President Trump said the US-Israeli war with Iran was “pretty much” over, without giving details of any solution to the conflict raging in the Middle East.
“I think the war is very complete, pretty much. They have no navy, no communications, they’ve got no air force,” Trump was quoted as saying by CBS’s White House correspondent Weijia Jiang.
The US president also said the US was “very far” ahead of his initial four-to-five week estimated time frame for the war.
Absence of clarity from Trump spreads fear through markets
The hour-by-hour noise from financial markets can usually be safely ignored. The prices of stocks, bonds and commodities fly around, not communicating anything lastingly meaningful. Greed turns to fear and back again in seconds. But the recent trajectory of markets is certainly not pretty (writes Patrick Hosking).
For four successive trading days now, all the main financial needles have been creeping deeper into the red zone. The cost of wholesale oil and gas has soared while most of the world’s stock markets have been tumbling.
The maxim attributed to the 19th-century banker Nathan Mayer Rothschild, “Buy to the sound of cannons”, has definitely not been the way to bet this time. Full column here
Iran to beef up missile barrages
Iran will increase the force and frequency of its missile launches, Majid Mousavi, the commander of the Revolutionary Guards Aerospace Force has said.
He also said that launches would have a wider range and from now on, no missile would be launched with a warhead lighter than a tonne, according to state media.
Hezbollah strikes Israel ‘for Khamenei’s death’
The Lebanese Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah’s launch of missiles towards Israel was retaliation for the killing of Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, a senior official from the group said.
Mohammed Raad, a Hezbollah official, said in an address that the group would defend its existence, “no matter the price”. Khamenei, 86, was killed in strikes on Iran by the US and Israel on the first day of their air attacks.
President Aoun of Lebanon has accused Hezbollah of working to “collapse” the state and expressed Beirut’s readiness for “direct negotiations” with Israel.
Iran still has near weapons-grade uranium, warns UN inspection chief
Almost half of Iran’s uranium enriched to up to 60 per cent purity, a short step from weapons-grade, was stored in a tunnel complex at Isfahan and is probably still there, the UN nuclear watchdog chief Rafael Grossi said.
The complex is the only target that appears not to have been badly damaged last June by Israel and the US strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities.
The International Atomic Energy Agency estimates that Iran had 440.9 kg of 60 per cent uranium in June. If enriched further, that would provide the explosive needed for ten nuclear weapons, according to the agency. “What we believe is that Isfahan had until our last inspection a bit more than 200kg, maybe a little bit more than that, of 60 per cent uranium,” Grossi told reporters in Paris. He said the stock was “mainly” at Isfahan, and some held elsewhere may have been destroyed.
Britons evacuated from Middle East reach 37,000
A total 37,000 British nationals have been evacuated since the start of the crisis in the Middle East, said John Healey.
The defence secretary said: “Many of us as MPs have constituents with friends and family that are caught in the region, worried for the safety of their loved ones, and the foreign secretary and the [Foreign Office] teams are working as fast as possible to get our people out of the region.
“Three chartered flights have now taken off, with more to come this week. More than 170,000 people have registered their presence, which has allowed us to get them information and support and advice that they need. As the prime minister said last week, we will not stop until our people are safe.”
Britain withdraws UAE embassy dependants
The UK has temporarily withdrawn the dependants of embassy staff in the UAE, the Foreign Office said. In an update to its travel advice, it said: “Due to the ongoing security situation, as a precautionary measure we have decided to temporarily withdraw the dependants of British Embassy staff from the United Arab Emirates.
“Our embassies in Abu Dhabi and Dubai continue to operate as normal.”
Healey swerves question on US de-escalation
John Healey refused to criticise the United States’s military action. Lincoln Jopp, the Conservative MP for Spelthorne, asked the defence secretary whether he would like the US to de-escalate its military action in Iran. In response, Healey called for Iran to take a step back, with no mention of the US.
Healey also revealed that the drone which hit RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus on Sunday came from either Lebanon or Iraq. The Ministry of Defence previously confirmed the drone, which caused minimal damage, was not launched from Iran, but did not say where it originated.
Nearly 500 dead in Lebanon, claim health officials
The death toll from Israeli strikes on Lebanon which began last week has risen to 486 people, officials in Beirut have announced. “The toll of the Israeli aggression from dawn on Monday, March 2, until Monday afternoon, March 9, has risen to 486 martyrs and 1,313 wounded,” the Lebanese health ministry said.
Iran made big mistake in choice of leader, says Trump
President Trump said Iranians made an error in appointing Mojtaba Khamenei as the supreme leader. “I think they made a big mistake. I don’t know if it’s going to last,” he told NBC News.
Khamenei, 56, son of the Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was selected on Sunday by Iran’s Assembly of Experts. Iranian state TV reported loyalists gathering in Isfahan’s Imam Square, chanting “God is the greatest” below a stage with portraits of Ali and Mojtaba Khamenei. In Tehran, a eulogist could be heard singing: “Either death or Khamenei, our blood leads to paradise.”
Trump said it was “too soon” to be talking about seizing Iran’s oil.
Crowds gather to hail new supreme leader
HMS Dragon to set sail in days, says Healey
HMS Dragon will sail in the next couple of days, John Healey told the Commons. The defence secretary said the mobilisation of the destroyer would “provide additional protection” in the region.
Healey told MPs that Britain began moving weapons to the Middle East weeks before war broke, following criticisms of the government’s initial response. Any decisions, he said, would be rooted in international law and in co-operation with allies. “We do not work alone,” he said.
The government is also working to evacuate Britons from the Middle East. Three chartered flights have moved UK citizens out of the region, and more are scheduled for later this week
Iran minister blames Israel and ‘US dupes’ for fuel price rise
Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, says the blame for rising global fuel prices lies entirely “with Israel and its dupes in Washington”. In a post on X, he wrote: “Iran does not want to harm ordinary Americans who overwhelmingly voted to end involvement in costly foreign wars.
“Blame for surging gas prices, costlier mortgages, and pummelled 401(k)’s [US pensions] lies squarely with Israel and its dupes in Washington.”
Watchdog to investigate heating oil price rise
Rachel Reeves has asked the competitions watchdog to look into price gouging of heating oil, as several MPs from rural areas raised fears around the impact on their constituents.
It was wrong to “profiteer” from the crisis, the chancellor said. “We are aware of the unique situation concerning heating oil. That’s why I’ve instructed the Competition and Markets Authority, but I’m keen to hear from MPs as well,” she said.
Reeves has invited MPs to a meeting Wednesday with the financial secretary to the Treasury to discuss the issue.
William Hague: Next stage of war looks perilous for US
It is 28 years since I first met Bibi Netanyahu, when he was in his first term of office as prime minister of Israel and I was leader of the opposition (writes William Hague). The main topic he wanted to discuss was Iran’s nascent ballistic missile programme. I can see him now, armed with charts, numbers and intelligence assessments. He was convinced even then, nearly three decades ago, that all Iranian missiles must be destroyed.
Whatever we think of Netanyahu — and I strongly disagree with his quashing of all hopes for Palestinian statehood — he is a leader who knows what he wants. In the past ten days, many of the arms factories and most of the launchers for Iran’s missiles have been blown to pieces. He has got there in the end, surviving long enough in politics to find a US president who will do this with him. Read full column here
Trump looks to tackle ‘short-term’ oil price rise
President Trump is reviewing “all credible options” for controlling oil prices amid the joint US-Israeli operation against Iran, the White House said, insisting the spike was “short-term”.
“President Trump and his entire energy team have had a strong game plan to keep the energy markets stable well before Operation Epic Fury began, and they will continue to review all credible options,” the White House spokeswoman Taylor Rogers told AFP. Trump will hold a press conference later this evening at 9.30pm.
Macron fears escalation and prolonged war
President Macron, speaking on board the French aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle, says the Iranian leadership cannot be changed “through bombing” and warned the US/Israeli war in Iran could last several weeks.
“There is no indication that this war will end in the coming days,” he said. “I don’t think we can achieve profound regime change solely through bombing.”
“There are risks of escalation,” he said, adding the situation remained “volatile” and “fragile”. He also warned that the impact of the was being felt on fuel prices. The carrier was deployed to the Mediterranean after last week’s drone attack on Cyprus.
Britain has 90 days of oil from imports, says Reeves
Britain has 90 days of oil reserves from oil imports, Rachel Reeves has said.
The chancellor responded to “scaremongering” about shortages while confirming that National Gas “have confirmed today that our gas reserves are at a comparable level to last year and the year before that.”
She also assured MPs that “we will make sure that the Ministry of Defence has all the money it needs for the support of our armed forces.”
Reeves said she and other G7 finance ministers had made opening the Strait of Hormuz a top priority. The chancellor has emphasised the importance of de-escalation and the flow of ships through the strait for keeping the price of oil down.
She also announced the energy price cap would not rise in April, meaning bills will stay fixed at their current rates until at least June. If the conflict is prolonged, inflation was likely to rise, Reeves said.
Lindsey Graham warns Saudi Arabia over lack of help
The US senator Lindsey Graham questioned why Saudi Arabia — and other Gulf countries — were not joining the fight against Iran and said “consequences will follow” if they did not change their policy.
In a post on X, the Trump loyalist said sustained attacks by Iran had forced it to evacuate the American embassy in Riyadh. “It is my understanding the kingdom refuses to use their capable military as a part of an effort to end the barbaric and terrorist Iranian regime who has terrorized the region and killed 7 Americans,” wrote Graham.
“Question: why should America do a defence agreement with a country like the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia that is unwilling to join a fight of mutual interest?”
Saudi Arabia was doing things that “are marginally helpful, but unwilling to participate in military operations”, he said, adding: “Hopefully Gulf Cooperation Council countries will get more involved as this fight is in their backyard. If you are not willing to use your military now, when are you willing to use it?” he asked.
Tories demand rethink on fuel duty rise
Sir Mel Stride, the shadow chancellor, criticised Rachel Reeves’s handling of the economy in the lead-up to the conflict in the Middle East. The chancellor was imposing “ruinous” taxes on Britain’s energy sector, he said.
He urged he to “urgently reconsider her decision to implement the first increase in fuel duty in 15 years” and “the crippling taxes imposed on north sea oil and gas”.
Chancellor’s inflation warning
Rachel Reeves has warned that the conflict with Iran is “likely to put upward pressure on inflation”. She told the Commons she stood ready “to support a co-ordinated release” of international oil reserves to ease the economic shock of the crisis.
Sir Keir Starmer earlier insisted the economy was resilient and well placed to absorb the “likely impact” on households and businesses.
Fact check: is Tehran at risk from acid rain?
American and Israeli missiles are no longer the only danger falling from the skies above Tehran. The bombs have been joined by black rain from thick clouds of smoke that threaten to blot out the sun (writes Kaya Burgess).
Since petroleum storage depots around the Iranian capital were set ablaze by airstrikes over the weekend, residents have been warned of toxic air and acid rain, claiming that night has “turned into day” over the city.
Esmaeil Baqaei, a spokesman for the Iranian foreign ministry, said the strikes were releasing pollution that was “endangering lives on a massive scale”. Full report here.
Dubai rescue flight for Britons
A government rescue flight is to bring Britons back from Dubai today, subject to the situation on the ground, the Foreign Office has said.
The flight comes after a third repatriation flight from Oman landed in the UK early on Monday, with more than 200 British nationals on board.
More than 37,000 British people have returned to the UK from the Middle East in recent days. Some 172,000 British nationals have registered their presence in the region.
About 40 flights to the UK were expected on Monday, a record since the crisis began, following 29 on Sunday.
Video adds to evidence of US missile hit on girls’ school
Rescuers try to find survivors after the strike in Minab, Iran, on February 28
ABBAS ZAKERI/MEHR NEWS/WANA/REUTERS
Video appears to confirm that an American Tomahawk missile hit an Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) facility near an elementary school in Minab, Iran.
The footage adds to mounting evidence pointing to the United States being responsible for the airstrike on a girls’ school that killed 175 people, most of them young girls.
The strike hit the Shajareh Tayyebeh school in southern Iran on February 28, the first day of the US and Israeli attacks. Full report here.
Hezbollah blamed as two hurt by rockets fired into Israel
Rockets have been fired into Israel from Lebanon into Israel, injuring at least two people.
According to the Israeli military, a number of long-range projectiles were fired by Hezbollah, some of which were intercepted and others allowed to fall harmlessly in open areas. However, the Israel Defence Forces said that one missile had got through in central Israel and was being investigated.
Two injured people were treated at the impact site: a 32-year-old man who was hit by a flying object and a 38-year-old woman who sustained a leg injury.
President Aoun of Lebanon accused Hezbollah of working towards the “collapse” of the state, after the pro-Iran group’s attacks, expressing Beirut’s readiness for “direct negotiations” with Israel.
He proposed a four-point initiative to stop the war and called on the international community to help implement it. It included “establishing a full truce” with Israel, “logistical support” for the army to disarm Hezbollah, and “direct negotiations [with Israel] under international auspices”.
Reeves joins G7 finance ministers to assess economic impact
Rachel Reeves joined other G7 finance ministers to discuss the war. The allies announced that they would “exchange information” and “co-ordinate” with one another.
They said: “We discussed the current conflict in the Middle East, its impact for regional stability, global economic conditions, and financial markets, and the importance of secure trading routes.
“We will continue to closely monitor the situation and developments in the energy markets and will meet as needed to exchange information and to co-ordinate within the G7 and with international partners. We stand ready to take necessary measures, including to support global supply of energy such as stockpile release.”
Heads of the International Monetary Fund, World Bank Group, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, and International Energy Agency also joined the virtual meeting.
Iran’s uranium stockpile at Isfahan ‘intact’ — UN
The head of the UN’s nuclear watchdog has said that Iran’s stockpile of enriched uranium was stored at a site in Isfahan, a region in central Iran, that seems largely unharmed by US and Israeli bombing.
About half of Iran’s uranium was enriched to up to 60 per cent purity, a short step from weapons grade, Rafael Grossi, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, said on Monday. Uranium enriched to about 90 per cent purity is required for a viable weapon.
“We believe Isfahan had a bit more than 200kg of 60 per cent uranium. The widespread assumption is that the material is still there,” Grossi told reporters on the sidelines of a conference in Paris.
People gather to support Iran’s new supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei
REUTERS
Lammy: UK confident Iran understands ‘defence’ approach
The government is “confident” the Iranian regime sees the UK’s approach to the conflict as purely in defence. David Lammy, the deputy prime minister, has suggested Britain could mount defensive airstrikes at Iranian missile sites and that it would be legal to do so.
Asked whether that would be seen as a defensive approach by Iran, a Foreign Office official told The Times: “We have had private channels to the Iranian regime for some time, so we are confident that that message has been understood.”
They added that ministers had also publicly been clear “about the purpose and the limits of our support to the United States”.
Erdogan wants to keep Turkey out of ‘blaze of war’
President Erdogan said on Monday that Turkey’s main goal was to keep the country out of the “blaze” of the Iran war.
Erdogan was speaking after a cabinet meeting. Turkey said earlier that Nato air defences had shot down a second Iranian ballistic missile that had entered its airspace and warned that it would respond to any such threats
Trump: We’re nowhere near ordering in troops
President Trump said on Monday he was “nowhere near” to ordering US troops into Iran to safeguard nuclear material at Isfahan
“We haven’t made any decision on that. We’re nowhere near it,” Trump told The New York Post of reported discussions about a US deployment to Iran’s underground enrichment facility, which lies near the ancient Persian capital.
