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Middle East crisis live: ‘Go get your own oil,’ Trump tells allies in angry outburst

Canada’s prime minister Mark Carney on Tuesday denounced Israel’s deployment of troops against Hezbollah targets in Lebanon as an “illegal invasion” that violates its “integrity and sovereignty.” “The government of Lebanon has banned Hezbollah, is taking action, is trying to take action against Hezbollah and their terrorist activities and their threats to Israel, and that is the purported justification for this invasion,” Carney told journalists at an event in Wakefield, Quebec. “So we condemn it,” he said.

UK sends more troops to Gulf amid Donald Trump jibes over British military involvement

The UK is sending more military support to the Gulf taking the total deployment to 1,000 troops, amid more jibes from Donald Trump about Britain’s refusal to get involved in offensive operations against Iran. Speaking from Qatar where he met UK troops, the defence secretary, John Healey, said the extra deployment was in response to an “expanding threat” from Iran. He confirmed that the UK will send more Typhoon jets to Qatar, as well as the Sky Sabre anti drone and missile system to Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Kuwait. Healey said: “What’s struck me being here over the last couple of days is how clear it is in the Middle East that Iran is expanding its attacks, which I totally condemn as it’s continuing to menace the region.” Healy would not be drawn on how many extra troops were being deployed, but he said “across the Middle East now a thousand British troops” are involved in reinforcing UK bases and those of its Gulf allies. Earlier Donald Trump lashed out at the UK for refusing to “get involved in the decapitation of Iran”. Writing on his Truth Social platform he said of the UK and other allies: “You’ll have to start learning how to fight for yourself, the USA won’t be there to help you any more, just like you weren’t there for us.” Asked about Trump’s comments, Healey said: “We won’t get drawn into the wider war. Throughout this conflict, we’ve been consistently taking decisions in Britain’s interests because we need to defend our people, and we want to defend allies in the region.” He added that Gulf leaders will “judge us by our actions and not our words. We continue to do with the US, defensive operations in the Middle East.” Asked about his claim that Iran was expanding its attacks, Healey said Iranian drones and missiles were now threatening universities, steel works and aluminium plants in the Gulf. Healey revealed that during his tour of the Middle East he has discussed options for trying to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. He said: “I will have met in 36 hours two kings, two prime ministers, and three defence secretaries in all the discussions the concern and the challenge of the Strait of Hormuz has come up.” He added there was “a determination that Iran cannot be allowed to hold the Strait of Hormuz hostage and blackmail the world by stopping shipping in the way that it’s doing”. Healey said talks with Gulf leaders had “focused on what options can be developed to secure safe shipping”. He added there was a “recognition that it cannot just be military and that it must involve the widest possible range of nations alongside the US”. Healey said the extra deployment to the Gulf were for only for defensive operation to protect British interests and did not mean the UK was getting drawn into the wider conflict with Iran. Healey, who met officials in Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Bahrain during his visit. said: “My message to Gulf partners is: Britain’s best will help you defend your skies.” The Ministry of Defence said the Sky Sabre system and a team of operators from the Royal Artillery will move to Saudi Arabia this week. The defensive system, composed of radars, control node, and missile launchers, can intercept munitions and aircraft. It will be integrated into broader Saudi and regional air defences, according to the MoD. The RAF’s joint Typhoon squadron with Qatar was deployed to the Gulf in January amid rising tensions in the region. After US and Israeli strikes on Iran prompted retaliatory strikes in the Gulf, Keir Starmer announced the deployment of four more fighter jets to Qatar,

Tusk and Irish PM call Hungarian foreign minister’s alleged links to Russia ‘repulsive’ and ‘sinister’ – Europe live

