Attacks intensify as oil rises above $100

Qatar says it is not mediating between the US and Iran but supports all diplomatic efforts to end the war.

The comments from the Qatari Foreign Ministry came after US President Donald Trump said Washington had held productive talks with Tehran, which Iran denied.

“We are not involved in these talks,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Majid al-Ansari told journalists.

The small Gulf country has mediated several disputes in the region and has good ties with the United States, but its relations with Iran have deteriorated following Iranian strikes on Qatari natural gas facilities. 

“Our main concern and focus at present is on protecting our country and taking diplomatic steps to ensure that happens,” al-Ansari said.

He added that the destruction of Iran is not an option.

“We in the Gulf believe in co-existence. We believe in reaching out to Iran,” he said. “We will have to find a way past this. This is a very difficult moment, but we will find our way out of it.” 

While Qatar has ruled out playing a role in potential negotiations, Pakistan has said it is ready to host talks between the US and Iran.

Egypt’s foreign minister has also been speaking to officials on both sides in recent days. 

Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. declared a state of national energy emergency, saying that high oil prices caused by the war in the Middle East were threatening the country’s energy security.

Under the declaration, which would initially last for a year, Marcos would lead a contingency committee to monitor and ensure the availability and orderly distribution of fuel, food, medicines, agricultural products and other basic goods.

Authorities were ordered to take action against hoarding, profiteering and manipulation of the supply of petroleum products.

The Department of Migrant Workers, meanwhile, was asked to brace for the possible rescue and evacuation of Filipinos in the Middle East.

More than 2 million Filipinos live and work in the Middle East.

The Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission (BERC) increased jet fuel prices, which is one of the biggest expenses for carriers, on Tuesday by 79%.

The order issued by the energy commission meant that aviation fuel prices have now leapt by 111% since the start of the war, with the price at $1.32 per liter.

“We had to adjust the jet fuel price for the second time this month, considering the international fuel price rate which has shot up,” BERC Chairman Jalal Ahmed said in a statement.

Millions of Bangladeshis work abroad, including in Gulf states.

The rising cost of fuel prices affects migrant workers disproportionately because they have to pay for rising ticket prices to travel home. 

Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif says Islamabad is prepared to “facilitate meaningful and conclusive talks” to end the US-Israel war with Iran.

“Pakistan welcomes and fully supports ongoing efforts to pursue dialogue to end the WAR in Middle East, in the interest of peace and stability in (the) region and beyond,” he wrote on X.

Pakistan, an ally of Iran, has been pushing for diplomatic negotiations between Tehran and Washington. There has also been speculation that it could take on the role of mediator. 

“Subject to concurrence by the US and Iran, Pakistan stands ready and honoured to be the host to facilitate meaningful and conclusive talks for a comprehensive settlement of the ongoing conflict,” Sharif said. 

Meanwhile, Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Tuesday that Islamabad “remains committed to resolving the ongoing conflict in the Middle East” through diplomacy and engagement.

At the same time, it urged the media to “refrain from speculation and to await official announcements regarding decisions and outcomes.”

US media outlet Axios reported that US negotiators Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner may meet an Iranian delegation for talks in Pakistan as early as this week.

US President Donald Trump spoke with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the situation in the Middle East and the “importance of keeping the Strait of Hormuz open,” US Ambassador to India Sergio Gor posted to X.

Modi also posted to X shortly after that he received a call from Trump and that the two had a “useful exchange of views” on the situation in the Middle East.

Modi said India “supports de-escalation and restoration of peace at the earliest,” adding that the safe transit of tankers through the Strait of Hormuz is essential for the world. 

The conversation between Trump and Modi took place after two more Indian-flagged tankers carrying liquified petroleum gas were allowed to make their way safely  through the Strait of Hormuz on Monday.

Iran has effectively closed the strait, through which almost all Middle Eastern oil flows to the rest of the world.

The Indian government on Tuesday also called for an all-party meeting on Wednesday to discuss the Iran war, Indian news agency ANI reported. 

Marking 75 years since the Foreign Ministry’s post-war reformation, Germany’s president and foreign minister have warned of “profound change” in ties with Berlin’s most important ally, the US, amid an “unnecessary” Iran war.

