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WASHINGTON, March 26 (Reuters) – The United States on Thursday confirmed the death of Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps – Navy commander Admiral Alireza Tangsiri from an Israeli airstrike, according to a post on X from U.S. Central Command.

(Reporting by Doina Ciacu; Writing by Daphne Psaledakis; Editing by Caitlin Webber)

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A group of northern European countries vowed Thursday to harden the fight against Russia’s “shadow fleet” of tankers exporting its sanctioned oil, as Turkish officials said that one of those tankers approaching the Black Sea entrance to the Bosporus Strait was hit by a naval drone.

Russia’s shadow fleet is made up of aging tankers that are bought used, often by nontransparent entities with addresses in countries that are not sanctioning Russia. Moscow needs the vessels to dodge Western sanctions and sell the oil and petroleum products that largely finance its more than 4-year invasion of Ukraine.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said at a meeting with allies in Finland that “we should go after the shadow fleet even harder.”

Speaking with other members of the Joint Expeditionary Force, a 10-country group that has been tracking the vessels, Starmer said the British military will now be able to board shadow fleet tankers when they transit U.K. waters, joining several other allies in doing so.

“Together, we must close off critical sea routes to this vital trade, to keep up the pressure on (Russian President Vladimir) Putin and to help change the narrative of this war” in Ukraine, Starmer said.

In a recorded video message, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Russia’s oil and gas exports are fueling Moscow’s effort to take over Ukraine.

“So please keep the pressure on Russia — its tankers and shadow fleet must not feel safe in European waters,” he said.

In Turkey, officials said that none of the 27 Turkish crew members of the Altura tanker was injured when it was attacked early Thursday, causing damage to the bridge and engine room.

The Altura, which reportedly was carrying 140,000 tonnes of crude oil when it was hit some 14 nautical miles north of the Bosphorus, has been owned by Turkey-based Pergamon Maritime since November.

The tanker has been subject to European Union sanctions since October due to its role in transporting sanctions-dodging Russian oil exports, according to the Open Sanctions website.

Transport Minister Abdulkadir Uraloglu said the tanker was subjected to an “attack by an unmanned sea vessel.” He did not say whether Ukraine was suspected to be behind the attack.

In the past, Ukraine’s military has said it used sea drones to sink Russian vessels in the Black Sea. Earlier this month Russia blamed a Ukrainian naval drone for the sinking of a Russian-flagged tanker carrying liquefied natural gas in the Mediterranean Sea off Libya.

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Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

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VAUX-DE-CERNAY, France, March 26 (Reuters) – Foreign ministers from the world’s leading Western democracies meet in France this week against the backdrop of wars in Iranand Ukraine, economic uncertainty, and mounting unease over an increasingly unpredictable U.S. foreign policy.

The two-day gathering at the restored 12th-century Abbaye des Vaux-de-Cernay, about 40 km (25 miles) southwest of Paris, brings together ministers from the G7 – Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the U.S. – alongside the European Union.

The grouping, which first met as six in nearby Rambouillet 50 years ago, traditionally approached its core economic and geopolitical challenges with a broad consensus.

That cohesion has frayed since Donald Trump returned to the U.S. presidency in 2025.

US SEEN AS DESTABILISING ELEMENT 

Allies and adversaries alike have spent the past year scrambling to respond to abrupt U.S. policy shifts, from tariffs to Ukraine, and now the Middle East conflict, which European diplomats and officials say lacks clear objectives or an exit strategy.

France’s army chief on Wednesday bemoaned Washington’s unpredictability, saying it was impacting allies’ interests and security. 

“The U.S. attitude is an element of destabilisation of the international system for all players, not only for members of the G7, but also for China, (and) for many, many countries in the world,” said Thomas Gomart, director of the Paris-based French Institute of International Relations.

Underscoring the break from past practice, officials have abandoned efforts to craft an agreed all-encompassing final communique to avoid open tensions.

ALLIES SEEK IRAN CLARITY FROM RUBIO

A top priority for Washington’s partners will be a debriefing from U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who will attend the meeting’s second day on Friday. 

Officials said allies are hoping to get greater clarity on the U.S. and Israeli military operations against Iran and on whether any meaningful diplomatic channel exists to end the conflict.

Talks will also focus on the Strait of Hormuz, which Iran has effectively closed, choking about a fifth of global oil supplies.

Ministers from Brazil, India, South Korea and Saudi Arabia, all key economic heavyweights whose alignment is pivotal on global security, energy, and diplomatic crises, will also attend.  

