WASHINGTON — President Trump said Tuesday that he expects the United States to end its involvement in the war with Iran within three weeks, declaring there probably will be “no reason” for American forces to stay in the region even as top defense officials maintain Tehran’s military capabilities have not been fully eliminated.
Trump told reporters during an Oval Office event that he is confident the U.S. objectives in the conflict will be largely achieved by then, whether Iran makes a “deal” with the United States or not.
“If they come to the table that will be good, but it doesn’t matter whether they come or not,” Trump said. “We’ve set them back. It will take 15 to 20 years to rebuild what we have done to them.”
Trump added that he believes the threats to the Strait of Hormuz, a key oil route, will be “all cleared up” by the time the U.S. leaves the region. But if issues remain, he said, that will not be a problem for the United States.
“That’s not for us,” he said. “That will be for whoever is using the strait.”
Trump’s comments came hours after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said that, a month into the war, Iran still has the ability to launch offensive missiles, despite ongoing U.S. and Israeli efforts to weaken Tehran’s military capabilities and weapons programs.
“Yes, they will shoot some missiles, but we will shoot them down,” Hegseth told reporters at a Pentagon briefing, acknowledging the remaining threat.
The comment, made during the first public briefing on the conflict in nearly two weeks, underscored that despite weeks of intensive U.S. military operations and repeated assertions by Trump that Iran’s military has been “obliterated,” the threats posed by Iranian forces have not been fully eliminated.
Gen. Dan Caine, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters at the briefing that the U.S. military remains focused on “interdicting and destroying” Iran’s weapons warehouses and facilities.
“We’ve continued to do the work against Iran’s missile, drone and naval production facilities,” Caine said.
Although air and naval strikes have been the primary focus so far, U.S. officials have not ruled out the possibility of ground operations as thousands of American soldiers and Marines have begun arriving in the Middle East.
Hegseth said it is up to Trump to determine whether ground operations in Iran will become the next phase in the conflict, which the president has said he is open to ending through diplomatic talks.
Trump repeated over the weekend that Iran is “begging to make a deal” to end the war, but on Monday, the president threatened to target Iran’s power-generating plans and oil wells and even desalination plants if a “deal is not shortly reached.”
President Trump speaking Tuesday in the Oval Office.
(Alex Brandon / Associated Press)
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters Monday that the administration will “operate within the confines of the law,” when asked about Trump’s threat to target infrastructure that would potentially harm civilians.
Caine told reporters Tuesday that the U.S. would only “strike lawful targets” when asked about American military considerations for civilian targets.
“We are always thinking about those considerations and developing options to be able to mitigate those risks,” Caine said.
Since the start of the war, Iranian officials have condemned a series of U.S. military attacks that have hit schools, including a Feb. 28 strike at an elementary school that killed at least 175 people, many of them children.
As Trump issues a new wave of threats on key infrastructure, he has at the same time touted ongoing diplomatic talks with Iran and reportedly told aides he’s willing to end the war without resolving Iran’s de facto blockade of the Strait of Hormuz that has rattled global energy markets.
Americans have also felt the financial pinch because of the war when it comes to energy prices. Gasoline prices in the United States reached an average of $4 a gallon Tuesday, a price that Trump says Americans are willing to pay to endure because “they are also feeling a lot safer.”
“All I have to do is leave Iran, and I will be doing that very soon and, [prices] will come tumbling down,” Trump said.
Hegseth, for example, said those diplomatic talks are “very real,” but stressed that the military pressure will continue alongside those negotiations and that ground operations remain an option.
“Our adversary right now thinks there are 15 different ways we can come at them with boots on the ground. And guess what? There are,” Hegseth said. “If we needed to, we could execute those options on behalf of the president of the United States and this department, or maybe we don’t have to use them at all. Maybe negotiations will work.”
He said the goal was to remain “unpredictable.” Caine added that the presence of U.S. ground forces in the region can serve as a “pressure point” as diplomatic efforts continue.
As the hostilities continued in the region on Tuesday, the State Department warned American citizens in Saudi Arabia that U.S. officials were “tracking reports of threats against locations where American citizens gather.
“We advise U.S. citizens that hotels and other gathering points including U.S. businesses and U.S. educational institutions may be potential targets,” officials wrote in a new warning.
And in Rome, Pope Leo XIV told reporters that he hopes Trump is “looking for an offramp” to end the war in Iran and made an appeal to “decrease the amount of violence,” according to the Associated Press.
Meanwhile, Trump administration officials have faced challenges in securing support from some U.S. allies, an issue that Hegseth and the president have publicly pointed out.
On Tuesday, Trump complained that countries have “refused to get involved” in the war and efforts to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
U.S. allies’ access to oil has been affected by Iran’s chokehold on the key waterway as a result of the joint operation launched by U.S. and Israel. But now, Trump wants those countries to deal with the strait.
“All of those countries that can’t get jet fuel because of the Strait of Hormuz, like the United Kingdom, which refused to get involved in the decapitation of Iran, I have a suggestion for you: Number 1, buy from the U.S., we have plenty, and Number 2, build up some delayed courage, go to the Strait, and just TAKE IT,” Trump wrote on his social media website.
Trump added that countries will have to “start learning how to fight” for themselves.
“The U.S.A. won’t be there to help you anymore, just like you weren’t there for us,” Trump wrote. “Iran has been, essentially, decimated. The hard part is done. Go get your own oil!”
In a separate post, Trump singled out France for barring Israeli military planes from flying over its airspace.
“The USA will REMEMBER!!!” Trump posted on his social media website.
On Tuesday, the Italian and U.K. governments reportedly restricted U.S. warplanes from landing in their military bases.
At the Pentagon, Hegseth acknowledged that the U.S. military has faced “roadblocks or hesitations” from U.S. allies when asking for assistance or use of their bases — and said the president is simply noting that “we don’t have much of an alliance.”
“A lot has been shown to the world about what our allies would be willing to do for the United States of America when we undertake an effort of this scope on behalf of the free world,” Hegseth said.
Residents living near Erbil’s international airport in northern Iraq, say falling drone debris has damaged vehicles and properties amid the escalating war on Iran.
