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Iran’s huge Pars gas field was hit Wednesday, a major escalation in the US-Israeli war, prompting Tehran to announce it would respond with attacks on oil and gas targets throughout the Gulf.Oil prices shot up after the attack in a conflict that has already halted shipping from the world’s most important energy-producing region and could now bring lasting damage to its infrastructure. Benchmark Brent crude prices rose around 5% to above $108. Stock markets veered lower.Pars is the Iranian sector of the world’s largest natural gas deposit. Iran’s Fars news agency reported that gas tanks and parts of a refinery had been hit, workers had been evacuated to a safe location and emergency crews were trying to put out a fire. State media later said the fire was under control.The attack was widely reported in Israeli media to have been carried out by Israel with US consent, though neither country acknowledged immediate responsibility. The Israeli military did not respond to requests for comment.The UAE has denounced the attack.Iran listed an array of prominent regional oil and gas targets belonging to Saudi Arabia, the UAE and another Gulf state, which it said were now “direct and legitimate targets” and should be evacuated at once before it struck them in the coming hours.Previously during nearly three weeks of war, the US and Israel had held back from targeting Iran’s energy production facilities in the Gulf, averting Iranian retaliation against the oil and gas industries of its neighbours.Iran has already shut the Strait of Hormuz, which handles 20% of global oil and liquefied natural gas supply, but consuming nations are hoping the disruption will prove short-lived as long as production infrastructure is spared.Iran’s warning was directed at Saudi Arabia’s Samref Refinery and Jubail Petrochemical Complex, the UAE’s Al Hosn Gas Field, and another Gulf state.’The Israeli military also hit central Beirut, destroying apartment buildings in some of the most intense airstrikes on the Lebanese capital for decades, on Israel’s other front in the war it launched with the US against Iran.Israel killed Iran’s intelligence minister Esmail Khatib Wednesday, a day after killing powerful security chief Ali Larijani.”No one in Iran has immunity and everyone is in the crosshairs,” said Defence Minister Israel Katz. He and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had authorised the Israeli military “to target any senior Iranian official for whom an intelligence and operational opportunity arises, without the need for additional approval”, Katz said.It appeared to be the first time Israel has publicly stated that it would let the military target enemy officials without seeking special permission from political leaders.In Tehran, thousands of people appeared in the streets for a funeral for Larijani and other slain figures. The crowd waved Iranian flags and carried portraits of the dead as a eulogist sang: “Martyrs are leading the way, they’ve become more alive, burning with love.”Iran retaliated for the killing of Larijani by firing missiles at Israel, which Israeli authorities said killed two people near Tel Aviv. Tehran said it fired overnight on Tel Aviv, Haifa and Beersheba in Israel, and at US bases in Bahrain, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and the UAE.Mojtaba Khamenei, Iran’s new supreme leader, said those responsible for Larijani’s death would pay for his blood.Several loud bangs were heard in the Saudi capital Riyadh Wednesday and some of its residents received phone alerts for the first time warning them of a hostile aerial threat, a Reuters witness in the city said.State TV said Saudi air defences had dealt with a “ballistic threat”.The attack on Iran’s gas field threatens to worsen an unprecedented disruption to global energy supplies that has raised the political stakes for US President Donald Trump. Diesel prices in the US have already risen above $5 a gallon for the first time since the 2022 inflation surge that eroded support for his predecessor Joe Biden.Vice President JD Vance said the Trump administration would announce a “couple of things” in the next 24 to 48 hours to tackle rising gas prices.US-based Iran human rights group HRANA said on Monday that an estimated 3,000-plus people had been killed in Iran since the US-Israeli attacks began on February 28. Authorities in Lebanon say 900 people have been killed there and 800,000 forced to flee their homes.Iranian attacks have killed people in Iraq and across the Gulf states. Fourteen have been killed in Israel. Related Story Source link
