Live. Krieg im Nahen Osten: Israel meldet Tod von Irans Sicherheitschef Laridschani

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Tuesday that 201 Ukrainian anti-drone military experts were in the Middle East to help defend the region against Iranian-designed Shahed drones and another 34 were "ready to deploy."

"These are military experts, experts who know how to help, how to defend against Shahed drones. Our teams are already in the Emirates, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and on the way to Kuwait," Zelenskyy told British lawmakers during an address in the UK parliament.

Several loud explosions were heard Tuesday evening in Iraq's capital Baghdad, journalists reported, with a security official reporting a drone and rocket attack on the US embassy.

In a restaurant in the city, where diners did not react to the initial sounds of the blasts, a witness told the AFP news agency he saw explosions in the sky caused by the embassy's air defences intercepting projectiles.

Another witness saw a fire on the embassy grounds from her balcony, with the blaze also reported by the security official, who said it was caused by a drone.

Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum confirmed on Tuesday that her country was prepared to host Iran's first-round matches at the 2026 World Cup if needed due to the conflict in the Middle East.

Asked at a press conference about reports that Iran's football federation was negotiating with FIFA to relocate its matches from the United States, Sheinbaum said that her country could respond favourably.

When contacted earlier by the AFP news agency on the matter, FIFA said it was "looking forward to all participating teams competing as per the match schedule announced on 6 December 2025."

The 2026 FIFA World Cup is being jointly hosted by the United States, Canada and Mexico.

After US President Donald Trump expressed disappointment with NATO allies for not responding to his call to provide security in the Strait of Hormuz, he was asked by a reporter if he is considering withdrawing from the military alliance.

“It’s certainly something that we should think about. I don’t need Congress for that decision,” Trump said, adding: "I have nothing currently in mind but I’m not exactly thrilled.”

Earlier on Tuesday, Trump, whose call for assistance from allies to reopen the Strait of Hormuz to oil traffic has largely been rebuffed, said in a social media post that US forces "no longer need" military help in the Iran war.

The vessel-tracker MarineTraffic said on Tuesday that the ships included eight bulk vessels, five tankers and two liquified petroleum gas carriers.

Iran has nearly halted traffic through the narrow Strait of Hormuz, where a fifth of the world’s oil typically sails from the Persian Gulf to customers worldwide.

The European Union’s foreign policy chief said on Tuesday that the 27-nation bloc rejects Trump’s demand to send warships to the Straits of Hormuz.

“This is not Europe’s war. We didn’t start the war. We were not consulted,” Kaja Kallas said, a day after chairing talks among the member countries about Trump’s warship demand.

“We don’t know what are the objectives of this war,” Kallas said. “The member states do not have the wish to be dragged into this.”

France is ready to help escort ships through the Strait of Hormuz but only once the situation has become "calmer," President Emmanuel Macron said on Tuesday.

"We are not a party to the conflict and therefore France will never take part in operations to open or liberate the Strait of Hormuz in the current context," Macron said following US President Donald Trump's demand that allies help secure the waterway effectively shut by Iran in response to US-Israeli strikes.

Read the full report by Sophia Khatsenkova below.

Macron says France could join Hormuz mission once situation ‘calmer’

The French president rejected US President Trump’s calls for immediate action to reopen the key oil route, but said an international escort mission could be co…

“Poland has other responsibilities within NATO,” Prime Minister Donald Tusk said on Tuesday.

“This applies to our land, air and naval forces, which are still, I would say, under development. The naval assets at our disposal must serve the security of the Baltic Sea,” he said.

“And our allies, including the Americans, understand this very well.”

A senior US counter-terrorism official resigned on Tuesday to protest the US-Israeli war against Iran and said the Islamic Republic posed no imminent threat to the United States.

"I cannot in good conscience support the ongoing war in Iran," Joseph Kent, the director of the National Counterterrorism Centre, said in his resignation letter to President Donald Trump.

Kent, a former member of the Green Beret special forces who served multiple combat tours, said "Iran posed no imminent threat to our nation and it is clear that we started this war due to pressure from Israel and its powerful American lobby."

Kent is the first senior US official to resign from the Trump administration to protest the war against Iran.

