News

Trump waives U.S. shipping law for 60 days to steady oil market  CNBC

Who is winning so far? How Iran is turning Donald Trump’s war into an 'epic failure'  The Times of India

US drivers see gas prices jump to their highest level since 2023 as the Iran war drags on  AP News

Iran’s Intelligence Minister Killed in an Airstrike  The New York Times

Both sides in Iran war ratchet up attacks on energy facilities, as oil prices surge  Baltimore Sun

MOSCOW, March 18 (Reuters) - Russia on Wednesday condemned a strike near Iran's Bushehr nuclear power plant a day earlier which it said was just metres away from its reactor and called on the United States and Israel to stop attacking the Islamic Republic's nuclear facilities. Maria Zakharova, a spokeswoman for the foreign ministry, made the comments at a news briefing. "We strongly condemn the irresponsible and utterly unacceptable missile strike on the inner perimeter of the Bushehr nuclear power plant, just a few metres from an operational reactor," Zakharova said.

March 18 (Reuters) - The site in Kabul hit by a Pakistani airstrike this week was used for storing drones and military grade ordnance, and to train suicide bombers, the Pakistani military said on Wednesday. The Afghan Taliban government had said the strike targeted a rehab centre and killed more than 400 people. (Reporting by Saad Sayeed, writing by Sakshi Dayal; Editing by YP Rajesh)

The Treasury Department is easing sanctions on Venezuela’s state oil company, with some limits

Who blinks first: What Iran’s Strait of Hormuz strategy reveals about its war goals  Euronews.com

The line of cars stretched as far as the eye could see along the coast of southern Lebanon, as residents of areas bombarded in the Israel-Hezbollah war poured into the ancient city of Sidon in search of safety. At war with Iran-backed Hezbollah, Israel has called on everyone living south of the Zahrani River to evacuate immediately. It is an area comprising 14 percent of Lebanon's territory, and is highlighted in red in the maps posted by the Israeli military.

Israeli gas strike 'carried out with US support and approval' A senior Israeli official said that the attacks on the largest natural gas site in Iran was carried out in with US approval and coordination, according to Israeli journalist Barak Ravid. On his Truth Social platform, US President Donald Trump posted after the strike: "Remember, for all of those absolute 'fools' out there, Iran is considered, by everyone, to be the NUMBER ONE STATE SPONSOR OF TERROR. We are rapidly putting them out of business!" Oil prices have leapt to more than $108 a barrel following the strike - a rise of 5 percent since Tuesday, and nearly 6 percent in the UK. Fire teams are controlling the blaze on the facility and so far no casualties have been reported, according to Fars.

Red Sea fix? China-bound oil tankers tap Saudi plan to dodge Strait of Hormuz  South China Morning Post

Spain's Sanchez tells Ukraine's Zelenskiy that Iran war will not derail support  Reuters

the war with Iran has a very different meaning for Israel and the US

Iran continues exporting millions of barrels of oil as around 90 ships cross the Strait of Hormuz despite the war  PBS

WA gas price hits $5 a gallon amid Iran war  The Seattle Times

Iran says it will "set fire" to ships trying to sail through the world's most vital oil transit point.

TEHRAN, Mar. 18 (MNA) – The Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement, Hamas, has expressed its condolences on the martyrdom of Secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) Ali Larijani.

