Joint attacks by the United States and Israel have severely reduced Iran’s capacity to fire missiles and drones, experts say, but Iran retains enough capabilities to inflict significant damage.
“Iran’s ballistic missile capacity is functionally destroyed. Their navy assessed combat ineffective. Complete and total aerial dominance over Iran,” the White House said on Saturday. “Operation Epic Fury is yielding massive results,” it said in reference to the war launched by Israel and the US on February 28.
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On Sunday, President Donald Trump said US forces had decimated Iran’s drone manufacturing capacity.
Still, on Monday afternoon, Qatar announced it had intercepted the latest in a series of missiles fired from Iran towards the country. Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain also issued alerts. A missile landed on a car in Abu Dhabi, killing a person.
So are Iran’s missile capabilities severely reduced? And how is it still firing projectiles at its neighbours and Israel?
Is Iran firing fewer missiles now?
Indeed, the number of retaliatory missiles and drones that Iran has fired towards Gulf countries, Israel and other nations in the region has seen a steep decline since the start of the war.
In the first 24 hours of the conflict, Iran had fired 167 missiles (ballistic and cruise) and 541 drones at the United Arab Emirates, for instance. By contrast, on day 15 of the conflict, it had shot four missiles and six drones, according to a tally compiled by Al Jazeera based on the emirate’s Defence Ministry statements.
The barrage against Israel has also decreased, from nearly 100 projectiles over the first two days to a single-digit number in the past few days, according to Israel’s Institute for National Security Studies.
Last week, the Pentagon said missile launches were down 90 percent from the first day of fighting and drone attacks were down by 86 percent.
How big is Iran’s missile arsenal – and how much has it been hit?
Iran has the largest inventory of ballistic missiles in the region, the US Office of the Director of National Intelligence assessed in 2022. While there are no official accounts on how many missiles it has, Israeli intelligence reports suggest it counted around 3,000 missiles, a figure that dropped to 2,500 following the 12-day war last June.
Key to the US-Israel strategy has been hunting down Iran’s launchers. Each missile launch generates a signature, such as a large explosion, that can be picked up by a satellite and radar systems.
According to a senior Israeli military official cited by the Institute for the Study of the War, Israel has put up to 290 launchers out of service, out of an estimated 410 to 440 launchers.
But Iran is a vast country, and without boots on the ground, it will be hard to completely eliminate Iran’s capacity to shoot despite the US and Israel having nearly full control of the country’s airspace, said David Des Roches, an associate professor at the National Defense University in Washington, DC.
“It is not obvious to identify launchers,” Des Roches told Al Jazeera. “What we see are missiles that were put in hidden places or places not associated with the military before the war, when there was less observation”.
According to Des Roches, the slowdown in launches is due to Iranian forces having lost the capacity to launch volleys. As a result, Iran has been firing one or two missiles at a time towards civilian and commercial infrastructure, especially in Gulf countries, instead of aiming volleys at military targets. Iran insists that it is targeting only US interests in the region.
“Militarily speaking [Iran’s action] is not significant – this is what is called harassment fire to exhaust alert systems in nearby countries and scare people off,” Des Roches said.
What’s Iran’s strategy?
According to Hamidreza Azizi, an expert on Iran and visiting fellow with the German Institute for International and Security Affairs (SWB), Tehran’s central calculation is that the Gulf and Israel may run out of their defensive capabilities before Iran runs out of missiles.
“There might be some interest in making this a war of attrition,” he said, pointing at the lower, yet constant, number of weapons launched from Iran each day.
“Although the US and Israel have been successful in taking out some of the launchers and major missile bases, the Iranians have decentralised the missile bases and missile command and they have been increasingly relying on mobile launchers which makes it more difficult for the other side to detect and target,” Azizi said. “This is a race about time.”
And in that race, Iran believes it has a chance, say experts.
“It does not matter how many you launch as long as you maintain a credible threat,” Muhanad Seloom, an assistant professor in critical security studies at the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies, told Al Jazeera. “It takes one successful drone to shatter a sense of security.”
Iran has long experience in producing cheap yet effective drones. The Shahed 136 can be made quickly and in large numbers in relatively simple factories, and several of them can be fired at once, overwhelming defences. It also doesn’t need complex launchers that can be targeted in air strikes. With a speed of just 185km/h (115mph), Shaheds can be shot down by helicopters. Still, many have managed to get through US and Gulf air defence systems.
Just on Monday, a fire broke out near the UAE’s Dubai International Airport in a drone-related incident that temporarily disrupted flights; another drone attack caused a fire at the Fujairah industrial area, also in the UAE; air sirens sounded in central Israel due to a missile fired from Iran; and in the Strait of Hormuz – a key waterway through which 20 percent of global energy supplies are shipped – hundreds of vessels remain paralysed over fear of being struck despite few attacks on ships. Since the start of the war, a maritime tracker has reported 20 incidents related to vessels.
This, say experts, is part of Iran’s defensive doctrine of asymmetric warfare against militarily superior powers, such as the US and Israel. The weaker party, Iran in this case, turns to unconventional methods of warfare, wearing down the enemy by targeting key infrastructure to inflict economic pain.
Tehran has already pushed oil prices to higher than $100 a barrel and sent global markets into panic mode. The second-biggest exporter of natural gas, Qatar, continues to keep shut its production; Bahrain’s state oil company has declared force majeure on its shipments, and oil production from Iraq’s main southern oilfields has plunged 70 percent.
If Iran can keep raising global oil prices, “it will inflict equal or more damage to the US than American bombs in Iran,” said Vali Nasr, a professor of international affairs and Middle East studies at Johns Hopkins University.
Vogue Williams and Spencer Matthews have been married since 2018 and share three children, but she admits she initially didn’t fancy him and likes to keep a ‘separate life’
Vogue Williams and Spencer Matthews attend the 2026 EE BAFTA Film Awards(Image: Getty Images)
The Irish podcast presenter initially admits she “didn’t fancy” Spencer and believed he “wasn’t for her”. Yet she says her mates “really wanted me to sleep with Spencer” and thought he’d fit in with their circle.
Nevertheless, shortly after their first meeting, romance flourished, and in January 2018 Spencer proposed during an outing to see The Lion King in London. The couple wed that June at Glen Affric, the Matthews family’s Scottish estate.
Speaking recently at Meta’s HQ in Dublin, Vogue acknowledged she enjoys maintaining a “separate life” from her spouse. This came as she recounted an incident where he irritated her whilst she was preparing to spend time with My Therapist Ghosted Me co-host Joanne McNally.
Asked who she favours between Joanne and Spencer, Vogue answered: “Well it depends what I need them for. I went for a walk with Joanne on Sunday morning and Spenny was insistent that he wanted to go for lunch and then Joanne was like, ‘I’m not hungry, I want to go home.'”
She continued: “So I was in a huff with Spenny, as I was going on a walk with Joanne and he interrupted it. I try to, I like to have a separate life as well, Spenny he has his friends and I have my friends.”
In her autobiography Big Mouth, Vogue confesses she worried a romance with Spencer wouldn’t “have gone very well” regardless because he “was yet to form a serious bone in his body”. Vogue meanwhile acknowledges she tended to find herself “getting serious quickly”.
The duo nevertheless “got on famously” following Spencer’s arrival at The Jump dressed in tracksuit bottoms, slippers, and “reeking of booze”. Vogue penned: “I had done a lot of work with my therapist up to this point; we had decided that if I continue to fall for guys I felt I needed to fix or help I was just repeating a pattern and that it always ended the same way (disastrously).
“Spencer, being a man made of red flags, was not for me I decided, and I didn’t really fancy him anyway so it was all good. I did, however, love his personality.”
The pair now have three children together – Theodore, Gigi and Otto. Vogue has previously revealed she would have “swiped past” Spencer had they encountered each other on a dating app.