NO BAD DEAL FOR UKRAINE

Negotiations to end Russia’s war in Ukraine have stalled, and European officials fear that the U.S. – which has led negotiation efforts and pursued a rapprochement with Moscow – could push Kyiv into an unfavourable peace deal ahead of U.S. midterm elections in November. 

European officials said they would stress to Rubio that such an outcome would be unacceptable, arguing instead for tougher sanctions on Russia and immediate efforts to prepare Ukraine for another winter of war.

These should include safeguarding its energy sector, repeatedly targeted by Russian attacks, as well as continuing military support for Kyiv, they said.

“We will reiterate firm support for Kyiv and for U.S. mediation efforts, stressing the need to maintain strong pressure on Moscow through sanctions,” an Italian diplomatic source said.

Ukraine’s foreign minister will attend the talks. 

The meeting also feeds into French priorities ahead of its G7 leaders’ summit in the Alps next June, including how to address global imbalances and the crisis of multilateralism. Paris has sought to associate China more closely with those discussions.

One area where officials see potential consensus during the French presidency is the creation of a G7 task force to tackle drug smuggling.

(Reporting by John Irish, Editing by Rosalba O’Brien)

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HAVANA (AP) — Former Cuban President Raúl Castro is involved in talks between the island and the United States, Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel said Wednesday.

The talks, which Diaz-Canel said are in the early stages, come at a time of increasing tensions between the two nations, with Cuba plagued by nationwide blackouts resulting from a crumbling power grid and an ongoing oil blockade implemented by U.S. President Donald Trump, who has threatened tariffs on any country that provides oil to Cuba. Trump recently said he’d have “the honor of taking Cuba” soon.

The talks overall are being handled collectively by the Cuban government, Díaz-Canel told Spanish leftist leader Pablo Iglesias in a videotaped interview that lasted more than an hour and was shared by state media. Though Diaz-Canel became president in 2018, 94-year-old revolutionary leader, brother of Fidel Castro, is still considered the most powerful person in the nation.

Iglesias was in Cuba as part of a delegation of some 600 activists from 33 countries who arrived last week to deliver humanitarian aid.

“A process of conversations that leads to an agreement is a long process,” Díaz-Canel told Iglesias, who produced the interview for his crowdfunded TV channel, Canal RED.

“First, we must build a channel for dialogue. Then, we must build common agendas of interests for the parties, and the parties must demonstrate their intention to move forward and truly commit to the program based on the discussion of those agendas,” Díaz-Canel said.

In late January, Trump threatened tariffs on any country that sells or provides oil to Cuba as he pushes for a change in the island’s political model.

Although the initial threats were formally softened, the embargo has remained in place, and the island has not received any fuel shipments in the past three months.

Prolonged power outages and a near-paralysis of economic and social life are the visible consequences on the island, which in the last week experienced two nationwide blackouts that left millions without electricity as Cuba’s power grid continues to crumble.

The U.S. has said that Cuba was in negotiations, and Trump has threatened that he would take over the island soon.

Díaz-Canel was more nuanced in his response and said his officials and those from the U.S. State Department “held recent talks.”

He also addressed speculation surrounding the role that Castro, would be playing a role in these overture.

“The other thing they’ve tried to speculate about is that there are divisions within the leadership of the revolution,” Díaz-Canel said, not clarifying who he was referring to.

Castro “is one of those who, along with me and in collaboration with other branches of the (Communist) Party, the government, and the State, has guided how we should conduct this dialogue process, if this dialogue process takes place,” the president added.

He noted that Castro is “the historical leader of this revolution, even though he has relinquished his responsibilities,” and that he maintains a “prestige earned with the people” due to “historical recognition that no one can deny.”

Raúl Castro, who succeeded his brother, Fidel, as president, led historic talks with former U.S. President Barack Obama in 2014 that led to the reopening of embassies and re-establishment of diplomatic relations.

Trump has opposed such policy, tightening sanctions even further, exacerbating a deep economic crisis to the extreme of the current energy blockade.

Meanwhile, Francisco Pichón, resident coordinator of the United Nations in Cuba, warned that if the situation continued to spiral it could provoke a “humanitarian crisis”. Pichón and other officials said it would require $94 million to address the island’s energy crisis and hurricane damage from last year.

The crippled energy grid was slated to cut off 96,000 people, around 11,000 of them children, from getting surgeries they need, and cause 30,000 minors to fall behind of their vaccine schedules, he estimated.

It’s already cut around a million people who depend on water deliveries from trucks, off from access to water.

The Un officials highlighted the desperate need for fuel to enter Cuba, but also solar power as a potential solution to keep schools and hospitals up and running and to pump water for irrigation.

