The International Energy Agency announced Sunday that emergency oil reserves held by its member countries will soon begin entering global markets, with governments committing to release a total of 411.9 million barrels in an effort to ease supply pressures.
In a statement, the agency said participating nations have agreed to provide 271.7 million barrels from government-controlled reserves. An additional 116.6 million barrels will come from industry stocks that companies are required to maintain, while another 23.6 million barrels will be supplied from other sources.
According to the IEA, the majority of the planned release will consist of crude oil, accounting for 72 percent of the total, while the remaining 28 percent will be refined petroleum products.
The agency said supplies from member countries in the Asia-Oceania region will become available immediately, while oil held in Europe and the Americas is scheduled to reach markets beginning at the end of March.
{Matzav.com}
Iranian authorities have detained dozens of individuals suspected of providing Israel with sensitive information, according to local reports published Sunday, as Israeli and U.S. airstrikes continue targeting sites across the country.
In Iran’s northwest, the semi-official Tasnim news agency reported that prosecutors ordered the arrest of 20 people accused of transmitting the locations of military and security installations to Israel.
Separately, Tasnim reported that authorities in northeastern Iran detained 10 individuals on Sunday. Some of those taken into custody are suspected of gathering intelligence on sensitive facilities and key economic infrastructure.
“As the Zionist enemy (Israel) and the U.S. are attempting to invade Iran, they simultaneously activate mercenaries and spies to carry out riots as the next step,” a provincial branch of the Revolutionary Guards’ intelligence organization said, according to Tasnim.
Additional arrests were reported in western Iran. The Student News Network said three people were detained in Lorestan province for “seeking to disturb public opinion (…) and burn mourning symbols.”
According to a source familiar with Israel’s military planning, Israeli forces have recently begun striking security checkpoints and other targets based on information supplied by informants operating inside Iran, marking a new stage in Israel’s campaign.
The arrests come amid continuing internal tensions in Iran. In January, just weeks before the United States and Israel launched their current military campaign against the country, large anti-government demonstrations erupted across Iran.
Those protests were suppressed in what became the deadliest crackdown in the history of the Islamic Republic.
Iranian officials accused both Israel and the United States of instigating the unrest, alleging that the demonstrations were “violent riots” intended to topple the country’s clerical leadership.
{Matzav.com}No country publicly agreed on Sunday to send naval forces to help secure the Strait of Hormuz after President Donald Trump urged major powers to deploy warships to keep the crucial waterway “open and safe” amid soaring oil prices linked to the ongoing war with Iran.
U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright said Washington has been communicating with several nations about the issue but did not identify which governments were involved. Speaking to NBC, Wright said he expects China to play a positive role in reopening the shipping lane through which roughly one-fifth of the world’s oil exports typically move.
Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, also spoke to NBC and said Tehran has already been contacted by several governments seeking safe passage for their ships. “Iran has been ‘approached by a number of countries’ seeking safe passage for their vessels,” he said, adding that “this is up to our military to decide.” Araghchi noted that a group of vessels from “different countries” had already been allowed to transit the waterway, though he did not offer additional details.
Iran has maintained that the strait remains open to most nations but not to the United States or countries aligned with it.
Araghchi also dismissed the idea of negotiations with Washington to bring the war to a close. “We don’t see any reason why we should talk with Americans” about ending the conflict, he said, arguing that the fighting began when Israel and the United States launched coordinated attacks on Feb. 28 during indirect U.S.-Iran discussions. Those talks had been centered on Iran’s nuclear program, and Araghchi added that Tehran had “no plan to recover” enriched uranium buried beneath rubble after U.S. and Israeli strikes last year.
British Energy Secretary Ed Miliband said Western governments are exploring options to reopen the strait but acknowledged that the conflict itself remains the central obstacle. “We are intensively looking with our allies at what can be done, because it’s so important that we get the strait reopened,” Miliband told Sky News, adding that ending the war is the “best and surest” way to do it.
