March 18, 2026 - Daily News Digest
On this day in 1965, Soviet cosmonaut Aleksei Leonov, after passing through an air lock on the spacecraft Voskhod 2, became the first man to walk in space.
QotD: "No one in Iran has immunity and everyone is in the crosshairs," said Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz.
US/VENEZUELA/OIL/SANCTIONS – US eases Venezuela oil sanctions as Trump seeks to boost world oil supply during Iran war.
U.S. companies will be allowed to do business with Venezuela’s state-owned oil and gas company after the Treasury Department eased sanctions, with some limitations, on Wednesday as the Trump administration looks for ways to boost world oil supplies during the Iran war.
The Treasury issued a broad authorization allowing Petróleos de Venezuela S.A, or PDVSA, to directly sell Venezuelan oil to U.S. companies and on global markets, a massive shift after Washington for years had largely blocked dealings with Venezuela’s government and its oil sector.
Separately, the White House said Trump would waive, for 60 days, Jones Act requirements for goods shipped between U.S. ports to be moved on U.S.-flagged vessels. The 1920s law, designed to protect the American shipbuilding sector, is often blamed for making gas more expensive.
The moves highlight the increased pressure that the Republican administration is under to ease soaring oil prices as the United States, along with Israel, wages a war with Iran without a foreseeable end date. Global oil prices have since spiked as Iran halted traffic through the narrow Strait of Hormuz, where one-fifth of the world’s oil typically passes through from the Persian Gulf to customers worldwide.
IRAN/NATGAS/MIL – Iran’s huge Gulf gas field struck in major escalation.
Iran's huge Pars gas field was hit on Wednesday in the first reported strikes on Iranian energy infrastructure in the Gulf during the U.S.-Israeli war, a major escalation that prompted Tehran to warn its neighbours to evacuate their energy installations.
Pars is the Iranian sector of the world's largest natural gas deposit, which Iran shares with Qatar across the Gulf. Iran's Fars news agency reported that gas tanks and parts of a refinery had been hit, workers had been evacuated to a safe location and emergency crews were trying to put out a fire.
The attack was widely reported in Israeli media to have been carried out by Israel with the consent of the United States. The Israeli military did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Qatar, a close U.S. ally which hosts the largest U.S. airbase in the region, called it an Israeli attack without mentioning any U.S. role. The Qatari foreign ministry spokesperson called it a "dangerous and irresponsible" escalation that put global energy security at risk.
Iran's Revolutionary Guards swiftly told Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Qatar to evacuate several energy facilities.
The U.S. and Israel had previously held back from targeting Iran's energy production facilities in the Gulf, a move that could invite retaliation against other producers and make it harder for global markets to recover from what has already been the biggest ever interruption to energy supplies.
"No one in Iran has immunity and everyone is in the crosshairs," said Defence Minister Israel Katz, who announced that Israel had killed Iran's Intelligence Minister Esmail Khatib a day after killing security chief Ali Larijani.
HORMUZ UPDATE – About 90 ships cross the Strait of Hormuz as Iran exports millions of barrels of oil despite the war.
https://apnews.com/article/ships-iran-oil-china-us-trump-hormuz-82a9acb473837f1bf7a821d0c3f95205
About 90 ships including oil tankers have crossed the Strait of Hormuz since the outset of the war with Iran and it is still exporting millions of barrels of oil at a time when the waterway has been effectively closed, according to maritime and trade data platforms.
Many of the vessels that passed through the strait were so-called “dark” transits evading Western government sanctions and oversight that likely have ties to Iran, maritime data firm Lloyd’s List Intelligence said. More recently, vessels with ties to India and Pakistan have also successfully crossed the strait as governments stepped up negotiations.
As crude prices spiked above $100 a barrel, U.S. President Donald Trump pressured allies and trade partners to send warships and reopen the strait, hoping to bring oil prices lower.
Most shipping traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, a waterway for global oil and gas transport that supplies roughly one-fifth of the world’s crude oil, has been halted since early March, after the war started. About 20 vessels have been attacked in the area.
