Iran denies role in Saudi oil sector attacks - Reuters

A drone attack struck the Ali Al Salem air base in Kuwait on Sunday, destroying an Italian remotely piloted aircraft but leaving Italian personnel unharmed, Italy’s defense chief said.

“This morning the Ali Al Salem base in Kuwait, which hosts American and Italian capabilities and personnel, was the target of a drone attack that struck a shelter where an Italian Air Task Force remotely piloted aircraft was housed, destroying it,” Chief of Defense Staff General Luciano Portolano said on X.

He said all Italian personnel at the base were safe at the time of the attack and were not involved.

Germany’s Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul said on Sunday he was sceptical about widening the European Union’s Aspides naval mission to the Strait of Hormuz.

Wadephul said the mission, which was launched to help commercial shipping pass safely through the Red Sea, had not been effective.

“And that is why I am very sceptical that extending Aspides to the Strait of Hormuz would provide greater security,” he said in an interview with Germany’s ARD broadcaster.

Israel’s military said on Sunday it targeted several headquarters belonging to Iran’s Revolutionary Guards and the Basij militia in the Hamedan region of western Iran.

“The Israeli Air Force completed a wave of strikes against headquarters of the Iranian regime in the Hamedan area in western Iran,” the Israeli military’s Persian-language account said in a statement.

According to the statement, several central headquarters linked to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and the Basij were targeted in the strikes.

“These headquarters were used by regime operatives to manage ongoing activities, as well as to plan and advance terrorist operations against Israel and other countries in the Middle East,” the statement said.

More than 400 million barrels of oil from emergency reserves will soon begin flowing to global markets, the International Energy Agency said on Sunday.

Member countries have pledged to make available 411.9 million barrels of oil, the agency said in a statement.

Governments committed to release 271.7 million barrels from government stocks, 116.6 million barrels from obligated industry stocks, and 23.6 million barrels from other sources, according to the statement.

The IEA said 72% of the planned releases will be crude oil, while 28% will be oil products.

Stocks from Asia-Oceania countries will be available immediately, while stocks from Europe and the Americas will become available at the end of March, the agency said.

Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Tehran has not requested a ceasefire or negotiations in the ongoing war involving Iran, the United States and Israel.

“No, we never asked for a cease fire, and we have never asked even for negotiation,” Araghchi said in an interview with CBS News.

“We are ready to defend ourselves as long as it takes. And this is what we have done so far, and we continue to do that,” he said.