South Korea’s Foreign Ministry responded cautiously to Trump’s request, saying it is monitoring the situation closely and coordinating with Washington. Officials said Seoul “takes note” of Trump’s call and that it “will closely coordinate and carefully review” the situation with the U.S.
Attention has also turned to Japan, where there is speculation that Trump may request naval assistance during an upcoming meeting with Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi at the White House later this week.
China did not immediately respond publicly to the call for assistance.
France has previously indicated it is discussing a possible multinational escort mission for commercial vessels passing through the strait. President Emmanuel Macron said the effort could involve partners in Europe, India, and other Asian countries, though French officials stressed that such an operation could only proceed when “the circumstances permit,” meaning once the fighting has subsided.
Meanwhile, the International Energy Agency announced Sunday that emergency oil reserves will soon begin entering global markets in an effort to stabilize prices. The organization described the coordinated release of reserves as the largest ever undertaken.
The agency updated an earlier figure of 400 million barrels to nearly 412 million barrels. Asian member states are expected to release supplies immediately, while stockpiles held in Europe and the Americas are scheduled to begin reaching markets at the end of March.
At the same time, tensions across the Persian Gulf escalated as several Arab countries reported new missile and drone attacks. The strikes came a day after Iran warned residents to evacuate three major ports in the United Arab Emirates, marking the first time Tehran has directly threatened non-U.S. assets in a neighboring state. Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE said their air defense systems were working to intercept incoming projectiles.
Iran also accused the United States of launching Friday’s strike on Kharg Island — home to the country’s primary oil export terminal — from bases in the UAE, though it provided no evidence.
U.S. Central Command declined to comment on the allegation. Anwar Gargash, a diplomatic adviser to the UAE president, rejected the claim, and Gulf states hosting U.S. military bases reiterated that they have not allowed their territory or airspace to be used in attacks on Iran.
Iran’s joint military command warned that it could retaliate against what it described as U.S.-linked “oil, economic and energy infrastructures” throughout the region if its own oil facilities continue to come under attack.
Since the war began, Iran has launched hundreds of missiles and drones at the UAE, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Oman. While many have been intercepted, the attacks have caused damage and unsettled regional economies. Tehran insists the strikes target American assets, although impacts have also been reported at civilian locations including airports and oil installations.
The war has already taken a heavy toll across the region. Iranian strikes have killed at least a dozen civilians in Gulf countries, most of them migrant workers.
Inside Iran, the International Committee of the Red Cross reported that more than 1,300 people have been killed. Iran’s Health Ministry said the casualties include 223 women and 202 children, according to Mizan, the judiciary’s official news agency.
In Israel, Iranian missile attacks have killed 12 people and wounded others, including three who were injured on Sunday. The conflict has also claimed the lives of at least 13 U.S. military personnel, including six who died in a plane crash in Iraq last week.
Lebanon has also suffered heavy casualties since the conflict expanded there. The country’s Health Ministry said at least 820 people have been killed since Iran-backed Hezbollah began launching attacks on Israel and Israel responded with airstrikes and additional troop deployments in southern Lebanon.
The fighting has also triggered a massive humanitarian crisis. Within just 10 days, more than 800,000 people — nearly one in seven residents of Lebanon — have been displaced, barely a year after a previous conflict forced over a million Lebanese from their homes.
In Beirut, displaced families were seen repairing tents battered by rain and wind. Fadi Younes, who fled the southern suburbs, said his living conditions had become extremely difficult after his bedding was soaked by the weather.
“We don’t know where this will end,” he said.
In the southern suburb of Haret Hreik, cleanup crews worked to remove rubble from largely deserted streets.
“The important thing is that the roads remain open for hospitals and for people,” excavator driver Hachem Fadlallah said.
Israel said its forces continued striking targets in Iran, while Iranian missiles continued to be launched toward Israel, sending residents rushing into shelters as warning sirens sounded.
