Aftermath of Iranian missile barrages in central IsraelYour support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it’s investigating the financials of Elon Musk’s pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, ‘The A Word’, which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Read more
Iran launched another blistering attack against Israel and American allies in the Gulf on Tuesday after dismissing Donald Trump’s claims that Washington and Tehran were holding “productive” talks to end the war as “fakenews”.
The Israeli military reported a fresh wave of missile attacks, triggering air raid sirens across the country, including Tel Aviv, where blasts from interceptions were heard. Homes in the north were damaged by falling debris. No deaths were reported.
Kuwait also responded to drone and missile attacks overnight, while Saudi Arabia intercepted a wave of more than 20 drones and Bahrain activated alert sirens. Explosions continued to rock Iran through the night, heard in Tehran, Tabriz, Isfahan and Karaj.
There was no sign of de-escalation after Iran rubbished Donald Trump’s claims that talks towards a ceasefire were ongoing with an unnamed “top person” in Iran.
Administration officials told Politico yesterday that the White House was eyeing Iranian parliament speaker Ghalibaf as a potential US-backed leader, and an Israeli official told Axios that US envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner were negotiating with him instead of the new supreme leader.
Reassurances were further muddled as a social media account in Ghalibaf’s name said no negotiations have so far taken place, and Iran’s foreign ministry said the regime had not responded to American requests to talk.
Are Washington and Tehran in talks to end the war?
Donald Trump’s claims that the US and Iran were already in talks to end the war were pounced upon by the regime in Tehran, which said the US president was only trying to soothe damaged markets and denied any such conversations had taken place.
Trump said yesterday that negotiators spoke on Sunday and could speak again on Monday, sparking a flurry of market activity and hopes of de-escalation just hours from Trump’s deadline to Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz or face ‘obliteration’.
Iranian officials cited in local media soon said there were no such discussions, before a spokesperson for the foreign ministry put out a statement claiming that while the US had tried to get in touch, Iran had not responded.
Trump did say in his comments to reporters that he was speaking to a “top person” in Iran and did not acknowledge new supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei as leader, indicating the US might not be going through the official channels.
An Israeli official told Axios that Iranian parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf was negotiating with US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, before Trump administration officials told Politico that Ghalibaf was being eyed for a future leadership role, supported by the US.
A social media account in Ghalibaf’s name on Monday afternoon said that no negotiations have been held with the US, claiming “fakenews is used to manipulate the financial and oil markets”.
Trump told reporters on Monday that the US and Iran were working to secure peace (Reuters)
James Reynolds24 March 2026 08:10
Watch: Netanyahu says Trump believes military ‘achievements’ against Iran can be used to end warTrump believes military ‘achievements’ against Iran can be leveraged into a deal to meet the war’s ‘objectives’: Netanyahu
James Reynolds24 March 2026 07:51
Philippines considers grounding long-haul flights
Philippine president Ferdinand Marcos Jr has told Bloomberg News that grounding planes due to a shortage of jet fuel was a “distinct possibility”.
“Several countries have already told our airlines they cannot fuel their aircraft, so they have to carry fuel there and back,” Mr Marcos Jr said. “Long haul is going to be a much more serious problem.”
Philippine energy secretary Sharon Garin told reporters today that the country will try to boost the output of its coal-fired power plants to keep electricity costs down.
Ms Garin said the country would “temporarily” be forced to lean even more heavily on coal due to the ongoing LPG crisis fueled by the war in the Middle East.
“We talked to the generation companies, the coal-powered plants, to check how much they can increase their generation,” Ms Garin said, adding that the “temporary measure” that could start as early as next month.
Alisha Rahaman Sarkar24 March 2026 07:50
South Korea asks citizens to take shorter showers to save energy
South Korean president Lee Jae Myung today called for a nationwide energy-saving campaign over risks to oil and gas supplies from the Iran war, saying public institutions would cut back on their use of passenger cars.
Energy minister Kim Sung-hwan told a cabinet meeting private-sector vehicle curbs were voluntary for now, but could be reviewed if the energy alert level increased.
The government is calling on people to adopt 12 energy-saving practices like shorter showers, charging phones and electric vehicles during the day and using washing machines and vacuums over the weekend.
The government will ask the top 50 oil-consuming businesses to cut use, and encourage staggered commuting hours and other conservation steps, he said.
Mr Kim also said Seoul would restart five nuclear reactors by May, ease restrictions on coal plants and expand renewable energy to reduce longer-term dependence on LNG, and could extend the lives of three coal power plants scheduled to close this year.
The energy mix adjustment is expected to save up to 14,000 tons, or up to 20 per cent of South Korea’s average daily LNG consumption of 69,000 tons for power, Mr Kim said.
