Middle East crisis live: ‘Go get your own oil,’ Trump tells allies in angry outburst

Key events

Show key events only

Please turn on JavaScript to use this feature

Extra UK troops to help defend Gulf against Iranian attacks, Healey announces

Extra UK troops are being sent to the Middle East to help the UK’s allies defend their skies from Iranian attacks.

On a trip to Gulf nations, defence secretary John Healey announced the UK will deploy the Sky Sabre air defence missile system in Saudi Arabia and extend UK Typhoon jets’ action in Qatar, PA reported.

Additional air defence teams and systems have also arrived in Bahrain and Kuwait.

Healey said “Britain’s best” will help protect Gulf partners as he visited Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Bahrain. Sky Sabre – and a Royal Artillery battery and battle space managers who operate the system – will be moved to Saudi Arabia this week.

The defence system, composed of radars, control node, and missile launchers, can intercept munitions and aircraft.

It will be integrated into broader Saudi and regional air defences, according to the Ministry of Defence (MoD).

Areas near the World Health Organization’s Tehran office were hit by strikes over the past two nights, WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in an X post on Tuesday.

“Fortunately all WHO Iran office colleagues are accounted for and none were injured,” he added.

A UN security source told AFP on Tuesday that Israeli fire had killed an Indonesian peacekeeper at the weekend, after the UN force said it was investigating the incident.

The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon had said that the peacekeeper was killed on Sunday evening when a projectile of unknown origin “exploded in a UNIFIL position near Adchit al Qusayr”, while two more Indonesian blue helmets were killed in south Lebanon the following day.

The source told AFP on condition of anonymity that evidence had been identified that the source of the fire on Sunday was an Israeli tank.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said on Tuesday they will target US companies in the region as of 1 April in retaliation for attacks on Iran, state media reported.

The 18 companies listed in the IRGC’s threat included Microsoft, Google, Apple, Intel, IBM, Tesla and Boeing.

“These companies should expect the destruction of their respective units in exchange for each terror act in Iran, starting from 8 PM Tehran time on Wednesday, April 1st,” the IRGC statement said.

The destruction of a US E-3 Sentry airborne warning and control system (AWACS) aircraft in an Iranian strike on a Saudi Arabian airbase has raised questions over how a critical surveillance asset was left unprotected, and how Iran was able to launch a direct strike on the plane.

The plane was one of 16 operational E-3s, which first went into production in the 1960s and carry sophisticated monitoring equipment that allow them to warn of airborne threats such as missiles, as well as surveil and monitor their assigned battle space including communications, troop and equipment movements and air defence sites.

The attack that destroyed it on 27 March, while it was parked at Prince Sultan airbase, underlined once again the continuing ability of Iran to attack and accurately strike high-value targets in the region despite a month of US and Israeli air raids.

Images from the scene of the attack, which also injured US servicemen and damaged several in-flight refuelling aircraft, show a direct strike on the E-3’s radar dome located near the tail, suggesting a high degree of accuracy.

The E-3 Sentry was destroyed at Prince Sultan airbase in Saudi Arabia on 27 March 2026.

Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, said Ukrainian intelligence had information that a Russian spy satellite had photographed the base three times before the attack, on 20 March, 23 March and 25 March.

China and Pakistan called on Tuesday for an immediate end to the war in the Middle East, and for peace talks as soon as possible, as they agreed to boost their cooperation on Iran.

The two countries outlined a joint initiative “for restoring peace and stability in the Gulf and Middle East region”, after a visit from senior Pakistani officials to Beijing.

Both countries have sought to mediate in the Middle East to prevent the conflict from escalating, with Islamabad saying it is ready to host “meaningful talks” between the United States and Iran.

Pakistani foreign minister Ishaq Dar met his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi and agreed to “strengthen strategic communication and coordination on the Iran situation and ... make new efforts towards advocating for peace”, Beijing said.

Dar’s ministry later said the two sides had agreed on a five-point plan, starting with the “immediate cessation of hostilities” and the “start of peace talks as soon as possible”.

You can keep up with the latest developments around Europe in our live blog here:

Italy denies use of Sicily airbase to US aircraft carrying weapons for Iran war

Italy has denied use of an airbase in Sicily to US military craft carrying weapons for the war in the Middle East.

A source at the Italian defence ministry confirmed a report in Corriere della Sera that “some US bombers” had been due to land at Sigonella – a key US navy installation and Nato base – before heading to the Middle East.

According to treaties signed in the late 1950s, the US navy can use the base for logistical and training purposes but not as a transit hub for aircraft used to transport weapons for war unless in an emergency situation, permission for which needs to be approved in parliament.

The source said the US had only sought permission to land the aircraft while they were en route to Sicily, therefore failing to follow procedures that require authorisation to be approved in parliament. It is unclear when the aircraft had been due to land at the base but the source said there was no time to seek approval in parliament.

For days, politicians in Sicily from Italy’s leftwing opposition parties have been urging Giorgia Meloni’s far-right government to clarify the situation at Sigonella after activity at the base increased since the start of the war in Iran and asked it to block the US from using bases in Italy for involvement in the conflict. Italy hosts seven US navy bases.

