Middle East crisis live: US has begun flying B52 bombers over Iran, Pentagon says | US-Israel war on Iran

Israel’s parliament has passed a law imposing the death penalty on Palestinians convicted of fatal attacks – a measure sharply criticised as discriminatory by European countries and human rights groups.

After the law passed, the Knesset erupted into cheers and the national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, brandished a bottle in celebration.

The law has been decried as “an act of institutionalised discrimination and racist violence against Palestinians” by Israel’s leading rights group.

In today’s edition of The Latest podcast, Lucy Hough speaks to the Guardian’s deputy head of international news, Devika Bhat.

The US state department has said it is aware of reports that a US journalist has been kidnapped in Baghdad and it is liaising with the FBI.

In a post on X, the department’s assistant secretary for global public affairs, Dylan Johnson, said:

The US Department of State is aware of the reported kidnapping of an American journalist in Baghdad, Iraq.

The State Department previously fulfilled our duty to warn this individual of threats against them and we will continue to coordinate with the FBI to ensure their release as quickly as possible.

An individual with ties to the Iranian-aligned militia group Kataib Hizballah believed to be involved in the kidnapping has been taken into custody by Iraqi authorities.

Iraq remains at a Level 4 Travel Advisory and Americans are advised not to travel to Iraq for any reason and to leave Iraq now.

The State Department strongly advise all Americans, including members of the press, to adhere to all travel advisories.

The US state department has called on US citizens currently in Saudi Arabia to shelter in place until further notice.

In a statement, it said the US embassy in Riyadh had directed all US government employees to do the same.

The department added that it was “tracking reports of threats against locations where American citizens gather”, and that hotels, US businesses and schools could be “potential targets”.

Pope Leo XIV has urged Donald Trump to look for an “off-ramp” to end the US-Israeli war on Iran, in an unusually direct appeal from the pontiff to the US president.

Speaking to journalists outside ​his residence in Castel ⁠Gandolfo, near Rome, Pope Leo, the first pope from the United States, said:

I’m told that President Trump has recently stated that he would like to end the war. Hopefully, he’s looking for an off-ramp. Hopefully, he’s looking for a way to decrease the amount of violence, of bombing, which would be a significant contribution to removing the hatred that’s being created, that’s increasing constantly in the Middle East and elsewhere.

He called on all world leaders to return to dialogue and look for “ways to reduce the amount of violence’’ so that “peace, especially at Easter, might reign in our hearts’’.

It marks the second occasion in as many days that the pope has made remarkably pointed comments over the war.

During a Palm Sunday mass in St Peter’s Square, he said God ignores the prayers of leaders who wage war and have “hands full of blood” – in an apparent rebuke to the Trump administration.

A roadside explosion appears to have struck the convoy of two Indonesian peacekeepers killed in southern Lebanon, Reuters reports that the UN peacekeeping chief said on Tuesday, citing initial findings of an investigation.

The peacekeepers with the Unifil force were killed on Monday near Bani Hayyan in south Lebanon and two other soldiers were wounded. Another Indonesian soldier was killed overnight Sunday into Monday when a projectile exploded near one of the group’s positions.

“Unifil is conducting investigations to determine the circumstances of these reprehensible developments,” Jean-Pierre Lacroix, the head of UN peacekeeping, told a UN Security Council meeting on Lebanon.

UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric told a briefing a “roadside bomb, most likely an IED”, or improvised explosive device, was to blame for the incident.

Israel’s UN ambassador, Danny Danon, meanwhile, blamed the deaths of the three peacekeepers on Hezbollah, charging that the group launches rockets from villages next to UN positions, “putting peacekeepers directly in the line of fire.”

Asked about Danon’s statement, Unifil spokesperson Kandice Ardiel said:

We invite them to share their evidence with our investigative team.

UN secretary-general António Guterres has strongly condemned the killing of the peacekeepers, saying that such attacks were “grave violations of international humanitarian law … and may amount to war crimes”.

There will need to be accountability.

Syrian president Ahmed al-Sharaa said his country will stay out of the U.S.-Israeli war against Iran unless Syria is subject to aggression and has no diplomatic solutions.

