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Iran closes strait of Hormuz again ‘until US lifts blockade’

Iranian officials say they have reversed the reopening of the strait of Hormuz and reimposed restrictions on the vital shipping lane after the US said it would not end its blockade of Iranian ports. A UK maritime agency reported that Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) ships had fired at a tanker as it attempted to pass through the strait on Saturday. Reuters reported an Indian-flagged vessel carrying crude oil had also been attacked while in the waterway. Iran’s Khatam al-Anbiya joint military command said on Saturday that Tehran had restored the strait to its “previous status” and was now “under strict management and control by the armed forces”. Iran said the restrictions would remain if Washington did not “ensure full freedom of navigation for vessels travelling from Iran to destinations and from destinations to Iran”. This was reiterated by the country’s deputy foreign minister, Saeed Khatibzadeh, and the IRGC’s navy command. Iran’s top negotiator, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, said on Saturday that the recent talks with the US had made progress but gaps remained over nuclear issues and the strait of Hormuz. “We have had progress but there is still a big distance between us,” he told state media, referring to talks last weekend. “There are some issues on which we insist … They also have red lines. But these issues could be just one or two.” President Donald Trump said the US was having “very good conversations” with Tehran but warned against “blackmail” over the key shipping channel. He later praised war ally Israel in a social media post, adding that other allies had “shown their true colours in a moment of conflict and stress”. Neither side offered any specifics about the state of negotiations on Saturday, days before a fragile ceasefire in the US-Israeli war against Iran is set to expire. The war, now in its eighth week, has killed thousands, spread to Israeli attacks in Lebanon and sent oil prices surging because of the closure of the strait, which usually carries a fifth of the world’s oil shipments. Speaking to journalists on the sidelines of a Turkish diplomatic forum in Antalya, Iranian deputy foreign minister Khatibzadeh said the US “cannot impose their will to do a siege over Iran, while Iran, with good intention, is trying to facilitate safe passage through the strait of Hormuz”. In a post on X, the IRGC’s navy command wrote: “As long as the movement of vessels from Iran and to Iran is under threat, the status of the strait of Hormuz will remain as it was previously. Any breach of commitments by the United States will receive an appropriate response.” Iran officially closed the strait on 4 March in response to US-Israeli airstrikes on the country, and declared it back open on Friday after a 10-day ceasefire deal was agreed between Israel and Lebanon, as part of wider negotiations to achieve peace in the region. The UK’s Maritime Trade Operations Centre said it had received a report from a tanker that had been approached and then fired on by “two IRGC gunboats” 20 nautical miles north-east of Oman. The captain said there had been no radio warning beforehand. The agency added that the tanker and crew were reported safe, and authorities were investigating the incident. The announcement of Iran’s U-turn came the day after Donald Trump said the US blockade would “remain in full force” until a permanent peace deal with Tehran was reached. The US president also said that the temporary ceasefire with Iran, brokered by Pakistan and due to expire on Wednesday, may not be extended. US and Iranian delegations are expected to hold a second round of peace talks, although the timing is yet to be confirmed. Agence France-Presse reported that the Egyptian foreign minister said on Saturday there were hopes for a deal “in the coming days”. “We hope to do so [reach an agreement] in the coming days,” Badr Abdelatty said, adding: “Not only us in the region, but the whole world is suffering from the continuation of this war”. Before Iran’s reversal, at least eight oil and gas tankers had passed through the strait in the brief window when it was open early on Saturday, according to maritime tracking data. About 20% of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas passes through the narrow strait, which has become a focal point of the US-Israeli war on Iran. Its closure has driven up energy prices around the world. In Lebanon, the Israeli military said on Sunday that one soldier was killed during combat in the south, adding that nine soldiers were wounded, including one who was severely injured.

