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Russia and China have exercised their veto power in the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) to block a resolution aimed at safeguarding commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz. The draft resolution, proposed by Bahrain, garnered support from 11 of the 15 UNSC members, with two abstaining.The vetoes by Russia and China were based on their assertion that the measure was biased against Iran. The resolution sought to encourage affected states to coordinate defensive efforts to ensure the safety and security of navigation across the strait.The Strait of Hormuz, a critical waterway through which a fifth of global oil and gas shipments pass, has effectively been blockaded after Iran threatened to attack vessels in response to the conflict with the United States and Israel. This blockade has led to soaring fuel prices worldwide and prompted some countries, particularly in Asia, to impose consumption restrictions and ration supplies.The US Ambassador to the UN, Mike Waltz, condemned the vetoes, calling them a 'new low'. He argued that Iran's actions were preventing medical aid and supplies from reaching humanitarian crisis zones in the Congo, Sudan, and Gaza.France expressed regret over the vetoes, stating that the aim was to promote 'strictly defensive measures' to ensure security in the strait without escalating tensions. Russia and China, however, argued that the resolution was biased against Iran and proposed an alternative resolution on the Middle East situation, including maritime security.Iran's UN Ambassador, Amir Saeid Iravani, praised the Russian and Chinese moves, saying they prevented the Security Council from being used to 'legitimize aggression'.

A recent investigation by The Sentry has uncovered that Libyan businessman Ahmed Gadalla facilitated hundreds of millions of dollars in loans to support Khalifa Haftar's failed 2019-2020 assault on Tripoli. The report alleges that Gadalla, a key enabler for Haftar family members, secured $300m in loans from a minor bank based in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (UAE), ahead of the offensive. The months-long campaign by forces loyal to Haftar to seize the Libyan capital from the United Nations-recognised government resulted in hundreds of deaths and displaced hundreds of thousands of people. The cost of the campaign was significant, with an estimated $700 million effort mobilised upfront. The investigation suggests that the money likely helped finance operations, including payments to Russia's mercenary Wagner Group, which supported Haftar's offensive. After Haftar's offensive collapsed, the loans remained largely unpaid, leaving the Libyan public to bear the financial burden. Gadalla has faced no accountability, and the report warns that he has since expanded his influence across eastern Libya's financial system, exerting control over key banks and facilitating large-scale letter-of-credit fraud and laundering illicit profits. The Sentry's report also links Gadalla to efforts to procure and transfer military equipment to Sudan, in violation of a UN arms embargo. The group has called on Western governments to impose targeted sanctions on Gadalla and his network, warning that without concerted international action, Libya faces the continued erosion of its economic foundations.

American journalist Shelly Kittleson, who was kidnapped from a Baghdad street corner last week, has been released, according to an Iraqi official with direct knowledge of the situation. Kittleson was freed in the afternoon, and before her release, she had been held in Baghdad.The powerful Iran-backed Iraqi militia Kataib Hezbollah said in a statement earlier in the day it had decided to free Kittleson, who was abducted on March 31. The group said its decision came “in appreciation of the patriotic stances of the outgoing prime minister”, Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, without giving more details. It added: “This initiative will not be repeated in the future.”The statement also included a condition – that Kittleson must “leave the country immediately” upon her release. Kittleson, 49, a freelance journalist, had lived abroad for years before the kidnapping, using Rome as her base for a time and building a respected journalism career across the Middle East, particularly in Iraq and Syria.Kataib Hezbollah has previously been accused of kidnapping foreigners, including Elizabeth Tsurkov, a Princeton graduate student with Israeli and Russian citizenship, who disappeared in Baghdad in 2023 and was freed in September 2025. The group never officially claimed responsibility for kidnapping her.Iran-backed militias in Iraq have also launched regular attacks on US facilities in the country since the beginning of the US-Israeli war on Iran.

Iran’s nationwide internet outage, which started on 28 February following the first US‑Israel strikes, has now stretched beyond 38 days, making it the most prolonged country‑wide shutdown since the Arab‑spring era. Authorities ordered a total cut‑off of global internet services on the day the conflict began, after a brief shutdown in January amid nationwide protests. More than five weeks without external connectivity has left most Iranians dependent on state‑run television and a single satellite channel for news. According to Amir Rashidi, director of the Iran‑focused human‑rights group Miaan, many citizens are unaware of the full scale of the war because “their only sources are Iranian state television and one satellite channel.” This limited media environment means Iranians receive information filtered through government agendas. Doug Madory, director of internet analysis at Kentik, noted that while sub‑national outages have occurred in places like Myanmar, Ukraine and Gaza, Iran’s shutdown is the longest and most severe at the national level since Libya’s six‑month blackout during the Arab Spring. Sudan’s 37‑day shutdown in 2019 is the only comparable recent case. In response, the regime has pushed users onto the National Information Network (NIN), a domestic intranet under development for 16 years. The NIN provides parallel services—local search engines, an Iranian‑styled streaming platform, and messaging apps—but operates under strict government monitoring. Platforms are known to hand over user data to authorities. A Miaan Group report highlighted that domestic search engines censor key terms. For example, searches for “war” or “ceasefire” on Gerdoo, Iran’s home‑grown Google alternative, return no results, while another local engine frames the conflict as a decisive Iranian victory. Circumventing the blackout is costly and risky. Some Iranians travel overland to Turkey to regain connectivity, while others purchase VPNs or special SIM cards on a hidden market at prices ranging from $6 to $24 per gigabyte—five to twenty times the global average—effectively turning internet access into a luxury commodity. Despite the human and economic toll, Miaan Group warns that the shutdown is likely to persist as the government continues to promote the NIN, even though many of its services remain unreliable or non‑functional. There is no clear indication that unrestricted internet access will be restored in the near future.

