920 stories · Page 58 of 92
At the 19-20 March Brussels summit, Hungarian PM Viktor Orbán again used his veto to block activation of the EU’s €90 billion 2026-27 loan to Ukraine, forcing leaders to order the Commission to devise alternative financing paths.
Before dawn on 20 Mar 2026, Israeli jets hit multiple sites across Tehran while Iran retaliated with two drone waves on Kuwait’s 730,000-barrel-a-day Mina Al-Ahmadi refinery, dragging Gulf energy arteries directly into the three-week-old Israel-Iran war.
Between 18–19 Mar 2026 Israel’s drone attack on Iran’s South Pars gas field and Iran’s immediate missile retaliation on Qatar’s Ras Laffan LNG complex forced both sites offline and triggered the first simultaneous shutdown of facilities that collectively supply roughly one-fifth of global LNG, sending oil and gas benchmarks to multi-year highs within hours.
On 19 Mar 2026, Netanyahu – acting on Trump’s request – announced Israel will stop hitting Iran’s South Pars gas hub just hours after Iran’s missiles and drones crippled several Gulf refineries and LNG plants, briefly pushing Brent above $119.
Around midnight 17–18 March 2026, an Israeli precision airstrike in Tehran killed Iran’s intelligence minister Esmail Khatib, the third senior Iranian official felled in 24 hours, a loss publicly confirmed hours later by President Masoud Pezeshkian.
On 18–19 Mar 2026 Israel bombed Iran’s South Pars gas field, Iran retaliated by firing five missiles at Qatar’s Ras Laffan LNG hub—one penetrated defences—prompting President Trump to warn he will “massively blow up” South Pars if Tehran attacks Qatar again and to declare Israel will halt further strikes.
In the pre-dawn hours of 18 March 2026, Iran admitted that a joint U.S.–Israeli missile strike on a residence in Pardis, near Tehran, killed Supreme National Security Council chief Ali Larijani and several aides, instantly removing the man who had filled the power vacuum after Ayatollah Khamenei’s death.
On 16 Mar 2026, President Trump publicly asked at least seven allies to deploy warships to clear Iran-laid mines in the Strait of Hormuz, but by day’s end no government had formally agreed to send a vessel.
On 17 March 2026 Iran’s government confirmed that Supreme National Security Council chief Ali Larijani, 67, was killed in a nighttime Israeli strike on Tehran, removing the country’s top wartime decision-maker weeks after Khamenei’s death.
On 18 March 2026, Israel widened its campaign beyond southern Lebanon, leveling a 15-storey Bashoura tower after a 04:00 warning and simultaneously bombing multiple Lebanese cities, killing 20 and forcing fresh evacuation orders for Tyre and four nearby towns.
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