She shared this during an earlier episode of Vogue and Amber, whilst responding to a listener finding it difficult to discover love through digital platforms. Vogue remarked: “You’re just judging someone completely on the way they look.
“And I always say this, Spencer is obviously gorgeous, but he wouldn’t have been my type when we met. And I would have swiped past him on a dating app.
“And then we met, and we were mad about each other because we just loved each other’s personalities. So, I think trying to meet somebody in real life, although it can be hard, can be a really amazing thing.”
South Korea’s Ministry of Intellectual Property has appointed former Go champion Lee Sedol as its first ambassador. Photo by Ministry of Intellectual Property
SEOUL, March 16 (UPI) — South Korea’s Ministry of Intellectual Property has appointed former Go champion Lee Sedol as its first ambassador, 10 years after his landmark competition with AlphaGo.
The ministry said Friday that the appointment would help it communicate its policy direction to the public in a more symbolic and accessible way.
A few years after the 2016 contest against AlphaGo, Lee retired from the strategic board game that is popular in Korea, Japan, and China. He is now a special professor at the country’s Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology.
Back then, AlphaGo ultimately beat Lee in the five-game series. However, Lee managed to secure a historic victory in the fourth game.
“Professor Lee is recorded as the first and also the last human to defeat AI,” Intellectual Property Minister Kim Young-sun said at the event.
“Regardless of the outcome of his match against AI, I believe that he demonstrated a desirable model for the AI era — not viewing AI merely as something to overcome or challenge, but as a partner with which we can cooperate and coexist,” he said.
Lee promised to support the ministry, the country’s government organization responsible for policies related to patents trademarks, and other intellectual property rights.
“Ten years ago, there was the match against AlphaGo. I think that may have been the starting point of AI. Now it has become difficult to imagine a world without AI,” Lee said.
“In line with these changes, I believe that an important task for the MOIP is how well it collaborates and adapts to this environment to continue developing and advancing,”
Qatar’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Majed Al Ansari says Iranian attacks have targeted residential areas and Hamad International Airport, contradicting Tehran’s denial that is has been attacking civilian sites.
Alongside Kidman, Scarpetta features an impressive cast, which also includes Jamie Lee Curtis, Bobby Cannavale, Simon Baker, and Ariana DeBose.
Here’s a breakdown of how many episodes are in the show.
How many episodes are in Scarpetta?
Scarpetta comprises eight episodes, which dropped on Prime Video all at once on March 11 for global audiences to devour.
A synopsis for the programme states: “With skilled hands and an unnerving eye, this unrelenting medical examiner is determined to serve as the voice of the victims, unmask a serial killer, and prove that her career-making case from 28 years prior isn’t also her undoing.
“Set against the backdrop of modern forensic investigation, the series delves beyond the crime scene to explore the psychological complexities of both perpetrators and investigators, creating a multi-layered thriller that examines the toll of pursuing justice at all costs.”
Scarpetta unfolds across two timelines, one in the past and the other in the present, with actors portraying the younger versions of the principal characters.
The programme has been adapted from renowned crime author Patricia Cornwell’s cherished book series of the same name.
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The first Scarpetta novel was published in 1990, and Cornwell has continued writing further books, with the most recent instalment released just last year. Blue Jean star Rosy McEwen portrays the younger version of Kidman’s Scarpetta in the series.
Discussing the character and what she gleaned from Moulin Rouge’s Kidman in a recent interview with the Los Angeles Times, McEwen explained: “Sometimes you feel like to be powerful you want to puff up and be louder.
“But actually, as I was watching Nicole, I was like, ‘No, power is quiet. Power is stillness.'”
She continued: “I think [Kay Scarpetta] grows into that. I’m quick to react and be emotional, but actually having the strength to take a second to think how you’re going to respond and then respond – that’s how she’s learned to make her way through this world.”
Beyond starring in the production, both Kidman and Curtis serve as executive producers on Scarpetta.
The drama has elicited a divided reaction from viewers, with some applauding the programme and demanding a second season, whilst others have felt let down and remain devoted to the original novel.
One viewer posted on X (formerly Twitter): “Nicole Kidman is that girl in #scarpetta. Brilliant crime drama. Season 2, better hurry up.”
A second viewer posted: “Also, the killer was a bit underwhelming for me. That and maybe the secret sorta #Scarpetta.”
They followed up with: “I’m watching season 2 though! #Scarpetta.”
A third commenter wrote: “You better tell me we’ll get a second season of #Scarpetta because you don’t end 8 episodes like that unless you’re a meanie [sic].”
Whilst another remarked: “I was super excited for Scarpetta, having read the books since the 90’s, but 3 episodes in on Prime, and I cannot continue watching it. Sometimes adaptations ruin the books for you, and I don’t want that to happen to my feelings for this beloved series and characters #Scarpetta.”
Someone else penned: “#Scarpetta was such a disappointment. These aren’t the characters that many people loved. And Jamie Lee Curtis, terrible acting, terrible character.”
Another contributed: “@lizsarnoff really did an horrific job on #scarpetta. Ridiculous dialogue, wide disparity from the tone and tenor of the source material and the casting is among the worst ever seen. Cornwell should be embarrassed by this adaptation.”
Despite the mixed response, Scarpetta has already secured a second season after it was revealed that the programme received a two-season commission, according to Decider.
Given that all the characters survived, they will be making their return for the subsequent season.
Scarpetta is streaming on Prime Video now
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March 16 (UPI) — The Israeli military announced Monday that soldiers were conducting “limited and targeted ground operations” in southern Lebanon against Hezbollah, amid its larger war against the militant organization’s backer, Iran.
Israeli troops were reported in Lebanon earlier this month, but Monday’s announcement appears to formalize and broaden the mission. The language in the announcement was also consistent with other reports that Israel may be planning to significantly expand its ground operation.
“This activity is part of broader defensive efforts to establish and strengthen a forward defensive posture, which includes the dismantling of terrorist infrastructure and the elimination of terrorists operating in the area, to create an additional layer of security for residents of northern Israel,” the IDF said in a social media statement.
Israel has been attacking Hezbollah in Lebanon for years, and launched a ground operation there in October 2024 that ended with a fragile cease-fire, with both sides accusing the other of violations. Fighting erupted again late last month after the United States and Israel launched a war against Iran.
Specifics about the ground operation were minimal, including the day it began, with the IDF stating on Telegram that the troops entered Lebanon “in recent days.”
Troops from the 91st Division are conducting what the Israel Defense Forces called “limited and targeted ground operations” against Iran-backed Hezbollah strongholds.
Videos of the operation taken from apparent night-vision cameras worn by the soldiers and distributed by the IDF online show Israeli forces and military vehicles seemingly operating in southern Lebanon.
The operation was aimed at enhancing the forward defense area and was part of broader efforts to strengthen Israel’s forward defensive posture, the IDF said, which is consistent with reporting by Axios that Israel plans to seize all of Lebanon south of the Litani River and will be a major operation.
The IDF said airstrikes were conducted before the soldiers of the 91st Division moved in, with a Hezbollah site attacked on Saturday. Troops on Sunday searched the area and found a storage facility housing dozens of rockets, explosive devices and guns, it said in a Monday update on the operation.
Photos included in the release show rockets laid upon a couch inside a debris-filled residence.
Two Hezbollah operatives were also killed, it said, stating the militants had advanced on the Israeli troops.
“The IDF will continue to operate with determination against the Hezbollah terrorist organization following its deliberate decision to attack Israel on behalf of the Iranian regime,” the IDF said.
“The IDF will not tolerate any harm to the residents of the State of Israel.”
במסגרת מאמץ משימת ההגנה הקדמית: כוחות צה”ל חיסלו מחבלים ואיתרו מצבור אמצעי לחימה של מחבלי ארגון הטרור חיזבאללה
במהלך פעילות מבצעית של אוגדה 91, חיל האוויר תקף מבנה צבאי של ארגון הטרור חיזבאללה בו זוהתה פעילות של מחבלי הארגון בסוף השבוע.
