- The US and Israel continue their attacks on Iran, with missiles striking multiple sites across the central Isfahan province. At least 15 people have been killed.
- Iran launches multiple barrages of missiles at Israel and claims attacks on US bases in Iraq and Kuwait.
- US President Donald Trump says Iranians have reached out to him for a deal, but that the terms “aren’t good enough yet”.
- The death toll from Israeli attacks on Lebanon has risen to 826, while the number of those displaced has climbed to 831,000.
- Visit our live tracker for the latest casualty figure
US-Israel plan seems unclear as war on Iran appears to be escalating: Norway
Norway’s Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store says the war in Iran appears to be escalating, adding that the US-Israeli plan for the military campaign seems unclear.
Gahr Store also said no nuclear weapons would be stationed in his country.
Norway strongly criticised Israel’s “preemptive” attacks on Iran, which launched the war, saying they violated international law and labelled Israel an “aggressive nation”.
It has also warned that the US-Israel war on Iran is undermining regional stability.
Israel approves emergency military funding as Iran war rages
Israel has approved an $827m emergency budget allocation for military purchases, according to Israeli media, as the US-Israel war on Iran entered its third week.
The 2.6-billion-shekel package was approved over the weekend by cabinet ministers during a telephone meeting, the Haaretz daily reported. It will be used for “security purchases” and to address “urgent needs”, it said, without providing further details.
A Finance Ministry document circulated to all ministers and cited by several media outlets said, “given the intensity of the fighting”, the additional budget allocation was necessary.
“An urgent and immediate need has arisen to provide an operational response, including the acquisition of munitions, the procurement of advanced weapons systems and the replenishment of critical combat stocks,” the document said.
The document added that the move constituted “an exceptional emergency decision intended solely to address needs arising from the conduct of the fighting”.
The funds will be drawn from the state budget, totalling $222bn and approved by the government on March 12, and expected to be adopted by the Knesset by March 31, according to the reports.
US strategy limited to ‘maximum destruction’ of Iran’s industrial, military capabilities
Samir Puri, a war studies visiting lecturer at King’s College London, says the US attack on Isfahan, Iran’s industrial heartland, demonstrates that the Trump administration appears to have only one objective in its ongoing war on Iran.
The attack “tells us that the US doesn’t really have a strategy, other than the maximum destruction of Iran’s industrial and military capabilities”, Puri told Al Jazeera.
This and other similar attacks are “probably a strategic necessity for Israel as it sees it”, but “it’s very hard to see how the US emerges from even another one, two, three weeks of pummelling the Iranian industrial capacity, with a suitable outcome”, said Puri from London.
“And that’s the thing about strategy, it’s not just about the tactics used or the targets used, it’s about the political endgame,” he added.
While Israel may benefit from Iran simply experiencing “maximum destruction, it’s going to be very problematic” for Trump because “the US is the biggest underwriter for Gulf state security and that security, not only for the Gulf states but also for the Strait of Hormuz, is only going to get worse and worse with a deeply embittered Iranian regime that may actually feel quite vindicated that it emerges from this bloody but unbowed”, said Puri.
MotoGP postpones Qatar Grand Prix due to Middle East conflict
The Qatar Grand Prix, which was scheduled to be held next month, has been postponed due to the war in the Middle East, the sport’s governing body says.
“MotoGP confirms that the Qatar Grand Prix, originally scheduled for April, has been postponed to November 8 due to the ongoing geopolitical situation in the Middle East,” MotoGP said.
The Lusail International Circuit was scheduled to host the fourth round of the 2026 championship on April 10-12, but it has now been rescheduled for November 8, organisers said in a statement.
Formula One and its governing body, FIA, also said the Grands Prix races in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia will not happen in April.
Iran ready to help investigate civilian strikes, welcomes initiatives to end war
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi insists that Iran has not targeted civilian or residential areas in the Middle East, adding that Tehran is ready to form a committee with its neighbours to investigate who is responsibile for such strikes.
Araghchi’s Telegram channel quoted him as saying in an interview with the Al-Araby al-Jadeed website that Tehran was in communication with Gulf countries and would welcome any initiative that could guarantee an end to the US-Israeli war on Iran.
Gulf countries have called on Iran to cease its attacks on their territories, which they say have not only hit US military forces but have also damaged energy facilities and residential areas.
Trump’s push to send warships to Hormuz risks ‘dangerous’, ‘difficult’ mission
It’s unlikely that countries will agree to send warships to the Strait of Hormuz despite Trump’s call, says Mohamad Elmasry, a professor of media studies at the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies.
He said this is “a really difficult task” that Trump is underestimating.
“These are slow-moving ships. They travel about 25km [15.5 miles] per hour. They are massive targets in a very narrow waterway,” said Elmasry.
