Iran War Live Updates: B-52s Start Flying Missions Over Iran, Pentagon Says

Tehran8:28 p.m. March 31 Tel Aviv7:58 p.m. March 31 Iran War Live Updates: B-52s Start Flying Missions Over Iran, Pentagon Says U.S. bombers have free rein for the first time in the war, even though Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said that Iran still retains the ability to launch missiles after a month of U.S.-Israeli attacks. - Arash Khamooshi for The New York Times - Diego Ibarra Sanchez for The New York Times - Arash Khamooshi for The New York Times - Arash Khamooshi for The New York Times - Reuters - David Guttenfelder/The New York Times - Social media, via AFP - Avishag Shaar-Yashuv for The New York Times - Diego Ibarra Sanchez for The New York Times The U.S. military has begun flying B-52 bombers over Iranian territory for the first time since the war began, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said on Tuesday, suggesting that Iran’s air defenses have been significantly degraded. But despite a monthlong U.S.-Israeli bombing campaign, Tehran still retained the ability to retaliate, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told reporters. “They will shoot some missiles; we will shoot them down,” Mr. Hegseth said at the Pentagon alongside Gen. Dan Caine, the Joint Chiefs’ chairman. It was their first public briefing on the war in nearly two weeks, when they took questions from reporters on March 11. General Caine said that U.S. warplanes were now focused on destroying supply chains that fed Iran’s missile, drone and naval ship building facilities, choking off the country’s ability to replace munitions destroyed in thousands of American bombing runs. Mr. Hegseth also revealed he had made an unannounced trip to the Middle East over the weekend to visit troops at bases around the region. He again said that the United States was “closer than ever before to winning.” President Trump has offered conflicting messages about his objectives in the war and has struggled to contain its economic fallout. Mr. Trump has tried to pressure Iran to end its de facto blockade of the Strait of Hormuz — normally a conduit for one-fifth of the world’s oil supplies — by alternating threats of destruction with unverified claims of diplomatic progress. Iran has denied holding substantive talks with the United States and has rejected the Trump administration’s conditions to end the war as unreasonable. Mr. Trump has repeatedly complained about a lack of support from U.S. allies in the war, even as he has insisted that he does not need it. On Tuesday, he criticized countries that “refused to get involved in the decapitation of Iran,” saying on social media, “You’ll have to start learning how to fight for yourself.” “The U.S.A. won’t be there to help you anymore, just like you weren’t there for us,” he added. “Iran has been, essentially, decimated. The hard part is done. Go get your own oil!” Here’s what else we’re covering: Gas prices: Gasoline in the United States crossed an average of $4 a gallon on Tuesday, a threshold it hadn’t reached since August 2022. The average cost of gas has jumped 35 percent since the war began on Feb. 28, according to data from the AAA motor club, becoming a political burden for Mr. Trump. Oil and gas prices also rose again. Persian Gulf: Gulf countries reported more missile and drone attacks on Tuesday. A Kuwaiti oil tanker erupted in flames at a Dubai port in a drone attack that its owner, the Kuwait Petroleum Corporation, attributed to Iran. The authorities in Dubai and Saudi Arabia reported that debris from interceptions had injured several people. In the United Arab Emirates, remote learning will continue at all schools until mid-April, the education ministry said. Lebanon: Israel’s defense minister, Israel Katz, on Tuesday outlined more explicitly plans for the mass displacement of hundreds of thousands of Lebanese people and the destruction of Lebanese villages along Israel’s northern border. Israeli forces have taken control of more territory in southern Lebanon as they have battled Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed militant group. He said that the Israeli military would maintain control over all of southern Lebanon up to the Litani River, which is about 20 miles from the Israeli border at its farthest point. Casualties: The Human Rights Activists News Agency said at least 1,574 civilians had been killed, including 236 children, in Iran since the war began. Lebanon’s health ministry said that more than 1,260 Lebanese had been killed as of Tuesday, with more than 3,750 others wounded, since the latest fighting between Israel and Hezbollah began. In Iran’s attacks across the Middle East, at least 50 people have been killed in Gulf nations. In Israel, at least 17 had been killed as of Friday. The American death toll stands at 13 service members, with hundreds of