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China offers $200,000 emergency humanitarian assistance to Iran after school attack.
Iran says death toll of US-Israeli strikes reaches 1,230.
Iran's IRGC official says will burn any ship trying to pass through Strait of Horm.
WASHINGTON -- US officials confirmed Friday that two US rescue helicopters involved in the search and rescue efforts for an F-15 fighter jet downed earlier on Friday were struck by Iranian fire, according to US media reports.
Crew members aboard the helicopters were unharmed, said an NBC News report, citing a US official.
Meanwhile, a second Air Force combat plane crashed in the Persian Gulf region on Friday, and the lone pilot was safely rescued, reported The New York Times, citing two US officials.
The officials said the A-10 Warthog attack plane went down near the Strait of Hormuz about the same time that the Air Force F-15E was shot down over Iran. One crew member was rescued and search-and-rescue operators are looking for the second airman.
Earlier on Friday, US officials confirmed that a US F-15E fighter was downed in southern Iran. While one crew member was rescued by US forces, the search and rescue mission is ongoing for the two-member crew aircraft.
It is the first known US warplane downed inside Iran since the United States and Israel launched massive attacks on Iran on Feb 28.
TEHRAN -- The Iranian army confirmed that its air defense systems shot down a US A-10 "Warthog" attack plane on Friday over Iran's southern waters near the Strait of Hormuz, with the aircraft crashing into the Persian Gulf.
The announcement, published on the army's website, came shortly after Iran's Islamic Revolution Guard Corps said that it had downed a US F-35 fighter jet in central Iranian airspace earlier in the day.
Later Friday, Iran's semi-official Mehr News Agency reported that a US Black Hawk helicopter was also hit by a projectile in Iranian airspace while searching for the pilot of the downed US fighter jet.
The United States has not officially commented on Iran's claim yet.
On Feb. 28, Israel and the United States launched joint attacks on Tehran and several other Iranian cities, killing Iran's then Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, along with senior military commanders and civilians. Iran responded by launching waves of missile and drone strikes targeting Israel and US assets in the Middle East.
TEHRAN -- Iran has rejected a US proposal for a 48-hour ceasefire, the semi-official Fars news agency reported on Friday.
The proposal was delivered to Iran through a "friendly" country on Thursday, Fars quoted an informed source as saying.
The source added that Washington has stepped up its diplomatic efforts to secure a ceasefire, particularly after an Iranian strike targeted a US "military forces depot" on Kuwait's Bubiyan Island.
According to Fars, assessments suggest that the proposal was put forward following an intensification of the crisis in the region and "serious problems" for US forces resulting from their country's "miscalculation" of Iran's military capabilities.
The report added that Iran's response to the offer was not given in writing, but through the continuation of attacks in the battlefield.
On Feb 28, Israel and the United States launched joint attacks on Tehran and several other Iranian cities, killing Iran's then Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, along with senior military commanders and civilians. Iran responded by launching waves of missile and drone strikes targeting Israel and US assets in the Middle East.
JERUSALEM -- Israel's Channel 12 News and other Israeli media outlets on Friday reported that the pilot of the US fighter jet that was shot down in Iranian airspace was safely rescued.
The outlets added that the fate of the navigator who was on the jet was unknown.
The channel also reported that the Israeli military has canceled strikes in the area in Iran, where searches are being conducted for the navigator, citing a senior Israeli official.
Israel's state-owned Kan TV News reported that Israel is assisting the United States with intelligence in locating the jet's crew.
Earlier in the day, Iran's Islamic Revolution Guard Corps said that the aircraft was hit by advanced air defence systems operated by its aerospace division.
The development came amid heightened regional tensions following joint US-Israeli strikes on Iran that began on Feb. 28. Iran has responded with missile and drone attacks on Israel and US military assets in neighboring Gulf countries.
TEHRAN -- Iran's semi-official Mehr News Agency reported Friday that a US Black Hawk helicopter was struck by a projectile in Iranian airspace while involved in a search for the pilot of an American fighter jet that Iranian forces said they shot down earlier in the day.
TEHRAN -- Yadollah Rahmani, governor of Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad province, called on Friday for residents in tribal and rural areas to assist authorities in locating "enemy pilots."
