US and Israel hit Iranian oil depot

0:00This BBC podcast is supported by ads outside the UK. This is not the future we were promised. Like, hell that out for a tagline for the show. From the BBC, this is the interface, the show that explores how tech is rewiring your week and your world. This isn't about quarterly earnings or about tech reviews. It's about what technology is actually doing to your work and your politics, your everyday life and all the bizarre ways people are using the internet. Listen on BBC.com or wherever you get your podcasts. This is the Global News Podcast from the BBC World Service. I'm Alex Ritson and in the early hours of Sunday, the 8th of March, these are our main stories. The military campaign against Iran broadens as America and Israel's latest strikes, target oil depots. Iran has continued to hit its neighbours,

1:00including the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Qatar. Despite Iranian President Masood Pizeshkin claiming they would no longer target them unless they were attacked first. And President Trump criticises the British government, accusing Prime Minister Keir Starmer of joining wars after we've already won. Also, in this podcast, a special report on Lebanon's role in the war with Israel and the US. I'm standing in front of one of the biggest bomb craters I have ever seen. It has destroyed everything. There are cars blown up onto the roofs of nearby houses. And Iran remains defiant. The strikes carried out by the Islamic Republic will continue. We will not let them go. This disgraceful act they have created on the international stage carries a heavy cost. We begin in Iran.

2:01After a week of pounding, the Islamic Republic's military machine and security apparatus, the United States and Israel are now bombing one of Iran's biggest sources of revenue, oil. Huge fireballs which reached into the night sky were seen across Tehran when an oil depot was hit by air strikes. It's the first reported attack on Iran's oil infrastructure since the start of the war. Israel said the depot was being used by the military. Earlier, Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Iran would be attacked with all of our force and vowed to wipe out the country's leaders in order to safeguard the Jewish state. We will, in any case, do whatever is necessary to protect our communities and our citizens. As for the next step in Iran, we have a well-organized plan with many surprises to destabilize the regime and enable change.

3:04In the U.S. President Trump was at Dover Air Force Base in the state of Delaware for the return of six American service members who were killed in a drone strike, wearing a white U.S. A baseball cop he saluted the flag- draped cases that contained the bodies. I asked our Washington correspondent Bernd Debussman how Americans will react to this somber ceremony. It's still very early days in the conflict and this is certainly a possibility that Trump had mentioned from the outset that the U.S. would very likely take casualties. And in the grand scheme of things as far as military operations go, those casualties have still been light. But today, in watching the transfer cases, as they're called, them of the fallen being transported to Dover and being paraded in front of the President and Secretary of Defense Pete Hexat and General Dan Kay and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, I think it really brings home to Americans that this is not necessarily just some far away conflict, but this is something that has very real consequences for Americans. There are,

4:06after all, now six families across the country whose loved ones won't be coming home this year. And I think if this war drags on over time and those casualties begin to mount, then you begin to see a lot more public conversation about this. This is a scene that would have been very familiar to Americans of my generation, for example, who grew up in the era of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. But this is something that we haven't seen as much recently, although there have been several other incidents since those wars were over. But particularly among Trump's MAGA base, there is a significant chunk of that base that is very weary of long messy foreign entanglements or regime change exercises in the Middle East, having seen what happened in Iraq and then in Afghanistan over 20 years of war. And the more casualties, the more politically difficult it is for the administration to make the case for war to those who really don't want to see this turn into a long-running stream of U.S. casualties as we saw in the 2000 and 2010s.

