Diplomatic sources say negotiations may begin in Islamabad next week, though no formal agreement is in place

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Pakistan’s prime minister, Shehbaz Sharif, says his country is ready to “facilitate meaningful and conclusive talks” to end the war in the Middle East amid attempts to push Islamabad as a possible venue for negotiations between the US and Iran.

Pakistani sources said the US vice-president, JD Vance, was being put forward as a probable chief negotiator from the US side if talks went ahead. Iranian sources have said they would refuse to sit down with Trump’s Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, or Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, who led the nuclear negotiations with Iran before the war.

Desalination infrastructure is crucial in arid region with very little rainfall and few rivers or lakes

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Iran has threatened “irreversible destruction” of water infrastructure across Gulf countries, if the US follows through on Donald Trump’s threat to attack Iran’s electricity grid.

In a desert region heavily dependent on desalination for drinking water, it has raised fear of mass disruption to water supplies which are a civilian and economic lifeline in the Gulf countries of Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait and Oman.

Arab states have so far only acted defensively, but there is growing fear war is entering new, more dangerous phase

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The boom reverberated so loudly over Dubai marina that the windows of the surrounding skyscrapers and exclusive hotels gave a loud, disconcerting rattle.

“That sounded close, do you think a missile has hit something?” said a young man to his friend as they sipped coffees. Moments earlier, all mobile phones in the vicinity had sounded off with a shrill alarm, the new normal for those living in the Gulf, warning of missile and drone strikes in the area. Customers barely looked up.

Foreign minister issues warning after Israeli attack on South Pars gasfield and as Qatar reels from retaliatory strike

• ‘Doomsday scenario’: a visual guide to the oil and gas site attacks in the Middle East

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Iran said on Thursday it would show “zero restraint” if its energy infrastructure was targeted again as Qatar revealed that almost a fifth of its liquefied natural gas export capacity had been knocked out in an Iranian strike that is likely to have a years-long impact.

The warning, delivered by the Iranian foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, followed Israel’s attack on Iran’s massive South Pars gasfield – which it shares with Qatar – which triggered Iranian retaliatory strikes on Qatar’s Ras Laffan gas complex and other Gulf neighbours, sending stock markets tumbling globally and triggering sharp increases in gas prices.

Foreign minister claims Israel convinced Donald Trump to make ‘grave miscalculation’ of waging war on Iran

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Oman’s foreign minister has claimed the US has “lost control of its own foreign policy” and accused Israel of persuading Donald Trump’s administration to go to war with Iran – a conflict he described as a “catastrophe” and a “grave miscalculation”.

Writing in the Economist, Badr Albusaidi, the Omani minister who mediated the latest nuclear talks between Iran and the US, offered an unusually damning assessment of events leading up to the US and Israel’s bombing of Iran and the war it has triggered across the Middle East.

US president says it is ‘only appropriate’ for Europe to help, and warns failure to do so would be ‘very bad’ for Nato

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Donald Trump has ratcheted up the pressure on European allies to help protect the strait of Hormuz, warning that Nato faces a “very bad” future if its members fail to come to Washington’s aid.

The de facto closure of the vital waterway by Tehran in retaliation for airstrikes by the US and Israel has proved catastrophic for global energy and trade flows, causing the largest oil supply disruption in history and soaring global oil prices.

UK and Japan among countries that are considering options but yet to commit warships to blockaded shipping route

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Countries including the UK, Japan, China and South Korea have said they are still considering their options but without making commitments after the US president, Donald Trump, urged them to send warships to the strait of Hormuz to secure the vital shipping route.

In a post on his Truth Social platform, Trump called on the UK, China, France, Japan, South Korea and other countries to send ships to the waterway, the world’s busiest shipping route, which is being violently blockaded by Iran.

Defence analyst says torpedo strike is a ‘humiliation’ for Modi’s government that disregarded a US defence partner

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The distress call came in to Sri Lanka’s maritime rescue coordination centre just after 5am. The ship in trouble, they determined, was well within Sri Lanka’s obligation for rescue, being just over 19 nautical miles off the coast of the southern city of Galle.

The navy swiftly mobilised and, by 6am, the first search and rescue boat was on its way, another soon close behind. It was hard to see through the thick morning mist but officers onboard kept their eyes peeled for a ship in the distance.

Tens of thousands of residents and tourists have left UAE since the US and Israel started bombing Iran two weeks ago, leaving beach bars, malls and hotels eerily empty

In the playground of the rich, nobody wanted this war. For decades, Dubai built itself up as a sanctuary of unadulterated consumerism visited by tourists the world over.

