‘I was not happy with the UK… they should be involved enthusiastically’

The US president says he was “very surprised” with the attitude of the United Kingdom towards the war.

“Two weeks ago I said ‘why don’t you send some ships over’ and he [Keir Starmer] really didn’t want to do it,” Trump says.

Trump says he told Starmer, “you’re our oldest ally” and stresses that he’s supported the UK’s efforts in Ukraine.

“Then they tell us that we have a mine ship around and they don’t want to do it, I think it’s terrible,” he adds. “We requested two aircraft carriers which they have and he didn’t really want to do it.”

Trump then suggests that Starmer eventually offered to send aircraft carriers to the Middle East, but says this was already “after the war had ended”.

“I was not happy with the UK,” he says. “I think they’ll be involved maybe, but they should be involved enthusiastically.”

Five things we learned as Trump pushes allies for Strait of Hormuz support

Donald Trump took some time to address Iran while speaking at a White House event – here’s what he had to say:

• The US president began by repeating his message that the US has “obliterated” Iran’s military capacity – and went on to claim that 7,000 targets have been hit in Iran so far
• The biggest point of contention surrounded support for the US operation to contain Iran’s threat to commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, which Trump said the US is “hammering”
• Nonetheless, Trump told reporters that he’s asked countries for help in the Strait “to find out how they react”. He was critical of the UK, who he suggested “should be involved enthusiastically”
• The president then said his Secretary of State Marco Rubio would be announcing the countries who will be supporting US efforts in Iran soon
• After Iran announced Mojtaba Khamenei as its new supreme leader, Trump speculated “we don’t know if he’s dead or not” and suggested: “We don’t know who their leader is. We have people wanting to negotiate. We have no idea who they are”

Trump frames Strait of Hormuz efforts as test for Nato

President Trump is framing efforts to reopen the Strait of Hormuz as a test of Nato allies.

The president says the United States does not necessarily need help securing the vital shipping route – but implies it would be revealing to see which countries ‘rise to the challenge’.

The task itself is significant: the Strait of Hormuz is one of the world’s most important energy chokepoints, through which a large share of global oil supplies normally pass.

When asked during a White House media conference which countries had refused to help, Trump declined to name them.

Instead, he joked about rating leaders’ performances – saying that “on a scale of zero to ten” French President Emmanuel Macron was “an eight – not perfect, but it’s France”.

Trump also pointed out that the US receives only a small share of its oil through the Strait of Hormuz – singling out other countries such as Japan, which relies on the Middle East for about 95% of its oil imports.

But the fact that he is asking other nations to help reopen the waterway – even while insisting the US does not necessarily need it – underlines the scale of the task now facing the administration.

Israeli drone strike in south Lebanon kills paramedic, wounds another

Lebanon’s official National News Agency reported that an Israeli drone strike hit an Islamic Health Authority point in Yater, killing one paramedic and wounding another.

Israel says displaced Lebanese people won’t be allowed to return home

Israel has warned that thousands of Lebanese forced from their homes by its military campaign will not be allowed to return any time soon as Israeli troops expand ground operations in southern Lebanon.

The announcement has echos of the Gaza genocide in which Israel forcefully displaced all of Gaza’s population since it started its war in October 2023.

Speaking to reporters on Monday, Israeli military spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Nadav Shoshani said Israeli forces had entered additional areas in the south.

Soldiers are now operating in “new locations”, he said, claiming the advance as “limited and targeted”.

The push comes days after Defence Minister Israel Katz ordered the army to widen its offensive.

Despite a ceasefire signed in November 2024, Israel has continued attacking Lebanon. Since 2 March Israel has intensified its bombardment across Lebanon, killing almost 900 civilians and displacing more than 830,000 Lebanese people.

Europe must act carefully on Middle East energy disruptions: Von der Leyen

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen says Europe’s actions in response to Middle East oil and gas disruptions and rising energy prices should be limited in scope and short-lived.

“It is important that any short-term measures do not ⁠delay the decarbonisation of ⁠the energy system, do not increase the demand for ⁠oil and gas, ⁠are temporary and ⁠targeted, and minimise fiscal costs,” von der Leyen wrote ‌in a letter.

Germany won’t participate in war on Iran: Chancellor Merz

German Chancellor ⁠Friedrich Merz ⁠says his country will refrain from participating in the US-Israeli war on Iran.

Speaking at a news conference in Berlin, Merz said Germany lacked the mandate from the United Nations, the European Union, or NATO under the Basic Law, and it was clear from the outset that the war is not a matter for NATO.

