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.
Fresh Houthi missile and drone strikes on Israel mark a significant widening of the Iran-centred conflict, raising fears the Yemen-based group could open a new front. Their position near the Bab el-Mandeb strait also threatens global shipping and energy flows.
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.
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.
Japan and France agreed on Wednesday to coordinate closely in efforts to end the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran and reopen the Strait of Hormuz to oil and gas tankers, Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has criticised the European Union’s “destructive” stance in the Israel–U.S. war against Iran, calling for a more constructive approach, official sources in Tehran reported.
UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, French President Emmanuel Macron and Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi have called for urgent action to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, as escalating conflict continues to choke one of the world’s most critical energy routes.
Azerbaijan has voiced strong support for Türkiye following the interception of a fourth ballistic missile over Turkish territory on Monday (30 March), amid rising regional tensions.
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.
The U.S. national average retail price of petrol rose above $4 a gallon for the first time in over three years on Monday (30 March), according to GasBuddy data, as the U.S.–Israeli war with Iran continued to roil global energy markets.
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.
The Middle East conflict has entered a new phase, with Israel expanding its operations into southern Lebanon and tensions with Iran escalating. Analysts warn that the collapse of traditional deterrence and rising nuclear risks could trigger a global arms race.
Iran on Monday described U.S. proposals to end a month-long war in the Middle East as “unrealistic, illogical and excessive” and launched further missile strikes on Israel as oil prices continued to climb following Yemen’s Houthi entry into the conflict.
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 been weighing whether to deploy ground forces to seize Iran’s strategic oil hub of Kharg Island - an operation analysts say could be swift, but would expose U.S. troops to significant danger and potentially prolong, rather than shorten, the war.
Stock markets across Asia fell on Monday as escalating conflict involving Iran drove oil prices sharply higher, fuelling fears of inflation and a potential global recession, with investors reacting to disruption risks in the Strait of Hormuz and prolonged hostilities.
The war in Iran has rapidly upended regional security, triggering spillover across the Middle East and raising fears of wider economic disruption that could threaten globalisation.
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.
President Donald Trump said the U.S. and Iran have been meeting "directly and indirectly" and that Iran's new leaders have been "very reasonable", as more U.S troops arrived in the region and Tehran warned it will not accept humiliation.
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