ready

Iran says it is ready to counter any US-Israeli attacks, insisting its military capabilities remain intact despite Donald Trump’s claims they’ve been ‘decimated.’

At the start of February, South African Sports Minister Gayton McKenzie was forced to clarify remarks from his deputy that South Africa was set to step in as Wafcon hosts, adding further fuel to talk of a potential switch from Morocco.

McKenzie went on to say that “South Africa has expressed its willingness to support Caf if required, should alternative hosting arrangements for the 2026 Wafcon become necessary”.

In response, Caf president Patrice Motsepe said “many” other nations were interested in hosting Wafcon but could not because they wanted to alter the dates of the tournament.

Motsepe went on to insist “we can’t change the dates” – a comment which has aged poorly, especially as this is not the first time Wafcon has been shunted around Africa’s footballing calendar, leading to accusations that women’s football is not seen as a priority.

While the men’s Afcon was merely delayed by the coronavirus pandemic, Wafcon 2020 was cancelled entirely. The 2024 edition was finally played last July, having been postponed for a year.

This time around, with only 12 days’ notice given, teams were in the final stages of their preparations. Ghana’s players, for example, were already in a training camp in the UAE.

“It just wouldn’t happen for other tournaments in women’s football – and especially in men’s football,” Ashleigh Plumptre told Sportsworld on the BBC World Service.

The Nigeria defender, who was part of the Super Falcons side who secured a record-breaking 10th title last July, says the fact that the 2026 tournament – the first to feature 16 teams – will double up as qualifying for next year’s Fifa Women’s World Cup in Brazil makes the late postponement more distressing.

“Many teams haven’t even been in the Afcon before, never mind had the chance to qualify for a World Cup. It also helps them financially,” Plumptre added.

“All I can do, and I’ve almost probably been forced to be put in this position, is just take day by day and prepare myself in the best way that I can because there’s so many things I’ve had to get accustomed to, and many other players in African football, where you kind of just have to go with it, because you have no other choice.”

WASHINGTON — The Senate is on track to confirm Markwayne Mullin as Department of Homeland Security secretary, President Trump’s nominee to take over the embattled department after firing Kristi Noem amid a public backlash over the administration’s immigration enforcement and mass deportation operations.

Mullin, a Republican senator from Oklahoma known for his close friendship with Trump, has tried to present himself as a steady hand, saying that his goal as secretary would be to get the department off the front page of the news. But Mullin tangled with Republican Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, the chairman of the Homeland Security Committee, who questioned Mullin’s character and temperament during last week’s combative confirmation hearing.

Senators advanced Mullin’s nomination on Sunday during a rare weekend session on a largely party-line vote, and confirmation is expected late Monday.

He would take the helm of the department at a difficult time. The department’s routine funding has been shut down, leading to long waits at U.S. airports during the busy spring break travel season, as Democrats demand changes in immigration enforcement operations after the deaths of two U.S. citizens during protests this year in Minneapolis.

Trump announced over the weekend he’s ordering immigration officers to help Transportation Security Administration agents, which lawmakers and others warned could escalate tensions at crowded airports.
Although the senator comes to the position after more than a dozen years in Congress, and with the management experience of running an expanding family plumbing business in Oklahoma, he has not been seen as a key force in immigration issues.

A former mixed martial arts fighter and collegiate wrestler who has led early-morning workout sessions in the members-only House gym, he became close with members of both parties and is often seen as a negotiator in partisan Washington.

It is his loyalty to Trump that landed him the job, and he’s not expected to sway from the president’s approach. Mullin was a strong supporter of Trump’s immigration agenda and ICE officers before being tapped for the Homeland Security job.

“I can have different opinions with everybody in this room, but as secretary of homeland I’ll be protecting everybody,” Mullin said during his confirmation hearing.

Santana writes for the Associated Press.

US President Trump, who cut off oil supplies to Cuba after abducting Venezuela’s President Maduro, has threatened to take over the island-nation.

The Cuban government has said it is prepared for any potential United States attacks as the island-nation begins to recover from yet another blackout under a punishing oil blockade imposed by Washington that has pushed its economy to the brink.

Deputy Foreign Minister Carlos Fernandez de Cossio responded on Sunday to US President Donald Trump’s threats this week to take over Cuba, insisting that it had “historically been ready to mobilise as a nation for military aggression”.

