Epic Records president Ezekiel Lewis has been promoted to CEO and chairman of the record label, parent company Sony Music Entertainment announced on Monday. Lewis will report to Sony Music Group chairman Rob Stringer.
The move comes about six months after former Epic CEO Sylvia Rhone stepped down from her post, after first joining as president in 2014 and getting the CEO appointment herself in 2019. Given that she was one of the oldest major label CEOs, Rhone’s retirement was a frequent area of speculation among industry insiders, and many had seen Lewis as a natural successor at the label given how pivotal a role he’s played at the label for years. He’s ran Epic’s A&R department since 2018, and he was named president at the label in 2023. In his tenure at Epic, he’s worked with a wide range of acts including Meghan Trainor, Madison Beer, 21 Savage, Future, Zara Larsson and Tyla among others.
“I am truly humbled by the trust Rob has placed in me to lead this incredible label,” Lewis said in a statement. “Music has always been about the artist, their vision, their voice, their story. Everything we build here starts and ends with that belief. My focus, from day one, is to make this the best home for recording artists anywhere in the world. In a digital-first landscape full of noise and distraction, we have an opportunity to cut through and give creators something rare: a place where they are genuinely seen, supported, and set up to thrive. That is the mission, and I do not take it lightly.”
With his appointment, Lewis is now the second Black CEO in the major label system, joining Def Jam’s Tunji Balogun. Before joining Epic, Lewis was senior vice president of A&R at Motown Records, where he worked with acts including Ne-Yo, Erykah Badu and Migos among others.
“Through his experience and knowledge in a senior creative capacity at Epic over the last eight years, Zeke is eminently qualified to take the label forward as its leader,” Stringer said in a statement. “Not only I am very pleased to make an appointment like this based on the executive growth of an internal candidate, but also because Zeke is highly respected and trusted by the artists and staff at Sony Music. I look forward to working together with him and his team on magnifying the musical vision of Epic Records.”
California public officials are banned via executive order from using inside information to make money on prediction markets.
The ban extends to state officials and appointees using information to help others from profiting, as well.
The order follows continued scrutiny from Democratic lawmakers that have claimed Trump insiders are profiting from proximity.
California is joining the crackdown on prediction market insider trading.
Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom signed an executive order, effective immediately, that prohibits public officials and decision-makers in the state from using inside information to profit via prediction markets.
“Public service should not be a get-rich-quick scheme,” said Newsom in a statement.
“At a time when Trump’s Washington is riddled with ethical failures and insider profiteering, California is drawing a bright line: If you serve the public as a political appointee, you serve the public—period,” he said, adding that his state wouldn’t “tolerate this kind of corruption.”
The move also prohibits appointees and officials from using inside information to help others—like children, spouses, and business partners—to profit from inside information.
Newsom’s executive order comes amid increasing scrutiny surrounding insider trading and prediction markets, particularly from Democrats. Earlier this month Democratic lawmakers introduced the BETS OFF Act, a federal bill that would ban prediction markets focused on war and other specific topics.
Those types of markets, the lawmakers claim, have been profited on by those close to the Trump administration. Newsom, too, highlighted concerns that those in President Trump’s “orbit are exploiting confidential information for their own personal gain.”
“We shouldn’t live in a country where government officials or well-connected people can make money off of secret information that is supposed to be used in the public interest,” Rep. Greg Casar (D-TX) said at the time of the BETS Off Act’s introduction.
Both highlighted the events surrounding the January capture of Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro, where the suspicious timing of a user’s trades—just hours before intervention—led to more than $430,000 in profits on Polymarket and allegations of insider trading.
The platforms are aware of the implications, especially as legislation and executive orders start to pile up. This week, the two major startups took steps to address issues related to insider trading, with Polymarket improving rules on market integrity while Kalshi implemented preemptive screening to ensure that politicians can’t make trades on associated markets.
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Major crypto-related stocks fell sharply Friday, with some hitting their lowest prices in at least a month as markets reacted to continued uncertainty around the Iran war, and Bitcoin fell to its lowest price since March 2.
Bitcoin was recently trading at $65,804, down more than 4% on the day. It fell as low as $65,720 earlier Friday, which is the lowest price registered since March 2, the first business day after the United States and Israel began bombing Iran, as markets reacted to the surprise weekend assault.
Other major cryptocurrencies are similarly feeling the pain, with Ethereum down about 4% to $1,980, Solana falling 5% to under $83, and BNB dipping 3% to $608. Over $500 million worth of crypto positions have been liquidated in the last 24 hours, per data from CoinGlass, with nearly 90% of the carnage coming from long positions.
Strategy, the largest corporate holder of Bitcoin with approximately $50 billion in holdings, saw its stock (MSTR) fall more than 5% on the day as of this writing, recently trading below $126. It fell below $124 earlier Friday, marking its lowest price in more than a month.
The top Ethereum treasury firm, BitMine Immersion Technologies (BMNR), similarly hit a monthly low of $18.42 earlier Friday, and was recently trading just above that level at a more than 4% daily dip. (Disclosure: BitMine Chairman Tom Lee is an investor in Decrypt‘s parent company, Dastan.)
Crypto and stocks trading platform Robinhood (HOOD) also fell to a monthly low earlier Friday, trading just above $66. HOOD is now down more than 11% over the last month, with its six-month plunge now topping 50% as of this writing.
