WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump on Saturday (Mar 21) gave Iran a 48-hour deadline to open the Strait of Hormuz to shipping traffic or face the destruction of its energy infrastructure.

"If Iran doesn't FULLY OPEN, WITHOUT THREAT, the Strait of Hormuz, within 48 HOURS from this exact point in time, the United States of America will hit and obliterate their various POWER PLANTS, STARTING WITH THE BIGGEST ONE FIRST!" Trump posted on his Truth Social platform.

In response, Iran's military renewed threats against the region's infrastructure.

"Following previous warnings, if Iran's fuel and energy infrastructure is violated by the enemy, all energy, information technology and desalination infrastructure belonging to the US and the regime in the region will be targeted," the Iranian military's operational command Khatam Al-Anbiya said in a statement carried by Fars news agency.

Since the US and Israel launched the war against Iran on Feb 28, Iran has effectively closed the Strait in retaliation.

Around a fifth of the world's crude oil and liquefied natural gas passes through the strait during peacetime, with the closure sending countries reliant on the shipping lane scrambling for alternative routes and tapping reserves.

The hit to supplies from the Gulf has caused fuel prices to spike worldwide, threatening governments with widespread inflation the longer the war continues.

The US military said earlier on Saturday that it had damaged an Iranian bunker housing weapons threatening oil and gas shipments in the Strait of Hormuz.

The statement appeared designed to calm the concerns of energy markets and of Washington's skeptical international allies, more than 20 of whom issued a statement vowing to back efforts to reopen the key sea lane.

IRAN FIRES LONG-RANGE MISSILES

Iran launched two 4,000km ballistic missiles at the US-UK ‌military base Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean, Israeli military chief Eyal Zamir said. The Israeli military said it was the "first time" Iran had used long-range missiles since the United States and Israel began attacking Iran on Feb 28.

"These missiles are not intended to strike Israel. Their range reaches European capitals - Berlin, Paris, and Rome are all within direct threat range," Zamir said in a statement.

Late on Saturday, Iranian missiles hit the southern Israeli cities of Dimona and Arad, injuring dozens of people, including children, in separate strikes. Iran's Revolutionary Guards said in a statement early Sunday that they targeted "military installations" and security centres in southern Israel.

Israeli army spokesperson Brigadier General Effie Defrin said in a post on X that the country's air defences were functioning but did not intercept the strikes. "We will investigate the incident and learn from it," he said.

Israel’s secretive nuclear reactor is about 13km southeast of Dimona. Both cities lie near several military sites, including Nevatim Air Base, one of the country's largest.

"This has been a very difficult evening in the battle for our future," Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement released by his office following the strike on Arad.

"We are determined to continue striking our enemies on all fronts," the statement said.

Ukrainian and US negotiators trying to move towards a settlement of the four-year war pitting Kyiv against Moscow opened their latest round of talks in Florida on Saturday (Mar 21), with more discussions planned through the weekend.

Russian representatives were not present at the meeting.

"We continued discussing key issues and the next steps within the negotiation track," chief Ukrainian negotiator Rustem Umerov wrote on social media platform X.

"Particular attention was paid to aligning approaches for further progress toward practical results."

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Russian and Ukrainian negotiators met at two sets of US-brokered talks in the United Arab Emirates this year and a round in Geneva last month. Moscow and Kyiv agreed on prisoner exchanges, but no breakthroughs were achieved.

The White House described the latest meeting as "constructive", with discussions "focused on narrowing and resolving remaining items to move closer to a comprehensive peace agreement".

Umerov, a senior Ukrainian security official, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said there would be further talks on Sunday.

The US negotiating team is led by special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, who is President Donald Trump's son-in-law.

Witkoff, commenting on the talks on X, said the US side welcomed "the continued engagement toward resolving the outstanding issues, recognising its importance to broader global stability".

He thanked Trump "for his continued leadership in advancing the efforts." Umerov thanked the US "for consistent work" in pursuing the talks.

Zelenskyy, speaking earlier in his nightly video address, said pursuing the talks was critical to clinching a deal.

"It is important for all of us in the world that diplomacy continues and that we are trying to end this war ... No one wants this war," he said.

"The most important thing is to understand how ready the Russian side is to move toward a real end to the war and whether they are prepared to do so honestly and decently," Zelenskyy added.