But the Slovak prime minister, Robert Fico, was much less critical of Hungary, stressing to reporters that any decision to remove someone from the sanctions list requires a unanimous agreement of all member states. He sidestepped the question on the tone of the alleged conversation between Hungary’s foreign minister Péter Szijjártó and his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov, focusing on what he sees as a broader issue with the accuracy of the sanctions list. He recalled that a Slovak citizen, Jozef Hambálek, was briefly listed too, and “being on that list completely destroyed his life,” even though “it was blindingly obvious there was no reason for him to be on that list.” The EU originally said that he was “the president of the Europe chapter of the nationalist motorcycle club Nightwolves MC based in Slovakia,” alleging his close links to Vladimir Putin and that “his ongoing activities, which allegedly include training Nightwolves members for active combat in Ukraine on his properties and actively promoting pro-Russian propaganda in Europe can be deemed as a security threat for Ukraine and the EU.” He was later removed from the list in 2024. Fico said that because Slovakia “was the first to raise this issue and speak about the so-called 'weak legal cases’, others started reaching out to us,” and he received representations from Turkey and other “presidents in Central Asia.” He continued: “It must be stated very clearly: to remove someone from the sanctions list, you need the agreement of all 27 EU member states. Therefore, you cannot accuse anyone of being a Russian agent. If you do, you would have to accuse all 27 member states of being Russian agents for agreeing to a decision – such as the one in the past regarding the sister of the well-known businessman Usmanov [reportedly discussed between Hungary and Russia]. … So, the explanation for the whole story is simple: all 27 member states must agree. It is impossible to accuse anyone here of ‘doing favors’ or overstepping.”

Israel vows to occupy large parts of southern Lebanon to expand buffer zone

Israel said on Tuesday that it will occupy wide swathes of south Lebanon and destroy the homes along the border to prevent the return of some 600,000 residents, prompting concerns of long-term forced displacement. Israel’s defence minister, Israel Katz, said that it will occupy the area under the Litani River, some 19 miles from the Israel-Lebanon border, as part of its so-called buffer zone inside southern Lebanon when fighting with Hezbollah ends. “At the end of the operation, the IDF would control the area up to the Litani River, including the remaining Litani bridges, while eliminating Radwan forces that infiltrated the area and destroying all weapons there,” Katz said, referring to the elite unit of the pro-Iran Hezbollah group. He added that all homes near the villages would be destroyed “in accordance with the Rafah and Beit Hanoun model in Gaza.” The Israeli military razed most homes and public infrastructure in both neighbourhoods of Gaza, reducing them to rubble. Human Rights Watch has said that similar statements by Katz in the past week could amount to forced displacement and wanton destruction, which are both war crimes. In an interview on Sunday with LBCI, Israeli military spokesperson Maj Doron Spielman said that “every home in southern Lebanon, the Shiite homes, are command centers”. Israel launched a military campaign in Lebanon shortly after Hezbollah launched rockets at Israel on 2 March to avenge the killing of Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Israeli jets have bombed what it says are Hezbollah targets across the country while its troops conduct a ground invasion some 18 miles south of the Litani River. The immediate goal of Israel’s invasion is to push Hezbollah back from the border with Israel in order to stop the ability of the group to fire rockets into communities in northern Israel. On Sunday, Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said that he has instructed the military to expand the so-called buffer zone within Lebanon, though he did not specify how far. Most of Hezbollah’s rocket fire into Israel has originated from north of the Litani River and it has large weapons caches in the vast Bekaa valley. Israeli troops have advanced quickly through southern Lebanon, reaching the town of Bayada on Sunday, just 8km from the city of Tyre. During the previous war in 2024, Israeli troops did not reach Bayada until two days before the end of fighting. Israeli troops area also advancing closer to towns in the Nabatieh district, whose capture would give the Israeli military a high ground to control the Litani area. Israel also carried out a wave of airstrikes on the southern suburbs of Beirut on Tuesday. The Lebanese army withdrew from its positions in the Christian-majority towns of Rmeish and Ain Ebl on Tuesday as Israeli troops advanced, over the protests of residents. Despite being close to the Lebanese-Israeli border, the towns had previously been mostly spared from Israeli strikes. The Lebanese army had until now remained in those villages, organising convoys to get food and other supplies and facilitate the evacuation of residents that want to leave. Ten Israeli soldiers have been killed by Hezbollah in southern Lebanon, while two civilians in northern Israel were killed by Hezbollah rocket fire. At least 1,268 people have been killed in Lebanon by Israel, according to Lebanon’s ministry of health. Three peacekeepers in the Lebanese UN mission were killed on Sunday and Monday in separate incidents as fighting intensified. On Sunday, two Indonesian peacekeepers near Aadshit al-Qusayr in south Lebanon were severely injured in an explosion near their base, with one later dying of his injuries. On Monday, an explosion near a vehicle in Bani Hayyan killed two more Indonesian peacekeepers. UNIFIL said it was investigating the attacks to determine what happened, and it did not say whether it was Israel or Hezbollah who was responsible for the attacks. The Israeli military also said it was investigating. UN under-secretary-general for peace operations, Jean-Pierre Lacroix, condemned what he called “unacceptable incidents,” and said that “all acts that endanger the peacekeepers must stop”. The EU also condemned the attacks and the UN security council was set to hold an emergency session on Tuesday at the request of France over the matter. In the 13-month-war, which ended in 2024, UNIFIL peacekeepers were targeted several times by the Israeli military and its bases were also struck by Hezbollah rocket fire. More than one million people have been displaced by Israel’s invasion of Lebanon, over 80% of whom are outside of state shelters. Medical facilities and public infrastructure such as bridges, water treatment stations and power stations have been damaged and destroyed by Israeli attacks in south Lebanon. If the south is permanently occupied and residents prevented from returning, analysts have warned of a looming social and political disaster in Lebanon, where most of the population lived in poverty even prior to the beginning of the current war.