Stock market indices are broadly down again Friday, with the Nasdaq falling 1.5% as of this writing, with the S&P 500 and Dow both down just over 1% each. U.S. President Trump said Thursday after markets close that he would pause a planned assault on Iranian energy sites, but Israel then said it would “escalate” attacks on Iran following missile strikes against it.
Bitcoin traders have flipped increasingly bearish on the coin in the last couple days, with users on Myriad—a prediction market platform operated by Decrypt‘s parent company, Dastan—currently penciling in a 64% chance that Bitcoin’s next stop is $55,000 rather than $84,000. That sentiment was flipped as recently as early Thursday morning.
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In November, three activists from Palestine Action Eire crashed a modified van through a barrier at Shannon Airport, drove onto the runway towards a United States military aircraft and sprayed green paint on a parked Boeing 737-700.
The action was in protest against what they saw as Ireland’s complicity in Israel’s genocide against Palestinians in Gaza through the US military’s continued use of Shannon Airport. At the time, Israel’s onslaught had killed more than 69,000 Palestinians.
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According to data collected by the military plane tracker Shannonwarport, at least 1,300 US military and military-contracted civilian aircraft have flown within 60km (37 miles) of Shannon Airport since January 2024, including at least 45 flights that travelled to or from Israel.
“I took part in the action out of a general frustration with the Irish establishment and society,” activist Conan Kavanagh told Al Jazeera.
After spending two days in Limerick Prison on remand, he paid 10,000 euros ($11,500) in bail money. The three activists awaiting trial have been charged with criminal damage and interfering with the “operation, management or safety of an airport”.
“For a country that prides itself on a shared history of colonialism and resistance, I think we’re incredibly limited in how we express support for the Palestinian people,” Kavanagh said. “A lot of Palestinian activism in Ireland is centred around marches, speeches and rallies, which while good needs to be escalated upon with more actively disruptive protests if we hope to actually force the hands of the state.”
Aine Ni Threinir, another of the activists, believes protesting against the US military’s use of the airport in western Ireland “should be something that we all mobilise strongly around”.
“That hasn’t happened,” she told Al Jazeera. “But there are people, myself included and the 11 others in the past two years who have done actions at Shannon, who are now being criminalised and dragged through the courts by the Irish state. So we [Irish people] absolutely could do more, but it has come at a price for those of us who have taken these actions.”
Ireland’s support for Palestine has historic roots. Among its recent actions are recognising the state of Palestine in May 2024, supporting South Africa in its genocide case against Israel before the International Court of Justice, and welcoming dozens of students and medical evacuees from Gaza.
But critics argued that there are still some areas where it could enact meaningful policy to limit Israeli aggressions – such as the use of its airspace.
Protesters hold regular demonstrations at Shannon Airport to call on the Irish government to inspect US military and military-contracted planes for weapons destined for Israel.
In a United Nations report published in October, Francesca Albanese, the UN special rapporteur on occupied Palestinian territory, listed Ireland among the countries that permitted weapons transfers through ports and airports, indicating “an intent to facilitate Israeli crimes”. In an interview with the Irish broadcaster RTE, she urged Ireland to stop the transit of weapons.
In 2024, the Department of Transport approved 1,354 applications for civil aircraft or Irish-registered aircraft to carry military weapons or ammunition through Ireland, representing a 14 percent increase over 2023, The Irish Times reported in April. Only two applications were refused in 2024.
During an interview in April with the Irish radio station Newstalk, Alice Mary Higgins, a member of the Irish Seanad, or Senate, said: “While the full records of all the flights are not available, it is known that the largest number of exemptions have been sought by Germany and the United States.”
Data gathered by Shannonwatch, which tracks US military stopovers, confirm that most aircraft passing through are US military and military-contracted with flights by Germany’s Luftwaffe also appearing in its logs.
Officials maintained that they do not routinely inspect foreign military aircraft landing at the airport and no exemptions have been granted for civilian aircraft to carry munitions bound for Israel.
After the US and Israel attacked Iran, Irish Prime Minister Micheal Martin said Shannon was not being used to assist that war. However, he said while there was not “strong evidence” that US military weapons were being transported, it was difficult to “intervene” or “investigate” if there were any “transgressions” of rules.
Ireland ‘looking the other way’
Shannon Airport has been a key US military refuelling and transit point in Europe for more than two decades.
During the Iraq War, more than two million US soldiers passed through the airport in western Ireland, fuelling controversy and allegations that the site facilitated the transport of weapons and detainees, John O’Brennan, director of Maynooth University’s Centre for European and Eurasian Studies, told Al Jazeera.
While most European Union countries facilitate weapon transfers for allies through NATO or EU security frameworks, Ireland’s official policy is to not allow the transit of weapons through its airspace to maintain its traditional military neutrality.
Under Irish law, all civil aircraft carrying weapons or ammunition must apply for exemptions from the Department of Transport before landing at Irish airports or travelling through Irish airspace.
Irish-registered aircraft carrying munitions anywhere in the world must also seek permission. Foreign military aircraft are only authorised to land or fly through Ireland by the Department of Foreign Affairs on the condition they are not carrying weapons.