“The United States ⁠of America and Israel did not consult us prior to this ⁠war either. As for Iran, there ⁠has never been ⁠a joint decision on the ‘whether’ of the matter. That is why the question ‌of how Germany might become militarily involved here does ‌not ‌arise,” he added.

Lebanon says 1 million people displaced by Israeli war

Lebanon says more than one million people have now been displaced as Israel’s war on the country continues to drive civilians from their homes.

In its latest daily update, authorities said large numbers of people have been forced to register as displaced while tens of thousands have sought refuge in emergency shelters, the official Lebanese National News Agency reported.

“The total number of self-registered displaced persons reached 1,049,328, and the total number of displaced persons in shelters reached 132,742,” a statement said. “The death toll has risen to 886 and the number of wounded to 2,141.”

Death toll from strike near Iraq’s border with Syria rises to 6

At least six Iran-backed fighters have been killed in a strike near Iraq’s western border with Syria.

An earlier death toll said four fighters were killed and three others wounded.

The troops from the Popular Mobilisation Forces (PMF), now part of Iraq’s regular army – were struck by a “Zionist [Israeli] bombing” that targeted “an official security position”, according to the PMF.

Earlier, an official with the group told AFP news agency the attack hit a checkpoint, blaming the US.

Another four fighters were wounded, the PMF added in a statement, bringing the total injured to seven.

Trump says France is keen to help on the Strait of Hormuz

⁠⁠President Trump says ⁠he spoke ⁠to French President Emmanuel Macron who he said is ‌willing to help unblock the Strait of Hormuz.

France has insisted it will not join the war on Iran, maintaining a strictly “defensive” approach in the Middle East.

Israel claims missile debris falls near Al-Aqsa mosque, Church of Holy Sepulchre

Israeli police said fragments from missiles and interceptor systems landed at several sensitive religious sites in occupied East Jerusalem’s Old City during Iranian missile interceptions.

Authorities said debris was discovered near the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, and in the Jewish Quarter after air defence systems engaged incoming missiles over the city.

“During the recent salvo fired from Iran toward Jerusalem, several intercepts occurred over the city,” police said.

Officers later located “fragments of missiles and interceptor debris, some of significant size, at multiple sites in the Old City”.

Missile debris struck the roof of a residential building in Israeli-annexed East Jerusalem.

‘Overwhelming view in EU this is an illegal war of choice’

EU Ambassador James Moran says there is broad agreement across Europe the war on Iran by Israel and the United States lacks any legitimacy.

“There is an overwhelming view in the European Union that this is an illegal war of choice on the part of Israel and the United States, and Europe should have absolutely nothing to do with it, at least so far as offensive actions are concerned,” Moran told Al Jazeera.

He added the position reflects a strong consensus across the bloc.

“And I think there’s very, very strong consensus for that in the mainstream of European Union thinking.”

However, Moran warned Europe still faces serious economic and security consequences from the conflict, particularly if tensions threaten shipping routes in the Gulf.

“Europe is paying the highest price for the threats against the Strait of Hormuz”, and at the same time “[Russian President] Putin, who is the main adversary for Europe, is getting most of the benefit in terms of higher oil prices.”

Moran said European leaders are now discussing how they might help protect shipping through the strait without joining the war.

“The problem is how to do that strictly defensively, and not getting dragged into a war of aggression.”

More from Trump’s news conference

• Additional strikes continue from all directions every single hour on Iran.
• We destroyed everything on Kharg Island except the area where the oil is – we left the pipes.
• For purposes of someday rebuilding that country, I guess we did the right thing, but it may not stay that way.
• More than 30 mine-laying Iranian ships have been destroyed.
• We strongly encourage other nations whose economies depend on the Strait of Hormuz far more than ours – we want them to come and help us with the strait.

Turkiye: Israel’s invasion of Lebanon ‘further deepens instability’

Ankara has “strongly condemned” Israel’s ground assault on southern Lebanon.

“The [Benjamin] Netanyahu government’s implementation of genocidal and collective punishment policies, this time in Lebanon, will lead to a new humanitarian catastrophe in the region,” a Foreign Ministry statement said.

“We reiterate our solidarity with Lebanon in the face of these attacks, which violate Lebanon’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.”

Trump says some countries not ‘enthusiastic’ about Hormuz help

President Trump has criticised allies for their lukewarm response to his call to help protect shipping in the Strait of Hormuz during the Israel-US war against Iran.