"The people of the province, particularly those in tribal areas, are doing their utmost to find these pilots," Rahmani said. "If enemy forces are spotted, capturing them alive is a priority."
He added that security, law enforcement, and military forces are closely monitoring the situation. Rahmani also said individuals who succeed in capturing or neutralizing hostile forces would be formally "commended" by the governorate.
Earlier on Friday, Iran's Islamic Revolution Guard Corps said its air defense systems had shot down a US F-35 fighter jet over central Iran, adding the fate of the pilot remained unknown.
WASHINGTON -- US President Donald Trump said Friday that the United States can open the Strait of Hormuz with a little more time.
"With a little more time, we can easily OPEN THE HORMUZ STRAIT, TAKE THE OIL, & MAKE A FORTUNE," Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social.
NEW YORK — The Iran war is making life more difficult for small business owners across the United States, who are grappling with shipping complications, higher costs and consumers tightening their grip on their wallets.
A shoe designer struggles to import shoes from Vietnam; a pistachio grower has millions of dollars worth of pistachio exports sitting in the water; and a home landscaper in Kansas City stockpiles fertilizer as prices skyrocket.
Small business owners say the severe supply chain disruptions during the pandemic were worse — but they fear if the Iran war stretches on for months, it might start to come close.
"The costs are rising, the routes are changing, and capacity is tightening," said Brandon Fried, executive director of the Airforwarders Association, a trade group for US companies that move cargo through the supply chain on all modes of transport.
"It's all happening at the same time, and that's a perfect storm for small businesses," he said.
The US is the world's largest exporter of pistachios, followed by Iran, according to the US Department of Agriculture.
At Nichols Farms in Hanford, California, chief operating officer Jared Lorraine said exports make up about 50 percent of the pistachio business, with shipments bound for Europe, China and, increasingly, the Middle East.
The effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz has made deliveries to several clients impossible. When the war started, he estimates about $5 million worth of pistachios got stranded in the water.
"While much of the public attention has been focused on oil, which is significant, really, the destruction of the food system is equally as serious," he said.
Matthew Tran, founder of Los Angeles-based footwear brand Birchbury, said the conflict has driven up shipping costs. The company makes minimalist shoes in Vietnam and ships to customers across the US, the United Kingdom and Australia.
Tran typically pays about $3,500 to ship a container from Vietnam, but costs have doubled to about $7,000 since the war began, as shippers reroute and face higher insurance costs. Delivery times have also increased by three to four weeks.
"Even though it doesn't seem like it would directly affect me because I'm going from Vietnam to America, it does affect me when there's more congestion," he said.
Supply chain disruption was worse during the pandemic, but he is worried about how long the war will last.
Jake Wilson, owner of Top Class Lawn Care in Kansas City, Missouri, maintains nearly 400 lawns across the city. The closure of the Strait of Hormuz has upended fertilizer supplies, as the Middle East accounts for almost 30 percent of global exports of major fertilizers.
Within days of the war's outbreak, two suppliers told him to expect price increases and advised placing orders early. Rising prices are a concern because about 70 percent of his clients lock in annual lawn care rates and prepay at the beginning of the year.
Wilson said he wants to avoid returning to customers midyear to request higher payments because of rising fertilizer costs. "It's on me to try to get out ahead of it, the best I can, so I could still try to be profitable while keeping prices where I quoted at the beginning of the year."
AGENCIES VIA XINHUA
TEHRAN -- At least eight civilians were killed and 95 others wounded in US and Israeli attacks on a bridge in Iran's northern Alborz province on Thursday, the official news agency IRNA reported.
According to the report, the B1 bridge, located in the provincial capital Karaj, is one of the highest bridges in the Middle East and among the most complicated projects in Iran. It was targeted twice with missiles on Thursday.
IRNA cited Qodratollah Seif, the province's deputy governor for political, security and social affairs, as saying that among those killed and injured were the inhabitants of Bileqan village, passengers and the families who had gathered in the nearby areas for the Nature Day, a traditional Iranian holiday marking the end of the Nowruz holidays.
