News blog about the war in the Middle East
Iran apparently makes an exception for Putin’s ships
Updated April 3, 2026 – 2:52 amReading time: 32 minutes
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Iran’s neighboring country is moving oil transport by road. Kamal Kharazi was supposed to prepare a meeting with JD Vance – then he was seriously injured. All developments in the news blog.
More than 100 international law experts from the USA describe the US attacks on Iran as possible war crimes in an open letter. The letter said the conduct of U.S. forces and statements by senior U.S. officials raised “serious concerns about violations of international human rights and humanitarian law, including possible war crimes.”
The letter refers in particular to a statement by President Donald Trump in mid-March that the United States could carry out attacks on Iran “just for fun.” In addition, a statement from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth from the beginning of March is quoted, according to which the USA was not fighting with “stupid rules of engagement”. The letter from lawyers from elite universities such as Harvard, Yale and Stanford was published on the website of the specialist journal “Just Security”.
According to a media report, Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul is promising Germany’s contribution to securing maritime trade routes in the Middle East. “We – like the USA and others – have an interest in the trade routes in the Persian Gulf and the Red Sea being reopened,” the CDU politician told the newspapers of the Funke media group, according to a preliminary report. “And of course we are, in principle, prepared to participate in securing sea routes.” The government is talking about Germany’s contribution to a larger community of states “when the military conflict has been resolved and the legal requirements for this are in place. Unfortunately, we are not yet that far.”
The UN Security Council is due to vote on Friday on the use of force to protect the Strait of Hormuz, as demanded by the Gulf Cooperation Council. This was announced on Thursday from diplomatic circles. Bahrain had submitted a draft resolution according to which “all necessary means” should be used to ensure passage through the Strait of Hormuz.
Veto powers Russia, China and France expressed strong concerns about the US-backed proposal. “The use of force cannot bring peace,” Chinese UN Ambassador Fu Cong told the Security Council. “Enabling Member States to use force would amount to legitimizing the unlawful and indiscriminate use of force, which would inevitably lead to a further escalation of the situation and serious consequences,” he added.
