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US issues 30-day sanctions waiver for purchase of Russian oil at sea

By Ismail Shakil and Gleb Bryanski

March 13 (Reuters) - The United States issued a 30-day waiver for countries to buy sanctioned Russian oil and petroleum products currently stranded at sea, in what Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said was a step to stabilize global energy markets roiled by the Iran war.

Oil prices eased on Friday morning in Asia after the U.S. waiver announcement, which, according to Russia's presidential envoy Kirill Dmitriev, would affect 100 million barrels of Russian crude, equal to almost a day's worth of global output.

A view shows oil pump jacks outside Almetyevsk in the Republic of Tatarstan, Russia June 4, 2023. REUTERS/Alexander Manzyuk

'Dream holidays' in disarray, trips diverted as travellers count cost of Iran war

By Christine Chen, James Redmayne and Joanna Plucinska

SYDNEY/LONDON, March 13 (Reuters) - In the remote Western Australian town of Dardanup, accountant Natasha Earle and her family are feeling the financial pain of the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran.

Their "once-in-a-lifetime" five-week trip to Europe - booked last May on Emirates and taking them to London, Paris, Berlin, Vienna and Rome - has been upended by the conflict, and is costing roughly A$10,000 ($7,000) more as they reroute to avoid disruptions from drone and missile fire in the Middle East.

An employee of Qatar Airways informs a traveller at a closed check-in area amid the U.S.-Israel conflict with Iran, at Heathrow Airport Terminal 4, in Greater London, Britain, March 2, 2026. REUTERS/Isabel Infante

D8 summit in Indonesia delayed due to Middle East war, Indonesian foreign ministry says

JAKARTA, March 13 (Reuters) - A summit of eight major Muslim developing countries, including Iran, that was to be held in Jakarta next month has been delayed due to the war in the Middle East, an official with Indonesia's foreign ministry said on Friday.

The D-8 Organization for Economic Cooperation, which groups Bangladesh, Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, Malaysia, Nigeria, Pakistan and Turkey, was established in 1997 to improve cooperation between the countries stretching from Southeast Asia to Africa.

A plume of smoke covers the city skyline following reported Israeli strikes in the southern suburbs of Beirut, after an escalation between Hezbollah and Israel, amid the U.S.-Israeli conflict with Iran, Lebanon, March 13, 2026. REUTERS/Amr Abdallah Dalsh     TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY

Pakistan bombs airline fuel depot near Kandahar airport, Afghan Taliban says

By Mohammad Yunus Yawar

KABUL, March 13 (Reuters) - Pakistan bombed the fuel depot of private airline Kam Air near Afghanistan's Kandahar airport, the Taliban said on Friday, a significant escalation in the worst conflict in years between the neighbours despite China's efforts to mediate.

Following Beijing's stepped up mediation efforts, no Pakistani air strikes were reported by either side in over a week until the bombing in Kandahar. Ground clashes along the 2,600 km (1,600 mile) border had also tapered off, although there had been intermittent bouts of fighting.

Children stand near a house damaged in what the Taliban said was a Pakistani air strike on the outskirts of Kabul, Afghanistan, March 13, 2026. Picture taken with a mobile phone. REUTERS/Sayed Hassib

Sri Lanka repatriates remains of 84 Iranians killed in US attack

Sri Lanka on Friday repatriated the remains of 84 Iranian sailors who perished when their frigate was sunk nine days ago by a US submarine, local officials said.

The seamen were killed when the IRIS Dena was torpedoed on March 4 just off the coast of Sri Lanka, in an incident that extended the Middle East war to the Indian Ocean.

An Airbus A340 chartered by Iran "left a short while ago carrying the remains of the sailors," an airport official at Mattala International Airport in the island's south told AFP by telephone.

Iranian sailors talk to a hospital staffer at the Karapitiya hospital in the southern city of Galle on March 5

Turkey confirms third ballistic missile from Iran shot down

Turkey's defence ministry on Friday said a ballistic missile from Iran had been shot down in Turkish airspace by NATO forces in the third such incident of the Middle East war.

"A ballistic munition launched from Iran and entering Turkish airspace was neutralised by NATO air and missile defence assets deployed in the eastern Mediterranean," a ministry statement said.

Hours earlier, sirens wailed at Turkey's southern Incirlik airbase, a key NATO facility where US troops are stationed, state news agency Anadolu reported.

 Turkey's defence ministry confirmed another ballistic missile fired from Iran had been intercepted in Turkish airspace by NATO defence systems

Trump says he thinks Iran's new supreme leader is alive but 'damaged'

By Kanishka Singh

WASHINGTON, March 12 (Reuters) - President Donald Trump said that he thinks new Iranian Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei, whose father, the former supreme leader, was killed on the first day of the U.S. and Israel's war on Iran, is alive but "damaged."

Khamenei has not been seen by Iranians since his selection on Sunday by a clerical assembly, and his first comments were read out by a television presenter on Thursday.

U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a Women's History Month event in the East Room of the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., March 12, 2026. REUTERS/Evan Vucci

'Ticket to Tehran': Iranian Jews in Israel still long for Iran

For Sahar Saidian, past and present collide every day on the airwaves as she hosts a Persian-language show on Israeli public radio for listeners in Israel and in Iran, the country she left behind years ago.

"After 26 years in Israel, I look more Israeli than Iranian, but even though I left Iran, the country is still part of me," Saidian told AFP.

The two countries are now at war. The Middle East conflict began on February 28 when Israel and the United States attacked Iran.

Sahar Saidian wore two pins on her lapel -- an Israeli flag and an Iranian flag from before the 1979 Islamic Revolution

Both sides dig in, as Iran war approaches two-week mark

By Parisa Hafezi and Maya Gebeily

DUBAI/BEIRUT, March 13 (Reuters) - The leaders of Iran, Israel and the United States all voiced defiance and vowed to fight on as the Middle East war approached the two-week mark on Friday, killing thousands of people, disrupting the lives of millions of others and shaking financial markets.

A picture of Iran's new supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei is displayed on a screen in Tehran, March 9.  Majid Asgaripour/WANA