Published On 1 Apr 20261 Apr 2026
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The recently revised food pyramid may put fruit as a medium priority, but there is nothing the Trump administration likes more than the apple of discord.
Every news cycle, the president seems intent on introducing something new for Americans to argue about: the wisdom (and legality) of war in Iraq; the term “affordability”; the efficacy of mail-in ballots (which the president recently used); the meaning of birthright; the legitimacy of a vice president who has been publicly admonished by two popes for writing a book about his conversion to Catholicism — heck, we’re still arguing about that new food pyramid.
But there is one recent development upon which we really should all agree — erecting a gold statue of President Trump in the middle of his proposed presidential library is a No Good, Very Bad Idea.
On Tuesday, the president’s son Eric posted a first-look video for said library, which will reside on the waterfront in Miami. While questions were raised about the inclusion of the Boeing 747-8 the president controversially accepted as a gift from Qatar and the apparent lack of space in the sky-scraping library for, you know, books, it was the enormous gold statue of Trump towering over the stage in a proposed auditorium that drew the most immediate attention.
That Trump chose to reveal this little (well, actually quite big) beauty mere days after millions of Americans across the country participated in a coordinated No Kings march can be taken as either breathtaking irony or, more probably, a rage-baiting metaphoric middle finger.
As he has been recently wont to do, California Gov. Gavin Newsom quickly responded on his press office X account with photos of gold statuary depicting former chairman of the Chinese Communist Party Mao Zedong, North Korea’s Kim Il-Sung and Turkmenistan’s Saparmurat Niyazov and the observation that “The gold statue in Trump’s new library (of himself) looks awfully familiar to a few others from around the world.”
Trump’s obsession with gold will no doubt obsess future generations of historians, artists, psychoanalysts and Wikipedia editors — the guerrilla art group Secret Handshake on Monday put up a gold toilet statue on the National Mall mocking the president’s plans to renovate the Lincoln bathroom during a time of war and strife, as tribute, according to the statue’s plaque, “to an unwavering visionary who looked down, saw a problem and painted it gold.”
But even allowing for personal taste, a big golden statue of Trump is a terrible idea. For him.
In times of trouble and/or leadership changes, statues are often the first to go — as Trump knows well, since he’s working to replace the Confederate generals displaced after the Black Lives Matter movement and recently erected, near the White House, a replica of the Christopher Columbus statue thrown into Baltimore’s Inner Harbor during 2020 protests.
After hearing the Declaration of Independence read publicly for the first time, members of the Sons of Liberty tore down a statue of King George III from Bowling Green; during the French Revolution, the kings all across Paris came down; ditto Napoleon when he fell out of favor. In Russia, tsarist monuments were replaced by statues of Communist leaders, which in turn were torn down — statues of Stalin also fell in Hungary, Georgia and Albania. More recently, a statue of Saddam Hussein famously met the same fate.
As Robert Frost might have put it: Something there is that doesn’t love a statue of a divisive leader. Especially if it’s gold.
OK, I added that last bit.
There are plenty of famous and popular gold statues — Thailand’s Golden Buddha; the Golden Madonna of Essen in Germany; Jeanne d’Arc in Paris; Prometheus at Rockefeller Center in New York; even Tutankhamun’s death mask and solid gold coffin, which travel the world. But, as perhaps you have noticed, they trend toward the religious, mythic or historic, i.e. dead.
In the lavish memorial erected by his grieving widow, Queen Victoria, Prince Albert is golden, but few world leaders are permanently gilded, and certainly not before their deaths. (London’s golden statue of King Charles II was erected during his lifetime but originally in bronze — the gold was added later. It also depicts Charles in Roman garb, so I suppose the Trump statue could be worse — at least we don’t see his naked knees.)
In the United States, golden statuary is rare and usually metaphoric — the Oregon Pioneer, the Golden Driller, the Spirit of Communication. Gold remains captivating, an aspirational symbol of success (“gold standard”) and wealth (“golden touch”), but it can also bring with it an air of mockery (“golden boy”) and warning. The original golden touch belonged to King Midas, who loved it until he accidentally killed his daughter by turning her into a gold statue.
Displays of it, particularly in architecture or public art, are often perceived as tacky, kitschy or, heaven forbid, nouveau riche. Trump is fine being perceived as all of these things; he has long embraced the gleaming excesses of Versailles — the golden elevator will also be featured in the new proposed library.
His personal taste is his right and is shared by many.
In terms of statuary, however, “golden” is most typically associated with “idol,” figures that are erected specifically to be worshiped — the Golden Calf that made God and Moses so angry comes to mind — and Americans, historically, have not been big fans of idolatry.
Hence the separation of church and state, a three-branch government and a president with a limited term. The early colonists were very much anti-idol worshippers and even modern Catholics, as Vice President Vance surely knows, have long been criticized by their Protestant counterparts for a love of statuary, reliquaries and other iconography that some have argued fall into idolatry.
Trump clearly has no problem with idolatry, as long as he is the idol in question — he has long characterized his supporters as people who will love him no matter what he does. So no one should be surprised that his son would anchor the Trump presidential library with an enormous golden statue of his father — Trump is not a man to be satisfied with bronze or, heaven forbid, a marble bust.
No doubt, any criticism of that statue will be met with derision from Trump supporters. In its many guises, idolatry has survived, despite regular and often cataclysmic proof of its dangers, for centuries and many people will consider a much-larger-than-life golden statue of a president to be perfectly splendid.
But someone might want to mention to the president that flashing a big gold statue of himself while cities are still doing cleanup from enormous No Kings marches might seem funny to some. But to others … well, Versailles was once a dazzling royal residence.
Until it wasn’t.
’14 years of war is enough for Syria’: Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa says Syria will remain outside the US-Israeli war on Iran unless it is directly targeted. His comments come as fighting continues across the region for a 31st day.
Published On 1 Apr 20261 Apr 2026
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Oil prices pull back as hopes rise for end to Iran war; Trump says U.S. could leave in 2-3 weeks
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Tehran, Iran – Strikes by the United States and Israel have hit Tehran, Isfahan, and other Iranian cities, as local commanders said they were prepared for a war of attrition involving potential US ground incursions.