Several of the strikes landed in central Israel and the Tel Aviv region, damaging 23 locations and igniting a small fire. Israel’s emergency service, Magen David Adom, released footage showing a large crater in a street and shrapnel damage to a nearby apartment building.
Multiple simultaneous impact sites have become increasingly common in the war, with Israel’s military saying Iran has begun using cluster munitions designed to evade certain air defense systems and disperse explosive fragments across wide areas.
{Matzav.com}
Andy Thomson has officially been declared the winner of the Boca Raton mayoral election after both machine and manual recounts confirmed the results of the closely contested race.
The final tally showed Thomson prevailing by an extremely narrow margin of just five votes.
Election officials conducted the recount in the Boca Raton mayoral contest on Friday.
According to the updated results, Thomson edged out challenger Mike Liebelson after the manual review of ballots. The final count showed Thomson receiving 7,572 votes, while Liebelson finished with 7,567. A third candidate, Fran Nachlas, placed far behind with 3,967 votes.
In a separate contest in Lake Worth Beach, voters narrowly rejected a ballot measure known as Question 5. The referendum failed by only two votes, with 1,640 residents voting against it and 1,638 supporting it.
Question 5 asked Lake Worth Beach citizens: Since the City no longer operates its own police or fire departments, should the section of the City Charter that refers to those departments be removed to avoid confusion?
Meanwhile, in the race for a seat on the South Beach Town Council, five candidates competed for the position. Francesca Atardi led the field in the machine count with 262 votes, with Adrian Brucet and Sandra Beckett trailing behind.
Election officials said that differences between the machine totals and the manual recount were caused by overvotes and undervotes, which slightly altered the numbers but did not change the overall results.
{Matzav.com}
The Israel Defense Forces said Sunday that the brother of the man who carried out a vehicle attack at a Jewish preschool in Michigan held a senior position in Hezbollah as a weapons commander.
Ayman Muhammad Ghazali, 41, was killed Thursday after ramming a vehicle into Temple Israel in West Bloomfield Township, Michigan.
According to a statement released by the IDF on Sunday morning, Ghazali’s brother, Ibrahim Muhammad Ghazali, oversaw weapons operations within a specialized division of Hezbollah’s Badr Unit.
The Israeli military said this branch of the Lebanese terror organization was responsible for firing hundreds of rockets at Israeli civilians during the recent conflict with Iran.
Just days before the Michigan attack, several members of Ghazali’s family were killed in an Israeli airstrike in Lebanon. A local official told the Associated Press on Friday that two of Ghazali’s brothers, along with a niece and a nephew, died in the March 5 strike in the town of Mashgharah.
The relatives were reportedly gathered for their evening meal marking the end of the daily fast during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan when the strike occurred.
According to the Department of Homeland Security, Ghazali entered the United States in 2011 after marrying an American citizen and later obtained U.S. citizenship during President Obama’s administration in 2016.
On Thursday, Ghazali drove approximately 38 miles from his home in Dearborn Heights, a Detroit suburb with a large Muslim population, to Temple Israel — one of the largest Reform synagogues in the United States. The complex includes a synagogue building as well as a school and early childhood center.
After crashing his vehicle, which investigators said contained fireworks and containers of gasoline, Ghazali exchanged gunfire with an armed security guard. Authorities said he eventually died after fatally shooting himself when the burning vehicle trapped him inside.
All 140 children, teachers, and staff members inside the synagogue complex escaped unharmed, a result credited to the swift actions of the synagogue’s security personnel.
“If they had not all done their jobs almost perfectly, we would be talking about an immense tragedy here with children gone,” US Sen. Elissa Slotkin (Dem., M-17) told a news conference Friday.
In Dearborn Heights, a mosque hosted a memorial service last weekend for Ghazali’s relatives who were killed in Lebanon.
The mosque’s imam, Hassan Qazwini, said he had encountered Ghazali only once and condemned the attack on the synagogue.
“Islam forbids holding innocent people accountable for acts done by others,” Qazwini told AP.