“If the current situation continues and the country’s fuel reserves are depleted, we do fear an accelerated deterioration with the possible loss of lives,” said Francisco Pichón, Resident Coordinator of the United Nations in Cuba.

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Follow AP’s Latin America coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/latin-america

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Pentagon Deploys 2,000 82nd Airborne Troops to Middle East as Trump Weighs Iran Options  

The US military is sending about 2,000 soldiers from the Army’s 82nd Airborne Division to the Middle East, widening its troop presence as President Trump considers both military action and a diplomatic initiative involving Iran, two Defense Department officials told the New York Times Tuesday.  

A brigade of roughly 3,000 personnel forms the “Immediate Response Force,” designed for rapid global deployment within 18 hours. According to the officials, the initial group includes Maj. Gen. Brandon R. Tegtmeier, the division commander, along with key staff members and two battalions of about 800 soldiers each. They said additional elements from the brigade may follow in the coming days.  

Thousands of Marines are also being deployed to the region. About 4,500 Marines are already en route, and when combined with the Army forces, nearly 7,000 additional ground troops will have been sent since the conflict began. The broader US effort, Operation Epic Fury, involves roughly 50,000 troops operating across the Middle East, Europe, and the United States.  

Officials said the final destination for the paratroopers has not yet been determined but would place them close enough to respond to developments involving Iran. One possible role could involve Kharg Island, Iran’s primary oil export facility in the northern Persian Gulf, where US aircraft recently carried out strikes on more than 90 military targets.  

Further reinforcements are expected soon. Around 2,300 Marines from the 31st Expeditionary Unit are due to arrive later this week, while another similarly sized force from the 11th Expeditionary Unit left southern California last week and is expected in the region by mid-April.  

Military officials said Marines could be tasked with securing key sites such as Kharg Island or helping reopen the Strait of Hormuz, which Iran has largely shut to commercial traffic. They added that Marines would likely be needed first to repair the island’s damaged airfield before additional forces, including 82nd Airborne troops, could be brought in if required. 

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March 26 (Reuters) – Russian attacks killed two people in Ukraine’s northeastern city of Kharkiv and the region around it and a strike on the Danube port of Izamil damaged port facilities and energy infrastructure, officials said.

Prosecutors in Kharkiv region, in a statement on Telegram early on Thursday, said a woman injured in an attack on the city of Kharkiv had died of her injuries in hospital.

They said nine people were injured in strikes on two districts of the city, a frequent target of Russian forces, 30 km (18 km) from the border.

Prosecutors also said a Russian drone killed a man in his car in a district closer to the border.

Local officials in the Danube port of Izmail in southwestern Ukraine said the town had come under attack and there had been damage to the port and to energy facilities.

On the Russian side of the border, the regional governor in Belgorod Region, Vyacheslav Gladkov, said Ukrainian drones had killed an 18-year-old man on a motorcycle in a village near the border and a woman in her car in the town of Graivoron.

Belgorod has frequently come under attack from Ukrainian forces in the four-year-old war pitting Kyiv against Moscow.

In Moscow, Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said 17 Ukrainian drones had been intercepted and destroyed on their way to the capital over the course of Wednesday.

The downing of Russian drones targeting the capital occurs quite frequently, with the number of those attacking varying widely.

Reuters could not independently verify the accounts.

(Reporting by Ron Popeski; Editing by Michael Perry)

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Group Threatens More Attacks on US and Israeli Targets After European Arson Cases 

A shadowy group claiming responsibility for attacks on Jewish targets in Europe said this week that it will continue going after US and Israeli interests, as British and Belgian authorities moved to contain a string of arson and bombing cases that have rattled Jewish communities and raised fears of an Iran-linked proxy campaign spreading beyond the Middle East. The threat, delivered directly to CBS News, came after ambulances used by a Jewish emergency service were set on fire in London and a car was burned in Antwerp. 

According to CBS News, a person speaking for Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamia said, “We’ll keep threatening US and Israeli interests worldwide until we’ve avenged every child in Gaza, Iran, Lebanon, and the resistance nations.” The same person warned people to avoid “Zionist and American interests,” and the group later claimed another attack in Antwerp. CBS reported that the organization surfaced in early March, shortly after the US and Israel launched their war against Iran, and has used Telegram to publicize claims of responsibility for attacks in Belgium, the Netherlands, and the UK. 

British police said two men, ages 45 and 47, were arrested in London on suspicion of arson with intent to endanger life after four ambulances belonging to Hatzola Northwest were torched in Golders Green. Commander Helen Flanagan called the arrests “an important breakthrough in the investigation,” while warning that security cameras suggested at least three people were involved. Detective Chief Superintendent Luke Williams said extra police deployments, including armed patrols, would continue around vulnerable sites in London. 

