LIVE: 22 countries urge Iran to reopen Hormuz amid attack-surge threat from Israel

Five, including three children, found dead in Kochi house

Five persons, including three children, were found dead at a rented house in Kochi on Saturday, police said.

According to police, the deceased consisted of two women and three children who were from Thiruvananthapuram and had been staying in a rented house in Vaduthala here for the past few months for treatment at a private hospital nearby.

Police said the women were identified as Kanakalatha and her daughter Aswathy, while the three others are Aswathy’s children. 

Officials at the Ernakulam North Police Station said the family had not been seen outside their house since Friday, following which the house owner checked the premises and found all five dead.

Police said an investigation has been launched and efforts are underway to confirm further details. They suspect the elders could have killed children before ending their own lives.

Police teams are trying to contact the relatives of the deceased and initiate inquest proceedings. A case will be registered at the Ernakulam North Police Station after a preliminary probe, police added. 

Two more India-bound LPG tankers to cross war-hit Strait of Hormuz

Two Indian-flagged liquefied petroleum gas tankers are preparing to sail through the Strait of Hormuz in the coming days, even as crude oil shipments through the key route have come to a halt over the past 24 hours, Reuters reported. 

Shipping data and trade sources indicate that the vessels could soon resume movement after a pause, at a time when heightened tensions in the region have forced hundreds of ships to drop anchor.

The Strait of Hormuz, a critical artery for global energy flows, has seen disruption after Tehran warned it could target vessels attempting to leave the Gulf. Nearly 20 per cent of global oil and liquefied natural gas supplies pass through this narrow waterway.

Market assessments on Friday showed no crude oil tankers had transited the strait in the previous 24 hours. Data from Kpler also showed that an empty crude tanker, under US sanctions, turned back towards Iranian waters on March 18.

UP man killed in Riyadh in missile attack, claims family

A 26-year-old man was killed in a suspected missile attack in Riyadh, his family alleged on Saturday, claiming that they were yet to give an official confirmation.

Ravi Gopal from Baghain village in Mahmudabad Police Station limits had been working as a driver in a plastic factory in the Saudi capital since September 2025, his family said. Ritu, his wife, said Ravi last spoke to the family on March 18 around 9.30 pm.

"The call got disconnected after about 20 minutes, and when we tried calling back, we found the phone switched off. We also tried contacting his friends there, but could not reach anyone," she said.

According to the family, they were informed about Ravi's death the next day by his friend Ram Niwas, a native of Barabanki who also works in Saudi Arabia. Ram Niwas told them that Ravi died in a missile strike near the factory.

Ravi's elder brother, Manmohan Dayal, said that they were told that Ravi was working when he was buried in the debris from a missile attack. "He was taken to a hospital where doctors declared him dead. Ram Niwas identified the body," he said.

Dayal said local police in Mahmudabad have contacted the family to collect details of the incident and Ravi's employment for verification. 

A relative of the family, who also works in Saudi Arabia and is currently about 1,400 km away from Riyadh, is expected to reach there to help confirm the death.

Israel strikes Hezbollah's civilian as well as military wings

An Israeli strike on a health center in southern Lebanon instantly killed 12 medical workers, seriously wounded one and left four missing under the rubble for hours.

The March 13 strike in the village of Burj Qalaouiyah, one of the single deadliest strikes in Lebanon since the latest Israel-Hezbollah war began on March 2, targeted a center run by Hezbollah's health arm, the Islamic Health Society, which has so far lost 24 members over the past two weeks.

Since the latest war began, Israel's military has not only been targeting the group's military assets but also its civilian institutions in an apparent attempt to weaken the Iran-backed group further and try to push its supporters away from it.

Hezbollah is a political party as well as an armed group, and its health and social service institutions have helped strengthen its base of support over the years.

In addition to health centers, Israel has destroyed more than a dozen branches of Hezbollah's financial arm, al-Qard al-Hasan. Other strikes heavily damaged Hezbollah's Al-Manar TV headquarters and its Al-Nour radio stations.

The strikes also have targeted the group's Amana gas stations and discount shops known as Sajjad, where low-income people can buy highly subsidized products. On Wednesday, an Israeli airstrike on an apartment in central Beirut killed Mohammed Sherri, the head of political programs at Hezbollah's Al-Manar TV, along with his wife.

Israel has accused Hezbollah of using health facilities for military purposes and has said al-Qard al-Hasan — officially a charitable organization that provides interest-free loans — finances the group's military activities. Lebanon's Health Ministry denies the Israeli claims about Hezbollah's health facilities being used for military purposes.

Iran fires missiles at Diego Garcia in Indian Ocean, signalling extended strike range

Iran reportedly fired two intermediate-range ballistic missiles at Diego Garcia, a joint US-UK military base in the middle of the Indian Ocean, indicating that it has missiles with longer range than earlier thought.

If confirmed, this would mark Iran’s first operational use of IRBMs and a significant attempt to target areas far beyond the Middle East and threaten US interests. Neither of the missiles hit the base which is 4,000 kilometers away from Iranian territory, Wall Street Journal reported, citing multiple US officials. 

One of the missiles failed mid-flight, while the other was intercepted by an SM-3 interceptor launched from a US warship, according to two people cited by the WSJ. One official, however, said it could not be confirmed whether the interception took place.

Diego Garcia in the Chagos Islands is one of two bases Britain has allowed the United States to use for “defensive” operations related to Iran. The other is Fairford.