“We don’t believe it is something that is probable, but we would be naive if we do not prepare,” de Cossio told NBC’s Meet the Press.

His comments were aired a day after the latest collapse of the country’s ageing nationwide grid that had left millions of people in the dark. Saturday’s outage was the second in the past week and the third in March.

The state-run Electric Union and the Ministry of Energy and Mines said some 72,000 customers in the capital, Havana, including five hospitals, had electricity again early on Sunday. But the number represented only a fraction of Havana’s total population of approximately two million.

The Cuban Electric Union, which reports to the Ministry of Energy and Mines, said the total disconnection of the national system was caused by an unexpected shutdown of a generation unit at the Nuevitas thermoelectric plant in Camaguey province, without providing details on the specific cause of the failure.

Trump, who started blocking oil from reaching the island after abducting Cuba’s ally, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, early this year, has warned potential oil exporters that they could face high tariffs.

According to President Miguel Diaz-Canel, Cuba has not received oil from foreign suppliers for three months. The country produces barely 40 percent of the fuel it needs to power its economy.

On March 16, Trump escalated his rhetoric against Cuba, arguing the leadership was on the verge of collapse and saying he expected to have the “honour” of taking the country.

De Cossio denied that the nature, structure, or makeup of the Cuban government was up for negotiation in what Havana has called a “serious and responsible” dialogue with Washington launched earlier this month. He added that a change of the ruling system was “absolutely” off the table in discussions.

This week, General Francis Donovan, head of the US Southern Command overseeing armed forces in Latin America, told lawmakers at a US Senate hearing on Trump’s military action in the region that troops were not rehearsing for an invasion of Cuba or actively preparing to take over the Communist-run island.

But, he added, the US stood ready to address any threats to the US embassy, to defend its base at Guantanamo Bay, and aid US government efforts to address any mass migration from the island, if needed.

The Cuban government reportedly refused a request by the embassy in Havana to allow it to import diesel for its generators in response to the oil blockade, The Associated Press reported on Saturday, citing two US officials.

Scream queen Samara Weaving has an extraordinary yell: shrill, feral and ferocious, like a mongoose before it goes on the attack. Its vibrato fury bursts out only when she’s fighting for her life. Otherwise, her newly wed (and newly widowed) Grace MacCaullay stays quiet when being hunted, hence surviving a killer game of hide-and-go-seek in Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett’s 2019 hit “Ready or Not,” only to be forced to play again in their echoey sequel “Ready or Not 2: Here I Come.”

In the tradition of “Halloween II,” this one picks up the very second the last one ended. Grace, her white lace dress blackened with blood, is smoking a cigarette outside of an incinerated mansion that belongs to her in-laws, the Le Domas, who are all dead. On this bride’s wedding night, her groom permitted his relatives to sacrifice her to a demon, believing the lore that a wicked spirit named Le Bail gave the family its staggering fortune. They failed; she triumphed.

The first film teased the idea that the family might be superstitious crackpots only to merrily reveal at the climax that the devil is actually real — and that, when disappointed, he makes his minions explode like a shaken bottle of Dom Pérignon. That gag no longer comes as a total shock, but returning screenwriters Guy Busick and R. Christopher Murphy find that the suspense of who is going to pop, and when and why, works just as well. “It’s always surprising,” Grace says with grim humor. (Between this and “Sirāt,” human combustion is the morbid punchline of the year.)

This very silly slasher doesn’t take much seriously, although I appreciated that once Grace exhales her tobacco, passes out and comes to in a hospital bed, she’s been handcuffed to the railing by a detective (Grant Nickalls) who wants to arrest her on suspicion of arson and murder. One real-world rule holds true: Someone’s gotta take the fall when this many rich people die, even if it’s their victim.

Now, four more posh families want to get in good with Le Bail by competing to see who can kill Grace first. Did the screenwriters toss around a dozen other playground games — killer dodgeball, killer cornhole, killer freeze tag — before sticking with the same hide-and-seek set-up? The only change is that there’s more of everything, including more prey as Grace’s estranged sister Faith (Kathryn Newton) gets yoked into the action, grousing that her sibling’s “negative” energy has once again upended her life.

