negotiating in such a way that this situation best suits our interests.” - Reuters
The chief executive of the business organisation Dublin Town has warned that today’s fuel price protests could erode goodwill, Vivienne Clarke reports.
Richard Guiney told Newstalk’s Claire Byrne show that while he had sympathy for everybody in the current circumstances, businesses were also facing large energy price increases. The experience from previous similar protests was that the city continued to function, but protestors lost the goodwill of people who could have been their allies, he said.
“I’m not sure that they’re going to get what they want out of this kind of protest. And, you know, in terms of the general public, a lot of people will just work from home during the protests.”
Guiney anticipated there would be a decrease in footfall in the city centre today, “probably in the region of about 10 per cent”.
He continued: “Those businesses, particularly in the retail side of the house, are already - with all the other options that are out there, online shopping, etc - are feeling a fair amount of stress.
“Obviously, we all need a strong economy, that’s what we need to work together towards.”
Government doing ‘as much as it can’ to respond to rising fuel prices, minister says
The Government will do “as much as it can for as long as it can” to respond to rising fuel prices, Minister for Higher Education James Lawless has said.
Speaking on RTÉ Radio 1, Lawless said: “We’ve cut the price of diesel and petrol at the pumps. We’ve extended the winter heating scheme into another four weeks. So we’re doing as much as we can for as long as we can, but one of the things about this war, this situation, is it’s moving so rapidly and it is quite a volatile situation. So the war could ramp up or the war could ramp down.“
Vivienne Clarke reports that Lawless said the Government had “to do something that’s sustainable, that’s costed, that’s repeatable, and the taxpayer ultimately can stand over”.
“So we’re taking it one step at a time. We are engaging with industry, trying to manage people’s expenses, because we know it’s hard, and pump heating in particular is a strain,” he said.
“We just don’t know where this is going to take us. We have to step carefully in a way that is sustainable and that the economy can afford.
The Government was looking at both short-term and long-term measures, he said.
“I think with the long term, we need to look at our energy mix. We just need to really drive it home, the longer that we’re importing fossil fuels from outside the EU, the longer we will continue to be dependent on oil stocks or gas stocks or these kind of surprises in the markets and these kinds of exposures.”
Turkey is not facing any problems regarding energy supply security due to the Iran war but the situation is “volatile”, energy minister Alparslan Bayraktar was quoted as saying by Turkish media on Tuesday.
“We hope the war will not last any longer. But the process is currently under our control,” Bayraktar told reporters on Monday evening after a cabinet meeting, broadcaster Haberturk reported. “There is no problem or difficulty in energy supply security.”
Turkey is a big energy importer which neighbours Iran and is among the most exposed emerging market economies to the global energy price jump. Bayraktar said in late March that Turkey’s dependence on Middle East oil was at a “manageable” 10 per cent of total supplies and that the country had taken protective diversification steps. - Reuters
A strike on a residential area in Iran’s Alborz province has killed at least 18 people and wounded 24 others, according to Fars news agency.
Eurozone investor morale plunges, Sentix survey shows
The Sentix index measuring investor morale in the eurozone fell sharply in April, stung by higher energy prices and supply chain disruptions from the US-Israeli war on Iran.
The index fell to -19.2 points, down from -3.1 the month before, the survey showed on Tuesday, worse than forecasts by analysts polled by Reuters for a reading of -9 points.
“Investors realise that recession is once again on the table,” Sentix said.
Sentix likened the decline to that of a year earlier, when Trump began to increase tariffs.
“The attacks on energy infrastructure and disruptions to shipping in the Persian Gulf are weighing even more heavily on people’s minds than they did four weeks ago,” Sentix added
The survey of 1,047 investors was taken from April 2nd to 4th. - Reuters
Fuel protests causing traffic delays around the country
There are reports of heavy traffic in several locations around the country as people stage slow-moving convoys protesting high fuel prices caused by the war.
You can read the latest updates in our live story on the protests here.
Iran’s Mehr news agency is reporting that Khorramabad Airport has been targeted in a US-Israeli attack. More as we get it.