Numerous air raids struck areas across the capital before and after midnight – and periodically throughout Tuesday – once more leading to electricity outages in multiple areas. The Ministry of Energy confirmed that shrapnel and shock waves damaged a main power transfer line, but said the disruption was fixed within hours.
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A number of industrial areas in nearby Karaj and surrounding towns were also struck, while the Israeli army released a new aerial map to warn citizens to stay away from an area of Vardavard, located west of Tehran, pending attacks. The area is a base for multiple pharmaceutical companies.
Authorities reported extensive damage was done to a major pharmaceuticals company, Tofigh Darou, which was believed to have been targeted with multiple projectiles.
Iran produces more than 90 percent of its medicine domestically due to US sanctions, and the company is among the top producers of ingredients used in a wide range of drugs, including cancer medication and immunomodulator medication used to treat multiple sclerosis.
In central Iran’s Isfahan, residents were shocked after a large number of heavy bunker-buster bombs were dropped over a mountainous area next to the metropolis in an apparent attempt to target military installations. The munitions caused secondary explosions that were some of the largest recorded since the start of the war over a month ago and lit up the night sky, followed by massive sounds that reverberated across the city.
In Zanjan to the northwest of Iran, local media showed footage of considerable destruction after a building described as the “administrative department” of Hosseinieh Azam, a major religious centre, was hit. At least four people were killed and others injured, according to local authorities, who did not identify the deceased.
Iranian authorities say that more than 2,000 people have been killed in US-Israeli strikes since the start of the war on February 28, and a large number of residential units, schools, hospitals, and historical sites have been impacted.
US and Israeli warplanes this week also bombed multiple civilian nuclear sites, the country’s top steel manufacturers and their electricity sources, petrochemical plants, and the Iran University of Science and Technology in Tehran, where an imaging satellite had been developed. A professor at the university, who had helped advance Iran’s missile programme, was assassinated along with his two children at their home in northern Tehran last week.
US President Donald Trump again threatened to attack oil and gas installations, destroy power generation plants, and “possibly” obliterate all of Iran’s water desalination plants.
The top commanders of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), currently believed to be running the war and deciding the future of the country, have continued to signal defiance after this week’s attacks.
The spokesman of the Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters of the IRGC said on Tuesday that Tehran’s enemies are “humiliated and on the path of destruction” as the US raises the prospects of launching ground attacks on strategic islands on Iran’s southern shores.
The idea of gaining dominance over the Strait of Hormuz through military attack is a “wish they [the US] will take forever to the grave”, Ebrahim Zolfaghari said in a video message as an Iranian drone attack sparked fire on a Kuwaiti tanker at Dubai Port.
The IRGC also released footage of ballistic missiles fired towards Israel and countries across the region, as well as footage of shooting down what it said were two of the US military’s advanced MQ-9 Reaper drones. It said retaliatory attacks would be launched against technology companies linked to the US and Israel in the region.
State television aired a programme where analysts said they believed a ground military incursion by US soldiers amassing in the region could militarily benefit the Islamic Republic, as they could sustain losses while trying to take over fortified positions held by the IRGC on the islands.
“American vessels are the most vulnerable point of the enemy,” Ali Fadavi, one of the most senior remaining commanders of the IRGC, told state television during an interview broadcast on Tuesday.
He claimed that US warships are generating “fake signals” from their transponders and are actually situated far further from Iranian shores than they show, which the commander said reflected “full preparedness of our forces”.
Ali Akbar Velayati, a former foreign minister and longtime foreign policy adviser to the late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said in a social media post that any ground aggression would escalate the war into an “historical and civilisational defence”, in reference to Israel and US officials branding the conflict a war for civilisation.
Iranian authorities continue to warn through state media that they take any form of local dissent seriously, and are prepared to exact punishments that include execution by hanging.
Two more people were executed on Tuesday morning, the judiciary confirmed, saying they were armed members of the foreign-based Mojahedin-e-Khalq (MEK) group that is considered a “terrorist” outfit by Tehran.
This comes after executions on Monday, as well as others over recent weeks, some of which were also related to Iran’s nationwide protests in January, when thousands were gunned down on the streets of Tehran and cities across the country.
The United Nations and human rights organisations accuse state forces of carrying out an unprecedented crackdown against peaceful protesters, but the authorities blame “terrorists” and “rioters” backed by the US and Israel.
Iran’s judiciary spokesman Alireza Jahangir told state television on Tuesday that new indictments have been issued against 200 “mercenaries” who are accused of assisting the US and Israel, including by recording footage of air strikes and sending them to foreign-based outlets in defiance of the theocratic establishment.
The judiciary reiterated that punishments for national security charges will include full confiscation of assets, as well as execution. A number of local and foreign-based Iranian celebrities and businesspeople have already had their assets seized for opposing the Islamic Republic.
The government of President Masoud Pezeshkian late on Monday held its first cabinet meeting since the start of the war, with an image showing a makeshift space decorated with a blue covering at an undisclosed location serving as the meeting place.
Israel’s Channel 14 alleged in a report that Pezeshkian has been pushing to gain negotiating powers with the US, as Trump claims talks have advanced. But the Israeli outlet said IRGC chief Ahmad Vahidi declined the request and did not want to give concessions to the US and Israel. Iran has not commented on the report.
“Any decision-making about ending the war will be adopted strictly while considering all raised conditions and in the framework of ensuring dignity, security and interests of the great Iranian nation,” Pezeshkian was quoted as saying during the cabinet meeting, in reference to Iran’s demands for guarantees and reparations.
WASHINGTON — President Trump is threatening to deploy ground troops to seize critical oil infrastructure on Iran’s Kharg Island, a military gambit that experts say would risk American lives and could still fail to end the war.
If Trump wants to hobble Iran’s oil industry for leverage in negotiations, a better option might be setting up a blockade at sea against ships that have filled up at Kharg Island’s oil terminals, the experts said.
The island — located on the other side of the Persian Gulf from U.S. bases in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia — is the beating heart of Iran’s oil industry, through which 90% of its exports pass. It is important because Iran’s coastline is mostly too shallow for tanker ships to dock.