He added that there were no military activities in the areas surrounding the bridge, stressing that the structure was under construction and scheduled to be inaugurated in the coming days.
Seif said those injured in the strikes were immediately transferred to nearby medical centers, and some of them were hospitalized.
Condemning the attacks in a post on social media platform X, Iran's Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi said, "Striking civilian structures, including unfinished bridges, will not compel Iranians to surrender."
He added, "It only conveys the defeat and moral collapse of an enemy in disarray. Every bridge and building will be built back stronger. What will never recover: damage to America's standing."
On Feb. 28, Israel and the United States launched joint attacks on Tehran and several other Iranian cities, killing Iran's then Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, along with senior military commanders and civilians. Iran responded with waves of missile and drone strikes targeting Israel and US assets in the Middle East.
TEHRAN -- Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) said in a statement on Thursday it has targeted and destroyed Amazon's cloud computing operation center in Bahrain in its first action against US and Israeli "espionage" firms in the region in retaliation for the "assassinations" of Iranians.
ABU DHABI -- The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is ready to participate in any measures to secure navigation in the Strait of Hormuz amid ongoing regional tensions, a senior UAE official said on Thursday.
Khalifa Shaheen Al Marar, UAE minister of state, said in an interview with Al Ittihad that the UAE stands ready to contribute to efforts ensuring the safety of maritime routes in the strategic waterway.
The minister stressed that the Strait of Hormuz is an international passage governed by international law, and that any attempt to close it would violate international law and threaten global security.
He added that the UAE will seek to safeguard its rights following what it described as Iranian aggression, while reaffirming the country's readiness to take part in collective measures to ensure regional stability.
Israel and the United States launched joint attacks on Tehran and several other Iranian cities on Feb 28, killing Iran's then Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, along with senior military commanders and civilians. Iran responded with waves of missile and drone strikes targeting Israel and US assets in the Middle East.
China's Special Envoy on the Middle East Issue Zhai Jun held a phone conversation with Wolfgang Amadeus Brulhart, the Swiss special envoy for the Middle East and North Africa, on Thursday.
Both sides exchanged views on the current tensions in the Middle East.
Hopes for the de-escalation of the war on Iran were abruptly dampened after United States President Donald Trump said the fighting could last another three weeks despite claiming Washington's core objectives were near "completion".
Addressing the US on April 1, Trump doubled down and threatened to bomb Iran back to "the Stone Ages" even as he said the country had been "eviscerated" and was no longer a threat.
He called Iran the "bully of the Middle East" as he justified his ongoing war, saying it is an "investment for the children's future and your grandchildren's future".
"The countries of the world that do receive oil through the Hormuz Strait must take care of that passage … they must grab it and cherish it. They can do it easily," Trump said.
"We will be helpful, but they should take the lead in protecting the oil that they so desperately depend on.
"So to those countries that can't get fuel, many of which refused to get involved in the decapitation of Iran, we had to do it ourselves," he added, and suggested that they "buy oil from the United States".
Trump also thanked US allies in the Middle East — namely Israel, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, and Bahrain — which bore much of the collateral damage as he called on other countries to do more to unblock the Strait of Hormuz.
Notably Oman, which had been involved in the negotiations before the Feb 28 strikes on Iran, was left out.
Mehran Kamrava, a professor of government at Georgetown University in Qatar, told China Daily that Trump's speech was directed at a domestic audience to justify the length of the war on Iran, the cause of the war on Iran, and the high prices of gasoline in the US.
Kamrava noted that nothing changed with Trump's speech. The anticipation was that the president would announce either a land invasion of Iran or a de-escalation of the conflict, Kamrava said, "and he did neither".
"The fact that he thanked Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and Qatar for the assistance in the US-Israeli war on Iran … only further justifies Iranian attacks on the Persian Gulf states," Kamrava said.
He noted that Iran's attacks on these US allies are part of the war as they have US military assistance and weaponry.
Kamrava said Trump's speech only adds to the justification of what the Iranians are saying, such as the significant number of US military personnel and troops across the Persian Gulf, US bases being used in the war against Iran, and Iran's claims that missiles are being fired at it from the UAE.