“For 40 years we’re protecting you, and you don’t want to get involved,” Trump told reporters. “We strongly encourage the other nations to get involved with us and get involved quickly and with great enthusiasm,” he said.

Trump wants nations to help police the crucial strait after Iran responded to US-Israeli attacks by ‌using drones, missiles, and mines to effectively close the channel for tankers that usually transport one-fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas.

“Some are very enthusiastic about ⁠it and some aren’t. ⁠Some are countries that we’ve helped for many, many years. We’ve protected them from horrible outside ⁠sources, and they weren’t that enthusiastic. And the ⁠level of enthusiasm matters ⁠to me.”

Several US allies said on ‌Monday they have no immediate plans to send naval vessels to unblock the ‌Strait ‌of Hormuz.

Joining an EU gathering in Brussels on Monday to discuss skyrocketing oil prices during the US-Israeli war on Iran, German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul said Berlin had no intention of joining military operations during the conflict.

a“We need more clarity here,” Wadephul told reporters ahead of the meeting. “We expect from the US and Israel to inform us, to include us into what they’re doing there and to tell us if these goals are achieved.”

“Once we have a clear picture of that, we believe we need to move into the next phase, namely, defining a security architecture for this entire region, together with the neighbouring states,” he said.

Meanwhile, speaking from Berlin, German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius said that while there would be “no military participation” from his country, it was prepared to support diplomatic efforts “to ensure safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz”.

“This is not our war. We have ⁠not started it,” said Pistorius. “What does … Trump expect a handful or two handfuls of European frigates to do in the Strait of Hormuz that the powerful ⁠US Navy cannot do?”

Also speaking from Berlin, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s spokesman said the conflict has “nothing to do with NATO”. Stefan Kornelius told reporters NATO was “an alliance for the defence of territory”, adding that “the mandate to deploy NATO is lacking”.

Germany’s position was echoed by fellow NATO member the United Kingdom. Speaking from London about joining any mission in the Strait of Hormuz, Prime Minister Keir Starmer said: “Let me be clear: that won’t be, and it’s never been envisioned to be, a NATO mission.”

Starmer stressed the UK would “not be drawn into the wider war”. However, he said the UK was discussing with the US and allies in Europe and the Gulf the possibility of using its mine-hunting drones already in the region.

A number of EU countries joined Germany in reacting with scepticism to Trump’s call on Sunday for a naval coalition to deploy warships to secure the key Gulf waterway, through which about one-fifth of the world’s oil shipments transit.

The strait has essentially been shuttered as a result of the war, which has seen the US and Israel launch deadly attacks across Iran since February 28. Iran has retaliated by firing missiles and drones across the wider Middle East, roiling global energy markets.

Dutch Prime Minister Rob Jetten told the country’s ANP news agency that it would be “very difficult to launch a successful mission there in the short-term”.

Lithuania and Estonia said NATO countries should consider a US request for help but cautioned over the need for greater clarity around various aspects of any potential mission.

Estonian Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna also said that US allies in Europe want to understand Trump’s “strategic goals”. “What will be the plan?” he asked.

⁠Greek government spokesman ⁠Pavlos ⁠Marinakis said ⁠that Greece ⁠would not ⁠engage in ⁠any military operations ‌in the Strait of Hormuz.

Italian Foreign ⁠Minister Antonio ⁠Tajani said Italy was not involved in any naval missions that could be ‌extended to the area.

Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen said, however, that Europe should keep an open mind ⁠on helping to ensure freedom of navigation in the strait even if the continent did not support the ⁠US-Israeli decision to go to war with Iran.

“We must face the world as it is, not as we want it to be,” Rasmussen said, adding that the EU must decide on a plan “with a view towards de-escalation”.

Polish Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski invited the Trump administration to go through the proper channels.

“If there is a request via NATO, we will of course out of respect and sympathy for our American allies consider it very carefully,” he said.

Sikorski made a reference to Article 4 of NATO’s founding treaty, which allies can invoke if they believe their territory or security is under threat.

On Monday, Trump appeared to criticise countries reluctant to help unblock the waterway

“Some  are very enthusiastic about it, and some aren’t. Some are countries that we’ve helped for many, many years. We’ve protected them from horrible outside sources, and they weren’t that enthusiastic. And the level of enthusiasm matters to me,” he said at an event at the White House.

EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas told reporters before the meeting in Brussels that the bloc’s leaders would focus on how the EU could contribute to reopening the waterway.

“We first need to discuss what the member states are willing to do in the Strait of Hormuz,” she said. “Of course, the needs to open the Strait of Hormuz are there right now.”