However, Iran has still managed to export well above 16 million barrels of oil since the beginning of March, trade data and analytics platform Kpler estimated. Due to Western sanctions and associated risks, China has been the biggest buyer of Iranian oil.
JAPAN/US/IRAN/DIPLOMACY – Japan’s leader faces high-wire act in Washington over Trump’s Iran demands.
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi visits the White House on Thursday for meetings that offer U.S. President Donald Trump a chance to lean on a key security partner for support in his Iran war, threatening to strain a decades-old alliance.
Takaichi is the first major ally set for face-to-face talks with Trump since he demanded that Japan, among a coalition of nations, send ships to escort tankers through the Strait of Hormuz waterway, largely closed by Iran in the conflict.
"Takaichi is in a tight spot," said David Boling, of the Asia Group consultancy in Tokyo and a former U.S. trade negotiator with Japan during Trump's first term as president.
"The biggest risk is that Trump publicly presses her for security commitments that she can’t deliver on."
Japanese officials involved in the preparations said Takaichi had hoped to remind Trump of the dangers posed by a regionally assertive China prior to his visit there, initially planned near the end of March, but now delayed.
Instead, she will have to find a way of placating Trump over his demand for ships to guard the Strait, a conduit for a fifth of global energy, while avoiding legal and political pitfalls.
U.S. allies such as Germany, Italy and Spain have ruled out participating in any Gulf mission, while Kaja Kallas, the European Union's foreign policy chief, said on Tuesday, "Nobody is ready to put their people in harm's way."
UKRAINE/HUNGARY/EU/OIL/PIPELINE – EU offers to pay Ukraine to fix an oil pipeline that’s been a focal point of Ukraine-Hungary feud.
Top European Union officials said Tuesday they have offered to pay Ukraine to repair a damaged pipeline meant to carry crude oil to Hungary, in a bid to persuade the government in Budapest to lift its veto on a massive aid package to the war-wracked country.
Ukraine and Hungary have been locked in an escalating feud since Russian oil deliveries to Hungary and Slovakia were halted in January due to damage to the Druzhba pipeline, which crosses Ukrainian territory. Ukrainian officials have blamed the damage on Russian drone attacks.
Hungary’s nationalist prime minister, Viktor Orbán, has accused Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of deliberately holding up oil supplies — claims that Zelenskyy denies. In retaliation, Orbán has vetoed a major 90-billion-euro ($106 billion) EU loan to cover Ukraine’s military and economic needs for two years. Hungary is also blocking a new round of EU sanctions against Russia.
EU officials said in a statement Tuesday that the bloc “has offered Ukraine technical support and funding” to fix the pipeline.
“The Ukrainians have welcomed and accepted this offer. European experts are available immediately,” European Council President António Costa and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said.
UK/UKRAINE/BATTLE FOR ATTENTION – Starmer urges allies to keep focus on Ukraine amid Iran war.
https://www.dw.com/en/starmer-urges-allies-to-keep-focus-on-ukraine-amid-iran-war/a-76400266
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said on Tuesday that international attention must stay on Ukraine despite the ongoing US-Israeli war with Iran.
"There's obviously a conflict in Iran going on, in the Middle East, but we can't lose focus on what's going on in Ukraine and the need for our support," Starmer said as he welcomed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at his residence and office, 10 Downing Street, in London.
Zelenskyy briefed Starmer on the latest developments inRussia's war in Ukraine, energy security, and ongoing diplomatic efforts with the United States and Russia.
NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte also joined the meeting and had separate discussions with Zelenskyy.
AFGHANISTAN/PAKISTAN/SEC – Afghanistan vows to avenge deadly Kabul bombing but says open to talks.
On a rainswept hillside above Kabul, Afghan Red Crescent Society volunteers carried dozens of simple wooden coffins from a fleet of ambulances to a mass grave dug in the rocky ground by giant excavators.
At the graveside, Interior Minister Sirajuddin Haqqani said they were innocent victims targeted by "criminals", days before the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
"Today is a sad day. I offer my condolences to Afghanistan, especially to the families of the martyrs," he told mourners.