But now, the city in the United Arab Emirates faces an existential threat, as the war between the US and Israel and Iran has shaken the foundations of the “Dubai dream” that so many foreigners had bought into.

Hegseth follows Trump’s suggestion war will soon be over by saying US will not stop until Iran ‘decisively defeated’

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Tehran residents say the Iranian capital has endured what they described as its worst night of aerial bombardment, as the US defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, followed Donald Trump’s suggestion on Monday the war could soon be over with a warning of more strikes to come.

“We are under heavy bombardment and I can hear back-to-back explosions. The place they hit has caught fire. It’s not clear where it exploded, but the buildings are shaking,” Niloufar, who lives in east Tehran said early on Tuesday, speaking under a pseudonym for security reasons. “They are destroying Iran,” they added, saying there were low-flying jets above.

Dubai galt vielen als sichere Anlaufstelle im stets brodelnden Nahen Osten. Nun heulen hier die Sirenen, und Touristen wie Reiner und Sandra Ganzmann wollen nur noch weg. Nur, wie? Zwischen Hotellobby und Hilflosigkeit.

The world No 5 says she has been disturbed by events back home, and is not afraid to speak up about issues in the United States

While getting treatment and preparing for this week’s Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships, Coco Gauff has had the news on in the background almost every day.

Gauff could be forgiven if she’s not up-to-date on everything that’s been happening back in the United States: she is on the road for nearly 11 months a year, often thousands of miles away from her home in Delray Beach, Florida.

Women’s and human rights activist, arrested at a demonstration in December, is said to be on hunger strike

Iran has sentenced the Nobel peace prize laureate Narges Mohammadi to more than seven more years in prison after she began a hunger strike, her supporters said Sunday, as Tehran cracks down on all dissent following nationwide protests and the deaths of thousands at the hands of security forces.

The new convictions against Mohammadi come as Iran tries to negotiate with the US over its nuclear programme to avert a military strike threatened by Donald Trump. Iran’s top diplomat said on Sunday that Tehran’s strength came from its ability to “say no to the great powers”, striking a maximalist position just after negotiations in Oman with the US.

• American tops leaderboard but sanctions loom large

• Rory McIlroy toils seven shots off the lead

Patrick Reed finds himself in a curious situation. The former Masters champion could prevail this weekend in the Dubai Desert Classic and see a decent chunk of the $1.5m (£1.1m) first prize duly handed back to the DP World Tour in fines. Reed has joked that it will not be particularly easy for him to make a profit on this tour during 2026. Indeed, he basically starts his season in the red.

Reed’s membership of the DP World and LIV circuits leads to sanctions from the former every time he tees up on the latter. He lost an appeal over that situation in 2023 yet, unlike some others, opted to keep playing on what was once the European Tour. Reed’s position is further affected by the general understanding that LIV would no longer pay fines on behalf of its members from the end of 2025.

• No apparent ill-feeling between Ryder Cup pair

• ‘I asked if he had any good wine over Christmas’

The talk was of wines, not fines. Any notion of an awkward 18 holes between Rory McIlroy and Tyrrell Hatton was firmly dismissed by the Englishman in the immediate aftermath. McIlroy used pre-tournament media duties at the Dubai Desert Classic to assert that Hatton and Jon Rahm should settle their seven-figure penalties due to the European Tour Group for their participation in LIV Golf.

McIlroy’s sentiment felt especially notable because he was to spend the opening two rounds at the Emirates Club in Hatton’s company. Yet there appeared no ill feeling between the Ryder Cup teammates, which was evident on the course and by what Hatton said later.

• LIV rebels are appealing against DP World Tour sanctions

• Forthright McIlroy wants duo to show their commitment

Rory McIlroy has challenged Tyrrell Hatton and Jon Rahm to demonstrate their commitment to the Ryder Cup cause by settling fines for their LIV Golf participation.

McIlroy pointed towards motivation used by Europe during the ­victory at Bethpage last September after it emerged that the US players were paid to play in the Ryder Cup.

Analysts attribute increase to kingdom’s ‘war on drugs’ as authorities kill 356 people by death penalty

Saudi authorities executed 356 people in 2025, setting a new record for the number of inmates put to death in the kingdom in a single year.

Analysts have largely attributed the increase in executions to Riyadh’s “war on drugs”, with some of those arrested in previous years only now being executed after legal proceedings and convictions.

In Dubai soll 2032 ein neuer Flughafen eröffnet werden. Mit dem gewaltigen Drehkreuz wird Emirates viel schneller wachsen können – und ein noch härterer Konkurrent für Lufthansa.