5:11And yet, President Trump seems to think the campaign is going well. He certainly does. We spoke to him on Air Force One on the flight from Dover to Miami where he's spending the weekend. And he seems to think that from a military standpoint, this is going extremely well that Iran is being decimated that their capacity to manufacture and then launch drones and missiles has been very, very much diminished. And he certainly thinks that this is going extremely well. What he didn't answer was what he thinks necessarily comes after. He did say that the U.S. would, in his mind, have to choose another Iranian leader that is perhaps more cooperative than the Islamic regime in the hopes that the U.S. doesn't have to return militarily to the region again in five years or ten years. But he certainly, at least in the short term, very optimistic about how this is going and the impact that these strikes from the U.S. and Israel are having on Iran's military capacity. Burt Debussman. President Trump thinks the bombing campaign is going well. But the Iranian

6:14government remains to find Ali Larajani is the head of Iran's Supreme National Security Council as well as a close confidante of Ayatollah Ali Haminai who was killed last week. The strikes carried out by the Islamic Republic will continue. We will not let them go. They should not think that we will allow the Americans to quickly bring this matter to an end and say we've strapped them. Now let's wrap it up. This can only be wrapped up when they understand that they no longer have the right to attack Iran and when they compensate the Iranian nation for the damages. This disgraceful act that they have created on the international stage carries a heavy cost. They assassinated the leader of Iran. The price for it will not be small. So have the air attacks undermined the Iranian authorities. Kasha'an Genedi is from the BBC Persian Service in Washington. It's very difficult to say because actually air defenses are not working that much. The Americans

7:20and the Israelis have hit most of the air defenses. And Tehran is like an open sky for American and Israeli planes. Tonight Tehran's oil refineries and oil depots, fuel depots, were heavily bombarded in several parts of the city. And the pictures we see on social media is like huge big fires all around the city. So that shows that actually there's no air defense and they could easily come and attack wherever they want. But Iran is a big country, a country of 90 million and it has a relatively strong armed forces. So so far they've managed to avoid collapse. President Trump is expecting Iran a total surrender but they're keeping on fighting and they're What's your sense of how the war is being viewed by the Iranian people? Well the press who you ask let's not forget the government brutally crushed protests all around the country. Thousands of people were killed and many people were upset and they want the regime to go. So they were supportive of a military action against this regime. And when

8:22Ayatollah Ali Haminay was killed last Saturday and the first day of the war many people were joyful and cheered. And of course not the entire nation is supportive of the war. The government supporter of the government loyalists there against this war they see this as a war of aggression at the same time there are other parts of the Iranian society who don't like to see their country being attacked and civilians killed infrastructure damaged. And as this war continues people are saying that these are civilian infrastructure that are being destroyed. And of course as this carries on the number of people who oppose the war will increase as well. Qashayan Jainadi from BBC Persian. Israel has warned Lebanon that it will pay a very heavy price if it does not rain in attacks by Hezbollah. Lebanon was drawn into the broader Middle East war on Monday when Hezbollah based in Lebanon but backed by Iran fired at Israel which responded with overwhelming force. The Lebanese government says around half a million people have registered

9:25as displaced and more than 300 have been killed since the Israeli attacks began. Our correspondent were a Davis reports from the Bekhar Valley in western Lebanon which saw a major incursion by Israeli forces on Friday night. This is the town, quite a large town of Nabi Sheet up in the Bekhar Valley and I'm standing in front of one of the biggest bomb craters I have ever seen. There's a huge hole in the ground damaging obviously dozens of houses around it. The hole is about 10 meters deep I'd say. It has destroyed everything. There are cars blown up onto the roofs of nearby houses. Now this is clearly an Israeli bomb strike. People are trying to clear up the rubble from this huge bomb crater and I've been speaking to head of the local municipality to find out exactly what happened. At midnight we felt a strange movement

10:29on one side of the village. It turned out to be an Israeli commander's unit deployed for some mission. The resistance then surrounded them and heavy clashes ensued. The enemy air force increased their air strikes to allow the extraction of their unit which caused tremendous damage like this one here. This is crazy. You look how much? That's meat. Well there's still a lot of confusion about exactly what happened here. I've been speaking to Ali Shukur. Now he's an architect, he's a mayor and he also teaches in the local university. I think at one o'clock they sent an alert that is their idea army to evacuate all people who live here, child, parent, older, elder to evacuate in less than half hour. Where go? We have here some people who have a special need. Where to go? How to leave them? How? I don't know. After half hour they began,