אתמול, הכוחות סרקו במרחב המבנה ואיתרו בו… pic.twitter.com/IfLTvjhIZp— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) March 16, 2026
Neighbourhoods in Beirut’s southern suburbs have been left in ruins by Israeli bombing attacks. Israel says it is targeting Hezbollah infrastructure but hundreds of thousands of people have been forcibly displaced.
An Oscars slugfest for the ages ran its course, with “Sinners” and “One Battle After Another” duking it out and tallying up wins while the low but steady hum of host Conan O’Brien’s patented brand of weirdness tied the room together. A few unnecessarily curt speech interruptions threatened the calm, but mainly, this was a smoothly run machine of a show, devoid of mishaps. Even the rare circumstance of a tie was handled expertly by live-action-short award presenter Kumail Nanjiani, never bringing to mind the immortal confusion of “Moonlight” vs. “La La Land.”
But what didn’t make it to the telecast? Here are some flavorful takeaways — small yet memorable — that stick in mind from our several reporters in the room on Sunday.
A parade of praise for Jessie Buckley
Jessie Buckley arrives on the red carpet at the 98th Annual Academy Awards.
(Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times)
As she strode through the lobby of the Dolby Theatre pre-show, Jessie Buckley, nominated for lead actress for her role in “Hamnet,” was fanned with praise by other attendees. Even in the restroom, she couldn’t escape the well-wishers. On her way back to the buzzing lobby, she held the train of her red and pink Chanel gown graciously saying, “Thank you, thank you.” — Brittany Levine Beckman
The pressure’s off for stars during commercial breaks
Elle Fanning and Demi Moore hug during the 98th Academy Awards.
(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
During the telecast’s first commercial break, supporting actress nominee Elle Fanning of “Sentimental Value” took her loss in stride and leaned over her seat to chat with former “A Complete Unknown” costar Timothée Chalamet, nominated this year for “Marty Supreme,” and his partner, Kylie Jenner.
Across the aisle, “One Battle After Another’s” Leonardo DiCaprio stood up and reached over to lock fingers with Benicio Del Toro. — Yvonne Villarreal
The Oscars address inflation with a goodie box
A note from Conan O’Brien left for attendees in snack boxes.
(Jessica Gelt / Los Angeles Times)
Each year, guests at the Academy Awards are given a small cardboard box of snacks left beneath their seats to get them through the always lengthy ceremony. A note from the host is generally inside. This year’s note, signed by Conan O’Brien, read, “I hope you enjoy this Conan O’Brien ‘Moderately Happy Meal’ ™. These snacks may not look like much but in any movie theater they would run you $85.” The snacks in question were a box of Junior Mints (Times reporter Josh Rottenberg got Raisinets), a small bag of Skinny Pop and a tin bottle of water. — Jessica Gelt
Jesse Plemons won’t succumb to ‘peer pressure’
Kirsten Dunst and Jesse Plemons arrive at the 98th Academy Awards at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood.
(Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times)
“Bugonia” star Jesse Plemons stood near the main lobby bar talking with friends and posing for pictures with fans while finishing the dregs of a drink. A server approached him and asked if he’d like another. Plemons politely declined and the server laughed, saying, “Sorry, I didn’t mean to give you any peer pressure.” — Jessica Gelt
Amy Madigan inquires about press room rules; ‘Is it like bingo?’
Amy Madigan after winning the Oscar for supporting actress for “Weapons.”
(Kayla Bartkowski / Los Angeles Times)
After taking the stage to accept her first Oscar win for “Weapons” on Sunday, Amy Madigan paused operations in the press room to ask how moderators decide who gets to ask questions of the night’s winners.
“Is it like bingo?” the actor asked. As laughter swelled across the crowd in response, she clarified hers was a “serious question.” — Malia Mendez
After a loss, Stellan Skarsgård knows the meaning of ‘Sentimental Value’
Megan Everett-Skarsgård and Stellan Skarsgård at the 98th Annual Academy Awards.
(Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times)
Stellan Skarsgård, of “Sentimental Value,” enjoyed a cocktail in a VIP room just off the main auditorium fresh off of losing the Oscar for supporting actor to Sean Penn for his performance in “One Battle After Another.”
Fans rushed Skarsgård anyway, shaking his hand and telling him how much his performance as a troubled alcoholic father and artist resonated with them. “We had four actor nominations on an international film,” Skarsgård told one of them. “That’s never happened before.” — Jessica Gelt
Two of this Oscar season’s tallest figures share a moment
During a commercial break, 6-foot-5 “Frankenstein” star Jacob Elordi and 6-foot-6 Oliver Laxe, director of international feature nominee “Sirāt,” greeted one another at the lobby bar. The pair, who have been impossible to miss as two of the tallest people at various events throughout awards season, shared a warm, high-altitude embrace and Elordi introduced the French-born Laxe to his date for the Oscars: his mother, Melissa. — Josh Rottenberg
‘The Singers’ and ‘Two People Exchanging Saliva’ winners are happy to share their Oscars success
From left, producer Jack Piatt and director Sam A. Davis, makers of “The Singers,” pose with Natalie Musteata and Alexandre Singh, co-directors of “Two People Exchanging Saliva.” All of them won Oscars for live-action short.
(Kayla Bartkowski / Los Angeles Times)
Gasps erupted in the press room after presenter Kumail Nanjiani announced the seventh-ever tie in Academy Awards history Sunday evening, between live-action shorts “The Singers,” directed by Sam A. Davis and produced by Jack Piatt, and “Two People Exchanging Saliva,” directed by Alexandre Singh and Natalie Musteata.
Speaking to the press room after the ultra-rare event, Piatt was unbothered and even enthused by the outcome, saying he wished there could be a “five-way tie” among all the category’s nominees.
Davis agreed, confiding that he’d previously told the “Two People Exchanging Saliva” team “in confidence, that if we lost, I hope we lost to them.”
Shortly thereafter, Musteata said tying with “The Singers” folks was “such a dream.”
“Someone on Reddit asked us if we would be happy to share the award, and we were like, ‘Heck yeah, we would love to share it with another film that is equally beautiful and totally different.’ ” — Malia Mendez
Elle Fanning soothes Timothée Chalamet after lead actor Oscar goes to Michael B. Jordan
Elle Fanning talks with Stellan Skarsgård during the 98th Academy Awards. Timothée Chalamet was seated in front of Fanning during the show.
(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
When Michael B. Jordan walked off stage and the show went to commercial break, Timothée Chalamet, who was up against Jordan in the lead actor category, took a sip of his drink as Elle Fanning, sitting behind him, gave him a pat on the back.
Fanning talked to her “A Complete Unknown” co-star throughout the night, who barely turned around to look at her. Kylie Jenner kept rubbing and patting Chalamet’s hand while he nervously jiggled his right leg. — Yvonne Villarreal and Jessica Gelt
Autumn Durald Arkapaw receives standing ovation in press room after historic win
Autumn Durald Arkapaw accepts the Oscar for cinematography for “Sinners” — the first woman to win the award.
(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
“Sinners” shooter Autumn Durald Arkapaw on Sunday became the first woman to win the Oscar for cinematography. As she arrived backstage following her historic win, the press room erupted into applause, with many reporters delivering a standing ovation.
Arkapaw was equally thrilled, telling the room, “A lot of little girls that look like me will sleep really well tonight.”
“I heard Karen O say once at a concert… ‘You have to see you to be you,’” she said. “Ryan gives us, the women on this film, and our heads of department, he gives us those opportunities to shine and be ourselves and work in a creative environment where we’re leading.”
Such trust is rarely extended by directors, Arkapaw said, and she is grateful. — Malia Mendez
Sometimes, journalists indulge in myths and delusions they claim to decry.
This grating inclination has been on almost giddy display in the still evolving aftermath of United States President Donald Trump’s rash decision to join Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in launching a war with Iran.