Iran is experiencing the longest nationwide internet blackout ever recorded, according to the global monitoring group NetBlocks. Since the United States and Israel launched their war on Iran on February 28, connectivity has hovered at about 1% of pre‑war levels, effectively cutting the country off from the global web. The blackout follows a prior 20‑day shutdown in January, which coincided with deadly nationwide protests. Combined, these measures mean that Iranian civilians have spent close to two‑thirds of 2026 in digital darkness, relying only on a slow, state‑controlled intranet for basic services and state‑run news. NetBlocks highlighted that while regions such as Myanmar, Sudan, Kashmir and Tigray have endured longer intermittent outages, no other war has forced an entire nation offline to this extent. The monitor added that Iran is the first country to lose previously functional internet connectivity by reverting to a national network. Economic analysts warned that the January shutdown already caused the economy to lose tens of millions of dollars each day in direct damages, with far‑reaching indirect effects. Companies reported that many online businesses could not survive more than three weeks without connectivity, leading to a wave of layoffs and reduced pay raises. One affected worker, Kamran, a product designer in Karaj, said he was dismissed after the latest wave of cuts. He now relies on a local skill‑matching group, but fears competition from thousands of similarly displaced workers. A senior data analyst from a Tehran firm disclosed that the firm is offering lower-than‑expected raises and shifting to three‑month contracts, creating uncertainty about future employment. Compounding the digital crisis, the war has targeted Iran’s steel factories, petrochemical plants and other civilian infrastructure, aggravating pre‑existing problems of high inflation and unemployment. Only a limited segment of the population can access the global internet—either because they are whitelisted by the state or because they pay steep fees for proxy connections that often disappear after a few hours. Government spokeswoman Fatemeh Mohajerani stated that internet access is being granted only to those who can “get the voice out,” such as officials, state‑affiliated entities and news agencies. Citizens on the ground describe a grim reality: frequent power outages, uncertainty about water supplies, and an inability to use services like Google Search or AI tools, even as they watch live feeds from space missions that remain inaccessible. In response to the prolonged shutdown, authorities have begun rolling out a tiered system dubbed “Internet Pro.” Business groups have received a “guide to connect to international internet,” urging them to contact a state‑run messaging app, Bale, for registration. Parallel efforts by a major telecom carrier offer one‑year data packages at prices higher than normal plans, while existing providers have not refunded customers for services they cannot deliver. President Masoud Pezeshkian’s administration, which campaigned on unblocking Iran’s internet, has offered no official explanation for the shutdown, leaving both the battered digital sector and the broader economy facing an uncertain future.

Doctors Without Borders (MSF) has condemned a drone strike that hit Al Jabalain Hospital in Sudan’s White Nile State, killing 10 people, among them seven medical staff members. The attack, which struck an operating theatre and a maternity ward, occurred during a children’s immunisation campaign, heightening the humanitarian outcry.MSF’s Sudan emergencies chief, Esperanza Santos, said the assault was “unacceptable” and noted that several of the deceased had previously worked with the organisation. She added that the strike represents a grave violation of medical neutrality.While the perpetrators have not been officially confirmed, MSF’s statement attributes the strike to the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a claim echoed by Sudanese officials. On Friday, Khalid Aleisir, Sudan’s minister of culture, information, antiquities and tourism, called for the RSF to be designated a terrorist organisation and for its members to face prosecution.The incident follows a series of attacks on Sudan’s health infrastructure since the war erupted in April 2023. In a separate incident the same day, a medical supply depot in Rabak, the capital of White Nile State, was also hit. According to the World Health Organization, more than 200 attacks have targeted health facilities since the conflict began, underscoring a systematic pattern of violence against civilians.Local rights group Emergency Lawyers highlighted that recurring drone strikes across South Kordofan, Blue Nile, and the Darfur regions have displaced thousands, further straining an already fragile health system. The Sudan Doctors Network described the Al Jabalain strike as a “deliberate assault on health facilities and unarmed civilians,” warning that such actions exacerbate the nation’s deteriorating medical capacity.International observers note that the targeting of hospitals not only violates international humanitarian law but also hampers efforts to control disease outbreaks and provide essential care to vulnerable populations. The growing body of evidence may prompt renewed calls for accountability and stronger protective measures for health workers in conflict zones.