Iran war jeopardises US global leadership, warns Italian minister
The Iran war has put US global leadership on the line, Italy’s defence minister Guido Crosetto said, expressing fear about the “madness” of nuclear escalation.
Like some other Nato allies reluctant to join Trump’s attacks on Iran, Italy last week denied permission for US military aircraft to land at the Sigonella air base in Sicily en route to the Middle East.
“This war is also putting the United States at risk in its global leadership,” Crosetto told Italian daily Corriere della Sera in an interview published on Tuesday. Crosetto, a close ally of Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni, who has a good relationship with Trump, said he worried the conflict could take an even worse turn and cited the 1945 US nuclear bombings of Japan in the second World War II.
“Just think: it was human beings like us who decided that even Hiroshima and Nagasaki were acceptable means of ending a conflict. Unfortunately, we still possess nuclear weapons, and those who do not have them are seeking to acquire them. We have learnedt nothing,” he said.
“The risk is madness, and what we are experiencing is a conflict in which every action triggers a reaction at a higher level”.
Crosetto, who is due to address parliament about the Iran war later on Tuesday, said Trump should have braver advisers.
“One of the problems of this presidency is that no one dares contradict the boss,” he said.
With Trump angry at Europe’s stance on the war, Crosetto said Italy has not given the US permission to use its bases in other circumstances than those that arose last week. Meloni, who has so far refrained from taking a hard line against the war, visited Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates over the weekend to show support for Gulf nations facing Iranian attacks and to protect Italy’s energy supplies as the world grapples with rising fuel prices. - Reuters
Message from the Editor
[ To join Ireland's biggest community of news subscribers, sign up hereOpens in new window ]
As negotiations to end the war continue, civilians on the ground are surveying the destruction.
Aboutround 18 per cent of French petrol stations were lacking some kind of fuel on Tuesday morning, junior energy minister Maud Bregeon said.
French oil major TotalEnergies has set a ceiling on its retail prices in France, below what other brands charge, which led to supply issues at some stations, she said in an interview on news TV channel BFM TV.
There is no overall problem of supply, she said, with only a problem of logistics because of demand changes. - Reuters
Current oil and gas crisis ‘worse than 1973, 1979, 2002 together’, energy chief says
The current oil and gas crisis triggered by the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz is “more serious than the ones in 1973, 1979 and 2002 together”, Fatih Birol, the head of the International Energy Agency (IEA), told Le Figaro newspaper.
“The world has never experienced a disruption to energy supply of such magnitude,” he said in an interview with the French newspaper released in its Tuesday edition.
He said the European countries, as well Japan, Australia and others will suffer, but the countries most at risk were developing nations thatwhich will suffer from higher oil and gas prices, higher food prices and a general acceleration of inflation.
The IEA member countries agreed last month to release part of their strategic reserves. Some of this had already been released and the process continues, said Birol.
In reaction to the strikes by Israel and the US, Iran has almost entirely blocked the traffic in the Strait of Hormuz, through which about 20 per cent of world oil and gas regularly flows, creating a surge in energy prices. - Reuters
Protests over fuel prices may cause delays on roads
Road users have been advised to allow extra time for journeys this morning as a number of protests against the price of fuel are due to take place in various locations around the country.
An Garda Síochána said the protest activity is “proposed to take the form of slow-moving convoys of vehicles on the main arteries leading to Dublin and in the vicinity of large urban areas across the country from after 8am”.
Dublin Airport has advised passengers travelling to the airport “to allow extra time for their journey due to the possibility of traffic disruption on roads around the airport”.
An Israeli air strike killed at least 10 people and wounded several others outside a school housing displaced Palestinians on Monday, health officials said, in the latest violence overshadowing the fragile US-backed Gaza ceasefire deal.
Before the strikes, some Palestinians had clashed with members of an Israeli-backed militia who they accused of attacking the school, they said, had attacked the school in an attempt to abduct some people, medics and residents said. - Reuters
Global stocks wavered on Tuesday, while oil prices were perched above $110 (about €95) per barrel as the prospect of escalation in the war in the Middle East and the looming deadline for a deal to be reached kept nervy investors on the sidelines.