Like falling dominoes, a “narrative” gathered momentum among the America’s “progressive” commentariat, insisting that Trump’s order to go to war offended large swaths of the MAGA movement and set off a seismic split in his ardent base.
It is a silly myth and a seductive delusion.
Sure, a handful of familiar MAGA personalities have grumbled that another Middle East conflict betrays the “America First” pledge that helped propel Trump back to the White House.
Conservative commentator Megyn Kelly has questioned whether the US is drifting, yet again, into an endless war without purpose or meaning. Podcaster Joe Rogan has talked about the conflict’s disastrous, unintended consequences. Former Fox News host Tucker Carlson has warned that the unprovoked attack could trigger chaos across an already volatile region.
Trump, of course, parried the backlash with trademark coarseness. He lashed out. He dismissed the naysayers. He mocked allies who briefly turned detractors.
Headlines blared that a domestic quarrel threatened to engulf his MAGA disciples in a “civil war.”
The idea that MAGA has fractured is fantasy. Disquiet is not rupture. Dissent is not rebellion.
The MAGA “movement” is not a conventional coalition held together by consensus around a coherent, considered set of principles or policies.
MAGA remains what it has always been: a political phenomenon built to burnish one man’s ego and narcissism. As long as that man is Trump, the “movement” bends to his designs and whims. It adjusts; and, inevitably, snaps back into loyal line.
That loyalty remains the movement’s signature force.
For nearly a decade, Trump has tested its limits. He has weathered scandals that would have devoured most politicians. Two impeachments. Criminal convictions. A litany of controversies, including his close and lengthy friendship with the architect of a worldwide sex trafficking ring, the notorious paedophile, Jeffrey Epstein.
Through it all, MAGA has, if anything, tightened its loving embrace of Trump.
The notion that a fraternal dispute over foreign policy would shatter the vice-like bond is absurd. That bond is emotion. It is visceral.
For his embittered supporters, Trump is the embodiment of grievance-fuelled defiance. He is a charismatic champion against enemies in Washington — the gilded establishment, the media, the global order who treats them with derision and contempt.
Within that parochial framework, Trump’s actions at home and abroad are filtered through the prism of fidelity. When Trump unleashes a war that he once opposed, his devout followers accept his shifting rationales — however obtuse or contradictory. They believe he sees threats others ignore. They believe he acts when others hesitate.
Indeed, polls confirm their steadfast confidence in Trump’s judgement and his enduring appeal.
The Republican Party has always harboured different instincts. Some supporters lean towards isolationism. Others favour aggressive displays of the America’s unparalleled power.
While there may be hints of unease among Republicans about the prospect of a long, costly war with Iran, that unease has not led, and likely will not lead, to a broad revolt anytime soon.
Trump’s standing within the Republican Party remains strong. His approval among Republican voters remains high. They trust him.
That trust trumps the simmering doubts raised by a small, albeit prominent, slice of MAGA fawning pundits and a few recalcitrant members of Congress.
Kelly knows it. Rogan knows it. Carlson knows it.
The trio understands that they operate inside a MAGA universe fashioned and controlled by Trump. Their popularity and influence depend on staying there. They know the defining rule of Trump’s gravitational pull: stray too far and you will be cast out.
Predictably, Carlson avoided escalation.
Instead, he declared his allegiance. He made plain that he still “loves” Trump. He reminded listeners that Trump had reshaped American politics.
Kelly and Rogan may question the risks and dangers of war, but neither would wage a sustained attack on the president. Neither would dare tell Trump’s loyalists to abandon him.
A fleeting disagreement over Trump’s reckless adventure in Iran will not translate into a lasting break.
Even the most high-profile MAGA hucksters recognise that confronting Trump invites retribution and disaster. Their audiences overlap. Their reach thrives in the same ideological ecosystem.
Picking an ultimately losing fight with the ecosystem’s vengeful anchor is rarely good business.
So, MAGA is, at the moment, experiencing a touch of turbulence. It will pass.
Which is why the constant search by establishment media for a dramatic MAGA schism keeps producing the standard result.
Nothing much changes.
Every time Trump sparks outrage, the same prediction appears. This time, the base will rebel. This time, the coalition will splinter.
This forecast is a tired ritual. It ignores the fundamental nature of the MAGA compact. That connection is not rooted in briefs or blueprints. It is a secular religion where the leader is never wrong.
Myopic scribes mistake a fracas for a collapse. They see tension and hope for a divorce. The believers are not preoccupied with the logistics of war or the mercurial logic of “America First”. They care about the man who gave them a voice.
Once the friction fades, the sceptics will retreat. They have nowhere else to go. The undeniable magnetism of Trump’s celebrity and command of MAGA reels most reluctant strays back.
To leave that agreeable orbit permanently is to vanish into irrelevance — a bleak fate for provocateurs who have forged lucrative careers amplifying Trump’s ignorance, intolerance, and fury.
The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera’s editorial stance.
Families displaced by Israeli airstrikes in southern Lebanon have found shelter at the Saints Peter and Paul Monastery in the village of Qattine. Clergy there opened their doors to those fleeing the violence, offering food, shelter and a place to pray as thousands across the south remain unable to return home.
BRIDESMAIDS star Wendi McClendon-Covey has revealed why she was missing from the cast reunion at the Oscars saying “I look like a melted candle.”
Fifteen years after its debut, the film‘s main stars gathered onstage at the 2026 awards ceremony for a hilarious reunion.
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Wendi revealed she had undergone a neck lift surgery and was unable to attendCredit: Instagram/wendimclendoncoveyMelissa McCarthy, Rose Byrne, Maya Rudolph, Kristen Wiig and Ellie Kemper gathered onstage at the 2026 awards ceremony for a hilarious reunionCredit: ReutersWendi played Rita in the comedy sensation BridesmaidsCredit: Alamy
“So I had to skip the Academy Awards. No drama. Everything is fine.”
A snap showed her lying down with a bandage wrapped around her head.
Fans flocked to comment and one wrote: “Sending some healing energy your way!”
Another added: “Gorgeous before and after.”
A third said: “Love your transparency. F-yeah! Some people can embrace that candle look but others…h*** no. Either way is right as long as it makes you happy. Big healing love!”
While a fourth wrote: “You’re such a sweet, kind, hilarious legend, shine on my friend.”
During the Oscars reunion Kirsten joked: “I cannot believe that it’s been 15 years. Now we are not good with numbers, but we figured out backstage that means we shot this movie in 1883.”
Each of them was then handed a note and claimed it was signed by A-list audience members like Leonardo DiCaprio or Stellan Skarsgard, who spoke about their good looks.
Maya opened hers and said: “Oh, this is strange. Well, mine says, ‘First of all, you ladies look extremely beautiful tonight.’ Thank you. ‘You’re aging well.’ Signed, Stellan Skarsgård.”
Kirsten read a fake note from Benicio Del Toro which said “You guys have been talking for a long time. This bit could have been a lot shorter.
Who won on Hollywood’s biggest night?
One Battle After Another ran away with the night with six Oscars, while Sinners, which was nominated for a record-breaking 16 awards, came away with four. See the full winners list below:
Production Design: Frankenstein, Tamara Deverell and Shane Vieau
Sound: F1, Gareth John, Al Nelson, Gwendolyn Yates Whittle, Gary A. Rizzo and Juan Peralta
Visual Effects: Avatar: Fire and Ash, Joe Letteri, Richard Baneham, Eric Saindon and Daniel Barrett
Casting: One Battle After Another, Cassandra Kulukundis
“This is really going on and on. You aren’t even talking about score. That’s all. Love ya lots, Benicio Del Toro. Or for those of you who refuse to learn Spanish, it’s Benedict of the Bull.”
Directed by Paul Feig, Bridesmaids was written by Kirsten Wiig and Annie Mumolo, who were nominated for Best Original Screenplay when the film was released in 2011.
