Middle East crisis live: Israel says it has launched ‘extensive strikes’ on Iran as Trump says US ‘not ready’ to make a deal to end war

British prime minister Keir Starmer discussed the need to reopen the strait of Hormuz to end disruption to global shipping with US President Donald Trump, a Downing Street spokeswoman said on Sunday.

Starmer also spoke with Canadian prime minister Mark Carney, with the leaders discussing the impact of the strait’s continued closure on international shipping, the spokeswoman told Reuters.

Starmer and Carney agreed to continue talks on the Middle East conflict at a meeting on Monday.

In the US, Trump’s media commissioner is facing pushback after threatening broadcasters with losing their licenses if they run what the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) deems “fake news” over the Iran conflict.

Senator Ron Johnson of Wisconsin took issue with Brendan Carr’s comments – telling Fox News he was not in favor of the government control of private enterprise or efforts to meddle with freedom of speech protected under the constitution.

As the US-Israel war on Iran is about to enter its third week, there is little sign of imminent regime change in Tehran while the blockade of strait of Hormuz shocks global economy.

Questions are mounting now as to who really has the initiative as hostilities continue without an end in sight.

The Guardian’s Jason Burke takes a closer look:

Germany’s foreign minister Johann Wadephul said on Sunday that he was skeptical about a potential widening of the European Union’s Aspides naval mission to the strait of Hormuz.

Wadepuhl’s comments appeared to cast doubt on earlier remarks by Donald Trump that “many countries, especially those who are affected by Iran’s attempted closure of the Hormuz strait, will be sending war ships, in conjunction with the United States of America, to keep the strait open and safe”.

Wadephul said the mission to help commercial shipments pass through the Red Sea to fend off attacks from Yemen’s Houthis was “not effective”, adding “and that is why I am very skeptical that extending Aspides to the strait of Hormuz would provide greater security,” he said in an interview on Germany’s ARD broadcaster.

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu released a brief video to mock viral social media rumors suggesting he had been killed.

Taking a sip from a steaming cup at a cafe near Jerusalem, he jokingly posted to his official X account, “I’m dead for coffee,” utilizing a Hebrew slang term that equates being “dead” for something with loving it.

Netanyahu then held his hands up to the lens and asked, “Do you want to count the number of fingers?” This was a direct jab at online conspiracy theorists who claimed a previous televised address was a deepfake, pointing to an optical illusion that made it appear as though he had six fingers on one hand.

Turning to the ongoing conflict, the prime minister urged Israelis to remain vigilant and follow safety protocols during rocket alerts. He noted that their collective resilience “gives strength to me, to the government, to the army, to the Mossad.”

“We are doing things that I cannot share at this moment, but we are striking Iran very hard, and also Lebanon,” he said, reinforcing the scale of the current military offensive.

A rocket attack on Baghdad International Airport in Iraq, which houses a US diplomatic facility, wounded five people on Sunday, Iraqi authorities said.

The Iraqi government’s security media cell said “five rockets targeted Baghdad International Airport and its surrounding area, injuring four airport employees and security personnel, and an engineer”.

It added that rockets struck the airport and a water desalination plant, while others crashed near a prison where Islamic State group (IS) suspects are detained and an Iraqi airbase next to the US diplomatic facility.

Security forces seized the launchpad used for the attack in the Al-Radwaniya area southwest of Baghdad, the authorities added. Security sources told AFP that three drones were also downed near the airport.

Baghdad’s airport includes a sprawling military complex that is divided into several bases belonging to the Iraqi army and security services, as well as a US diplomatic and logistics facility, and a central prison.

Gaza’s main gateway, the Rafah crossing with Egypt that was shut at the start of the Iran war, will open on Wednesday for limited movement of people in both directions, Israel’s COGAT, the military body in charge of humanitarian matters, said on Sunday in a statement.

The crossing had reopened in early February after being largely shut since May 2024, in the early months of Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza. Its reopening offered some relief to Palestinians who want to leave Gaza for medical care or those who want to return after fleeing the fighting.

Pope Leo called for an immediate ceasefire Sunday in the escalating conflict with Iran, mourning the “atrocious violence” that has claimed thousands of civilian lives and spread suffering across the Middle East.