others wounded. Regional economy: One month of the war could plunge four million more people across the Arab world into poverty and shave off up to 6 percent of the region’s economic output during that time, according to projections by the United Nations Development Program. Read more › European Union energy ministers met today to discuss the fallout from the war in the Middle East, and Dan Jorgensen, the E.U. energy commissioner, just wrapped up a news conference. He said that cutting demand was one tool for dealing with this moment. “There’s no one-size-fits-all solution, but it is clear that the more you can do to save oil, especially diesel, especially jet fuel, the better we are off,” Jorgensen said. He added that “even if there was a peace tomorrow, there will still be consequences, because energy infrastructure in the region has been ruined by the war.” Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps issued a threat on Tuesday against top American corporations, accusing them of helping the United States and Israel carry out strikes against Iranians. “From now on the main institutions involved in such operations will be considered legitimate targets,” the Guards said in a statement that named 18 companies, including Apple, Google and Meta. The statement, carried by Iranian state media, called for employees of these companies “in all countries of the region” to evacuate their workplaces and stay a kilometer away from their officers. It was not the first time Iran has threatened American tech companies. Earlier this month, Iran threatened wider attacks against “enemy technology infrastructure” belonging to seven U.S. tech firms. During an address to the U.N. Security Council from Beirut, Tom Fletcher, the U.N. undersecretary general for humanitarian affairs, warned that Israel could soon occupy a large section of southern Lebanon, and he drew attention to the country’s deepening humanitarian crisis as the war between Israel and Hezbollah escalates. Addressing three questions directly to Council members, Fletcher asked how they would protect civilians, how the international community should prepare “for a new addition to the list of occupied territories” and how should it also brace for the “potential terror of a fresh round of internal targeting and political strife,” evoking Lebanon’s history of civil instability. “We have often said that we cannot let Lebanon fail, but now is a real test of that promise,” Fletcher said, adding that the country was “once again at breaking point.” Iran’s men’s national soccer team will play at the World Cup in the United States as scheduled, the president of the sports governing body said after meeting with the team before a tune-up game held in Turkey. “The matches will be played where they are supposed to be, according to the draw,” FIFA’s chief, Gianni Infantino, said as he attended a game between Iran and Costa Rica on Tuesday. Confusion has surrounded the fate of the team ahead of the World Cup, where it is slated to play all three of its group stage games on the U.S. West Coast. President Trump said the team should not play in the tournament, citing safety concerns, and Iranian officials have said they intend to play but raised the possibility that the team’s games could be moved to Mexico, which is co-hosting the event along with Canada. The United Nations Security Council is holding an emergency session on the attacks that killed three Indonesian U.N. peacekeepers in southern Lebanon this week. The United Nations’ head of peacekeeping, Jean-Pierre Lacroix, told the Council that the situation between Hezbollah and Israel had “dangerously deteriorated” and called for both parties to respect international law on protecting peacekeepers. The economic fallout from the war in Iran, now in its fifth week, is squeezing consumers and businesses around the globe, raising the price of essentials like food and fuel. “Although the war could shape the global economy in different ways, all roads lead to higher prices and slower growth,” top economists from the International Monetary Fund wrote this week. On Tuesday, signs of strain could be seen in new projections of a sharp rise in poverty across the Arab world, a big jump in inflation in Europe and fresh highs for U.S. gasoline prices. The effects are especially onerous for poor countries, which have the fewest resources. Countries in Africa, South Asia, Latin America and parts of the Middle East that import most of their energy are especially hard-pressed to afford skyrocketing costs. For these economies, the effect is like “a large, sudden tax on income,” I.M.F. economists explained. Yet even if countries can come up with the funds, supplies of oil, gas and many other crucial commodities may not be available because of Iran’s effective blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, a key shipping route, as well as