The film gained cult status and went on to gross over $300 million worldwide.
The film gained cult status and went on to gross over $300 million worldwideCredit: AlamyThe film was nominated for Best Original Screenplay when it was released in 2011Credit: AlamyMelissa McCarthy earned her first Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress in BridesmaidsCredit: Shutterstock EditorialEach of the cast members were handed a note and claimed it was signed by A-list audience membersCredit: Getty
The Israeli army says its forces are striking key sites in southern Lebanon, as fierce clashes with Hezbollah continue near the town of Khiam.
Published On 16 Mar 202616 Mar 2026
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The Israeli military says its troops have begun ground operations in southern Lebanon as fighting against Hezbollah intensifies around the strategic southern town of Khiam.
At least three air strikes struck the city of Khiam, Al Jazeera Arabic reported on Monday.
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Khiam, a stronghold of Hezbollah, is strategically located and is seen as a gateway to southern Lebanon. The latest war started after Hezbollah fired rockets in response to the killing of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Hezbollah had not attacked Israel since the 2024 ceasefire despite repeated Israeli violations of the United States-brokered deal.
On Monday morning, two Israeli air raids targeted the town of Yater, Al Jazeera Arabic reported. There were no immediate reports of casualties or damage.
Israel also launched raids on Burj Qalawiya, Sultaniya and Chaqra, also in southern Lebanon, according to Al Jazeera Arabic. Two raids were also conducted on the towns of Qantara and as-Sawana.
The Israeli army, in a post on X, said on Monday that its troops in recent days were “focused on ground operations on key targets in southern Lebanon to expand the forward defence area”.
“This operation is part of the effort to establish the forward defence, which includes destroying terrorist infrastructure and eliminating terrorists,” it added.
Importance of Khiam
Khiam sits on high ground just a few kilometres from the Israeli border and the Litani River, giving it a commanding view over northern Israel and nearby Lebanese plains.
Al Jazeera’s Zeina Khodr said a “major battle was under way” in and around Khiam. “The elevation of Khiam for both sides gives them a strategic advantage,” she said.
Moreover, Khodr noted the town lies on a “long and important junction … a road that leads to the eastern and western sectors of southern Lebanon”.
“One of the roads leads to the Bekaa Valley too in eastern Lebanon, another area where Hezbollah has influence,” she said.
“What Israel has been trying to do is really cut the supply lines and the difficult capabilities of Hezbollah, so it’s unable to bring in more weapons and fighters to areas south of the Litani River.”
More than 800,000 people, including women and children, have been forced to flee from their homes as the Israeli army issued evacuation orders for many neighbourhoods in southern Lebanon, as well as the capital, Beirut.
Israeli attacks in Lebanon have so far killed at least 850 people, among them 107 children and 66 women.
Katie Price appeared on Good Morning Britain on Monday, where she said no topic was ‘off limit’ during the bombshell interview
10:00, 16 Mar 2026Updated 10:12, 16 Mar 2026
Katie Price appeared on Good Morning Britain on Monday, where she said no topic was off limit (Image: ITV)
Katie Price appeared on Good Morning Britain on Monday to set the record straight on several details in her life, insisting no topic was ‘off limit’.
Katie, 47, recently left her family reeling when she announced she’d got hitched for the fourth time to businessman Lee Andrews, 43, who she had only known for a week. Her shocked mum and sisteronly found out after she announced the news on social media.
Since the reveal of her new relationship and marriage, the couple have been forced to hit back at a series of claims. Only recently, Katie spoke out to defend her husband Lee, hitting back at claims he’s a conman and insisting she has seen proof of his wealth.
Appearing on Monday’s Good Morning Britain, Katie encouraged hosts Susanna Reid and Ed Balls to grill her, insisting that no topic was ‘off limit’.
Real marriage date and Lee Andrews relationship
Katie said: “I’m doing really good. Really good. Really happy. I’m so excited to be here today for you to ask me anything you want”, adding: “The reason I say that is because there’s been so much speculation in the media, online, and no one can really hear my voice. So I’m glad I’ve got you guys. As you know, you can ask me anything.”
Talking about marrying Lee so quickly, she said: “Now, do you ever really know anyone? If you look at my past marriages, did I ever know they would be what they would be? And sometimes, I don’t think you can ever know who anyone is.”
She added: “So for me, I’ve gone through so much, as everyone knows, so much, so many different relationships. And I normally went from one to the other, to the other. And I recently, well, two years ago, I did relationships, healthy relationships”, adding that before then, she had always been in “toxic” relationships.
Katie continued: “But now, like two years ago, I now know signs of red flags. And you know, all of this, I’ve been there, done it. Now, I am older, I can make my own decisions. And there’s nothing to say that you have to wait for anything. So I’ve met Lee. It’s hard for anyone to understand.”
It was at this point that Katie revealed when she first met Lee, which was January, and when they got married, saying: “We got married two weeks ago. Although it looked like we did the ceremony in January, we did get engaged then.”
Lee has been accused of sending desperate voice notes of him begging for cash and complaining about surviving on 20 ready meals days before his lavish proposal to Katie in January and whirwild wedding. It has been claimed that in one voice note, Lee claims he’s “desperate” and “trying to survive”.
Lee has denied the claims in an Instagram post, simply commenting on a post making the claims: “This is not me”.
Meanwhile, Lee also took to his Instagram story to double down on claims that fake voice notes featuring his voice are circulating. He shared a screenshot of three Instagram accounts pretending to be him and wrote on top: “Warning Ignore the fake accounts and fake voice notes”.
This is a breaking showbiz story and is being constantly updated. Please refresh the page regularly to get the latest news, pictures and videos.You can also get email updates on the day’s biggest stories straight to your inbox by signing up for our newsletters.
Good Morning Britain continues on weekdays at 6am on ITV and ITV X.
For the latest showbiz, TV, movie and streaming news, go to the new **Everything Gossip** website.
ITV viewers were left frustrated during Sunday night’s broadcast of the Oscars as host Conan O’Brien was ‘drowned out’ by a technical glitchCredit: APHollywood’s A-list gathered in Beverly Hills for the exclusive bash to honour the best in film from the past yearCredit: Getty
However, it wasn’t all smooth sailing for the transatlantic stream – which was seemingly hit with technical difficulties just minutes in.
Taking to X to check whether it was a universal issue, one viewer wrote: “Is the itv oscar’s feed glitchy and weird for anyone else or is my tv screeching at me?”
“Omg ITV sort the sound outttt #Oscars,” said a second user.
A third wrote: “Is anyone else hearing an awful beeping sound on itv or are my speakers just f***ed #Oscars”.
“For everyone saying there are sound issues on ITV’s coverage of the #Oscars, it looks it’s not just us in the UK. People in other countries are complaining too so it must be,” said another.
The sharp beeping noise continued throughout Conan’s opening monologue, but appeared to be fixed by the time the first award came around.
During the show, presenter Jonathan was joined by a panel made up of presenter Elle Osili-Wood, actor Samson Kayo and social media star Fred Asquith.
They discussed the night’s red carpet and ceremony from the studio – providing commentary throughout the bash.
The exclusive bash closes off awards season and is known as the biggest night in Hollywood.
From Leonardo DiCaprio to Timothee Chalamet, the night’s nominees were out in full force as they hoped to take home one of the coveted gold gongs.
Conan returned to front the show for the second time, as a host of famous faces appeared on stage to give out awards.
Amongst the night’s big nominees were films such as Sinners, Frankenstein and Hamnet.
Who won on Hollywood’s biggest night?