"We will take revenge," he added and warned those behind Monday night's bombing: "We are not weak and helpless. You will see the consequences of your crimes."
But Haqqani, who until last year had a $10-million US bounty on his head, also suggested that talks were the government's preferred option to halt the fighting.
"We do not want war but the situation has come to this," he said. "So, we are trying to solve the problems through diplomacy."
The Taliban authorities have said that around 400 people were killed and more than 200 wounded in Monday's strike -- the deadliest yet in escalating violence between the two neighbours.
Islamabad, which denies deliberately bombing the centre, accuses Kabul of harbouring extremists behind cross-border attacks on its territory. Afghanistan denies doing so.
IRAN WAR/SEMIS/HELIUM – Iran war triggers helium shortage, hits semiconductor supply.
https://www.dw.com/en/iran-war-triggers-helium-shortage-hits-semiconductor-supply/a-76380869
Since the war in Iran started, worries about oil and gas have made the biggest headlines and sparked the loudest complaints from consumers.
But another bottleneck in the global supply network is also causing alarm: a shortage of helium, an essential component used to make, among other things, semiconductors — those tiny chips that help run everything from electric vehicles to smartphones.
A prolonged shortage of helium could lead to a shortfall of advanced chips and have knock-on effects for electronics manufacturers who depend on them, or force others to scale back their datacenter plans.
Considering that helium is colorless, odorless, and the second-lightest element in the universe, it has a surprising list of applications as a gas or in liquid form.
Helium is used in things like MRI scanning, optical fiber manufacturing, welding, leak detection, airbag inflation, not to mention balloons and dirigibles, says Phil Kornbluth, president of New Jersey-based Kornbluth Helium Consulting.
But it is the semiconductor chip industry that is sweating most right now.
Semiconductor-grade helium is essential for chipmakers to maintain ultraclean and ultracold manufacturing environments. This contaminant-free helium is also needed for energy and heat transfer, and in vacuum chambers.
There is no alternative to ultra-high-purity helium for these chipmaking processes and without it, fabrication will slow down or even come to a halt.
"Helium is expensive relative to other gases, so, for the most part, where there are substitutes for helium, helium is no longer used," said Kornbluth, who has over four decades of experience with commercial helium.
BELIUM/CONGO/DEALING WITH COLONIAL PAST – Belgian diplomat faces trial over 1961 Congo leader killing.
https://www.dw.com/en/belgian-diplomat-faces-trial-over-1961-dr-congo-leader-killing/a-76401220
A Brussels court on Tuesday ruled that Etienne Davignon, a 93-year-old former Belgian diplomat, must stand trial over war crimes linked to the 1961 assassination of Patrice Lumumba, the first prime minister of Democratic Republic of Congo.
Davignon, a former European commissioner, was among ten Belgians accused by Lumumba's family of complicity in his murder. The other nine suspects have since died, leaving Davignon as the only surviving accused.
If convicted, he would be the first Belgian official in more than six decades to be held accountable for Lumumba's death.
"Belgium is finally confronting its history," said Mehdi Lumumba.
Prosecutors said Davignon played a role in Lumumba's unlawful detention, transfer, and denial of an impartial trial. They added that Davignon subjected Lumumba to "humiliating and degrading treatment."
The defendant's lawyers denied all the charges and argued that the events occurred too long ago to be prosecuted.
At the time of the assassination, Davignon was a young diplomat involved in Congolese independence talks. He later became vice president of the European Commission in the 1980s.
Lumumba's family lawyer described Davignon as "a link in the chain" of what he called a "disastrous state-sponsored criminal enterprise."
Comments (2)
"Separately, the White House said Trump would waive, for 60 days, Jones Act requirements for goods shipped between U.S. ports to be moved on U.S.-flagged vessels. The 1920s law, designed to protect the American shipbuilding sector, is often blamed for making gas more expensive." Wow! I thought this would never happen!
Trump's war is the biggest mistake so far out of the multitude he's committed this term. Let's pray he doesn't muck things up even more.