"Until June of 2025, you understood that the wars in the Middle East were a trap that robbed America of the precious lives of our patriots and depleted the wealth and prosperity of our nation," Kent said in his letter to Trump.

"I cannot support sending the next generation off to fight and die in a war that serves no benefit to the American people nor justifies the cost of American lives," he added.

Hezbollah on Tuesday denied it had any members in Kuwait a day after the Gulf country announced the arrest of 14 Kuwaitis and two Lebanese nationals allegedly affiliated with the group over a "sabotage plot."

"Hezbollah categorically denies the allegations and accusations issued by the Kuwaiti interior ministry," the Iran-backed Lebanese militant group said in a statement, calling the allegations "baseless" and adding: "There are no Hezbollah cells, members or networks in Kuwait."

The parallel wars in Ukraine and Iran may be taking place in different parts of the world, but pro-Russian propaganda is increasingly attempting to blend the two, according to a recent report by EUvsDisinfo.

Our colleagues on The Cube investigate.

Russia using Iran war as proganda weapon against Ukraine

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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday that the killing of Tehran's national security chief Ali Larijani was part of efforts to give Iranians a chance to remove their rulers.

"This morning we eliminated Ali Larijani, the boss of the Revolutionary Guards, which is the gang of gangsters that actually runs Iran," Netanyahu said in a televised statement.

He said the overthrow of the clerical authorities by Iranians "will not happen all at once, it will not happen easily. But if we persist in this - we will give them a chance to take their fate into their own hands."

An air raid alert has been issued in Dubai, Euronews journalists in the city are telling us.

More details to follow.

In a major development for Israel’s campaign against the Iranian regime’s security forces, which now allegedly use schools as hideouts and children for propaganda purposes, the Israeli military announced on Tuesday that it killed the head of the Basij volunteer paramilitary force in a "precise strike in Tehran."

Read our full report below.

Israel hits Basij top echelon as militia uses schools to evade strikes

The IDF said it killed Basij commander Gholamreza Soleimani in Tehran, as Iran’s security forces behind brutal repression of protests are accused of using scho…

“One of the things we have seen is that the Iranians have been prepared for having their senior leadership not be there and the state still functions,” leading Iran analyst, Mehran Kamrava, professor of Government at Georgetown University in Qatar, told Euronews in Doha.

His comments come after Israel’s Defence Minister Israel Katz said the IDF had killed Iran’s top security official Ali Larijani in a strike on Tehran overnight into Tuesday.

“And in particular, after the US invasion of Iraq, the Iranians had based their military and political structure in a way so as to be able to continue to function and decisions to be made somewhat autonomously without the top leadership being there. Of course, if the reports are correct and Ali Larijani is killed, this would be yet another setback for the Islamic Republic. But institutionally, the system is designed to continue to function. How efficiently or in what direction is an open question at this point.”

Iranian intelligence services are conducting extensive surveillance operations against opposition activists in Germany, using family members as leverage and WhatsApp to recruit informants, according to German security officials and exiled Iranians.

Read the full report by Donogh McCabe and Laura Fleischmann below.

Spies among us: Iran’s secret services threaten dissidents in Germany

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Finnish Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen said NATO is not obliged to respond positively to demands by Donald Trump that the alliance help reopen the Strait of Hormuz arguing that NATO's raison d’être is the defence of Europe and the North Atlantic.

You can read Shona Murray’s full report below.

‘NATO is not obliged to help Trump in Iran,’ Finnish FM tells Euronews

European NATO allies are rejecting demands by US President Trump to shield the Strait of Hormuz from Iranian disruption. Finnish Foreign Minister Elina Valtone…

The United Arab Emirates says its air defences responded to 10 ballistic missiles and 45 drones Iran fired at the Gulf country on Tuesday.

The Israeli military launched an air strike near Beirut's airport on Tuesday, according to state media, after several raids hit the area earlier in the day.

"Israeli warplanes launched a raid, the third today on the southern suburbs, targeting the old airport road near the Ansar Stadium in the Burj al-Barajneh area," a short distance from Beirut International Airport, state media said.

The Lebanese civil aviation authority, in a statement to state media, said the airport continued to operate normally and that the road leading to it remained passable.

An air raid alert has been issued in Doha, Euronews journalists in the Qatari capital are saying.

More details to follow.

