Bedugul Coffee: March 2026

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Daily Briefing

By Claire Beers

Hello. Military strikes by the United States and Israel on Iran showed no sign of relenting. Iran has responded with missile barrages across the region, risking dragging its neighbors into the conflict.

Elsewhere, the FBI is probing a mass shooting in Texas and a security breach at the Pope's conclave.

Today's Top News

Smoke rises after an Israeli strike on Beirut's southern suburbs, following an escalation between Hezbollah and Israel. REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir

Middle East

Israel launched new air strikes targeting Iran and expanded its assault to include Iran-backed Hezbollah militants in Lebanon in tit-for-tat attacks that have widened the conflict that has spread through the Middle East, sending oil prices soaring and snarling air travel.
Tehran said it launched a new wave of missiles that had "opened the great gates of fire" on Israel.
Several US military aircraft crashed in Kuwait, but all crew members survived and were in stable condition.
The US military announced the first American casualties of the intensifying attack on Iran. President Donald Trump pressed ahead with military strikes despite warnings that the escalation could carry political risks for Republicans in the midterm elections. Only one in four Americans approves of the US strikes, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll.
The assassination of Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has plunged the Islamic Republic into its most perilous crisis since the 1979 revolution. Many senior US officials remain skeptical of a regime change in the near term.
Foreign Policy Editor Don Durfee tells the Reuters World News podcast the big unknown is whether terrorist attacks by Iranian proxies could be next.
Follow the Reuters live page for the latest news, analysis and visuals from the ground.

In other news

The FBI was looking into a possible terrorism link after a shooting left at least two people dead and 14 others injured at a bar in Austin, Texas.
Two people were injured in an incident involving a man with a bladed weapon in a residential area in Edinburgh, Scotland, police said.
Britain is seeking the views of parents and children on whether to ban access to social media for under-16s, as well as possible restrictions on gaming platforms and artificial intelligence chatbots. Here is a summary of what other countries and companies are doing to regulate access to social media.
China is set to outline how it plans to push the next phase of its technology race with the West, and convert a wave of high-profile breakthroughs in AI, space and robotics into industrial scale and capital market momentum.

Business & Markets

Oil prices surged and shares slid as military conflict in the Middle East looked set to last weeks, threatening to upend a global economic recovery and perhaps reignite inflation.
Reuters Energy Columnist Ron Bousso joins Mike Dolan for a special edition of the Morning Bid podcast explaining how the Iran conflict is impacting oil and financial markets.
Travel shares fell sharply as the escalating conflict disrupted flights around the globe and forced the closure of key Middle Eastern hubs.
Amazon's data centers in Bahrain and the UAE were facing power and connectivity issues as Iranian retaliatory strikes hit airports, ports, and residential areas across the wider Gulf.
Asian governments and refiners rushed to assess oil stockpiles as well as alternative shipping routes and supplies as the Iran conflict disrupted shipping in the crucial Strait of Hormuz.
Iran's retaliatory strikes across the Gulf have triggered the most widespread business disruption in the region since the COVID-19 pandemic, forcing airport closures, halting port operations and sending shockwaves through financial markets.
Betting payouts following US attacks on Iran have thrown new scrutiny on prediction markets, which took wagers on the timing of bombing and removal of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei from power.

In Khamenei's absence, pragmatist Larijani emerges as power broker in Iran

Iran's Supreme National Security Council Secretary Ali Larijani speaks after a meeting. REUTERS/Aziz Taher

Veteran Iranian politician Ali Larijani, who said a temporary leadership council would be set up after an air strike killed Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, reemerged last year as one of the most powerful figures in the security hierarchy.

He has been managing a broad portfolio from nuclear negotiations to Tehran's regional ties to its violent suppression of internal unrest.

An establishment insider who hails from one of the country's leading clerical families, Larijani had been overseeing Iran's efforts to reach a nuclear deal with the United States - just a month after Washington sanctioned him in January for allegedly directing a deadly crackdown on anti-government protests.

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And Finally...

Pope Leo XIV stands in the Sistine Chapel among cardinals after being elected, at the Vatican. Vatican Media/Francesco Sforza

The secret conclave that elected Pope Leo head of the Catholic Church last May was interrupted when one of the 133 cardinals involved was found carrying a cellphone, a massive security breach.

The cardinals stared at each other incredulously when security officials picked up the signal of an active mobile connection, then one of the older clerics discovered he had a phone in his pocket and handed it over.

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