Democracy Dies with Dictatorship
NY Times
Mar 31, 2026
Iran War Live Updates: Kuwaiti Oil Tanker Is Hit In Latest Attack on Energy Targets
The Kuwait Petroleum Corporation blamed Iran for the attack on the ship, which was carrying crude oil. The cost of gasoline rose to an average of $4 a gallon in the United States, as Iran chokes off a key oil shipping route.
Updated
March 31, 2026, 6:41 a.m. ET44 minutes ago
Ephrat LivniDavid E. SangerYan Zhuang and Aurelien Breeden
Here’s the latest
A Kuwaiti oil tanker erupted in flames near Dubai on Tuesday in what its owner called Iran’s latest attack on energy targets in the Persian Gulf, as soaring gas prices in the United States pointed to the war’s widening economic fallout.
Iran’s chokehold over the Strait of Hormuz, normally a conduit for one-fifth of the world’s oil supplies, has sent the price of oil skyrocketing and raised fears about fuel supplies across the world as tankers stay away to avoid attacks.
Gasoline in the United States crossed an average of $4 a gallon on Tuesday, a threshold it hadn’t reached since August 2022. The average cost of gas has jumped 35 percent since the war began at the end of February, according to data from the AAA motor club, becoming a political burden for President Trump.
Mr. Trump has tried to pressure Iran to end its de facto blockade of the strait by alternating threats of destruction with unverified claims of diplomatic progress. Iran has denied holding substantive talks with the United States and has rejected the Trump administration’s conditions to end the war as unreasonable.
The Kuwaiti tanker that was attacked was loaded with crude oil, the Kuwait Petroleum Corporation said. The attack involved a drone, causing a fire that was quickly extinguished, and there was no oil leakage, according to the authorities in Dubai. Iran has not commented on the reports of the attack.
Fighting continued elsewhere in the fifth week of the war, which has killed at least 2,800 people. The Israeli military said it had targeted Iranian military infrastructure early Tuesday and separately reported missile launches from Iran toward Israel.
Here’s what else we’re covering:
Pentagon: Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Gen. Dan Caine, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, are scheduled to hold a news conference on Tuesday at 8 a.m. Eastern. It has been 12 days since the two leaders took questions from reporters on the state of the war against Iran.
Persian Gulf: Gulf countries reported more missile and drone attacks on Tuesday. Saudi Arabia’s defense ministry said its forces had intercepted eight missiles. In Dubai, debris from a successful interception fell on houses, injuring four people, the authorities said. In the United Arab Emirates, distance learning will continue at all schools until mid-April, the country’s education ministry said.
Lebanon: The Israeli military said on Tuesday that four soldiers had been killed during combat in southern Lebanon with Hezbollah, an Iranian-backed militant group, bringing the number of Israeli soldiers killed in the area to 10 as Israel expands its ground invasion. Two United Nations peacekeepers who were killed in southern Lebanon on Monday by an explosion of undetermined origin were from Indonesia, the country’s foreign ministry said.
Strait of Hormuz: A parliamentary committee in Iran approved a plan to impose tolls on ships crossing the strait and to ban transit by American and Israeli ships, according to the semiofficial news agency Fars. The plan requires further parliamentary approval. The strait is considered an international waterway, but Iran has asserted sovereignty over it. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said tolls would be illegal. Read more ›
University threat: Iranian officials have condemned U.S. military attacks on universities across the country and warned of possible retaliation against American universities in the region. Read more ›
Casualties: The Human Rights Activists News Agency said at least 1,574 civilians had been killed, including 236 children, in Iran since the war began. Lebanon’s health ministry said more than 1,230 Lebanese had been killed as of Sunday, with more than 3,543 others wounded, since the latest fighting between Israel and Hezbollah began. In Iran’s attacks across the Middle East, at least 50 people have been killed in Gulf nations. In Israel, at least 17 had been killed as of Friday. The American death toll stands at 13 service members, with hundreds of others wounded.
March 31, 2026, 6:55 a.m. ET32 minutes ago
Reporting from Dubai
Debris from a drone interception fell in a neighborhood southeast of the Saudi capital of Riyadh, injuring two people, the country’s civil defense said on Tuesday. The Prince Sultan military base, where an Iranian strike injured 12 U.S. soldiers last week, is in the area. The authorities, who did not say where the drone came from, said the debris had hit three houses and several vehicles.
