Summary

  1. Oil prices rise as strikes continue in Middle Eastpublished at 00:29 BST 30 March

    Oil prices rose to over $115 when markets open in Asia on Monday, just over a month into the war.

    The price of Brent crude is $115.84, a 2.9% increase. Oil was trading at around $72 a barrel before 28 February, when the US and Israeli strikes on Iran began.

    Last week it peaked at $118 a barrel on 19 March and as of Friday afternoon was sitting at just below $112 - significantly up from its pre-war price.

    Here is what else has happened recently as our live coverage continues:

    • Ebrahim Zolfaghari, the spokesperson for Iran's Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters - the country's highest operational command unit coordinating the armed forces - has threatened that the armed forces will target the houses of US and Israeli “commanders and political officials in the region"
    • Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf earlier said that Tehran was "waiting for American soldiers to enter on the ground so they can rain fire upon them"
    • The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) says it is striking targets across Iran's capital, Tehran, not long after heavy explosions were reported in the city
    • Iran’s Ministry of Energy says attacks on the country's "electricity infrastructure" caused power cuts in parts of the Tehran and Albroz provinces, but power seems to have been restored in most areas
    • In southern Israel, firefighters have now contained a large blaze in the Neot Hovav industrial zone, where a "hazardous materials incident" was declared earlier. The IDF say it may have been caused by missile shrapnel
    • Despite the steady attacks exchanged, Iran and US have "expressed confidence" in peace talks, says Pakistan's foreign minister
    • Meanwhile in Lebanon, a Beirut-based American university is operating virtually after Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) threatened to target US and Israeli universities. It comes after two Iranian universities were struck in US-Israeli strikes on Saturday - the one in Isfahan was struck again on Sunday
    • Lebanon has also seen the funerals of three Lebanese journalists killed in a targeted Israeli air strike - hundreds have gathered to mourn their deaths
    • Attacks have been reported across the Gulf - including Kuwait, where 10 army personnel were injured as a result. In Saudi Arabia, photos appear to show a heavily damaged US military jet at an American air base