Kallas said the strait’s closure, which has sent oil prices to more than $100 a barrel, was benefitting Russia’s war on Ukraine, which is largely funded by Moscow’s energy revenues.

Reporting from Brussels, Al Jazeera’s Step Vaessen said what was clear is that European leaders are “increasingly feeling the pressure from Trump to help him reopen the Strait of Hormuz”.

“There is very little appetite [on the part of EU leaders] for joining the war, especially because they feel left out of the loop,” Vaessen said. “They will be discussing a way to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, but that doesn’t necessarily mean sending warships.”

In an interview with the Financial Times on Sunday, Trump said NATO faced a “very bad” future if his proposal for a military operation in the strait received no response or a negative one.

France  has suggested the EU could expand its Aspides mission, a small naval mission established in 2024 to protect ships from attacks by Yemen’s Houthis in the Red Sea.

It currently has an Italian and a Greek ship under its direct command and may also call upon a French ship and another Italian vessel for support.

Keeping the economy on a level footing isn’t just about today, but central to the future that they’ve spent four years fighting for.

“We don’t want to be just a poor neighbour [to the EU],” says Ukraine’s Finance Minister Sergii Marchenko.

“We want to provide for Europe, something which they lack,” he explains, in reference to the military expertise that the country has reluctantly gained since February 2022.

Marchenko adds that the “very painful” experience his country has gained could help the rest of the continent defend itself.

Membership of the EU is a top priority for Kyiv, so there is a lot of gratitude for the bloc’s financial support, which is bringing the two closer together, and aiming to give Ukraine the advantage over Russia.

A new €90bn ($105bn; £79bn) loan from the EU will help cover the shortfall in Ukraine’s budget over the next two years. It’s been approved by the European Parliament, and the first payment could be made in April.

That loan is the biggest share of a $136.5bn (£101bn) international support package, without which Marchenko says his country cannot survive after everything it’s been through.

“Our strong army depends on our strong economy, because all of our resources, which we mobilize internally, we channel… to defend our nation,” he says.

“We are grateful for the support of other nations to help us, but definitely Ukraine’s taxpayers are doing the best help for our army.”

In December 2024, taxes in Ukraine were increased for the first time since the war began, including on personal incomes, small businesses and financial institutions.

That’s part of the reason why domestic sources are expected to bring $67.5bn into government coffers this year, a 15% increase from a year earlier.

However, the government’s budget for 2026 includes spending plans worth about $112bn, with about 60% of that going towards the army. That leaves a shortfall of around $45bn.

To bridge the gap the government is trying to get contentious new tax increases through parliament before the end of this month.

As part of the terms of a new $8.1bn loan that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) recently approved, digital platforms in Ukraine will have to pay more tax, and exemptions to value added tax will be reduced.

Kyiv received the first $1.5bn from the IMF at the start of this month. Ahead of that the IMF’s mission chief for Ukraine, Gavin Grey, said that with its spending needs “expected to remain very high” the country needed to live within its means.

In addition to outside help, “Ukraine will also need to do more to tackle tax evasion and avoidance, and mobilizing domestic revenue in the near-term”, he said.

The IMF support is crucial to unlocking the EU money, which has become even more significant since US financial support dried up.

Ukraine could run out of funds by the end of April so is also rushing to meet other EU conditions. A government source said that social and humanitarian expenditures remain its “key priorities”.

However, Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban has held up the EU loan, amid accusations that Ukraine is imposing an “oil blockade” on his country.

Kyiv says slow repairs to the pipeline delivering Russian oil to Hungary are because its repair crews have been injured by further Russian attacks.

The row means that for Ukraine there is a lot riding on the outcome of next month’s Hungarian elections.

Some though, think the reforms Ukraine is implementing are the wrong path to ensure the war-torn country’s economic survival.

“We believe that Ukraine, by continuing the war and increasing taxes, is moving toward default and economic collapse”, says the think tank the Ukrainian Institute of the Future in a recent assessment of the economy.

The war is also straining Russia’s much larger economy, however its military effort is worth 5.1% of GDP. That compares to 27% of Ukraine’s GDP going on its military.

It means that after four years of war with Russia, Ukraine’s government is dependent on foreign aid to pay for spending ranging from pensions to healthcare and education.

That includes a plan to expand a programme for free school meals to cover the whole country from September, and this year’s 30% pay rise for teachers, who the government says are playing a crucial role in supporting children through the war.

Yet inflation remains a problem despite falling from a wartime peak of 26.6% to the current 7.4%. It means that many businesses and consumers across the country are also feeling the financial strain of the war.