Iraq is facing a balancing act as the US-Israeli war on Iran exposes deep divisions within the country. The conflict has highlighted the divisions between those who view the attacks on Iran as a means to end Tehran's longstanding influence over Iraqi politics and those who are loyal to the Islamic republic. The war has struck Iraq during a precarious power vacuum, following the stepping aside of caretaker leader Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, whose coalition won the largest share of seats in November's parliamentary elections. This power vacuum has exacerbated tensions, with factions from the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, an umbrella body of Iran-backed armed groups, vowing to drag the US into a long war of attrition. The group has claimed responsibility for numerous drone and missile attacks on targets in Iraq and neighboring countries, including the US base in Erbil and the city's international airport. In response, unclaimed airstrikes attributed to US and Israeli forces have hit positions across the country, killing several commanders and fighters. Iraqi leaders are attempting to maintain a balancing act, denouncing the killing of Iran's supreme leader Ali Khamenei while rejecting attempts by Tehran to draw Iraq into the conflict. However, this balancing act is complicated by the fact that pro-Iran groups are also members of the Popular Mobilisation Units (PMU), a sprawling institution that operates with its own agenda. The conflict has significant implications for Iraq's stability and economy, with a looming financial disaster hanging over the country due to the crisis over the strait of Hormuz and the loss of oil revenue. The US pressure and threat of sanctions have forced some members of the pro-Iran Shia alliance in Iraq's parliament to distance themselves from more militant factions. The killing of Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of Hezbollah, has also had a profound impact on the Iraqi resistance factions, which have struggled to respond effectively to the recent war. The insider close to the pro-Iran factions noted that the killing of Nasrallah has affected the Iraqi resistance factions more than the killing of Khamenei, as Nasrallah had a direct appeal to many commanders.

Legal groups in Uganda have strongly condemned the arrival of a dozen deportees from the United States, calling the deportation process 'undignified, harrowing and dehumanising'. The Uganda Law Society and the East Africa Law Society have taken the matter to court, seeking relief to halt what they describe as 'patent international illegality'.The deportation marks the first confirmed instance of deportees being transferred from the US to Uganda. The 12 individuals reportedly landed at Entebbe International Airport by private aircraft. No identifying information about the deportees has been provided.The deportation is part of President Donald Trump's efforts to offload immigrants to 'third countries' where they have no personal connections. Uganda is one of several countries that have agreed to accept deported foreigners, including Equatorial Guinea, Ghana, Rwanda, Eswatini, and South Sudan.The deal with Uganda was confirmed by the country's Ministry of Foreign Affairs last August, stating it was a 'temporary arrangement' with priority given to deportees from other African countries. Unaccompanied children and people with criminal records are excluded from the deal.Critics have raised concerns about the safety of countries receiving US deportees, citing human rights abuses in Uganda. The US has previously criticised Uganda for 'significant human rights abuses', including extrajudicial killings, life-threatening prison conditions, and torture.The Trump administration has defended the deportations as legal under the US Immigration and Nationality Act, citing diplomatic assurances from 'third countries' that deportees would not face persecution. However, the policy has faced numerous legal challenges, with concerns about immigrants' due process rights.

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) released a stark assessment on Tuesday, projecting that a four‑week US‑Israel conflict with Iran could slash Arab regional GDP by 3.7 % to 6 %. In monetary terms, the loss translates to a contraction of $120 billion to $194 billion, marking one of the deepest economic shocks in recent Middle‑East history. UNDP’s regional director, Abdallah Al Dardari, warned that the downturn would likely eliminate 3.7 million jobs and drive around four million additional people below the poverty line. He described the situation as exposing the “fragility of the Arab economy.” The analysis is based on a scenario of a “short but intense conflict lasting for four weeks.” Should hostilities extend beyond that window, the economic fallout could be even more severe, especially as Iran’s attacks on Gulf energy infrastructure tighten oil and gas flows through the Strait of Hormuz. Amid tightening supplies, Brent crude futures surged 4.7 % to over $118 per barrel. The report highlighted that disruptions to “strategic maritime corridors” generate “knock‑on effects on inflation, trade flows, and global supply chains,” threatening the livelihoods of interconnected economies across the region. Poverty spikes are expected to be most pronounced in the Levant and in “fragile” states such as Sudan and Yemen, where baseline vulnerability is already high and economic shocks translate quickly into welfare losses. Lebanon faces a compounded crisis after Hezbollah’s retaliatory strikes against Israel, following the US‑Israeli killing of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on 28 February. Ongoing air strikes, evacuation orders, and widespread destruction of residential areas, transport networks, and public services have triggered large‑scale displacement. Al Dardari concluded with a plea: “We hope the fighting will stop tomorrow, as every day of delay has negative repercussions on the global economy.”