“The unjustified Israeli attack on civilians in Iran and Lebanon gives no blank check to anyone attacking synagogues, civilians and peaceful communities,” he said.
{Matzav.com}Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu responded Sunday to a wave of online rumors and conspiracy theories circulating on social media that falsely claimed he had died and that a recent video appearance of him was generated using artificial intelligence.
The speculation spread rapidly after internet users shared a still image from a video of Netanyahu, arguing that one of his hands appeared distorted and appeared to show six fingers — a mistake often associated with AI-generated images and video.
WATCH:
אומרים שאני מה? צפו >> pic.twitter.com/ijHPkM3ZHZ
— Benjamin Netanyahu – בנימין נתניהו (@netanyahu) March 15, 2026
During a conversation in which he was asked directly about the claims, Netanyahu was told: “On the internet they’re saying you’re dead.” The Prime Minister answered humourously, using the term “dead” as the Israeli slang for in-love: “I’m dead for coffee, for my people. They behave fantastically.”
Netanyahu also addressed the allegation in a playful manner by raising his hands toward the camera and joking, “Want to count my fingers?” — a sarcastic reference to the supposed evidence cited in the viral conspiracy theories.
{Matzav.com}
A home in Petach Tikva was severely damaged last night after being struck by a fragment from an Iranian cluster missile during a barrage of ballistic rockets fired toward Israel. For homeowner David Zuaretz, the attack was particularly shocking because the same house had already been hit earlier this year.
Zuaretz said the residence had only recently been repaired following damage sustained during June’s Operation Rising Lion. “Just four months ago, we finished renovating the house after the last missile hit it,” Zuaretz told TPS.
Although the building suffered major structural damage, the family escaped injury after following safety instructions issued by Israel’s Home Front Command. “We heard the siren, and we entered the protected room,” David recounted. “Suddenly, we heard a very loud explosion. When they said that we could go out, we saw the ruin. The shrapnel hit the house and ruined the roof, the pergola, and the shingles.”
Surveying the destruction outside his home, Zuaretz spoke openly about the strain of living under repeated missile attacks. “We can’t live like this, constantly going in and leaving the shelters,” he said painfully. “This war must end once and for all, so that we won’t have to renovate our houses every few months.”
{Matzav.com}
The Israel Defense Forces released extensive new information about Operation Roaring Lion in Iran, outlining how the campaign was prepared, how the opening strike was carried out, and the operational progress made since the fighting began.
According to the military, months before the launch of the operation, the Intelligence Directorate invested major efforts in preparing for the campaign, incorporating lessons learned from earlier confrontations with Iran. The army stressed that planners approached the operation with the clear understanding that Iran possesses substantial military capabilities and cannot be underestimated.
The military said the campaign now underway in Iran is being executed according to a detailed operational framework that had been carefully developed in advance. Thousands of personnel from Military Intelligence and other IDF units, including both regular and reserve forces, participated in building the plan. Officials added that the overwhelming majority of targets struck during the current operation were newly identified by Military Intelligence after Operation Rising Lion, the result of years of intelligence gathering and analysis.
The IDF also reported that Hezbollah’s capabilities were drastically reduced following Operation Northern Arrows. According to the army’s assessment, roughly 90 percent of the organization’s weapons arsenal was destroyed, weakening the group significantly. Combined with Israel’s defensive preparations, that damage has provided the military with increased operational freedom in both Lebanon and Iran.
Israeli security officials had anticipated the possibility that Hezbollah could enter the conflict, prompting extensive preparations and adjustments to operational plans ahead of time. The army said it remains ready for both defensive and offensive action along the northern border.
As part of the broader preparation for the campaign, Israel also deepened coordination with the United States. The IDF said both countries worked to align intelligence assessments and operational understanding through a series of meetings and visits by senior military officials to the United States in recent months.
Military officials also highlighted the impact of Operation Rising Lion, stating that the earlier campaign prevented Iran from immediately advancing its nuclear program and significantly reduced the threat posed by its ballistic missile arsenal. According to the IDF, without that earlier operation Iran would currently possess more than a thousand additional missiles.