As the US-Israeli military campaign enters its third week, the first American-born Pope warned that continued bloodshed would fail to deliver the stability and peace so desperately sought by the people of the region.

“For two weeks, the peoples of the Middle East have been suffering the atrocious violence of war,” the pope said at his weekly Angelus prayer in St. Peter’s Square.

“In the name of Christians in the Middle East and of all women and men of good will, I appeal to those responsible for this conflict: Cease fire!” Pope Leo said.

Leo added that the situation in Lebanon, ravaged by a war between Israel and the Iran-backed Lebanese group Hezbollah, was also a cause of “great concern”.

“I hope for paths of dialogue that can support the country’s authorities in implementing lasting solutions to the serious crisis currently underway, for the common good of all the Lebanese people,” the pope said.

He later said during a visit to a Rome parish that “many of our brothers and sisters in the world are suffering because of violent conflicts, caused by the absurd claim that problems and disagreements can be resolved through war, when instead we must engage in unceasing dialogue for peace.”

The Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) confirmed on Sunday that the 2026 Finalissima, a highly anticipated clash between South American champions Argentina and European champions Spain, has been cancelled due to the war.

Originally set for March 27 at Doha’s Lusail Stadium in Qatar, the site of Argentina’s 2022 World Cup victory, the match was called off because of the escalating war in the Middle East. While UEFA proposed alternative European venues like the Santiago Bernabéu, the Argentinian Football Association (AFA) rejected the move to Spain, and both sides failed to reach an agreement on a neutral site.

The war has caused a wave of cancellations and uncertainty across the sporting world. The Bahrain and Saudi Arabian Grands Prix, scheduled for April, have been officially removed from the 2026 calendar on safety grounds. Trump has also suggested it would not be “appropriate” for Iran’s national team to compete in the upcoming tournament for “their own life and safety.”

Italy’s military said on Sunday there had been a drone attack on the Ali Al Salem airbase in Kuwait hosting Italian and US forces, but said all its personnel were safe.

“This morning, Ali Al Salem base in Kuwait was the target of a drone attack that hit a shelter housing a remotely piloted aircraft of the Italian Task Force Air (TFA), which was destroyed,” chief of the Defense General Staff, Luciano Portolano, said in a statement posted by Italy’s Ministry of Defense on X.

The statement adds that the Italian contingent of Task Force Air had been scaled back in recent days “as part of measures adopted in response to the evolving security situation in the area”.

US Central Command (Centcom) issued a rebuttal to claims made by Iran’s foreign minister, dismissing allegations that the US is launching drone strikes against Gulf nations as a “lie”.

In a statement on social media, Centcom claimed that “Iranian forces have launched thousands of drones AND missiles at its neighbors, indiscriminately targeting civilian hotels, commercial airports, residential communities and economic infrastructure. US attack drones are only targeting Iranian military capabilities to eliminate threats posed to the region.”

While Centcom maintains that its operations are strictly precise and defensive, Iranian humanitarian and state sources provide a much grimmer assessment of civilian infrastructure damage. The Iranian Red Crescent has reported upwards of 19,000 residential buildings have been damaged or destroyed.

Energy secretary Chris Wright said Sunday that there’s “a very good chance” gas prices could drop below $3 a gallon by summer — though that is contingent on the Iran conflict’s end.

Wright told NBC’s “Meet the Press” that while US drivers “are feeling it right now” at the pump and “will feel it for a few more weeks”, Wright once the Iran war is over, “we’ll go to a world more abundant in energy, more affordable in energy, and less risky for American soldiers and commerce in the Middle East.”

But he also acknowledged “there’s no guarantees in war” and the time frame for gasoline to drop back below $3 a gallon was “still not entirely clear”. He added that a pre-war price target in time for summer travel season is “a goal of the [Trump] administration”.

On Saturday, gas prices averaged $3.70 a gallon, according to GasBuddy, up from $2.94 per gallon on 1 March.

Donald Trump dismissed concerns about rising gas prices in the US in a phone call to NBC on Saturday, with the president saying: “I think they’ll go lower than they were before, and I had them at record lows. There’s so much oil, gas — there’s so much out there, but you know, it’s being clogged up a little bit. It’ll be unclogged very soon”.

