Middle East crisis live: oil spill warning after tanker attacked in Dubai; explosions in Tehran and Jerusalem amid wave of attacks

Kuwait says fire broke out after Iranian attack on giant tanker and warns of possible oil spill in surrounding waters

Hello and welcome to our continuing live coverage of the US-Israel war on Iran and its impact on the region, the world and the global economy.

Iran attacked and set ablaze a fully loaded crude oil tanker off Dubai on Monday while Donald Trump warned the US would obliterate Iran’s energy plants and oil wells if it did not open the strait of Hormuz.

Blasts were heard in Tehran and power cuts hit some areas of the capital, Iranian media reported on Tuesday. Israel earlier carried out missile strikes on what it called military infrastructure in Tehran and infrastructure used by Iran-backed Hezbollah in Beirut, leaving black smoke hanging over the Lebanese capital.

Two successive Iranian missile launches targeted central Israel, the Times of Israel reported, quoting the emergency service as saying it had not received any reports of injuries.

Turkey reported a ballistic missile launched from Iran had entered Turkish airspace before being shot down by Nato air and missile defences.

Oil prices were headed on Tuesday for a record monthly rise while Asian shares were headed for their steepest fall since 2022, capping a tumultuous month as the war fanned fears of higher inflation and slower growth. Bonds were headed for their largest decline in months, while the dollar recorded its strongest gain in eight months.

The US national average retail price of fuel crossed $4 a gallon for the first time in more than three years on Monday, data from price-tracking service GasBuddy showed, as tightening global supplies pushed US crude prices above $101 a barrel.

Three UN peacekeepers from Indonesia were killed in two separate incidents in southern Lebanon.

Thousands of soldiers from the US Army’s elite 82nd Airborne Division have started arriving in the Middle East, two US officials told Reuters. , as part of a reinforcement that would expand Trump’s options to include the deployment of forces inside Iranian territory, even as he pursues talks with Tehran.

The White House later said talks with Iran were progressing and Trump wanted to reach a deal with Tehran before a 6 April deadline he set last week after extending an earlier deadline he had set for Iran to open the largely blocked strait of Hormuz oil route.

Trump had told aides he is willing to end the military campaign against Iran even if the strait or Hormuz remains largely closed and leave a complex operation to reopen it for a later date, the Wall Street Journal later reported.

Iran said on Monday it had received US peace proposals via intermediaries and that they were “unrealistic, illogical and excessive”.

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