The army said the opening strike of Operation Roaring Lion was designed and executed as a surprise attack. Although Iranian authorities had maintained a heightened state of alert in recent months, the IDF said it successfully caught the regime off guard and dealt major blows to key Iranian capabilities.
The military explained that the initial phase of the campaign aimed to significantly weaken the Iranian regime’s military power, reduce the threats it poses, and create conditions that could potentially allow the Iranian public to challenge and topple the regime.
During the first wave of strikes, numerous senior figures in Iran’s government and security establishment were killed. According to the IDF, this was made possible through close intelligence monitoring of the Iranian Defense Council and other strategic targets, enabling the military to identify a moment when several senior officials were gathered in specific locations simultaneously.
At the current stage of the operation, the military said its focus has shifted to systematically targeting the regime’s centers of power, including command headquarters, control centers, Basij facilities, and units responsible for suppressing internal dissent.
The IDF noted that Operation Roaring Lion differs from Operation Rising Lion in scope and purpose. While the earlier operation concentrated on neutralizing an immediate threat, the current campaign allows Israel to target a broader range of Iran’s strategic military capabilities.
In the initial days of the fighting, Israeli forces concentrated on striking Iran’s ballistic missile infrastructure in an effort to reduce the number of launches toward Israel. According to the military, more than two weeks into the conflict, the volume of missiles fired at Israel has declined significantly compared with the earlier Operation Rising Lion.
The IDF also reported that it achieved air superiority over much of Iran’s airspace within just 24 hours of the campaign’s start, allowing Israeli aircraft to operate widely across the country. As part of the early strikes, the military destroyed 120 detection components and 100 air defense systems.
According to the army, a majority of Iran’s missile launchers have now been struck, with roughly 85 percent of the regime’s detection capabilities damaged. In addition, about 70 percent of Iran’s launchers have been rendered unusable.
Israeli strikes against Iran’s military industries also caused substantial damage to the country’s missile production capabilities. The IDF said the attacks have effectively halted Iran’s current ability to manufacture missiles, while continued strikes are aimed at preventing the production chain from recovering.
In recent days, Israeli forces have also targeted the command structure overseeing Iran’s missile operations. Strikes were carried out against command officers, missile bases, and alternative command locations and residences. According to the military, these actions have further reduced the volume of missile launches toward Israel.
The army said its operations across Iran are being conducted in an organized and methodical manner, focusing on regime security bodies such as the Revolutionary Guards and other internal security forces. According to the IDF, more than 2,200 components tied to the Iranian regime have been destroyed so far.
Security officials reported signs of severe damage within Iranian forces, including thousands of deaths and tens of thousands of wounded among regime personnel. They also pointed to declining morale, along with reports of soldiers refusing orders or abandoning their positions.
The campaign has also targeted the Quds Force, with Israeli operations directed at the organization both inside Iran and in other regional arenas.
In the nuclear sphere, the military said it is attempting to damage the entire infrastructure supporting Iran’s nuclear program. Officials stated that the goal is to inflict broader harm than what was achieved during Operation Rising Lion.
The IDF stressed that the operation is not constrained by a fixed timetable. Instead, it will continue until the defined objectives are achieved. Officials explained that dismantling a threat that has been developing for decades requires sustained military pressure and sufficient operational flexibility.
At the same time, the military continues to gather intelligence to detect and prevent terrorist attacks, with particular attention on developments in Iran and Lebanon while maintaining surveillance throughout the wider Middle East.
The IDF also said Iran has adopted a broader strategy of attacking multiple countries in the region, particularly Gulf states. Although Tehran claims that its strikes target only American interests, Israeli officials say civilian infrastructure has also been hit, including hotels, commercial hubs, and densely populated areas.
Looking ahead, the IDF said the next phase of the campaign will focus on expanding the gains already made by continuing to target Iran’s missile capabilities and its military-industrial infrastructure.
{Matzav.com}