Trump also reiterated that he was “not happy with” Mojtaba Khamenei becoming supreme leader of Iran, but he did not repeat his earlier threat to kill any successor who assumed power without his input. “Not going to tell you,” Trump said, when asked about his plans for Khamenei. “Not going to tell you. I’m not happy with him.”
The president has pledged to never let Iran build a nuclear weapon, but the US faces challenges in destroying or obtaining the country’s stockpile of enriched uranium.
• What are the nuclear options now open to the US?
US air force planes land in Britain 
A US B-1B bomber parked up at RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire as a B-52 Stratofortress bomber comes into land on Monday following the UK’s agreement that American aircraft could use its bases
TOBY MELVILLE/REUTERS
A B52 bomber lands
CHRISTOPHER FURLONG/GETTY IMAGES
Armaments are stockpiled nearby
PETER MACDIARMID
Crew members of a B52 bomber holding flags at the RAF base
CHRISTOPHER FURLONG/GETTY IMAGES
Trump’s Gaza peace plan on hold
Talks to advance President Trump’s plan to end the Gaza war have been on hold since last week when the US and Israel jointly attacked Iran, sparking a broader Middle East war, three sources with direct knowledge of the negotiations said.
The pause, reported by Reuters, threatens to stall implementation of Trump’s flagship Middle East peace initiative, which he has cast as a major foreign policy objective.
Trump’s Gaza plan has hinged in part on whether Hamas disarm in exchange for amnesty, a step intended to pave the way for reconstruction and further Israeli military withdrawals.
But negotiations on this were paused when the Iran war began on February 28, according to the report. Zaha Hassan, of the Washington-based Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, said countries including the United Arab Emirates and Qatar which pledged billions of dollars in funds for Trump’s Board of Peace mission may be questioning if this is “really money well spent now that they are dodging rocket fire”.
Trump says Iranian footballers should be given asylum
President Trump has posted a one-word response to the claim that some Iranian women’s footballers have sought refuge in Australia.
“ASYLUM!” he wrote on Truth Social while posting a message from Drew Pavlou, an Australian political activist detailing the story.
Trump had written 15 minutes earlier: “Australia is making a terrible humanitarian mistake by allowing the Iran National Woman’s Soccer team to be forced back to Iran, where they will most likely be killed. Don’t do it, Mr. Prime Minister, give ASYLUM. The U.S. will take them if you won’t.”
HMS Prince of Wales ‘will not sail to Middle East’
The aircraft carrier HMS Prince of Wales is not expected to be deployed to the Middle East, despite having been placed on advanced readiness.
Over the weekend President Trump told Sir Keir Starmer the US did not need the UK’s two aircraft carriers and accused the prime minister of seeking to “join wars after we’ve already won”.
Reports over the weekend had suggested HMS Prince of Wales could be deployed to the region within five days.
However, it is now understood that the ship will not travel to bolster Britain’s military presence in the region. Instead it may be involved in a forthcoming Nato training exercise in the Arctic.
Fifa ‘working to protect Iran women footballers’
Fifa, football’s global governing body, says it is working with the Australian authorities to preserve the safety of the Iran women’s football team.
Amid fears of the players’ safety should they return to Iran, a Fifa spokesperson said: “The safety and security of Iran’s women’s national team are Fifa’s priority, and we therefore remain in close contact with the AFC [Asian Football Confederation] and the relevant Australian authorities, including Football Australia, in relation to the team’s situation.”
Earlier on Monday, the office of Reza Pahlavi, the son of the last shah and an opposition figurehead, said that five players were in a safe location after claiming asylum.
The AFC and Football Australia have been contacted for comment.
US ‘well on our way’ to destroying Iranian missile threat
The United States is “well on our way” to destroying Iran’s missile threat, Marco Rubio, the US secretary of state, said on Monday.
Speaking at a US State Department ceremony to honour Americans wrongfully detained abroad in countries including Iran, Rubio said the goal of the continuing US air strikes is to eliminate Iran’s ballistic missile stockpile, its ability to produce them and its ability to launch them.
“We are well on our way to achieving that objective” he said, adding that it is being done “with overwhelming force, with overwhelming precision”.
Merz: Iran is centre of international terrorism
The German chancellor, Friedrich Merz, said on Monday he was “concerned” about rising energy costs as the Middle East war sent oil prices soaring and stocks plunging.
“We know that this could have an impact on the German economy,” Merz said after oil prices on Monday topped $100 a barrel for the first time since Russia’s 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
The chancellor reiterated his strong criticism of Iran, labelling it “the centre of international terrorism”, and voiced support for the US-Israeli war against the Islamic Republic.
Calling for a swift change of government in Iran, he said: “The sooner the mullah regime comes to an end, the sooner this war will be over.”
“It is solely up to this regime and the so-called Revolutionary Guards to cease hostilities,” he added.
Merz added that “the threat posed by this regime extends far beyond the country and the region. Iran is the centre of international terrorism. And this centre must be shut down, and the Americans and Israelis are doing that in their own way”.
France to protect shipping ‘as soon as possible’
President Macron with the Cypriot leader on Monday
GONZALO FUENTES/GONZALO FUENTES/EPA
France and its allies are preparing to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and escort ships through the waterway off Iran, President Macron has said.
But the French head of state said the mission would only start “after the end of the hottest phase of the conflict”.
He also pledged military backing for Cyprus after an attack on a British base on the island last week which was launched from Lebanon.
Macron was speaking from the Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier, which is currently stationed off Crete under its deployment in the Mediterranean following the outbreak of war in Iran.
Macron said he planned to deploy an “unprecedented” naval force in the western Mediterranean, the Red Sea and off the Strait of Hormuz, consisting of eight frigates, two amphibious assault helicopter carriers and the Charles de Gaulle.
Macron makes naval pledge in Cyprus
The Strait of Hormuz, through which 20 per cent of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas passes in normal times, has been shut by Iranian forces following the start of the US and Israel bombing campaign.
Macron said that France and other European and non-European states wanted to set up a “purely defensive mission” to escort tankers and cargo ships through the strait “as soon as possible”.
Trump vulnerable over rising oil price
How worried will Donald Trump be over the spike in oil prices? The US president’s official line is not very: he has taken to Truth Social to say that increasing prices of oil are “a very small price to pay” for “safety and peace” amid the US conflict with Iran.
However, the Democrats sense political weakness, with lawmakers already arguing the surge is an immediate consequence of the war in Iran that will add to cost of living concerns ahead of the mid-term elections.
In the past, Trump has been open to these arguments. One former adviser to Trump recalls the debate that played out in the first term over Iran. “John Bolton would come in almost every day and urge us to attack Iran,” a senior staffer from Trump’s first term said. “It was easy to talk [Trump] out of it. You just said, ‘Mr President, do you want to go into an election with oil at $120 a barrel and American boots on the ground?’”
• Pete Hegseth, the former soldier and TV host selling Trump’s war
Putin pledges ‘unwavering support’ to Iran
President Putin on Monday pledged “unwavering support” to Iran’s new supreme leader, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, appointed after his father was killed in US-Israeli strikes.
“I would like to reaffirm our unwavering support for Tehran and solidarity with our Iranian friends,” Putin said in a message to Khamenei, adding that “Russia has been and will remain a reliable partner” to Iran.
“At a time when Iran is confronting armed aggression, your tenure in this high position will undoubtedly require great courage and dedication,” the Russian leader said.
However despite public statements of support for its ally in the Middle East, Moscow has so far not joined in Iran’s retaliations against Israel and the US, and is not thought to have sent significant military or economic aid to Tehran.