A Palestinian policeman manages traffic and monitors the streets in Gaza City, March 16, 2026. REUTERS Israel has killed nearly a dozen Gaza police officers this week as it steps up attacks on a Hamas-run force that the fighters have used to re-establish governance in areas under their control, Gaza authorities say.Hamas’ nearly 10,000 police officers have emerged as a sticking point in talks to advance US President Donald Trump’s plan for Gaza. Hamas wants them included in a new police force envisioned under the plan. Israel rejects involvement of any officers with Hamas affiliations.Trump’s plan calls for the fighter group to lay down its weapons and hand over governance to a committee of Palestinian technocrats who would manage Gaza’s police as Israeli troops withdraw. Talks on disarming Hamas have been delayed by the US-Israeli war with Iran, Reuters has reported.On the ground in Gaza, mostly unarmed officers dressed in navy police uniforms patrol the streets in the seafront sliver of Gaza where Hamas retained control under an October ceasefire following two years of war.Officers could be seen directing traffic and patrolling markets and tent encampments in Gaza City on Monday.Ismail al-Thawabta, director of the Hamas-run Gaza government media office, said Israel had killed more than 2,800 Gaza police officers since October 2023, when Hamas-led fighters stormed southern Israel.Dozens of officers have been killed since the ceasefire, including at least 10 since the start of the US-Israeli war with Iran, Thawabta said.To try to avoid more losses, he said, “operational orders and precautionary measures” had been issued “to reduce risks to police personnel, including reorganizing movements and deployments.” He gave no further details.Israel says its attacks in Gaza that have struck and killed police officers have been aimed at eliminating threats to its troops from Hamas. Israeli troops remain deployed in the roughly 53% of Gaza under Israel’s control.In Israel’s most recent attack, nine police officers were killed in an airstrike on a car in Zawayda in central Gaza on Sunday, Gaza medics said. The bombed-out remnants of the car, stained with blood, were left on the street, surrounded by destroyed buildings.The Israeli military said it had struck an armed Hamas cell that it said was planning to carry out an attack on Israeli troops, and that six people were killed. Neither Hamas nor the military responded immediately to a request for comment on the discrepancy in the death figures.Hamas accuses Israel of targeting police officers who it says are trying to maintain public security and stability in Gaza following the two-year war. Israel rejects this.Palestinian political analyst Reham Owda said Israel’s attacks on Gaza police highlighted Israeli concerns about Hamas tightening its grip on Gaza in areas under its control.”These strikes aim to disrupt Hamas’ security efforts in the territory and convey a clear message that Israel will not accept any expanded security role for Hamas within Gaza,” Owda told Reuters.Gaza’s health ministry says at least 670 people have been killed by Israeli fire since the October ceasefire. Israel says four soldiers have been killed by fighters in Gaza over the same period.Wednesday, an Israeli airstrike killed a local armed Hamas commander, Mohammad Abu Shahla, in Khan Younis in the south, Hamas and medics said, and overnight two men on a motorbike shot and wounded a senior Hamas police officer in Gaza City. Hamas blamed the attack on “Israeli collaborators.”Israel did not immediately comment on the incidents.Abdallah Al-Araisha, a Palestinian living in a tent encampment in Gaza City, said the police had been helping to fight crime and protect people across Gaza, where most of the population of over 2mn is internally displaced.”Without the police, we would be ruined,” Araisha said. Related Story Source link
Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC) announced Thursday that one of the operational units at Mina Al Ahmadi Refinery, was targeted this morning by drone.The company said in a statement that the attack led to a limited fire within the unit but caused no injuries. It added that emergency and rapid response teams were immediately deployed to the site, where the fire was contained in accordance with the highest approved safety standards.The company said that the relevant authorities were closely monitoring the situation and that any updates would be communicated through official channels. Source link
Lebanese authorities announced that the death toll from the Israeli airstrikes at dawn on the “Basta” and “Zuqaq Al Blat” areas in Beirut has risen to 10, in addition to 27 wounded.In a statement, the Lebanese Ministry of Public Health’s Health Emergency Operations Center said that it recorded the killing of two people and the injury of six others in airstrikes carried out by the Israeli entity on the town of “Sahmar” in the Western Bekaa, east of Lebanon. Two people, including a paramedic, were also killed and another was injured in an Israeli raid that targeted a car in the Corniche area of Sidon, in the south of the country.In addition, four people were killed and seven others were injured in an Israeli airstrike on a residential building in the Ras Al Ain neighborhood of Baalbek.Earlier today, the center revealed that an Israeli airstrike on an apartment in “Zuqaq Al Blat” in Beirut led to two deaths and 14 injuries, according to initial reports. Source link