The Red Cross says civilians in Iran are paying “a heavy price” as the US and Israel war against the Islamic Republic shows no sign of abating.

Vincent Cassard, head of the Red Cross delegation in Iran, said the war has placed “heavy strain” on Iranians.

“The heavy loss of life is alarming,” he said. “Daily life in Tehran has been profoundly disrupted.”

He said damaged schools and hospitals, as well as facilities of the Iranian Red Crescent, show “the heavy price that civilians are paying as a result of hostilities.”

Israel’s military said on Tuesday it has begun new air strikes targeting Iran’s capital, Tehran.

More details to follow.

If the war in Iran continues through to June, an additional 45 million people could face acute hunger, swelling the number worldwide to a "terrible" high, the United Nations warned on Tuesday.

"If the Middle East conflict continues through June, an additional 45 million people could be pushed into acute hunger by price rises," Carl Skau, the deputy executive director of the UN's World Food Programme, told a press conference in Geneva.

"This would take global hunger levels to an all-time record, and it's a terrible, terrible prospect," he said, with 319 million people, already a historic high, currently acutely food insecure.

How the Middle East conflict is fuelling hunger as WFP scales up assistance | World Food Programme

In Lebanon, Syria, Iran and beyond, WFP is reaching the most vulnerable people – but supply chain bottlenecks risk roiling economies, threatening food security…

A tanker anchored off the eastern coat of the United Arab Emirates was hit by debris early Tuesday morning as the nation came under several waves of Iranian attacks.

The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations centre, run by the British military, reported the incident, saying the vessel was in the Gulf of Oman off Fujairah. It said the tanker sustained “minor structural damage” and no one was hurt.

The UKMTO later said it appeared falling debris from an interception hit the tanker, rather than the tanker being targeted itself.

China is offering emergency humanitarian assistance to Iran and three other countries because of the war.

“The ongoing conflict has caused a grave humanitarian disaster for the people of regional countries, including Iran,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said in Beijing on Tuesday.

He did not provide any details on the amount or nature of the assistance.

Israel’s military warned on Tuesday of a new barrage of missile fire from Iran, with air defences firing and explosions heard.

More details to follow.

Albania designated Iran's Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) a terrorist organisation and Iran as a state supporting terrorism, the parliament decided Tuesday.

The Western Balkan nation's ruling Socialist party used its parliamentary majority to adopt a resolution to designate the Iranian elite military corps as terrorists despite an opposition boycott.

"The Albanian parliament declares the Islamic Republic of Iran a state that supports terrorism and a state that uses terrorist means in the pursuit of its foreign policy objectives," the resolution said.

The document also condemned cyberattacks attributed to Iran-linked hackers against its institutions, including an incident earlier this month that targeted its parliamentary IT system.

A cyberattack in 2022 triggered Tirana to sever diplomatic ties with Iran.

Albania has for years hosted several thousand members of the People's Mujahedin of Iran (MEK), an exiled Iranian opposition group persecuted by Tehran as "terrorist".

The US and the EU had already designated the IRGC as a terrorist organisation. Brussels made the call in January after the deadly crackdown carried out by the authorities against Iranian protesters, killing tens of thousands of citizens.

Two medics were injured after shrapnel fell on an ambulance centre in Kuwait during an attack on the Gulf nation, authorities said.

The Health Ministry said the injured were taken to a hospital, adding that they are in stable condition.

Manama has reported on Tuesday that it has been targeted by more drone attacks from Iran.

The country's Defence Ministry shared on Tuesday its latest tally of 129 missiles and 233 drones were fired towards the county since the start of the war on 28 February, representing an increase of nine drone attacks in comparison with Monday’s figures.

Lebanon's army said five of its soldiers were injured after Tuesday morning’s Israeli assault on the village of Kfar Sir.

Two of the five soldiers were in critical condition.

The army said the troops were wounded while travelling in a car and a motorcycle, adding that they were all taken to hospital for treatment.

Ali Larijani, 67, served as secretary of the Supreme National Security Council and is considered one of the most prominent figures in Iran's political and security apparatus.

Although he could not have succeeded Ali Khamenei and holds no position in the interim leadership council, his current status makes him one of top targets for elimination due to the immense power he wields.

Larijani is widely seen as part of the close circle surrounding the new supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, alongside judiciary chief Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Ejei and parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf.