One Battle After Another ran away with the night with six Oscars, while Sinners, which was nominated for a record-breaking 16 awards, came away with four. See the full winners list below:
Production Design: Frankenstein, Tamara Deverell and Shane Vieau
Sound: F1, Gareth John, Al Nelson, Gwendolyn Yates Whittle, Gary A. Rizzo and Juan Peralta
Visual Effects: Avatar: Fire and Ash, Joe Letteri, Richard Baneham, Eric Saindon and Daniel Barrett
Casting: One Battle After Another, Cassandra Kulukundis
For those watching in the UK, Jonathan Ross fronted a live broadcastCredit: ITVA sharp beeping noise came through for many viewers just minutes into the showCredit: AP
One Battle After Another was the big winner of the 98th Academy Awards, taking home six Oscars.
Paul Thomas Anderson’s black comedy about a has-been revolutionary won Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Supporting Actor, Best Film Editing, and Best Casting.
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Sinners, which entered the ceremony with a record 16 nominations, was the second-biggest winner of the night, with four awards.
Michael B Jordan earned Best Actor for his leading role, while director Ryan Coogler picked up his first Oscar for Original Screenplay.
In the acting categories, Jessie Buckley won Best Actress for Hamnet, marking her first Academy Award, while Amy Madigan was recognised as Best Supporting Actress for Weapons.
Elsewhere, the South Korean musical fantasy KPop Demon Hunters won two Oscars, while Frankenstein also secured two awards.
Here is the full list of winners:
Best Picture One Battle After Another
Best Actress Jessie Buckley, Hamnet
Best Actor Michael B Jordan, Sinners
Best Supporting Actress Amy Madigan, Weapons
Best Supporting Actor Sean Penn, One Battle After Another
Best director Paul Thomas Anderson, One Battle After Another
Best Original Score Ludwig Göransson, Sinners
Best Animated Film KPop Demon Hunters
Best International Feature Sentimental Value
Best Documentary Feature Mr Nobody Against Putin
Best Casting Cassandra Kulukundis, One Battle After Another
Best Sound Gareth John, Al Nelson, Gwendolyn Yates Whittle, Gary A Rizzo and Juan Peralta, F1
Best Original Screenplay Ryan Coogler, Sinners
Best Adapted Screenplay Paul Thomas Anderson, One Battle After Another
Best Documentary Short All the Empty Rooms
Best Live Action Short Film The Singers and Two People Exchanging Saliva (tie)
Best animated short film The Girl Who Cried Pearls
Best Music (Original Song): EJAE, Mark Sonnenblick, Joong Gyu Kwak, Yu Han Lee, Hee Dong Nam, Jeong Hoon Seo and Teddy Park for Golden, KPop Demon Hunters
Best Film Editing: Andy Jurgensen, One Battle After Another
Best Cinematography: Autumn Durald Arkapaw, Sinners
Best Production Design: Tamara Deverell and Shane Vieau, Frankenstein
Best Costume Design Kate Hawley, Frankenstein
Best Makeup and Hairstyling Mike Hill, Jordan Samuel and Cliona Furey, Frankenstein
Best Visual Effects Joe Letteri, Richard Baneham, Eric Saindon and Daniel Barrett, Avatar: Fire and Ash
Visual effects supervisor Eric Saindon, visual effects artist Richard Baneham, Daniel Barrett and visual effects supervisor Joe Letteri accept the award for Best Visual Effects for Avatar: Fire and Ash [Patrick T. Fallon/AFP]
Gaza City, the Gaza Strip – On February 28, Lama Abu Reida was just a few hours away from what she hoped would change the fate of her sick infant daughter, Alma.
The family had finally been informed that the baby girl – fewer than five months old and unable to breathe without an oxygen machine – was eligible for medical evacuation.
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The small travelling bag was packed, the medical documents in order, and Abu Rheida ready to go. All that remained was to exit the Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt and from there head to Jordan, where Alma could undergo a surgery that was not available in the Gaza Strip.
But just one day before the scheduled March 1 trip, Israel shut Gaza’s crossings “until further notice”, citing security reasons. The decision coincided with the launch of a joint military attack alongside the United States on Iran – and shattered Abu Rheida’s hopes.
“They told me the crossing had been closed without any warning because of the war with Iran,” the mother says in a choked voice.
Alma, who suffers from a lung cyst, has been at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, in southern Gaza, for more than three months now, with her mother staying by her side day and night.
“She cannot do without oxygen at all,” Abu Rheida says. “Without it, she becomes extremely exhausted.”
‘I don’t know what might happen’
The Rafah crossing, Gaza’s main gateway to the outside world, was closed for long periods during Israel’s genocidal war against Palestinians in the Strip that began in October 2023.
On February 1, Israel announced a limited reopening as part of a trial phase following a “ceasefire” with the Palestinian group Hamas. This allowed some movement under the agreement’s arrangements, particularly for medical cases.
But only a few patients were able to travel, and thousands remained on waiting lists until the February 28 closure, which stopped the transfer of wounded patients abroad, as well as medical evacuations of patients like Alma.
Doctors had told her family the only option for Alma, who was previously admitted to intensive care three times within a month, was to have surgery abroad to remove the cyst from the lung. While not particularly risky, such an operation cannot be done inside Gaza due to limited medical resources.
“My daughter’s life depends on a single surgery, and afterwards she could live a completely normal life,” Abu Rheida says.
“If her travel is delayed any longer … I don’t know what might happen. Her condition is not reassuring,” she adds in despair.
On Sunday, Israeli authorities said the Rafah crossing will open again on Wednesday for ”limited movement of people” in both directions.
Hadeel Zorob’s late son, Sohaib [Courtesy of Hadeel Zorob/Al Jazeera]
‘The closure killed my children’
The very thing Abu Rheida fears is something Hadeel Zorob has already endured.
Zorob’s six-year-old son, Sohaib, died on March 1, 2025, while her eight-year-old daughter, Lana, passed away on February 18 last month. The two children suffered from a rare genetic disease that causes gradual deterioration in the body’s functions.
They were both waiting for medical referrals to travel abroad for treatment – but that never happened.
“I watched my children die slowly in front of my eyes, one after the other, without being able to do anything,” says Zorob, 32, breaking down in tears.
Lana was only a few days away from travelling before she passed away.
“My daughter’s travel had been scheduled around the same period when the crossing was later closed, but she died before that,” Zorob says.
“When the news of the crossing closure came, my grief for my daughter returned all over again as I remembered the many children who will suffer the same fate.”
Zorob says her children were still able to move and play relatively normally in the early stages of their illness.
Before Israel’s war on Gaza, both children were receiving specialised hospital treatment, which helped stabilise their condition to some extent. But as the Israeli attacks intensified, their condition gradually worsened until it reached a life-threatening stage. The collapse of Gaza’s healthcare system left the family struggling to access the medications they relied on.
“We even tried to bring the medicine from the West Bank, and I asked the Red Cross and the World Health Organization, but nothing worked,” Zorob says.
During the war, she and her family had to leave their home and move into a tent in the al-Mawasi area. The new displacament conditions made caring for the children much harder.
“Both were bedridden … in diapers, and their blood sugar needed regular monitoring. We had to give fluids and watch their food … all this in a tent with no basic necessities.”
Zorob says she feels like “going crazy” when she thinks that her children might have survived and improved if they were able to get treatment abroad.
“The closure of the crossings killed my children!” she adds, her voice filled with anguish. “The world gives no value to our lives or to the lives of our children … this has become something normal.”
Zorob says she is trying to stay strong for her third child, four-year-old Layan, despite the persisting pain.
“All I want is that what happened to my children does not happen to any other mother … that the crossing be reopened and that children and patients be allowed to travel.”
‘Is that too much to ask?’
According to the Health Ministry in Gaza, more than 20,000 patients and wounded people are waiting to travel abroad for medical treatment.
Among them are about 4,000 cancer patients in need of specialised care unavailable in Gaza, and roughly 4,500 children.
The lists also include around 440 “life-saving” cases needing urgent intervention and nearly 6,000 wounded people who require continued hospital care outside of Gaza.