No 10 ‘very worried’ about impact of Iran war
The prime minister’s team in Downing Street are “very worried” about the impact of the Iran conflict on the UK, according to The Times political editor, Steven Swinford.
Speaking on Times Radio, he said the effects on the cost of living were “the top issue in No 10 at the moment”.
“Ultimately people vote on the economy, and this government’s hopes of turning its fortunes around lay on addressing the cost of living, and instead this morning we’ve got rising oil prices which will lead to rising energy bills, we’ve got traders now forecasting increases in interest rates later this year from the Bank of England, and we’re also going to have wider price inflation across the board.”
PM and Trump ‘working together every day’
Sir Keir Starmer and President Trump are “working together every single day”, Downing Street has insisted.
The US president has posted a number of pointed comments on social media, increasingly critical of Starmer’s response to the conflict in Iran.
Starmer and Trump spoke for around 20 minutes on Sunday by phone, a conversation No 10 sources described as constructive.
Starmer’s spokesman said the prime minister understood the “importance of his acting in the national interest for British people and what’s best in in the best interests of the UK”.
Doubts over King’s US visit
Downing Street has kept the door open to pulling a possible trip by the King to the United States next month.
The King and Queen are due to fly to Washington at the end of April for a three-day visit to coincide with America’s 250th anniversary celebrations. Asked whether the King’s visit would go ahead as planned, Sir Keir Starmer’s official spokesman said: “No state visit has been confirmed yet. It’s not something I want to get drawn on this morning.”
Pressed on whether the prime minister would like to see it happen, the spokesman said: “I’m not going to comment on it for that very reason. As I say, it hasn’t been confirmed.”
Footballers claim asylum in Australia
Reza Pahlavi’s office said five players had claimed asylum: Fatemeh Pasandideh, Zahra Ghanbari, Zahra Sarbali, Atefeh Ramazanzadeh and Mona Hamoudi
At least five members of the Iranian women’s football team are said to have claimed asylum in Australia, having been branded “traitors” by the regime in Tehran.
The office of Reza Pahlavi, son of the last shah and an opposition figurehead, said the players were in a safe location after leaving the team’s training camp during the AFC Women’s Asian Cup.
The Iranian team were criticised in Tehran after refusing to sing the national anthem at their first match, against South Korea, which was interpreted as a protest. In their second match, against Australia, and then again in Sunday’s final game against the Philippines, the Iranian team sang and saluted during the national anthem, leading critics to believe they had been forced to do so by members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps accompanying them as part of the delegation.
Pahlavi had called for the players to be protected after Mohammad Reza Shahbazi, a prominent voice of the regime, called them “traitors during wartime [who] must be dealt with more severely”.
What the Iran war means for petrol prices, savings and mortgages
Escalating conflict in the Middle East has caused oil and gas prices to soar and accelerated a global sell-off in financial markets.
• Read in full: What the Iran war means for petrol prices, savings and mortgages
The price of Brent crude climbed above $105 a barrel on Monday, its highest price in almost two years, and the cost of gas has risen at a pace not seen since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022. Higher wholesale energy prices are not only bad news for household bills, but could also reverse months of falling inflation in the UK and push up the cost of living even further.
Here’s what the fallout could mean for your money.
Iran proxies used Google Maps to target Cyprus airbase
Iranian proxies were able to use Google Maps images of a British airbase in Cyprus to plan a kamikaze drone attack.
Hezbollah militants in Lebanon are believed to have launched the small suicide drone, which contained Russian military hardware, at RAF Akrotiri earlier this month.
Publicly available satellite imagery shows a pair of American U2 spy planes parked directly outside the hangar that was struck in the attack.
• Iran proxies used Google Maps to target Britain’s Cyprus airbase
Tracking changes to US oil and gas prices
Barely a week before tensions in the Middle East escalated, President Trump boasted about gas prices falling along with inflation.
Those improvements are under threat after oil prices surged above the $100-a-barrel threshold for the first time in four years in response to US and Israeli strikes on Iran and the latter’s blocking of the Strait of Hormuz.
With the midterm elections looming in November, any rise in energy costs could quickly turn into a political headache. What does the conflict mean for everyday prices and how are markets reacting?
• US oil and gas prices: tracking changes since start of Iran war
Nato shoots down missile over Turkey
Nato air defences in the eastern Mediterranean shot down a second ballistic missile that was fired from Iran and entered Turkey’s airspace, the Turkish defence ministry said on Monday, warning that it will take necessary steps without hesitatation.
US urges its citizens to leave southeast Turkey
The US has advised its citizens to leave southeast Turkey and evacuated non-essential staff from its consulate near the southern Turkish city of Adana, which is near a key Nato base, after Iran said it would continue attacking US assets.
“On March 9, 2026, the Department of State ordered non-emergency US government employees and US government employee family members to leave Consulate General Adana due to the safety risks,” the embassy said on X.
A US State Department travel advisory added: “Americans in southeast Turkey are strongly encouraged to depart now”.
On Wednesday, Nato troops intercepted a Turkey-bound ballistic missile launched from Iran, although Tehran denied directly targeting its neighbour.
In pictures: Macron in Cyprus
President Macron has flown to Cyprus for meeting with the Greek prime minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, and the Cypriot president, Nikos Christodoulides, at the Andreas Papandreou air base in Paphos as the Iran crisis continues.
President Macron is greeted by his Cypriot counterpart, Nikos Christodoulides
GONZALO FUENTES/GONZALO FUENTES/EPA
France’s President Emmanuel Macron (L) embraces Cyprus’ President Nikos Christodoulides (R) upon arrival at Paphos Military Base, Cyprus on March 9, 2026. President Emmanuel Macron is visiting Cyprus, his office said, as France deploys warships to the Mediterranean following a drone attack on the island EU member days ago. (Photo by Gonzalo Fuentes / POOL / AFP via Getty Images)
AFP
Badenoch vote push to ‘keep fuel duty low’
Kemi Badenoch said she would be bringing a vote in Parliament on Tuesday to “keep fuel duty low”.
Asked whether she supported the idea of a Liz Truss-style support package to help households and businesses with a surge in oil prices, she told reporters: “Well, the first thing that the prime minister should do is stop Rachel Reeves’ silly changes to fuel duty.
“Last week, she had an opportunity in the spring statement to announce measures to help all of those families out there who are struggling with the cost of living.
“Instead, she spent the statement telling us what a fabulous job she was doing. So tomorrow, I’m going to be bringing a vote so that we can make sure that we keep fuel duty, though, and if I would expect Labour MPs and others to support that at a time when we’re expecting serious shocks to energy prices.”
Tehran crowds pledge allegiance to new leader
Thousands of people flocked on Monday to a central square in the Iranian capital to pledge allegiance to the Islamic Republic’s new leader, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, the AFP news agency reported.
The crowds which gathered in Tehran’s Enghelab Square saw many carrying the Iranian flags and portraits of Khamenei, the son of late supreme leader, Ali Khamenei.
MAJID ASGARIPOUR/WANA/REUTERS
MAJID ASGARIPOUR/WANA/REUTERS
Update: FTSE 100 extends sell-off on oil price shock fears
London’s leading share index opened down sharply this morning, extending last week’s sell-off on concerns that the spike in the oil price will stoke inflation.
The FTSE 100 dropped 1.85 per cent before easing to trade down 1.5 per cent, or 153 points, to 10,133.88 by mid morning, with shares in the oil companies Shell and BP among the risers and mining, property, financial, airline and engineering shares falling.
Brent crude was 13 per cent higher at $105 a barrel, having at one stage reached $119.50 a barrel, levels not seen since the start of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Analysts at Goldman Sachs, the US investment bank, said the price could exceed the peak of $146 a barrel in 2008 if the flow of tankers through the Strait of Hormuz did not start to recover before the end of the month.