The Ukrainian president told reporters on Friday the US and Ukrainian working groups would focus on bilateral documents and discuss a wide-ranging drone deal.

WORKING ON AGREEMENTS WITH MIDDLE EASTERN COUNTRIES

Ukraine, eager to capitalise on its expertise in defending against Russian drone attacks, is also working to finalise agreements with eight Middle Eastern countries as the US-Israeli war with Iran escalates, according to a source familiar with the matter.

The talks in Miami were initially planned to include Russian negotiators and take place in Abu Dhabi, with a focus on finding a settlement to the war sparked by Russia's full-scale invasion in February 2022.

Territory remains the chief sticking point. Russia has called for Ukraine to cede the entire Donbas region in eastern Ukraine, including areas Russian forces have not captured.

Ukraine rejects that Russian demand.

DUBAI: Israel said on Saturday (Mar 21) that Iranian forces had for the first time fired long‑range missiles, expanding the risk of attacks beyond the Middle East, even as US President Donald Trump said Washington was considering “winding down” its military operation against Iran.

Iran launched two 4,000 km-range ballistic missiles at the US-UK ‌military base Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean, Israeli military chief Eyal Zamir said.

"These missiles are not intended to strike Israel. Their range reaches European capitals - Berlin, Paris, and Rome are all within direct threat range," Zamir said in a statement.

The Israeli military said it was the "first time" Iran had used long‑range missiles in the conflict, marking its first expansion beyond the Middle East since the United States and Israel began attacking Iran on Feb 28.

A source at Britain's defence ministry said the attack had occurred before the government gave specific authorisation on Friday for the US to use British military bases to carry out strikes on Iranian missile sites.

In a social media post, Trump said the US was close to meeting its goals but insisted that other countries should take the lead in policing the Strait of Hormuz, the shipping lane whose near-closure threatens a global energy shock.

"We are getting very close to meeting our objectives as we consider winding down our great Military efforts in the Middle East with respect to the Terrorist Regime of Iran," Trump said on Truth Social.

"The Hormuz Strait will have to be guarded and policed, as necessary, by other Nations who use it - The United States does not!" he added. "If asked, we will help these Countries in their Hormuz efforts, but it shouldn’t be necessary once Iran’s threat is eradicated."

Trump and his administration have sent mixed messages about US goals throughout the war, now entering its fourth week, leaving traditional US allies struggling to respond.

Trump has suggested the war could wind down as the Iranian threat was being eliminated, while at the same time US Marines and heavy landing craft head to the region.

More than 2,000 people have been killed in Iran since the US and Israel attacked on Feb 28, while American voters appear increasingly concerned at signs the war could expand.

Energy price shocks are fuelling inflation, hitting consumers and businesses hard - a major political liability for Trump as he seeks to justify the war to the US public before November elections in which he could lose control of Congress.

Trump had also accused NATO allies of cowardice over their reluctance to help open the strait. Some allies have said they will consider it, but most say they are reluctant to join a war that Trump started without consulting them.

IRAN STRIKES NEAR ISRAELI NUCLEAR REACTOR

Separately, two Iranian missiles struck the southern Israeli desert town of Dimona, injuring more than 100 people in the most destructive attack of the three-week war.

The strikes tore open the facades of residential buildings and carved craters into the ground.

First responders said 75 people were injured in the town of Arad, 10 of them seriously. Hours earlier, 33 were wounded in nearby Dimona, where AFPTV footage showed a large hole gouged into the ground next to piles of rubble and twisted metal.

Dimona hosts a facility widely believed to be the site of the Middle East's only nuclear arsenal, although Israel has never admitted to possessing nuclear weapons.

The Israeli army told AFP there had been a "direct missile hit on a building" in Dimona, with casualties reported at multiple sites, including a 10-year-old boy in serious condition with shrapnel wounds.

Iranian media said US-Israeli forces had attacked the Shahid Ahmadi-Roshan Natanz enrichment complex on Saturday morning. Technical experts found no radioactive leaks had occurred and nearby residents were not at risk. Israel said it was unaware of such a strike, while the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said it was investigating.

