By Andrew Gray BRUSSELS, March 5 (Reuters) - The shooting down of a ballistic missile headed for Turkey by NATO air defences does not provide immediate reason to trigger the alliance's Article 5 mutual defence clause, its Secretary General Mark Rutte told Reuters on Thursday.
BRUSSELS, March 5 (Reuters) - NATO allies will keep supporting Ukraine despite the situation in Iran, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte told Reuters on Thursday. "Many leaders in Europe and the United States, Canada say it has to be 'and, and': make sure that as allies we
By Sarah El Safty and Maha El Dahan DUBAI, March 5 (Reuters) - Wealthy Gulf states are facing their biggest food security challenge since the 2008 global food crisis, as the Iran conflict threatens ports and disrupts shipping through the Strait of Hormuz. The war is testing
MOSCOW, March 5 (Reuters) - Russia on Thursday accused the United States and Israel of trying to drag Arab countries into a wider Middle East conflict by provoking Iran into striking targets across the region and said there was no sign Washington and Tel Aviv would let up. Arab
(Refiles story to change dateline to March 5) By Saleem Ahmed and Asif Shahzad QUETTA, Pakistan, March 5 (Reuters) - Pakistanis fleeing Iran described explosions and missile strikes across Tehranshaking the ground under their feet and engulfing buildings in fire and smoke in a
MOSCOW, March 5 (Reuters) - Iran has not approached Moscow with a request for arms supplies, the Kremlin said on Thursday. Russia has condemned U.S.-Israeli strikes and called for an immediate ceasefire against a country it has drawn closer to in recent years. Iran last year
BRUSSELS, March 5 (Reuters) - Countries in the Middle East have told European officials they are concerned about the risk of civil war in Iran as a result of the conflict between Tehran and the United States and Israel, EU foreign chief Kaja Kallas said on Thursday.
By Nailia Bagirova BAKU, March 5 (Reuters) - Azerbaijan's foreign ministry lodged an official protest with the Iranian embassy on Thursday after a pair of Iranian drones flew across the border into Azerbaijan and injured two people at an airport in the Nakhchivan exclave. "This
Both governments now seek to weaken and disarm Hezbollah. Whether that convergence leads to negotiations will depend on Israel's plans for a new buffer zone in south Lebanon and how forcefully Washington pushes developments in Beirut
ANKARA, March 5 (Reuters) - Turkey said on Thursday that it was closely following the actions of the Iranian Kurdish PJAK militant group, which it said threatened Iran's security and regional stability, amid reports of discussions between Iranian Kurdish militias and Washington
By Mubasher Bukhari and Saad Sayeed LAHORE, March 5 (Reuters) - Pakistan's efforts to preserve close ties with President Donald Trump are being put to the test after protesters stormed the U.S. consulate in Karachi last week and poured onto streets elsewhere over the killing
Africa hosts military bases within reach of Iranian missiles and is feeling the impact of rising oil prices and threats to shipping, as the continent again suffers from events largely beyond its control. The continent is "structurally exposed" to the Middle East war, said
GALLE, Sri Lanka, March 5 (Reuters) - Sri Lanka is trying to "safeguard lives" on another Iranian ship off its coast, the country's cabinet spokesperson said on Thursday, adding that the vessel was in the economic zone beyond the South Asian island nation's territorial waters.
Many Israelis hope to be among the fortunate ones who secure a ticket to Taba, Egypt and from there to return home. 'There are people here who arrived yesterday, couldn't get a ticket and spent the night at the airport,' says one passenger
Here are the latest main events related to the war in the Middle East: - No call for aid - Iran has not requested military aid from its ally Russia since Israel and the United States began striking the country last week, the Kremlin said Thursday. - Cyprus ring of steel - Spain
Israel on Thursday launched a fresh wave of strikes on Iran, which stepped up its attacks on Gulf nations Qatar and Bahrain, as the Middle East war spread throughout the region and beyond. AFP reporters in Tehran and Doha heard huge explosions over the cities, with a thick
Israel pounded Tehran with fresh strikes and Iran targeted Kurdish guerrilla groups in Iraq on Thursday as a spiralling war engulfed the Middle East. A conflict ignited Saturday with US-Israeli attacks that killed Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has spread rapidly
Fresh blasts were reported in Iran's capital on Thursday as Tehran said it had targeted Kurdish groups in Iraq and warned "separatist groups" against action in the widening war. The conflict that began Saturday with US-Israeli strikes that killed Iran's supreme leader has
Coordinated barrages by Iran and Hezbollah suggest the axis is still functioning. Washington signals escalation ahead, but diplomacy remains on the table
By Allison Lampert, Lisa Baertlein and Julie Zhu March 5 (Reuters) - Shipments ranging from fresh produce to airplane parts are in limbo as an escalating Middle East conflict reduces the world's air cargo capacity by more than one-fifth and pushes up freight rates, with
By Uditha Jayasinghe GALLE, Sri Lanka, March 5 (Reuters) - Iranian sailors who survived a U.S. submarine strike in the Indian Ocean were recovering at a hospital in the Sri Lankan port city of Galle, authorities said on Thursday, a day after at least 87 were killed in the
By Parisa Hafezi, Pesha Magid and Tuvan Gumrukcu DUBAI/JERUSALEM/ANKARA, March 5 (Reuters) - Iran launched a wave of missiles at Israel early on Thursday, sending millions of residents into bomb shelters as the U.S.-Israel war with Iran entered its sixth day and just hours
LOS ANGELES, March 4 (Reuters) - The Pentagon on Wednesday identified two more soldiers who were killed in the war against Iran. The two Army Reserve soldiers died on Sunday in a drone attack on a U.S. military facility in Port Shuaiba, Kuwait that also killed four other
March 4 (Reuters) - A Pakistani man accused of planning to kill President Donald Trump told jurors on Wednesday that he did not willingly work with Iran's elite Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps to devise the plot, media said. The Justice Department accused Asif Merchant of
By Ismail Shakil March 4 (Reuters) - The impact of the Iran conflict on energy markets will be temporary and a "small price" to pay for U.S. military goals, U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright told Fox News on Wednesday. U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran and the subsequent
Cancelled flights, postponed trips and a great deal of uncertainty: the war in the Middle East is casting a long shadow over the tourism outlook for a region that has become a prized destination for travellers worldwide. "My last group of tourists left three days ago, and all
By Ryan Patrick Jones March 4 (Reuters) - The Canadian government is working to repatriate citizens who are stranded in the Middle East by organizing seats on commercial flights, contracting charter flights and offering ground transportation options to neighboring countries,
Seeking to bring down Iran's Islamic republic, the United States and Israel could see a path by exploiting ethnic tensions, a strategy attractive to military planners but fraught with long-term risks. Just over half of Iran's population is Persian, but the country of 90 million
During the barrage on Wednesday at noon, rockets, missiles, and mortars were fired, setting off alerts in the north and center of the country, including in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem
Cluster missiles carry relatively small bombs, which are dispersed from a high altitude and cause damage within a radius of several kilometers. According to senior defense officials, their goal is to cause as much damage as possible to the civilian population
WASHINGTON, March 4 (Reuters) - A majority of the U.S. Senate on Wednesday backed President Donald Trump's military campaign against Iran, voting to block a bipartisan resolution aiming to stop the air war and require that any hostilities against Iran be authorized by Congress.