The host of the massacre is the powerful tycoon Chester Danforth (filmmaker David Cronenberg), a hotel and casino impresario, who entrusts the actual event planning to his adult children, twins Ursula and Titus (Sarah Michelle Gellar and Shawn Hatosy). The director of “The Fly” and “Videodrome” isn’t in the film long, but he bequeaths prestige upon these splat-hijinks that they don’t quite deserve. The paterfamilias of gut-wrenchingly emotional body horror would never make a movie like this himself, although I do think he’d be impressed when the visual-effects team makes a human face dissolve like a bath bomb.

The rest of the ensemble represents titans of some vague industry or another from around the globe: the Rajans of London, the El Caídos of Madrid and the Wans of Shanghai, each arriving with multiple family members as backup. A mobbed-up type, Wilkinson (Kevin Durand) of Atlantic City, also pursues Grace as a solo renegade. There’s not much comic zing in the idea that a handful of selfish families rule the world. Still, it’s amusing to watch these soulless ghouls refer to Grace and Faith as “things” and shrug off each other’s deaths, too. Generation by generation, this greedy lot appears to be getting lazier, intoning “Hail Satan” as offhandedly as ordering their butler to fetch them a martini.

Individual characters don’t pop (except, of course, when they quite literally do). The movie would be a bit more interesting if we knew something about each family’s backstory. The one teasing bit of historical intrigue comes when Le Bail’s lawyer (Elijah Wood) insists that the rules state each clan must attack Grace and Faith using weapons from the era in which their ancestors made their satanic pact. It never gets mentioned again, but I spun restless fictions seeing the Danforths stab the girls with railroad spikes while Olivia Cheng’s more modern Chinese heiress chased them with a drone.

There’s still an awful lot of random gunfire and not much enticement to hang onto, nor any sort of a story in this dashed-off, deadly spin on “Succession.” I’ll note that the demon is a more honest and fair negotiator than his vassals, who occasionally cheat and are punished in exactly the way you’re hoping to see.

Hatosy’s Titus is the Danforths’ disappointing fail son and the actor keeps his face in a delightfully foolish little pout. But Titus’ fever to prove that he’s his own man makes him unpredictable and dangerous — and makes him the only villain with more layers than one. Still, my favorite of the ensemble is Maia Jae’s Francesca El Caído, the jilted former lover of Grace’s late husband, who struts into the film like a hellcat, fighting for her own ego as much as Le Bail’s tempting offer of world domination. Her sloppy showdown with Grace is the action highlight.

None of this is scary. The directors, who have also dabbled in the “Scream” franchise, would rather get a laugh than a gasp. Their favorite move is a gasp-laugh, as when they flash a gruesome image on screen that’s so disgusting you can’t help but giggle.

Yet, the prankish tone keeps Grace from having much of a personality, other than a rebellious screw this. Whenever a scene gives her a chance to catch her breath, it squanders it on a go-nowhere running joke about her desperate search for a cigarette.

At least Weaving has her scream and Newton, her impressive ability to take punishment. While new to this particular series, Newton is a skilled cartographer of comedy-horror terrain as the star of “Freaky,” “Lisa Frankenstein,” and the directors’ previous film, “Abigail.” Her kooky chipmunk moxie lets her get through any script relatively unscathed, including this one. And she has one of the best laugh lines in the movie when she bats her eyes at the baddies and tries to placate them with, “You guys seem like good people.”

The sisters’ mutual antagonism has a few clever beats, like when they bicker over who had the superior working-class restaurant job, Grace waiting tables or Faith as a hostess. But the few times they’re forced to play their hurt feelings sincerely are as forced as the moment when Grace zips her gory wedding gown back on before it’s even been washed.

Nevertheless, kudos to the costume team for a different outfit that Grace wears in the second half of the film that’s an absolute jaw-dropper of goth couture with black netting and a tiara. It pairs majestically with Weaving’s defiant chin and gleaming eyes. Despite this sequel’s thin and rote stretches, it once again closes strong with a few images that will stick in your head for at least a week or two. No spoilers, but it’s no coincidence that “Here I Come” finally gets more interesting once it tires of hide and seek. Finding a fresh plot twist is the only way it ekes out a draw.

The U.S. Navy is not yet ready to escort oil tankers through the Strait of Hormuz, but it will happen. This is the synopsis provided by U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright in an interview with CNBC. The development comes as Iran continues to pummel international shipping in and around the critical channel, which the new Iranian supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, vows to keep closed.