“Putting people on the ground might be the most psychologically compelling way of striking a blow at Iran,” said Michael Eisenstadt, a former U.S. military analyst who now directs the Military and Security Studies Program at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.
“On the other hand, you’re putting your own troops at jeopardy,” said Eisenstadt, a retired Army reserve officer who served in Iraq. “It’s not far from the mainland. So they can potentially rain a lot of destruction on the island, if they’re willing to inflict damage on their own infrastructure.”
Seizing Kharg Island could escalate the conflict, said Danny Citrinowicz, an Iran expert at Israel’s Institute for National Security Studies.
He said Iran and its proxies — including Yemen’s Houthi rebels — could intensify their retaliation, including by laying mines in the Strait of Hormuz or striking targets with drones across the Arabian Peninsula, from the Persian Gulf to the Red Sea.
Commodities researchers and investment banks warn major retaliation could have lasting implications for energy prices and the global economy.
“It will be hard to take. It will be hard to hold,” Citrinowicz said of Kharg Island. “And it might damage the economy, but not in a way that will force the Iranians to capitulate.”
Trump is under growing pressure to end the monthlong conflict with Iran, which has attacked U.S. bases and allies in the region.
Iran also has largely closed the Strait of Hormuz, a narrow chokepoint through which 20% of the world’s oil normally flows, causing fuel prices to soar and other economic tumult.
Trump said in a social media post Monday that “great progress is being made” in talks with Iran to end military operations. But he said that if a deal is not reached “shortly” and the strait is not immediately reopened, the U.S. would obliterate power plants, oil wells, Kharg Island and possibly even desalination plants.
Trump has raised the idea of American forces seizing Kharg Island.
“Maybe we take Kharg Island, maybe we don’t. We have a lot of options,” Trump told the Financial Times. “It would also mean we had to be there (on Kharg Island) for a while.”
Asked about Iranian defenses there, he said: “I don’t think they have any defense. We could take it very easily.”
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Friday that ground troops would not be needed to achieve the Trump administration’s goals. He did not repeat that assertion Monday after being asked about plans for U.S. ground troops, saying “the president has several options at his disposal” but diplomacy is Trump’s preference.
“Now, they are making threats about controlling the Hormuz Strait in perpetuity, creating a tolling system and the like,” Rubio told ABC’s “Good Morning America.” “That’s not going to be allowed to happen. And the president has a number of options available to him, if he so chooses, to prevent that from happening.”
The U.S. has already struck various targets on the island, including air defenses, a radar site, the airport and a hovercraft base, according to satellite analysis by the Institute for the Study of War and American Enterprise Institute’s Critical Threats Project.
Petras Katinas, an energy researcher at the Royal United Services Institute, said disrupting Kharg Island would not completely halt oil exports as Iran has other small ports. But it would reduce the oil revenue flowing to Iran’s government, “forcing flows through a much smaller, costlier and less efficient export system,” he said.
However, Tehran has too much at stake to surrender over a single asset, no matter how economically significant, said Citrinowicz, the Iran expert at Israel’s Institute for National Security Studies.
While occupying Kharg might offer Washington some leverage in any negotiations, he said the notion that control of the island could be traded for Iran’s stockpile of enriched uranium was far-fetched.
“It’s in no way a decisive blow,” Citrinowicz said.
A U.S. Navy ship carrying about 2,500 Marines recently arrived in the Middle East, while at least 1,000 troops from the 82nd Airborne Division are expected soon. Another 2,500 Marines are being deployed from California. The Trump administration has not said what all those troops will be doing, but the 82nd Airborne is trained to parachute into hostile or contested territory to secure key territory and airfields.
One of the reasons American troops would be vulnerable on Kharg Island is its close proximity — about 33 kilometers (21 miles) — to the Iranian mainland, from which missiles, drones and artillery could be fired. Despite continued U.S. and Israeli strikes, the Islamic Republic is still attacking targets across the region, including a Saudi air base hundreds of miles away where more than two dozen American troops were injured last week.
Even with American ships and planes providing support, there would still be a relatively short window of time to shoot down every drone or missile launched from the mainland at the island, Eisenstadt said.
“The coast tends to be mountainous, so the drones can come in through mountain passes where it’s hard for our radar to pick up,” he said. “And we don’t have the warning time.”
Eisenstadt says a sea blockade against ships carrying Iranian oil would be a safer strategy and achieve the same goal of controlling most of Iran’s oil industry.
“Throw up a quarantine that seeks to seize Iranian oil shipments that are exiting the Gulf,” agreed Clayton Seigle, an energy security expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. It could be done at a distance “outside the range of the lion’s share of Iran’s weapon systems.”
Seigle argued against destroying Kharg Island’s oil infrastructure, which Trump also suggested.
“We were supposed to be coming to the rescue of the people that had been rising up and protesting for a better future,” Seigle said. “So to cripple Iran’s revenue-generating potential for many years to come would definitely not work in that direction.”
Finley and Metz write for the Associated Press. Metz reported from Ramallah, West Bank.
Italian press reports that the government has refuse to authorise US to land bombers at a base in Sicily for transit to the Middle East, where they could be used to strike Iran.
Published On 31 Mar 202631 Mar 2026
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In a new report, Doctors Without Borders says sexual violence is the ‘defining feature’ of the conflict in Sudan.
Hanaan was 18 years old when she was raped by members of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a paramilitary group accused of committing widespread “war crimes” during nearly three years of fighting against Sudan’s army.
She was walking alongside a female friend to her makeshift home in an encampment for displaced people in South Darfur, when four men on motorbikes stopped them and asked where they were going.
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“Two took each girl, and they raped us,” she told Doctors Without Borders, an international medical NGO known by its French initials MSF.
“I feel uncomfortable in my body, heavy. I don’t feel pain, apart from in my back – because they beat me, they beat me with their guns on my back,” she said.
Hanaan – not her real name – shared her testimony as part of a report released by MSF on Tuesday, which details the widespread use of sexual violence as a weapon in Sudan’s ongoing brutal civil war.
The NGO said 3,396 survivors of sexual violence sought treatment in MSF-supported health facilities across North and South Darfur between January 2024 and November 2025.