“Unless Syria is targeted by any party, Syria will remain outside any conflict,” the Syrian president said at an event hosted by think tank Chatham House in London.

Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel is forging new alliances with “important” countries in the region to counter what he described as the “Iranian threat.”

Speaking in an address, Netanyahu did not specify which countries were involved, or give further details.

The U.S. State Department is tracking reports of threats against locations where American citizens gather in Saudi Arabia, including hotels, U.S. businesses and educational institutions, the State Department said, advising U.S. citizens in the country to shelter in place until further notice.

“We are tracking reports of threats against locations where American citizens gather,” the U.S. Embassy in Saudi Arabia said in a travel advisory.

“We advise U.S. citizens that hotels and other gathering points including U.S. businesses and U.S. educational institutions may be potential targets.”

The embassy asked Americans to remain inside and stay away from windows until further notice.

The latest advisory came after Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said they would target U.S. companies in the Middle East as of April 1 in retaliation for attacks on Iran, state media reported.

Iran’s foreign minister Abbas Araghchi has told Al Jazeera he has been receiving direct messages from US special envoy Steve Witkoff, “as before”, but they do not constitute “negotiations”.

The messages include threats or exchanged views delivered through “friends” in the region, he added, and all messages go through his foreign ministry.

There is no truth to the claim of negotiations with any party in Iran. All messages are conveyed through the foreign ministry or received by it, and there are communications between security agencies.

He also reiterated that Iran has not yet responded to the 15-point plan proposed by the US, despite reports that Tehran had responded with its own terms to the plan.

We have not sent any response to the 15 American proposals, nor have we submitted any proposals or conditions.

Araghchi has said that Iran’s “conditions for ending the war are clear” in that Tehran won’t accept a simple ceasefire – it wants “a complete end to the war, not just in Iran but in the entire region”.

Tehran also wants to ensure there is “no repetition” of attacks and guarantees of compensation for the damages of the war.

Israel’s defence ministry accused France of actively obstructing the transfer of munitions to Israel, according to a statement.

It said the French ban was imposed despite prior coordination and assurances that the munitions were intended solely for use against Iran, adding the effort was critical to European security.

The ministry said Israel would cut all defence procurement from France and would have no new engagement with the French military.

French arms sales to Israel are relatively small, and it was unclear whether the move would affect French troops serving with U.N. peacekeepers in Lebanon.

At the Pentagon’s public briefing earlier, General Dan Caine, the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, said that the US military had begun flying B52 bomber missions over land.

In the past 30 days, we’ve hit over 11,000 targets. With growing air superiority, we’ve also launched the first B-52 overland missions.

The US military remains focused on “interdicting and destroying the logistical and supply chains that feed” Iran’s missile, drone and naval ship-building programs, Caine added.

Per the New York Times, that in effect means the US has choked off Iran’s ability to replace munitions destroyed in thousands of American bombing runs.

B-52 bombers – unlike the agile or radar-evading aircraft in the US arsenal – are considered highly vulnerable to antiaircraft systems.

The decision to fly the planes directly over Iran signifies the American military’s confidence that it has largely destroyed Iran’s capability to take down the lumbering bombers.

France has said it is “surprised” by Donald Trump’s comments singling out Paris for not authorising planes headed to Israel fly over its airspace, saying the decision was in line with French policy since the start of the war on Iran.

“We are surprised by this tweet. France has not changed its position since day one [of the conflict] and we confirm this decision,” French president Emmanuel Macron’s office said.

Trump had said in a post on Truth Social earlier that France had been “very unhelpful” and that the United States would “remember”.

The Country of France wouldn’t let planes headed to Israel, loaded up with military supplies, fly over French territory. France has been VERY UNHELPFUL with respect to the “Butcher of Iran,” who has been successfully eliminated! The U.S.A. will REMEMBER!!!

The French military said on 5 March that France would not authorise the use of French bases by American planes if they took part in attacks on Iran, but would allow it on a “temporary basis” if they were in support of the defence of French allies in the region.

A western diplomat and two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters that the refusal happened over the weekend and was the first time France had done this since the war started.

Israel had wanted to use France’s airspace to transport US weapons for the war, the sources said.