Read more here.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio will attend a Group of Seven foreign ministers meeting near Versailles on Friday, the State Department said.

Rubio is set to “advance key US interests” and “discuss shared security concerns and opportunities for cooperation,” the State Department added.

The statement said the meeting outside Paris will focus on Russia’s war in Ukraine, the situation in the Middle East and threats across the world to peace and stability.

Nearly all of the other G7 nations — Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy and Japan — have largely resisted President Donald Trump’s demands for military help with the war in Iran.

 “Iran’s powerful armed forces are proud, victorious and steadfast in defending Iran’s integrity, and this path will continue until complete victory,” said Major General Ali Abdollahi Aliabadi of the Khatam-al Anbiya, head of Iran’s Central Headquarters.

He did not say what “complete victory” would look like, but his comments came a few hours after Tehran denied claims by US President Donald Trump that he had spoken to Iranian officials about an end to the conflict.

It did appear as though he was alluding to Trump’s claims that Iran might make concessions, warning that they had no intention of doing so.
 

Mohammad Bagher Zolghadr has been named as the new secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council. The former Revoluntionary Guard commander was chosen after his predecessor Ali Larijani was killed in an airstrike.

The council is the regime’s top body for determining the country’s security and intelligence policies.

At the same time, the government of Lebanon ordered Iranian Ambassador to Beiruit Mohammad Reza Raeuf Sheibani, to leave the country. Sheibani had only been in the role since February 2024. The Lebanese government accused Iran’s Revoluntionary Guards of operating inside its borders. 

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz has said that the military plans to take control of southern Lebanon up to the Litani river, and that the bridges over the waterway had been destroyed.

Katz accused Iran-backed militia Hezbollah of transporting arms and personnel over the bridges.

“All five bridges over the Litani that were used by Hezbollah for the passage of terrorists and weapons have been blown up, and the IDF (Israeli military) will control the rest of the bridges and the security zone up to the Litani,” Katz said.

He added that the hundreds of thousands of people who had been displaced by Israeli incursions into Lebanon “will not return south of the Litani River until security is guaranteed” for people living in northern Israel.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has called for immediate negotiations to end the Iran war amid a “critical situation” for global energy supplies.

“We think that it is time to go to the negotiation table and to end the hostilities,” von der Leyen told reporters on Tuesday.

“The situation is critical for energy supplies worldwide. We all feel the knock-on effects on gas and oil prices, our businesses and our societies, but it is of utmost importance that we come to a solution that is negotiated, and this puts an end to the hostilities that we see in the Middle East,” she said.

The Commission chief condemned Iran’s “de-facto closure” of the Strait of Hormuz. She did not directly mention the US or Israel in her appeal for an end to hostilities.

Von der Leyen was speaking alongside Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese as the EU and Australia announced a new free trade deal. 

Not for the first time in recent years, the EU looks like something of a spectator to a war with major ripple effects for Europe. 

That might seem inevitable — but it wasn’t always this way. Back in 2015, the EU was involved to brokering the Iran nuclear deal, from which US President Donald Trump withdrew during his first term in office.

As Iran continued strikes on Israel and Gulf Arab states on Tuesday, Israel’s Magen David Adom ambulance service said that at least six people had been wounded by debris at four separate impact sites including residential buildings.

A military spokesman told Israel’s Kan broadcaster than an Iranian warhead weighing several hundred kilograms had likely struck between two apartment buildings. The spokesman said they were investigating reports of a direct hit.

Air raid sirens could be heard across Tel Aviv and residents reported seeing smoke rising and hearing loud explosions.

President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said that Russia would take any spillover of the Iran conflict into the Caspian Sea “extremely negatively.”

He added that Moscow was observing contradictory statements from both sides about the state of the conflict.

The Caspian Sea is the world’s largest inland body of water, and borders Russia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, and Iran. It is divided into territorial zones between the five countries.

Iranian state media has reported that some 30 people have been arrested by security services in recent days over allegations of spying for Israel.

The suspects were allegedly found with Starlink internet devices and weapons provided by Israel.

The arrests were carried out in the provinces of Lorestan, Hamadan, and Kerman, the broadcaster said, calling the suspects “traitors to the fatherland.”

The rapid spike in global oil prices brought on by the conflict is hitting economies in East Africa particularly hard.