An Israeli airstrike killed at least three people including a child in the Gaza Strip Tuesday, local health authorities said, the latest violence jeopardising the ceasefire which has been under strain during the Israeli-US war against Iran.Medics said the airstrike targeted a vehicle in the western area of Khan Younis, south of the enclave, killing three people, including a child, and wounding 12 other people. There was no immediate Israeli comment.Israel’s military has continued to strike Gaza during the regional war with Iran and Hezbollah in Lebanon. On Sunday it killed 12 people in Gaza, including nine police officers in one strike that Israel said targeted a Hamas cell. The military has cited threats or fire from Hamas as the reason for its attacks.Israel’s assault has since killed more than 72,000 Palestinians, Gaza’s health authorities say, including more than 670 since a ceasefire was reached last October. Gaza health officials said at least 40 people have been killed by Israeli fire since the US and Israel launched joint attacks on Iran at the end of February.Three sources told Reuters on Monday that envoys from US President Donald Trump’s “Board of Peace” have met representatives of Hamas in Cairo in an effort to safeguard the October Gaza ceasefire, which has come under serious strain.A Palestinian official with knowledge of the Cairo talks said that Hamas believed Israel was exploiting the war on Iran to slip away from its obligations under Trump’s plan. Israel rejects this.Israel and Hamas have traded blame for ceasefire violations.Separately, Israeli forces shot and killed a 17-year-old Palestinian and wounded another in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, health officials said Tuesday.Rights groups and medics say Israeli settlers are taking advantage of curbs on movement imposed during the US-Israeli war on Iran to attack Palestinians in the West Bank, with military roadblocks preventing ambulances from reaching victims quickly.Settlers have killed at least five Palestinians in the West Bank since the Iran war began on February 28, according to the Palestinian health ministry. Related Story Source link
For the first time since war began in Gaza, Raeda Abu Diya has bought special clothes for her daughter for the upcoming Eid al-Fitr holiday, marking the end of the holy month of Ramadan.Bu while a fragile ceasefire now holds in the Israel-Hamas war, Palestinians in Gaza fear the Iran war will make the world forget their suffering, and lead to prolonged shortages of crucial aid.”This year I decided that my children and I would be happy and celebrate with what is available to us,” said 38-year-old Abu Diya, who lives with her daughter and husband in a tent after their home was destroyed.”The shelling is much less than before.”Her 15-year-daughter Fidaa is thrilled, proudly detailing the new jeans, T-shirt and jacket her mother got her to mark the holiday.She still misses her old room filled with all her belongings.But she hopes the upcoming celebration will mark the “beginning of the return of the sweet life to Gaza”.While the family hopes to make the most of the Eid al-Fitr, which should come either Thursday or Friday depending on the moon, her mother is worried that the US-Israeli war with Iran has drawn focus away from their plight.With nearly all of Gaza’s 2.2mn residents forced from their homes during over two years of war sparked by Hamas’s storming of Israel, many people still live in tents or makeshift shelters in enormous camps, facing shortages as well as persistent fear and uncertainty.”Gaza is now forgotten and the world ignores the suffering of its people,” Raeda Abu Diya said.Each day she is glued to the latest news of the Middle East conflict from local radio stations that recently resumed broadcasting.It is not just the current events that weigh upon her: the memory of relatives — including her brother — killed by Israeli strikes, is always with her.”We are trying to create a little joy, but sadness does not leave us,” she said.The truce in place since October between Israel and Hamas has seen the level of violence drop in Gaza — even though there are still regular reports of Israeli strikes and deaths.The Israeli army, which under the terms of the ceasefire still controls about half of the Gaza Strip including all border areas, reported its troops killed three Palestinian fighters in one strike and one firefight in Gaza Saturday.It reported killing six more Hamas fighters in a single strike in central Gaza Sunday.For other Gazans, the upcoming holiday only compounds the difficulties they’re already facing.Ammar al-Buhaisi, who lives in Deir al-Balah, is struggling to get enough food, let alone new clothes for his children — and has been avoiding their expectant questions.As the US-Israeli conflict with Iran engulfs the region, he said any “optimism for an improvement in the situation is