In a supermarket in Bahrain, Mahmoud Ali fills his cart as usual. The shelves remain stocked despite the war in the Middle East, but the blockade of the main shipping routes into the Gulf is now being felt at checkout. “There’s no shortage”, but over the past few days “there has been a noticeable increase in the price of certain food products”, the father of four said. The price of meat in particular has almost doubled, he added. Like most of its neighbours in this arid region, the small Gulf monarchy depends heavily on imports, especially for its food supply. But the war, triggered on February 28 by Israeli-US strikes against Iran, has severely disrupted the transport of goods through the strategic Strait of Hormuz , which is effectively closed. Plated food sits on a chair inside a school that has been turned into a shelter, following an escalation between Hezbollah and Israel amid the US-Israeli conflict with Iran, in Beirut, Lebanon, March 16, 2026. —Reuters “Most major po...
A ministerial meeting, hosted by Saudi Arabia, called on Iran to “immediately and unconditionally” halt attacks against Gulf countries in the ongoing conflict in the Middle East, the Saudi Arabian Foreign Ministry said on Thursday. The conflict began with US-Israeli strikes on Iran on February 28. In retaliatory strikes, Iran has targeted US assets and bases in Gulf countries. A day earlier, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar travelled to the Saudi Arabian capital Riyadh for the ministerial meeting. In a statement on X, the ministry said that the consultative meeting was attended by Azerbaijan, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Pakistan, Turkiye, Syria, Qatar, Kuwait, Lebanon and Egypt, where they condemned Iranian “missile and drone attacks” and held Iran “fully responsible”. They called on the country to “immediately and unconditionally cease its aggression and to comply with UN Security Council resolutions”. The ministers maintained that Iran’s ...