“It’ll happen relatively soon, but it can’t happen now,” Wright said, of the planned naval escort mission. “We’re simply not ready. All of our military assets right now are focused on destroying Iran’s offensive capabilities and the manufacturing industry that supplies their offensive capabilities.” Wright added that the Navy should be able to escort tankers through the strait by the end of this month.

Khamenei, it appears, is also resolute in his plan to keep the strait closed to all maritime traffic, reportedly having turned down approaches from several countries that were seeking an end to the attacks.

U.S. President Donald Trump said on March 3 that “the United States Navy will begin escorting tankers through the Strait of Hormuz, as soon as possible.”

Putting a date of the end of this month on the escort mission is certain to trouble markets that are already feeling the pressure of the conflict. At the very least, this is an indicator that the war or its hostile aftermath will continue for weeks to come.

Equally pessimistically, there have been reports from analysts suggesting that fully reopening the strait may require some kind of ground operation to seize the Iranian coastline adjacent to it.

“Strategic priorities, like opening the Strait of Hormuz and securing what remains of Iran’s nuclear stockpile, will likely require some ground troops if no diplomatic options are pursued,” Brian Katulis, a senior fellow at the Middle East Institute, told The Wall Street Journal. “What we are looking at is potentially a very messy situation.”

Even without boots on the ground, which now seems like a remote prospect, running a tanker-escort mission, which would involve convoys protected by warships and accompanied by mine-clearing assets, is fraught with difficulty. Military unwillingness to take on missions of this kind is an issue we have explored in the past at TWZ.

The warships involved in any such endeavor would also be at extreme risk, especially from Iranian ground-mobile anti-ship missiles, which are relatively small and can be easily disguised in utility trucks. Eliminating that threat is one potential driver for a ground operation along the coast of the strait.

The U.S. military has made extensive efforts in recent days to remove the Iranian minelaying capability, but, according to the U.K. Defense Secretary, there are now increasing signs that Iran may have started mining the strait.

The Ambrey maritime security firm told us that a Malta-flagged crude oil tanker and another merchant vessel were targeted in an attack in Al Basrah Anchorage, Iraq. One fatality was reported. At least 38 individuals were rescued from both vessels according to the Iraq Port Authority, with further search and rescue operations ongoing as of this morning.

Video footage of the incident shows a vessel engulfed in fire with a large plume of smoke rising from the area of impact. Fire can also be seen in the water as a result of the oil spill.

Unverified reports state that the two tankers were struck by uncrewed surface vehicles (USVs).

Iraq’s State Organization for Marketing of Oil identified the two vessels as crude oil tanker Safesea Vishnu and the combined chemical and oil tanker Zefyros. While the Zefyros is Malta-flagged, the Safesea Vishnu is owned by a U.S. company but was sailing under the Marshall Islands flag. A dramatic video has appeared that is said to show the moment of the explosion that targeted the Safesea Vishnu.

In a statement, the IRGC said that it considered the Safesea Vishnu as an asset of the U.S. military and claims that it was struck after ignoring repeated warnings and alerts from the IRGC Navy.

Ambrey also reports that a container vessel was struck by an unknown projectile 38 nautical miles north-northeast of Jebel Ali, United Arab Emirates. The strike was reported to have caused a small fire on board the vessel, and the crew was reported to be safe.

Another vessel, the Japanese-flagged container ship One Majesty, was reportedly also damaged while anchored in the Persian Gulf. The damage was only discovered later, around 60 miles from the Strait of Hormuz. There were no reports of casualties.

The vessel seen burning in the video below, from the perspective of crew members who evacuated on a liferaft, is the Thai-flagged cargo vessel, Mayuree Naree Bangkok, which was attacked near the Strait of Hormuz yesterday.

The United States military is “not ready” to accompany oil ships through the Strait of Hormuz, a top official in President Donald Trump’s administration says as Iran continues to block the strategic waterway.

US Energy Secretary Chris Wright told the CNBC business news channel on Thursday that the markets are experiencing a “short-term disruption”, predicting that the war would go on for “weeks, not months”.

Despite Trump’s repeated threats, Iran has largely succeeded in shutting down the strait, which links the Gulf to the Indian Ocean. The closure has sent oil prices soaring.

Wright described the effects of the crisis as “short-term pain for long-term gain”, arguing that the US is “destroying” Iran’s ability to threaten the energy market.