On the snow-covered streets of Kyiv, 65-year-old Tetiana explained the challenges. “I’m a pensioner and I have to work because the pension is small and not enough. Prices for food and utilities have increased.”

Mykyta, 19, works in the kitchen of a restaurant. It’s one of many companies that are struggling to get by.

“Salaries are not very high and there are problems with people. The team is small, because it’s hard to find people to fill the staff.”

He adds that “During power outages, the kitchen doesn’t work, we have to struggle with the generator”.

That’s a struggle many businesses share, with Ukraine’s central bank saying recently that “The difficult situation in the energy sector will continue to restrain business activity for a long time”.

It’s why it cut the forecast for economic growth this year from 2% to 1.8%, although the latest IMF forecast is for growth of 1.8 to 2.5%.

For the economy as a whole, “The biggest challenge is that we haven’t sufficient electricity”, says Marchenko

He explains it means that companies can’t be as productive as they want to be, and are having to increase the price of their products to cover the use of generators.

That’s why he says “All of our governmental programs now channel our resources to partly restore capacity to generate electricity”.

The importance of doing that and boosting economy growth was underlined by last month’s estimate of the reconstruction and recovery bill for Ukraine put together by its own government alongside the EU, World Bank and UN.

The price tag of $588bn is almost two and a half times the size of the entire economy, and includes putting right damage to housing, transport and other infrastructure, as well as removing mines from areas around the frontline.

The challenges haven’t stopped the president of the Ukrainian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, which represents more than 8,000 companies across the country, from being optimistic about the future.

“Despite the war we see how [foreign] business are interested in, and starting to invest in, Ukraine,” says Gennadiy Chyzhykov.

“The new trend, we see a lot of delegations who visit Ukraine asking what we need, and how to start to prepare for after the war, reconstruction, the rebuilding.

“They believe in the victory, and they believe in the good business in Ukraine.”

However, a shortage of workers with the right skills is an ongoing challenge that shows no signs of abating given that millions of people have either joined the army or left the country.

The UN’s International Labour Organisation has suggested there will be a shortage of 8.7 million workers when it comes to reconstruction, and some business leaders have suggested the answer is to import workers from abroad.

A lot of support is coming from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), which has spent more than $10bn in Ukraine since the war began.

“I think the challenge will be immense but it can be managed,” says its president Odile Renaud-Basso.

She says many foreign companies are willing to invest but “having a real just peace, credible peace settlement, will be key, for investors to be sure that there is not a risk of the war will start again”.

Yet with little sign of any end to the war she adds that the EBRD has the resources “to continue to support Ukraine in the war for how long it takes”.

The ongoing struggle both on the battlefield and balancing the government’s books means Ukraine’s finance minister admits: “We need support, military support, and budgetary support.”

However, Marchenko says the challenges of a wartime economy are driving changes that could lead to a “better economy for the future”.

“The Ukrainian people and our government and economy are resilient and determined to fight this war, because we defend ourselves and we will.”

The move on Wednesday comes as Spain has been one of the European Union’s foremost critics of Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza and the new war on Iran launched by the United States and Israel.

“At the proposal of the Minister for Foreign Affairs, the European Union and Cooperation, and following deliberation by the Council of Ministers at its meeting on 10 March 2026, I hereby order the termination of Ms Ana María Sálomon Pérez’s appointment as Ambassador of Spain to the State of Israel,” the gazette said.

Spain’s embassy in Tel ⁠Aviv will ⁠be led by a ⁠charge d’affaires, a ⁠source ⁠at the Foreign Ministry said, according to Reuters news agency.

The country’s Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez is one of the few left-wing leaders in Europe to condemn the US-Israel attack on Iran as “unjustifiable” and said that Madrid’s position was “no to the war”.

Sanchez’s government has also been one of the few European nations to consistently condemn Israel’s action in Gaza. In October, Spain’s parliament approved the enshrinement in law of a total arms embargo on Israel, permanently banning the sale of weapons, dual-use technology and military equipment in response to the genocide .

The incident took place at around 18:25 local time (19:25 GMT) on Tuesday in the centre of Kerzers – known in French as Chiètres – in Fribourg canton, about 20km (12 miles) from the capital, Bern.

At least three people were taken to hospital, police said, and there were reports that a rescuer was also hurt.

The cause of the fire is not yet known but an investigation is under way into whether it was deliberately started.

There have been reports that a person doused themselves in gasoline but the authorities said they could not immediately confirm this.

Video posted by local media shows a bus in flames and a local resident described seeing a thick column of smoke.

The bus involved had reportedly travelled from the Düdingen municipality, 17km south of Kerzers.

Now in its 11th day, the war has spiralled rapidly throughout the region as Iranian forces hit back at US and Israeli targets, as well as facilities in the Gulf. It has also slowed oil and natural gas flows through the strategic Strait of Hormuz to a near standstill, pushing fuel prices upwards and threatening far-reaching impacts on a number of industries.

“So far, there is only one winner in this war – Russia,” Costa said in a speech to European Union ambassadors in Brussels on Tuesday.

“It gains ‌new resources to finance its war against Ukraine as energy prices rise. It profits from the diversion of military capabilities that could otherwise have been sent to support Ukraine. And it benefits from reduced ⁠attention to the Ukrainian front ⁠as the conflict in the Middle East takes centre stage.”

Costa stressed the need for the EU to protect ⁠the international rules-based order, which he said was now being challenged ⁠by the United States, ⁠and for all parties in the Middle East to return to the negotiating table.

“Freedom and human rights cannot ‌be achieved through bombs. Only international law upholds them,” he said. “We must avoid further escalation. ‌Such ‌a path threatens the Middle East, Europe, and beyond.”

The US and Israeli attack on Iran triggered the biggest spike in oil prices on Monday since the turmoil following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

Costa’s comments came as the Kremlin said all parties wanted to continue US-mediated Russia-Ukraine peace talks, but that no date or venue had been agreed yet for the next round.

Russia  and Ukraine held three rounds of talks in Turkiye last year and have conducted several more US-mediated sessions in Abu Dhabi and Geneva this year. But they remain far apart on key issues, especially on Russia’s demand for Ukraine to cede control of the whole of its eastern Donetsk region.

On Monday, US President Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, held their first phone call of the year, during which they discussed the wars in Iran and Ukraine.

The Kremlin said the possibility of lifting US sanctions on Russian oil had not been discussed in any detail with Washington, but that US actions were aimed at stabilising global energy markets.

Following this call, Putin said Russia, the world’s second-largest oil exporter and holder of the biggest natural gas reserves, was ready to work again with European customers if they wanted to return to long-term cooperation.

Before the Ukraine war, Europe was buying more than 40 percent of its gas from Russia. By 2025, combined sales of pipeline gas and LNG from Russia accounted for only 13 percent of total EU imports.

Also on Monday, Trump said his administration would lift some sanctions on oil-producing countries to keep energy prices down – though he did not say which ones.

Washington currently maintains sanctions on the oil sectors of Russia, Iran and Venezuela.

The Reuters news agency, citing multiple unnamed sources, reported that Trump was considering easing sanctions on Russia as part of his plans to keep oil prices down.

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent last week announced a 30-day waiver on sanctions on Russian oil sales to India to help it cope with the cuts to Middle East supply.

The Russian president said in televised comments on Monday that Moscow was ready to work again with European customers, which largely stopped buying from his country in a bid to stop funding its war on Ukraine, if they wanted to return to long-term cooperation.

European countries, however, have spent the past four years sharply reducing their reliance on Russian oil and gas in response to Moscow’s war in Ukraine and subsequent European Union and Group of Seven (G7) sanctions.

The EU banned maritime imports of Russian crude in 2022, while Russia’s pipeline exports to Hungary and Slovakia have been effectively halted since January due to damage to the Druzhba oil pipeline via Ukraine.

“If European companies and European buyers suddenly decide to reorient themselves and provide us with long-term, sustainable cooperation, free from political pressures, free from political pressures, then yes, we’ve never refused it. We’re ready to work with Europeans too,” said Putin at a meeting with government officials and heads of Russia’s top oil and gas producers.

He said that Russian companies should take advantage of conflict in the Middle East, which has seen Iran effectively halt shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, one of the world’s key oil transit chokepoints that carries roughly a fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas.

The Russian president spoke as oil prices exceeded $100 per barrel on Monday, reaching peaks unseen since he launched his country’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

Brent crude, the international benchmark, rose by more than 30 percent on Sunday, at one point topping $119 a barrel, as fears grew of prolonged disruption to global energy supplies.

Speaking in Cyprus on Monday, Macron said the “purely escort mission” must be prepared by both European and non-European countries.

It’s  purpose “is to enable, as soon as possible after the most intense phase of the conflict has ended, the escort of container ships and tankers to gradually reopen the Strait of Hormuz”, the French president said, without providing further details.

Macron’s comments come as global oil prices have surged amid continued attacks by the United States and Israel against Iran, as well as retaliatory Iranian missile and drone strikes across the wider region.

The war has effectively shut down the Strait of Hormuz, a strategic Gulf waterway through which about 20 percent of the world’s oil supplies pass, while Iranian attacks on energy infrastructure in the Middle East also have raised concerns.

Responding to Macron’s comments, top Iranian security official Ali Larijani said, “It is unlikely that any security will be achieved in the Strait of Hormuz amid the fires of the war ignited by the United States and Israel in the region.”

Larijani added in a social media post that security is also unlikely to be restored as a result of plans designed by “parties that were not far removed from supporting this war and contributing to its fanning”.

While European countries have been largely sidelined as the war escalates, several – including France, the United Kingdom and Greece – have sent military assets to Cyprus following an Iranian-made drone attack on a British base on the island.

Greece has dispatched four F-16 fighter planes to the Paphos airbase and its two state-of-the-art frigates Kimon and Psara are patrolling offshore Cyprus, tasked with intercepting any missiles or drones.

Last week, Macron ordered the French frigate Languedoc to waters off Cyprus to bolster the country’s anti-drone and anti-missile defences.

“When Cyprus is attacked, then Europe is attacked,” Macron said after meeting with Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides and Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis in Paphos on Monday.

The French president said he would also deploy a total of eight warships, two helicopter carriers and the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle to the Eastern Mediterranean and the wider Middle East region, calling the move “unprecedented”.

France’s  objective “is to maintain a strictly defensive stance, standing alongside all countries attacked by Iran in its retaliation, to ensure our credibility, and to contribute to regional de-escalation”, Macron said.

“Ultimately, we aim to guarantee freedom of navigation and maritime security.”

With the closure of the Strait of Hormuz sending oil prices soaring, finance ministers from the Group of Seven (G7) countries met in Brussels on Monday to discuss how to respond.

Crude oil prices have increased by about 50 percent since the US and Israel launched the war last month, with international benchmark Brent crude prices surpassing $100 a barrel on Monday.

French Finance Minister Roland Lescure told reporters that the G7 ministers did not make a decision on the potential release of emergency oil stocks amid the war. “What we’ve agreed upon is to use any necessary tools if need be to stabilise the market, including the potential release of necessary stockpiles,” Lescure said.

Paul Hickin, editor-in-chief and chief economist at Petroleum Economist, said getting the Strait of Hormuz reopened is the main priority. “That’s not going to happen in any shape or form until there’s a resolution to the conflict,” Hickin told Al Jazeera.

He explained that several countries in the Middle East, such as Kuwait and Iraq, are dependent on the strait to get their energy supplies to market.

“Kuwait and Iraq and those producers, they are really having a shut-in, and it will take a little bit of time to get back up and running,” said Hickin.

“That is the big risk, the knock-on effect … Getting those ships back, getting that infrastructure back up and running, it’s a slow process. So prices won’t come back down as quickly as many may think.”

Ekrem Imamoglu, 55, faces more than 140 charges including corruption and running a criminal organisation. Prosecutors are seeking a jail term of up to 2,430 years.

He and his Republican People’s Party (CHP) deny any wrongdoing. They accuse Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his allies of launching a crackdown over the leader’s decline in popularity.

Prior to the trial, which begins on Monday, Imamoglu was widely seen as one of the few politicians capable of defeating Erdogan, who has been at the top of Turkish politics since 2003.

Imamoglu struck a defiant tone ahead of the trial, in comments given to news agency Reuters by his legal team last month, urging Erdogan to call elections immediately.

Another 407 of Imamoglu’s supporters have also been put on trial, accused of running a criminal corruption network headed by the opposition figure, who prosecutors describe as its “founder and leader”.

The former mayor was arrested in March last year on the day he was named as the leader of the CHP and its presidential candidate for 2028. He has been held at the Marmara prison complex ever since, where his trial is due to take place.

His detention triggered the country’s largest street protests in more than a decade, followed by hundreds of arrests and a police crackdown.

Apart from the corruption case, prosecutors have accused him of a raft of other offences including espionage and forging his university degree, a qualification he would need to become president and that has since been annulled.

Turkish authorities deny that the judiciary is being used as a political tool.

But the trial has been strongly criticised by rights groups.

“The trial of Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu follows more than a year of weaponising the criminal justice system against his party and other CHP elected officials while he sits in jail,” Benjamin Ward, deputy Europe and Central Asia director at Human Rights Watch, said in a statement last week.