Israel launches ‘extensive’ airstrikes across Iran
The Israeli air force on Monday launched a new wave of “extensive” airstrikes in Tehran, Isfahan and southern Iran, the IDF announced.
In a brief statement on social media, the IDF says the strikes were targeting “infrastructure of the Iranian terror regime”.
Cut ‘non-essential car journeys’ to save fuel
Drivers are being urged to consider cutting out “non-essential journeys” because fuel prices are expected to rise as the cost of oil soars.
AA president Edmund King, who issued the advice, also suggested motorists should change their driving style to be more fuel efficient.
King said: “The longer this conflict goes on, the more effect it will have on the cost of oil.”
He added: “There will be gradual increases in pump prices, but this shouldn’t happen overnight as fuel has been purchased at previous prices.
“Our suggestion is that drivers should not change their refuelling habits but can consider cutting out some non-essential journeys and changing their driving style to conserve fuel.”
Interest rates may rise as Bank responds to oil shock
The Bank of England is now expected to raise interest rates rather than cut them several times this year as the historic surge in oil prices sparked by the US-Israeli war with Iran threatens to propel inflation to almost 4 per cent.
Investors have priced in about a 70 per cent chance of the Bank of England increasing rates by a quarter point before the end of the year. Just two weeks ago, they expected two quarter-point cuts in 2026, with the first coming at the central bank’s meeting next Thursday.
• Read in full: Interest rates may rise as Bank of England responds to oil shock
UK government bonds have suffered the heaviest selling since Liz Truss’s disastrous mini-budget in 2022. Over the last week, the yield on the benchmark ten-year UK government bond has jumped by around 0.4 percentage points to 4.74 per cent, by far the largest rise in borrowing costs within the group of rich economies.
Petrol prices expected to top 150p a litre
The outlook for UK motorists is “increasingly bleak” with petrol prices expected to top 150p as the Iran war enters its second week, according to the RAC.
Simon Williams, RAC head of policy, said petrol prices were up 5p to 137.5p a litre and diesel up 9p to 151p since the outbreak of hostilities on February 28.
“Average petrol and diesel prices have rocketed in the last week and are unfortunately likely to keep on rising, so the situation for UK drivers is increasingly bleak,” he said.
“Unleaded is almost certainly going to reach an average of 140p in the next week or so while diesel looks highly likely to climb to at least 160p a litre. The price of diesel is increasing more quickly now than at any point since the start of the Ukraine conflict.”
Petrol prices could top 150p a litre — a price not seen since June 2024 — while diesel could reach a three-year high of 180p.
Bank now expected to raise interest rates
The Bank of England is now expected to raise interest rates rather than cut them several times this year as the surge in oil prices threatens to propel inflation to nearly 4 per cent, raising government borrowing costs and increasing the cost of mortgages.
Investors have priced in around a 70 per cent chance of the Bank increasing rates by a quarter point before the end of the year. Two weeks ago, they expected two quarter-point cuts in 2026, with the first coming at the central bank’s meeting next Thursday.
UK government bonds have suffered the heaviest selling since Liz Truss’s disastrous mini-budget in 2022. Over the last week, the yield on the benchmark ten-year UK government bond — a proxy for government borrowing — has jumped by about 0.4 percentage points to 4.74 per cent, by far the largest rise in borrowing costs within the group of rich economies.
Iran pledges ‘crushing retaliations against enemies’
Iran’s foreign ministry said the country would continue to defend itself from US-Israeli strikes and downplayed the likelihood of a ceasefire as long as attacks continue, state media reported on Monday.
“There is no point to talks about anything but defence and crushing retaliations against enemies,” Esmaeil Baghaei, a ministry spokesman said.
He added that Tehran has no war to fight with its Muslim neighbours in the Middle East but must target “facilities used by aggressors” for its legitimate defence.
Baghaei also denied any Iranian attack against Turkey, Azerbaijan and Cyprus, which he claimed were “false flag attacks.”
UK must come together, Starmer urges 
Sir Keir Starmer speaking at a community centre in London on Monday
BROOK MITCHELL/PA
The prime minister has urged the UK to unite during the current Iran conflict, despite attempts by some people to use the conflict to “tear people apart”.
“We mustn’t let that happen,” he said, saying he had been speaking regularly to both Muslim and Jewish communities since the outbreak of hostilities.
“This is a time where we need to come together as a country, stand behind our principles and our values and not let people divide us,” Sir Keir Starmer said.
He said the government’s social cohesion policy being launched today was about having “pride in who we are as a country”.
While there should also be pride in where people have come from there should also be a “ real sense that we do integrate and we’re one country particularly at a time like this”.
Starmer: UK economy more resilient than in 2022
Sir Keir Starmer said the UK’s economy had more “headroom” to deal with the Iran war since the last major conflict, the outbreak of war between Russia and Ukraine in 2022.
While the prime minister acknowledged people were worried about rising cost of living and energy prices, he said the UK was better placed now to deal with the conflict.
“It is important to remember the last time a conflict began to develop — which was 2022 with Ukraine — the economy wasn’t in a stable place and inflation was 5 per cent and rising,” he said.
“We’ve done a lot of work over the last 18 months to put some resilience in and make sure we have some headroom, which is basically some insurance in the economy. And inflation is 3 per cent and going down, so in that sense there is more resilience.”
He added: “People will sense that the longer this goes on the more likely the potential for an impact on our economy and the lives of everybody and business. Our job is to get ahead of that and monitor the risk.”
Starmer warns on economic impact of conflict
The longer conflict with Iran goes on “the more likely the impact on our economy”, Sir Keir Starmer has warned while meeting members of the public.
Speaking at a visit to a community centre in London, the prime minister said: “We’ve done a lot of work to put some resilience into our economy over the last 18 months. The longer this conflict goes on, the more likely the potential impact for an impact on our economy.”
One Israeli killed in attack
One person has died and two others were seriously injured following Iran’s latest attack on Israel.
The Israeli emergency medical service earlier said paramedics were “searching a number of scenes” and were treating at least three people who were seriously injured following an Iranian attack.
Several apparent cluster bomb munitions struck central Israel during the attack, according to first responders.
A 30-year-old man was rushed to hospital after being wounded by shrapnel, while two other casualties were said to be unconscious at another location.
Israeli media later confirmed one of the wounded had died.
“Defensive systems are operating to intercept the threat,” the military had earlier said.
UK ‘working around the clock’ to repatriate Britons, Starmer says
Sir Keir Starmer said the UK had “increased capabilities” to help allies in the Middle East in the Iran war, including sending fighter jets and anti-drone devices.
“I have been speaking to all the leaders in the region to assess what more we can do on the ground,” he said.
Starmer said the government was also working with the 300,000 British nationals in the region, helping those who wanted to come home to do so.
“They are all very concerned about the situation they’re in and friends and families in this country are very concerned too because they want to know their loved ones are safe,” he said.
He said they had been “working around the clock” to bring 35,000 people back to the UK.
‘EU will always defend rules-based system’
The EU must be prepared to project its power more assertively as it can no longer rely on a “rules-based” system against threats and must determine if its institutions and systems help or hinder its credibility, European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, said on Monday.
“We will always defend and uphold the rules-based system that we helped to build with our allies, but we can no longer rely on it as the only way to defend our interests or assume its rules will shelter us from the complex threats that we face,” Von der Leyen said at a conference for EU ambassadors.
“We urgently need to reflect on whether our doctrine, our institutions and our decision making all designed in a postwar world of stability and multilateralism have kept pace with the speed of change around us. Whether the system that we built with all of its well-intentioned attempts at consensus and compromise is more a help or a hindrance to our credibility as a geopolitical actor,” she added.
Impacts reported in Israel following missile attack
Rocket trails are seen in the sky above the Israeli city of Netanya on Monday morning
JACK GUEZ/AFP/GETTY IMAGES
Emergency services are responding to reports of impacts in central Israel following Iran’s latest ballistic missile attack on the country.