"All of these claims, by Iran, and now Trump's admissions that the Persian Gulf states are helping the war effort, give Iranians added munitions to hit targets across the UAE, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and Bahrain," said Kamrava.
Trump's address to the nation came hours after Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian reaffirmed in a lengthy post on X that Iran harbors no "enmity" or "ill will" toward ordinary US citizens, Europeans, or its Gulf neighbors.
In response to Trump's claims Tehran will agree to a deal within two to three weeks, Iran's foreign ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei said Iran "will not tolerate this vicious cycle of war, negotiations, ceasefire, and then repeating the same pattern," Al Jazeera reported.
Baghaei said Iran will continue to fight back for as long as US-Israeli strikes continue, but reiterated that Tehran does not regard its Gulf neighbors as "enemies" and called the conflict "catastrophic not only for Iran, but for the entire region and beyond."
"This is an unjust war that has been imposed on the Iranian people. We have no choice but to fight back strongly," he was quoted as saying by Al Jazeera.
Meanwhile, the UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs reaffirmed its embrace of the Iranian community as "integral to its social fabric" amid reports that the UAE was barring some Iranians from entering and transiting in the country.
The UAE said it embraces the Iranian community that is respected and appreciated, forms part of its social fabric, and contributes to enhancing its diversity and openness.
"In light of the inaccurate media allegations circulating regarding the residency conditions of the Iranian community, the UAE reassures residents in the country that its institutional approach is based on solid foundations of procedures and frameworks adopted, in order to safeguard the safety and well-being of all members of society, without exception," said the foreign ministry statement.
Contact the writers at jan@chinadailyapac.com
TEHRAN -- Commander of the Fatehin unit of Iran's Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC) Mohammad-Ali Fathalizadeh was killed on Wednesday in the ongoing war with the United States and Israel, Iran's Defa Press news agency, a news outlet affiliated with the General Staff of Iran's Armed Forces, reported on Thursday.
PARIS - French President Emmanuel Macron said on Thursday that using military force to "free" the Strait of Hormuz is unrealistic, according to local media reports.
"It has never been the option we have chosen, and we consider it unrealistic," Macron said during a visit to South Korea, as quoted by French news channel BFM TV.
He stressed that military action cannot provide a "lasting solution" to the Iranian nuclear issue.
"If there is no framework for diplomatic and technical negotiations, the situation could deteriorate again within a few months or a few years," he warned.
Responding to accusations by US President Donald Trump, Macron reiterated that military actions against Iran "are not our operation" and were decided unilaterally by the United States and Israel.
In a post on his social media platform Truth Social, Trump claimed that "France wouldn't let planes headed to Israel, loaded with military supplies, fly over French territory," describing the country as "very unhelpful" and warning that the United States would "remember."
The United Nations Security Council should help de-escalate the situation in the Gulf region and the Middle East, China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi has said.
The UN Security Council actions should bring an end to conflict and resume talks, rather than endorsing illegal acts of war or adding fuel to the fire, Wang said during a telephone call with Bahraini Foreign Minister Abdullatif bin Rashid Al Zayani on Thursday.
During the conversation, Wang reiterated China's principled stance of opposing aggression and promoting peace, highlighting the country's role as a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council and its wider sense of responsibility.
Wang told Al Zayani that China is willing to work with Bahrain to help put an end to the conflict and restore peace in the Gulf region and the Middle East.
Beijing is willing to work with Bahrain to promote lasting stability in the region and safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of countries in the Global South, particularly the small and medium-sized nations, he added.
Al Zayani briefed Wang on the latest developments in the Middle East and Bahrain's position, saying that, in addition to navigation through the Strait of Hormuz being disrupted, Gulf countries currently face severe security challenges.
According to Al Zayani, Bahrain, which currently holds the presidency of the Gulf Cooperation Council Supreme Council, is willing to work through the UN Security Council to resolve the issue of navigation through the Strait, and also hopes to strengthen communication and coordination with China.
Earlier this week, China and Pakistan issued a five-point initiative for restoring peace and stability in the Gulf region and the Middle East, which?includes calls for halting attacks on civilians and non-military targets, ensuring the security of the Strait of Hormuz and restoring regular navigation.