11:37after half hour. While many younger families, perhaps dead heed Israeli warnings to leave, the elderly and those who couldn't have stayed here, including one very angry woman we've been speaking to who lives around the corner from this huge bomb site. Israel is attacking us unjustly. What do they want from us? They want to fool us? No one fools us. We are Hisbullah and we will prevail. A few people were killed at this site. We're not sure how many, but this area has been the subject of loads. Many many Israeli bomb strikes in recent days. What is particularly interesting about this one as we're trying to put together exactly what happened is that a few hundred meters to my left at the same time there was an Israeli military incursion by helicopter. Those Israeli fighters apparently engaged in a gunfight with Hezbollah fighters. There were casualties. We don't know exactly how many from the gunfight details are still scarce, but this has been one of the biggest incidents

12:40so far of this particular episode of the war in Lebanon. We're a Davis in Lebanon's Bekhar Valley. Donald Trump has again sharply criticized the British government over its apparent lack of military support for the US-Israeli war in Iran. At the start of the conflict, the UK Prime Minister Keir Stammer denied the US permission to use its military bases. Donald Trump responded by questioning the so-called special relationship between Washington and London. And now, in the last few hours, Donald Trump has further criticized the British PM, accusing him of joining wars after we've already won, following the news that one of Britain's two aircraft carriers has been placed on advanced readiness to sail to the Middle East. The BBC's Simea Jolla Ocho in Washington has more. President Donald Trump has mocked the UK's response to the ongoing conflict with Iran. He has suggested that the UK has come too late to the fight. In a post on Truth Social,

13:44President Trump said the UK was once a great ally, maybe the greatest of them all, but that the UK is now finally giving serious thought to sending two aircraft carriers to the Middle East. He then makes an apparent jab at Sir Keir Stammer, the Prime Minister, saying, that's okay, Prime Minister. We don't need them any longer, but we will remember. He goes on to say we don't need people that join wars after we've already won. This isn't the first time that President Trump has criticized the British government during this military campaign against Iran. He has previously said that the Prime Minister was not very helpful. He said that Sir Keir Stammer is no Winston Churchill and then went on to praise other allies, such as France. Now, the UK initially refused to allow the US to use its bases such as Diego Garcia on the Chegos Islands for offensive strikes against Iran, citing international law concerns, but Sir Keir Stammer

14:50reversed that decision and has now allowed the US to use bases such as RAF Fairford, but for defensive actions against Iranian missiles and drones. Simeez Jollar Osho in Washington. Iran has continued to launch strikes across the Middle East, despite President Masood Pureshkihan earlier apologizing for attacks on neighboring Arab countries and promising to only target them if they attack first. The United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Qatar have all reported incoming threats from Iran. UAE officials say their air defense systems have intercepted ballistic missiles while fighter jets are targeting drones. Nick Beak has more from Dohar. A glistening Dubai skyscraper, smoldering the tower in the Marina area, the latest neighborhood to be hit by Iran from the air. This the fallout of an interception during a missile and drone attack. One UK ex-pat, telling the BBC his experience. We've heard booms and intersections through the week,

15:54but this has been definitely the most prominent one. The window shook and we're just trying to work out what's going on. Authorities confirmed a Pakistani national driving his car had been killed by falling debris. Tonight's attackers shattered any hope people here may have had that Iran was prepared to stop firing at its neighbours in the Gulf. In fact, the UAE said it intercepted five missiles and more than 100 drones. And the day had started with an Iranian attack on the main airport here in Dubai that could have been catastrophic. The drone crashed down right next to a terminal building. Plains on the tarmac nearby. This at the world's busiest airport for international passenger traffic. Without even acknowledging the strike, Dubai authorities announced they were holding flights to protect the safety of passengers they said. But services quickly resumed. More people able to escape a crisis that has engulfed the

17:01Middle East. The reality here in Dubai tonight are far cry from the polished picture so often uploaded to social media. Iran continues to lash out at Gulf states with links to the US. The reach of the embattled neighbour across the water felt more than ever. Nick Beak with that report. Still to come in this podcast, a report from one of the world's most important underwater habitats. This water is at zero degrees Celsius. The eel grass, what kind of depth does that normally grow in? Anywhere from like a couple inches to six feet maybe. And NASA's experiment to deflect any asteroid that might be on a collision course with Earth.