The world cannot allow Gaza’s horrors to be replayed in Lebanon | Letter

Your editorial on Israel’s military escalation in Lebanon (25 March) rightly warns against a repeat of the devastating tactics unleashed on Palestinians in Gaza. My colleagues in Lebanon are reporting the fear instilled by mass forced-displacement orders and military attacks, including on healthcare workers. Our team and partner organisations have been supporting Palestinian refugees who have had to flee their homes, while others have not been able to evacuate even if they wish to. This has instilled deepening panic within communities, including Palestinian refugees who already live in overcrowded camps, and experience poverty and limited access to essential services. In Lebanon, the Israeli military is absolutely mirroring the playbook it has deployed in Gaza: the terrorising of civilians, forced displacement and widespread attacks on humanitarian and healthcare facilities. Despite the “ceasefire agreement” in Gaza, Israeli military attacks have killed more than 690 Palestinians since October in the strip, and aid restrictions are causing deadly shortages of medical supplies and equipment. In the West Bank, Palestinians face spiralling settler violence and the Israeli government’s escalating annexation policy – which is now expanding to Lebanon. Impunity for Israel’s military aggression against civilians and healthcare services means that we at Medical Aid for Palestinians are gravely concerned for the safety of the people we serve and of our staff in Gaza, the occupied West Bank and Lebanon. The UK government cannot pick and choose when to uphold international law or whose lives are worth protecting. It must do everything in its power to hold all perpetrators of breaches accountable. Failure to act now will have devastating human consequences. The world cannot allow Gaza’s horrors to be replayed in Lebanon; nor should our government be an ally to Israel’s atrocities. Steve Cutts CEO, Medical Aid for Palestinians • Have an opinion on anything you’ve read in the Guardian today? Please email us your letter and it will be considered for publication in our letters section.

‘Discriminatory’ Israeli death penalty law sparks international criticism

A vote in the Israeli Knesset approving a bill sanctioning the execution of Palestinians convicted on terror charges for deadly attacks, but not Jewish extremists accused of similar crimes, has been greeted with widespread international condemnation. “The death penalty bill in Israel is very concerning to us in the EU,” the EU spokesperson Anouar El Anouni said in Brussels. “This is a clear step backwards – the introduction of the death penalty, together with the discriminatory nature of the law. The Spanish prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, described the bill as “a step closer to apartheid”, joining rights groups and politicians in expressing his concern. “It is an asymmetric measure that would not apply to Israelis who committed the same crimes. Same crime, different punishment. That is not justice. It is a step closer to apartheid,” Sánchez wrote on X. Germany, traditionally one of Israel’s closest allies in Europe said it could not endorse the new law. “The German government views the law passed yesterday with great concern,” the government spokesperson Stefan Kornelius said in a statement. “The rejection of the death penalty is a fundamental principle of German policy,” Kornelius said, adding: “Such a law would likely apply exclusively to Palestinians in the Palestinian territories.” The legislation makes the death penalty the default punishment for Palestinians in the Israeli-occupied West Bank found guilty of intentionally carrying out deadly attacks deemed acts of terrorism by a military court. According to the bill, those sentenced to death will be held in a separate facility with no visits except from authorised personnel, with legal consultations conducted only by video link. Executions will be carried out within 90 days of sentencing. Israel has rarely used the death penalty, applying it only in exceptional cases. The Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann was the last person to be executed, in 1962. The national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, one of the bill’s strongest backers, has repeatedly worn a noose-shaped lapel pin, symbolising executions under the proposal. A security committee made some amendments to the bill, which last week passed its first vote. Israel’s public broadcaster KAN reported that executions would be carried out by hanging. The measure will allow courts to impose the death penalty without a request from prosecutors and without requiring unanimity, instead permitting a simple majority decision. Military courts in the occupied West Bank will also be empowered to hand down death sentences, with the defence minister able to submit an opinion. Adam Coogle, the deputy Middle East director at Human Rights Watch, said: “Israeli officials argue that the imposing the death penalty is about security, but in reality it entrenches discrimination and a two-tiered system of justice, both hallmarks of apartheid. “The death penalty is irreversible and cruel. Combined with its severe restrictions on appeals and its 90-day execution timeline, this bill aims to kill Palestinian detainees faster and with less scrutiny.” Shaista Aziz, Oxfam’s campaign engagement lead, said: “This bill is another horrifying act of violence. Israel is violating international law. This new law effectively ensures that the death penalty in Israel will apply only to Palestinians, even as the illegal Israeli occupation has lately seen a surge in the coordinated attacks and executions of Palestinians by settler militias and military. “Israel holds more than 9,000 Palestinians in its jails – many unlawfully and subject to inhumane conditions, starvation and torture as state policy.” In Israel, the new law is already facing legal challenges. Several Israeli human rights groups and three members of parliament filed petitions to the supreme court seeking to overturn it. The Association for Civil Rights in Israel said the law created “two parallel tracks, both designed to apply to Palestinians” and should be struck down on constitutional grounds.