The Al-Dameer Association for Human Rights has called the Rafah crossing’s closure a form of collective punishment for civilians in Gaza, warning that it “sentences more patients to death” and deepens Gaza’s humanitarian crisis.
Amal al-Talouli, 43, has been suffering from breast cancer for five years [Maram Humaid/Al Jazeera]
For Amal al-Talouli, the closure of the Rafah crossing was another devastating blow in her battle with cancer.
The 43-year-old has been suffering from breast cancer for about five years. Although she underwent treatment before the war, the disease returned and spread to other parts of her body, including the spine.
“Praise be to God, we accept our fate,” the mother of two says. “Still, why should our suffering worsen because we are prevented from travelling and the crossings are closed?”
Al-Talouli is currently living with relatives after losing her home in the Beit Lahiya project area, in northern Gaza, during the war.
Displacement was not an easy choice due to her health condition, she says. The situation is compounded by a severe shortage of medications and specialised medical staff – a reality also experienced by other cancer patients in Gaza.
“There is a shortage of everything,” al-Talouli says. “I developed osteoporosis and eye fluid from chemotherapy. Chemo needs good nutrition, but malnutrition and famine made it much harder.”
Al-Talouli says the shutdown of the crossings made things worse.
“[It] affects us very, very much. No medicines are entering, and no essential treatments are coming in,” says al-Talouli, whose name was on a waiting list to travel outside of Gaza for treatment.
She stresses that cancer patients in Gaza urgently need support.
“Now I only want the crossing to reopen so I can have a chance to recover and continue my life with my children,” she says. “Is that too much to ask?”
RITA Ora put on a rather daring display as she attended an Oscars afterparty on Sunday night.
The Hot Right Now singer, 35, went completely braless and left little to the imagination in a daring sheer dress and massive feathered hat at Vanity Fair’s star-studded Oscars afterparty.
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Rita Ora looked incredible on Sunday night as she posed up a storm at the Vanity Fair Oscars afterpartyCredit: GettyHer slender physique was on full displayCredit: GettyShe wore a huge dramatic feathered headpieceCredit: AP
Trailing behind her, the skirt of the dress even had a train, which also boasted of some embroidery.
There was also a massive bow at the back of her dress, which appeared to be of the silk fabric.
She completed the look with a massive “camp” feathered hat, which dominated the entire look.
Rita wore minimal makeup, a light pink rosy-colored lip and a silver-hued eye look.
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Her hair looked short and curled beneath her massive hat, and she added a pair of white pearl earrings.
Reacting to the stunning snaps of Rita’s outfit for the afterparty, one person penned on X, “Oh Rita Ora this is such a slay wow.”
“She ate this,” declared another.
“Sublime,” swooned a third.
While a fourth penned: “What a beautiful dress.”
“THE HEADPIECE IS CAMPPPP,” added a fifth.
Who won on Hollywood’s biggest night?
One Battle After Another ran away with the night with six Oscars, while Sinners, which was nominated for a record-breaking 16 awards, came away with four. See the full winners list below:
The homepage of South Korean shipping company Sinokor Merchant Marine (Janggeum Shipping) is shown in this screenshot. Captured by Asia Today from Sinokor website
March 16 (Asia Today) — A bold bet by a South Korean shipping heir on ultra-large oil tankers is paying off handsomely as the war involving Iran disrupts global energy markets and drives tanker demand sharply higher.
Bloomberg reported that Sinokor Merchant Marine, a major South Korean shipping company, positioned itself to profit from the crisis after securing a large fleet of very large crude carriers (VLCCs) months before the conflict escalated.
The strategy was led by Jeong Ga-hyun, a director at Sinokor Petrochemical and the son of Sinokor Chairman Jeong Tae-soon, according to the report.
Bloomberg described the move as an unprecedented large-scale bet in the global tanker market, executed well before the outbreak of the Iran conflict.
Tankers deployed to Gulf before war
On Jan. 29, weeks before the war erupted in late February, Sinokor reportedly deployed at least six empty VLCCs to the Persian Gulf, positioning them to wait for cargo.
After disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz pushed tanker demand and charter rates sharply higher, the strategy began generating massive returns.
The Strait of Hormuz is one of the world’s most critical energy chokepoints, handling roughly 20% of global oil shipments.
Tanker rates surge to $500,000 a day
With oil exports disrupted and storage facilities across the Middle East filling rapidly, oil producers have increasingly turned to tankers as floating storage units.
According to Bloomberg, Sinokor is now chartering vessels for about $500,000 per day, roughly ten times last year’s average tanker rates.
Industry estimates suggest that by late February the company controlled around 150 VLCCs, representing roughly 40% of available tankers not already tied up in sanctions or long-term contracts.
Quiet heir behind massive shipping strategy
Jeong is known in the shipping industry as the low-profile heir to one of South Korea’s major maritime families.
Bloomberg reported that he rarely appears publicly and is known internally for a military-style management approach. Industry anecdotes even describe him challenging employees and business partners to arm-wrestling contests.
Oil supply disruptions reshape tanker market
The Iran war has dramatically altered global oil transportation patterns, forcing ships to reroute and increasing the need for offshore storage.
Under those conditions, Sinokor’s aggressive tanker acquisition strategy is now being viewed as one of the biggest winners of the crisis, Bloomberg said.
WSJ: Sinokor among winners of Hormuz crisis
The Wall Street Journal earlier identified Sinokor as one of the companies benefiting from the Strait of Hormuz tensions.
According to the newspaper, the company purchased dozens of oil tankers and deployed some of them to the Gulf region even before the conflict intensified.
Sources told the Journal that Sinokor is leasing several vessels to ADNOC, the United Arab Emirates’ state-owned oil company, to be used as floating storage facilities.
These vessels can earn up to $500,000 per day in charter fees, the report said.
As land-based storage in Gulf oil-producing countries approaches capacity, producers have increasingly stored crude at sea. Drilling firms in Iraq and Kuwait have even slowed production due to storage shortages.
The WSJ also noted that Greek shipping magnate George Prokopiou adopted a similar strategy, sending at least five tankers to the Strait of Hormuz through his company Dynacom, which is reportedly earning up to $440,000 per day – about four times pre-war rates.
As anticipated, it ended up being One Battle After Another’s night at the 98th annual Academy Awards, with the political thriller carting away six Oscars out of a total of 13 nominations.
But while Paul Thomas Anderson’s magnum opus continued its march towards award-season domination, there were moments of genuine surprise and subversion in Sunday’s ceremony.
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Some of those moments had to do with the current political climate in the United States.
Host Conan O’Brien and his fellow presenters deftly avoided mentioning President Donald Trump by name, but their barbs took direct aim at his policies since returning to office.
Other surprises came from within the filmmaking community itself. For only the seventh time in Oscar history, a tie was announced: Two films had gotten an equal number of votes for Best Live Action Short.
As a result, both the surrealist thriller Two People Exchanging Saliva and the moody bar-room drama The Singers shared the Academy Award.
Here are six key takeaways from the night.
Actor Michael B Jordan holds the Oscar for Best Actor next to director Ryan Coogler, who earned an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay [Valerie Macon/AFP]
A two-horse race between Sinners and One Battle
The vampire film Sinners came into Sunday night’s ceremony with a record 16 Oscar nominations. But the big question of the night was: How many nods could it actually convert into wins?
Its biggest competition was, of course, Anderson’s One Battle After Another, which had the second highest tally of nominations.
Sinners director Ryan Coogler and Anderson were in direct competition in several top categories, including Best Picture and Best Director.
In both cases, Anderson came out ahead, though he acknowledged how fickle such awards can be.
“ I just want to say that, in 1975, the Oscar nominees for Best Picture were Dog Day Afternoon, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Jaws, Nashville and Barry Lyndon,” the four-time Best Director nominee said, listing films now considered to be Hollywood classics.
“There is no best among them. There is just what the mood might be that day.”