In Belgium, authorities arrested two minors after a car was set on fire in Antwerp, and the government deployed soldiers to protect Jewish schools, synagogues, and the Israeli Embassy. Prime Minister Keir Starmer called the London attack a “deeply shocking antisemitic arson attack.” The US State Department, meanwhile, urged Americans worldwide to “exercise increased caution,” saying groups supportive of Iran could target US interests overseas. Analysts told CBS that the organization’s propaganda and operating style point either to pro-Iran recruits, copycats, or a loosely directed proxy structure built for intimidation, disruption, and plausible deniability. 

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COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — Denmark’s foreign minister and his centrist party are expected to decide who will lead the Scandinavian country’s next government after Tuesday’s parliamentary elections ended without a clear majority for any party or bloc.

Center-left Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen could survive for a third term, despite a disappointing result. But she will need to negotiate a deal with the kingmaker, Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen, if she is to lead a new coalition.

The campaign focused on bread-and-butter issues rather than the crisis over U.S. President Donald Trump’s ambitions toward Greenland.

The outgoing government resigned Wednesday. Leaders from each party debated their positions in a roundtable setting and are expected to later meet with Danish King Frederik X to discuss the country’s future.

Denmark’s single-chamber parliament, the Folketing, is elected for a four-year term. Lawmakers from Denmark hold 175 of its seats, while two each go to representatives from thinly populated Greenland and the kingdom’s other semiautonomous territory, the Faroe Islands.

More than 4.3 million people were eligible to vote in a country of 6 million people. Nearly 84% of the electorate cast their ballots.

Here’s what to know:

Official results showed that Frederiksen’s center-left Social Democrats lost ground compared with the last election in 2022, as did her two partners in the outgoing government.

No single party won a majority in parliament, which was expected. Denmark’s system of proportional representation typically produces coalition governments, traditionally made up of several parties from either the “red bloc” on the left or the “blue bloc” on the right, after weeks of negotiations.

Frederiksen’s outgoing administration was the first in decades to straddle the left-right divide, and she said she is ready to stay on as prime minister for a third term. Her Social Democrats remained the biggest single party by some distance but Defense Minister Troels Lund Poulsen, the best-placed center-right challenger to Frederiksen, made clear that he and his Liberal party don’t intend to go into government with the Social Democrats again.

Still, Danish election expert Rune Stubager believes Frederiksen will survive as prime minister.

“Whether it will be in a new centrist coalition or a government based mostly on votes from the red bloc, that is up to the negotiations,” Stubager, who co-heads the Danish National Election Study, said Wednesday.

The 48-year-old Frederiksen is known for strong support of Ukraine in its defense against Russia’s invasion and for a restrictive approach to migration — continuing what has become a tradition in Danish politics.

Because neither the left-leaning nor right-leaning blocs won a majority, Løkke Rasmussen is now in the role of kingmaker. His centrist Moderate party, with 14 lawmakers in the 179-seat parliament, is in a position to determine whether Frederiksen can serve a third term at the helm of the European Union and NATO country. It takes 90 seats to form a majority.

Løkke Rasmussen called on rivals on the left and right to climb down from some of the positions they staked out in the campaign, and “come and play with us.”

Neither of the blocs are able to form a majority without the Moderates’ support, making them the only real winner of the election. Stubager said they will be able to force concessions from each party’s campaign promises to reach their goal — a centrist government.

“As far as I can see it, it’s not possible to form a government if all these tripwires are intact,” Stubager said. “So somebody will have to go back on a promise in order for there to be a government.”

Part of the Moderates’ success can be attributed to Trump and Greenland, Stubager said. Late last year, the party was polling poorly, but then got a major bump from Løkke Rasmussen, the government’s foreign minister, through his diplomatic work to calm the tensions with the U.S. that included a headline-grabbing trip to Washington.

“Donald Trump put up a stage on which Lars Løkke could perform, and he performed well in the eyes of most Danes,” he said.

Frederiksen also was banking on Greenland. Her own polls earlier this year showed an increase in support, prompting her to call the election in February — several months before she had to. She apparently hoped that her resolute image in the standoff would help her with voters.

The early election was not necessarily a failed gamble, as the Social Democrats’ support had been lower before the crisis spiked.

Frederiksen warned in January that an American takeover of Greenland would amount to the end of NATO. But the crisis has simmered down, at least for now.