While Irish authorities said no prisoners during the Iraq War were transported through the airport, human rights groups such as Amnesty International Ireland said the country’s failure to actively inspect planes meant it had violated its human rights obligations.
The full extent of what passed through Shannon was never established “as the government shut down all investigations”, O’Brennan said.
O’Brennan said the government’s strategy of “looking the other way” has resulted in revelations that weapons have transited illegally.
The Irish investigative site The Ditch reported in August 2024 that Israeli-Belgian Challenge Airlines had illegally transited ammunition and military explosives bound for Israel through Irish airspace, based on documents obtained via Freedom of Information requests by the Belgian antiwar NGO Vredesactie.
After this report, the Department of Transport launched a probe that found nine unauthorised flights had carried munitions through Irish airspace destined for Israel since October 2023.
Opposition parties condemned the findings, accusing the government of “turning a blind eye” and failing to uphold international law and Ireland’s policy of military neutrality.
Eoghan McNeill, an editor at The Ditch, told Al Jazeera that these unauthorised flights were operated by a mix of military contractors and commercial carriers, including Israel’s national airline El Al, US carriers FedEx Express and Omni Air International, and Germany’s national airline Lufthansa. It reported that Challenge Airlines alone made 21 flights carrying weapons to Israel through Irish airspace from October 2023 to January 2025.
The Irish government said the Department of Transport is continuing to examine reports of alleged nonexempted flights. It has also pledged to introduce new laws to enable random physical inspections of aircraft and warned the concerned airlines against carrying Israeli munitions through Irish airspace without authorisation.
In October, Ireland granted an exemption for a US military-chartered Omni Air International flight to carry munitions to the Israeli military’s Nevatim Airbase in southern Israel. This marked the first time since 2006 that the Irish government had acknowledged authorising an Israel-bound weapons flight to fly through Shannon Airport, The Ditch reported.
At the time of publication, neither the Irish prime minister’s office nor the Department of Transport had responded to Al Jazeera’s request for comment.
O’Brennan said Ireland is cautious about provoking Washington due to its economic ties with the US, citing the issues around Shannon and a long-debated Occupied Territories Bill, which would ban trade with Israeli settlements, which are illegal under international law. The legislation is yet to pass despite strong parliamentary support.
Last month, Shannon Airport faced renewed criticism after The Guardian reported that several Palestinians arrested in the US were deported to the occupied West Bank on flights chartered by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement that refuelled at the airport.
Anthony Chen’s Berlinale Competition film “We Are All Strangers” has been acquired by Film Movement for the U.S. and Canada.
Film Movement is planning a theatrical release for the film, which made history as the first Singaporean movie to compete in Berlin’s competition. It will next play on opening night of the 50th Hong Kong Film Festival on April 1.
“With ‘We Are All Strangers,’ Anthony Chen has crafted a timely family saga that captures the social and economic structures that define contemporary life, filtering them through the grounded and human motivations of its vividly etched characters,” said Michael Rosenberg, Film Movement’s president, who negotiated the deal with Paradise City’s head of sales Alexandre Moreau. “We’re thrilled for North American audiences to discover and connect with Chen’s globally resonant, moving vision,” he continued.
The U.S. distribution company previously handed Chen’s debut “Ilo Ilo” which won the Caméra d’Or at Cannes.
“We Are All Strangers” rounds out what Chen has called his “Growing Up” trilogy, a body of work that started with “Ilo Ilo” and continued with “Wet Season.”
Set in contemporary Singapore, the new film again features Yeo Yann Yann and Koh Jia Ler, who have appeared throughout the trilogy and explores the evolving bonds between generations.
Chen’s 2023 movie, “Drift,” opened at the Sundance Film Festival and was also sold by Paradise City Sales.
Along with the North American deal, Paradise City Sales has also recently sold “We Are All Strangers” to Germany and Austria (Rapid Eye), Eastern Europe (HBO CEE), Airlines (Encore) and Turkey (Filmarti).
The movie previously sold to ARP Selection (France), Curzon (U.K. and Ireland), Elastica Films (Spain), Trigon Film (Switzerland), A-One Films (Baltics), Ama Films (Greece), Golden Scene (Hong Kong), Movicloud (Taiwan), Challan (South Korea), PT Falcon (Indonesia) and Moving Turtle (Middle East and North Africa)
“We Are All Strangers” was written and directed by Chen and produced by Teoh Yi Peng, Huang Wenhong and Anthony Chen for Giraffe Pictures. With Joe Tsai, Arthur Wang, KH Kuok serving as executive producers, and Julia Song as co-executive producer. Financing comes from 127 Wall Productions, Jasper Productions and the Singapore Film Commission with support from the Red Sea Fund and the MPA APSA Academy Film Fund.
Film Movement’s recent slate includes Chie Hayakawa’s “Renoir,” Dominik Moll’s “Case 137” and Neo Sora’s “Happyend,” among others.
Aave, one of the largest decentralized lending platforms, debuted its long-awaited v4 upgrade on Ethereum, aiming to push DeFi beyond crypto trading and into broader financial markets.
The upgrade has been in development for about two years and is designed to make it easier to use Aave for a wider range of lending and borrowing activities, including those tied to real-world assets.
