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• Tehran strikes Qatari LNG plant, Saudi and Kuwaiti refineries
• Trump warns of ‘furious response’ if attacks on Qatar continue
• Rules out troop deployment, but officials say reinforcements under review
• Hegseth sets no timeline for war; White House to seek $200bn more from Congress
• Global energy markets shaken; Brent jumps to $119, gas prices up 35pc
• Riyadh asserts it reserves right to retaliate after refinery drone strike
• Netanyahu says Israel ‘acted alone’ in striking Iran gas field
• Claims Tehran no longer able to enrich uranium or build missiles

DOHA: As Washington rushed to arm its Gulf allies with a $16.46 billion military package, Iran issued its starkest warning yet, vowing “zero restraint” if its energy infrastructure is targeted again, pushing the Middle East closer to a regional war.

The developments came after Iranian attacks on the world’s largest LNG plant in Qatar and refineries in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait sent shock waves through energy markets on Thursday, with the United States stressing that there was no deadline to end the Middle East war.

Amid growing fears over the economic damage from the war, US President Donald Trump said there would be no repeat of Israel’s attack on Iran’s key South Pars gas field, but he warned of a furious US response if Tehran did not halt strikes on Qatar.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netan­yahu later claimed that Israel had acted unilaterally in striking Iran’s massive South Pars gas field. “Israel acted alone against the Asaluyeh gas compound… President Trump asked us to hold off on future attacks, and we’re holding out,” he has said at a televised press conference.

He also claimed in a news conference that Iran no longer has the capacity to enrich uranium or make ballistic missiles after 20 days of US-Israeli air attacks, Reuters reported.

Oil markets have already been shaken by Iran’s blocking of the Strait of Hormuz.

But the international benchmark Brent surged 10 per cent to $119 a barrel before falling back to $112, while European gas prices rose 35pc, after Iranian missiles hit Qatar’s huge Ras Laffan liquefied natural gas complex in retaliation for the Israeli strike on South Pars on Wednesday.

Interestingly, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Washington could consider lifting sanctions on Iranian oil already in transit. Talking to Fox Business, he added that the US government could also release more oil from its strategic reserves to help ease price pressure.

Meanwhile, QatarEnergy said that the nighttime attack on Ras Laffan, a repeated target since the start of the war on Feb 28, caused “extensive damage”.

Its CEO told Reuters the Iranian attacks had knocked out a sixth of Qatar’s LNG export capacity, worth $20bn a year, and that repairs would take three to five years.

Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Moham­med bin Abdulrahman Al Thani said the attack was “clear proof” that Iran was going past its vow to only target US interests in the Gulf. And attacks blamed on Iran spread. A drone crashed into the Samref refinery in Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea port of Yanbu, the Saudi defence ministry said. The government reserved the “right to take military actions” in response.

In Kuwait, drone attacks sparked fires at the Mina Abdullah and Mina Al-Ahmadi refineries, which have a combined capacity of 800,000 barrels per day. Blasts were also heard in Bahrain’s capital of Manama, according to AFP.

‘Successive punishment’

Even in Israel, the media said an oil refinery in the port of Haifa was hit on Thursday, after the military warned of missiles launched by Iran. Israel’s Kan 11 public broadcaster aired images on television showing a thick plume of dark smoke rising from the area of the refinery.

Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency also reported that Tehran had launched missiles at Israel, adding that Tel Aviv’s “successive punishment continues”.

The Israeli military said that its fighter jets had struck several Iranian naval vessels in the Caspian Sea the previous day, AFP reported. The targets included ships equipped with missile systems, support vessels and patrol craft, the military said, adding that a port command centre was also hit in the operation.

The targeted Iranian ships were also equ­ipped with aerial surveillance systems and anti-submarine missiles, the military said.

Meanwhile, US and Israeli attacks in the morning in Iran’s north-western city of Tabriz killed several people, including four taekwondo athletes, Al Jazeera reported.

A US-based rights group reported more than 3,000 people killed in Iran by the US-Israeli strikes, a figure that could not be independently verified.