diminishing”.Hussein Duwaima, whose original clothes shop was destroyed, said life was coming back “gradually” in Gaza and demand has picked up ahead of the holiday as crowds of shoppers pack makeshift markets.Due to a lack of supply caused by the closure of Gaza’s borders and steep transportation costs, the prices are high.A child’s shirt for example costs the equivalent of between $15 to $30, while a kilo of chocolates can be even pricier.Israeli forces completely or partially destroyed most of Gaza’s markets during the war, though the market in Gaza City’s Sheikh Radwan neighbourhood has been partly restored already.Imad al-Bahtimi plays Eid chants on a loudspeaker at his stall to help “attract children and spread joy among the people”.Hamas police officers have deployed again at markets and on the streets of Gaza since the start of the ceasefire.”It increases a sense of security,” Bahtimi said.Hossam al-Shafa received Eid clothes and sweets for his three children from a local charity.He said that Israel still bombs eastern areas of nearby Khan Younis on a regular basis, demolishing homes.”We are tired of war and destruction,” he said.Despite the ongoing dangers he and his wife are trying their best to create a festive atmosphere, gathering firewood to bake cakes on their stove.”These are the best days we have had since the war began,” he said. Related Story Source link
Ali Larijani, former chairman of the parliament of Iran, registers as a candidate for the presidential election at the Interior Ministry, in Tehran, Iran May 31,…
The deployment of US military forces in the Arabian Gulf has constituted a defining feature of the regional security architecture since the final decade of the twentieth century. As the Middle East’s geopolitical environment has grown increasingly complex, American military bases have become a central component in the regional balance of deterrence and stability within a geographic space of exceptional strategic and economic significance. The geostrategic importance of the Arabian Gulf extends beyond its vast hydrocarbon reserves—among the largest globally—to include its controlling position over the Strait of Hormuz, one of the most vital maritime chokepoints in the international energy trade. Accordingly, the American military presence was never a temporary tactical arrangement; rather, it crystallized gradually into an integral component of a broader strategic approach aimed at managing regional equilibria and safeguarding global economic interests.Challenges Arising from the Military PresenceDespite its stabilizing intent, this security arrangement generates a complex set of political and strategic dilemmas. The presence of foreign military bases in a region characterized by persistent security tensions is liable to draw host nations indirectly into the dynamics of regional and international conflict. This dynamic has become particularly visible during the recent confrontation between the United States and Israel on one side and the Islamic Republic of Iran on the other, which has led to massive Iranian ballistic missile and drone attacks on Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, and Oman. Tehran claims that it is targeting its Gulf neighbors because these countries host American military installations, despite their own lack of direct involvement in combat operations. Moreover, these states have consistently and categorically prohibited the use of their territories as launchpads for offensive military actions against Iran, adhering to a deliberate policy designed to avoid direct engagement in the conflict. Nevertheless, they continue to find themselves at the center of regional escalations simply because of their geographic location and security partnerships. Historical Context of the American Military PresenceThe roots of the American military presence in the Gulf can be traced back to the structural transformations that reshaped the region beginning in the late 1970s. The Iranian Revolution of 1979 brought down one of Washington's most important strategic allies in the Middle East, creating a significant vacuum in its regional security architecture and a need for a new arrangement. However, the decisive expansion of the US military footprint occurred in the aftermath of Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait in 1990. This crisis fundamentally altered the Gulf security order and reinforced the conviction among regional states that the nature and magnitude of regional threats could exceed their own defense capabilities.In the years that followed, the United States steadily expanded its network of military installations, establishing air, naval, and ground facilities across several member states of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), which itself was formed in the wake of the Iranian revolution.Strategic and Economic Dimensions of the Security PartnershipInternationally, available estimates indicate that the United States maintains military bases in