"A ceasefire and an end to military action are the shared aspiration of the international community," Wang said.
zhangyunbi@chinadaily.com.cn
The European Union has warned of a prolonged energy crisis following the United States and Israel's war on Iran, which has added approximately 14 billion euros ($16 billion) to the EU's energy import bill.
A long-running conflict will intensify global competition for supplies to outlast the Middle East conflict, the EU's Energy Commissioner Dan Jorgensen warned, as the bloc's energy ministers weighed measures to shield households from high prices.
In a letter to EU energy ministers ahead of an emergency meeting on Tuesday, Jorgensen urged governments to make "timely preparations".
"Nobody knows how long the crisis will be, but I think it is very important to underline that it will not be short," said Jorgensen.
EU oil and gas prices have risen by 60 and 70 percent, respectively, since the conflict started a month ago, he noted.
"Thirty days of conflict have already added 14 billion euros to the (EU's) fossil fuel import bill. Even if there was a peace tomorrow, there would still be consequences. Because energy infrastructure in the (Middle East) region has been and continuously is being ruined by the war," he added.
EU officials have said Europe's immediate oil and gas supplies remain secure in the short-term, because the bloc gets most of its crude oil and natural gas from suppliers outside the Middle East, including Norway and the United States.
However, Jorgensen said Brussels is particularly concerned in the short-term about Europe's supply of refined products, such as jet fuel and diesel.
The letter said governments should avoid measures that would increase fuel consumption, restrict trade in petroleum products, or discourage output at European refineries.
"Member states are encouraged to defer any non-emergency refinery maintenance," it added.
Jorgensen said the European Commission, the executive arm of the EU, is preparing a "toolbox" of measures that will be unveiled "soon" to support businesses and households, including relaxing certain state-aid rules.
"We are in a situation that might worsen, where indeed demand-reduction is necessary," he said, adding that he encouraged countries to "do whatever you can … to get renewable energy online".
One energy geopolitics specialist said supply shock effects will be swift and costly.
Speaking to France 24, Francesco Sassi, assistant professor at the University of Oslo and an expert in energy geopolitics, said the war in Iran has triggered "the largest oil supply disruption in history".
He added that "what is really concerning is that national governments will start to unilaterally take action, subsidizing energy consumption or act to secure energy supplies, and this will inevitably increase the cost of natural gas and oil in Europe".
On Tuesday, US President Donald Trump told reporters the US "will be leaving (Iran) very soon" and that US military action could end as soon as in "two or three weeks".
Separately, Trump warned allies including France and the UK that the US "won't be there to help you anymore".
"All of those countries that can't get jet fuel because of the Strait of Hormuz, like the United Kingdom, which refused to get involved in the decapitation of Iran, I have a suggestion for you," Trump wrote on social media. "No 1, buy from the US, we have plenty, and No 2, build up some delayed courage, go to the Strait, and just TAKE IT.
"You'll have to start learning how to fight for yourself, the USA won't be there to help you anymore, just like you weren't there for us.
"Iran has been, essentially, decimated. The hard part is done. Go get your own oil!"
It was confirmed on Tuesday that the UK's King Charles III and Queen Camilla will meet Trump when they undertake a state visit to the US at the end of this month.
jonathan@mail.chinadailyuk.com
In between Israeli bombardments of Lebanon and the fallout from Washington and Tel Aviv's joint strikes on Iran across the Middle East, Najib Saab and his team at the Arab Forum for Environment and Development, drastically reduced their operations until the shift to work online became inevitable.
Though the setup may feel like the COVID-19 pandemic all over again, the secretary-general of AFED, a not-for-profit NGO promoting environmental policies and programs across the Arab region, said that their office in downtown Beirut, Lebanon, suffered damage twice recently because of nearby explosions.
"We live between one disaster and another," he said. "We depend 90 percent on private generator for electricity, at very high cost now due to increasing fuel prices."
The United States and Israel began their attacks on Iran on Feb 28, including a strike hitting the Shajareh Tayyebeh Primary School in Minab in the southern Iranian province of Hormozgan, killing 175 including dozens of schoolgirls, according to the Time Magazine. Since then, Tehran has responded with retaliatory action.