In the categories for Best Supporting Actor and Best Film Editing, One Battle After Another also triumphed, as well as for the inaugural award for Best Casting.
But in a sign of how well matched their two films were, both Coogler and Anderson emerged from the night with writing Oscars.
Anderson picked up Best Adapted Screenplay award for his use of the Thomas Pynchon novel Vineland, while Coogler made off with the Best Original Screenplay Oscar for Sinners, a work inspired by his uncle’s love of the blues.
US cinematographer Autumn Durald Arkapaw poses in the press room with her Oscar for Best Cinematography [Valerie Macon/AFP]
Jordan dunks on Chalamet in Best Actor race
Sinners, which won four Academy Awards overall, earned some of the most emotional, nail-biting victories of the night.
In the Best Cinematography category, for instance, Autumn Durald Arkapaw became the first woman to top the field.
It was her first nomination and first win, with Arkapaw besting veteran cinematographers like Marty Supreme’s Darius Khondji and Frankenstein’s Dan Laustsen, both multiple nominees.
Another big win for Sinners came in the form of Michael B Jordan, the actor whom Coogler has cast in every film since his directorial breakout in 2013’s Fruitvale Station.
Jordan, 39, was in a tight race for Best Actor with another young performer, 30-year-old Timothee Chalamet of the 1950s ping-pong drama Marty Supreme.
But Chalamet’s aggressive campaigning may have ultimately sabotaged his prospects. Multiple cracks were taken throughout the night at Chalamet’s recent comments disparaging opera and ballet.
“Nobody cares anymore” about either art form, Chalamet said in an interview last month.
“We can change society through art, through creativity, through theatre and ballet and also cinema,” director Alexandre Singh said pointedly during his acceptance speech for Best Live Action Short.
O’Brien, meanwhile, acknowledged the backlash with a joke about heightened security at the night’s Oscar ceremony.
“I’m told there are concerns about attacks from both the opera and ballet communities,” O’Brien said, before turning to Chalamet. “They’re just mad you left out jazz.”
Irish actress Jessie Buckley celebrates her win during the 98th Annual Academy Awards [AFP]
A conga line of snubs
Given the dominant performances from Sinners and One Battle After Another, plenty of critically acclaimed films left empty-handed, or nearly so.
Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein, as expected, earned three wins in technical categories, including Best Production Design, Best Costumes and Best Hairstyling and Makeup.
Netflix’s smash hit KPop Demon Hunters, meanwhile, also fulfilled expectations that it would dominate in its categories, Best Animated Feature and Best Original Song.
But then there were former frontrunners like Hamnet that failed to generate much traction, including for director Chloe Zhao, a past Oscar winner. Out of eight nominations total, it only came away with one win: a Best Actress trophy for Irish performer Jessie Buckley.
Marty Supreme and the Brazilian film The Secret Agent fared worse, however. Despite having nine nominations and being considered an early shoo-in for Best Actor, Marty Supreme scored no wins.
The Secret Agent, which swept the Best Actor and Best Director categories at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival, also earned nothing at this year’s Oscars.
Same was true for the quirky kidnapping drama Bugonia, from Oscar darling Yorgos Lanthimos.
South Korean-US singer Ejae poses with the Oscar for Best Original Song for the film KPop Demon Hunters[Angela Weiss/AFP]
Fears about artificial intelligence
The ceremony, however, did occasionally veer away from the competition between the films to discuss issues facing the film industry and the country as a whole.
Among those was the creeping growth of artificial intelligence (AI) in the creative sector.
In the weeks leading up to the 98th Oscars, an AI-generated video clip had gone viral, appearing to show Hollywood icons Brad Pitt and Tom Cruise in a rooftop brawl worthy of a James Bond movie.
The clip had been generated through AI software developed by the Chinese firm ByteDance, and Hollywood leaders quickly denounced it as a threat to their livelihood, not to mention a copyright infringement.
Those concerns reverberated on the Oscar stage on Sunday, with O’Brien and others addressing the growing use of AI.
“Tonight we are celebrating people, not AI, because animation – it’s more than a prompt,” actor Will Arnett said emphatically as he introduced the animation awards.
O’Brien, meanwhile, joked that, by next year, his hosting gig would be taken by “a Waymo in a tux”.
Host Conan O’Brien performs onstage during the 98th Annual Academy Awards [Patrick T Fallon/AFP]
Trump skewered for threatening free speech
Another concern looming over the night’s Oscar ceremony came in the form of President Donald Trump, who has courted controversy by launching deadly military attacks in Venezuela and Iran, as well as leading a violent immigration crackdown in the US.
At no point was Trump mentioned by name. But his leadership was alluded to throughout the night.
O’Brien, the host, set the tone early on with his oblique jabs at the Republican president in his opening monologue.
“When I hosted last year, Los Angeles was on fire,” the two-time Oscar emcee said in remarks dripping with sarcasm. “But this year, everything’s going great.”
Fellow comedian Jimmy Kimmel was even more direct. Last September, his show was briefly suspended after Trump criticised the comedian.
The head of the Federal Communications Commission, a Trump appointee, subsequently threatened the broadcasting license of the TV channel Kimmel performs on.
“There are some countries whose leaders don’t support free speech. I’m not at liberty to say which. Let’s just leave it at North Korea and CBS,” Kimmel quipped, referring to another channel that cancelled a fellow late-night comedy show.
Several filmmakers honoured at the Oscars likewise waded into the controversies surrounding Trump.
Best Documentary Feature winner David Borenstein, for instance, implied a parallel between his film — an exploration of authoritarianism in Russia — and what is currently happening in the US.
“Mr Nobody against Putin is about how you lose your country,” Borenstein explained.
“What we saw when working with this footage is that you lose it through countless small little acts of complicity: when we act complicit, when a government murders people on the streets of our major cities, when we don’t say anything, when oligarchs take over the media.”
Indian actress Priyanka Chopra and Spanish actor Javier Bardem present the award for Best International Feature Film [Patrick T Fallon/AFP]
Political speeches avoid mention of Iran war
The Oscars come roughly seven months ahead of the pivotal midterm elections in the US, which could see Trump’s Republican Party lose its majorities in Congress.
But while several filmmakers did hint at their anti-Trump stances, few explicitly denounced his policies.
For example, Norway’s Joaquim Trier, the winner of the Best International Feature category, veiled his criticism in a James Baldwin quote about the duty to protect children.
“Let’s not vote for politicians who don’t take this seriously into account,” Trier said.
No artist during the night referenced the US and Israeli war against Iran either, though its effects were felt among the participants of this year’s Oscar crop.
Writer-director Jafar Panahi, whose work was up for two Oscars on Sunday, has already said he plans to return to his native Iran after the awards season concludes.
Meanwhile, Iranian politician Sara Shahverdi — the subject of a nominee in the Best Documentary Short category — was prevented from attending the Oscars at all due to Trump’s ban on visas for 39 countries.
Palestinian actor Motaz Malhees, star of the Oscar nominee The Voice of Hind Rajab, likewise told media outlets he could not be present at the ceremony due to the travel ban.
The most pointed acknowledgements of the US-led and US-backed conflicts in the world were brief. When Spanish actor Javier Barden took the Oscar stage to present an award, he offered up six words, “No to war, and free Palestine!”
Russian filmmaker Pavel Talankin, meanwhile, made a similar appeal to the audience. “In the name of our future, in the name of all of our children, stop all of these wars now,” he said.
But by and large, the Oscar winners and presenters kept their remarks vague, emphasising global unity over political criticism.
“If I can be serious for just a moment, everyone watching right now around the world is all too aware that these are very chaotic, frightening times,” O’Brien told the audience at the outset of the night.
“It is at moments like these that I believe that the Oscars are particularly resonant. Check it out. Thirty-one countries across six continents are represented this evening, and every film we salute is the product of thousands of people speaking different languages.”
Cinema, he and others argued, transcended borders. The talent on stage was not the US’s alone.