damage to energy infrastructure across the Gulf region. About a third of the world’s fertilizer is shipped via the Strait of Hormuz. With planting season starting in the Northern Hemisphere, fertilizer shortages now can result in poorer harvests and higher food prices later. Shortages of other materials produced in the Persian Gulf, including helium, sulfur and naphtha, which is used to process plastics, can slow industrial production, dragging down growth in some countries. For many people in the Middle East, the outlook is particularly disturbing. A new United Nations report estimates that the war may push four million more people across the Arab world into poverty and reduce the region’s output by well over $100 billion. In Europe, higher energy prices caused by the war helped push up inflation in the 21 countries that use the euro, raising concerns that central bankers might raise interest rates if prices continue to accelerate. Consumer prices in the eurozone rose at an annual rate of 2.5 percent in March, the fastest pace in a year, according to the bloc’s statistics agency on Tuesday. February’s increase was 1.9 percent. Christine Lagarde, the president of the European Central Bank, said last week that policymakers were prepared to raise interest rates if inflation persisted above the bank’s 2 percent target. In the United States, gasoline crossed an average of $4 a gallon on Tuesday, a threshold it hadn’t reached since August 2022. Since the end of February, the average cost of regular gasoline has jumped 35 percent, according to data from the AAA motor club. Seeing gasoline at more than $4 a gallon — when it was below $3 a month ago — could push American drivers to change their spending habits. Lower- and middle-income households are most acutely feeling the pinch. The disproportionate impact is making the U.S. economy even more lopsided and dependent on spending by high-income consumers, Moody’s said in an update on Tuesday. The uncertainty about how long the war will last and how severe the damage may be to energy infrastructure in the region is unsettling governments, businesses and consumers. Some officials have taken measures to reduce consumption — including asking the public and civil servants to use bikes instead of cars, take the stairs instead of elevators and work four days instead of five. There are a few winners amid the economic disruption. Oil-exporting countries that can deliver their product — including Iran and Russia — are reaping windfall profits from higher prices. Now that the United States has lifted some sanctions against these two nations, both can use the infusion of funds to funds their war efforts. Erika Solomon and Emmett Lindner contributed reporting. President Trump lashed out again at European allies on Tuesday for their refusal to get more involved in the Iran War. He accused France of denying permission to American warplanes to fly over its territory and challenged Britain to “go get your own oil” by forcibly reopening the Strait of Hormuz. The French government said it was “surprised” by Mr. Trump’s claim, made on his Truth Social account, but did not issue an explicit denial. A French military official, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive military matters, said that France had not closed its airspace to American planes. The president’s two posts came after Spain, which has been the most vocal European opponent of the war, said it had denied permission to U.S. military planes to fly over its territory before striking Iran. There were reports in the Italian media that Italy, too, had restricted the use of a base in Sicily by American planes. But the Italian government played down those reports, saying that it considered American requests on a case-by-case basis, and denied tensions with Washington over the use of bases. Britain and France have refused to take part in offensive military operations, citing the fact that Mr. Trump did not consult them before launching the joint operation with Israel. Britain has allowed American bombers to use bases in its territory, though it has insisted that they be used only for defensive missions like striking Iranian military sites involved in attacks on British interests. Britain and France are coordinating an effort to assemble a coalition of up to 35 countries that would help secure the Strait of Hormuz, a key trade route that lines Iran’s southern coast, after the conflict has scaled down. That effort could include deploying frigates to escort oil tankers through the narrow waterway. Some could be mounted with antiaircraft batteries to shoot down Iranian drones or missiles. In his posts, Mr. Trump repeated his claim that the United States and Israel had “decimated” Iran, leaving European countries with little to do, aside from reopening the strait, which he said was in their own economic interest. He also repeated