April 28 (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia will host an exceptional meeting of the Gulf Cooperation Council in Jeddah on Tuesday, the first in-person meeting of Gulf leaders since their states became a front in the Iran war two months ago.

A Gulf official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the meeting aimed to craft a response to the thousands of Iranian missile and drone attacks Gulf states have faced since the U.S. and Israel launched the war with strikes on Iran on February 28.

DUBAI, April 28 (Reuters) - Iran's top security body has approved a temporary scheme for businesses to access the global internet with fewer restrictions, a government spokesperson told Iranian media on Tuesday, after the authorities had imposed a blackout since the start of the war against the U.S. and Israel.

Most Iranians have been unable to access the worldwide web for the last 60 days according to the internet observatory NetBlocks, with only a few citizens having access to expensive and advanced VPNs that circumvent the restrictions.

By Raghed Waked and Zohra Bensemra

BEIRUT, April 28 (Reuters) - It has been nearly two months, but Rabih Khreiss still has trouble recognising his new life.

The father-of-nine could once put food on the table through his car workshop in southern Lebanon, but is now barely surviving in a tent in the capital Beirut.

Like so many others, the Khreiss family fled their southern hometown of Khiyam in the early hours of March 2, moments after learning that the Hezbollah armed group had fired into Israel in what would become the opening salvos of a new war.

HELSINKI, April 28 (Reuters) - Some U.S. defence equipment deliveries to Europe are being delayed because of the war in the Middle East, the presidents of Finland and Estonia said on Tuesday.

• Finnish President Alexander Stubb said some U.S. stock is being delivered elsewhere because of the war in Iran, but did notsee this asalarming for Finland.

• Estonia's President Alar Karis said his country had been informed of delays related to HIMARS rocket systems.

April 28 (Reuters) - Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Tuesday that Israel's purchase of grain from occupied Ukrainian territory "stolen" by Russia "cannot be legitimate business" and that Kyiv was readying sanctions against those attempting to profit from it.

"Another vessel carrying such grain has arrived at a port in Israel and is preparing to unload," Zelenskiy said on X. "This is not – and cannot be – legitimate business."

By Karen Lema and Nestor Corrales

MANILA, April 28 (Reuters) - The Philippines is not worried about any reduction in U.S. deterrence capabilities in the Indo-Pacific due to the war in the Middle East, its defence secretary said on Tuesday, although he warned China could try and seize any perceived opening.

Gilberto Teodoro's comments came in an interview with

Reuters amid annual joint military drills with the United States

that have drawn the largest ever number of participating countries, including Japanese combat troops for the first time.

STOCKHOLM, April 28 (Reuters) - Sweden is issuing an early warning of a potential shortage of jet fuel stemming from the war in the Middle East, Energy Minister Ebba Busch said on Tuesday.

"This is based on the Energy Agency's assessment," Busch told a press conference.

Sweden could in a worst case scenario face rationing of aviation fuel, but the situation going forward depends to a great degree on how the market adapts, said Energy Agency General Director Caroline Asserup.

(Reporting by Anna Ringstrom, Louise Rasmussen and Simon Johnson, editing by Terje Solsvik)

The latest developments in the Middle East war:

- US lawmakers to grill Pentagon chief on Iran war -

US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth will face tough questions from lawmakers about the Iran war on Wednesday during his first testimony to Congress since the start of the conflict.

Hegseth's appearance before the House Armed Services Committee will be for a hearing on President Donald Trump's $1.5 trillion defense budget request.

A 21-year-old man pleaded guilty on Tuesday in an Austrian court over a jihadist plot to attack a Taylor Swift concert, which led to the cancellation of the Vienna leg of the US megastar's "Eras" tour.

Three dates in Swift's record-breaking tour were cancelled in the summer of 2024 after authorities warned of the alleged Islamic State group plot.

The accused, named as Beran A., was led into the courtroom by masked police personnel at the start of his trial on terror offences and other charges in a court in Wiener Neustadt, outside Vienna.

Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth will make his first testimony before Congress on the Mideast war Wednesday, as efforts to end the conflict stalled with the United States reportedly skeptical of Tehran's latest offer to unblock the Strait of Hormuz.

Iran has blockaded the waterway -- a vital conduit for oil and gas shipments -- since the start of the US-Israeli offensive two months ago, sending shockwaves through the global economy.

US officials did not dispute accounts by CNN and The Wall Street Journal that US President Donald Trump was skeptical of the proposal.