The data, presented in the report titled, There is Something I Want to Tell You…, was drawn from MSF programmes in just two of Sudan’s 18 states and reflects only a fraction of the crisis, while the true scale of the phenomenon remains unknown.
Women and girls accounted for 97 percent of survivors treated in MSF programmes. The RSF and allied militias were found to be primarily responsible for the systematic abuse.
“Sexual violence is a defining feature of this conflict – not confined to front lines, but pervasive across communities,” Ruth Kauffman, MSF emergency health manager, said in a statement.
“This war is being fought on the backs and bodies of women and girls. Displacement, collapsing community support systems, lack of access to healthcare and deep-rooted gender inequalities are allowing these abuses to continue across Sudan.”
Following the RSF’s capture of el-Fasher, the capital of North Darfur, on October 26, 2025, MSF treated more than 140 survivors fleeing to Tawila. Among them, 94 percent were attacked by armed men, with many reporting assaults along escape routes.
The assaults “deliberately targeted non-Arab communities as a means of humiliation and terror, echoing previous RSF atrocities such as the dismantling of Zamzam camp”, the report said. The RSF took control of famine-hit Zamzam camp in the western Darfur region after two days of heavy shelling and gunfire in April 2025.
Survivors described attacks not only during fighting, but in everyday settings, such as fields, markets and displacement camps.
Children were also among the survivors. In South Darfur, one in five survivors was under 18, including 41 children younger than five, the organisation said.
MSF called on the United Nations, donors and humanitarian actors to urgently scale up health and protection services in Darfur and all of Sudan, and on all parties to the conflict to cease and prevent sexual violence and hold perpetrators accountable.
The Middle East conflict has cut off 20 percent of the world’s fuel supply. Countries are scrambling for alternatives.
The disruption in the Strait of Hormuz has cut access to one-fifth of the world’s oil and gas supply, leaving many countries scrambling for alternatives.
So what can they rely on to make up for the shortfall in a quick time?
Many Asian countries are turning to coal, reopening shuttered plants and expanding production.
Policymakers say immediate energy needs supplant environmental concerns.
Others are hoping to turn to renewables. Solar power is now the cheapest form of electricity in many parts of the world. But renewables, especially wind, have faced hostility from the Trump administration.
Published On 31 Mar 202631 Mar 2026
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A broker for U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth sought to make a large investment in major defense firms in the lead-up to the Iran war, according to the Financial Times. The Pentagon has dismissed the report.
The FT reported Tuesday that
Leaders of Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Jordan meet in Jeddah as US-Israeli attacks on Iran continue, and Iranian counterattacks hit Gulf nations.
Published On 31 Mar 202631 Mar 2026
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US Department of Defense demands retraction of report alleging broker sought multimillion-dollar investment for Hegseth.
Published On 31 Mar 202631 Mar 2026
The United States Department of Defense has demanded the retraction of a newspaper report alleging that a broker for defence chief Pete Hegseth attempted to make a large investment in weapons companies in the run-up to the war on Iran.
Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell demanded the “immediate” retraction on Monday after The Financial Times reported that a wealth manager for the defence secretary contacted BlackRock about making a multimillion-dollar investment in a defence-related fund in the weeks leading up to the war.
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Hegseth’s broker at Morgan Stanley ultimately did not go ahead with the investment in the exchange-traded fund, whose holdings include Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman, because it was not yet available for purchase at the time, The Financial Times reported, citing three unnamed sources.
“This allegation is entirely false and fabricated. Neither Secretary Hegseth nor any of his representatives approached BlackRock about any such investment,” Parnell said in a post on social media.
“This is yet another baseless, dishonest smear designed to mislead the public.”
Hegseth and his department “remain unwavering in their commitment to the highest standards of ethics and strict adherence to all applicable laws and regulations,” Parnell said.
Al Jazeera could not independently confirm the Financial Times report.
The Defense Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment sent outside of usual business hours.
The Financial Times and Morgan Stanley also did not immediately respond to inquiries.
BlackRock declined to comment.
The report comes amid scrutiny of well-timed trades in financial and prediction markets that have fuelled speculation that figures with insider knowledge may be profiting off of US President Donald Trump’s war plans.
While The Financial Times reported that the attempted investment by Hesgeth’s broker did not go ahead, the defence chief would not have made money on such a purchase in the month since the war began.
While the iShares Defense Industrials Active ETF has risen more than 25 percent over the past year, it has fallen nearly 13 percent since the US and Israel launched strikes on Iran on February 28.
In an exclusive interview with Al Jazeera, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio outlines Washington’s position on Iran, saying US objectives will be achieved ‘within weeks, not months’. Rubio says talks are taking place between parties inside Iran and the United States, mainly through intermediaries, while warning that the Strait of Hormuz ‘will be opened one way or another’ after the military operation ends. He also says Iran must take concrete steps to abandon any ambition to acquire nuclear weapons.
Published On 31 Mar 202631 Mar 2026
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US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said that talks with Iran are under way through intermediaries and that Washington will continue its military campaign until Tehran abandons its nuclear and missile programmes.
He warned on Monday that the Strait of Hormuz will be kept open “one way or another” and that US war objectives could be achieved “in weeks, not months”.
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He also said the United States would welcome political change in Iran if the opportunity arose, but said it was not an official objective. Rubio criticised some NATO allies for refusing US access to bases during the war, and said Washington is closely watching developments in Cuba and Venezuela.
Here are the key takeaways from Rubio’s exclusive interview with Al Jazeera’s Hashem Ahelbarra:
Much of the communication between Tehran and Washington is indirect and through intermediaries, but Rubio insisted that it is ongoing.
He said there are “messages and some direct talks going on between some inside of Iran and the United States, primarily through intermediaries”, adding that the US president “always prefers diplomacy, always prefers an outcome”.
His comments come as US President Donald Trump escalated his rhetoric on social media, threatening to “obliterate” Iran’s energy infrastructure if a ceasefire is not reached soon, Al Jazeera’s Kimberly Halkett reported from Washington.
“Taken together, Rubio’s statements and Trump’s posts suggest the US is pursuing a dual-track approach: keeping diplomatic channels open through intermediaries while simultaneously increasing military and economic pressure on Iran,” she said.