March 4 (Reuters) - An Iranian official said the country had not sent any messages to the United States, in response to an Axios report, Iran's Tasnim news agency said early on Thursday. "No message has been sent from Iran to the US, nor will any response be given to US
SYDNEY, March 5 (Reuters) - Australia said three more commercial flights were scheduled to depart the United Arab Emirates on Thursday as the first group of Australians stranded in the Middle East returned home overnight following the outbreak of the Iran conflict. Commercial
March 4 (Reuters) - Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said he discussed the Middle East conflict on Wednesday with the king of Bahrain and the crown prince of Kuwait. Zelenskiy also said that his administration was in daily contact with the U.S. and once the security
President Donald Trump on Wednesday rated the US performance in the war with Iran as a 15 on a scale of 10, saying the Islamic republic's leaders were rapidly being killed, and vowing to push on. Trump's comments came as the conflict expanded on its fifth day, with a US
March 4 (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio spoke with Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan on Wednesday and discussed the threats from Iran to regional stability and other developments in the region, the U.S. State Department said. "The Secretary
March 4 (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio spoke with Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan on Wednesday and pledged Washington's full support following missile attacks from Iran, the U.S. State Department said. Turkey on Wednesday said that NATO air defenses
The US and Israel began their war on Iran by killing its most powerful figure and exhorting Iranians to seize the moment for change, but a fractured opposition and unclear American aims leave the future leadership of a post-clerical Iran an open question. US President Donald
France's President Emmanuel Macron said he urged Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday to "refrain from a ground offensive" in Lebanon in their first phone call since last summer. "I called on the Israeli prime minister to preserve Lebanon's territorial
By Steve Holland and Humeyra Pamuk WASHINGTON, March 4 (Reuters) - President Donald Trump is discussing with his advisors what role the U.S could have in Iran after the military campaign while U.S. intelligence is monitoring reports that Mojtaba Khamenei, the son of Iran's
By Mushtaq Ali and Hedayatshah Hedayat LAL PUR, Afghanistan/PESHAWAR, Pakistan, March 4 (Reuters) - Several people living along Pakistan's border with Afghanistan said they were considering fleeing their homes as heavy shelling and explosions marked a seventh day of fighting
Even though they all want to topple the Iranian regime, the conflicted Arab states across the Gulf won't rush to mobilize on Israel's behalf, and are reluctant to join the U.S. president's operation without fully understanding his objectives and diplomatic intentions
WASHINGTON, March 4 (Reuters) - Information on Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's whereabouts impacted the timing of the U.S.-Israeli strike on Iran that killed the supreme leader, White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt told reporters on Wednesday. (Reporting by Steve Holland and Ryan
KYIV/WASHINGTON March 4 (Reuters) - With the United States focused on its conflict with Iran, Ukraine could face a critical shortage of U.S. air defence missiles at a time when Russia shows no signs of easing its campaign of striking Ukrainian cities. Since the U.S. and Israel
In his makeshift tent in Gaza City, displaced Palestinian Jamal Abu Mohsen says the bombs are falling less often these days. Since Israel launched its military campaign against Iran -- which has since widened to Lebanon -- the 33-year-old Palestinian has noticed a lull in the
LISBON, March 4 (Reuters) - Portuguese Prime Minister Luis Montenegro defended his decision to let the United States use the Lajes airbase on Portugal's Azores Islands during the Iran bombing campaign, a position at odds with that of neighbour Spain which refused such requests.
By Lucy Craymer, Raghed Waked and Alessandro Parodi DUBAI, March 4 (Reuters) - Stranded passengers in the Gulf states are waiting for one thing: a phone call confirming their flight home will depart. Even then, few celebrate until the plane has taken off and cleared Emirati
Iranian Kurdish groups that recently formed an alliance could soon join the United States and Israel in their campaign against the Islamic Republic, Al-Monitor has learned.
By Michael Georgy DUBAI, March 4 (Reuters) - Ayatollah Alireza Arafi has emerged as a central figure in Iran’s power structure at a moment of unprecedented turmoil, propelled into a leadership role from the ranks of top clerics after the killing of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali