PARIS, March 31 — Here are the latest developments in the Middle East war:
Tanker fire in Dubai
An Iranian attack sparked a fire on a Kuwaiti oil tanker at Dubai Port, state media reported today, adding there were no injuries.
“The Kuwaiti giant crude oil tanker was subjected to a direct and malicious Iranian attack while in the anchorage area of Dubai Port in the UAE,” official news agency KUNA reported, citing Kuwait’s state-owned oil company.
Also in Dubai, falling debris from an air defence interception sparked a fire and wounded four people in the city, authorities said.
Netanyahu: Progress on war goals
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the war on Iran had achieved more than half its aims, without putting a timeline on when it would end.
“It’s definitely beyond the halfway point. But I don’t want to put a schedule on it,” Netanyahu told the conservative US broadcaster Newsmax.
Two UN peacekeepers killed
The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) said two personnel were killed yesterday in a blast in the country’s south, after another peacekeeper was killed a day earlier.
Two other blue helmets were injured in the explosion, one severely, the force said, adding that it had opened an investigation.
Drone attack targets US embassy in Baghdad
One civilian was wounded in Iraq’s capital Baghdad late yesterday after shrapnel from an intercepted drone attack targeting the US embassy fell onto their neighbourhood, a police source said.
The attack follows a rocket strike the previous evening that targeted an Iraqi military base inside the Baghdad airport complex, which also houses a support centre for the US embassy.
Iran panel approves Hormuz toll plan
Iranian state media reported that a parliamentary commission had approved plans to impose tolls on vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz, the waterway vital to oil and gas shipments that has been effectively closed due to the Middle East war.
Citing a member of the parliament’s security commission, state TV said the plan involved, among other things, “financial arrangements and rial toll systems” and “implementing the sovereign role of Iran”, as well as cooperation with Oman on the other side of the strait.
G7 ministers pledge action on energy
G7 economy and finance ministers said they stood ready to take “all necessary measures” to ensure the stability of the energy market, roiled by the war.
Nato intercepts Türkiye-bound missile
Nato forces intercepted a new missile fired from Iran towards Türkiye, the fourth since the start of the Middle East war.
None of the four projectiles managed to hit Turkish soil, according to the authorities.
Egypt’s Sisi asks Trump to help stop war
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi urged his US counterpart Donald Trump to help end the war.
“I say to President Trump: no one will be able to stop the war in our region, in the Gulf... Please, help us to stop the war, you are capable of it,” Sisi said in Cairo.
US ‘hopeful’ in private Iran talks
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio voiced hope for working with elements within Iran’s government, saying the United States privately had received positive messages.
Rubio said that there were internal “fractures” inside the Islamic republic and that the United States hoped figures with “power to deliver” take charge.
Israel strikes Iran university
Israel’s military said it had struck the Imam Hossein University in Tehran run by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, claiming the institution was used for advanced weapons research.
Trump threatens Iran oil hub
Trump threatened to destroy Iran’s oil export hub of Kharg Island, oil wells and power plants if it does not agree soon to a deal to end the war.
Trump wrote on his Truth Social network that while the United States was in “serious discussions” with “a more reasonable regime” in Tehran, if an agreement was not forthcoming Washington would set about “completely obliterating all of their Electric Generating Plants, Oil Wells and Kharg Island (and possibly all desalinization plants!)” — AFP