As both sides engaged in tit-for-tat strikes across the region with civilian and energy infrastructure bearing the brunt of the damages, concerns are growing over the ecological harm and public health risks.
On March 7, thick smoke covered Tehran's skies after Israeli air strikes hit oil facilities and killed at least four people. World Health Organization spokesperson Christian Lindmeier warned on March 10 that the "black rain" that fell on Tehran after the strikes "is indeed a danger" for Iranians and advised people to stay indoors.
Lindmeier also said Iranian strikes on oil infrastructure in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia raised concerns of "wider regional pollution exposure", highlighting the long-term effects of pollutants, which affect respiratory health and contaminate water.
On March 16, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi called Israel's bombings of fuel depots in Tehran "ecocide" and demanded that Israel be "punished for its war crimes".
Saab, from AFED, said he believes people's exposure to toxic substances amid the conflict would have effects "continuing for decades after the war ends", which currently shows no signs of abating.
"The ultimate goal is to control natural resources, not to free people from dictatorships, as promoted by the US and Israel," he said.
What makes it more dangerous, he said, is that the main players on all sides "rely on fundamentalist ideologies to muster support among their fanatic popular base from extreme Zionists and their evangelical disciples in Israel and the US, to the theocratic regimes on the opposite side, turning the conflict into a sort of holy war".
"This leads warring parties in this conflict to grossly disregard all traditional rules governing wars and international humanitarian laws," Saab said.
"What complicates matters further is the US administration's view of the world as pure real estate opportunities, regardless of national and human rights of people.
"This is precisely demonstrated in the attacks on energy and power facilities initiated on Iran, which triggered counterattacks on energy installations in Arab countries hosting US military presence."
He said the situation may become more dangerous if seawater desalination plants in the Gulf Arab countries are targeted by bombing or their operations disrupted by massive oil pollution.
"This threatens the very survival of millions, as some countries do not have alternative sources of fresh water other than desalination."
Rumaitha Al Busaidi, vice-president of the Environment Society of Oman, said that the environmental cost of this conflict operates on two timescales.
Immediate damage
The immediate damage is visible, she said, citing refinery fires releasing toxic hydrocarbons and sulfur compounds into the air, the risk of oil entering the marine environment through the Strait of Hormuz, and the ongoing threat to ecosystems already operating under extreme stress from warming seas and chronic pollution.
"The Gulf and the Sea of Oman support over 1,600 fish species and the second-most important dugong population in the world after Australia. Military activity in these waters compounds pressures that were already approaching critical thresholds."
She said the less visible dimension may prove more consequential. A new analysis suggests the first 14 days of the conflict released more than 5 million metric tons of carbon dioxide, equivalent to the combined annual output of 84 small nations.
The largest share of immediate atmospheric emissions comes from fuel consumption by military aircraft and naval vessels, which generate up to 30 times the carbon output of infrastructure destruction.
"Rerouted civilian aviation across the region adds further emissions. The targeting of gas storage facilities risks releasing uncombusted methane, a far more potent greenhouse gas in the short term," Al Busaidi said. "These invisible contributions feed directly into the atmospheric imbalance driving more extreme weather patterns across the region and beyond."
From energy to food, the ongoing conflict has sent global markets into a frenzy, with the International Energy Agency saying the situation was worse than the 1970s energy crisis and the Ukraine-Russia conflict combined.
The uncertainty has prompted the Philippines, which holds the Association of Southeast Asian Nations chair this year, to be the first country to declare a national energy emergency.
"From my perspective as a corporate lawyer in Jakarta, the war in Iran may feel far away, but its environmental impact is not," said Glenn Wijaya, a senior associate at the Christian Teo & Partners law firm.
War "is inherently carbon-intensive", he said, and over time, this feeds into climate change and rising sea levels. This "is a very real and immediate concern for Indonesia", the largest economy in ASEAN, accounting for nearly 40 percent of the bloc's GDP.
"At the same time, higher oil prices are creating a tricky balance. On one hand, they push countries — including Indonesia — toward cleaner energy," Wijaya said.
"On the other, they can also lead to greater short-term reliance on fossil fuels to keep energy affordable and stable. Recent discussions about increasing coal production quota reflect that reality."