Rubio said Iran must abandon its nuclear weapons ambitions and stop producing missiles and drones that can threaten countries across the Gulf region, and insisted “The Iranian regime can never have nuclear weapons.”
He said Iran’s missile programme poses a direct threat to countries across the Gulf, and claimed “These short-range missiles that they’re launching, they only have one purpose, and that is to attack Saudi Arabia and the UAE and Qatar and Kuwait and Bahrain.”
Rubio said Iran could pursue civilian nuclear energy, but not in a way that would allow it to quickly develop a nuclear weapon.
“What they cannot have is a system that allows them to quickly weaponise it,” he said. “They have to abandon all these weapon programmes and all their nuclear ambitions.”
However, Hassan Ahmadian, an assistant professor at the University of Tehran, questioned the narrative that Iran poses an offensive threat in the region.
“When was the last time Iran attacked its neighbours over three centuries?” Ahmadian asked, arguing that Iran’s military strategy is shaped by deterrence in an asymmetric conflict.
“Why is it doing this now? Because it’s the underdog in an asymmetric war that it wants to shield itself by expanding.”
Ahmadian added that Iran has been a central focus of US policy for years.
“With the break of two wars in less than a year, we have experienced, Iran has been on the table in different US administrations – all options are on the table,” he said.
Rubio said the US would not accept Iran claiming sovereignty over the Strait of Hormuz and warned that the waterway would remain open regardless of Iran’s actions.
“Not only is the sovereignty over the Strait of Hormuz not acceptable to us, it won’t be acceptable to the world.”
“It sets an incredible precedent … nations can now take over international waterways and claim them as their own.”
“The Strait of Hormuz will be open … It will be open one way or another,” he said, adding that otherwise, Iran would “face real consequences” from the US and other countries.
Iranian analysts suggested the closure of the strait is a temporary wartime measure and could be reversed once the conflict ends.
“It’s opened partially,” Ahmadian said, adding “I think there is no Iranian interest to not open it beyond the war.”
“It’s an asymmetric way of putting pressure on Americans, just as they are bombing Iran, and so after the war there would be no need,” Ahmadian explained. “There will be an arrangement, according to the Iranians, with the GCC [Gulf Cooperation Council] countries to reopen it and see how things are managed.”
Rubio said the US military campaign is progressing quickly and outlined the military objectives Washington is trying to achieve.
“Those objectives are the destruction of their air force, which has been achieved, the destruction of their navy, which has largely been achieved.”
“A significant reduction in the number of missile launchers… and we are going to destroy the factories that make those missiles and those drones.”
“We are well on our way or ahead of schedule.”
“We will achieve them in weeks, not months.”
“That’s a matter of weeks. I’m not going to tell you exactly how many weeks, but a matter of weeks, not months.”
Asked by Al Jazeera about his thoughts on Iran’s new Supreme Leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, Rubio said his status remains unclear.
“We don’t even know he’s in power. I know they say he’s in power. No one has seen him. No one has heard from him,” Rubio said.
“It’s very opaque right now. It’s not quite clear how decisions are being made inside of Iran.”
The US secretary of state suggested the US would welcome political change in Iran, though he said it was not the official objective of the military operation.
“We would always welcome a scenario in which Iran was led by people that had a different view of the future,” Rubio said. “If that opportunity presents itself, we’re going to take it.”
He said the Iranian people “deserve better leadership” and indicated Washington would not oppose a change in government if it occurred.
“Do we think the people of Iran deserve better leadership than what they’ve gotten from the clerical regime? One hundred percent,” Rubio said. “Would we be heartbroken if there was a change in leadership? Absolutely not.”
He also suggested the US would be willing to play a role if political change became possible.
“If there’s something we could do to facilitate that, would we be interested in participating? Of course.”
However, analysts said Washington’s position on regime change appears to have shifted over time.
“Originally bringing down the government was the goal; there has been a constant drawdown from that,” Paul Musgrave, a professor of government at Georgetown University in Qatar, told Al Jazeera.
“And now we have President Donald Trump on Truth Social saying he is negotiating with elements of what could become a new regime, so there is a lot of confusion here, but it is no longer the number one goal. It’s not something they are laying out,” he noted.
Rubio said some NATO countries denied the US use of airspace and bases during the conflict and suggested Washington may need to reassess the alliance after the war.
“We have countries like Spain, a NATO member that we are pledged to defend, denying us the use of their airspace and bragging about it, denying us the use of their bases.”
“And so you ask yourself, well, what is in it for the United States?”
“If NATO is just about us defending Europe from attack, but them denying us basing rights when we need them, that’s not a very good arrangement.”
“All of that is going to have to be re-examined.”
WASHINGTON — President Trump threatened Monday to destroy vital Iranian energy and water infrastructure if a peace deal is not reached, as Tehran continued to deny negotiations were taking place and said it was preparing for a ground invasion following the arrival of thousands of American troops in the region.
If a ceasefire agreement is not reached quickly, the president said in a social media post, “We will conclude our lovely ‘stay’ in Iran by blowing up and completely obliterating all of their Electric Generating Plants, Oil Wells and Kharg Island (and possibly all desalinization plants!).”
The threats came within hours of the president insisting on Sunday night that diplomatic efforts would “probably” lead to a deal soon, and that Iran had allowed 20 more oil cargo ships to pass through the Strait of Hormuz as a “sign of respect.”
Trump said the United States is in “serious discussions with A NEW, AND MORE REASONABLE, REGIME in Iran” but offered no details.
Iran, however, continued to throw cold water on the negotiations Monday when Esmail Baghaei, the foreign ministry spokesperson, dismissed the Trump administration’s terms as “unrealistic, unreasonable and excessive.”
“I do not know how many people in the United States take American diplomacy claims seriously. Our mission is clear, unlike the other side, which constantly changes its position,” he said in comments carried by the semi-official Iranian agency Tasnim News.
Baghaei said that there have been no direct negotiations, but only messages through intermediaries stating that the U.S. wants to confer.