‘I was fighting two wars’: Ukraine’s soldiers confront their addiction struggles

Seven years clean, Oleksandr believed he had left addiction behind. Then, a year into fighting Russia, the Ukrainian soldier was prescribed painkillers for a shoulder injury. Under the strain of war, he relapsed and quickly began using stronger illicit opioids. “From that moment, I was fighting two wars – one inside myself and one with Russia,” he said, speaking at a rehabilitation facility in Kyiv. Oleksandr continued to serve for another two years, rising to the rank of officer even as his addiction deepened. “I was hiding my use from the others. It’s the kind of thing you’re ashamed of,” he said. Last winter, he reached a breaking point. Unable to perform his duties, he came clean to his superiors. “Luckily, they were understanding and I was sent to rehabilitation.” Oleksandr relapsed into addiction after treatment for a shoulder injury sustained during fighting. Drug and alcohol abuse have shadowed every modern conflict. In Ukraine’s war, now in its fifth year, the psychological toll on soldiers has been immense – and for some, addiction has followed. “Drug use among troops is a grey area,” said Oleh Olishevskiy, who runs a specialised rehabilitation clinic at Kyiv City Clinical hospital No 10, treating addiction alongside psychological trauma since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion. “Everyone knows it exists, but few want to talk about it.” The scale of the problem is hard to measure. Ukraine’s military does not disclose how many soldiers are dealing with mental health problems, let alone addiction. “I don’t think we’ll ever know the real numbers. No one is keeping track,” Olishevskiy said. He cited a 2024 study by the Ukrainian charity 100% Life of 1,000 soldiers that found more than a third had used amphetamines at least once a month, while one in five reported using prescription drugs such as pregabalin. About 15% reported using cheap synthetic cathinones, known as “salt”, and opioids. At the Kyiv clinic, a drab three-storey building in a leafy part of Kyiv, Olishevskiy and his team treat about 25 patients at a time, with stays of up to four months. The aim, ultimately, is for the soldiers to return to the army. Pine trees near the rehabilitation centre in Kyiv. The Ukrainian flag outside the centre. But those working in the mental health field say the need for addiction-related care among Ukraine’s troops far exceeds available treatment and will persist long after the fighting ends. As in many other countries, substance abuse also remains difficult to discuss openly – particularly for men, and even more so for soldiers. “The war’s scale is unmatched in modern history. And it is not even over; the worst still lies ahead when soldiers return,” Olishevskiy said. Widespread drug use in the Russian army has been well documented in media reports, at the front and in the rear, where soldiers can be punished by deployment to high-risk assault units or forced to sit in pits and cellars for days. In Ukraine, there are efforts to take a different approach. While stigma around drugs remains, attitudes among commanders are shifting, medics say, with more soldiers being sent for treatment. “There is more understanding now, but much still depends on your superiors,” said Petro, one of the clinic’s counsellors, who asked for his last name to be withheld. “It’s getting better,” he added. Some of the rehab staff, including Petro, are former addicts and servicemen themselves. At the core of the clinic’s work is the belief that addiction and war trauma are inseparable. Counsellors say drug use can only be understood alongside the untreated PTSD and psychological wounds that often precede it. Petro, a war veteran, who has been treated at the rehab centre and now works there. Stimulants are sometimes used to stay awake during long stretches of duty. But most patients say their addiction worsened away from the front, when they returned to base after weeks of fighting and struggled to unwind, turning to drugs or alcohol to blunt intrusive memories, manage anxiety or simply get through the night. “I never used it on a mission – you’d get killed quickly. You’re already running on adrenaline anyway,” said Dmytro, a Ukrainian soldier, speaking in the rehab’s cafeteria over a bowl of soup. “When you’re back, you just want to switch off. Forget everything you’ve seen – all the death and other shit.” Dmytro, who was undergoing rehabilitation for an addiction to synthetic stimulants, asked for his name to be changed, fearing Russia could use his addiction against him if he were taken prisoner. Like others, Dmytro said drugs were relatively easy to obtain – ordered through the Ukrainian post service or collected from hidden stashes shared through messaging apps. The drugs left him paranoid. He described strapping grenades to the door of his bedroom in Kramatorsk, an eastern Ukrainian city near the front where troops come to rest, convinced he was about to be ambushed by Russian forces. “I started to lose track of what was real,” Dmytro recalled. A gym room at the rehabilitation facility. Artwork produced by servicemen treated at the centre. The canteen is a place where the soldiers, veterans and civilians being treated can all share a meal. Inside the facility, the daily routine for Dmytro and others is structured, much like in any other rehab centre. Mornings begin with group therapy, followed by individual sessions and physical activity – yoga, light exercise, table tennis. But the war is never far away: drawings by patients on the walls show guns and other scenes of combat. Olishevskiy said he stays in close contact with specialists in western countries, drawing on their latest medical research. This summer, he has planned a retreat for his patients at a farm with horses in Kharkiv. His eyes lit up when talking about promising results for a trial using ketamine to treat PTSD. The rehabilitation centre is based at Kyiv City Clinical hospital No 10. Lunch at the centre. “If trauma isn’t processed and someone copes through drugs or alcohol, within months you can have severe PTSD that becomes much harder to treat,” said Olishevskiy. “Punishing a soldier at the front by docking his pay will not help treat the underlying issue behind drug use,” he added. But Ukraine’s acute manpower shortages create difficult trade-offs for Olishevskiy and his staff. Pressure to fill gaps has led to some patients being sent back to service before fully recovering. Complete recovery is the “ideal scenario”, said Olishevskiy. In practice, however, even reducing drug use to a level where they can function may be considered good enough, he added. Patients and medics also said mobilisation officers often allow prospective soldiers with existing drug use to serve in the army. “It was obvious to everyone, including the doctors, that I was addicted during my enlistment medical,” said Anton, who had been using synthetic drugs for six months before joining the army. He later developed a severe addiction and was sent to hospital after suffering a heart attack. Still, Anton said he wants to get better and return to the frontlines. “This clinic gave me another chance at life. I want to give something back.”

More than 3,400 Iranians killed in war - as it happened

We’re wrapping up this live coverage of Middle East news for the moment but you can see our last full report here, and below is a recap of the latest developments. Thanks for joining us. Iranian officials say they have reversed the reopening of the strait of Hormuz and reimposed restrictions on the vital shipping lane after the US said it would not end its blockade of Iranian ports. TheIslamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) warned in a statement published by semi-official news agency Tasnim News. “Approaching the strait of Hormuz will be considered cooperation with the enemy, and any offending vessel will be targeted,” the IRGC statement said. Donald Trump convened a White House Situation Room meeting on Saturday morning to discuss the renewed crisis around the strait of Hormuz and negotiations with Iran, according to reporting from Axios. A senior US official said that unless there is a breakthrough in peace talks, it appears that the war could reopen within days. After initial talks between the US and Iran last weekend in Pakistan, the Iranian deputy foreign minister, Saeed Khatibzadeh, said a second date cannot be set until both sides “have agreed on the framework”. Iran’s supreme national security council, the country’s highest decision-making body under the supreme leader, said it is reviewing “new proposals” put forward by the US, according to Iranian media. Hezbollah has denied it was involved in the deadly attack against UN peacekeepers in southern Lebanon, which killed a French soldier. A UN peacekeeper was killed and three others were injured after a patrol came under attack from “non-state actors”, the UN Interim Force in Lebanon said. The Israeli military killed two Unicef-contracted truck drivers at a water point in the northern Gaza strip, forcing the UN agency to suspend its operations in the area, Unicef said. Pope Leo XIV said that it is “not in my interest at all” to debate Trump about the Iran war, but that he would continue preaching the Gospel message of peace. Trump left the White House Saturday afternoon to play golf, despite Iran’s re-closure of the strait of Hormuz in response to the US blockade of Iranian ports.