Policy push
However, there is a clear policy push in the other direction, Wijaya said, noting Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto making energy transition a priority, with Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Bahlil Lahadalia driving efforts such as expanding solar power, reducing diesel use, and accelerating two-wheeler electric vehicle adoption.
"So while the war is distant, its effects are not. It is shaping how Indonesia consumes energy, with mixed environmental outcomes," Wijaya said.
Saab, from AFED, said the conflict in the Middle East, as well as in Ukraine, "will have long-standing consequences on the environment for many decades".
However, the major impact might be on the energy sector, with vulnerabilities exposed, both for producing and consuming countries.
"Producers have to expedite diversifying their economies, to minimize dependence on oil and gas for income, and redraw supply routes.
"The wars will certainly delay achieving development targets across the region, putting reconstruction ahead of any other goals. This will also have a great stress on resources, from water to energy to building materials, with huge environmental impact," Saab said.
Nabeela Siddiqui, assistant professor at Vinayaka Mission's Law School, a constituent unit of Vinayaka Mission's Research Foundation in Chennai, India, said that the relationship between environmental health and national security "is not incidental in the Middle East, but it is foundational".
She said scarce water resources, fragile ecosystems, and climate vulnerability mean that environmental degradation directly threatens state stability, civilian welfare, and regional peace.
"The challenge, then, is not simply recognizing this link, but enforcing accountability for environmental harm even when conflict is ongoing. International humanitarian law provides one of the most powerful entry points," Siddiqui said.
"Embedding environmental restoration targets directly within ceasefire and peace frameworks — specifying, for instance, the supervised reopening of water treatment facilities — elevates environmental concerns from diplomatic afterthoughts to concrete, monitored obligations," Siddiqui said.
"Ultimately, the most durable strategy combines rigorous real-time evidence collection with financial conditionality — ensuring that whoever signs a peace agreement also accepts responsibility for the land, water, and air that their populations depend upon," Siddiqui said.
jan@chinadailyapac.com
WASHINGTON - While saying the United States is "nearing completion" of its core objectives in Iran, US President Donald Trump on Wednesday night threatened to hit Iran "extremely hard over the next two to three weeks," a timeline he has recently set for ending the monthlong war.
"I can say tonight that we are on track to complete all of America's military objectives very shortly. We are going to hit them extremely hard over the next two to three weeks. We're going to bring them back to the Stone Ages where they belong," Trump said in a primetime address to the nation.
The president insisted that the negotiations between the United States and Iran "are ongoing" despite Iran's denial, saying Iran's "regime change has occurred because of all of their original leaders' deaths" and "the new group is less radical and much more reasonable."
"If there is no deal, we are going to hit each and every one of their electric generating plants very hard and probably simultaneously," Trump said. He also signaled the US military could target Iran's oil infrastructure.
Trump again urged US allies to "build up some delayed courage" and take the lead in reopening the Strait of Hormuz, suggesting Washington may end the US-Israeli war with Iran without reopening the crucial global energy waterway, whose prolonged closure has fueled a global energy shock and sent oil and gas prices sharply higher.
"Go to the strait and just take it, protect it, use it for yourselves," Trump urged US allies, claiming again that the strait would "just open up naturally" with the end of the war.
Grappling with market volatility and public concerns over a drawn-out war, Trump argued the ongoing conflict, now in its fifth week, is far shorter than wars such as World War II, Vietnam or Iraq, and should be viewed as a necessary "investment" in the future rather than another prolonged conflict abroad.
Trump used the primetime address to justify the Iran war, tout US military gains, and assure the US public the war is nearing its end, local analysts say.
Markets reacted negatively to Trump's address on his Iran war strategy, with S&P 500 futures falling 0.75 percent, Nasdaq futures down 1 percent, and Dow futures dropping more than 310 points.
Meanwhile, oil prices surged, with US crude rising from about 98 US dollars to nearly 104 dollars a barrel, while Brent crude climbed from around 99 dollars to 106 dollars.
Up to 67 percent of Americans believe that Trump does not have a clear plan for handling the situation in Iran, according to the latest CNN poll.
Trump claims Iran war objectives near completion
