Houthis confirm second strike against Israel and vow to continue military operations in coming days
The Houthis’ military spokesperson, Yahya Saree, confirms that the group carried out a second wave of strikes against Israel with a “barrage of cruise missiles and drones” targeting key military sites.
In a a televised speech, Saree vowed to continue military operations in the coming days until Israel “ceases its attacks and aggression”.
Multiple outlets reported that the Houthis, the Iran-aligned militant group in Yemen, had attacked Israel for a second time in less than 24 hours, after joining the war on Saturday.
Earlier, Israel said it had intercepted a missile coming from Yemen.
A view of missile traces launched from Yemen at Israel sighted in the sky over Hebron in the occupied West Bank, on 28 March. Photograph: Anadolu/Getty ImagesShare
Updated at 17.02 EDT
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India’s ceramics industry ‘suffering’ as plants shut amid energy crunch
Hot kilns in India’s $6.5bn ceramics manufacturing hub have gone cold, shut down in an energy crunch caused by the war in the Middle East, Agence France-Presse reports.
At a cavernous facility in Morbi in India’s western Gujarat state, a 200-metre-long propane-powered kiln that normally fires clay nonstop is silent. Only a tiny crew of workers transfer the last batch made three weeks ago off snaking assembly lines and into trucks.
It is one of hundreds of tile plants across the world that have been forced to suspend operations amid gas supply constraints and the energy crisis resulting from the war in Iran and the closure of the strait of Hormuz.
“We are suffering a lot,” said Kishor Dulera, a tile unit proprietor who closed this factory and two others in early March, sending hundreds of workers home.
A ceramics factory in Morbi that remains closed amid gas supply constraints and the global energy crisis. Photograph: Indranil Mukherjee/AFP/Getty Images
India, the world’s fourth-largest economy, depends on imports for 60% of its liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) demand.
The overwhelming majority comes through the strait of Hormuz, which has been effectively blocked by Iran after US-Israeli strikes on the country last month sparked a broader regional conflict, disrupting global energy supplies.
New Delhi has prioritised supply for households, shielding Indians who use it to cook food. That has squeezed the amount available for industrial use.
Factories in sectors including stainless steel and plastic have cut back on production as a result.
Kuwait military responding to missile and drone attacks
Kuwait’s military said on Sunday it was responding to “hostile missile and drone” threats.
“The general staff of the Kuwaiti Armed Forces confirms that any explosions that may be heard are the result of air defense systems intercepting hostile targets,” it said in a post on X.
It comes after Kuwait International Airport was targeted by drone attacks on Saturday that caused significant damage to its radar system but resulted in no casualties, state news agency KUNA reported, citing the country’s Civil Aviation Authority.
The authority’s spokesperson later said the attacks were carried out by Iran, its proxies and the armed factions it supports.
Zelenskyy drums up defence agreements with Gulf states on countering missiles and drones
Ukraine and Qatar signed a defence agreement on Saturday that included cooperation on countering threats from missiles and drones, the Gulf state’s government said, as Iran presses an aerial campaign against its neighbours.
Earlier on Saturday, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy – during a previously unannounced flurry of visits to Gulf nations – said his country and the United Arab Emirates had agreed to cooperate on defence, after Iran targeted countries in the area in retaliation for US-Israeli strikes. Ukraine also signed an air defence agreement with Saudi Arabia during Zelenskyy’s visit to the kingdom earlier this week.
“We are talking about a 10-year cooperation. We have already signed a relevant agreement with Saudi Arabia, we have just signed a similar agreement with Qatar, also for 10 years, we will sign one with the Emirates,” Zelenskyy told reporters at a briefing.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy meets with Qatar’s Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani in Doha. Photograph: President Of Ukraine/APAImages/Shutterstock
Ukraine has quickly grown into one of the world’s leading producers of cutting-edge, battle-tested drone interceptors that are cheap and effective. They are playing a key part in its defence against Russia’s full-scale invasion, which began on 24 February 2022.