The introduction follows months of internal debate over governance and value flow through the protocol. Disputes over interface fees, contributor roles and proposals to redirect product revenue to the decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) have highlighted tensions between decentralization and coordination, even as the work progressed.
At a basic level, v4 changes how Aave organizes its markets. Instead of grouping everything together, the new system allows different types of lending markets to operate separately while still sharing the same pool of funds.
That means users could eventually borrow and lend against more than just crypto tokens.
For Aave Labs founder Stani Kulechov, the shift reflects a broader change in how decentralized finance is evolving. “Lending is based on trust… you need lending conditions that reflect market conditions,” he said in an interview with CoinDesk.
The upgrade is designed to better handle that complexity. By separating different market types while sharing liquidity, Aave aims to support everything from traditional crypto lending to more complex situations like institutional borrowing and real-world assets.
It also opens the door for others to build on top of the protocol more easily.
“It also means that other teams can come and build and expand that infrastructure,” Kulechov said.
Another goal is to make better use of the capital already in the system.
“There’s some technical improvements where the float … can be reinvested,” Kulechov said, referring to idle funds that can now be deployed more efficiently.
The new version went live with a limited set of markets and conservative settings. More features are likely to be added following governance decisions.
“DeFi is stronger than ever,” Kulechov said. “A lot of these opportunities will come from value outside of DeFi.
Read more: Aave labs proposes ‘Aave Will Win’ plan to send 100% of product revenue to DAO
General manager John Lynch shared Sunday that an independent scientist deemed the 49ers safe from electromagnetic waves, after conducting tests from the practice fields to the weight room and even the cafeteria.
“He basically (said) it was a big nothing burger. We’re safe. We’re in a safe place of work,” Lynch said at the NFL annual meeting at the Biltmore Resort. “The levels are, I think I read, 400 times less than an unsafe zone. It’s a normal place of work, a normal gym. We’re safe, we’re healthy and we feel really good about that.”
As an injury-riddled 49ers roster lurched into the playoffs, speculation turned to the neighboring power plant’s impact on health, sparked by a social-media thread from wellness entrepreneur Peter Cowan and his use of a gaussmeter outside the facility’s fences.
The 49ers did not share the identity of the independent scientist.
“That (study) was important to us. Not just to turn a blind eye, but to look into it because it’s our players’ wellness, and our coaches’ and staff,” Lynch said. “It’s encouraging it came out in a good place.
“His findings were clear,” Lynch added. “Our facility is safe, exposure level is similar to what you’d experience in a typical workplace or commercial gym.”
In practical terms, more direct exposure would come from using a hair dryer in the morning or waiting in front of a microwave oven for your popcorn to finish.
The NFL Players Association stated ahead of last month’s Super Bowl that it would be following the 49ers’ investigation, which is now complete.
Since launching their military offensive on Iran on February 28, the United States and Israel have carried out thousands of strikes across the Middle East nation of about 90 million people, targeting military as well as civilian infrastructure, including hospitals, schools and residential buildings.
Iran says more than 2,000 people have been killed in US-Israeli strikes on roughly 90,000 civilian sites, including the attack on a school in the city of Minab on the first day of the war, which has spread to Lebanon, where Israel has been accused of extending its “Gaza playbook”. Israeli forces have killed more than 72,000 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, including hundreds of medics and aid workers, during their genocidal war.
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Iran has also carried out retaliatory strikes on military, industrial, civilian and energy facilities in Israel, killing at least 19 people and wounding thousands. Tehran has also carried out attacks on Gulf nations that host the US bases, where at least 25 people have been killed. At least 13 US soldiers have also been killed in Iranian attacks.
Israeli and US strikes have expanded to include civilian facilities such as power and water desalination plants, drawing an Iranian response. On Sunday, Iran also targeted a desalination plant in Kuwait, raising concerns in the Gulf nations, which overwhelmingly depend on desalinated water.
We break down some of the key civilian targets the US, Israel and Iran have hit so far:
In this aerial handout picture released by the Iranian Press Center, mourners dig graves during the funeral for children killed in a reported US strike on a primary school in the city of Minab in Hormozgan province on March 3, 2026 [Handout/Iranian Press Center via AFP]
Education
School in Iran
The war on Iran began on February 28 with a strike on an elementary girls’ school, Shajareh Tayyebeh (The Good Tree), in the city of Minab in southern Iran. At least 170 people, most of them girls aged between seven and 12 years, were killed when the missiles struck the school.
President Donald Trump denied that the US had attacked the school.
However, several independent investigations by media organisations, including Al Jazeera, and rights groups, including Amnesty International, have said the attack was likely deliberate and that a US-manufactured Tomahawk missile was likely used in the attack.
In retaliation, on March 1, Iran struck Israel, killing at least nine people in the Israeli town of Beit Shemesh.
Universities in Iran
On March 28, the Iran University of Science and Technology was hit by what Iranian media said were targeted Israeli-US strikes. It remains unclear what the damage and casualties from the strike look like.
A day later, a university in Iran’s central city of Isfahan said it was hit by US-Israeli air strikes for the second time since the war erupted, leaving four university staff members wounded.
After these strikes, according to Iranian state media, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said it would attack universities tied to the US and Israel across the Middle East in retaliation.
On Sunday, in a post on X, the US Embassy in Baghdad warned that Iran and its proxies “may intend to target US universities in Baghdad, Sulaymaniyah, and Dohuk, as well as other universities perceived as connected to the United States” and advised US citizens to leave Iraq immediately.
Energy facilities
In retaliation for the US and Israel’s strikes, Iran has blocked the Strait of Hormuz, which has led to a disruption in global oil and gas supplies, and many countries have begun tapping into their strategic oil reserves to avoid an economic crisis.
While the world’s focus has been on this strait, and negotiations on how to reopen it are ongoing, attacks on energy infrastructure in Iran and across the Gulf region are also continuing, further upending global energy supply.
Iran
On March 8, Israel hit Iran’s oil facilities for the first time since the war started, killing at least four people. The Aghdasieh oil warehouse in northeast Tehran, Tehran oil refinery in the south, Shahran oil depot in the west of Tehran, and an oil depot in Karaj city were the key facilities targeted. Witnesses said oil from the Shahran depot also leaked into the streets. Reporting from Tehran, Al Jazeera’s Tohid Asadi also described seeing black raindrops on his windows early the next day.
Israel said it had struck “a number of fuel storage facilities in Tehran” that were used “to operate military infrastructure” in the March 8 attack. It provided no proof for its claims. Israel adopted similar tactics in Gaza, targeting schools and hospitals after accusing the facilities of being used by Hamas fighters. Most of their accusations later turned out to be false.
On March 18, Israel struck Iran’s critical South Pars gasfield. South Pars is part of the world’s largest natural gasfield, which spans 9,700sq km (3,745sq miles), and is shared by Iran and Qatar.
Trump has said neither the US nor Qatar had any involvement in or prior knowledge of Israel’s initial strike on the South Pars field.
Iran retaliated by launching missiles and drones at targets across the Middle East, including energy infrastructure in nearby Arab Gulf states.
Qatar
On March 2, Iranian drones struck an energy facility in Ras Laffan belonging to QatarEnergy, the world’s largest liquefied natural gas (LNG) producer.
QatarEnergy immediately announced that it had halted LNG production following the attacks. Qatar’s LNG exports represent 20 percent of the global market.
Iranian officials have, however, publicly denied targeting QatarEnergy.
On March 19, Iranian missiles again struck an LNG facility in Ras Laffan Industrial City in northern Qatar, hours after Israel had struck the South Pars gasfield. Doha reported that the attack caused “extensive damage”.
The attack wiped out about 17 percent of Qatar’s LNG export capacity, causing an estimated $20bn in lost annual revenue, QatarEnergy CEO Saad Sherida al-Kaabi told the Reuters news agency.
Saudi Arabia
On March 2, Saudi Arabia shut down operations at the Ras Tanura plant, its biggest domestic oil refinery operated by Saudi Aramco, after a fire broke out at the facility that officials said was caused by debris from the interception of two drones.
Iranian officials have publicly denied targeting Saudi Aramco.
United Arab Emirates
On March 2, a fire broke out at Mussafah fuel terminal in southwest Abu Dhabi after it was struck by a drone.
A day later, falling debris from a drone interception caused a fire at the Fujairah oil terminal along the eastern coast of the UAE. No injuries were reported.
On March 17, oil loading at the port of Fujairah was halted partly after an Iranian drone attack caused a fire at the export terminal, while operations at the Shah gasfield remained suspended after an earlier attack, officials said. Fujairah, which lies just outside the strait and is typically the outlet for more than 1 million barrels per day of the state company’s Murban crude, is still operating but at reduced capacity, according to Kpler, a data and analytics firm.
Oman
On March 3, multiple Iranian drones struck fuel tanks and a tanker at the port of Duqm, with at least one direct hit on a fuel storage tank, causing an explosion. On the same day, a drone strike was recorded at Salalah port, which handles fuel and industrial minerals.
Kuwait
On March 20, Iranian drones struck Kuwait’s largest oil refinery, Mina al-Ahmadi, for the second time. In the second attack, fires broke out across multiple units at the refinery, which processes about 730,000bpd oil.
Kuwait’s national oil company said several units had been shut down, though there were no casualties.
Israel
The owner of Israel’s Oil Refineries Limited said Iranian missiles struck its Haifa complex on March 19, and essential infrastructure was damaged. Energy Minister Eli Cohen said the Iranian strike had caused damage to a power grid.
Smoke rises from Kuwait international airport after a drone strike on fuel storage in Kuwait City on March 25, 2026 [AP Photo]
Water resources – desalination plants
Iran
On March 7, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said a desalination plant on Qeshm Island in southern Iran was attacked by the US.
“Water supply in 30 villages has been impacted. Attacking Iran’s infrastructure is a dangerous move with grave consequences. The US set this precedent, not Iran,” he said on X after the attack.
Iran has since targeted desalination plants in the Gulf region.
Bahrain
On March 8, Manama said an Iranian drone attack caused material damage to a water desalination plant.
Water is scarce across the Gulf region, and groundwater, together with desalinated water, accounts for about 90 percent of the region’s water resources, according to a 2020 report by the Gulf Research Center.
The attack exposed the vulnerability of the Gulf countries, which depend on desalination plants for the majority of their water supply.
Kuwait
On March 30, an Iranian attack on a water desalination plant killed one Indian worker and damaged a building at the site, according to Kuwaiti authorities.
“A service building at a power and water desalination plant was attacked as part of the Iranian aggression against the State of Kuwait, resulting in the death of an Indian worker and significant material damage to the building,” Kuwait’s Ministry of Electricity and Water & Renewable Energy said in a statement on Monday.
Iran has yet to comment on the incident.
About 90 percent of Kuwait’s drinking water comes from desalination plants.
Smoke rises after an explosion in the industrial zone, caused by debris after interception of a drone by air defence, according to the Fujairah media office on March 05, 2026, in Fujairah, United Arab Emirates [Christopher Pike/Getty Images]
Power and industries
Power plants in Iran
On March 27, US and Israeli strikes hit the Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant, the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran said, adding that it was the third attack on the facility since the war began. The plant is Iran’s only operational nuclear power facility and plays a vital role in its civilian energy programme.
Power plants in Israel
On March 19, debris from intercepted missiles fell on a power generation station in the northern city of Haifa and caused electricity outages in several areas, according to Israeli media reports. Iranian media reported that Tehran struck the power plant in retaliation for the attack on the South Pars gasfield.
Steel plants in Iran
On March 27, the Israeli air force said it struck two Iranian steel plants linked to the IRGC. It provided no proof linking the plants to the IRGC.
Iran’s Fars news agency reported that the Israeli strikes hit Khuzestan Steel near Ahvaz and Mobarakeh Steel in Isfahan. A day later, according to Iranian media, the Khuzestan Steel Company had to halt production after its steelmaking units were struck.
In a post on X on March 27, Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi declared that Tehran would exact a “HEAVY price”.
Aluminium facilities in Bahrain, UAE
On March 29, the IRGC said it carried out missile and drone attacks on aluminium facilities in Bahrain and the UAE.
Aluminium Bahrain (Alba) said in a statement that two employees were injured in the attack on its facility, while the UAE’s Emirates Global Aluminium (EGA) said one of its sites in Abu Dhabi suffered significant damage, and six people were injured.
Finance and technology companies
Iranian bank hit
On March 11, Iran’s state broadcaster said an Israeli attack overnight had struck a state-owned Bank Sepah branch in Tehran and called it an “illegitimate and unusual act in war”. It reported that several employees were killed in the incident.
The IRGC has since threatened to attack “economic centres and banks” related to US and Israeli entities in the region.
The IRGC-affiliated Tasnim news agency also released a list of offices and infrastructure run by top US companies with Israeli links whose technology has been used for military applications, describing them as “Iran’s new targets”, said Al Jazeera’s Maziar Motamedi, reporting from Tehran.
The companies include Google, Microsoft, Palantir, IBM, Nvidia and Oracle, and the listed offices and infrastructure for cloud-based services are located in multiple Israeli cities, as well as in some Gulf countries, said Motamedi.
Gulf banks threatened
Following Iran’s threats, several banks across the Gulf region have evacuated their offices.
According to a March 11 report by The New York Times, Citibank asked its employees to immediately vacate its regional headquarters in the Dubai International Financial Centre. Standard Chartered told its employees to work from home.
In Qatar, HSBC temporarily shut down all three of its branches.
Data centres in the Gulf
On March 1, an Amazon data centre was struck in an Iranian drone attack on the UAE. On the same day, debris from a drone strike damaged a third Amazon data centre in Bahrain.
On March 24, an apparent Iranian drone attack disrupted Amazon Web Services (AWS) in Bahrain. Amazon did not immediately comment on whether its Bahrain facility was directly hit or if the disruption was due to nearby attacks.
The company said it was helping to migrate customers to alternate AWS regions while it recovers, though it did not provide additional details, such as the extent of the damage or how long it anticipates the disruption to last.
“As this situation evolves and, as we have advised before, we request those with workloads in the affected regions continue to migrate to other locations,” Amazon told Reuters in a statement.
AWS is Amazon’s cloud computing unit and is critical for the operation of many well-known websites and government operations. It is also the company’s main driver of profits.
Islamabad, Pakistan – When the foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia, Turkiye and Egypt landed in Islamabad over the weekend, it marked the second meeting in less than two weeks of a diplomatic track working to contain the fallout of the US-Israel war on Iran and Tehran’s retaliatory strikes across the region.
Pakistan’s Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar confirmed at the conclusion of Sunday’s consultations that the US and Iran had expressed confidence in Pakistan to facilitate direct talks. Islamabad, he said, was “honoured” to host them “in the coming days, for a comprehensive and lasting settlement of the ongoing conflict”.
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The four ministers, he added, held “a very detailed and in-depth discussion” on the war, reaffirmed “unity to contain the situation, reduce the risk of military escalations and create conditions for structured negotiations”, and agreed to constitute a Committee of Four senior officials, one from each foreign ministry, to work out the modalities of the process.
Besides Dar, the meeting was attended by foreign ministers Hakan Fidan of Turkiye, Badr Abdelatty of Egypt and Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud of Saudi Arabia.
The quadrilateral format first came together on the sidelines of the broader Arab and Islamic consultative meeting in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on March 19. What began as a wider gathering has hardened into a focused four-country peace push, with Pakistan acting as the primary channel between Washington and Tehran.
