Key events
Shipping helplines ring with alerts from seafarers trapped amid war
Seafarers’ helplines say they are overwhelmed with messages from crews stuck in the Gulf by the Middle East war, desperately seeking repatriation, compensation and onboard supplies.
“Writing to urgently inform you that our vessel is currently facing a critical situation regarding provisions and one crew health conditions,” read an email from one seafarer on 24 March to the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF)’s Seafarer Support team.
“Immediate supply of food, drinking water, basic necessities is required to sustain the crew,” said the message to the team’s helpline.
The ITF said it had received more than 1,000 emails and messages from seafarers stuck around the strait of Hormuz and the wider region since the war erupted with US-Israeli strikes on Iran on 28 February.
Opening summary
Hello and welcome to our live coverage of events in the Middle East as the war enters its second month.
The war only continues to escalate as Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis confirmed a second wave of attacks on Israel since joining the conflict on Saturday. They have vowed to continue strikes in the coming days, posing a threat not just to worsening regional security but also global trade.
In Iran, two powerful explosions shook northern Tehran early on Sunday, an AFP journalist reported. The blasts occurred in the Iranian capital about 7.20am as air defences operated, but it was not yet clear what was targeted.
Meanwhile, the US is reportedly preparing plans for ground operations in Iran. The Trump administration has already deployed US Marines to the Middle East.
Here’s a quick recap of the latest:
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In a televised speech, Houthi military spokesperson, Yahya Saree, said the Iran-backed group had launched a “barrage of cruise missiles and drones” in a second attack on Israel, targeting key military sites. He vowed the Houthis would continue military operations in the coming days until Israel “ceases its attacks and aggression”.
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The entry of the Houthis, poses a direct threat to the Bab al-Mandab strait at the southern end of the Red Sea, a second major choke point in the supply chain of energy supplies and other trade in and out of the Middle East. With Iran’s near total closure of the strait of Hormuz, a shutdown of the Bab al-Mandab, located between Yemen and the Horn of Africa, would amplify the already grave impact of the war on the global economy, and could also reignite a Saudi-Yemen conflict.
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The Pentagon is preparing plans for weeks of ground operations in Iran – potentially including raids on Kharg Island and coastal sites near the strait of Hormuz – though President Donald Trump has not yet approved any deployment, the Washington Post is reporting. Any ground operation would stop short of a full-scale invasion, instead involving raids by special operations forces and conventional infantry troops, the Post said, citing unnamed officials.
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Exiled Iranian Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi has told one of the US’s biggest annual gatherings of conservatives that he is ready to lead a new Iranian government and would call on the country’s citizens to rise up when the “right moment arrives”, AP reports. Pahlavi is the son of the shah, a monarch deposed in 1979 when the Islamic theocracy came to power.
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Iran’s Revolutionary Guard threatened to target US universities in the Middle East after saying US-Israeli strikes had deliberately targeted two Iranian universities. “If the US government wants its universities in the region to be free from retaliation… it must condemn the bombing of the universities in an official statement by 12 noon on Monday, March 30, Tehran time,” said the statement published by Iranian media.
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Pakistan has said it would host a meeting of Middle Eastern powers on Monday in an effort to find a regional approach to ending the conflict. But the talks, which bring together the foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Egypt, did not appear to include any of the warring parties, casting further doubt on persistent US claims of diplomatic progress.
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Israeli attacks killed three journalists in a targeted strike on their car in southern Lebanon, which the Lebanese president condemned as a “blatant war crime”. The strike killed Ali Shoeib, from Hezbollah-owned al-Manar TV, Fatima Ftouni and her brother and cameraman Mohammed Ftouni from pro-Hezbollah outlet al-Mayadeen.
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Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the director general of the World Health Organisation, called for an end to attacks on medical staff after nine paramedics were killed in southern Lebanon on Saturday.
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The Israeli military bombarded Tehran with a “wide-scale wave of strikes”, damaging residential areas, civilian infrastructure, and research and educational buildings. The IDF also said it had hit Iran’s headquarters for naval weaponry.
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Iran has allowed 20 oil tankers from Pakistan to pass through the strait of Hormuz. Ishaq Dar, Pakistan’s deputy prime minister, said two ships would cross per day. The country has been playing a key mediatory role in the conflict.