Trump backed down on threats to impose tariffs on Denmark and other European countries that opposed the U.S. taking control of the vast Arctic island, and the U.S., Denmark and Greenland started technical talks on an Arctic security deal. The discussions are ongoing.

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Dazio reported from Berlin.

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BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — Hungary will gradually cut off gas supplies to Ukraine until Russian oil deliveries resume through the Druzhba pipeline, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said on Wednesday.

The transit of natural gas through Hungary plays a key role in fulfilling the energy needs of Ukraine, now in its fourth year of war with Russia.

Russian oil supplies to Hungary and Slovakia have been halted for nearly two months after what Ukrainian officials say were Russian drone attacks that damaged the pipeline, which crosses Ukrainian territory, and that continuous strikes risk the lives of technicians trying to repair it.

The populist leaders of Hungary and Slovakia have accused Ukraine of deliberately holding up Russian deliveries. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said earlier this month that he is reluctant to allow Russian oil to continue transiting his country.

In a video posted on social media Wednesday, Orbán called the Russian oil stoppage “Ukrainian blackmail,” adding: “As long as Ukraine does not supply oil, it will not receive gas from Hungary.”

He added that Hungary would use the gas instead to fill its own reserves.

There was no immediate comment from Kyiv and a Hungarian government spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment by The Associated Press.

Ukraine imports a major portion of its gas needs through Hungary, amounting to around 45% of all gas imports last year, according to Ukrainian energy consultancy EXPRO. That number dropped to 38% by January.

Orbán’s announcement was the latest in a series of retaliatory measures Hungary has taken in response to interrupted Russian oil flows.

Last week, Orbán, who is widely seen as the Kremlin’s biggest advocate in the EU, blocked a 90-billion euro ($106 billion) EU loan to Ukraine over the interruptions and vowed to veto any further pro-Ukraine decisions until oil flows resume.

The Hungarian leader previously ceased diesel shipments to Ukraine and vetoed a new round of EU sanctions against Russia.

Meanwhile, as he faces an unprecedented challenge from a center-right opponent in elections next month, Orbán has escalated an aggressive anti-Ukraine campaign, calling the country Hungary’s “enemy,” and accusing Zelenskyy of seeking to provoke an energy crisis in order to sway the April 12 vote.

He’s also deployed military forces to key energy infrastructure sites across Hungary, accusing Ukraine of plotting disruptions but providing no evidence.

Hungary and Slovakia have received a temporary exemption from a European Union policy prohibiting imports of Russian oil since Moscow launched its war in Ukraine in February 2022.

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By Andrius Sytas and Janis Laizans

VILNIUS/RIGA, March 25 (Reuters) – Two stray Ukrainian military drones entered the airspace of Estonia and Latvia on Wednesday morning via Russia, one of which slammed into a chimney at a local power station while the other crash landed, the two Baltic countries said.

The drones that hit the NATO member nations were believed to be part of a wider Ukrainian attack on Russia, Latvian and Estonian authorities said. They follow another stray Ukrainian drone that Lithuania said on Monday had crashed into a lake.

The drones landed in Estonia and Latvia at around the time that Russian officials said a Ukrainian drone attack set fire to oil facilities at Russia’s Baltic Sea ports of Primorsk and Ust-Luga, major export hubs located near Estonia and Finland.

Ukraine has stepped up drone attacks on Russian oil refineries and export routes over recent weeks in an attempt to weaken Russia’s war economy and as peace talks, brokered by Washington, have stalled.

There were no reports of injuries or damage from the drone hit to Estonia’s Auvere power station, located just 2 km (1.2 miles) from the Russian border, the Estonian government said.

“The drone was not directed at Estonia. This is a concrete consequence of Russia’s full-scale war of aggression,” Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna said in a post on X.

Latvian President Edgars Rinkevics told reporters that the drone which crashed in Latvia was Ukrainian and part of an attack on Russian targets, public broadcaster LSM reported.

A third drone briefly entered Latvian airspace via Belarus before flying into Russia, Latvian authorities said.

Lithuania’s prime minister earlier this week said a military drone that crashed into a lake in Lithuania also came from Ukraine and was aimed at attacking Russia’s oil exports before going astray.

“The war, provoked by the aggressor Russia, has gotten us to this point, with drones falling on the territories of all three Baltic states within 48 hours,” Lithuania’s Defence Minister Robertas Kaunas said in a statement on Wednesday.

“It is obvious that air defence is a challenge not only in Lithuania, but throughout NATO,” he said.

(Reporting by Anna Ringstrom and Andrius Sytas; Editing by Christian Schmollinger, Aidan Lewis)

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