15/03/2026 – 07:49Middle East war puts Iran’s cultural heritage sites at risk of ‘irreversible’ damage
As Israel and the US continue to strike Iran, some of the country’s major cultural heritage sites have been damaged by blasts that UNESCO warned could be “irreversible”.
Among them is the opulent hall of mirrors in Tehran’s Golestan Palace, which is sometimes compared to France’s Versailles Palace.
15/03/2026 – 07:21Oil loadings operations at UAE’s Fujairah have restarted, Bloomberg News reports
Oil-loading operations at the United Arab Emirates’ Fujairah emirate, a major bunkering hub and crude export terminal, have resumed following a drone attack and fire a day earlier, Bloomberg News reported on Sunday.
Fujairah, outside the Strait of Hormuz, is the outlet for about 1 million barrels per day of the UAE’s Murban crude oil – a volume equal to about 1% of world demand.
15/03/2026 – 07:20Iran arrests 20 people accused of being informants to Israel, Tasnim news reports
Twenty people were arrested in northwestern Iran for attempting to cooperate with Israel, Tasnim news agency has reported, citing a statement by the West Azerbaijan province’s prosecutor office.
They are accused of sending location details on Iran’s military and security assets to Israel.
Israel has launched a new phase of its assault on Iran, targeting security checkpoints based on tip-offs from informants on the ground, a source briefed on Israel’s military strategy told Reuters last week.
15/03/2026 – 07:19Russia is supplying Iran with Shahed drones, Zelensky says
Russia is supplying Iran with Shahed drones to use against the US and Israel, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told CNN in an interview excerpt aired on Saturday.
Iran pioneered the Shahed drone, a much cheaper alternative to expensive missiles, but Russia now manufactures its own Shaheds.
Thousands of them have been launched by Russian forces against Ukraine since late 2022, according to the Ukrainians.
Zelensky told CNN’s Fareed Zakaria that it is “100% facts” that Iran has used Russian-made Shaheds to attack US bases.
15/03/2026 – 07:15US orders non-emergency personnel to leave Oman amid Iran war
The US State Department said it has ordered non-emergency government employees and the family members of government employees to leave Oman, citing safety risks as the US-Israeli war on Iran continues.
15/03/2026 – 07:15US identifies six service members killed in Iraq
The Pentagon on Saturday released the identities of six US crew members killed during the crash of a refueling aircraft in western Iraq earlier this week, which authorities said was not caused by “hostile fire.”
The KC-135 aerial refueling aircraft crashed in western Iraq on Thursday, bringing the number of US troops killed in operations against Iran to at least 13. A second aircraft involved in the operation landed safely.
The Pentagon said the six members killed in the crash were: John Klinner, 33, of Auburn, Alabama; Ariana Savino, 31, of Covington, Washington; Ashley Pruitt, 34, of Bardstown, Kentucky; Seth Koval, 38, of Mooresville, Indiana; Curtis Angst, 30, of Wilmington, Ohio; and Tyler Simmons, 28, of Columbus, Ohio.
The first three were members of the US Air Force, while the latter three were stationed with the US Air National Guard.
15/03/2026 – 07:04Iran Guards vow to ‘pursue and kill’ Israeli PM Netanyahu
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards vowed on Sunday to target Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as the war with Israel and the United States continues.
“If this child-killing criminal is alive, we will continue to pursue and kill him with full force,” said the Guards on their website Sepah News.
15/03/2026 – 07:04Trump says ‘terms aren’t good enough’ to make a deal with Iran
President Donald Trump told NBC news on Saturday that Iran is willing to make a deal with the US but he is not ready to do so “because the terms aren’t good enough yet”.
Trump refused to clarify the terms of a potential deal.
In a telephone interview with the US news outlet the President also questioned whether Iran’s new supreme leader was sill alive and said it was unclear whether Iran has dropped mines into the Strait of Hormuz.
15/03/2026 – 06:58Loud explosions heard in Bahrain’s Manama, journalists report
Explosions rang out over Bahrain’s capital of Manama early on Sunday, two AFP journalists said, as Iran continued its strikes across the Gulf.
Bahrain said it has intercepted 125 missiles and 203 drones since the start of Iran’s attacks, which have killed two people in the kingdom and 24 others in neighbouring Gulf nations.
15/03/2026 – 06:57UAE has ‘right to defend itself’ but chooses ‘restraint’, senior official says
The United Arab Emirates has the right to defend itself against Iran’s ongoing strikes but chooses restraint, a senior UAE official has said, as Tehran continues its retaliatory attacks across the Gulf.
“The UAE has the right to defend itself against this imposed terrorist aggression, but it is still prioritising reason and logic, continuing to exercise restraint and seeking a way out for Iran and the region,” presidential adviser Anwar Gargash said late Saturday on X.
The UAE “made sincere efforts until the very last moment to mediate between Washington and Tehran to avoid this war”, he wrote.
15/03/2026 – 06:56Formula 1 calls off April races in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia due to Iran war
Formula 1 and its governing body FIA have canceled upcoming Grand Prix races in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia on safety grounds related to the Iran war.
Both countries have been struck during Iran’s response after the United States and Israel launched a wave of attacks on Iran.
F1 was due to race in Bahrain on April 12 and in the Saudi Arabian city of Jeddah on April 19.
15/03/2026 – 06:52
Welcome to the FRANCE 24 liveblog covering the war in the Middle East.