18:01This is not the future we were promised. Black held that up for a tagline for the show. From the BBC, this is the interface, the show that explores how tech is rewiring your week and your world. This isn't about quarterly earnings or about tech reviews. It's about what technology is actually doing to your work and your politics, your everyday life and all the bizarre ways people are using the internet. Listen on BBC.com or wherever you get your podcasts. This is the Global News Podcast. The US and Israeli war with Iran has dominated the news agenda over the last week. But of course, major events have been taking place elsewhere in the world, including in Nepal six months after it was rocked by Gen Z protests. The country is set to get a new Prime Minister, a 35-year-old former rapper.

19:09Belendra Sura is on course to win a landslide in the general election, which pitted the establishment against a new generation of politicians. He easily defeated the four-time Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli in his own constituency. Mr Oli had already been forced out of office in last year's protests, which left at least 77 people dead. For more on the rise of Belendra Sura from Rapa, to the first independent Mayor of Kathmandu, and now likely Prime Minister, here's Fanindra Dahal from the BBC Napoli Service. Many are describing this as the water-said movement in the Nepali politics. It was the kind of political gamble for the former Mayor of Kathmandu, Balindra Saha. It was around 2012-13. He was a rap singer. He had just started a career on that. He's a song where the critique of the political elites, they talk about the

20:10problems that majority of Nepalese, they complain about mainly corruption, the pain suffered by Nepalese who work in golf and middle-list countries, and send remittance so that Nepalese economy is survived and Nepalese households leave. He used to say that he wanted to see all Nepalese smile and leave happily. It was just a few years ago that he contested as a mayorial candidate of Kathmandu. Nobody anticipated or expected that he would win because he was an independent candidate and many perceived that there were mainstream parties who had a strong political base, but he won the election and while in office, he did some exemplary works on traffic management, heritage conservation. He also posed private schools to provide scholarship quotas and private hospitals to provide health facilities to poor and needy.

21:12Fanindra Tahal in the Nepalese capital Kathmandu. Seagrass meadows are among the world's most valuable underwater habitats, as well as providing food and shelter to thousands of species. The plants play a vital role in tackling climate change by absorbing carbon dioxide, but Seagrass is also under threat from global warming, with most species unable to tolerate temperatures of more than 25 degrees Celsius, although scientists have now discovered that some plants are evolving to survive at higher temperatures than wiretroports from the east coast of the United States. Given the recent snowstorms, it's an icy path that leads to the Paul Sabain's Coastal Ecology Centre in the Acetic National Park of Maryland. The team here are preparing to take me across the lagoon of the synopoxen bay, so we can get out close to the Seagrass meadows they've been working so hard to restore. I sit down with the leader of the Seagrass project, Professor Steven J. Tomacetti,

22:13of the University of Maryland East and Shore, to learn more about its focus. We're as a team working on eelgrass. It's the foundational seagrass species of the U.S. East Coast, essentially. Here in Maryland, we're near to the southern edge of its range. They're not the flashy coral reefs, but they serve a lot of the same function. This is Katie Tanna, a PhD student working on the project under Steven's guidance. These vegetative ecosystems provide the physical structure for a lot of biodiversity. We have sea horses, I've seen sharks out in the eelgrass meadows, shellfish, but also a lot of culturally important fish species. It's a very useful plant to have around only it's fast disappearing. Steven's team turned to genetic science for help. My name is Stephanie Kamel, Professor in the Department of Biology and Reem Biology at the University of North Carolina, Wilmington, and I'm the genomics lead on this project. So in some meadows challenged by higher temperatures, a small number of plants have been mutating