Last week, Trump suggested that the US Navy would escort ships through the Gulf, but Wright said on Thursday that the move “can’t happen now”.

“We’re simply not ready. All of our military assets right now are focused on destroying Iran’s offensive capabilities and the manufacturing industry that supplies their offensive capabilities,” the energy secretary said.

“We don’t want this to be a brush-off for a year or two. We want to permanently destroy their ability to build missiles, to build roads, to have a nuclear programme.”

His comments came as Iran’s new supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, affirmed in his first public comment since being selected to succeed his assassinated father, Ali Khamenei, that the Strait of Hormuz should remain closed during the war.

“The will of the people is to continue effective and deterrent defence,” Khamenei said in a written statement. “The tactic of closing the Strait of Hormuz must also continue to be used.”

The Iranian military has said it would “welcome” the US Navy escorting oil ships, suggesting it is prepared to strike US forces in the narrow waterway.

On Wednesday, three commercial vessels were attacked near the strait.

Wright announced earlier this week on social media that the US Navy had escorted an oil ship through the strait, then quickly deleted the post. The White House subsequently confirmed that the claim was not true.

It is not clear why the statement was released and then retracted.

Assurances by US officials that Washington would open the strait have temporarily calmed markets, only for prices to spike again.

The price of a barrel of oil peaked at about $120 on Sunday, up from about $70 before the US and Israel launched the war on February 28. It has been yo-yoing between $80 and $100 for the past few days.

In addition to the marine blockade, Iran has targeted oil installations across the Gulf.

As one of the world’s largest oil producers, the US is largely self-sufficient. But possible shortages in Asia and Europe have put a strain on prices globally.

According to data from the American Automobile Association, the average price of one gallon (3.78 litres) of petrol in the US is now $3.60, up from $2.94 last month.

Rising energy prices could fuel inflation and affect the cost of basic goods, including food.

But Trump suggested on Thursday that the US is benefitting from skyrocketing oil prices.

“The United States is the largest Oil Producer in the World, by far, so when oil prices go up, we make a lot of money,” the US president wrote in a social media post.

“BUT, of far greater interest and importance to me, as President, is stopping an evil Empire, Iran, from having Nuclear Weapons, and destroying the Middle East and, indeed, the World.”

Iran denies seeking a nuclear weapon, and Trump reiterated for months before the current conflict that US strikes against Iranian facilities in June had “obliterated” the country’s nuclear programme.

WASHINGTON — Cuba’s top diplomat in Washington says Havana is prepared to enter diplomatic talks with the United States, reiterating the country’s willingness to engage even as tensions escalate with President Trump asserting that the island nation’s government could soon collapse.

“We are ready to engage with the U.S. on the issues that are important for the bilateral relation, and to talk about those in which we have differences,” Ambassador Lianys Torres Rivera, who leads Cuba’s mission in Washington, told The Times on Wednesday.

Any dialogue would need to respect Cuba’s sovereignty and its “right to self-determination,” the ambassador said.

“We are sure that it is possible to find a solution,” she said.

Her comments in a wide-ranging interview come at a particularly volatile moment for Cuba, which is under mounting economic pressure after the Trump administration imposed an oil blockade that has choked off the island’s energy supplies.

The measures have deepened a humanitarian crisis and prompted Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel to call for an “urgent” overhaul to the country’s economic model.

The situation in Cuba worsened after U.S. forces removed Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro in January, allowing Washington to later cut off oil shipments from Venezuela to its longtime ally. The Trump administration later pressured other suppliers, including Mexico, to reduce deliveries.

“We are doing our best, and we are being very creative, but it has a serious impact,” Torres Rivera said of the blockade. “It is a collective punishment against the Cuban people.”

The White House this week framed Cuba’s worsening economic and humanitarian conditions as a potential opening to pressure Havana into negotiations.

“The country is obviously in a very weak place, economically speaking, the people are crying out for help, and the president believes and knows the Cuban regime wants a deal,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said during a news briefing Tuesday.

Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart (R-Florida) told the Miami Herald on Wednesday that the Trump administration had been having secret, high-level conversations with several people in former President Raul Castro’s inner circle, a similar approach that was taken in Venezuela before Maduro’s capture. (The operation to seize Maduro killed 32 Cuban officers stationed in the country.)

