Live! Iran hits Bahrain desalination plant; smoke from oil depot strike shrouds Tehran

Sri Lanka will grant free one-month visas to a group rescued from Iranian vessels, allowing them to remain in Sri Lanka under humanitarian protection.

Minister of Public Security Ananda Wijepala said similar decisions could be taken in the future if necessary, stressing that such measures are not intended to support or harm any particular party.

“They will be granted one month gratis visas,” Wijepala told reporters.

“We will not be taking any sides but will act on a humanitarian basis in terms of international law,” Wijepala stressed.

There are 32 who had survived the US submarine attack on the sunk Iris Dena frigate. Another 186 were evacuated from Iris Bushehr. Out of the 32 rescued from the sunk frigate, only 10 remain under treatment at Karapitiya, the national hospital at Galle, the southern port city.

The rest have been discharged from the hospital.

Sri Lanka is yet to make a decision on their repatriation. Foreign Minister Vijitha Herath has said Sri Lanka would strictly adhere to the relevant international laws to deal with the situation.

Former Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Sunday (March 8) expressed concern over the rise in international airfares amid the ongoing conflict in the Middle East and urged the Centre to cap ticket prices.

"The exorbitant hike in international airfares due to the ongoing war and instability in the Middle East is extremely worrying. On several routes, fares have risen three to four times, making it difficult for Indians stranded abroad -- especially students and workers -- to return home," he said.

"At the same time, Indians who have come to the country are finding it difficult to return to their workplaces and educational institutions," Gehlot said on X.

The Congress leader said relief to citizens should be the government's priority during crises.

Air India will operate 78 additional flights on nine international routes from March 10 to 18 as the airline seeks to provide more travel options amid the disruptions due to the Middle East conflict.

The carrier will operate on 9 routes connecting New York, London, Frankfurt, Amsterdam, Zurich, Paris, Colombo and Male.

In a statement on Sunday (March 8), Air India said it would deploy additional capacity to five key gateways in Europe as well as to New York over the next few days, supported by additional services to the Maldives and Sri Lanka. "Together, these flights add 17,660 seats on nine routes in both directions," it said.

Except for New York, Male and Colombo, the services will be operated with B787-8 aircraft.

For Male and Colombo, A320 neo planes will be deployed and services for New York will be operated with B777-300ER aircraft, subject to regulatory approvals.

Russia has said international law is effectively dead amid escalating tensions in West Asia following the US-Israeli strike on Iran, and called for reviving President Vladimir Putin's proposal to convene a summit of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the current global situation underscores the need to revisit Putin's proposal, first made before the COVID-19 pandemic, for a summit of the P-5 - Russia, the US, China, France and the UK - to discuss global security and stability.

"We have all lost what we call international law... I don't even understand how anyone can be called upon to follow the norms and principles of international law. It effectively no longer exists," Peskov said in an interview with the state-run Rossiya TV.

He said international law exists "de jure" (by law) but no longer "de facto” (in fact).

“We cannot tell anyone to follow international law, follow which law? Nobody can formulate today what it is,” he said.

Referring to the sharp escalation following the US-Israeli attack on Iran, Peskov said the situation in the region has become significantly destabilised.

Lebanon's health minister said Sunday (March 8) that 83 children are among the 394 killed so far in the conflict between Israel and the Hezbollah militant group over the past week.

Israel's renewed offensive began last week after Hezbollah launched rockets toward northern Israel during the opening days of the war.

Israel renewed its assault on southern Lebanon early Sunday (March 8) as the war entered its ninth day and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu promised “many surprises” in the next phase of the conflict rippling across the region.

The latest strikes in Lebanon killed 12 more people, pushing the death toll there above 300 after Israel ordered large swaths of the country to evacuate during an offensive that its military said would be aimed at stamping out Iran-supported forces there.

Israel and the United States launched the war on Feb. 28, saying they were targeting Iran's nuclear and missile programs and suggesting they sought to topple the government. The conflict has since spread across the region, rattling global markets, disrupting air travel and leaving Iran's leadership weakened by hundreds of Israeli and American airstrikes.

Iran has fired missiles and drones at neighbouring countries in the Gulf, Israel has intensified attacks in Lebanon, and strikes have been reported from Cyprus to waters off of Sri Lanka.

As Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu laid out the next phase of the war late Saturday, saying Israel aims to destabilise Iran's regime and allow change in government, Israel launched another wave of strikes late Saturday, hitting an oil storage facility in Tehran — the first apparent strike on a civilian industrial site — sending pillars of fire into the night sky.

Indian refiners have begun negotiating for additional crude cargoes from the US, Russia and West Africa to ensure supplies remain adequate in the event of the Middle East conflict drags on for a longer period, industry officials and analysts said.

Refineries, which convert crude oil into fuels like petrol and diesel, have deferred planned maintenance shutdowns and are maintaining normal processing rates to create buffers that could meet the country's requirement in the near term, they said.

India imports about 88 per cent of its crude oil requirement, with roughly half of those supplies in February passing through the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow sea lane between Iran and Oman that serves as a key energy transit route for global markets.

The recent military strikes by the United States and Israel on Iran, and Tehran's retaliatory attacks on US bases in neighbouring countries as well as Israel, have sharply escalated tensions in the region, leading to a near halt in tanker movements through the strategic waterway.

"Non-strait sources are fully operational and we are sourcing more and more supplies from non-conflict zones," a top oil ministry source said. "Non-Strait sources accounted for 60 per cent of supplies in 2025 which after the Middle East conflict climbed to 70 per cent." Indian refiners are tapping crude from West Africa, Latin America and the US, he said adding the US Treasury Department issuing a 30-day waiver to allow the sale and delivery of sanctioned Russian oil that has already been loaded on vessels to India has opened up another avenue.

The sky over Iran's capital was blanketed with smoke Sunday (March 8) morning, hours after Israeli strikes hit oil facilities in Tehran, Associated Press footage showed.

Fars news agency reported that Saturday's strikes hit four oil storage facilities and an oil production transfer centre in Tehran and Alborz. Four tanker drivers in the centre were killed, it reported.

The strikes sent up pillars of fire that could be seen in AP video as a glow against the Saturday night sky.

It appeared to be the first time a civil industrial facility has been targeted in the war.

Iran's president has threatened to step up attacks on American targets throughout the Middle East as the US and Israel press ahead with their air campaign.

“When we are attacked, we have no choice but to respond. The more pressure they impose on us, the stronger our response will naturally be,” President Masoud Pezeshkian said in video comments Sunday (March 8). “Our Iran, our country, will not bow easily in the face of bullying, oppression or aggression — and it never has.” Pezeshkian appeared to be backtracking from conciliatory comments toward his Gulf neighbours on Saturday. Those comments, in which he appeared to apologise for attacks on their soil, were quickly contradicted by Iranian hard-liners.

Pezeshkian said Iran is not looking for a battle against neighbouring Arab countries, many of which host American military bases. “They are our brothers,” he said, accusing the US of trying to pit the region's countries against one another. Many Iranian attacks have gone beyond US bases in the region, striking energy facilities, hotels and cities.