Hours later, in an interview with the British newspaper Financial Times, United States President Donald Trump said his “favourite thing is to take the oil in Iran” and did not rule out seizing Kharg Island, the export hub that handles roughly 90 percent of Iran’s crude.
“Maybe we take Kharg Island, maybe we don’t. We have a lot of options,” Trump said. He also confirmed that indirect talks via Pakistani “emissaries” were progressing and reiterated the April 6 deadline he set on Truth Social on March 26 for Iran to accept a deal or face US strikes on its energy sector.
But on board Air Force One on Sunday, Trump said, “I do see a deal in Iran, yeah. Could be soon”, and described negotiations as going “extremely well”.
Those contrasting postures underscored the central tension confronting Pakistan’s diplomatic initiative.
At a moment when Islamabad and its partners are attempting to build a multilateral framework to prevent further escalation, the war appears headed in the opposite direction, with continued Israeli strikes and an expanding US military presence in the region.
‘Baby steps’ amid escalation
Mushahid Hussain Sayed, former Pakistani information minister, senator and foreign policy analyst, said the Islamabad meeting was significant for three reasons.
He described it as the first institutional initiative from the Muslim world aimed at opening a pathway to dialogue.
According to Sayed, Pakistan and Turkiye, both neighbours of Iran, are among the most credible interlocutors available, one a nuclear power and the other a NATO member.
“Both Iran and the US have reposed confidence in Pakistan as a bridge of communication between Tehran and Washington, and most likely the feasible venue for any future peace talks,” he told Al Jazeera.
But he was blunt about the limitations. “These are baby steps for diplomacy in a war scenario that is not only escalating but also becoming more complicated by the day,” Sayed said.
Masood Khan, Pakistan’s former ambassador to the US and the United Nations, said the meeting had “opened a diplomatic corridor, building on earlier shuttle diplomacy, sustained communications and behind-the-scenes efforts to persuade the United States and Iran to engage”.
The Committee of Four, he said, provides a structured backchannel, enabling “a step-by-step, layered, and calibrated process” supported by regional consensus.
Khan outlined four possible stages: trust-building measures, ceasefire negotiations, direct talks on complex issues including the nuclear programme and the Strait of Hormuz, and ultimately an agreement on reciprocal commitments.
However, he cautioned that major obstacles remain. “Tehran’s demands for war reparations and its sovereignty over the Strait of Hormuz are likely to prove the most difficult issues to resolve,” Khan told Al Jazeera.
Before the ministers’ meeting, Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif held a 90-minute call with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, briefing him on Islamabad’s diplomatic outreach to the US, Gulf states and other Islamic countries to “create a conducive environment for peace talks”, according to a statement from the Prime Minister’s Office.
China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi conveyed Beijing’s full backing for the initiative, while UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has also expressed support.
A senior Pakistani diplomat said China was “very supportive” of Pakistan’s efforts, while the Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed in a statement on Monday that at Wang’s invitation, Dar will visit China on March 31.
“In this context, the upcoming visit will provide an opportunity for both sides to hold in-depth discussions on regional developments, as well as bilateral and global issues of mutual interest,” the statement from the ministry said.
Dar suffered a hairline fracture in his shoulder after a fall on Sunday while meeting his Egyptian counterpart, according to his son, and the ministry said his upcoming visit, despite medical advice, underscores the importance of the Pakistan-China relationship.
Satellite view of the Strait of Hormuz, a critical chokepoint for global energy supply, connecting the Gulf to the Gulf of Oman [File: Gallo Images/Orbital Horizon/Copernicus Sentinel Data 2025]
Positions remain far apart
The positions formally put forward by both sides remain structurally incompatible, say analysts.
Washington’s 15-point plan, transmitted to Tehran via Pakistan, includes a one-month ceasefire, a handover by Iran of its highly enriched uranium stockpiles, a halt to further enrichment, curbs on Tehran’s ballistic missile programme and an end to support for regional proxies.
Iran’s counterproposal, outlined by state-funded broadcaster Press TV, citing a senior political security official, calls for a halt to aggression and killings, concrete guarantees against recurrence, reparations, an end to hostilities against Iran’s allies and formal recognition of Iranian sovereignty over the Strait of Hormuz.
Trump told reporters on board Air Force One on Sunday that Iran had agreed to “most of” the 15 points.
On Monday, Iran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei confirmed that Tehran had received messages via intermediaries, but described the US proposals as “unrealistic, illogical and excessive”.
Baghaei appeared sceptical about the prospects of the Islamabad dialogue yielding a peace deal.
“The meetings that Pakistan has are a framework that they established themselves, and we did not participate in,” he said. “It is good for the countries of the region to be concerned about ending the war, but they should be careful about which side started the war.”
Khan, the former diplomat, said Iran’s scepticism ran deep. “Iran suspects that the diplomatic process could serve as a smokescreen for a ground assault along its coastline, adjacent islands, or the Strait of Hormuz. No magic wand can erase such a deeply entrenched trust deficit overnight,” he said, adding that trust-building “must proceed at a brisk pace given the devastating humanitarian and military costs”.
Javad Heiran-Nia, director of the Persian Gulf Studies Group in Tehran, said any preliminary engagement must ensure neither side feels it has “surrendered”.
