Britain said on Thursday that around 40 countries are exploring ways to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, a vital oil shipping route effectively blocked by Iran amid ongoing conflict. The U.S. did not take part in the discussions.
Bahrain’s bid to secure a UN resolution to protect shipping in the Strait of Hormuz has stalled, highlighting deep divisions among global powers over how to respond to Iran’s effective closure of the key waterway.
Britain will explore ways to reopen the Strait of Hormuz by hosting talks on Thursday (2 April) with 35 countries after President Donald Trump said securing the vital waterway was a problem for other nations to resolve.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian urged Americans to look beyond the illusions of war propaganda and to watch out for Israel’s "manufactured threat," in an open letter to the United States.
President Donald Trump staunchly defended his handling of the month-old U.S.-Israeli war on Iran in a prime-time address on Wednesday, saying the U.S. military was nearing completion of its mission while also reinforcing his threats to bomb the Islamic Republic back to the Stone Age.
Iran is “essentially… no longer a threat,” U.S. President Donald Trump said on Wednesday (1 April), signalling what he described as the final phase of the war with Iran. In a televised address from the White House, Trump stated the U.S.-led campaign "Operation Epic Fury" was nearing completion.
Fears of wider escalation grow despite President Donald Trump saying U.S. strikes on Iran could end within weeks. Meanwhile missile attacks, tanker incidents and rising casualties across Israel, Lebanon and the Gulf heighten risks to regional stability and energy routes.
There are fears of an oil spill after a drone strike hit a Kuwaiti oil tanker near Dubai on Tuesday, while U.S.-Israeli strikes in Iran reportedly killed at least two people. A loud explosion was heard in Beirut in southern Lebanon early Wednesday, as oil prices climbed above $100 a barrel.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese warned the economic shocks of the war in the Middle East would be felt for months and encouraged citizens to take public transport in a rare address to the nation on Wednesday (1 April).
Explosions were heard in the Syrian capital Damascus as Israeli air defences intercepted Iranian missiles, Syrian state television reported on Tuesday.
President Donald Trump said the United States could end its military attacks on Iran within two to three weeks and Tehran did not have to make a deal as a prerequisite for the conflict to wind down.
The Iran-U.S.-Israel conflict is intensifying, with fresh strikes near Tehran, European calls for restraint, and Iran threatening to target U.S. firms in the region, raising fears of a broader escalation across the Middle East.
Some 20,000 seafarers remain stranded on around 2,000 ships in the Strait of Hormuz amid the ongoing Middle East conflict, in what has been described as an unprecedented situation in the post-Second World War era. The vessels include oil and gas tankers, cargo ships and six cruise liners.
One month into the war on Iran which broke out on 28 February, and Tehran has intensified its diplomatic offensives in a bid to prove that Israel and U.S. have lost control of the war.
Three United Nations peacekeepers from Indonesia were killed in two separate incidents in southern Lebanon after a bloody weekend in which Lebanese journalists and medics were killed in Israeli strikes.
Iran attacked and set ablaze a fully loaded crude oil tanker off Dubai on Monday, as President Donald Trump warned the U.S. would obliterate Iran's energy plants and oil wells if it does not open the Strait of Hormuz.
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan joined high-level talks in Islamabad over the weekend as part of an intensified four-way diplomatic effort to end the ongoing regional conflict, now in its second month.
The escalation of conflict involving the United States, Israel, and Iran since 28 February 2026 has moved beyond a regional security crisis to become a systemic shock to the global economy and our pockets.
U.S. President Donald Trump has said that the U.S is in talks with the new Iranian regime. He said this in a post on his Truth Social account but warned that the U.S. will "Obliterate" Iran's electric and oil facilities if no deal is reached, especially regarding the Strait of Hormuz closure.
The Israeli military said on Monday that Iran launched multiple waves of missiles at Israel, and an attack had also been launched from Yemen for the second time since the U.S.-Israeli war began on Tehran. It said two drones from Yemen were intercepted early 30 March but gave no further details.