American forces have stationed bombers and other equipment at the base, which has been key for several Asia operations, including the US bombing campaigns in Afghanistan and Iraq. 

"If reports are correct that Iran attempted to hit the Island of Diego Garcia deep in the Central Indian Ocean, then Iran has just widened the war and sent a very clear message towards the West while striking South," former Union Minister Manish Tewari said in a post on X.

Cuba refuses to let US Embassy in Havana import diesel for its generators

The Cuban government has refused a request by the US Embassy in Havana to allow it to import diesel for its generators while the Trump administration continues to impose a fuel blockade on the island, according to two US officials familiar with the matter.

The Cuban government turned down the request as the US State Department has been weighing a reduction in staffing at the embassy in Havana because of the lack of diesel. Such a move would likely lead to a US demand for a similar reduction in staffing at the Cuban Embassy in Washington, say the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive matter.

Cuba has struggled with dwindling oil since the US removed Venezuela's leader, halting critical petroleum shipments from the nation. President Donald Trump then threatened tariffs on any country selling or supplying Cuba with oil.

The island is relying on its own natural gas, solar power and its own oil to run thermoelectric plants, but that hasn't been enough to meet demand. The standoff on diesel comes as Trump has been pressing for dramatic change in government led by Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel.

Trump has suggested that top Cuban leaders would be smart to avoid the fate of former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, who was ousted and arrested in a US military operation in January. Venezuela had been Cuba's closest ally and provided it with heavily subsidized oil.

US shifts missiles toward Iran, raising concerns over gaps in Europe’s air defences

 A sizeable number of US Patriot air defence missiles have been moved from Europe toward the Middle East as Washington diverts resources toward its war on Iran, leaving concerning gaps in Europe's air defences against Russia, US defence officials have said. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive military matters. 

One of the officials said stocks of Patriot missiles are “absolutely” dwindling in Europe and elsewhere because of the war in Iran, and added the situation is “pretty concerning.” Asked to comment on the missiles being moved, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement to AP: “The US military has more than enough munitions, ammo, and weapons stockpiles to achieve the goals of Operation Epic Fury laid out by President Trump — and beyond.” 

US sanctions on global network financing Hezbollah

The United States has imposed sanctions on a global financial network linked to Hezbollah, which is designated by Washington as a foreign terrorist organisation.

“Today, the United States is imposing sanctions to disrupt a global financial network that supports Hizballah (Hezbollah). This action targets individuals and entities involved in laundering and raising funds for Hizballah’s finance team through a range of companies and projects operating across the Middle East, Europe, and North America,” Tommy Pigott, Principal Deputy Spokesperson for the US Department of State, said in a statement.

He said by cutting off these financial channels, the United States is taking concrete steps to limit Hezbollah’s ability to generate revenue for terrorism and evade sanctions.

“Hizballah's reckless attack on Israel demonstrates yet again that it prioritises the pursuit of terrorism on behalf of the Iranian regime over the peace and safety of the Lebanese people,” Pigott said. Hezbollah continues to spend millions of dollars on terrorism, leaving Lebanese civilians to deal with the consequences and depriving them of a normal life, he said.

By targeting Hezbollah’s financial enablers, the Trump Administration is taking decisive action to disrupt the group’s ability to threaten the security of the United States and the Middle East, Pigott said.

A separate statement by the Department of Treasury said its Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) is designating a network of 16 individuals and entities led by Hezbollah financier and former public investment official Alaa Hassan Hamieh.

US shows mixed signals: says will deploy more warships, but hints at pullback, eases oil sanctions

Three weeks into an escalating war in the Middle East, Iran threatened on Friday to expand its retaliatory attacks to include recreational and tourist sites worldwide, as the US announced it was sending more warships and Marines to the region.

Hours later, President Donald Trump said on social media that his administration in fact was considering “winding down” military operations in the region. His post came after another climb in oil plunged the US stock market. The mixed messages came as the war has shown no signs of abating.

Iran launched more attacks on Israel and energy sites in neighbouring Gulf Arab states, and the region marked one of the holiest days on the Muslim calendar. Iranians were also celebrating the Persian New Year, known as Nowruz, a normally festive holiday, as Israeli airstrikes landed in Tehran.

With little information coming out of Iran, it was not clear how much damage its arms, nuclear or energy facilities have sustained in the punishing US and Israeli strikes, which began on February 28 -- or even who was truly in charge of the country. But Iran's attacks are still choking off oil supplies and raising food and fuel prices far beyond the Middle East.

Meanwhile, US officials announced that the Trump administration will lift sanctions on Iranian oil stranded at sea under a one-month license as the White House tries to bring down soaring oil prices. The pause applies to Iranian oil loaded on ships as of Friday and is set to end April 19.

The US and Israel have offered shifting rationales for the war, from hoping to foment an uprising that topples Iran's leadership to eliminating its nuclear and missile programmes. There have been no public signs of any such uprising and no end to the war in sight.

Later, in his social media post, Trump said, “We are getting very close to meeting our objectives as we consider winding down our great Military efforts in the Middle East.” That seemed at odds with his administration's move to bolster its firepower in the region and request another $200 billion from Congress to fund the war.

The US is deploying three more amphibious assault ships and roughly 2,500 additional Marines to the Middle East, an official told The Associated Press. Two other US officials confirmed that ships were deploying, without saying where they were headed. All three spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive military operations.