In return for its aid to Gulf countries, Ukraine is seeking more high-end air-defence missiles that they possess and that Kyiv needs to counter Russia’s attacks. Last week Zelenskyy said that Ukraine was looking into whether it could play a role in restoring security in the strait of Hormuz.
Read more in our latest Ukraine war briefing:
SharePentagon is preparing for ground operations in Iran – report
The Pentagon is preparing plans for weeks of ground operations in Iran – potentially including raids on Kharg Island and coastal sites near the strait of Hormuz – though President Donald Trump has not yet approved any deployment, the Washington Post is reporting.
Any ground operation would stop short of a full-scale invasion, instead involving raids by special operations forces and conventional infantry troops, the Post said, citing unnamed officials.
US secretary of State Marco Rubio insisted on Friday that the US “can achieve all of our objectives without ground troops,” but the Post said planning is advanced, with one official saying: “This is not last-minute planning.”
The Trump administration has already deployed US Marines to the Middle East as the war in Iran stretches into its fifth week, and has also been planning to send thousands of soldiers from the US Army’s 82nd Airborne to the region.
Updated at 21.09 EDT
No Kings protests around the world – in pictures
Millions of people protested against the Trump administration in thousands of No Kings rallies across the US and around the world on Saturday.
The protesters decried the US president’s aggressive deportation efforts, the war in Iran and other policies, venting their anger at what they see as his authoritarian bent and law-trampling governance.
Here are some pictures from the rallies around the world.
People hold an effigy of Donald Trump and late US singer Prince as they gather in Saint Paul, Minnesota. Photograph: Kerem Yücel/AFP/Getty ImagesDrag queen Dirty Carol joins the No Kings march in San Francisco. Photograph: Yalonda M James/APA drone view shows the huge crowd at the protest in Boston, Massachusetts. Photograph: Brian Snyder/ReutersThe No Kings protest in Rome, Italy. Photograph: Antonio Masiello/Getty ImagesBruce Springsteen performed at the No Kings protest in St Paul, Minnesota. Photograph: Stephen Maturen/Getty ImagesDemonstrators hold effigies of Trump administration officials in Washington DC. Photograph: Aaron Schwartz/AFP/Getty ImagesThe No Kings protest in Munich, Germany. Photograph: Sachelle Babbar/ZUMA Press Wire/ShutterstockShare
Updated at 20.56 EDT
Reza Pahlavi tells CPAC he wants to ‘make Iran great again’
Exiled Iranian Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi has told one of the US’s biggest annual gatherings of conservatives that he is ready to lead a new Iranian government and would call on the country’s citizens to rise up when the “right moment arrives”, AP reports.
Pahlavi is the son of the shah, a monarch deposed in 1979 when the Islamic theocracy came to power.
He hasn’t lived in Iran for five decades, but was interrupted several times by enthusiastic applause and cheers at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Texas. He praised Donald Trump for attacking Iran, and suggested that the country could one day be a US ally.
“Can you imagine Iran going from ‘death to America’ to ‘God bless America’?” he said.
“President Trump is making America great again,” Pahlavi said. “I intend to make Iran great again.”
Hundreds of Iranian Americans attended the conference and frequently had impromptu pro-war demonstrations, chanting “thank you, Trump!”
Reza Pahlavi speaks at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Grapevine, Texas Photograph: Leandro Lozada/AFP/Getty ImagesShare
Updated at 19.41 EDT
Iran Guards threaten to hit US universities in Middle East
Iran’s Revolutionary Guard threatened to target US universities in the Middle East after saying US-Israeli strikes had deliberately targeted two Iranian universities (see post from 21.32).
“If the US government wants its universities in the region to be free from retaliation… it must condemn the bombing of the universities in an official statement by 12 noon on Monday, March 30, Tehran time,” said the statement published by Iranian media.