US F-35 damaged

Separately, a US F-35 fighter jet made an emergency landing at a US air base in the Middle East after it was struck by what is believed to be Iranian fire, CNN reported, citing two sources familiar with the matter. The strike would be the first time Iran has hit a US aircraft since the war began.

On the US military aid to the UAE and Kuwait, Secretary of State Marco Rubio has “determined and provided detailed justification that an emergency exists that req­uires the immediate sale” of the military equipment, thereby waiving the requirement that Congress give its approval.

The biggest single sale is of lower-tier air and missile defence sensor radars — which are designed to track high-speed targets and give data to a missile defence network — for $8bn, according to a statement from the State Department.

The next largest is to the United Arab Emirates for a long-range discrimination ra­­dar — which tracks ballistic missile threats — and related equipment at a cost of $4.5bn.

The UAE has also received approval to buy systems designed to defeat small, un­­m­anned aircraft for $2.1bn, advanced air-to-air missiles for $1.22bn, and F-16 warplane munitions and upgrades for $644 million.

‘Zero restraint’

Trump indicated he did not know in advance about Israel’s raid on South Pars, which supplies about 70pc of Iran’s domestic needs. But he said he had told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu not to hit more gas fields in Iran.

“We get along great. It’s coordinated, but on occasion, he’ll do something” that the United States opposes, Trump told reporters in the Oval Office, where he met Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi. “I told him, ‘Don’t do that’, and he won’t do that,” he said. He also said on Thursday that there was no current plan to send troops into Iran. At his meeting with Takaichi, Trump said he had no plans to deploy ground forces. “I’m not putting troops anywhere,” he said.

However, a US official and three other people familiar with the planning told Reuters that Trump was considering sending thousands more US troops to the Middle East.

Iran responded to the threats with defiance. The military’s Khatam Al-Anbiya operational command vowed the “complete destruction” of Gulf energy infrastructure if the Israeli attack was repeated, according to a statement carried by Fars news agency.

Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on social media there would be “ZERO rest­raint” if Iran’s infrastructure was hit again.

There is growing concern among the world’s major economies over fallout from the conflict. Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the Netherlands said they would “contribute to appropriate efforts to ensure safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz” but gave few details.

French President Emmanuel Macron condemned the “reckless escalation” in attacks and called for “direct talks between the Americans and Iranians on this matter”.

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s office warned that “attacks on critical infrastructure risked pushing the region further into crisis”, after talks with Macron and Nato chief Mark Rutte.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres also urged restraint, warning that the conflict risked spiralling “out of control” with “potential tragic consequences” for civilians and the global economy.

Meanwhile, US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said there is no time frame for ending the war, but that “we’re very much on track” and Trump would choose when to end fighting.

Published in Dawn, March 20th, 2026

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Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said on Thursday that it had struck and “seriously damaged” a US F-35 fighter jet over central Iran.

In a statement, the IRGC said the aircraft was hit by its air defence systems at around 2:50am (local time) on Thursday (2320GMT Wednesday night), adding that “a US F-35 fighter jet was struck and seriously damaged” over central Iran.

It added that “the fate of the aircraft remains unknown and is under investigation,” noting there is a “high possibility” that the jet may have crashed.

The IRGC also said the operation came “following the successful interception of more than 125 US-Israeli drones,” adding that the incident “reflects significant and targeted improvements in the country’s integrated air defence systems.”

The US military, meanwhile, said in a statement that a US F-35 aircraft conducted an emergency landing after flying a combat mission over Iran. The military said the pilot was in stable condition.

A US official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, told AFP it appeared the aircraft had been hit by Iran, but an investigation was under way.

The developments come as the US and Israel continue to engage in a war with Iran. It began with Washington and Tel Aviv launching a joint offensive on Iran on February 28, which also resulted in the assassination of supreme leader Ali Khamenei.

So far, more than 1,300 people have been killed in Iran during the war.

Iran has retaliated with drone and missile strikes targeting Israel, Jordan, Iraq, and Gulf countries hosting US military assets, causing casualties and damage to infrastructure while disrupting global markets and aviation.