March 31, 2026, 5:53 a.m. ET2 hours ago
Higher energy prices caused by the war helped push up the average annual rate of inflation in March in the 21 countries that use the euro, raising concerns that central bankers might raise interest rates if prices continue to increase.
Consumer prices rose at an annual rate of 2.5 percent, the fastest pace in a year, according to an estimate from Eurostat, the statistics arm of the European Union. February’s increase was 1.9 percent.
Energy prices, which had been on the decline for the past 12 months, rose at an annual rate of 4.9 percent in March, the agency said.
Christine Lagarde, the president of the European Central Bank, said last week that policymakers were prepared to raise interest rates if inflation pushed above the bank’s 2 percent target.
March 31, 2026, 5:41 a.m. ET2 hours ago
Reporting from Dubai
Debris from a successful interception fell on houses in southern Dubai, according to a statement from the Dubai Media Office. The debris resulted in “property damage and minor injuries to four Asian nationals,” the statement added.
March 31, 2026, 5:40 a.m. ET2 hours ago
Reporting from Dubai
Distance learning will continue at all schools and pre-schools in the United Arab Emirates until April 17, the country’s Ministry of Education said. The authorities said this measure was “to ensure the safety and wellbeing of everyone” and that the situation will be reviewed on a weekly basis.
March 31, 2026, 4:24 a.m. ET3 hours ago
Gasoline in the United States crossed an average of $4 a gallon on Tuesday, a threshold it hadn’t reached since August 2022. Since the end of February, the average cost of gas has jumped 35 percent, according to data from the AAA motor club, chipping away at the spending power of American consumers. Seeing gasoline at more than $4 a gallon — when it was below $3 a month ago — could push drivers to change their spending habits.
March 31, 2026, 4:22 a.m. ET3 hours ago
Pakistan’s and China’s foreign ministers are set to meet on Tuesday in Beijing, where they will discuss the war in Iran, according to a Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman. The meeting between the two ministers, Ishaq Dar and Wang Yi, aims to strengthen coordination on international issues, including Iran, to “jointly speak out for peace and justice” and “make new efforts to promote peace talks,” according to the spokeswoman, Mao Ning. It is Dar’s second visit to China in three months.
Pakistani officials hosted talks on Sunday with the foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Egypt, in the country’s latest efforts to mediate the war in the Middle East, but the warring parties did not take part. It was unclear what, if any, progress the talks made.
March 31, 2026, 3:09 a.m. ET4 hours ago
Breaking news reporter
The Israeli military urged residents across a large swathe of southern Lebanon to evacuate on Tuesday, saying it was conducting airstrikes against Hezbollah in the area. The evacuation area stretched from Lebanon’s southern border with Israel to a river about 25 miles north.
March 31, 2026, 1:16 a.m. ET6 hours ago
There was no oil leakage from the loaded Kuwaiti tanker that erupted in flames after it was attacked early Tuesday in the waters off Dubai, the authorities in the United Arab Emirates said. The fire was extinguished earlier and no injuries were reported, they said. The Kuwait Petroleum Corporation said the tanker was struck during an Iranian attack.
March 30, 2026, 11:50 p.m. ET8 hours ago
Reporting from Rehovot, Israel
The Israeli military said on Tuesday that four soldiers were killed and three injured during combat in southern Lebanon.
March 30, 2026, 11:32 p.m. ET8 hours ago
Gulf countries reported more missile and drone attacks on Tuesday. Saudi Arabia’s defense ministry said its forces intercepted eight missiles, most of which were launched toward Riyadh. Kuwait’s army said it responded to drone and missile attacks. Saudi Arabia and Kuwait did not say where these drones and missiles came from.
The United Arab Emirates’ defense ministry said its forces responded to drones and missiles from Iran, and authorities in Sharjah said a drone targeted a building belonging to Thuraya, an Emirati telecommunications company, on Monday. There were no reported injuries, and it was unclear whether the building was damaged.
The authorities in Bahrain said they had activated warning sirens but did not say what triggered the alarm.