approximately 80 countries—typically through bilateral defense arrangements based on mutual interests. For the Gulf states, this military presence represents one of the most effective instruments of strategic deterrence against regional threats, particularly given the chronic state of tension with Iran. These bases provide more than a conventional security umbrella, however; they also offer access to advanced defense systems, intelligence capabilities, and military technologies that would be exceedingly difficult to develop independently. Furthermore, the military partnership with the US contributes to the institutional enhancement of the Gulf armed forces through joint exercises, operational coordination, and intelligence sharing. Economically, the stability underpinned by this security architecture not only ensures the uninterrupted flow of energy supplies and the steadiness of global markets—an essential factor for Gulf economies whose revenues remain heavily dependent on hydrocarbon exports—but plays a pivotal role in the diversification of Gulf economies away from hydrocarbons, by allowing them to attract capital and talent for other sectors. The Normative Paradox in Iranian DiscourseThese bases are not without controversy, however, especially within Iranian political discourse. Yet within the ongoing debate over the legitimacy of foreign military bases in the region, a striking normative paradox emerges in Iran’s own position. While Tehran consistently condemns the foreign military presence in the Gulf as an infringement upon regional sovereignty, in practice the Islamic Republic has developed an extensive network of military influence beyond its own borders, particularly in Arab states such as Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, and Yemen. In Lebanon, for example, Iran helped establish Hezbollah as part of its “forward defense” strategy against Israel, enhancing the armed group’s capabilities to the point that it is the most powerful organization in the country and challenges the sovereignty of the Lebanese state. In Syria, Iran provided direct military, logistical, and political support to the massively unpopular regime of Bashar al-Assad, while keeping the country as a land bridge for its proxy network. Tehran also played an instrumental role in persuading Russian President Vladimir Putin to deploy Russian forces on Syrian soil to prop up the regime—an intervention that led to the establishment of permanent Russian military bases under long-term agreements.Despite its opposition to the American presence, Iran has actually engaged in indirect coordination with the US military at various points, including in Iraq during operations against armed groups. Iranian officials even acknowledged that this tacit cooperation with Washington helped stabilize the political situation in both Iraq and Afghanistan. Taken together, these realities raise questions about the internal consistency of Iran’s criticism of foreign military bases while it simultaneously projects military influence in ways that undermine the sovereignty of other states. Future Prospects for the American Military Presence in the GulfThe question of American military bases in the Arabian Gulf sits at the intersection of national security considerations, national sovereignty requirements, and geopolitical balance calculations. As the international political order undergoes structural changes and competition among major powers intensifies, the US military presence in the Gulf is likely to persist. However, it is expected to evolve in form and function. Future deployments are likely to rely increasingly on flexible basing arrangements, advanced military technologies, rapid-response units, and remote operational capabilities.Ultimately, the success of this security equation will remain contingent upon the ability of the US and Gulf states to strike a precise and sustainable balance between the requirements of collective security and the preservation of sovereign decision-making autonomy within an international system characterized by accelerating shifts in the balance of power and influence.Dr. Khalid Al-Jaber serves as the Executive Director of the Middle East Council on Global Affairs in Doha. A leading researcher and academic, he is widely recognized for his expertise in international relations, political communication, and the dynamics of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. Source link
Israeli warplanes continued their airstrikes on southern Lebanon today, targeting several towns and areas.The Lebanese National News Agency reported that Israeli aircraft struck several towns in the south, with no casualties reported.Lebanese authorities announced yesterday that the death toll from the Israeli offensive on Lebanon since Mar. 2 has risen to 886 killed and 2,141 injured. Source link
Mourners attend the funeral of Palestinians killed in an overnight Israeli strike, according to medics, at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip,…