Ukraine war briefing: search for motive after gunman kills six in Kyiv

Authorities in Ukraine are investigating the possible motives behind Saturday’s mass shooting and hostage-taking in Kyiv, which the SBU Security Service said was a “terrorist act”. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Saturday evening after the shooting in which a gunman killed six people: “All available information about [the attacker] and the motives behind his actions is being thoroughly investigated. Every detail must be verified.” The gunman, 58, opened fire on passersby before barricading himself in a supermarket and taking hostages. Detectives sealed off the area in the Holosiivskyi district and tried to negotiate with him. He refused and was killed after a 40-minute standoff. Local media named the perpetrator as Dmytro Vasylchenkov, a Ukrainian citizen who was born in Moscow. He had previously lived in the Russian city of Ryazan and was a longtime resident of Bakhmut in the eastern Donetsk region. He had a criminal record, Zelenskyy said. One of the wounded was a 12-year-old boy whose parents were also killed, said Prosecutor Gen Ruslan Kravchenko. Shootings of this nature are extremely rare in Ukraine, whose cities face regular Russian airstrikes. A woman who identified herself as Hanna said the suspect was a neighbour who steered clear of other residents. “He didn’t want to communicate with anyone,” she said. “When I sat outside on the street – he knew me by my face – he would greet me briefly and hurry off to run his errands. He wasn’t close with his neighbours or anyone else.” Lesia Rybzha, 45, said: “I was shocked when I saw photographs of the people who had been killed … I still can’t understand why, on top of [Russians] killing us with airstrikes, people are being killed on the streets as well.” The Kremlin is grappling with the fallout from the viral spread of a celebrity blogger’s criticism of Russian authorities, as Vladimir Putin’s approval ratings register their sixth consecutive weekly decline. Victoria Bonya, a household name in Russia who rose to fame in 2006 on Dom-2, the country’s answer to the reality TV show Big Brother, posted a video on Monday warning the Russian president that a string of mounting problems risked spiralling out of control. “The people are afraid of you, artists are afraid, governors are afraid,” she said, in the 18-minute video on Instagram, which has garnered 26m views and more than 1.3m likes in the past four days. The influencer’s comments notably stopped short of directly targeting Putin himself or the war in Ukraine, prompting speculation that the intervention may have been coordinated with Moscow to signal that public grievances are being heard before parliamentary elections later this year.

Investigators examine whether Ukraine terrorist attack was directed by Russia

Ukrainian investigators are examining whether a terrorist attack in Kyiv was directed by Moscow after a man shot dead six people on Saturday before he was killed by police. The gunman, 58, opened fire on passersby before barricading himself in a supermarket and taking hostages. Detectives sealed off the area in the Holosiivskyi district and tried to negotiate with him. He refused and was killed after a 40-minute standoff. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, speaking in his nightly video address, said police and the security services were trying to establish a motive for the “tragic” attack. About 14 people were injured, including a 12-year-old boy, he said. “He took hostages and unfortunately, killed one of them,” Zelenskyy added. “He shot dead four more people right on the street, and one woman passed away in hospital after being seriously wounded. My condolences to the families and loved ones of the victims.” Local media named the perpetrator as Dmytro Vasylchenkov, a Ukrainian citizen who was born in Moscow. He had previously lived in the Russian city of Ryazan and was a longtime resident of Bakhmut in the eastern Donetsk region. He had a criminal record, Zelenskyy said. According to a leaked Russian database, Vasylchenkov had multiple Russian bank accounts until at least 2021 and a Russian phone number. He travelled several times to Russia in 2016. Reports said he posted anti-Ukrainian and antisemitic content on social media and denied Ukraine’s right to exist as a country. He also fantasised about “cleansing” society using Hitler’s methods and regretted that Russia’s capture of Bakhmut in 2023 did not happen sooner. It is unclear what, if any, contact he may have had with Russia. Kremlin operatives have recruited more than 800 Ukrainians over the past two years, many of them teenagers, to carry out attacks on critical infrastructure and draft offices. The goal, officials say, is to spread uncertainty, fear and distrust. Shootings of this nature are extremely rare in Ukraine. Tymofii Solovei, a paramedic at the scene, said: “Either he is insane or this is a Russian terrorist attack. We don’t know how long he was preparing this. He may have been communicating with someone from Russia.” Before setting off on his killing spree, Vasylchenkov set fire to his fifth-floor home. Thick smoke billowed from the apartment’s window. He then emerged on to the street, shooting people at random, and headed towards a busy boulevard and shopping mall. By Saturday evening police had sealed off the area. Two bodies lay next to the entrance of the gunman’s building, wrapped in silver foil. Toys lay abandoned in a nearby playground. Video showed the gunman executing one person, then jogging calmly down a road. Tymofii Sergiichuk, a student, said: “This shocked me. We have pretty good security in Kyiv and there’s been nothing like this since the beginning of the war.” He added: “Right now people are already uneasy. This has scared them more.” Speaking outside the Velmart supermarket, Ihor Klymenko, Ukraine’s interior minister, said the suspect was the legal owner of a semi-automatic weapon. He shot “chaotically” at everybody he encountered, firing single rounds from his carbine. Officers tried without success to negotiate with him. The minister added: “We tried to persuade him. Realising that there was likely an injured person inside, we offered to bring in tourniquets to stop the bleeding and so on. But he didn’t respond. That’s why the order was given to eliminate him. Especially after he killed one of the hostages.” Klymenko declined to give a reason for the attack. “Investigators are currently working on it,” he said. “They are establishing the facts.” Ruslan Kravchenko, the prosecutor general, said the incident was being treated as a terrorist offence. He posted a photo showing a blurred prone figure covered in blood inside a store and a weapon lying nearby. Additional reporting Pjotr Sauer

