Iran-US war live: Trump vows to decimate Iran as deadline approaches and says he’s ‘not worried’ about war crimes – UK Times

New Zealand prime minister Christopher Luxon has described Donald Trump’s recent threats against Iranian civilian infrastructure as “unhelpful”

“Unhelpful because more military action’s not necessary,” Luxon told Radio New Zealand.

“I think the bottom line is that the focus needs to be on not seeing this conflict expand any further,” Luxon said.

“We got threats from the president over the weekend. Any of those actions including bombing bridges and reservoirs and civilian infrastructure would be unacceptable as well,” Luxon added.

New Zealand foreign minister Winston Peters’ message to US secretary of state Marco Rubio at a meeting in Washington, scheduled this week, would be to de-escalate the conflict, Luxon said.

US President Donald Trump has claimed Iranians “want to hear bombs” go off as “they want to be free” in a bizarre new rant.

Trump said Iran has killed 45,000 of its own people who protested against the government. That number has not been verified.

Two people were killed in the Kurdish region of Iraq after a home was hit by a drone that authorities said had been launched from Iran.

The drone hit the home in the village of Zargazawi in Irbil province early this morning, the Counter Terrorism Directorate of the northern Kurdish region said in a statement. Officials condemned the attack, calling it a violation of international law.

The strike came as Iranian forces and allied militias targeted areas across northern Kurdistan with a wave of drones, rockets and missiles.

Fire erupted at Saudi Arabia’s Al Jubail industrial city after it was struck by Iranian missiles and drones, according to reports.

Ballistic missiles struck Al Jubail’s eastern province, triggering large fires at petrochemical facilities, according to visuals shared by the Fars news agency, which has ties to Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps.

Global stocks wavered this morning, while oil prices were perched near $110 per barrel as the prospect of escalation in the war in the Middle East and the looming deadline for a deal to be reached kept nervous investors on the sidelines.

Brent crude futures rose 0.4 per cent to $110.19 a barrel while US West Texas Intermediate crude futures climbed 0.8 per cent to $113.31.

Israeli airstrikes have flattened a synagogue in central Tehran, the semi-official Mehr news agency reported this morning.

Iran has been home to Jewish people for thousands of years. Up to 15,000 Jews still live in Iran, mostly concentrated in Tehran with smaller communities in Isfahan and Shiraz, according to Times of Israel.

The Philippine government said a Filipino national was killed in a missile attack in the northern Israeli port city of Haifa over the weekend.

The foreign ministry in Manila did not immediately identify the citizen but said she was killed with her Israeli husband and parents-in-law in a residential area in Haifa on Sunday.

On 28 February, a Filipino caregiver, Mary Ann de Vera, was killed in a missile strike in Tel Aviv while helping bring her charge to a bomb shelter in the first known Philippine casualty of the war in the Middle East. About 30,000 Filipinos live in Israel and work mostly as caregivers.

The United Nations Security Council is set to vote on Bahrain’s draft resolution to protect commercial ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz.

Iran has effectively closed the Middle Eastern waterway that carries about a fifth of the world’s oil as the US and Israel continue strikes against the country.

A version of the resolution that Reuters obtained and reported on early Tuesday morning, “strongly encourages States interested in the use of commercial maritime routes in the Strait of Hormuz to coordinate efforts, ​defensive in nature, commensurate to the circumstances, to contribute to ensuring the safety and security of navigation across the Strait of Hormuz”.

Securing the strait would include escorting commercial ships through the waterway, according to the proposal.

US special forces carried out a daring rescue mission to bring back an airman stranded 200 miles behind enemy lines after Iran shot down a $31m fighter jet on Friday.

Donald Trump said on Sunday that dozens of military aircraft had raced to rescue the missing weapons-system officer of a two-seat F-15E after the pilot ejected and was rescued under fire.

The president said that the injured second airman was stuck “in the treacherous mountains of Iran, being hunted down by our enemies, who were getting closer and closer by the hour”.