Read the full article: 

What we know about Ali Larijani, Tehran’s most influential powerbroker

Although Ali Larijani could not have succeeded Ali Khamenei and holds no position in the interim leadership council, his current status makes him one of top ta…

Israel’s Defence Minister Israel Katz says the IDF killed Iran’s top security official Ali Larijani in a strike on Tehran overnight into Tuesday.

The confirmation came after speculation of Larijani’s elimination within the Israeli media landscape, following an earlier announcement by the military that it had killed Basij paramilitary chief Gholamreza Soleimani.

Larijani is the second most senior Iranian official to get assassinated since the country’s former Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed in the war’s opening salvo on 28 February.

Iranian officials have not yet commented on the strikes. 

Israel’s military announced in a post on X on Tuesday that its airstrikes on Iran the day prior had successfully “eliminated” Gholamreza Soleimani, the powerful chief of the Basij paramilitary unit, a volunteer-based force operating as an auxiliary unit of the Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).

“Yesterday, the IDF targeted & eliminated Gholamreza Soleimani, who operated as commander of the Basij unit for the past 6 years,” said the IDF.

“Under Soleimani, the Basij unit led the main repression operations in Iran, employing severe violence, widespread arrests, and the use of force against civilian demonstrators.”

Israeli media outlets say Iran’s national security chief Ali Larijani was among those targeted in its aerial campaign on Tehran on Monday.

Larijani, known for being an unwavering hardline stance, has called for intensifying attacks on Israel and vowed to avenge the killing of Iran’s former Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei in the war’s opening salvo on 28 February.

Israeli media outlets say Larijani has long been a target for the country’s defence forces, who together with the US have eliminated several high-ranking Iranian political figures since the start of the war.

It is not yet clear if the strikes on the Iranian official were successful.

Iranian and Iraqi officials are holding talks about allowing transit of Iraq’s oil tankers through the Strait of Hormuz, according to Iraqi Oil Minister Hayan Abdul-Ghani.

The comments were broadcast by the country’s state-run Iraq News Agency.

The war and the virtual closure of the strait have severely impacted Iraq, who depends overwhelmingly on oil for its economic wellbeing.

The news agency said Iraq’s oil production has been reduced to 1.2 million barrels a day, down from almost four times as much prior to the war, when the country was producing approximately 4.3 million barrels daily.

China is maintaining contact with the US about issues including a planned visit by President Donald Trump, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson said on Tuesday.

“China and the US are in communication on issues including the timing of President Trump’s visit to China,” Lin Jian said in Beijing at a press briefing.

Trump on Monday said that he may delay his heavily anticipated trip because of the war in Iran, which was scheduled for late March to early April.

Lin added that US officials clarified “the visit is unrelated to the issue of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz.”

Trump told the Financial Times that he would like to know before leaving for Beijing whether China would help secure the strait, which he says is responsible for 90% of their oil supply, as it remains effectively closed amid Tehran’s attacks on commercial vessels in the waterway.

A US trade official walked back the statement on Monday, saying a postponement would be unrelated to China’s help in the strait.

The Israeli military says it has conducted a “combined wave of strikes” against infrastructure and military targets in the Iranian cities of Tehran, Shiraz and Tabriz on Tuesday.

The IDF detailed in a post on X that the strikes in Tehran hit command centres, launch sites and air defence systems.

In Shiraz, southwest of Iran, the internal security forces’ command centre and a ballistic missile site were hit, while additional air defence systems were “dismantled” in the northwestern city of Tabriz. 

South Korea says 26 of its vessels and 183 crewmembers remain stranded in waters around the Strait of Hormuz as the vital waterway remains effectively closed amid the war in Iran, currently in its 18^th day.

Park Il, spokesperson of South Korea’s Foreign Ministry, said on Tuesday that officials are in close contact with port authorities in nearby countries to facilitate the provision of food and other supplies.

Park said they plan to take unspecified additional steps if the situation worsens.

Seoul has been cautious about discussing support for Washington efforts to reopen the Strait of Hormuz after US President Donald Trump urged several governments, including Seoul, to deploy naval assets.

“The government will maintain close communication with the US side and conduct a close and careful review of the issue, taking into account various factors and the changing regional situation,” said Park.