a threat that the United States would no longer defend its allies in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. “You’ll have to learn how to fight for yourself, the U.S.A. won’t be there to help you anymore, just like you weren’t there for us,” Mr. Trump said. “Iran has been, essentially, decimated. The hard part is done. Go get your own oil!” While Mr. Trump has regularly bashed Prime Minister Keir Starmer of Britain — “He’s no Winston Churchill,” the president said — his targeting of France is new. After a recent phone call with President Emmanuel Macron, Mr. Trump said, “On a scale of 0 to 10, I’d say he’s been an 8. Not perfect, but it’s France. We don’t expect perfect.” On Tuesday, however, the president had soured. “France has been VERY UNHELPFUL with respect to the ‘Butcher of Iran,’ who has been successfully eliminated,” he posted. “The U.S.A. will REMEMBER!!!” China and Pakistan released a “five-point initiative” for peace in the Middle East on Tuesday, after the two countries’ foreign ministers met in Beijing. The initiative was light on details. It proposed an immediate ceasefire, a start to peace talks, the end of attacks on nonmilitary targets and the restoration of normal shipping activity in the Strait of Hormuz. The fifth point called for ensuring the “primacy of the U.N. Charter.” Pakistan has tried to take an active role in mediating the conflict. Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar hosted his counterparts from Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Egypt in Islamabad on Sunday, as regional powers have scrambled to contain the conflict. There have been no signs that Pakistan’s efforts to mediate have made progress. The S&P 500 bounced more than 1 percent higher on Tuesday, after a small loss Monday. The rise happened despite oil prices also moving higher. Brent crude, the international oil benchmark rose close to $120, approaching its highest level of the war. S&P 500 Iran held a funeral procession on Tuesday in the southern port city of Bandar Abbas for Alireza Tangsiri, the naval commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, according to images carried by state television. Tangsiri, whom Israel targeted last week in a strike, had been leading Iran’s successful effort to close the Strait of Hormuz to almost all shipping traffic, causing serious economic disruption worldwide. State television images showed hundreds of people in the procession, many holding Iranian flags and posters bearing Tangsiri’s image. More than 1,260 people have now been killed in Lebanon, and 3,750 wounded, since the renewed war erupted earlier this month between Israel and Hezbollah, the Iran-backed group, according to Lebanon’s health ministry. At least 125 children and 52 health care workers are among the dead, the ministry said. One month of the American-Israeli war with Iran could plunge four million more people across the Arab world into poverty and shave off up to 6 percent of the region’s economic output during that time, according to projections by the United Nations Development Program. The report, released on Tuesday, uses an economic simulation to project the effects of an ongoing conflict, and warns of “profound and widespread socio-economic impacts across the Arab region.” Abdallah Al Dardari, the director of the U.N.D.P.’s regional bureau for Arab states, told The New York Times that the projections were based on just four weeks of war, which the current conflict has already exceeded. He said that the agency had used such a simulation to predict the economic impact of the war in Gaza and Israel’s last offensive against the Iran-backed Hezbollah militia in Lebanon in 2024. According to the models, he said, the economic damage of the current war gets exponentially worse as the conflict drags on. “Every week we add to the destruction, the structural weaknesses sink in and that will make the recovery more difficult and more costly,” he said. One month of war, Mr. Al Dardari said, is projected to cost the Arab region $194 billion in lost economic output, a downturn he described as “unprecedented.” As the war inflicts economic pain across the world, Arab nations in the Middle East are particularly vulnerable. Gaza and Lebanon were already facing huge reconstruction needs after the most recent Israeli military offensives. Syria is also in dire need of investment as it tries to recover from a 13-year civil war. Now, regional officials warn that the current war could tip more countries, including Iraq, Jordan and Egypt, into severe economic crises. Egypt, the most populous Arab country, at around 120 million people, is already facing the strain of rising fuel prices and is struggling to finance its heavy debt. Like many countries in the region, it is also reliant on investments from oil-producing Gulf countries whose energy production has come under attack during