live U.S. to apply measures 'never seen before' on Iran, Trump official says
The U.S. will impose "never seen before" measures on Iran in order to economically isolate the country, Washington's Treasury Secreta...
The Israeli military deployed additional forces to southern Lebanon overnight, to take up what a military spokesperson on Tuesday (3 March) described as "defensive positions" aimed at protecting Israeli civilians and strategic sites from potential Hezbollah attacks.
"We're only at the borderline area in a defensive manner to prevent attacks against civilians and very strategic important points," Lieutenant Colonel Nadav Shoshani said in an online briefing with reporters.
Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said he had authorised the military to advance and take control of additional positions inside Lebanon after Hezbollah fired rockets at Israel late on Sunday. Hezbollah said the launches were in response to U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iranian targets.
Later, several Iranian missiles were launched towards Israel, with fragments landing in various locations but causing no reported injuries. Two drones also struck the U.S. embassy in Riyadh. The embassy there, along with the U.S. embassy in Kuwait, will remain closed on Tuesday.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guard said it had destroyed a U.S. base in Bahrain, while a pro-Iranian militia in Iraq claimed responsibility for a drone attack on another U.S. base in Erbil.
Amid rising tensions, the U.S. Department of State ordered non-essential personnel and their families to leave Iraq, Jordan and Bahrain, and urged American citizens to depart from around 40 countries across the Middle East.
Iran also announced the closure of the Strait of Hormuz and warned that it would target any vessel attempting to pass through. The escalation has raised concerns about the scale of Iran’s ballistic missile capabilities and the potential for further regional instability.
Disruption in the Strait of Hormuz has increased the strategic importance of Bab al-Mandab, raising fears that instability in both waterways could trigger a wider global energy and trade crisis.
Flights at Catania airport in Sicily will remain suspended until early Friday as ash from Mount Etna continues to disrupt air travel, following hundreds of cancellations and diversions over the past week.
Iran says the Strait of Hormuz remains under its control, rejecting U.S. President Donald Trump’s claim of “total control” over the strategic waterway and insisting it will not reopen until Washington fulfils its commitments under an interim deal.
Iran and the United States remain at loggerheads over efforts to agree a permanent end to the war in the Gulf, according to a senior Iranian source who said there had been no progress in talks to revive the interim deal agreed in June and define a timeframe to implement it.
Russia has accused Ukraine of threatening global grain supplies after recent strikes on Black Sea agricultural infrastructure, while Moscow carried out a new overnight attack on Ukraine’s major Danube port of Izmail.
The suspension of two major grain terminals in Russia’s Black Sea port of Novorossiysk could increase pressure on Kazakhstan’s agricultural market if Russian exporters divert supplies to Central Asia at discounted prices.
Georgia’s Prime Minister says the EU’s inclusion of a major Black Sea cable project on a key infrastructure list is fresh evidence of the country’s importance to regional energy and digital connectivity.
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has dismissed Security Council Secretary Armen Grigoryan and appointed former parliament speaker Alen Simonyan as his replacement.
Central Asia’s economy has surpassed $543 billion, driven by Kazakhstan’s economic weight, strong exports and foreign investment, while growing trade across Asia points to an increasingly connected region.
The United Nations refugee agency is planning a settlement and carpet-weaving workshop for Afghan returnees in Kabul as the country grapples with large-scale returns and growing pressure on housing, jobs and basic services.
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