Iranian media later reported strikes on a passenger terminal in the southern port of Bushehr and an empty passenger ship at nearby Kharg Island. The island, where Iran loads nearly all its oil exports, is seen as a potential target if Washington decides to hit Iranian energy or to use ground troops to seize it.

Iran said it fired drones at US bases in the UAE and Kuwait used to stage attacks on Iranian islands in the Gulf.

Israel also attacked Beirut, saying it was targeting the Iran-backed Lebanese Hezbollah militia, part of the deadliest spillover from the war on Iran. Hezbollah fired on Israel in support of Tehran on Mar 2.

Defence Minister Israel Katz said Israel was planning to step up attacks in the coming days and was "determined to continue leading the attack against the Iranian terrorist regime, to behead its commanders and to thwart its strategic capabilities until any security threats to Israel and U.S. interests in the region are removed."

Israel said its aircraft attacked ballistic missile production sites around Tehran. Three members of a family were killed in a strike on a residential building in the city of Ramsar, Iranian media reported.

Air raid sirens in Israel warned of incoming missiles from early morning, sending millions to shelters as the blasts of interceptions rang out from above.

EUROPEAN GAS PRICES SURGE

Natural gas prices in Europe surged as much as 35 per cent this week after Israel hit Iran's biggest gas field and Iran responded by attacking neighbours' energy infrastructure. The European Union urged members to lower gas-storage targets and start refilling reserves gradually to curb demand, the Financial Times reported on Saturday.

The Strait of Hormuz, conduit for around a fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas supplies, has been effectively closed to most shipping.

India, suffering a severe shortage of cooking gas, has been one of the few countries so far to persuade Iran to let any of its ships through the strait, with two tankers carrying liquefied petroleum gas leaving last week and two more in position on Friday. Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke to Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian on Saturday.

Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi told Kyodo news agency that Tehran was ready to let Japan-related vessels pass through the strait, which carries around 90 per cent of Japan's oil imports.

LONDON: Te Anau in New Zealand is about as far removed from the tragic turmoil in the Middle East as it is possible to imagine. As the gateway to the South Island’s Fiordland, the tranquil town is all about stunning scenery, leisurely cruises and hipster vibes.

But even at the bottom of the world, my wife and I were frantically following the US-Israeli attack on Iran, which erupted while we were staying in Te Anau. No news addict can disconnect from such an event. Besides, we were focused on a more humdrum concern: Would our return Etihad flight to London via Abu Dhabi take off the following week? No.

Like many thousands of air passengers around the world, we found ourselves temporarily stranded. Our torturous efforts to return home highlighted the fragility of global travel networks. But they also exposed the flaws of the current flight booking system and the potential for developing better agentic AI solutions.

It was easy enough to find alternative flights via comparison sites and online travel agencies, such as Skyscanner, Expedia or Booking.com.

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The trouble was that prices had surged and some agencies failed to deliver the deals they offered. On one occasion, I thought we had secured a two-leg return via Singapore on Expedia. But the site buffered for hours before timing us out. In such situations, you can feel like the world’s worst mug for failing to find the least bad solution.

A TRAVEL AI AGENT?

How much smoother might the process have been if we could have employed our own personal AI agent to help find the optimal flights, secure the best prices, apply for the relevant visas and book everything with our approval? Agentic AI services are being developed to do just that, although they will take time to operate securely and reliably given the complexities.

Over the past few months, OpenAI, Anthropic and Google have all launched commercial agentic protocols that could provide the underlying infrastructure for such services. Google has already highlighted travel as a promising area for the agentic AI future.
 

At an industry conference this month, James Byers, Google’s travel product lead, said the company was working with industry partners to develop end-to-end agentic travel services, promising to give users “superpowers” they never had before.

Google already operates a travel search engine and could, with user permission, pull in data from its other services. To be effective, an AI agent would have to access confidential information, such as location, bank account, passwords and email. “Trust and transparency about these decisions are paramount,” Byers acknowledged.

TRUST ISSUES

One other trust challenge for companies such as Google, though, will be to convince users that their AI agents are working purely for their benefit - and not surreptitiously accepting deals with the company’s preferred commercial partners.

After abandoning the online agencies, I went straight to Air Canada’s website and managed to buy two one-way economy tickets to London via Vancouver and Toronto (with an overnight stay) on three jam-packed aeroplanes for £1,770 apiece (US$2,376). We finally made it home and did at least receive a refund on our original Etihad tickets.