The statement added: “We advise all employees, professors, and students of American universities in the region and residents of their surrounding areas” stay a kilometre away from campuses.
Several US universities have campuses scattered throughout the Gulf region, such as Texas A+M and Northwestern universities in Qatar and New York University in the United Arab Emirates.
Strikes overnight Friday to Saturday hit Tehran, including the university of science and technology in the northeast of the capital, damaging buildings but not causing any casualties, according to media reports.
Updated at 19.41 EDT
Macron says Iraq must not be drawn into ‘escalation’ of Middle East war
Every effort must be made to avoid Iraq being sucked up into an escalation of the Middle East war, French president Emmanuel Macron said earlier today after speaking to head of the country’s autonomous Kurdistan region, Nechirvan Barzani.
Macron posted his message on X after a deadly strike in northern Iraq against the former paramilitary group the Popular Mobilisation Forces (PMF), and the drone strike on Barzani’s home.
“Everything must be done to avoid Iraq being drawn into the current escalation,” he said.
Iran’s government fears armed Kurdish groups in northern Iraq could be sent in through its own Kurdish region, which is in the west, on the border with Iraq.
Updated at 22.11 EDT
US condemns attack on home of the leader of autonomous Iraqi Kurdistan
The United States condemned a drone attack on a residence of the leader of autonomous Iraqi Kurdistan, Nechirvan Barzani, blaming Iranian militia proxies in Iraq, AFP reports.
“These actions by Iran and its proxies are a direct assault on Iraq’s sovereignty, stability, and unity,” a statement from State Department deputy spokesman Tommy Pigott said.
Iraqi Kurdish Regional Government (IKRG) President Nechirvan Barzani (R) meets the US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin (L) during an official visit in Erbil, Iraq on March 07, 2023. Photograph: Anadolu Agency/Getty Images
“We categorically reject the indiscriminate and cowardly terrorist acts that Iran and its terrorist proxies have unleashed in the Iraqi Kurdistan Region and throughout Iraq,” he added.
The Iraqi government has promised to investigate Saturday’s drone attack that targeted Barzani’s second home.
Updated at 19.42 EDT
Media association condemns ‘violent assault’ on CNN crew by Israeli soldiers
An international media association has condemned what it described as a “violent assault” by Israeli soldiers who detained a CNN crew in the occupied West Bank this week.
A CNN team was reporting on the aftermath of an assault by Israeli settlers and the establishment of an illegal outpost near the Palestinian village of Tayasir on Thursday when it was detained by Israeli soldiers, the Foreign Press Association said on Saturday.
“The soldiers aggressively targeted the crew and Palestinian civilians present, pointing their rifles at them,” the FPA said, even after the journalists identified themselves.
“The soldiers repeatedly tried to infringe the CNN crew’s right to film, ordering the crew to stop filming and threatening to confiscate the camera.
“Later, an IDF soldier approached CNN’s photojournalist from behind, placed him in a chokehold, slammed him to the ground and damaged his camera,” said the association, which represents hundreds of journalists in Israel and Palestine.
CNN confirmed the details in its own report on the incident, identifying the photojournalist as Cyril Theophilos.
The FPA, which called for an investigation into the incident, said:
double quotation markThis was not a misunderstanding … It was a violent assault on clearly identified journalists and a direct attack on press freedom.
The use of force was excessive and dangerous. Pointing rifles at journalists and civilians, physically assaulting a cameraman and detaining a crew are actions that cross every line.
Such behaviour reflects a deeply alarming pattern of hostility toward the media and cannot be tolerated under any circumstances.
The military said the incident would be looked into.
ShareThe day so far
Yemen’s Houthis confirmed a second wave of attacks on Israel since they joined the war less than 24 hours ago and vowed to continue striking in the coming days. In a a televised speech, the group’s military spokesperson, Yahya Saree, said the Iran-backed group had launched a “barrage of cruise missiles and drones” in a second attack on Israel, targeting key military sites. He vowed the Houthis would continue military operations in the coming days until Israel “ceases its attacks and aggression”. ian suffering for seven years before a 2022 truce.