“The negotiation framework should be such that each party can participate without feeling it has given in, with a focus on low-cost and fruitful issues in the short term,” he told Al Jazeera.
A realistic first step, he said, would be a US commitment to postpone threats against Iran’s power plants for a sustained period, alongside guarantees from third countries on interim arrangements.
Reza Khanzadeh, an adjunct professor at George Mason University, said the burden of compromise ultimately lies with Washington.
Iran, he said, believes any deal short of its own terms could invite future attacks, making regime survival non-negotiable.
“They may be willing to compromise on the nuclear programme, the ballistic missile programme, and support for regional proxies,” he said. “Tehran will not compromise on its existence. And therefore, Iranians are willing to fight for as long as it takes.”
He also pointed to mounting domestic pressure in the US, noting Trump’s approval rating has fallen to 36 percent in recent polls, driven by rising fuel costs and public concern over the war.
Khan identified the most decisive confidence-building measure as one Washington has yet to deliver.
“A commitment from Washington to ensure that Israel halts its attacks on Iran and Lebanon and withdraws from recently occupied Lebanese territory. That, however, is easier said than done,” he said.
Strait of Hormuz and economic pressure
Iran’s agreement to allow 20 Pakistani-flagged vessels through the Strait of Hormuz, confirmed by Dar over the weekend and acknowledged by Trump, is the most immediate confidence-building measure on the table.
The strait remains effectively closed to normal shipping. The International Energy Agency has described the disruption as the worst oil shock in history, surpassing the crises of 1973 and 1979.
Brent crude rose above $116 per barrel in early Monday trading in Asia, up more than 50 percent since the war began on February 28. The World Trade Organization’s director-general, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, has said global trade is experiencing its “worst disruptions in the past 80 years”.
But Sayed, who is also the founding chairman of the Islamabad-based Pakistan China Institute, said Iran’s “closure of the Strait of Hormuz is not the cause but the consequence of the conflict”.
Just as Saudi King Faisal bin Abdulaziz Al Saud weaponised oil exports in October 1973 – cutting off supplies to the US and its allies in retaliation for their support of Israel during the Arab-Israeli war, triggering a global energy crisis – Iran had deployed the strait to counterbalance US-Israeli military firepower with an economic chokehold, he argued.
Khan cautioned against treating the strait as the centrepiece of any settlement.
“The Strait of Hormuz will remain a residual issue and will ultimately need to be addressed by the eight littoral states of the Persian Gulf, with reference to UNCLOS and established legal precedents,” he said, referring to the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.
The immediate priority, he argued, was a broader halt to hostilities.
“The foremost confidence-building measure would be a pause in hostilities, a truce that provides respite to the warring sides and creates space for peacemakers,” he said.
Heiran-Nia proposed a phased approach.
“First agree on a limited ceasefire and halt to attacks on civilian targets; reduce forces in critical areas and establish confidential channels for information exchange in a second step; and then move to broader ceasefire negotiations,” the Tehran-based analyst said.
Any withdrawals, he added, should be measurable, with mediators acting as a “secret channel” to ensure reciprocity.
The USS Tripoli amphibious assault ship enters the Singapore Strait, as seen from Singapore, March 17, 2026 [Edgar Su/Reuters]
The spoiler problem
Even as diplomatic efforts continue, the military trajectory remains escalatory.
An amphibious task force of about 3,500 Marines and sailors led by the USS Tripoli arrived in the region on Friday, according to the US Central Command (CENTCOM).
Another 2,200 Marines are heading to the Gulf, alongside 2,000 soldiers from the Army’s 82nd Airborne Division.
Trump has made clear that military options remain under consideration. Other reports suggest the Pentagon is preparing for potential ground operations that could last weeks.
Israel, which waged its genocidal war on Gaza in October 2023 and has invaded southern Lebanon for the second time since, struck Tehran again on Sunday.
US and Israeli forces killed Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and other senior leaders in the opening salvo on February 28. They later killed top security official Ali Larijani on March 17.
Iran’s atomic energy organisation said a projectile landed within the compound of the Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant without causing damage, according to state media.
Israel’s Ambassador to the UN Danny Danon said operations would continue until Iran’s nuclear and missile capabilities are eliminated, adding that Israel was not part of any US-Iran talks.
Khan said, despite these pressures, Iran has, for now, “acquiesced to mediation and reposed their trust in Pakistan and Turkiye to move the process forward”.
But he warned of the risks if diplomacy fails.
“The biggest obstacle remains the continuous and unabated attacks on Iran and Lebanon by Israel, which appears to be operating in overdrive. Such escalatory steps risk derailing this seminal yet delicate diplomatic process and could plunge the world into a nuclear-triggered catastrophe, an outcome that must be averted at all costs,” he said.
Sayed agreed, arguing that Iran has “zero trust” in US and Israeli assurances.
“The key question that will determine the outcome is who can suffer more pain in the long run. The US and Israel can inflict pain, but they certainly cannot incur it. It is the classic lesson of asymmetrical warfare: the weaker side wins by not losing,” he said.
Heiran-Nia stressed that any agreement would require robust safeguards.
“Any confidence-building measures must include early warning mechanisms to detect and stop any attempts at sabotage,” he said. “These measures must be short-term, reversible and reciprocal so that any possible disruption does not cause permanent damage.”
