By Kanishka Singh

WASHINGTON, March 26 (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio spoke with Kurdistan Regional Government Prime Minister Masrour Barzani on Thursday, the State Department said, adding he expressed "gratitude" to KRG for enabling oil from Iraq, including from Iraq's Kurdistan, to reach global markets.

"The secretary also expressed his gratitude to the Kurdistan Regional Government for enabling oil from Iraq, including from the Iraq Kurdistan Region, to reach global markets," the State Department said in a statement.

Since the start of the Middle East conflict, Iran has witnessed massive cryptocurrency flows.

Experts say they are being used to circumvent sanctions placed on Iran's Revolutionary Guards as well as a financial safe haven by civilians hit by soaring inflation.

AFP examines how exactly digital currencies are being used in the country.

- Millions of dollars -

While the world frets about surging energy prices pushed up by the Middle East war, one small German village has been reaping the benefits of its turn to climate-friendly renewables.

Surrounded by wind turbines and studded with solar panels, Feldheim, population 130, boasts its own electricity and heating networks, supplied entirely by cheap local energy, also including biogas.

March 26 (Reuters) - The Pentagon is looking at sending up to 10,000 additional ground troops to the Middle East to give President Donald Trump more military options even as he weighs peace talks with Tehran, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday, citing Department of Defense officials with knowledge of the planning.

(Reporting by Fabiola Arámburo in Mexico City; Editing by Jamie Freed)

By David Brunnstrom

WASHINGTON, March 26 (Reuters) - President Donald Trump has been weighing whether to use ground forces to seize Iran's strategic oil hub of Kharg Island, an operation analysts say could be achieved quickly, but leave U.S. troops in great peril and prolong rather than shorten the war.

WHERE IS KHARG ISLAND AND WHY IS IT IMPORTANT?

By Nathan Layne

GRAPEVINE, Texas, March 26 (Reuters) - Republicans at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference largely rallied behind U.S. strikes on Iran on Thursday, backing President Donald Trump on an issue that has dented his wider approval ratings and could jeopardize the party's prospects in the November midterm elections.

By Parisa Hafezi, Alexander Cornwell and Steve Holland

DUBAI/TEL AVIV/WASHINGTON, March 27 (Reuters) - President Donald Trump announced that he will pause attacks on Iran's energy plants for 10 days at Tehran's request and said talks with Iran were going "very well," although an Iranian official dismissed a U.S. proposal for ending the conflict as "one-sided and unfair."

By John Irish and Andrew Gray

VAUX-DE-CERNAY, France, March 26 (Reuters) - European powers on Thursday accused Russia of helping Iran target U.S. forces in the Middle East war and said they would raise the issue with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio at a meeting of G7 foreign ministers in France.

Rubio is joining the second day of the gathering of ministers of leading Western democracies, taking place amid wars in Iran and Ukraine, economic uncertainty and mounting unease over unpredictable U.S. foreign policy under Donald Trump.

By David Jeans

NEW YORK, March 26 (Reuters) - The United States has deployed uncrewed drone speedboats for patrols as part of its operations against Iran, the Pentagon said, the first time Washington has confirmed using such vessels in an active conflict.

The deployment of the vessels -- which can be used for surveillance or kamikaze strikes --has not been previously reported. It comes despite a series of setbacks in the U.S. Navy’s years‑long effort to field a fleet of uncrewed surface vessels, Reuters reported last year.

WASHINGTON, March 26 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump said on Thursday he was pausing attacks on Iran's energy plants for 10 days at the Iranian government's request and said talks with Tehran were going "very well".

"As per Iranian Government request... I am pausing the period of Energy Plant destruction by 10 Days to Monday, April 6, 2026, at 8 P.M., Eastern Time," Trump said in a post on Truth Social.

"Talks are ongoing and, despite erroneous statements to the contrary by the Fake News Media, and others, they are going very well," he said.