Pakistan and China propose five-part peace plan for Middle East

Pakistan and China have released a joint five-part proposal for peace in the Middle East, after Pakistan’s foreign minister flew to Beijing on Tuesday to seek Chinese support for the country’s faltering efforts to negotiate an end to end the war. The one-day meeting between Ishaq Dar and his Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi, came as Pakistan continues to push for the role of peacemaker between the United States and Iran, even as the war shows little sign of relenting. According to a statement from China’s foreign ministry, the trip was intended to “strengthen” cooperation between China and Pakistan on the ongoing conflict in Iran and “make new efforts toward advocating for peace”. So far, China has maintained a meticulous distance from the ongoing conflict in the Middle East and the Gulf, though it has ties with the regime in Tehran and is the largest buyer of Iranian oil. While Beijing condemned the initial US and Israeli strikes on Iran, it has since held a position largely of neutrality and focused its efforts on calling for a ceasefire, while negotiating directly with Tehran for the safe passage of its own oil tankers through the strait of Hormuz. In a statement after Tuesday’s meeting, Pakistan and China jointly called for an immediate ceasefire and for the safety of waterways, including the blockaded strait, to be protected, and released a five-part initiative for peace. The joint statement agreed that dialogue and diplomacy were “the only viable option to resolve conflicts” but there appeared to be little substantive progress in bringing the significant participants to the table to end the war. This week Trump claimed that negotiations with Iran were going “extremely well” while Tehran has maintained there are no direct talks happening at all. In recent weeks, Pakistan has put itself at the centre of efforts to bring about a ceasefire to end the war with Iran and has been pushing for Islamabad as the location for peace talks. Playing on its relationships with both sides, Pakistan’s prime minister, Shehbaz Sharif, and army chief, Syed Asim Munir, have been communicating with the US president, Donald Trump, and the Iranian president, Masoud Pezeshkian, as well as dozens of other global leaders, and messages between the two warring countries have passed through Pakistani intermediaries. On Sunday, Islamabad hosted talks with the foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Egypt, in an effort to find a regional solution to ending the conflict, yet the absence of the US and Iran from the negotiations was seen to undermine their diplomatic heft. Analysts said Pakistan’s fervent embrace of the role of interlocutor between Iran and the US came after years of Islamabad being sidelined by Washington under previous presidents and a push by the government and Munir for the country to be seen as a regional diplomatic heavyweight. Rafiullah Kakar, a Pakistani columnist and political analyst, said: “Islamabad seeks to reinforce its standing as a consequential middle power within the broader Muslim world and to signal continued geopolitical importance to external partners, particularly Washington and the Gulf states.” Yet as analysts and political figures have emphasised, Pakistan also has its own significant stakes in ending the conflict, and has already been paying a heavy economic price for the blockade on fuel and gas through the strait of Hormuz. Pakistan shares a 560-mile (900km) land border with Iran, and there are fears that the conflict could spill over into the restive region of Balochistan, which is already battling a violent insurgency. It is also home to the world’s largest population of Shia Muslims outside Iran and there are fears the conflict could stir up sectarian tensions if it continues to drag on. Dozens were already killed in protests that broke out when the US and Israel began bombing Tehran. The country also has a freshly signed defence pact with Saudi Arabia, which could threaten to drag a reluctant Islamabad into the war if countries in the Gulf decide to shift to an offensive tack and fight back against Iran’s missile and drone strikes. Kakar said Pakistan’s strong interest in de-escalating the conflict in Iran reflected both geopolitical and domestic concerns, with fears it could further undermine the country’s already highly unstable security situation. “Pakistan remains economically dependent on the Gulf monarchies, particularly Saudi Arabia, and seeks to preserve stable relations with the United States – yet it also shares a long and sensitive border with Iran,” he said. “Serious instability in Iran would have direct implications for Pakistan’s security. Escalation risks placing Islamabad in a very difficult position.”