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Additional input from AFP

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Leaders from the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, and Japan have signalled their readiness to support efforts to ensure the safe passage of commercial vessels through the Strait of Hormuz.

“We express our readiness to contribute to appropriate efforts to ensure safe passage through the strait. We welcome the commitment of nations that are engaging in preparatory planning,” the leaders said in a joint statement.

The Strait of Hormuz, a crucial shipping route, has been virtually paralysed by the Middle East war. The war erupted on February 28 when the US and Israel began bombing Iran, prompting it to retaliate with strikes targeting US assets and bases in the Gulf and restricting access to the strait.

Since March 1, 2026, at least 21 commercial vessels, including 10 tankers, have been attacked or reported incidents in the Gulf, the Strait of Hormuz or the Gulf of Oman, according to the British naval maritime security agency UKMTO.

Across all types of vessels, an additional four attacks claimed by the Iranian Revolutionary Guards have not been confirmed by international authorities.

The leaders condemned the attacks in the Gulf, saying: “We condemn in the strongest terms recent attacks by Iran on unarmed commercial vessels in the Gulf, attacks on civilian infrastructure, including oil and gas installations, and the de facto closure of the Strait of Hormuz by Iranian forces.”

They urged Tehran to halt the attacks, calling on Iran to “cease immediately its threats, laying of mines, drone and missile attacks and other attempts to block the Strait to commercial shipping, and to comply with UN Security Council Resolution 2817”.

Highlighting the broader impact, the statement warned that “the effects of Iran’s actions will be felt by people in all parts of the world, especially the most vulnerable,” and maintained that “freedom of navigation is a fundamental principle of international law, including under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.”

The countries also underlined that interference with international shipping “constitute[s] a threat to international peace and security” and called for “an immediate comprehensive moratorium on attacks on civilian infrastructure, including oil and gas installations.”

On energy security, the statement welcomed the International Energy Agency’s decision to release strategic petroleum reserves and pledged further action to stabilise markets. “We will take other steps to stabilise energy markets, including working with certain producing nations to increase output.”

Regional escalation continued to flare since Israel and the US launched a joint offensive on Iran, killing so far more than 1,200 people, including supreme leader Ali Khamenei.

Iran has retaliated with drone and missile attacks across the region and has effectively closed for most ships the Strait of Hormuz, a key oil transit route that normally handles about 20 million barrels per day, and roughly 20 per cent of global liquefied natural gas trade.

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GILGIT: The federal Ministry of Interior has constituted a high-level committee to investigate recent incidents in Gilgit-Baltistan, where deadly clashes erupted between protesters and security forces.

Earlier, the Gilgit-Baltistan government had also formed a three-member judicial commission to conduct a fact-finding inquiry into the situation.

At least 20 people, including two security officials, were killed in clashes following protests in Gilgit and Skardu after reports of the assassination of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei during US and Israeli attacks on Iran.

During the unrest, protesters torched several installations, inc­luding security offices, a school, the AKRSP building, an IT Park, the SP office, residences of police officers and UN offices in Skardu.

A curfew was later imposed in Gilgit and Skardu for several days to restore law and order.

According to a notification issued by the interior ministry, the committee has been tasked with probing the March 1 incidents in Gilgit-Baltistan.

The notification stated that in light of the deterioration of law and order, resulting in large-scale protests, damage to public property and disruption of peace, the competent authority has constituted a committee to conduct a comprehensive inquiry.

The committee will be headed by Dawood Muhammad Bareach, special secretary at the Ministry of Interior. It also includes Commandant National Police Academy Muhammad Idrees Ahmad, Joint Secretary Interior Tariq Salam Marwat and representatives from intelligence agencies.

The committee has been mandated to examine the circumstances leading to the unrest, including triggers, mobilisation patterns and administrative response, and to assess the performance of civil administration and law enforcement agencies.

It will also determine any lapses, negligence or coordination gaps, evaluate damage to public and private property and recommend corrective measures, accountability proceedings and preventive safeguards.