'We are crazy radicals': Israel's anti-war protesters struggle against ruling consensus Jared Hillel on Wed, 03/18/2026 - 12:21 Israel's political and media class back the war on Iran, with the public following suit Protesters hold placards during a Stop The War demonstration, amid the US-Israel war on Iran, in central Tel Aviv, Israel, 7 March 2026 (Dylan Martinez/Reuters) Off On Saturday night, as the war on Iran entered its third week, a small group of Israelis assembled in central Jerusalem.  “One, two, three four, we don’t want your fucking war,” chanted protesters, some dressed in orange jumpsuits and donning masks bearing the face of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.  Earlier that day, a protest with similar aims had been held in Tel Aviv. Neither demonstration gathered more than a hundred people.  One of the protesters was Lawrence Shenkin, a 23-year-old Orthodox Jew. “My God does not want the state, that claims to be in his name, to be waging wars and consistently killing thousands of people,” he told Middle East Eye.  Despite a civilian death toll that continues to mount, both domestically and across the Middle East, Shenkin knows his opinion places him in the minority.  (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); As it stands, 15 people have died in Israel, including nine on the second day after a direct strike on a building in Beit Shemesh, just west of Jerusalem. These figures pale in comparison to the carnage unleashed by Israel in both Iran and Lebanon, where thousands are dead and millions displaced. Despite the rising casualties, calling for an end to the violence is a fringe position in Israel.  “We are viewed as crazy radicals,” says Mitan, a 46-year-old woman who attended the protest in Tel Aviv earlier that day, before making her way north to Jerusalem. “Trump and Bibi [Netanyahu] dragged us into another pointless war. They try to keep us quiet but we can't sit at home anymore.” Israel’s anti war-coalition  While there is an elite consensus in Israeli society that this war will bring safety to the country, a few civil society voices have offered dissent.  As well as a handful of protests, 80 Jewish and Arab organisations recently signed an open letter to US President Donald Trump and Netanyahu. Put together by It’s Time, a coalition of peacebuilding groups, the letter calls to “stop the war with Iran - a war whose goals are unattainable and that lacks a clear exit strategy”.  (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); For Mika Almog, creative director for It’s Time and granddaughter of former Israeli prime minister Shimon Peres, the war has caused Israeli society more harm than good. Schools are closed, the economy is hit and, she says, “our children are in constant danger of getting killed”.  'We are viewed as crazy radicals... Trump and Bibi dragged us into another pointless war' - Mitan, Israeli anti-war protester Almog says the current war did not begin in a vacuum. She traces regional instability back to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, something Netanyahu has shown no willingness to solve through diplomatic means. “There are seven million Palestinians who are living under occupation, who don’t have a future to look forward to,” Almog says. “This idea that you can keep them in this situation and it's not going to deteriorate is ludicrous.”  On top of pushing for diplomacy instead of never-ending military campaigns, Almog emphasises that one of the coalition's main objectives is to bring the idea of peace back into Israeli discourse.  She stresses that since the assassination of then-Israeli prime minister Yitzhak Rabin in 1995, “peace and negotiations have not been presented to the public as realistic options”. Almog notes that when the public is offered a realistic option of peace, willingness grows significantly. “When the only thing we have is war, then people end up supporting war,” she says. Political class lines up for war  While studies show that support for peace in Israeli society does increase when concrete diplomatic options are presented, voices presenting such an alternative are nowhere to be found in the current political establishment. While Netanyahu declared a “historic victory” over Iran a mere eight months ago, the prime minister has made clear that this new war against Iran is once again essential, proclaiming that “we are in a fateful campaign for our very existence”. For Haaretz columnist Gideon Levy, this war has been Netanyahu's “life project”. The veteran Israeli journalist, who also writes for Middle East Eye, says that even if fearmongering about Iran serves Netanyahu politically, “he really does believe that Iran is an existential danger”.  'There are seven million Palestinians who are living under occupation, who don’t have a future to look forward to' - Mika Almog, It's Time coalition Opposition parties have cemented this consensus. Rather than push for peaceful alternatives, many have outflanked Netanyahu, pushing even more hawkish, right-wing positions. On the first day of the war, leading political rival Naftali Bennett backed the army and prime minister, writing on X that, “The entire nation of Israel stands behind you until the destruction of the Iranian threat.”  Opposition Leader Yair Lapid, who is often described as a centrist, has called on the army to “destroy all the oil fields and energy industry” on Kharg Island, Tehran’s main oil export hub. But it's not only politicians who have rallied round the attacks on Iran. Israel’s media, much of which has portrayed the genocide in Gaza as an act of self-defence, has once again uncritically touted the views of the political establishment. Levy notes that within the mainstream, “raising doubts about the war is not legitimate, you will not hear it or see it”. One of the few Knesset members to speak out, Ofer Cassif of the communist-led Hadash-Ta'al coalition, has called the war “an imperialist aggression against the Iranian people”. But inside a united parliament, his calls for a diplomatic resolution are almost invisible.  Israeli public supports war on Iran Given the rabid support from mainstream media and politicians, it’s not surprising that Israel’s public is heavily in favour of the war. According to the latest polls from the Israel Democracy Institute, 92.5 percent of Israelis support Operation Roaring Lion, the codename for this war. The picture is different among Palestinian citizens of Israel, with 65 percent voicing opposition. (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); A large part of this support stems from the belief that Iran poses the single largest threat to Israel’s security.  Ofer Shelah, former Knesset member and researcher at the Institute for National Security Studies (INSS), explains that for over a decade, Israelis have come to see Iran as “the source of all evil”. Shelah argues that this perceived danger legitimises each military campaign, even if the death toll domestically continues to rise. “It's a rationale for almost everything we do, because if we don't do it, we will be faced with more October 7ths.”  A protester in central Tel Aviv, Israel, 7 March 2026 (Dylan Martinez/Reuters) And yet, despite facing a prevailing consensus that a continued war is what’s right for the country, Israel’s pacifist movement perseveres.  For Shenkin, the small recent protests are an opportunity to call for a new government, one that can potentially effect change.  “I hope we see a government that includes Arab, moderate and left-wing voices, and that they're given some political power that we see put into action,” he says. While some activists express optimism, the circumstances under which they are operating are undeniably difficult. Demonstrations are small, and while some passersby honk to show support, others roll down their windows to hurl insults at protesters.  They have also had to contend with an aggressive police force. A recent demonstration in Tel Aviv was broken up within 20 minutes, and activists in both Haifa and Tel Aviv have been arrested. Levy points out that if the war continues to drag on, further resistance may begin to spring up. “Right now, the price is reasonable,” he says. “Let's wait, if it really becomes a war of months, criticism will get stronger.”  For now, the movement remains small, with a message that doesn’t resonate with the broader public. “War is a temporary measure with temporary solutions,” says Shenkin, “but another head will rear itself until we make peace.” Inside Israel Jerusalem News Post Date Override 0 Update Date Mon, 05/04/2020 - 21:19 Update Date Override 0

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