Blasts were heard in Tel Aviv on Monday after the army said it had detected Iran missiles. Impacts were reported but it was not immediately clear if they were the result of cluster munitions or debris from missiles being shot down.
Over the last week Israelis have been regularly advised to seek shelter, sometimes every few hours.
Israeli media reported that there at been at least seven Iranian missile attacks since midnight.
While most Iranian missiles have been intercepted, at least 12 people in Israel have died and several more have been injured during the attacks since the start of the war on February 28.
‘We just don’t know how high gas prices will rise’
Derek Lickorish, the chairman of Utilita Energy, said the prime minister could forget about his promise to reduce energy bills by £150 if the war in Iran continues.
Lickorish said it would be a “white knuckle ride” as oil and gas prices spike, amid concerns the uncertainty in the Middle East could last for months.
He said the company had experienced a near doubling of the gas price in the past week.
“The war doesn’t show any sign of coming to an end, there is big anxiety. How high will gas prices go? We just don’t know,” he told Times Radio.
“It’s going to be a white knuckle ride and we need to be looking at what we can do and try and improve this for customers going forward because if you think back to 2022 we thought that was a one-in-100-year event and now we’ve had a second one in four years.”
Qatar arrests hundreds for ‘misleading information’
Qatari authorities have arrested more than 300 people for sharing images and “misleading information” during days of attacks by Iran, the interior ministry said on Monday.
The people arrested “filmed and circulated video clips and published misleading information and rumours that could stir public opinion”, a statement said.
Other Gulf states have imposed similar restrictions on recording evidence of strikes.
On Friday the attorney-general of the United Arab Emirates warned the public against photographing or sharing images and videos from the scene of Iranian attacks or damage resulting from the fall of projectiles or shrapnel.
“He stressed that disseminating such materials or inaccurate information can incite public panic and create a false impression of the country’s actual situation,” according to the Emirates news agency.
Poll: have your say on impact of oil price Sirens sound over RAF Akrotiri
Sirens sounded in and around RAF Akrotiri, the British military base on Cyprus, on Monday morning in a potential warning of incoming attack, although the alert was quickly over.
Local residents were advised to stay indoors, shelter away from windows and to take cover beneath solid furniture as the alarms sounded at 10.20am local time. Local media said no further details were available but the all clear was given within 30 minutes.
Similar alarms have been raised several times in the last few days after an Iranian drone, which security officials believe was fired by Hezbollah, the Lebanese militant group, hit the RAF base last week.
Israel targets southern Beirut
Destruction in Beirut’s southern suburbs following Israeli strikes
An airstrike hit Beirut’s southern suburbs on Monday, Lebanese state media reported, after Israel warned it would target branches of a firm linked to Hezbollah.
Footage on AFPTV’s live broadcast showed large plumes of smoke rising from the area, a stronghold of the Iran-backed armed group.
Earlier on Monday, the Israeli military warned it would strike branches of Al-Qard al-Hassan, a Hezbollah-linked financial firm mainly operating in the group’s strongholds.
South Korea caps fuel prices
As the G7 and the International Energy Agency prepare to discuss the possible release of strategic oil reserves later today, the government of South Korea, which buys 70 per cent of its oil from the Middle East, said it would cap fuel prices for the first time in nearly 30 years.
President Lee Jae Myung warned against panic buying at an emergency meeting today in which he said the crisis was “a significant burden on our economy”.
In Japan, a senior MP said the government had instructed a national oil reserve storage site to prepare for a possible crude release, although the country’s chief cabinet secretary later said no decision had been made to release stockpiles.
Macron to meet Greek PM in Cyprus
President Macron and the Greek prime minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, will meet in Cyprus on Monday to present “an uncompromising European defence front” after a wave of Iranian drone strikes that directly threatened the island.
The two EU leaders will meet the Cypriot president, Nikos Christodoulides, at the Andreas Papandreou air base in Paphos.
France has sent its Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier and a frigate to the Mediterranean and also sent air defence units to Cyprus, while Greece has sent the advanced frigates Kimon and Psara along with F-16 fighter jets.
“When European soil faces external threats, our response must be immediate and strong,” Mitsotakis said over the weekend, emphasising the need for a rapidly expanding European military mobilisation, which also involves Britain, Germany, Italy and Spain.
A statement from the Elysee Palace said that Macron’s trip is “intended to demonstrate France’s solidarity with Cyprus, a member state of the European Union with which we have a strategic partnership”.
‘Death to Mojtaba’ chants ‘heard in Tehran’
Iranian opposition activists have criticised the younger Khamenei’s appointment a the supreme leader as an “IRGC coup” and shared videos appearing to show some residents in Tehran shouting “death to Mojtaba” on social media.
Owning to the continuing shutdown within Iran, Persian-language posts online have been dominated by Iranians abroad, most of whom oppose the regime.
Some users suggested that he would be announced dead when the war with Israel and the US ended.
In addition to his father, Mojtaba Khamenei’s mother and wife were also killed in US-Israeli strikes and his absence from public view since the start of the war has led to speculation that he may also have been seriously injured.
State broadcaster IRINN is reported to have described the new supreme leader as “a veteran of the Ramadan war”, using its name for the current conflict.
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Enable cookiesAllow cookies onceIranian women’s football team made ‘SOS signals’
Supporters trail the Iranian team bus on the Gold Coast in Australia
REUTERS
The Iranian women’s football team appeared to make “SOS signals” after they were branded “traitors” for refusing to sing the national anthem.
Football’s governing bodies and Australian authorities are being urged to guarantee the safety of Iran’s women’s team as they prepare to fly back to Iran from Australia after being knocked out of the Asian Cup.
The team refused to sing the national anthem before their first match against South Korea last week.
A prominent mouthpiece for the regime, Mohammad Reza Shahbazi, said: “Let me just say one thing: traitors during wartime must be dealt with more severely.”
Footage posted to social media after the team’s 2-0 defeat to the Philippines shows the team bus leaving the stadium surrounded by supporters, many carrying Iran flags, and some heard chanting “save our girls” .
One post shows a player seemingly using sign language to say SOS through the bus’s darkened windows.
FTSE 100 extends last week’s sell-off
The FTSE 100 has opened 1.4 per cent, or 146 points, lower at 10,139.19, extending last week’s sell-off on concerns that a spike in the oil price will stoke inflation.
Stock markets in Asia fell sharply as investors in big importers of Middle East oil such as Japan and South Korea continued to sell shares in a flight into the safety of the dollar.
Pantheon Macroeconomics, a consultancy, has warned UK inflation will rise back above 3 per cent in second half of 2026, putting fresh pressure on Bank of England which is now heading for a sixth successive year of allowing inflation to be almost constantly above target.
Al Quds marchers ‘face arrest if they preach hatred’
Participants in the Al Quds march in London will face arrest if they preach hatred, according to Steve Reed, the communities secretary.
While some groups have called for the march, due to be held later this month, to be banned, Reed said people were free to take part but action would be taken by police if there was racist or antisemitic behaviour.
“If they believe the risks are too high, they will take appropriate action,” he told Times Radio.
“But assuming the march does go ahead, then those participating will be expected to abide by the law, not to be targeting groups with hatred. And if they do, there should be police intervention.”
Reed said there was an “expectation” that new arrivals would be required to learn to speak English, under the government’s social cohesion strategy launched today.
“People [need to] have access to English language teaching so they can be part of a community,” he said.
Regime to organise rallies supporting new supreme leader
State-organised rallies are expected to take place in Iran later today where crowds will pledge allegiance to the new supreme leader.
Iranian state media broadcast a statement by the Islamic Propagation Co-ordination Council, which organises pro-regime events, that demonstrations will be held today at 3pm local time [11.30am GMT] across the country.