But a good example of how the interests of paying partners can trump those of regular users emerged when I applied for an electronic travel authorisation to enter Canada. The top-ranked (sponsored) link on Google search promised to help sort my application for C$99 (US$72.17). The official Canadian government visa site, ranked a lot lower down, speedily completed the process for just C$7.
 

Many users will be reluctant to increase their dependency on the Big Tech companies. But a radically different future may be possible given how fast adaptable open source AI models are evolving and how individual users are increasingly building AI agents for themselves. One day it may be possible for everyone to create their own personal AI travel agent, if the glaring security concerns can be overcome.

That’s certainly the vision of Ted Lappas, chief technology officer of Conscium, a start-up developing AI agent verification services. 

He envisages a world in which we each run our own “digital twin” owning all our data and operating in our own interests. “I want to see a future where the consumer builds the twin,” he tells me.

If that really is the future of agentic AI, then bring it on. Not just the world’s travellers will be grateful.

GENEVA: Progress in combating racism is hitting a point at which it may be reversed, the UN rights chief warned Saturday (Mar 21), saying hate speech was spreading unchecked.

Hatemongers have notched successes in sowing distrust among societies, Volker Turk said on the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.

From the adoption of global frameworks to combat racism, to national anti-discrimination laws, and the acknowledgement of historical injustices, "we have made progress on the long road towards a more just society", Turk said in a statement.

"But we are approaching a checkpoint - a moment when this progress is being questioned, delayed, and even reversed.

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"This checkpoint was set up by those who thrive on division and polarisation. It is reinforced by discriminatory structures and sustained by the corrosive logic of dehumanisation.

"Because while we may no longer segregate people on buses, too often, we still do so in our thinking and our ways of life."

Turk said racial discrimination remains the most common ground for discrimination, "causing real pain to millions of people".

"Hate speech is spreading unchecked, including against migrants, refugees, and asylum seekers," he said.

"Those who propagate hatred have clearly succeeded in sowing distrust and chaos in our societies."

But Turk said humanity's quest for justice and dignity "will always prevail over delusional supremacist ideas".

The UN high commissioner for human rights called for the political will to fight racial discrimination, "regulate business activities and make online spaces safer".

"By questioning our assumptions, verifying facts, and learning about history and human rights, we can see through the tactics of distraction and recognise our shared humanity," he said.

TEHRAN: The US military said Saturday (Mar 21) that Iran's ability to threaten the Strait of Hormuz has been "degraded" by the bombing this week of an underground facility where it stored cruise missiles and other weaponry.

With Iran mostly closing off the Strait, the gateway for one-fifth of the world's oil, the US military has brought out some of the heaviest bombs in its arsenal to penetrate adjacent missile sites.

Admiral Brad Cooper, commander of US Central Command (CENTCOM), said it had dropped multiple 5,000-pound bombs on a "hardened" underground facility located along Iran's coast that it used to store anti-ship cruise missiles, mobile missile launchers and other equipment.

"We not only took out the facility, but also destroyed intelligence support sites and missile radar relays that were used to monitor ship movements," Cooper said in a video message posted on X.

"Iran's ability to threaten freedom of navigation in and around the Strait of Hormuz is degraded as a result, and we will not stop pursuing these targets," he added.

CENTCOM had revealed its use of the bunker-busting bombs on Tuesday, but in his message on Saturday, Cooper elaborated on their impact - as Washington comes under growing pressure to address the repercussions of the war on Iran on oil prices and global commerce.

The standoff in the Strait has sent crude oil prices soaring, with a barrel of North Sea Brent crude up more than 50 per cent over the past month and now more than US$105 a barrel.

On Friday, Trump slammed NATO allies as "cowards" and called on them to secure the Strait.

He also said that the United States was close to meeting its military objectives and considering "winding down" its military efforts in the Middle East.

Cooper said that the US military has so far struck over 8,000 military targets, including 130 Iranian vessels, in the past three weeks.

The 2,268kg bombs - which according to an Air Force Times report in 2022 cost an estimated US$288,000 each - are less powerful than the 13,600kg bombs dropped by the United States on Iranian nuclear sites last year.