It may co-opt relevant officers, call for records and seek assistance from departments concerned and is required to submit its report within 30 days.

Published in Dawn, March 19th, 2026

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President Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday announced that France’s next nuclear-powered aircraft carrier will be called “France Libre” (Free France), as the country looks to reinforce its status as a major maritime power.

Once completed, the warship, which is set to replace the country’s sole aircraft carrier — the Charles de Gaulle — and due to enter service in 2038, will be the largest warship ever built in Europe.

Macron said the vessel was being named after the French Resistance movement that General de Gaulle led against the Nazi occupation of France during World War II.

“I wanted our future aircraft carrier to follow in the footsteps of General de Gaulle. His life, his destiny,” Macron said at a shipyard in the western town of Indret, near Nantes, where the vessel’s two nuclear reactors will be built.

“Our new aircraft carrier will be named France Libre,” he added.

“This name honours the memory of the men and women who stood up against barbarity.”

Macron in December announced the start of construction of the new aircraft carrier, a project estimated to cost 10 billion euros ($11 billion).

He told French troops in the United Arab Emirates at the time that “in an age of predators”, France “must be strong in order to be feared”.

He reiterated that sentiment on Wednesday.

“To remain free, we must be feared. To be feared, we must be powerful,” he said.

‘France is wild’

Ahead of the ceremony, Macron posted a 30-second video highlighting some of France’s proudest moments and technological achievements.

Set to rousing music, the video featured footage of the Charles de Gaulle, submarines, troops, jets streaking in the air, high-speed trains, and France’s astronaut Sophie Adenot, who has been in space since mid-February.

“France is wild”, read the white letters splashed in English across the clip.

In recent weeks, the president has repeatedly underscored France’s maritime ambitions.

He said last week that Paris and its allies were putting together a mission to help reopen the Strait of Hormuz, a vital waterway for the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas supplies.

Iran has effectively closed the Strait since the United States and Israel began the war on the Islamic Republic late last month, sending global oil prices up by more than 40 per cent.

But the French leader has ruled out any action until hostilities there cool.

France’s most recent aircraft carriers have all been named after French statesmen including Georges Clemenceau and Ferdinand Foch.

Much bigger

Construction of the future warship’s hull is expected to begin in the western port city of Saint-Nazaire in 2031.

France is one of the two countries in the world that operate nuclear-powered aircraft carriers. The United States has 11 such vessels.

The Charles de Gaulle was commissioned in 2001 and is the largest warship ever built for the French Navy.

The new warship will be much larger than the 42,000-tonne 261-metre (856-foot) long Charles de Gaulle.

It will weigh nearly 80,000 tonnes and be approximately 310 metres long.

With a crew of 2,000, it will be able to carry 30 fighter aircraft as well as combat drones.

“In the future, the aircraft carrier will be more than just an aircraft carrier,” said the Chief of the Naval Staff, Admiral Nicolas Vaujour.

The project represents a formidable undertaking, officials say.

“We cannot simply reproduce a tool that was designed halfway through the last century,” said armed forces chief of staff Fabien Mandon.

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Veteran Iranian politician Ali Larijani was one of the most powerful figures in the Islamic republic, an architect of its security policy, and a close adviser to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei until the supreme leader’s assassination in an airstrike last month.

Larijani, 67, was assassinated by a US-Israeli air attack as he was visiting his daughter in the eastern outskirts of a Tehran suburb, Iran’s semi-official Fars news agency said on Tuesday.

The scion of a leading clerical family with brothers who ​rose to high positions after the 1979 Islamic Revolution, Larijani was seen as canny and pragmatic but always fiercely determined to uphold Iran’s theocratic system of government.

A Revolutionary Guard Corps commander during the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s, he became head of Iran’s ‌national broadcaster before stints running the Supreme National Security Council either side of his membership of parliament, where he was speaker for 12 years.

His role as the ultimate insider in Ali Khamenei’s Iran gave him responsibilities across a wide portfolio that included critical nuclear negotiations with the West, managing Tehran’s regional ties and the suppression of internal unrest.