Markets have been rattled since the US-Israel war on Iran broke out at the end of February, with Tehran effectively closing the Strait of Hormuz, a key global oil transit chokepoint that has spurred inflation worries.
While investors have pinned their hopes on a resolution to the war, the talks so far have yielded no progress, with Trump imposing a deadline of 1am on Wednesday (Irish time) for a deal to be reached. -Reuters
Russia helping Iran strike US targets
Russian satellites have made dozens of detailed imagery surveys of military facilities and critical sites across the Middle East to help Iran strike US forces and other targets, according to a Ukrainian intelligence assessment.
The conclusions, reviewed by Reuters, also found that Russian and Iranian hackers were collaborating in the cyber domain. They represent the most detailed account yet of how Russia has provided secret support to Iran since Israel and the US launched their assault on February 28th.
Russian satellites, the undated assessment said, made at least 24 surveys of areas in 11 Middle Eastern countries from March 21st to 31st, covering 46 “objects”, including US and other military bases and sites including airports and oil fields.
Within days of being surveyed, military bases and headquarters were targeted by Iranian ballistic missiles and drones, the assessment said, in what it described as a clear pattern.
A Western military source and a separate regional security source told Reuters that their intelligence also indicated intense Russian satellite activity in the region and said that imagery had been shared with Iran.
Nine surveys covered parts of Saudi Arabia, including five over the King Khalid Military City near Hafar Al-Batin, in what appeared to be an effort to locate elements of the US-made ThaadHAAD air defence system, the Ukrainian assessment said. - Reuters
Negotiations enter ‘critical, sensitive’ stage
Pakistan’s “positive and productive” efforts to stop the US-Israeli war with Iran are approaching a “critical, sensitive” stage, Iran’s Ambassador to Pakistan Reza Amiri Moghadam said in a post on X on Tuesday.
Strikes continued in Iran and in the region overnight. Israel said it targeted three airports and a petrochemical facility, while Iran launched another wave of missiles towards Israel.
The Israeli military meanwhile told Iranian citizens that “your presence on trains and near railway lines endangers your life”, according to a post made on X.
The King Fahd Causeway, a key bridge linking Saudi Arabia to the island kingdom of Bahrain, closed early on Tuesday due to threats. The King Fahd Causeway Authority made the announcement in a post on X. It said vehicle movements had been “suspended as a precautionary measure” over Iranian attacks targeting Saudi Arabia’s Eastern Province.
The 25km bridge is the only connection by road for Bahrain – home to the US navy’s 5th Fleet – to the Arabian Peninsula, the Associated Press reports.
Diplomatic negotiations aimed at halting the war in the Middle East appeared to be faltering a day before a deadline imposed by Donald Trump with a threat to destroy Iran’s bridges and attack its power plants.
Mediators from Pakistan, Egypt and Turkey want both sides to agree to a ceasefire and reopen the Strait of Hormuz, to be followed by a period of detailed negotiations intended to reach a more complete peace agreement.
Iran, however, said it wanted a permanent end to the war, not a ceasefire. It submitted its own 10-point peace plan, according to the country’s Iran news agency, and called for a “permanent end to the war in line with Iran’s considerations, while rejecting a ceasefire”.
Trump acknowledged Iran’s proposal as he spoke to reporters during an Easter egg event for children at the White House on Monday and said it was insufficient. “It’s a significant step. It’s not good enough,” he said. -AP
Trump ‘not at all’ concerned about possible war crimes
Donald Trump has said he is “not at all” concerned about committing possible war crimes as he threatened to destroy Iran’s infrastructure if Tehran does not open the Strait of Hormuz by his deadline.
He threatened to destroy bridges and power plants if the regime does not move on the blockade by 8pm Eastern Time on Tuesday.
“I’m not worried about it,” the US president said. “You know what’s a war crime? Having a nuclear weapon.”
At a news conference, Trump said all of Iran could be “taken out” in one night “and that night might be tomorrow night”, referring to Tuesday.
Israel and the US carried out a wave of attacks on Iran on Monday, killing more than 25 people. Iran responded with missile fire on Israel and its Gulf Arab neighbours.