“Iran can strike the ships in the strait from anywhere on Iranian territory because those Shahed drones have a range of up to 2,500km [1,600 miles], and the strait is very close to the Iranian mainland. So Iran can really wreak havoc on the strait if it wants to.”
It’s a very “dangerous proposition”, and this is why insurance companies are not willing to insure ships or their crews, he added.
Ukraine does not want to lose US backing because of Iran war: Zelenskyy
Ukraine does not want to lose US support for its war against Russia as a result of Washington’s war with Iran, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has told journalists.
“We don’t want to lose the Americans” while they are “without a doubt currently preoccupied with the Middle East”, the Ukrainian leader told the media on Saturday. His comments were under embargo until today.
“We are showing our willingness to help the United States and their allies in the Middle East” by offering to share Ukraine’s drone expertise, and “we strongly hope that as a result of the Middle East, the United States will not turn its back on the question of the war in Ukraine,” he added.
No country should escalate the conflict, Iran’s Araghchi tells top French diplomat
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has held a phone conversation with his French counterpart Jean-Noel Barrot to discuss the US-Israeli war on his country that has affected the whole region.
Araghchi said the “only factor” behind rising insecurity in the region and the Strait of Hormuz was the actions of the US and Israel, according to a post on Telegram from Iran’s Foreign Ministry.
He called on countries to take a “responsible approach” to the situation, and to avoid steps that could further escalate the conflict.
Araghchi also said Iran remained determined to defend its sovereignty and national security, reiterating that Tehran’s military has targeted only military bases of the “aggressors” and should not be seen as attacks on other regional states.
The Iranian minister also said peace in Lebanon would depend on ending Israeli attacks.
Bahrain says 125 missiles, 211 drones intercepted since Iran war erupted
Bahrain says its air defences have intercepted 125 missiles and 211 drones since the Iran war began.
At least one person has been killed in the attacks.
Britain mulling options with allies on Strait of Hormuz closure
The UK is “intensively looking” at what it can do to help reopen the Strait of Hormuz, which has been essentially blocked by Iran, leading to energy price spikes, according to British Energy Secretary Ed Miliband.
“We are talking to our allies. There’s different ways in which we can make maritime shipping possible. We are intensively looking with our allies at what can be done because it’s so important that we get the strait reopened,” Miliband said in an interview with the Sky News broadcaster when asked if Britain was looking at sending mine sweepers or mine-hunting drones to the strait.
Miliband had earlier said there are a range of things the UK can do, including the use of autonomous mine-hunting equipment, but refused to speculate on how far along these proposals were.
He also denied suggestions that Britain did not have a large enough military to meet all its commitments and at the same time respond to the crisis.
Iran claims to have hit police headquarters, satellite communications centre in Israel
Iran’s army says in a statement carried by the country’s media outlets that its forces carried out “powerful drone attacks” this morning targeting Israel’s “Lahav 433” special police unit headquarters and the Gilat defence satellite communications centre.
It did not specify the locations of the targeted sites or the results of the attacks.
Minab: When the world’s most precise missile chose a classroom
US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth recently remarked with disarming composure in a media interview: “The only ones that need to be worried right now are Iranians who think they’re going to live.”
Words spoken without hesitation, as if the prospect of death for millions were merely a strategic calculation.
In southern Iran, before the sun rises over the coast, a familiar sound travels quietly through the villages: the sound of lenj boats preparing for the sea. Their weathered wooden hulls creak against the tide, sails unfold slowly, and fishermen pull their ropes in the stillness of the early morning.
Trump’s comment shatters US image as reliable security partner
Trump has said the US might continue to bomb Iran’s Kharg Island “just for fun”. Al Jazeera asked analyst Samir Puri if comments like this could shatter the image of the US as a reliable security partner to the Gulf countries.
“When a major or superpower offers security guarantees, it’s not just about the hardware” and the army capabilities, “it’s also about the sense of strategic common sense that comes with it, that this is a responsible actor”, said Puri, a war studies visiting lecturer at King’s College London.
Other members of the Trump administration have also acted in ways that may make Gulf states question whether the US is a stable long-term partner, said Puri.
“Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth appears to be taking an enormous delight for destruction’s sake in terms of the way the US is approaching the war” in Iran, he added.
While there has been a long-term rivalry between Iran and Arab states, “there’s also an intense desire for stability”, and the question among Gulf states will be whether the US can continue to maintain stability in the region, said Puri.
This is a valid question, “given that it’s arguably radicalising further an already radicalised Iranian theocratic regime, which already has apocalyptic visions about its own destiny, its own sense of martyrdom, many of which” they feel have been validated given that the US and Israel launched strikes on their country during negotiations, said Puri.