Despite his unswerving commitment to Khamenei’s absolute rule, he advocated a more cautionary approach than did other hardline figures, sometimes willing to further Iran’s goals through diplomacy and to meet domestic opposition with soothing words.

But despite his relative moderation, he played an allegedly central role in the crushing of mass protests in January. The violent repression, which killed several of protesters, led Washington to impose sanctions ​on him last month.

After the US-Israeli strikes began on February 28, he was one of the first major Iranian figures to speak, accusing Iran’s attackers of seeking to disintegrate and plunder the country. He also issued stern warnings against any would-be protesters.

He had also helped design Iran’s nuclear policy. In pursuing that policy, he projected the voice of the supreme leader, using his abilities ⁠as a communicator to build a rapport with Western negotiators and lay out Khamenei’s vision in frequent television interviews.

Rise after revolution

Ali Larijani was born in 1958 in Iraq’s great shrine city of Najaf, the home of many major Iranian clerics like his father who had fled what they saw as the oppressive rule of the shah.

He moved to Iran as a child, later focusing on ​his studies and earning a philosophy PhD. But the clerical milieu of his family would have made him keenly aware of the revolutionary religious currents surging through his homeland in the 1970s.

When Larijani was 20 years old, the Islamic Revolution overthrew the shah and installed Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini as supreme leader.

When Iraq invaded Iran along a 500-mile front months after the revolution, Larijani joined the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, a new, ideologically driven, military unit devoted to Khomeini.

As the war with Saddam Hussein’s Iraq became the great crucible testing the mettle of a new generation of Iranian leaders, Larijani rose up to become a staff officer, a commander focused on the organisational duties behind the front that dictated the war effort.

His ​success in that role, alongside his family connections, helped spur his rise in the new Islamic republic. They also ensured his close ties to the Guards, a military institution whose importance would continue growing throughout his life.

After the war, Larijani became culture minister and then head of Iran’s state broadcaster, IRIB, a ​critical role in a country where ideological messaging has always been central to the exercise of internal power.

Larijani was appointed to the cabinet by the mercurial president Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, in office from 1989 to 1997. Khamenei, meanwhile, became supreme leader in 1989, upon the death of Khomeini.

Larijani would have a ringside seat for the years-long power ‌struggle between Rafsanjani ⁠and Khamenei, an unrivalled lesson in high Iranian politics.

His time at IRIB was followed by a stint as head of the Supreme National Security Council, Iran’s top foreign and security policy body. A failed presidential bid followed, in 2005, before his election to parliament two years later.

Two of his brothers were enjoying high office, too, the signs of a family on the make.

His eldest brother, Mohammad-Javad, was a member of parliament before becoming a senior adviser to Khamenei. A younger brother, Sadiq, had become a cleric and risen to head the judiciary.

Chief nuclear negotiator

As chief nuclear negotiator from 2005 to 2007, Larijani was responsible for defending what Tehran says is its right to enrich uranium, a process required to make fuel for a nuclear power plant but which can also yield material for a warhead.

Pressure on Iran over its nuclear programme had ratcheted up after the discovery in 2003 that the country had enrichment facilities it had not disclosed to international inspectors, prompting ​fears it was seeking a bomb and leading to sanctions.

It has always ​denied wanting a bomb.

Larijani likened European incentives to abandon nuclear fuel production ⁠to “exchanging a pearl for a candy bar”. Though he was widely regarded as a pragmatist, he said that Iran’s nuclear programme “can never be destroyed”.

“Because once you have discovered a technology, they can’t take the discovery away,” he told PBS’s Frontline programme in September 2025. “It’s as if you are the inventor of some machine, and the machine is stolen from you. You can still make it again.”

Larijani made repeated visits to Moscow and met President Vladimir Putin, helping Khamenei manage a key ​ally and world power that acted as a counterweight to pressure from the first and second administrations of US President Donald Trump.

He was also tasked with advancing negotiations with China, which led to a 25-year cooperation agreement ​in 2021.