Alisha Rahaman Sarkar24 March 2026 07:30
Trump appears to blame his defence secretary for Iran war
US president Donald Trump has claimed that his defence secretary Pete Hegseth was the one to push the US towards launching a war on Iran.
Mr Trump last night said Mr Hegseth was the first person on his team to suggest launching military operations against Tehran.
“I called Pete, I called General [Dan] Caine. I called a lot of our great people… And I said, ‘Let’s talk. We got a problem in the Middle East. We have a country, known as Iran, that for 47 years has been just a purveyor of terror, and they’re very close to having a nuclear weapon,” Mr Trump said at a Memphis Safe Task Force roundtable in Tennessee.
“We can keep going and get that 50,000 up to 55 and 60, there’s no end,” he said, referring to the Dow Jones stock market index, “or we can take a stop and make a little journey into the Middle East and eliminate a big problem”.
“And Pete, I think you were the first one to speak up, and you said, ‘Let’s do it, because you can’t let them have a nuclear weapon,” he added.
Mr Hegseth was sitting next to the president at the roundtable.
Alisha Rahaman Sarkar24 March 2026 07:13
Amazon AWS Bahrain region ‘disrupted’ following drone activity
Amazon said its Amazon Web Services region in Bahrain has been “disrupted” amid the current conflict in the Middle East.
The disruption is due to drone activity in the area, an Amazon spokesperson said.
Amazon said it is helping to migrate customers to alternate AWS regions while it recovers, though it did not provide additional details such as the extent of the damage or how long it anticipates the disruption to last.
“… As we have advised before, we request those with workloads in the affected regions continue to migrate to other locations,” Amazon said in a statement last night.
AWS is Amazon’s cloud computing unit and critical for the operation of many well-known websites and government operations. It is also the company’s main driver of profits.
Alisha Rahaman Sarkar24 March 2026 07:10
Watch live: Aftermath of missile strike in Tel Aviv
Alisha Rahaman Sarkar24 March 2026 06:53
Qatar parks 20 long-haul jets in Spain
Qatar Airways has moved 20 of its long-haul aircraft to a storage facility in Spain due to the ongoing war in the Middle East, which has forced the closure of airspace over the subcontinent.
Over the past week, the airline ferried several aircraft to Spain’s Teruel Airport, a hangar built for deep maintenance and long-haul storage.
“Because of this turmoil, we’ve become a haven for aircraft from the Middle East,” Teruel airport’s director Alejandro Ibrahim told Spanish radio station COPE.
“The figure is already around 20 and a few more are expected,” he added.
“Due to the current exceptional circumstances in the region and the resulting disruption to flight operations beyond our control, Qatar Airways has positioned some of its aircraft at selected airports outside Qatar,” Qatar Airways said in a statement to AFP.
“This is a temporary measure, and the aircraft will be progressively returned to service as flight operations are restored to normal levels,” it added.
A Qatar Airways plane lands at Teruel Airport as other aircraft remain parked amid airlines withdrawing planes due to the escalating conflict in the Middle East (Reuters)
Alisha Rahaman Sarkar24 March 2026 06:50
Mapped: What countries Iranian missiles could hit after warning they pose ‘global threat’
Iran has developed long-range missiles capable of reaching major European cities, Israel has warned, after the targeting of the UK-US base on Diego Garcia.
Iran took aim at the military base on the Chagos Islands before the UK government gave the US permission to strike missile sites targeting the Strait of Hormuz on Friday, but it is not clear exactly when the two intermediate-range ballistic missiles were fired.
The Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) said it was the first time Tehran had launched a long-range missile since the start of the war, and showed it is now capable of reaching cities such as London, Paris or Berlin.
Alisha Rahaman Sarkar24 March 2026 06:39
Pakistan positioning itself as chief mediator between US and Iran
Pakistan is reportedly positioning itself as the lead mediator to broker an end to the US and Israel’s war against Iran.
Pakistan has pitched Islamabad as a possible venue for the talks as early as this week, the Financial Times reported, citing senior members of the US and Iranian administrations.
According to the report, Pakistan’s army chief Asim Munir spoke with US president Donald Trump on Sunday, while Pakistan’s prime minister Shehbaz Sharif held talks with Iranian president Masoud Pezeshkian yesterday.
The call between the Pakistani and Iranian leaders came as Mr Trump said he was delaying his threat to “obliterate” Iran’s power plants, citing “very good and productive” conversations aimed at ending the war.
Iran refuted that there had been any high-level communications with the White House and dismissed Mr Trump’s rhetoric as a thinly veiled attempt to manipulate jittery global markets.
“No negotiations have been held with the US,” Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, the speaker of Iran’s parliament, posted on X. “And fake news is used to manipulate the financial and oil markets and escape the quagmire in which the US and Israel are trapped.”
Alisha Rahaman Sarkar24 March 2026 06:30