French man, 86, issues historic apology for family’s role in transatlantic slavery

An 86-year-old man has issued what is believed to be the first formal apology by someone in France for their family’s role in transatlantic slavery. Pierre Guillon de Prince’s ancestors were shipowners based in Nantes, the country’s largest port for transatlantic slavery. They transported about 4,500 enslaved Africans and owned plantations in the Caribbean. Guillon de Prince said on Saturday that other French families must confront their historical allegiances to slavery and the state should go beyond symbolic gestures to address the past, including through reparations. He said: “Faced with the rise of racism in our society, I felt a responsibility not to let this past be erased.” Guillon de Prince made the apology at a gathering in Nantes before the inauguration of an 18-metre replica ship mast, alongside Dieudonné Boutrin, a descendant of enslaved people from the Caribbean island of Martinique. The two work together at the Coque Nomade Fraternité, an association dedicated to “breaking the silence” around slavery, and said the mast would serve as a “beacon of humanity”. Boutrin, 61, said: “Many families of descendants of slave traders don’t dare speak out for fear of reopening old wounds and anger. Pierre’s apology is a courageous act.” From the 15th to the 19th century, at least 12.5 million Africans were abducted and forcibly transported, mostly on European ships. France trafficked an estimated 1.3 million people. France recognised transatlantic slavery as a crime against humanity in 2001 but, like most European countries, has never formally apologised for its role. During his terms in office, President Emmanuel Macron has expanded access to archives on France’s colonial past. Last year he said he would establish a commission to examine France’s history with Haiti without mentioning reparations. France abstained at the UN in March from a resolution proposed by Ghana declaring slavery the “gravest crime against humanity” and calling for reparations. Lloyd’s Register, the maritime and industrial group owned by one of Britain’s largest charities, apologised in 2025 for its role in the trafficking of enslaved African people. The company said: “We are deeply sorry for this part of our history. Acknowledging this legacy is important for our organisation, the descendants of those affected and those who still live with the consequences of this trafficking, and society as a whole.” Lloyd’s Register is unaffiliated to the insurer Lloyd’s of London, which apologised for its role in enslavement in 2020. The same year, the Bank of England apologised for the involvement of some of its former governors and directors in the slave trade and pledged to remove all statues and paintings of them from public display in its headquarters in London. At least 25 governors and directors from the 18th and 19th centuries were or had been owners of enslaved people, or were linked to slave trading, according to a database compiled by University College London’s Legacies of British Slave Ownership project. A Bank of England spokesperson told the Guardian at the time: “There can be no doubt that the 18th- and 19th-century slave trade was an unacceptable part of English history. “As an institution, the Bank of England was never itself directly involved in the slave trade, but is aware of some inexcusable connections involving former governors and directors and apologises for them.” The slave trade was abolished in 1807 across the British Empire, but the ownership of enslaved people was not outlawed until 1833. The British government paid £20m in compensation to the former owners of enslaved people, a vast sum of borrowed money at the time that was only repaid in 2015.