Israeli attacks killed three journalists in a targeted strike on their car in southern Lebanon, which the Lebanese president condemned as a “blatant war crime”. The strike killed Ali Shoeib, from Hezbollah-owned al-Manar TV, Fatima Ftouni and her brother and camerman Mohammed Ftouni from pro-Hezbollah outlet al-Mayadeen. International law says that regardless of political affiliation, journalists are considered civilians and targeting them is a war crime. Lebanon’s president Joseph Aoun condemned the strike in a statement: “Once again, the Israeli aggression violates the most basic rules of international law, international humanitarian law and the laws of war, by targeting journalists, who are ultimately civilians performing a professional duty.”
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the director general of the World Health Organisation, called for an end to attacks on medical staff after nine paramedics were killed in southern Lebanon on Saturday. They were killed while working in the field in five separate attacks on Lebanese villages, Tedros said, bringing the number of health workers killed this month to 51. Seven medics were also reportedly wounded. The WHO chief said in a statement: “Health workers are protected under international humanitarian law and should never be targeted. The only way to end these tragedies is to end attacks on health care, NOW!”
The Israeli military bombarded Tehran with a “wide-scale wave of strikes”, damaging residential areas, civilian infrastructure, and research and educational buildings. The IDF also said it had hit Iran’s headquarters for naval weaponry.
Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei has condemned the US and Israel for “deliberately” attacking “many universities and research centres” in Iran, including the Isfahan University of Technology in central Iran and the University of Science and Technology in Tehran. In a post on X, Baghaei accused the US and Israel of attempting to demolish the “country’s scientific foundation and cultural heritage by systematically targeting universities, research centers, historical monuments, and prominent scientists”.
Iran has allowed 20 oil tankers from Pakistan to pass through the strait of Hormuz. Ishaq Dar, Pakistan’s deputy prime minister, said two ships would cross per day. The country has been playing a key mediatory role in the conflict, and Islamabad will tomorrow host talks with officials from Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Egypt aimed at ending the war.
Meanwhile, the UAE noted a significant rise in attacks over the past day, saying it engaged with 20 ballistic missiles and 37 drones launched from Iran. Authorities said debris from a missile interception injured six people in Abu Dhabi.
Multiple drones struck Kuwait International Airport, damaging its radar system. No casualties were reported.
And two drones also targeted a vessel near Oman’s commercial port of Salalah, injuring one worker. The Iranian military said it had been targeting a US “military support vessel” near the port.
A man, left, holds a portrait of Al-Manar journalist Ali Shoeib and Al Mayadeen assistant producer Hassan Atieh holds a ballistic helmet with a press patch beside a portrait of Al Mayadeen journalist Fatima Ftouni during a solidarity event that started at Martyrs Square and ended at Riad el Solh in Beirut, Lebanon Photograph: Daniel Carde/ZUMA Press Wire/ShutterstockShare
Updated at 19.19 EDT
Iran’s foreign ministry condemns ‘deliberate’ attacks on universities
Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei has condemned the US and Israel for “deliberately” attacking “many universities and research centres” in Iran, including the Isfahan University of Technology in central Iran and the University of Science and Technology in Tehran.
In a post on X, Baghaei accused the US and Israel of attempting to demolish the “country’s scientific foundation and cultural heritage by systematically targeting universities, research centers, historical monuments, and prominent scientists”.
He also said that US and Israel claims of countering Iran’s nuclear programme and threats by Tehran were “nothing but vicious pretexts” and “mere fabrications designed to conceal their real intention”.
A worker with the Iranian Red Crescent Society walks through the rubble of a foreign car repair workshop Photograph: Majid Saeedi/Getty ImagesShare
Updated at 19.10 EDT