Key to making those predictions a reality is the strait of Hormuz. Wright acknowledged Sunday that strait is not currently safe for transit but said making it safe is “one of the objectives at the end of this conflict”.

Iran has warned that if the US strikes its oil infrastructure on Kharg Island it will hit oil infrastructure of the US and its allies in the region. Trump on Saturday called on China, France, Japan, South Korea, the UK and all “affected by this artificial constraint” to send ships to the area “so that Iran will no longer threaten the strait”.

Israel’s military is claiming that the brother of a man who attacked a Michigan synagogue last week was a Hezbollah commander. Ibrahim Ghazali was killed in an Israeli airstrike in Lebanon along with three other of the attacker’s relatives on March 5 — a week before authorities allege Ayman Mohamad Ghazali drove his car into a major synagogue outside Detroit and killed himself after security fired at him.

The Israeli military on Sunday alleged Ibrahim Ghazali was a Hezbollah commander who managed weapons for a unit that fired rockets at Israel.

• Iranian foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, denied Tehran had asked for a ceasefire or even a negotiation to end the war, in comments undermining Donald Trump’s claim that Iran wanted to make a deal.

• Araghchi also said that Iran was open to countries who wanted to “talk” about safe passage through the strait of Hormuz, one of the world’s most important shipping channels, which has effectively been closed due to the war.

• Iran has attacked ships and reportedly started to lay mines in the strait, in effect closing it to marine traffic, leading to a surge in energy prices and inflation fears around the world.

• Countries including the UK, Japan, China and South Korea have said they are still considering their options after Trump urged them to send warships to the strait to secure the vital shipping route.

• Trump told NBC News that the “terms aren’t good enough yet” for a deal with Iran. He said Tehran’s commitment to completely abandoning any nuclear weapons ambitions would be part of any agreement.

• US energy secretary Chris Wright said he expects the US-Israel war with Iran to end within “the next few weeks” amid a spike in gas prices in the US.

• The Lebanese health ministry said 850 people, including over 100 children, have been killed in Israeli attacks on the country since 2 March.

• Israel said it launched extensive airstrikes across western Iran today. The IDF said earlier it had detected Iranian missiles being fired at Israel.

• Israeli military warned several neighbourhoods in the southern suburbs of the Lebanese capital of Beirut to evacuate “immediately” ahead of Israeli attacks.

• Oil-loading operations at Fujairah, the UAE’s main oil port on its east coast, have reportedly restarted after it was targeted by a drone strike on Saturday.

• The Iranian foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, said the new supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, is “in good health” and “fully managing the situation” despite ongoing speculation regarding his whereabouts. In his interview with NBC News, Trump questioned whether the 56-year-old was “even alive”.

We can bring you more from the CBS News interview with the Iranian foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, who was questioned about the effective closure of the strait of Hormuz, one of the world’s most important shipping channels. He was asked specifically about a report in the Financial Times that said European diplomats from France and Italy were talking to the Iranian government about trying to get safe passage for their ships.

“We are open to countries who want to talk to us about the safe passage of their vessels,” Araghchi replied. Margaret Brennan then pressed him on whether Tehran was negotiating with diplomats from France and Italy, to which the foreign minister replied:

I cannot mention any country in particular, but we have been approached by a number of countries who wants to have a safe passage for their vessels.

And this is up to our military to decide, and they have already decided to let, you know, a group of vessels belongs to different countries to pass in a safe and secure.

So we provide them security to pass because we have not closed this strait. They are not coming themselves because of the insecurity which is there, because of the aggression by the US.

Since the US and Israel first launched strikes on Iran a fortnight ago, numerous ships travelling through the strait have been attacked. It is now effectively closed, driving up oil prices around the world. Trump has urged countries including the UK, China and France to send warships to the strait to help secure the key shipping route.

As a reminder, speaking to NBC News yesterday, Donald Trump said: “Iran wants to make a deal, and I don’t want to make it because the terms aren’t good enough yet.” The president added that US forces would step up attacks on the Iranian coast north of the strait to clear a path for oil shipments.