Trump compares Pearl Harbour to strikes on Iran
President Donald Trump drew a parallel between US strikes on Iran and Japan’s 1941 attack on Pearl Harbour, as he defended the war he launched against Tehran while meeting Japanese prime minister Sanae Takaichi in Washington.
“We wanted surprise. Who knows better about surprise than Japan? Why didn’t you tell me about Pearl Harbor?” Mr Trump replied when a journalist asked why he had not told allies about his war plans.
“You believe in surprise, I think much more so than us.”Ms Takaichi’s eyes widened and she shifted in her chair as Mr Trump, seated beside her in the Oval Office, evoked the moment that drew the US into World War Two.
The Japanese attack on the U.S. naval base in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on 7 December 1941, killed 2,390 Americans.
The US declared war on Japan the next day, with president Franklin D Roosevelt calling it “a date which will live in infamy”.
Alisha Rahaman Sarkar20 March 2026 05:45
UAE under attack on Eid-al-Fitr
The United Arab Emirates said their air defense systems were actively intercepting missiles on the morning of Eid-al-Fitr.
The Dubai Media Office later on X said all air interception operations in the emirate had been successfully completed with no injuries reported.
Alisha Rahaman Sarkar20 March 2026 05:30
Fire breaks out at Kuwait’s Mina Al-Ahmadi refinery after drone attack
Kuwait’s state oil firm KPC said its Mina Al-Ahmadi refinery was hit by multiple drone attacks early this morning, causing a fire in some units, with no initial casualties reported, the state news agency said.
Firefighters responded immediately, with several units shut down as a precaution to ensure workers’ safety.
The Iranian attack came as Kuwait marked Eid al-Fitr, the celebration marking the end of the holy Muslim fasting month of Ramadan.
The attack comes as Iran increasingly targets energy sites in Gulf Arab states after Israel on Wednesday bombed Iran’s massive South Pars offshore natural gas field in the Persian Gulf.
Alisha Rahaman Sarkar20 March 2026 05:05
US approves $7bn more in weapons for UAE – report
The Donald Trump administration has approved about $7bn in weapons for the United Arab Emirates that the state department is not required to announce to the public under rules governing U.S. arms exports, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday.
That is in addition to arms sales to three Middle East countries worth more than $16.5bn announced earlier on Thursday, the Journal said.
The unannounced deals include the sale of Patriot PAC-3 missiles worth about $5.6bn and CH-47 Chinook helicopters costing about $1.32bn to the UAE, the Journal said, citing US officials, adding that those sales were not announced publicly because they expanded previously agreed arms deals.
Alisha Rahaman Sarkar20 March 2026 05:00
Oil prices ease at $105 a barrel
Oil prices eased on Friday while bonds were nursing losses, after global central bankers sounded the alarm on inflation risks stemming from the ongoing war in the Middle East that has sent markets into a tailspin.
Brent crude futures were down 3 per cent at $105.43 a barrel this morning, while US crude fell 2.2 per cent to $94 per barrel, after leading European nations and Japan offered to join efforts to secure safe passage for ships through the Strait of Hormuz and the US outlined moves to boost oil supply.
Still, both remained well above levels prior to the US-Israeli war on Iran, having risen more than 40 per cent this month.
Natural gas prices have also soared, with those in Europe surging as much as 35 per cent on Thursday, as Iranian and Israeli strikes targeted some of the Middle East’s most important gas infrastructure.
That prompted US president Donald Trump to tell Israel not to repeat its attacks on Iranian natural gas infrastructure.
Alisha Rahaman Sarkar20 March 2026 04:45
Debris from a house is seen at the site of an Israeli airstrike in Lebanon
Debris from a house is seen at the site of a reported IDF air strike which killed 6 members of the same family, on March 19, 2026 in Baalbek, Lebanon (Getty Images)
Debris from a house is seen at the site of a reported IDF air strike which killed 6 members of the same family, on March 19, 2026 in Baalbek, Lebanon (Getty Images)
Alisha Rahaman Sarkar20 March 2026 04:44
Iran warns of ‘zero restraint’ if energy infra attacked again
Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi said Tehran will not exercise any restraint if energy facilities were attacked in the war with United States and Israel again.
“Our response to Israel’s attack on our infrastructure employed FRACTION of our power. The ONLY reason for restraint was respect for requested de-escalation,” said Mr Araghchi in a post on X.
“ZERO restraint if our infrastructures are struck again.”
Alisha Rahaman Sarkar20 March 2026 04:27
Father of dead serviceman says he never told Hegseth to ‘finish the job’ in Iran
The father of a dead U.S. serviceman has denied claims by Pete Hegseth that he told the Defense Secretary to “not stop until the job is done” – referring to the war in Iran.
“No, I didn’t say anything along those lines,” Charles Simmons told NBC News in an interview Thursday, recalling his encounter with Hegseth at the Dover Air Force Base in Delaware. “I can’t speak for the other families. When he spoke to me, that was not something we talked about.”
Simmons is the father of 28-year-old Master Sergeant Tyler Simmons, who was among the six crew members killed last week when their refueling plane crashed in Iraq.
Alisha Rahaman Sarkar20 March 2026 04:00
Netanyahu says Israel ‘acted alone’ in Iran gas field attack
Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel had acted alone in the bombing of the South Pars gas field and confirmed that US president Trump had asked Israel to hold off on such attacks.
Israel targeted South Pars, prompting Tehran to retaliate with strikes on an energy complex in Qatar and other sites across the Gulf.
Iran is being “decimated” and no longer has the capacity to enrich uranium or make ballistic missiles, but a revolution in the country would require a “ground component,” he said, without elaborating.
Alisha Rahaman Sarkar20 March 2026 03:45
US governor says service members and average Americans will ‘suffer’ from Iran war
Illinois Governor JB Pritzker has said US service members and average Americans will “suffer” from the war in Iran.
“I’m very fearful that there will be more troops sent there, that they’ll go into combat”, the Democrat told CNN’s Erin Burnett Thursday night local time. “We’ve got Illinois National Guardspeople, men and women, on the front lines out there. We’ve got members of the military from Illinois also in harm’s way”.
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Illinois Governor JB Pritzker in Chicago on November 12, 2025 (Getty Images for Vox Media)
“We don’t need to be in this war. This should end. Now everybody’s gonna suffer, not just the people who are on the front lines, but also people all across the United States who are paying higher prices for gas”, Pritzker added.
Rachel Dobkin20 March 2026 03:30