On Saturday, the USS Tripoli, a naval warship, arrived in the Middle East carrying about 3,500 sailors and Marines and a transport of fighter planes. Earlier this month, the San Diego-based USS Boxer and two warships from the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit departed from Camp Pendleton to join the buildup of troops in the region.
The deployments have made Iranian diplomatic envoys even more dubious that American peace efforts are sincere.
“The enemy publicly sends messages of negotiation and dialogue while secretly planning a ground offensive. [They] are nothing more than a cover to hide preparations for a land invasion,” Iran’s top lawmaker, Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, said in a statement Sunday.
He added that Iranian forces were waiting for the arrival of American troops on the ground to “set them on fire” and “punish their regional partners forever,” according to state media.
As officials in both Washington and Tehran strike increasingly hard lines, neighboring countries are desperate for a truce.
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Sisi pleaded with Trump to stop the war during a speech at an Egyptian energy conference on Monday.
“I tell President Trump: Nobody can stop the war in our region in the gulf but you,” Sisi said.
“Please, Mr. President, please. Please help us stop the war. You are capable of doing so.”
Egypt, though not directly involved in the war, has contended with its repercussions on energy, fertilizer and food prices, not to mention disruptions to shipping income Cairo receives through the Suez Canal.
“Wealthy countries might be able to absorb this, but for middle-income and fragile economies, it could have a very, very severe impact on their stability,” Sisi said, noting that predictions of oil reaching $200 per barrel were “not an exaggeration.”
Egypt and Israel signed a peace treaty in 1979, which saw Israel return territory it seized during the 1967 war. Though the agreement is deeply unpopular with most Egyptians, it has held despite escalating tensions during Israel’s campaign against Hamas.
In December, the two nations formally announced a $35-billion agreement expanding Israel gas exports to Egypt. But the war with Iran has disrupted supplies, tripling the cost of imports, according to Egyptian officials.
Last week, the government ordered energy-saving measures for a one-month period, including early closing times for most commercial establishments as well as reductions in street lighting and allocations for government vehicles.
Jordan, another U.S. regional ally that is also energy-starved, took similar steps, enacting bans on air conditioning in government offices and private use of government vehicles.
Despite talks of negotiations, the fighting showed little sign of abating.
Trump’s call for peace followed a fresh round of U.S. and Israeli airstrikes on Iran Monday. Tehran retaliated by hitting a major water and power facility in Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates said they intercepted incoming Iranian missiles.
Two U.N. peacekeepers were killed on Monday when an “explosion of unknown origin” hit their vehicle near the village of Bani Hayyan, in south Lebanon.
The deaths mark the second fatal incident in two days involving the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon, known as UNIFIL, a peacekeeping force established in 1978 and which later monitored cessation of hostilities between the two nations.
UNIFIL also reported a peacekeeper was killed Sunday night when a projectile exploded in a UNIFIL position.
“We do not know the origin of the projectile. We have launched an investigation to determine all of the circumstances,” a UNIFIL statement on Monday said.
Meanwhile, Israel continued its bombardment of Lebanon, hitting areas near the capital and in the country’s south. One strike targeted a Lebanese army checkpoint, killing a soldier, the Lebanese military said. Lebanese authorities said on Monday that the death toll since hostilities broke out between Hezbollah and Israel earlier this month continues to rise.
The Israeli military said one of its soldiers was killed in a Hezbollah anti-tank missile attack in southern Lebanon, which also wounded four other soldiers. Six soldiers have been killed since Israel restarted its campaign in Lebanon.
Hezbollah rockets also killed two civilians, according to Israeli health authorities.
Israel’s fire and rescue service said a fuel tanker and a building at the oil refinery in the northern city of Haifa were hit by debris from an intercepted missile, according to a report from Israeli daily the Times of Israel.
It was unclear whether the missile was launched by Iran, the Lebanese Shiite group Hezbollah or Yemen’s Houthi rebels.
Deaths from the conflict continue to rise, with 1,900 people killed in Iran, over 1,200 in Lebanon, 19 in Israel and 13 U.S. military members. Millions of people have been displaced from their homes in Iran and Lebanon.
Ceballos and Quinton reported from Washington, Bulos from Beirut.
“Nobody can stop the war in our region in the Gulf but you.” Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi has called on Trump to end the war on Iran, saying Washington holds decisive influence.
Published On 30 Mar 202630 Mar 2026
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United States President Donald Trump said on Sunday that he wishes to “take the oil” in Iran, as the US-Israel war against Iran enters its second month.
On Monday, President Trump threatened to target Iran’s energy infrastructure, including oil wells, if Tehran does not reopen the Strait of Hormuz, which has been under a de facto Iranian blockade for weeks, triggering a global energy crisis.
The Trump administration has unveiled no clear goal behind its military campaign against Iran, one of the world’s biggest oil producers and under US sanctions for decades.
Here is more about what Trump says, how much oil Iran has, and whether Trump could take it.
Trump told the Financial Times that his “preference would be to take the oil” in Iran and that US forces could seize Iran’s export hub at Kharg Island.
Kharg is a 22-square-kilometre (8.5-square-mile) coral outcrop in Iran’s Bushehr province. Closely guarded by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), entry to the island is restricted to those with official security clearance.
Kharg processes 90 percent of Iran’s total oil exports, handling approximately 1.5 million barrels every day.
On March 14, Trump announced that the US Air Force had bombed Iranian military facilities on the island.
“For reasons of decency, I have chosen NOT to wipe out the Oil Infrastructure on the Island. However, should Iran, or anyone else, do anything to interfere with the Free and Safe Passage of Ships through the Strait of Hormuz, I will immediately reconsider this decision,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
Critics say the Trump administration was emboldened by the success of its brazen military operation in January to abduct Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro from Caracas. Washington says it is now in control of Venezuela’s oil exports.
Earlier this month, Trump claimed that 100 million barrels of Venezuelan oil had been brought to refineries in Houston, Texas in the US. He added that an additional 100 million barrels of Venezuelan oil were on the way.
Ties between Venezuela, which has the world’s largest proven reserves of crude oil, and Washington had deteriorated under former President Hugo Chavez, who decided to nationalise the oil sector. Relations collapsed further under Maduro, who succeeded Chavez in 2013. Venezuela’s current interim president, Delcy Rodriguez, has since opened the sector for private investment.