Ali Mojtaba Rouzbehani, Iran’s ambassador in Turkmenistan, says his country will defend the Strait of Hormuz and called on US forces to withdraw to restore stability.

“I have a proposal for Trump: if he wants stability and passage through the Strait of Hormuz, he must ensure that his military forces withdraw from the strait,” said Rouzbehani on Monday.

“The Strait of Hormuz is not currently closed. But as a result of this aggression, no ships can pass through the strait, and we will defend its stability and security,” he said.

The ambassador added that US and Israeli forces “have other targets in the region.”

“They’ve targeted water treatment plants, fuel storage facilities, and other facilities. These ongoing threats must end,” he said.

The speaker of Iran’s parliament, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, told Iranian state television that the Strait of Hormuz cannot be “as it was before” as Tehran’s fire keeps nearly all traffic out of the strategic waterway, through which a fifth of the world’s oil and gas normally pass.

The senior Iranian lawmaker made the comment in an interview which aired on Tuesday as Iranian fire continues to target shipping in the region.

“They are flying, launching missiles, should we just sit back and do nothing in response, or not? Naturally, it is our undeniable right. We must do this,” he said.

“Let me speak clearly, the Strait of Hormuz has always been important, one of the world’s key strategic chokepoints,” said Ghalibaf.

“But look at this strategic mistake by the Americans and the Zionist regime, this trap they set, and the recklessness they showed, has turned this potential into an active reality. This is a high-risk opportunity.”

Canberra and Wellington have called for the Iran war, which started when the United States and Israel launched attacks on 28 February, should end as quickly as possible.

Australian and New Zealand foreign and defence ministers met for annual talks on Tuesday in Australia’s capital Canberra.

“We discussed the escalating situation in the Middle East. We want this crisis to end as quickly possible and move to a negotiated solution,” said Winston Peters, New Zealand’s Foreign Minister, at a joint press conference after the meeting.

Kuwaiti security forces arrested 16 individuals suspected to have links with Iran’s Lebanon-based proxy Hezbollah, according to a report by the state-run Kuwait News Agency.

The interior ministry said in a statement late on Monday that the 14 Kuwaiti and two Lebanese suspects arrested in the raid sought to “create chaos, and disrupt public order” during the war.

The ministry did not identify the people arrested and it was not immediately clear if they had attorney representation yet.

The ministry shared that authorities found firearms, ammunition, weapons for training and assassinations, encrypted communication devices and drones. It added that the suspects aimed to recruit others in the country to join Hezbollah.

Kuwait has for years experienced attacks which authorities have produced links to Iran in.

A Pakistani man was killed on Tuesday morning in a missile attack on the United Arab Emirates capital Abu Dhabi, according to authorities.

The Abu Dhabi Media Office said in a post on X that the man was killed when shrapnel fell in the Baniyas area after the country’s air defences intercepted a ballistic missile.

The death toll in the UAE since the start of the war now rises to eight people including two soldiers, according to authorities.

Saudi Arabia’s Defence Ministry says it has intercepted a dozen drones fired from Iran on Tuesday morning over the country’s vast Eastern Province, home to oil infrastructure.

A fire broke out in an industrial area on Tuesday morning in Qatar after a missile was intercepted over the gas-rich country, the interior ministry said.

Residents of Qatar reported hearing explosions as air defences near the capital, Doha, worked to intercept incoming Iranian fire on Tuesday morning.

Qatar’s Defence Ministry said it intercepted a missile attack on the country a short time later.

In the United Arab Emirates, Dubai residents received a missile alert roughly around the same time.

Explosions sounded over Dubai early on Tuesday as the United Arab Emirates’ military worked to intercept incoming Iranian fire that caused the country to briefly close its airspace.

The closure was soon lifted, according to the state-run WAM news agency, which quoted the UAE’s General Civil Aviation Authority as saying.

Authorities said “the situation stabilised,” allowing flights to resume. Shortly after, missile warning alerts were sent to residents of Dubai. The sound of explosions could be heard in city as the military worked to intercept the incoming fire.

Read the full article: 

Israel announces new strikes across Iran, expanded attacks in Lebanon

Early attacks were traded as the US and Israeli war on Iran pushed through into day 18. The UAE reported that its air defences were working to intercept Irania…