Cuban President Miguel Díaz -Canel, fourth from right, holds up a Cuban flag during a rally in Havana on Jan. 16, 2026, to protest the killing of Cuban officers during the U.S. operation that captured Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.

(Ramon Espinosa / Associated Press)

Another report by the USA Today this week said the Trump administration was close to announcing an economic deal with Cuba that would ease travel restrictions, among other things. A representative with the Cuban government declined to comment on the report.

The White House has not specified what a deal may look like. But Trump has said the United States is interested in a “friendly takeover” and has suggested that the move would allow Cubans to visit the island, a place that many Cuban exiles have worried about returning to while the current regime is in place.

“It is just a question of time before a lot of unbelievable people are going back to Cuba,” Trump said at an event last week.

Several news outlets have reported that the Justice Department is examining possible federal charges against officials within Cuba’s government, a move that could prompt a change in the island’s government.

Torres Rivera said she is aware of the reports but said the “judicial accusations” are an “instrument of political coercion without any legitimacy.”

“It is not something we are losing sleep over,” she said.

As for the potential negotiations, Torres Rivera did not provide specifics but talked about restoring diplomatic ties somewhat to how they existed during the Obama administration.

“We are neighbors,” she said. “We have common challenges, common threats, and we can speak about all that, and we can speak on the basis of respect for each other’s sovereignty and each other’s right of self-determination. We are ready for that.”

President Trump has approached diplomacy with Cuba with a harsher tone.

“As we achieve a historic transformation in Venezuela, we’re also looking forward to the great change that will soon be coming to Cuba,” Trump said Saturday, one week after U.S. and Israeli forces attacked Iran and killed Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

He added: “Cuba’s at the end of the line. They’re very much at the end of the line. They have no money. They have no oil. They have a bad philosophy. They have a bad regime that has been bad for a very long time.”

Trump said that he has put Secretary of State Marco Rubio in charge of leading the talks with Cuba and that he believes a “deal would be made very easily with Cuba.”

Torres Rivera did not offer an opinion on Rubio being tapped to lead the negotiations. Rubio is the son of Cuban immigrants who came to Florida three years before Castro’s brother, revolutionary Fidel Castro, rose to power in 1959. She reiterated that Cuba is “ready to engage” in talks regardless of who is leading them.

“We are not talking about persons, we are talking about the government and we are ready to engage with the U.S. to talk about the very important issues that we have in bilateral relations,” she said.

Travel expert Ash Bhardwaj said people who are still in the country should ‘prepare’

People affected by the Middle East conflict have been urged to gather a few essential items and keep them “ready to go” amid the ongoing war in Iran. Having these on hand will make sudden changes a lot less scary and chaotic, an expert has claimed.

Speaking on a recent episode of BBC Morning Live, travel expert Ash Bhardwaj said: “One of the best things you can always do is just make sure you have a grab bag. So, if you have to move quickly, you’ve got your essentials with you.”

Although it may look different for everyone, some things will likely be part of anyone’s emergency bag. Ash suggested that packing a ‘grab bag’ in advance could help during any panic that might set in during an emergency.

He said: “[That includes things like] passports, essential medicines and maybe any documents for travel insurance if you’ve got them printed out. If you’ve got kids, a change of underwear, a couple of t-shirts and some snacks.

“If you’ve got babies, and you’re no longer breastfeeding but still feeding them with formula or milk, get enough for 48 to 72 hours. This isn’t to scare you, it’s just so that you have actually thought everything through and it relaxes you.”

The broadcaster said that people should prepare and “plan for when the worst might happen”. Speaking to hotel staff can help point out emergency exits, procedures, and other important safety measures.

As of March 5, 2026, the Foreign Office advises against all but essential travel to the United Arab Emirates. There are other parts of the Middle East and surrounding areas that have also been listed as completely or partially unsafe for travel – read that latest round-up here.

The current situation in Iran caused tensions to erupt last week, on February 28, when the US and Israel launched extensive strikes. Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who had been in power since 1989, was killed during the initial wave of attacks.

The conflict has sparked travel chaos throughout parts of the Gulf region, including Dubai. For the most recent developments, click here for updates on travel and news.

In an update from March 5, Dubai’s Emirates Airline has announced it will operate over 100 flights on March 5 and 6 from Dubai. The airline said it will “continue to gradually build back its flying schedule, subject to airspace availability and all operational requirements being met”, adding that “safety is always our top priority”.