Pope Leo says he was not ‘trying to debate’ Trump over US attack on Iran

Pope Leo XIV said on Saturday that it was “not in my interest at all” to debate the US president, Donald Trump, about the Iran war, but that he would continue preaching the Gospel message of peace. Leo spoke to reporters aboard the papal plane flying from Cameroon to Angola as part of his 11-day tour of Africa. He addressed the spiraling back-and-forth saga of Trump’s critiques of his peace message, which have dominated news headlines this week. But the American pope also sought to set the record straight, insisting that his preaching isn’t directed at Trump, but reflects the broader Gospel message of peace. “There’s been a certain narrative that has not been accurate in all of its aspects, but because of the political situation created when, on the first day of the trip, the president of the United States made some comments about myself,” he said, according to an official Vatican news agency. “Much of what has been written since then has been more commentary on commentary, trying to interpret what has been said,” the pontiff added. Trump launched the criticism on his social media platform on Sunday, when he criticized Leo’s preaching about peace as the war, which took to be criticism of the joint US.-Israeli attack on Iran, which killed civilians, including children, and was followed by Iran’s retaliation.. Trump accused Leo of being “weak on crime”, possibly because of the pope’s previous criticism of the president’s crackdown on undocumented immigrants on the false premise that they are mostly criminals, and claimed that the first American pontiff owed his election to Trump. Later in the week, the president justified his attacks on the Catholic leader by claiming, falsely, “the pope made a statement, he says: ‘Iran can have a nuclear weapon’”. The pope has, in fact, spoken out against what he called “the profound horrors wrought by nuclear weapons”. Despite Trump’s effort to justify his attack on Iran as necessary to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon, there is also no evidence that Iran has had an active nuclear weapons program since 2003, when it was suspended by a decree from the country’s supreme leader. Trump’s intelligence director, Tulsi Gabbard, testified to Congress last year that the US intelligence agencies “assess that Iran is not building a nuclear weapon”. Iran has repeatedly asserted its right, under the nuclear non-proliferation treaty, to enrich uranium for peaceful, civilian purposes, including energy production. Leo has issued consistent calls for peace and dialogue, and has denounced the use of religious justification for war. Specifically, he called Trump’s threat to annihilate Iranian civilization “truly unacceptable”. The Vatican has stressed that when Leo preaches about peace, he is referring to all wars ravaging the planet, not just the Iran conflict. The Russian Orthodox church, for example, has justified Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine as a “holy war”. Trump’s attacks on the pope have divided his Christian followers, with some expressing their disgust but others defending the president and claiming the Catholic church lost its moral authority when it turned a blind eye to sexual predator priests. Sean Hannity, the Fox News host and staunch Trump defender, even told viewers this week: “As of today, I no longer consider myself a Catholic,” citing “institutionalized corruption” and “scandals” that went, he said, “all the way to Rome”. Speaking to reporters on Saturday, Leo referred specifically to his remarks earlier this week at a peace meeting in Bamenda, Cameroon. The city is the epicenter of a separatist conflict that has been raging in the western, Anglophone region of the country for nearly a decade. Leo also said that his remarks on Thursday, in which he condemned the “handful of tyrants” who were ravaging Earth with war and exploitation, were written “two weeks ago, well before the person had ever commented on me and on the message of peace that I am promoting. And yet as it happens, it was viewed as if I was trying to debate again with the president, which is not in my interest at all.” The Associated Press contributed reporting