US–Israel–Iran War LIVE Updates: Trump Extends Deadline For Iran Energy Strikes By 10 Days

The UN Security Council will hold closed-door consultations on Friday to discuss strikes on Iran at Moscow’s request, Russian state media reported, as the West Asia war nears its second month.

Iran has come under near-daily bombardment since U.S.-Israeli strikes on February 28 triggered the war, which has since widened to large parts of the region.

“The Russian Federation has requested closed-door consultations with the UN Security Council due to the ongoing strikes on civilian infrastructure in Iran, including educational and healthcare facilities,” said Evgeny Uspensky, spokesman for Russia’s envoy to the United Nations, according to state news agency TASS

A Thai-flagged cargo ship that came under attack from Iran in the Strait of Hormuz and was abandoned by its crew has run aground, Iranian media report.

The Mayuree Naree came under attack March 11 with three of its mariners going missing and still not found.

The semi-official Tasnim and Fars news agencies, believed to be close to Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, reported the cargo ship ran aground near the village of Ramchah on Qeshm Island.

Lebanese media reported an Israeli strike hit Beirut’s southern suburbs early on friday, as AFP correspondents heard several explosions from the Hezbollah stronghold that Israel has repeatedly struck since war erupted this month.

AFPTV footage showed smoke billowing from the area after the raid.

Lebanon’s official National News Agency reported that “enemy aircraft” carried out a raid on Tahouitet al-Ghadir in the southern suburbs at dawn.

Israel has previously issued sweeping evacuation warnings for the area, but provided no specific warning in advance of Friday’s strike.

The usually densely populated area has largely emptied of residents since the hostilities erupted, and it was unclear whether there were any casualties.

Hours later, Israeli military spokesman Avichay Adraee called on residents of Sejoud village in southern Lebanon to evacuate to the north of Zahrani river, warning of an imminent attack against Hezbollah.

Source: AFP

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio landed in France to join a meeting of G7 foreign ministers on Friday (March 27, 2026), an AFP correspondent said.

Mr. Rubio, who skipped the first day of the talks outside Paris, said before departing that it was in the “interest” of all G7 nations to push for the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz currently blocked by Iran.

Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy and Japan — the other G7 members — on Thursday (March 26) signalled their hope for a diplomatic solution to the conflict.

Source: AFP

Vietnam temporarily waived an environmental tax on fuel to cut soaring petrol prices by more than a quarter on Friday (March 27, 2026), the Trade Ministry said.

The environmental protection tax rate on gasoline, diesel and aviation fuel would be slashed to zero from Friday to April 15, the Ministry said.

“This is considered an urgent and effective solution to stabilise the petroleum market and ensure national energy security amidst the escalating conflict in the Strait of Hormuz, which is creating the ‘biggest energy bottleneck ever’,” the trade ministry said.

Source: AP

Philippines President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said the upcoming Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) leadership summit, scheduled for May, will proceed as planned, but with a shortened “bare-bones” programme focused on the fallout from the Iran war. 

The itinerary will focus on issues such fuel supplies, food prices and migrant workers, according to the Philippines online Inquirer news site.

“It will be a very barebone summit, which will focus very closely on those three subject matters,” Marcos said, according to the site.

Asian shares mostly fell Friday after Wall Street had its worst day since the start of the Iran war over growing doubts about a de-escalation.

Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 index dropped 1.2% to 52,982.86 in early trading. South Korea’s Kospi sank 3.1% to 5,293.26.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng lost 0.1% to 24,825.50, while the Shanghai Composite index was up 0.1% to 3,893.21.

Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.5%, while Taiwan’s Taiex was trading 1.5% lower.

Source: AP

The UN Security Council has scheduled a closed consultation on Iran at 10am New York time on Friday.

According to the Associated Press news agency, Russia asked for the meeting on US-Israeli attacks on civilian infrastructure in the country, two UN diplomats said.

The US, which currently holds the rotating Security Council presidency, scheduled the meeting.

Oil prices have fallen as US President Donald Trump pushed back a deadline for US attacks on Iran’s energy facilities.

The gains on Friday only partially pared the previous day’s price surge amid growing anxiety that the conflict will last far longer than first thought.

Brent crude was down 1.5 percent at 02:30 GMT on Friday, selling at $93.07 a barrel, while West Texas Intermediate (WTI) was down 1.8 percent, at $106.12.

Brent is up almost 50 percent in price since the war on Iran began, while WTI has risen about 40 percent.

Australia’s leader said on Friday (March 27, 2026) it was not consulted over the war with Iran which was having a “massive global economic impact”, responding to President Donald Trump’s swipe the U.S. ally was not doing enough.

Trump has urged nations to dispatch warships to secure crucial oil supply routes through the Strait of Hormuz.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said Australia was in close contact with Gulf states under attack from Iran, providing a surveillance aircraft to help defend the United Arab Emirates, where many Australians live.

“There is no request been made to Australia that has not been agreed to,” Mr. Albanese told reporters in Canberra on Friday.

Source: AFP

Japan’s government plans to temporarily lift restrictions on coal-fired power plants, as it seeks to ease an energy strain caused by war in the Middle East.

Takahide Soeda, an official from the Japanese industry ministry, confirmed the accuracy of the reports to the AFP news agency.

He stated that the plan would be formally presented during an expert panel meeting scheduled to begin at 11am local time (02:00 GMT) on Friday.

Donald Trump says Iran asked him for a pause of seven days on striking energy plants, but that he gave them ten, and Tehran was "very thankful". Earlier, Trump announced on Truth Social that he would extend a pause on striking Iranian energy plants from five days to two weeks.

The pause was set to expire tomorrow, but this new extension means the pause will be in effect until April 6.

Speaking on the phone to Fox News just now, Trump says the US is in conversations with Iran which are going "fairly well". "They said to me, very nicely, through my people: 'Could we have more time?'," the US president tells the hosts of Fox's The Five. "They asked for seven days]. And I said, 'I'm going to give you ten', because they gave me ships. You know, we talked about the eight ships. You know, the 'present' that I talked about the other day."

Iran’s Parliament is working on a bill to formalise the fees it is reportedly charging on some ships transiting through the Strait of Hormuz, local media reported.

The Fars and Tasnim news agencies, both close to Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, quoted lawmaker Mohammadreza Rezaei Kouchi as saying that “Parliament is pursuing a plan to formally codify Iran’s sovereignty, control and oversight over the Strait of Hormuz while also creating a source of revenue through the collection of fees