{"id":327617,"date":"2026-03-04T01:54:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-04T01:54:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/327617\/"},"modified":"2026-03-04T01:54:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-04T01:54:09","slug":"iran-sends-drones-and-missiles-across-the-gulf-as-up-to-2000-irish-seek-route-home-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/327617\/","title":{"rendered":"Iran sends drones and missiles across the Gulf as up to 2,000 Irish seek route home \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Iran broadened the scope of its drone and missile strikes on US allies across the Gulf on Tuesday, as US president Donald Trump<\/a> and leading White House officials continued to offer contradictory accounts about the rationale for getting involved in a volatile conflict which has killed an estimated 800 people. <\/p>\n

Between 1,500 and 2,000 Irish people stranded in the United Arab Emirates and Qatar due to related flight cancellations have registered with the Department of Foreign Affairs<\/a> as they seek a route home. <\/p>\n

Minister for Foreign Affairs Helen McEntee <\/a>on Tuesday night said the Government was working to finalise a first charter flight that would depart from Oman in the coming days if the security situation permits. <\/p>\n

As the conflict threatens to deepen into a protracted crisis, the strategy of the US administration remains opaque.<\/p>\n

\u201cI might have forced Israel\u2019s hand,\u201d Trump said on Tuesday, which was a stark correction of the assertion on Monday by secretary of state Marco Rubio<\/a> that the US had taken pre-emptive defensive action in joining an Israeli-led assault.<\/p>\n

Trump also commented, while hosting a bemused German chancellor Friedrich Merz<\/a> in the Oval Office, on the helpfulness of European allies in recent days. He said he had ordered treasury secretary Scott Bessent to \u201ccut off all dealings\u201d with Spain over a refusal to use air bases. He also delivered a stinging rebuke of Britain\u2019s prime minister Keir Starmer over his stated position. <\/p>\n

\u201cThis is not Winston Churchill we are dealing with,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\"WorkersWorkers in Tehran clear rubble at the site of a police station destroyed by US-Israeli air strikes. Photograph: Arash Khamooshi\/New York Times<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Mark Weiss in Jerusalem: Israel wants regime change. The US isn’t so sureOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Denis Staunton in Beijing: China signals support for Iran – while keeping its distanceOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Naomi O’Leary: Why have the US and Israel attacked Iran?Opens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

As Israel confirmed new strikes against Islamic republic officials in Tehran and intensified its attacks on Hizbullah in southern Lebanon, at least five countries in the region reported drone and missile attacks from Iran. <\/p>\n

The US announced the closure of its embassies in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia while internationally, oil and energy prices began to climb sharply as stock and bond markets were down. <\/p>\n

Given the administration\u2019s muddled messaging about a potential regime change in Iran, Trump was non-committal about a preferred successor to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed in the initial wave of attacks which obliterated his compound in Tehran.<\/p>\n

\u201cMost of the people we had in mind are dead,\u201d Trump said.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow we have another group, they may be dead also, based on reports. So, you have a third wave coming. Pretty soon we\u2019re not going to know anybody.\u201d<\/p>\n

He was sceptical about the idea of a dramatic return of the exiled Iranian crown prince, Reza Pahlavi. \u201cWe haven\u2019t been thinking too much about that. It would seem to me that someone from within might be more appropriate.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"SmokeSmoke rises from destroyed buildings after Israeli strikes in the southern suburbs of Beirut, Lebanon. Photograph: Wael Hamzeh\/EPA<\/p>\n

McEntee asked Irish people stranded in the Gulf to be patient, saying those \u201crequiring most assistance\u201d would be contacted directly by her department in the coming days regarding the first of what she hoped would be many charter flights out. <\/p>\n

She said vulnerable Irish citizens and those not resident in the Gulf would be prioritised. It is understood that between 250 and 300 people could depart on the first flight.<\/p>\n

Earlier on Tuesday, in an interview with The Irish Times<\/a>, McEntee said she expected Taoiseach Miche\u00e1l Martin would raise Ireland\u2019s concerns about the US-Israeli action when he meets Trump at the White House later this month. <\/p>\n

\u201cIf this is still going on in the way that it currently is, I have no doubt that there will be conversations about it,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n

The Minister said no US military aircraft connected to the conflict have passed through Shannon Airport since last weekend.<\/p>\n

Late on Tuesday night, the Israel Defense Forces said in a post on X its air force was launching a new \u201cwave of extensive strikes against launch sites, defense systems, and additional infrastructure of the Iranian terror regime\u201d.<\/p>\n

Trump said earlier on Tuesday that the US government would provide insurance to tankers in the Gulf region and its navy would escort them through the Strait of Hormuz if necessary.<\/p>\n

The narrow shipping channel \u2013 crucial to global trade and through which one-fifth of the world\u2019s oil and liquefied natural gas supplies are transported \u2013 was declared closed by Iranian authorities as conflict in the region deepened. \u2013 Additional reporting: Reuters<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Iran broadened the scope of its drone and missile strikes on US allies across the Gulf on Tuesday,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":327618,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[42,1556,11829,3410,150432,43,40,38,41,39,90],"class_list":["post-327617","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-helen-mcentee","tag-iran","tag-israel","tag-israel-iran-conflict","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-us"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/327617","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=327617"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/327617\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/327618"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=327617"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=327617"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=327617"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}