‘There’s no safe place here’: Kuwaiti tanker hit by Iranian drone attack in Dubai port

When Iran attacked a fully loaded crude oil tanker anchored at Dubai port on Monday night, damaging the vessel’s hull, hundreds of seafarers stranded on tankers anchored nearby were close enough to watch as the vessel burned. Thousands more were able to listen to radio messages sent from the tanker to port authorities, as the latest strike on a merchant vessel during the US-Israel war on Iran reignited fears for the civilian maritime workers trapped in a war zone. The Guardian spoke to a crew member on one of the oil tankers anchored a few miles from the blaze. “Our officers on the bridge saw the explosion happen at around midnight,” the seafarer said. “When I came on to the bridge hours later, the fire was still ongoing. It’s terrible even to imagine what that crew must have gone through.” Dubai authorities confirmed that the drone attack on the Al Salmi tanker, which is owned by Kuwait’s state oil company, caused a fire onboard that was extinguished early on Tuesday, hours after the attack was first reported. Maritime firefighting teams put out the blaze and were continuing to assess the situation, the authorities added. They said there was no oil leak and no injuries had been reported. All 24 crew members were safe, the authorities said. “We could hear the officers on the radios when they were hit; extremely professional and calm,” the seafarer said. “The ship was in contact with the UAE coastguard, but by the time the tug arrived they had largely contained the fire themselves. It lasted around three hours.” In the hours since the blaze, dozens of tankers have chosen to leave the area to avoid any further attacks by Iran on vessels owned and operated by its Gulf neighbours. “There are more Kuwaiti oil tankers around here, with crews that are definitely not involved in this. If I’m feeling scared right now, I can’t imagine how they must be feeling,” the seafarer said. “We’ve picked up anchor and moved further away. Most ships around that area have now left. But there’s no safe place here, not really. Around us, I see dozens of other loaded tankers. I really don’t know how this is going to be resolved.” The attack came hours after Donald Trump warned that the US would obliterate Iran’s energy plants and oil wells if it did not open the strait of Hormuz. The month-long conflict has spread across the Middle East, killing thousands, disrupting energy supplies and threatening to send the global economy into a tailspin. Crude oil prices briefly spiked after Kuwait’s state news agency reported the attack on the tanker, which can carry about 2m barrels of oil, worth more than $200m at current prices. After a brief retreat, the market surged to the highest level since the crisis began, after Trump reportedly told aides he was willing to end the war even if the strait of Hormuz remained closed and that military options were “not his immediate priority”. The US president said on Tuesday that countries that had stopped short of supporting the US-Israeli military campaign should either buy their energy from the US or seize control of the strait of Hormuz themselves. “You’ll have to start learning how to fight for yourself, the USA won’t be there to help you anymore, just like you weren’t there for us,” he said in a post on Truth Social. “The hard part is done. Go get your own oil!” Brent crude prices surged above $118 a barrel on Tuesday and are on course for a 59% surge in March, the largest monthly gain on record. The jump in oil and fuel prices has started to weigh on US household finances and become a political headache for Trump and his Republican party before the November midterm elections, since they have vowed to lower energy prices and ramp up US oil and gas production. The Salmi’s destination was listed as Qingdao, China, according to reports. The seafarer said the crew had yet to hear from the owner of their tanker after the latest attack on a civilian vessel. “There have been no messages at all [from our employer] about this latest incident or about any plans for the crew to be changed or evacuated,” they said. Reuters contributed to this report