Qatar condemns Iranian attack on buildings in Bahrain housing its naval personnel

Sri Lanka has taken control of a second Iranian naval vessel off its coast, a day after a US submarine sank an Iranian warship in nearby waters.

The vessel, identified as the Irins Bushehr, requested permission to dock after reporting engine trouble. Sri Lankan authorities allowed it to enter the northeastern port of Trincomalee, and 208 crew members were evacuated, officials said.

President Anura Kumara Dissanayake said Sri Lanka acted on humanitarian grounds and stressed the country’s neutrality amid the US-Israeli campaign against Iran.

The move follows Wednesday’s US torpedo attack on the Iranian frigate Iris Dena about 44 nautical miles off Sri Lanka’s southern coast, in which at least 87 people were killed.

The Kremlin said Russia remains a reliable supplier of oil, natural gas and liquefied natural gas and can guarantee deliveries despite market turmoil linked to the Iran crisis.

Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters Russia is in dialogue with representatives of Iranian leadership but gave no further comment.

He said there has been a “rise in demand for Russian energy because of war in Iran,” pointing to higher global interest in Russian supplies amid disruptions in other markets.

Qatar’s energy minister warned that war in the Middle East could force Persian Gulf exporters to halt energy shipments within weeks and send oil prices sharply higher, the Financial Times reported on Friday.

“This will bring down the economies of the world,” Saad al-Kaabi told the newspaper, predicting that if the war continues, global growth would suffer and energy prices would surge.

Kaabi said it would take Qatar “weeks to months” to return to normal deliveries after an Iranian drone strike hit its Ras Laffan liquefied natural gas plant, and added that “all exporters in the Gulf region will have to call force majeure” if hostilities persist.

The US Central Command said Iranian targets were “being decimated” by American forces as military operations continue.

“Iranian targets are being decimated by US forces, paving the way for continued delivery of overwhelming American military firepower,” CENTCOM said in a post on X.

Four men were arrested early Friday as part of a counterterrorism investigation into suspected offences under the UK’s National Security Act 2023, police said.

Detectives from Counter Terrorism Policing London detained the suspects shortly after 01:00 at addresses in Barnet and Watford during what authorities described as a pre-planned operation.

The investigation concerns suspected surveillance of locations and individuals connected to the Jewish community in the London area.

“Today’s arrests are part of a long-running investigation and part of our ongoing work to disrupt malign activity where we suspect it,” Commander Helen Flanagan, head of Counter Terrorism Policing London, said.

“We understand the public may be concerned, in particular the Jewish community, and as always, I would ask them to remain vigilant and if they see or hear anything that concerns them, then to contact us,” Flanagan added.

Arrests and searches

Police said the four suspects include one Iranian national and three men who hold dual British-Iranian citizenship.

Two of the men – aged 40 and 55 – were arrested at addresses in the Barnet area. Searches are ongoing at those locations.

A 52-year-old man was arrested in Watford. Officers are searching that property as well as another in Wembley.

A fourth suspect, a 22-year-old man, was arrested in Harrow.

Six additional men aged 20 to 49 were arrested at the same Harrow location on suspicion of assisting an offender. One of them was also arrested on suspicion of assaulting a police officer.

All ten men have been taken into custody.