The Lebanese health ministry said yesterday that nine people had been killed and 137 others injured in Israeli attacks on Lebanon over the past day.

It said the latest figures brought the death toll from Israeli attacks since 2 March to 1,247, with 3,680 other people reported injured.

The UN’s refugee agency has said that over 200,000 people crossed from Lebanon into Syria between 2 March – 27 March as residents fled from the renewed Israeli war on Lebanon.

Nearly 180,000 of those who crossed into Syria were Syrians returning to their country, in addition to more than 28,000 Lebanese people, the agency said. However, the Syrian government has restricted the entry of Lebanese people unless they have residency in Syria, a Syrian spouse or parent, or other exceptional circumstances, leaving many effectively stranded.

“Most are people fleeing the intense Israeli bombardments. They arrive exhausted, traumatized and with very, very few belongings,” UNHCR’s representative in Syria, Aseer Al-Madaien, told a UN briefing in Geneva by video from Damascus.

The renewed Israeli assault on Lebanon was launched after Hezbollah – the Iranian-backed Lebanese militant group – fired rockets into northern Israel in response to the killing of the former Iranian supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, in joint US-Israeli airstrikes.

Israel has said that the military will take control of south Lebanon all the way to the Litani river, which is about 30km (19 miles) from the Lebanon-Israel border, and has said a so-called “security zone” will be established.

Many Lebanese people fear Israel is attempting to separate southern Lebanon from the rest of the country ahead of a large-scale invasion.

Israel’s defence minister, Israel Katz, said Israel will prohibit the return of 600,000 Lebanese who fled the area over the last few weeks until safety and security were “ensured” for residents of Israel’s north. He said Israel will destroy all homes in Lebanese villages near the border.

Hegseth concludes by reiterating that the mission will “end on our terms” and picks up on Trump’s talking points earlier today about America’s Nato allies.

He says:

We remain committed to a conflict that ends on our terms. In the president’s terms, there’s no doubt about that.

And as far as Nato’s concerned, that’s a decision that’ll be left to the president. But I’ll just say, a lot has been laid bare.

A lot has been shown to the world about what our allies would be willing to do for the United States of America when we undertake an effort of this scope on behalf of the free world.

He adds:

These are missiles that don’t even range the United States of America. They range allies and others. And yet when we ask for additional assistance or simple access basic overflight, we get questions or roadblocks or hesitations.

And the president’s pointing out you don’t have much of an alliance if you have countries that are not willing to stand with you when you need them.

And, with that, the press conference is over.

Hegseth says “maybe negotiations will work” but he is unwilling to commit one way or the other when asked about the potential for American boots on the ground.

He says:

You can’t fight and win a war if you tell your adversary what you are willing to do or what you are not willing to do, to include boots on the ground.

Our adversary right now thinks there are 15 different ways we could come at them with boots on the ground and guess what? There are.

And so if we needed to, we could execute those options on behalf of the president of the United States and this department.

Or maybe we don’t have to use them at all. Maybe negotiations work, or maybe there’s a different approach. But the point is to be unpredictable in that certainly not let anybody know what you’re willing to do or not do.

The Pentagon chief says “other countries should listen when the president speaks” in reference to Donald Trump’s latest tirade at allies for not joining his war on Iran.

Hegseth says:

We will make sure Iran is it knows that very clearly is not just the United States of America problem set.

But it’s not just us. So ultimately, I think other countries should pay attention when the president speaks. He’s proven that when he speaks, he means something.

And he’s pointing out, you know, you might might want to start learning how to fight for yourself. It’s something some of us have been saying for quite some time.

You can’t just have flags. You have to have formations. You can’t just have a few ships. You have enough to affect change. Those things matter in a dangerous world with ascendant adversaries.

Asked about talks with Iran, Hegseth says the US “would much prefer” to strike a deal but “in the meantime, we’ll negotiate with bombs”.

The Pentagon chief describes talks as “active” and ongoing”, adding:

On the talks, I can tell you, having been with with Steve and Jared and the vice president and many Marco and many others yesterday, they are very real.

They are ongoing. They’re active, and I think gaining strength. And we appreciate that. As I said in my remarks, we would much prefer to get a deal if Iran was willing to relinquish, material they have and ambitions they have open the strait. That’s the goal.

We don’t want to have to do more militarily than we have to. But I didn’t mean it flippantly when I said, in the meantime, we’ll negotiate with bombs.

Hegseth: next days in Iran war will be 'decisive'

The next days of the Iran war will be “decisive,” Pentagon chief Hegseth says.

“The upcoming days will be decisive. Iran knows that, and there’s almost nothing they can militarily do about it,” Hegseth tells the news conference, his first in nearly two weeks.

He adds:

We have more and more options, and they have less... in only one month we set the terms, the upcoming days will be decisive.

Iran knows that, and there’s almost nothing they can militarily do about it.

Caine says the US is delivering precision strikes against manufacturing nodes “deep within Iran”.

He says around 11,000 targets have been hit in the past 30 days. The US “continues to assert dominance over the Iranian navy,” he adds.

Caine adds that more than 150 ships have been “taken out”.