“Looking at these cases as a whole, it’s hard to avoid the conclusion that prosecutors are trying to remove Imamoglu from politics and discredit his party in ways that undermine democracy.”

Amnesty International called the charges brought against Imamoglu “absurd”.

“This politically motivated prosecution, which is based almost entirely on secret witness testimony, is riddled with serious international fair trial and rule of law issues,” Dinushika Dissanayake, Amnesty’s deputy director for Europe, said on Friday.

The Turkish government has insisted that the judiciary operates independently.

Justice Minister Akin Gurlek, the former chief prosecutor who led the investigation into Imamoglu, told reporters on Friday: “I simply did my duty as a public prosecutor. My conscience is clear.”

Imamoglu was first elected as Istanbul’s mayor in 2019 and was re-elected in April 2024, defeating the governing AK Party candidate by almost a million votes.

His victory stunned Erdogan and his party, with many political commentators in Turkey describing it as the president’s “worst defeat ever”.

It’s a week since the drone punched a hole in a hangar at RAF Akrotiri.

That hole, for some in Britain, symbolises embarrassing gaps in UK hard power.

For some in Cyprus, it’s another unwelcome result of British military overreach.

“We just want to have an independent Cyprus,” said local business owner Natasha Theodotou.

She was holding a banner that read “British Bases Out” at a demonstration outside the presidential palace in the capital, Nicosia.

“Just as we’re occupied by the Turkish government,” said Natasha, “we are occupied by the UK.”

She wants to see a unified country where Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots live together.

Britain retained two major sovereign bases in Cyprus’ south and south east, Akrotiri and Dhekelia, as part of a 1960 treaty that established the island’s independence and ended its status as a British colony.

In 1974 Turkey invaded and took control of Cyprus’ northern third in response to a Greece-backed military coup.

Not far from the protest tourists queue up at a checkpoint allowing passage into the Turkish-controlled part of Nicosia.

The city, which sits on the UN-patrolled buffer zone known as the Green Line, is sometimes called the world’s last divided capital.

British military officials’ best assessment is that the drone that hit RAF Akrotiri was launched in Lebanon by the Iranian-backed militia Hezbollah.

The UK government has said its bases in Cyprus are not among those that could be utilised by US bombers for “defensive” strikes on Iranian missile sites.

But the reported use of the base by American U-2 spy planes may explain why RAF Akrotiri was a target, as Iran and its proxies retaliated against US-Israeli strikes.

The UK has not taken part in any direct attacks on Iran itself.

Roughly 200 to 300 protesters joined the march on Saturday, carrying signs that were also pro-Palestine and critical of the US and Israel.

Chants included: “Say it loud, say it clear, British bases out of here.”

The territory, kept by the UK, covers about 98 sq miles (254 sq km) and is even patrolled by a separate, special police force.

These Sovereign Base Areas (SBAs) are a lingering point of contention while also being highly interwoven into the island and a source of employment.

They encompass communities well beyond the fenced-off airbase of RAF Akrotiri, on the island’s southern tip.

“I think that we’d be a lot safer without them here,” said Shona Muir, holding up the British Bases Out banner with Natasha.

“Their presence alone here makes us more of a target.”

A spokesperson for the Ministry of Defence told the BBC: “Our bases in Cyprus play a crucial role in supporting the safety of British citizens and our allies in the Mediterranean and in the Middle East.”

“Just this week, we have flown Typhoon and F-35 fighter jets on sorties around the region, shooting down Iranian drones and defending innocent civilians from Iran’s indiscriminate attacks,” they added.

The Cypriot government has been at pains to stress that it’s a UK base, not Cyprus, that was targeted by a drone and that Cyprus has no involvement in the ongoing conflict.

A UK foothold in the Eastern Mediterranean, RAF Akrotiri has long supported operations in the Middle East and, more recently, reportedly been used for surveillance flights over Gaza.

“We don’t know what’s happening in [the] British bases,” said Stephanos Stavros, who also came to Saturday’s demonstration.

“There are worries now that there are things there that we were not aware [of].”

Stephanos said the treaty establishing the bases should be complied with, but he wanted to see “full transparency”.

This week, Cyprus’ Foreign Minister, Constantinos Kombos, said the matter of British bases had been “on the agenda” for a long time.

“But I believe this is a conversation that one needs to have after we have a careful reflection as to what has transpired, especially in recent days and hours,” he told BBC Newsnight.

Any renegotiation, in reality, would be extremely complex, given that the foundational agreements involved the UK, Greece, and Turkey as well as representatives from the Greek and Turkish Cypriot communities.