TV channels aired statements welcoming Mojtaba Khamenei as the new leader and pledges of loyalty by senior officials, including the president, parliament speaker, judiciary chief and the military, including the regular army and the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC).
Khamenei, 56, succeeded his father Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed in the initial US‑Israeli attacks on Iran on February 28.
Ultra-rich flee Gulf on £190k private jets
As hundreds of thousands of tourists in the Middle East wait anxiously for news of scant repatriation flights, a smaller group of ultra-wealthy people have sought a more exclusive way out: private jets.
In four days last week SHY Aviation fielded some 200 requests for 700 people in the Middle East to charter its planes, which carry up to 12 passengers. Overall, the company estimates, some 30,000 people have tried to evacuate the area by private jets hired through SHY or its rivals.
• Read in full: Ultra-rich — and their dogs — rush to flee Gulf on £190k private jets
Fees for such flights have soared to three times their usual rate, driven by increased demand for limited aircraft, added risk insurance and the need to pay crew more for flying through a war zone.
Belgian synagogue attacked 
Police at the scene of the explosion
ERIC LALMAND/BELGA/SHUTTERSTOCK
A synagogue was damaged in a blast overnight in Liege, eastern Belgium, police said, adding they were investigating the cause of the explosion.
No injuries were reported, with “only material damage”, a spokesman for the police in the city of Liege said in a statement.
European security services are stepping up their surveillance of potential Jewish, Israeli and American targets over fears that attacks could be linked to the war in Iran.
On Sunday, a bomb exploded at the US embassy in Oslo, causing minor damage.
UK gas supplies secure, minister says
Steve Reed, the housing secretary, said there was “no immediate threat” to UK gas supplies as the war in Iran pushes up energy prices.
With the price of oil topping $100 a barrel for the first time since 2022, Reed said the government was not yet considering a move to intervene in the energy market.
“I would reassure people that the country’s gas stores are in line with what you would expect at this time of the year,” Reed told Times Radio.
“The government’s monitoring the situation so that we can take action if that is required. At the moment, it isn’t, because storage stores are where they need to be.”
Reed said the current oil and gas crisis showed “why the government is right to go away from fossil fuels and into clean energy”.
G7 to hold emergency talks with IEA
The International Energy Agency has convened emergency talks with the G7 as oil rises above $100 a barrel in a marked change of stance.
After a March 3 meeting of its 32 member countries to discuss the impact of the conflict on the the oil price, IEA chief Fatih Birol said there was “no immediate need” to tap into strategic reserves, noting the global market remained “well-supplied”.
The Paris-based IEA was founded in 1974 to ensure oil supply security after the 1973–1974 oil crisis, when an embargo by major producers caused price spikes and exposed industrialised countries’ dependence on imported oil. The UK and US were among the founding members.
G7 finance ministers are expected to hold a joint call and discuss the impact of the Iran war with Birol. IEA member states and associates account for 75 per cent of global energy demand.
How can the US neutralise Iran’s enriched uranium stockpile?
President Trump is considering sending troops to secure Iran’s enriched uranium after reports of US-Israeli strikes on one of the main sites that he said was obliterated last year.
Missile attacks caused “severe damage” to an irradiation sterilisation facility in Isfahan on Saturday, Iran’s ISNA news agency reported. The Iranian regime has not allowed any inspection at Isfahan, where most of the uranium was believed to be stored, nor at Fordow and Natanz, the main places for enrichment.
All three were seriously damaged in June and satellite images show some work compatible with securing them but no sign of any serious attempt to reconstitute the programme. Most of the enrichment centrifuges are believed destroyed, while the uranium stored in gas form in canisters is thought to be buried deep under rubble.
• Read in full: What are the nuclear options now open to the US?
Bahrain energy company declares force majeure
Waves of Iranian strikes targeting Bahrain’s state-owned energy company, Bapco, have led it to declare force majeure, the company stated on Monday.
Bapco “hereby serves notice of force majeure on its group operations which have been affected by the ongoing regional conflict in the Middle East and the recent attack on its refinery complex”, said a statement posted by the company.
In contract law, force majeure allows a party to escape their duties when a major disaster beyond their control happens.
Smoke rises from Bahrain’s Bapco oil refinery after Iranian drone attack
Turkey to deploy fighter jets to northern Cyprus
Turkey plans to deploy six F-16 fighter jets to northern Cyprus to bolster the island’s defences.
The move is to protect Cyprus’s Turkish community, broadcaster NTV said, citing a civil aviation official from the breakaway Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus.
On Saturday, a Turkish defence ministry source said Turkey was considering the deployment of F-16 aircraft to Cyprus, among other steps being taken to ensure the security of the Turkish Cypriot state as conflict spreads in the region.
“In light of recent developments in our region, six F-16 fighter aircraft and air defence systems have been deployed to the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) as of today,” Turkey’s defence ministry said, referring to a territory which is only recognised by Ankara.
Warnings oil price could keep rising in Strait of Hormuz crisis
The widening conflict across the Middle East has sent the price of Brent crude close to $120 a barrel for the first time since 2022.
Brent crude oil rose 29 per cent to $119.50 a barrel in overnight trading before easing back to $107 a barrel on reports that the Group of Seven (G7) finance ministers will on Monday discuss a joint release of oil from emergency reserves.
Sharp falls in Asian stock markets also eased, and the dollar strengthened a basket of currencies as investors expected higher energy prices to stoke inflation.
How the world’s economy might be torn up by the Strait of Hormuz
• Read in full: Middle East conflict pushes Brent crude to $119.50 a barrel
Overnight surge in Brent crude oil
Brent crude oil neared $120 a barrel, hitting levels unseen since Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, as the Middle East conflict intensified.
Prices surged 29 per cent to $119.50 overnight, but retreated to $107 at about 6am after reports that G7 finance ministers would hold an emergency meeting today to discuss releasing strategic oil reserves.
This volatility sparked sharp declines in Japanese and South Korean stocks while strengthening the dollar on inflation fears.
Goldman Sachs warned oil could surpass the 2008 record of $146 if the Strait of Hormuz remained blocked through month-end. The turmoil reflects deep anxiety over global energy security and its potential to trigger a worldwide recession.
Israeli military claims strikes on Isfahan
The Israeli military said it had targeted security forces in Iran’s city of Isfahan on Monday.
The Israelis described hitting command centres for Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard and its all-volunteer Basij force in the central Iranian city.
The military also said it hit a rocket engine production facility and missile launch sites.
Iran did not immediately acknowledge the strikes. It has not provided any details on its materiel losses since the war started.
Attacks on Saudi Arabia are ‘reprehensible’
Saudi Arabia has called Tehran’s attacks targeting the kingdom and their Gulf neighbours on Monday “reprehensible”.
A statement posted on X said: “[It] renews the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s categorical condemnation of the reprehensible Iranian aggressions against the Kingdom, the Gulf Cooperation Council states, a number of Arab and Islamic countries, and friendly nations, which cannot be accepted or justified under any circumstances.”
Israel accused of using white phosphorus in Lebanon
Human Rights Watch has accused Israel of “unlawfully” using white phosphorus over residential parts of a southern Lebanese town last week.
“The Israeli military unlawfully used artillery-fired white phosphorus munitions over homes on March 3, 2026, in the southern Lebanese town of Yohmor,” the New York-based rights group said in a report on Monday.
The group said it had verified and geolocated seven images showing “airburst white phosphorus munitions being deployed over a residential part of the town”.
White phosphorus can be used to create smokescreens and to illuminate battlefields. However, the munition that ignites on contact with oxygen can also be used as an incendiary weapon and can cause fires, horrific burns, respiratory damage, organ failure and death.
The Israeli army has since repeatedly called on people living south of the Litani River in Lebanon, around 30 kilometres (20 miles) north of the Israeli border, to leave.