23:14or changing genomically. When we're talking about genomic change at the very basic level, we're asking, have there been changes to that DNA sequence? Does that change enable me to be taller, live longer, be more heat resistant? So when I go out and sample sea grasses, I sequence the genome and I will find change has occurred in a gene that regulates heat shock. By comparing the DNA of the variants with that of normal eelgrass, the team using Stephanie's data can now focus their attention on harvesting just the seeds that contain heat resistant genes before replanting them in dying meadows. It was this technique that Katie used to seed her new eelgrass meadows last year. Around March, when all the pollination has occurred and seeds are developing, we then go out and we pluck these reproductive shoots and then hold on to them until they're ready to germinate, then it's just a matter of moving them to where they need to be. It's really just moving seeds around at the right time. And to find out how those meadows were coming along,

24:15it was time to put on some leaves. This water is at zero degrees Celsius. The eelgrass, what kind of depth does that normally grow in? Anywhere from like a couple inches to six feet maybe. The water today is too murky to see the sprouts in grass, but Katie hopes the meadow will not only have regrown, but will then also flourish in the hot temperatures of the summer. If it does the team of that bit closer to securing the future of eelgrass meadows in Maryland. We need to take a much more active role in managing our ecosystems. We're really not sitting back. We're like, okay, we're going to try these things because the absence of that is just let sea grass loss continue. I mean, we can't let that happen. Professor Stephanie Kamel ending that report from Ben Wyatt in Maryland. And for more on that story, just search for people fixing the world wherever you get your BBC podcasts. Four years ago, NASA set out to determine whether it could

25:15deflect an asteroid if it was hurtling towards the earth. To do this, they smashed a spacecraft into dimorphos, the moon of an asteroid called Didymos. The good news is that fresh analysis of that mission and its dart has now shown that it is possible to change an asteroid's orbit. Raquel Makaria, a planetary defence researcher at the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign told us more about this unique experiment. The name of the mission was the double asteroid redirection test or Dart for short. It was a spacecraft that NASA launched in November of 2021. And the basic idea there is that if we can take something really fast and smash it into an asteroid that might be headed towards the earth early enough that we would be able to push it clear off the earth to avoid any asteroid impacts. So the target of the mission was the binary asteroid system Didymos and the primary asteroid Didymos has a smaller moonlit called dimorphos

26:19orbiting around it, similar to the earth moon system where the moon is orbiting the earth. Before the dart impact, the smaller asteroid used to take 12 hours to complete one full revolution around the primary and after the dart impact, it now takes around 11 and a half hours, so 30 minute or so reduction in the time it takes the secondary to move around the primary. We know that we can actually go ahead and hit an asteroid when we're moving at very fast speeds and the more forces around 160 meters in diameter. So it was the test to make sure that we can go ahead and hit an asteroid and making sure that we're not doing it for the first time if we ever find an asteroid that's headed towards the earth. What this new study found is that not only that the dart impact shift the motion of the secondary asteroid around the primary asteroid, but it also changed both of the asteroids around the sun. And that's exactly what we need to do if we find an asteroid that's headed to the earth. We need to change its motion around the sun to make sure that we've pushed it clear away from the earth. That was the big result from this

27:23new study. Planetary Defense Researcher at the University of Illinois at Obama-Champaign, Raheel Makaria. And that's all from us for now. If you want to get in touch, you can email us at globalpodcast at bbc.co.uk. You can also find us on X at BBC World Service. Use the hashtag globalnewspod. And don't forget our sister podcast, the global story, which goes in depth and beyond the headlines on one big story. This edition of the global news podcast was mixed by Joe McCartney and the producers were Mickey Bristow and Ira Khan, the editor, is Karen Martin. I'm Alex Ritson until next time. Goodbye. This is not the future we were promised. Like, hold that up for a tagline for the show.

28:24From the BBC, this is the interface, the show that explores how tech is rewiring your week and your world. This isn't about quarterly earnings or about tech reviews. It's about what technology is actually doing to your work and your politics, your everyday life, and all the bizarre ways people are using the internet. Listen on BBC.com or wherever you get your podcasts.