Sunday, March 22, 2026

BIG Wrap

Iran’s president proposes terms to end war

(Al Jazeera Media Network) Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has laid out terms for ending the war with the United States and Israel in what analysts say is a possible sign of de-escalation from Tehran as the US-Israel war on Iran entered its 13th day on Thursday. In a post on Wednesday on social site X, Pezeshkian said he had spoken to his counterparts in Russia and Pakistan, and that he had confirmed “Iran’s commitment to peace”. “The...

Iran-linked hackers hit medical giant Stryker in retaliatory cyberattack

(Al Jazeera Media Network) A major cyberattack has crippled the global networks of Stryker, one of the world’s largest medical device companies, with an Iran-linked hacking group claiming responsibility and warning it marks “the beginning of a new chapter in cyber warfare”. Handala, a hacking persona with documented ties to Tehran, said it carried out the attack in retaliation for the killing of more than 170 people, most of them schoolgirls, in a strike on a school...

Shell declares force majeure on LNG contracts from Qatar

(Al Jazeera Media Network) Shell, the world’s largest liquefied natural gas (LNG) trader, has declared force majeure on LNG cargoes it buys from QatarEnergy and sells to its clients worldwide, the Reuters news agency reports, quoting three unnamed sources. Qatar, the world’s second largest exporter of LNG, announced last week a production halt at a facility that produces 77 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) and declared force majeure on LNG shipments. Shell declined to comment on Wednesday. Other Qatari...

Pakistan orders sweeping austerity measures as Iran war triggers oil crisis

(Al Jazeera Media Network) Pakistan has ordered sweeping emergency austerity and fuel conservation measures after a disruption in oil and gas supply caused by the United States-Israel war on Iran and an escalating Middle East conflict. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif announced the measures in a televised address to the nation on Monday night, warning that disruptions to maritime traffic in the Strait of Hormuz – a vital waterway for traded oil – had placed Pakistan’s economy...

Putin says Russia can supply oil, gas to Europe as energy prices soar

(Al Jazeera Media Network) Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that Russia is ready to conditionally supply oil and gas to Europe as the US-Israeli war on Iran brings shipments through the Strait of Hormuz to a halt. The Russian president said in televised comments on Monday that Moscow was ready to work again with European customers, which largely stopped buying from his country in a bid to stop funding its war on Ukraine, if they wanted to return...

Trump order protected herbicide – and a weapon of war

(New York Times) When United States President Donald Trump issued an abrupt order last month compelling the production of glyphosate, the controversial weedkiller known as Roundup, he angered health activists who have long campaigned to ban the product for its links to cancer. But largely overshadowed in the furor was the order’s mention of something contentious in another way: the manufacture of munitions used by the United States military. Bayer, which makes glyphosate, is also the only company...

Targeting of desalination plants could disrupt water supply in the Gulf

(Al Jazeera Media Network) Bahrain has said an Iranian drone attack caused material damage to a water desalination plant in the country, marking the first time a Gulf nation has reported targeting any such facility during the eight days of the war between Iran and the US and Israel. The attack on Sunday comes a day after Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said a freshwater desalination plant on Qeshm Island in southern Iran was attacked...

Israel pounds southern Beirut, a Hezbollah stronghold

(New York Times) Israeli airstrikes pounded the southern outskirts of Lebanon’s capital, Beirut, late on Thursday and into the early hours of Friday morning, collapsing buildings and sending residents fleeing. The Israeli military said late Thursday that it was striking Hezbollah infrastructure in the Dahiya, a densely populated commercial and residential area in the Beirut area that is a stronghold of the Lebanese militant group. A series of violent strikes then rocked the city, the most...

Where are Iran’s allies? Why Moscow and Beijing are keeping their distance

(Al Jazeera Media Network) Russia and China, Tehran’s two most powerful diplomatic partners, have labelled the US-Israeli war on Iran that has killed more than 1,000 people a clear violation of international law. President Vladimir Putin called the assassination of Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei on Saturday a “cynical violation of all norms of human morals”. China’s Foreign Affairs Minister Wang Yi told his Israeli counterpart, Gideon Saar, that “force cannot truly solve problems” as he urged all sides to...

U.S. conducting joint military operation in Ecuador

(Al Jazeera Media Network) The United States government has announced it is collaborating with Ecuador to combat “terrorists” in the South American country. On Wednesday, US Southern Command, the military unit overseeing operations in Central and South America, posted that joint efforts had already begun in Ecuador. “On March 3, Ecuadorian and US military forces launched operations against Designated Terrorist Organizations in Ecuador,” General Francis Donovan said. “The operations are a powerful example of the commitment of partners in...