At least 394 people have been killed in Israeli attacks, Lebanese authorities said, registering more than half a million people as displaced.
UAE response to missile attack
The United Arab Emirates is reporting that its air defence systems were responding to a missile attack early Monday.
“Air defence systems are currently responding to a missile threat,” the country’s National Emergency Crisis and Disaster Management Authority said in a post on X.
Trump ‘not happy’ with new supreme leader
President Trump is “not happy” after Mojtaba Khamenei was named Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s successor.
Brian Kilmeade, a news anchor with Fox News, reported Trump’s reaction after a brief phone call with the president. He did not provide any further details.
Trump had previously said that the 56-year-old, a mid-level cleric as hardline as his father and closely allied to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, would not be an acceptable new leader for the Islamic Republic.
Trump’s war in Iran ‘crushing’ US families
Democrats in the US have seized on the oil price surge as evidence President Trump is failing to deliver on his campaign promise to bring down the cost of living.
“We’ve been saying for months that affordability is the number one issue,” said Tom Suozzi, a House of Representives Democrat of New York. “But this is a very real-life consequence of some of the actions being taken by the administration.”
Ken Martin, the chair of the Democratic National Committee, said in a statement: “As Trump refuses to acknowledge Americans’ concerns with the war, prices at the pump are soaring and working families are being crushed by high prices at the grocery store.”
Earlier, Trump said “only fools” would fail to see the rise in oil prices as a “small price to pay” for peace.
Bahrain attack leaves 32 civilians wounded
Debris lies on the street in Sitra, Bahrain, onm Monday morning
REUTERS
At least 32 civilians have been left wounded in Bahrain, according to its ministry of health, after an Iranian drone attack targeted the Gulf nation’s island of Sitra overnight.
All of the wounded were Bahraini citizens and there were four “serious cases”, including children, said the ministry in a statement carried by the Gulf nation’s state news agency.
As Ayatollah’s son takes power, what does this mean for peace?
The appointment of Mojtaba Khamenei as Iran’s next supreme leader signals that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps maintains its iron grip over the country, dashing hopes of accommodation with the West.
The elevation of Khamenei, 56, points to the promotion of securitarianism over clerical authority, making the regime’s acceptance of President Trump’s demands ever more unlikely.
The second son of the late Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is well versed in the business of internal repression, having taken control of the Basij, the Revolutionary Guard’s volunteer militia, during the 2009 anti-government protests, which ended the reformist Green Movement and what existed of mainstream opposition within Iran.
Critically, his ascension would solidify Iran’s intentions not to bow to western demands.
Read the full analysis here.
Mojtaba Khamenei at a parade to mark Al Quds Day in Tehran in 2024
ROUZBEH FOULADI/ZUMA WIRE/ALAMY
Stock markets fall sharply in Asia
Stock markets in Asia fell sharply in early trading on Monday morning after the price of Brent crude rose above $100 a barrel.
South Korea’s Kospi was down 6.7 per cent while the Nikkei 225 in Tokyo was off around 5.8 per cent, after trading more than six per cent lower earlier in the session.
Markets continue to react to maritime traffic in the Strait of Hormuz — through which 20 per cent of global crude and gas passes — all but halting since the war began on February 28.
The Kurds who want to liberate Iran whether Trump asks them to or not
Meet the battle-hardened fighters who have defeated Isis and Tehran’s proxies. With the right help from the US, could they topple the regime itself?
Read the full story here.
Fighters from the Kurdistan Freedom Party train on the outskirts of Erbil, Iraq
THAIER AL-SUDANI/REUTERS
Hegseth: US ‘willing to go as far as we need’
Addressing concerns about deploying US troops to Iran and the timeline of the war, Pete Hegseth told CBS News: “President Trump knows — I know — you don’t tell the enemy, you don’t tell the press, you don’t tell anybody what your limits would be on an operation.
“We are willing to go as far as we need to be successful.”
The war secretary was asked what an “unconditional surrender” would mean, after Trump demanded one from Tehran on Friday. Hegseth said in response: “It means we are fighting to win. It means we set the terms. We’ll know when they are no longer capable of fighting.
“Whether they know it or not, they will be combat ineffective. They will surrender.”
Iran’s navy ‘largely no more’, says Hegseth
Pete Hegseth, the US secretary of war, has claimed “the Iranian Navy is largely no more”.
Its navy’s “ability to project any power”, he added, is “diminishing, and will be increasingly diminished”.
Hegseth told CBS News: “What I want your viewers to understand is this is only just the beginning.”
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Enable cookiesAllow cookies onceTrump ‘could send special forces’ to Iran
President Trump is considering whether to deploy US special forces to secure Iran’s stockpile of enriched uranium, Bloomberg News reported, citing three diplomatic sources.
It follows a similar report by Axios, which said any operation would only take place if Israel and the US were confident Iran’s military could no longer mount a serious threat to the forces involved.
There are concerns that the material may have been moved since inspectors from the United Nations nuclear watchdog confirmed its location nine months ago.
Asked about the possibility aboard Air Force One, Trump indicated the option remained open. “They haven’t been able to get to it and at some point, maybe we will,” he said. “We haven’t gone after it, but it’s something we can do later on. We wouldn’t do it now.”
Trump: Oil price surge very small price to pay
President Trump has reacted to the price of Brent crude climbing 17 per cent to $109 a barrel in early trading in Asia.
“Short term oil prices, which will drop rapidly when the destruction of the Iran nuclear threat is over, is a very small price to pay for U.S.A., and World, Safety and Peace,” he posted on Truth Social.
“ONLY FOOLS WOULD THINK DIFFERENTLY!” the president added.
Iranian footballers claim asylum in Austrlia
Reza Pahlavi’s said five players had claimed asylum: Fatemeh Pasandideh, Zahra Ghanbari, Zahra Sarbali, Atefeh Ramazanzadeh and Mona Hamoudi
At least five members of the Iranian women’s football team are said to have claimed asylum in Australia, having been branded “traitors” by the regime in Tehran.
The office of Reza Pahlavi, son of the last shah and an opposition figurehead, said the players were in a safe location after leaving the team’s training camp during the AFC Women’s Asian Cup.
The Iranian team were criticised in Tehran after refusing to sing the national anthem at their first match, against South Korea, which was interpreted as a protest. In their second match, against Australia, and then again in Sunday’s final game against the Philippines, the Iranian team sang and saluted during the national anthem, leading critics to believe they had been forced to do so by members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps accompanying them as part of the delegation.
Pahlavi had called for the players to be protected after Mohammad Reza Shahbazi, a prominent voice of the regime, called them “traitors during wartime [who] must be dealt with more severely”.
Trump: decision to end war will be ‘mutual’ with Netanyahu
President Trump has said the decision to end the war with Iran will be a “mutual” one, taken together with Binyamin Netanyahu, signalling that the Israeli prime minister has a significant amount of influence on the US president’s decision-making.
“I think it’s mutual … a little bit. We’ve been talking. I’ll make a decision at the right time, but everything’s going to be taken into account,” he told The Times of Israel in an interview.
Trump said “Iran was going to destroy Israel and everything else around it” if the two leaders had not acted. “We’ve worked together. We’ve destroyed a country that wanted to destroy Israe,” he added.
IRGC pledges ‘obedience’ to new ruler
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards has pledged allegiance to the country’s new supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei.
It said: “The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps … is ready for complete obedience and self-sacrifice in carrying out the divine commands of the Guardian Jurist of the time, His Eminence Ayatollah Seyyed Mojtaba Khamenei.”
It described him as an “all-encompassing jurist, a young thinker and the most knowledgeable on political and social issues.”
The powerful IRGC had backed Khamenei, a hardliner who led crackdowns on dissent, to take over from his father.