Iran is one of the world’s biggest oil producers.
The country holds the world’s second-largest proven natural gas reserves and the third-largest crude oil reserves, according to the United States Energy Information Administration.
Iran holds around 24 percent of the Middle East’s and 12 percent of the world’s proven oil reserves, with about 157 billion barrels of proven crude oil.
It is the ninth-largest oil producer globally, and the fourth-largest within the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), producing about 3.3 million barrels of crude oil per day.
Before the war, Iran was exporting around two million barrels of crude and refined fuel each day, though its exports dropped dramatically after Trump slapped sanctions on Iran in 2018 during his first term in power. The Iran nuclear deal signed under US President Barack Obama in 2015 – the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) – placed limits on Iran’s nuclear programme in exchange for sanctions relief in place for decades.
The US cut diplomatic ties with Iran after pro-Washington ruler Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi was toppled in the 1979 Islamic Revolution and the subsequent hostage crisis involving US citizens.
The Pentagon is preparing for limited ground operations in Iran, potentially including raids on Kharg Island and coastal sites near the Strait of Hormuz, according to US officials quoted by the Washington Post newspaper.
The plans, which fall short of a full invasion, could involve raids in special operations and by conventional infantry troops, the newspaper reported on Saturday.
However, even if the US invades or occupies Kharg Island, this would not give the US access to Iranian oil.
In order to access Iranian oil, the US would have to occupy Iran’s oil production sites and refineries. In essence, the US would need to occupy mainland Iran.
In 2023, Iran’s gross domestic product (GDP) was around $457.5bn, according to World Bank data.
In the same year, Iran’s net oil export revenues were estimated at $53bn.
That export figure is equivalent to roughly 12 percent of Iran’s GDP, although export revenues and GDP are not directly comparable.
At the same time, if the US were to lift sanctions on Iranian oil after seizing it, it could lead to a flow of more Iranian oil into global markets, bringing down oil prices.
Iran is one of the most heavily sanctioned countries in the world. The US first imposed sanctions on Iran in November 1979, after Iranian students stormed its embassy in Tehran and took Americans hostage. The hostage crisis ended when dozens of US citizens were released after more than a year.
The US-Israeli war on Iran has sent global oil prices soaring. Benchmark Brent crude rose to more than 3 percent on Monday to $116 a barrel – the highest level in nearly two weeks. The oil price was about $65 per barrel before the war.
Yes; this is not the first time the US has shown an interest in Iranian oil.
In 1953, the government of Mohammad Mossadegh, Iran’s first democratically elected prime minister, was toppled in a CIA-orchestrated coup after he nationalised the British-controlled firm Anglo‑Iranian Oil Company (AIOC), the predecessor of modern-day BP.
Washington framed the operation – codenamed “Operation Ajax” – as a Cold War necessity to keep Iran and its energy reserves out of Soviet hands.
The coup restored and entrenched the shah’s rule, a turning point that still haunts Iran’s relationship with the West.
Neighbouring Iraq’s oil revenue is still effectively under US control more than two decades after the US invaded the Middle East nation. Iraq’s oil revenues are deposited into an account at the Federal Reserve Bank in the US before making it to Baghdad.
Syrian president Ahmed al-Sharaa met with top German officials in a visit to Berlin to discuss Syria’s stability, refugees in Germany and German support for reconstruction.
Published On 30 Mar 202630 Mar 2026
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It is an old market saying, but it has never felt more apt: when people are worried about the future, they buy gold — when they are worried about the present, they sell it.
While the Iran war has raised longer-term concerns over energy security and global stability, the immediate fallout, in the form of surging oil prices and renewed inflation fears, has forced investors to prioritise liquidity and higher-yielding assets over metals.
Gold hit an all-time high of $5,602 (€4,873) at the end of January and looked to be heading higher still in early March, but has since dropped nearly 25% to a low of $4,100 (€3,567), trading around $4,500 (€3,915) at the time of writing.
The decline marks a dramatic pullback from gold’s extraordinary performance last year.
In 2025, the metal delivered one of its best annual gains in decades, rising more than 60% to record levels as central banks accumulated reserves and investors sought protection amid economic uncertainty.
The drop in 2026 has triggered a swift unwinding of leveraged positions in futures and exchange-traded funds which were riding last year’s tremendous rise.
This sharp reversal defies the traditional role of the metal as a refuge during geopolitical turmoil, with a stronger US dollar and rising bond yields proving far more influential.
Rising US Treasury yields and a firmer US dollar have been the dominant headwinds for precious metals.
Higher oil prices stemming from the Iran war have lifted inflation expectations, prompting markets to price in fewer Federal Reserve rate cuts or even the possibility of tighter policy for longer, including potential hikes that were previously unexpected.
This has increased the opportunity cost of holding non-yielding gold, while the US dollar’s strength has made it more expensive for international buyers.
The result has been a classic “flight to liquidity” rather than the expected flight to quality risk assets, as leveraged traders facing margin calls accelerated the sell-off.
The correction for metals has been one of the sharpest in recent memory.
Silver, which often amplifies gold’s moves, followed with an even bigger drop.
The white metal reached an all time high of $121 just one day after gold, on 29 January, but it has since dropped roughly 50% to as low as $61.
At the time of writing, it is trading at around $70.
Silver enjoyed an even more spectacular rally than gold in 2025, surging roughly 145% thanks to robust industrial demand from solar panels, electronics and electric vehicles, combined with investment buying.
In 2026, however, it has also declined sharply amid the same pressures of US dollar strength and higher yields, although its industrial fundamentals continue to offer longer-term support.
A Canadian activist and YouTuber filmed congestion in the Strait of Hormuz during a tour aboard a ship from the Iranian port city of Bandar Abbas. He captured dozens of oil tankers and cargo ships crowding the vital waterway.
Published On 30 Mar 202630 Mar 2026
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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ordered the military to expand its invasion in southern Lebanon, pushing deeper to extend what he calls a ‘buffer zone’. As Israeli forces advance towards the Litani River, an explosion at a UN position in southern Lebanon killed a peacekeeper.
Published On 30 Mar 202630 Mar 2026
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