World Echo

Thousands of people have been killed across the Middle East since the US and Israel attacked Iran on February 28 and Iran launched strikes against Israel, US bases and Gulf states. Here are the death tolls reported as of ‌March 23, which Reuters has not independently verified. Iran US-based rights group HRANA said on March 22 that 3,268 people have been killed. It said 1,443 ‌of those were civilians, including at least 217 children. The group says its data comes from field reports, local contacts, medical and emergency sources, civil society networks, open source materials and official statements. The latest figures ​reported by state media put the toll at 1,270 people. Iran's ambassador to the UN said on March 6 that at least 1,332 people had been killed since the war began. There has been no clarification of the discrepancy. It was not clear if those figures included at least 104 people who the Iranian military said were killed in a US attack on an Iranian warship off Sri Lanka o...

The United States Supreme Court is set on Tuesday to hear a defense by President Donald Trump's administration of the government's authority to turn away asylum seekers when officials deem US-Mexico border crossings too overburdened to handle more claims. The legal dispute centers on a policy called "metering" that the Republican president's administration may seek to revive after it was dropped by Trump's Democratic predecessor Joe Biden. The policy allowed US immigration officials to stop asylum seekers at the border and indefinitely decline to process their claims. Read: Trump threatens to put ICE agents in airports over funding impasse The Trump administration has appealed a lower court's finding that the policy violated federal law. This policy is separate from the sweeping ban on asylum at the border that Trump announced after returning to the presidency last year. That policy also faces an ongoing legal challenge. Under US law, a migrant who "a...

Bahrain has put forward a draft UN Security Council resolution that would authorise countries to use "all necessary means" - diplomatic language for force - to protect commercial shipping in and around the Strait of Hormuz, according to a text seen by Reuters on Monday. Diplomats said the draft text was backed by other Gulf Arab states and the United States, although they said it was unlikely to get through the council, where Russia and China had veto power. France circulated a more conciliatory alternative draft resolution, seen by Reuters, on Monday evening. The move underscores mounting concern in the region that Iran could continue to threaten the Strait of Hormuz, a strategic chokepoint that carries about a fifth of global oil supplies and underpins Gulf economies. Closing the Strait has been one of Iran's main objectives. Shipping through the waterway has ground to a near-⁠halt after Iran hit vessels in its conflict with the US and Israel. The draft resolution calls...

More than 40 energy assets across nine countries in the Middle East have been “severely or very severely” damaged amid the ongoing conflict, the International Energy Agency said, according to media reports on Sunday. IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol said the damage could prolong disruptions to global supply chains even after the conflict ends. “It will take some time for the oil fields, refineries and pipelines to come back online,” he said. Birol said more than three weeks of fighting have disrupted the entire energy supply chain and nearly halted shipping through the Strait of Hormuz. Read More: Iran to completely close Hormuz if Trump executes threats on Iranian energy, Revolutionary Guards say He said the impact of the disruptions is comparable to “the two major oil crises in the 1970s and the 2022 natural gas crisis … all put together”. “Not only oil and gas, but some of the vital arteries of the global economy … their trade is all interrupted,” he added. Birol warned that Asia ...

US-Israeli strikes near the Bushehr nuclear power plant in Iran are extremely dangerous, and Russia has shared its concerns with the United States, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Monday. Such strikes could have irreparable consequences, Peskov said. Strike Near Bushehr Nuclear Plant Triggers Global Safety Alarm International Atomic Energy Agency confirms projectile hit inside Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant complex just hundreds of meters from reactor warning of serious risks despite no damage to core #WashingtonEye pic.twitter.com/UyFUzvibsd — Washington Eye (@washington_EY) March 19, 2026 "We believe that strikes on nuclear facilities are potentially extremely dangerous. (...) Therefore, the Russian side, taking an extremely responsible stance on this issue, has repeatedly voiced its concerns," Peskov said. The Kremlin spokesman said that the conflict in Iran "as recently as yesterday" should have been channelled towards a political and diplomatic settlement....

An attack on Iran's southern coast and islands will lead to Gulf routes being cut with the laying of sea mines, the country's Defence Council said on Monday, according to state media. The US is considering plans to occupy or blockade Iran's Kharg Island, the country's main oil export hub, to pressure Tehran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz to all shipping, according to Axios. "Any attempt to attack Iran's coasts or islands will cause all access routes in the Gulf (...) to be mined with various types of sea mines, including floating mines that can be released from the coast," the statement read. "In this case, the entire Gulf will practically be in a situation similar to the Strait of Hormuz for a long time (...) One should not forget the failure of more than 100 minesweepers in the 1980s in removing a few sea mines." The Defence Council recalled that non-belligerent states can only pass through the Strait of Hormuz by coordinating passage with Iran...