As parliament speaker from 2008 to 2020, ⁠he had a role in ensuring that a nuclear deal with six world powers in 2015 would meet the requirements of sceptical Iranian hardliners. Trump withdrew the US from the hard-negotiated agreement during his first term, in 2018.

Role in crushing protests

Larijani was again appointed head of the Supreme National Security Council last year, after a 12-day air war launched by Israel.

He was working to avert an attack on Iran until shortly before the war began.

“In my view, this issue is resolvable,” Larijani told Oman state television early this year, referring to the talks with the US “If the Americans’ concern is that Iran should not move toward acquiring a nuclear weapon, that can be ⁠addressed.”

But Washington also denounced ​him for the council’s role in crushing mass protests in January, even after he and other senior politicians had initially said that demonstrations over the economy were permissible.

According to a US ​government announcement detailing sanctions against him and other officials in response to the crackdown, Larijani was at the forefront of the repression.

“Larijani was one of the first Iranian leaders to call for violence in response to the legitimate demands of the Iranian people,” a US Treasury statement claimed on January 15, saying he had acted at Khamenei’s behest.

One of Larijani’s daughters, meanwhile, was dismissed from a medical teaching position at Emory University, in the US, following protests by Iranian-American activists angered by his role suppressing the demonstrations.

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Header image: Ali Larijani speaks at a press conference after registering as a candidate for the presidential election at the Interior Ministry, in Tehran, Iran May 31, 2024. — Reuters/ File

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US President Donald Trump lashed out Tuesday at “foolish” Nato over Iran, saying the United States needs no help after allies rebuffed his calls to join efforts to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

Trump said most US allies had rejected his push to escort ships through the crucial waterway, with French President Emmanuel Macron saying his country would “never” do so until the situation was calmer.

“I think Nato is making a very foolish mistake,” Trump told reporters as he hosted Irish Prime Minister Micheal Martin in the Oval Office.

“I’ve long said that I wonder whether or not Nato would ever be there for us. So this was a great test.”

But Trump insisted that Washington was ready to go it alone against Iran, saying that even Nato allies had agreed that Tehran needed to be confronted over its nuclear programme.

“We don’t need too much help. We don’t need any help,” Trump said.

Minutes before the meeting, Trump made a lengthy post on his Truth Social platform saying US forces “no longer need” military help in the Iran war.

Trump said that “most” Nato allies had said they did not want to get involved, along with Japan, Australia and South Korea, describing the decades-old military alliance as a “one-way street.”

“Because of the fact that we have had such Military Success, we no longer ‘need,’ or desire, the NATO Countries’ assistance — WE NEVER DID!” he said.

The 79-year-old Republican has long criticised Nato, and since returning to power in January 2025 he has pushed its members into increasing their defence spending.

Asked if he would reconsider the US relationship with Nato as he has suggested in the past, Trump said it was “certainly something that we should think about” but added: “I have nothing currently in mind.”

‘Big mistake’

But he repeated his criticisms of foreign counterparts over the issue, saying British Prime Minister Keir Starmer “hasn’t been supportive, and I think it’s a big mistake.” Of Macron, he merely said that “he’ll be out of office soon.”

The US leader had suggested on Monday that both Paris and London would be ready to help, and said other countries he did not name were already on board.

But Macron insisted on Tuesday that France would not participate in operations to open the strait in the current context, but once the situation becomes “calmer” it could participate in an “escort system” alongside other nations.

Britain has also waved off Washington’s request for assistance.

Trump, meanwhile, kept up his mixed messaging about the length and goals of the US-Israeli war on Iran, which has expanded dramatically across the Middle East and caused global oil prices to surge.

He said that Iran’s “actual top leader was killed yesterday,” in an apparent reference to Israel’s claim that it had assassinated powerful national security chief Ali Larijani.

Iran was “just a military operation to me” and “we’ll be leaving in pretty much the very near future,” Trump said, but he remained vague about his political plan for the country after the war.

“We’re going to try to get people that are going to run it well,” he said.

US-Israeli strikes on February 28 assassinated Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the republic’s long-serving supreme leader, and Iran has named his son Mojtaba Khamenei to replace him.

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