the war. Dependency on Gulf investments is a dilemma that the region must grapple with in the years to come. Even after the war ends, Mr. Al Dardari said, the Gulf nations that have often bankrolled postwar rebuilding efforts in the Middle East will be consumed with funding their own economic reconstruction. “There isn’t enough surplus revenue in the Gulf to invest in the recovery of those countries,” he said. “That’s a structural challenge we never faced before.” A water desalination plant on the Iranian island of Qeshm is out of service, an Iranian official said in comments reported on Tuesday by a semi-official outlet. Earlier this month, Iran accused the United States of attacking a desalination plant on the island, though a U.S. military spokesman said that U.S. forces were not responsible for such an attack. “Repairing it in the short term was not possible,” Mohsen Farhadi, a health ministry official, said of the plant. His comments were reported by the semi-official Iranian Students News Agency and printed by the newspaper Asr-e Iran. Farhadi added that tankers were driving in surplus drinking water produced by other plants on the island to the affected area. Asked whether thousands of newly arriving Marines and Army paratroopers would be used in ground operations, Hegseth said he wouldn’t disclose how they might be employed. “Don’t tell your enemy what you’re willing to do or not do, and don’t tell your enemy when you’re willing to stop,” he said. Hegseth appeared to catch himself just before he was about to criticize Trump’s political base, which has long been uncomfortable with American wars on foreign soil. “I don’t understand why the base,” he said, then abruptly veered to talking about “peace through strength” and “boots on the ground.” Hegseth said the U.S. is taking steps to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, the critical waterway that Iran has effectively blocked, but he did not describe what those measures are. He chastised other countries, including making a veiled reference to Britain, for not doing more to help clear the Strait. Hegseth slammed America’s ally — Britain — saying its Navy should be doing more to open the Strait of Hormuz, but spared America’s adversary — Russia — from such outright criticism, despite concerns that Russia is helping Iran. “We don’t need to air” out what Russia is doing in a news conference, he said. Caine said U.S. warplanes were now focused on “interdicting and destroying the logistical and supply chains that feed” Iran’s missile, drone and naval ship building facilities, choking off the country’s ability to replace munitions destroyed in thousands of American bombing runs. He did not say how much longer the war would last. Global oil prices hovered around $117 a barrel, U.S. gasoline prices continued to climb and stocks fluctuated on Tuesday as investors assessed a fresh wave of attacks across the Persian Gulf. President Trump has escalated his threats against Iran over its blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, while Tehran has rejected his demands as unreasonable. The owner of a Kuwaiti tanker loaded with oil said it had been hit in an Iranian attack near Dubai early Tuesday. Oil prices remain firm. The price of Brent crude, the global benchmark for oil, rose to around $117 a barrel on Tuesday. It settled at $112.78 on Monday, up 0.2 percent West Texas Intermediate crude, the U.S. benchmark, inched higher, to above $103 a barrel. It settled at $102.88 a barrel on Monday, up 3.3 percent. Investors and analysts are focused on the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow waterway between Iran and Oman that is a vital trading route for oil and natural gas that normally carries as much as one-fifth of the world’s oil supply. Price of Brent Crude Oil Gas prices rise above $4 a gallon in the U.S. U.S. gasoline prices rose again on Tuesday, jumping to a national average of just over $4 a gallon, according to the AAA motor club. The increase has raised the cost for drivers by 35 percent since the war began. Gas prices don’t move in lock step with crude, usually trailing increases or drops by a few days. Diesel prices have increased even more quickly and stood at $5.42 on Tuesday, up 44 percent since the start of the war. Stocks rise in U.S. and Europe but fall in Asia. The S&P 500 rose more than 1 percent at the start of trading on Tuesday in the United States, reversing a small decline the day before. In Europe, stocks also posted gains. The Stoxx 600, a broad European index, moved nearly 1 percent higher. Stocks in Asia, where countries import vast quantities of oil and gas from the Middle East, plunged. The Nikkei 225 in Japan dropped 1.6 percent, and stocks in Korea fell 4.3 percent. S&P 500 Gasoline in the United States crossed an average of $4 a gallon on Tuesday, a threshold it hadn’t reached since August 2022, continuing a series of nearly uninterrupted increases since the Middle East war began that are chipping away at the spending power of American consumers. Since the end of February, the average cost of regular gasoline has jumped 35 percent, according to data from the AAA motor club. Seeing gasoline at more than $4 a gallon — when it was below $3 a month ago — could push American drivers to change their spending habits. “We have this obsession with gas prices because they dictate a lot of ‘Can we drive? Can we do things we enjoy?’ And now some of that is at risk,” said Patrick De Haan, an analyst at GasBuddy, which also tracks fuel prices. “As we get to a month of increases and prices are much higher,” he added, “the amount of pressure on Americans’ budgets and their spending is going to ramp up.” For President Trump, who not long ago was boasting about how prices had fallen since he was re-elected in 2024, the highly visible reminder of the war’s consequences is a political burden. “It is the biggest headache for whoever happens to be in power when something like this happens,” said Kate Gordon, a former senior adviser in the Department of Energy who is now chief executive of California Forward, a nonprofit business group. Presidents have little control over gas prices, she added, but this is an unusual circumstance. “Usually, a hurricane hits the gulf and gas prices go up, and then whoever’s in power gets blamed for it,” Ms. Gordon said, referring to the Gulf of Mexico. Mr. Trump is “going to get blamed anyway because he’s in power, but also he made the decision to go to war in Iran.” Although the United States isn’t dependent on oil exports from the Middle East — where attacks during the war have hit production and storage facilities — domestic prices have nevertheless surged because of how interconnected global energy markets are. Gas last eclipsed $4 a gallon after Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022. There are also variations in how much drivers have to pay across the country because of state taxes, distribution costs and refining margins. The average cost for a gallon of regular gasoline in California, the highest in the nation, was $5.89 on Tuesday. In Oklahoma, the lowest, drivers paid an average of $3.27. How state averages have risen The list is shown in order of the state with the highest dollar-value increase. Gasoline usually tracks the price of oil. Though oil has fallen from its highest point during the crisis, domestic crude futures are still up more than 50 percent since the end of February. In countries that are more dependent on oil from the Middle East, in Asia in particular, governments are already taking measures to reduce consumption — including asking drivers to stay off the roads. And prices usually rise at this time of year for other reasons: Stations begin to sell a more expensive summer-blend gas made for warmer weather, and demand rises as people prepare for spring and summer travel. The Trump administration said last week that it would temporarily suspend certain restrictions on summertime gasoline blends to try to alleviate pressure from high fuel costs. Other fuel prices are also rising. Diesel prices stood at $5.42 a gallon on Tuesday, up from $3.76 a gallon before the war — an increase that will directly affect the cost of shipping nearly everything, from groceries to furniture. Ultimately, economists fear that these rising costs will contribute to faster inflation and a slower economy. The longer the war lasts, the greater the potential damage. Mr. Trump has sought to reassure Americans, saying the crisis is temporary, but he has also described the run-up in fuel costs as a small price to pay for his war aims. More than 50 percent of American respondents said in a poll by Reuters/Ipsos, released on March 20, that their household finances had taken at least “somewhat” of a hit from the increases in gas prices. One in five of those seeing an impact said his or her finances were affected “a great deal.” “There are some things you can change on the margins, but it’s not easy to change where you live, where you work, where you go to school,” Ms. Gordon said. “You can be more efficient, but it’s kind of a baked-in cost.” The administration has taken some measures to try to curb the gains in oil prices — pledging to release 172 million barrels of oil from the United States’ strategic reserves; waiving a maritime law that restricts how cargo, including oil, can be transported throughout the country; and temporarily suspending sanctions on Russian and Iranian oil shipments already at sea. Experts say the price of oil — and the price of gasoline — won’t meaningfully drop until supplies can again flow freely out of the Persian Gulf through the Strait of Hormuz. Opening the strait “is the answer until it’s not,” Ms. Gordon said. “It’s the answer until someone attacks it again.”