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Swiss Medics Start Hunger Protest over Gaza Outside Parliament

A sign of solidarity with their colleagues in Gaza, from Swiss doctors Michele Ghielmini, Brenno Balestra, Alessandra Guaita and Marco Franzi, is seen outside the Swiss Parliament building (Bundeshaus) at the start of their hunger strike over Gaza, calling on their government to apply targeted sanctions on Israel over its alleged violations of international law and to recognize a Palestinian state, in Bern, Switzerland, September 8, 2025. (Reuters)
A sign of solidarity with their colleagues in Gaza, from Swiss doctors Michele Ghielmini, Brenno Balestra, Alessandra Guaita and Marco Franzi, is seen outside the Swiss Parliament building (Bundeshaus) at the start of their hunger strike over Gaza, calling on their government to apply targeted sanctions on Israel over its alleged violations of international law and to recognize a Palestinian state, in Bern, Switzerland, September 8, 2025. (Reuters)
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Swiss Medics Start Hunger Protest over Gaza Outside Parliament

A sign of solidarity with their colleagues in Gaza, from Swiss doctors Michele Ghielmini, Brenno Balestra, Alessandra Guaita and Marco Franzi, is seen outside the Swiss Parliament building (Bundeshaus) at the start of their hunger strike over Gaza, calling on their government to apply targeted sanctions on Israel over its alleged violations of international law and to recognize a Palestinian state, in Bern, Switzerland, September 8, 2025. (Reuters)
A sign of solidarity with their colleagues in Gaza, from Swiss doctors Michele Ghielmini, Brenno Balestra, Alessandra Guaita and Marco Franzi, is seen outside the Swiss Parliament building (Bundeshaus) at the start of their hunger strike over Gaza, calling on their government to apply targeted sanctions on Israel over its alleged violations of international law and to recognize a Palestinian state, in Bern, Switzerland, September 8, 2025. (Reuters)

Swiss medics began a hunger protest outside parliament on Monday over the war in Gaza, pressing Bern to take a more critical stance on Israel's treatment of the Palestinian enclave.

Switzerland has condemned some Israeli actions in the conflict, such as an attack on a hospital last month, but has held back from stronger steps sought by the protesters such as imposing sanctions on Israel or recognizing a Palestinian state.

Medics have signed up to protest outside parliament in pairs wearing stethoscopes and medical tunics splashed with fake blood, taking turns in 24-hour fasts in a relay system throughout the September parliamentary session.

"A white tunic used to protect you. Today, if you want to save your life, you take it off, and that's intolerable, and it's intolerable we're not reacting to that," said Professor Pietro Majno-Hurst, a surgeon and member of the Swiss Healthcare Workers Against Genocide.

The protest follows actions in Swiss universities and other protests at the weekend as famine strikes parts of Gaza.

"We can say the government is currently silent, inactive, I would say fairly cowardly, and is very lacking in courage. And I think today, it's time for a change," said Professor Karl Blanchet, Director of the Geneva Centre of Humanitarian Studies, who is part of the protest.

The Foreign Affairs Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment. In response to a protest letter by the strike organizers, it said in July it was shocked by the suffering in Gaza and was calling for humanitarian access and a ceasefire.

Switzerland, which has close ties with Israel but a tradition of neutrality, has matched European Union sanctions on Russia over Ukraine, prompting accusations of double standards by some critics.

Two Swiss citizens were killed in the October 7, 2023 attacks on Israel that triggered the Gaza war.

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World

Senior US Counterterrorism Official Resigns to Protest Iran War

Joe Kent, Director of the US National Counterterrorism Center, speaks during a congressional debate at KATU studios Oct. 7, 2024, in Portland, Ore. (AP)
Joe Kent, Director of the US National Counterterrorism Center, speaks during a congressional debate at KATU studios Oct. 7, 2024, in Portland, Ore. (AP)
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Senior US Counterterrorism Official Resigns to Protest Iran War

Joe Kent, Director of the US National Counterterrorism Center, speaks during a congressional debate at KATU studios Oct. 7, 2024, in Portland, Ore. (AP)
Joe Kent, Director of the US National Counterterrorism Center, speaks during a congressional debate at KATU studios Oct. 7, 2024, in Portland, Ore. (AP)

A senior US counterterrorism official resigned on Tuesday to protest the US-Israeli war against Iran and said the country posed no imminent threat to the United States.

"I cannot in good conscience support the ongoing war in Iran," Joseph Kent, the director of the National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC), said in his resignation letter to President Donald Trump.

Kent -- a former member of the Green Beret special forces who served multiple combat tours -- said "Iran posed no imminent threat to our nation, and it is clear that we started this war due to pressure from Israel and its powerful American lobby."

Kent, 45, who was appointed to head the NCTC by Trump, is the first senior US official to resign from his administration to protest the war against Iran.

Trump, speaking to reporters in the Oval Office, accused Kent of being "very weak on security" and said it's a "good thing that he's out."

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt pushed back against what she called "false claims" in Kent's resignation letter, calling "insulting and laughable" the suggestion that the decision to go to war was made "based on the influence of others."

"As President Trump has clearly and explicitly stated, he had strong and compelling evidence that Iran was going to attack the United States first," Leavitt said.

"President Trump ultimately made the determination that a joint attack with Israel would greatly reduce the risk to American lives that would come from a first strike by the terrorist Iranian regime and address this imminent threat to America's national security interests," she said.

Kent's wife, Shannon, also served in the US military and was killed in a suicide bombing in Syria in 2019.

"As a Gold Star husband who lost my beloved wife Shannon in a war manufactured by Israel, I cannot support sending the next generation off to fight and die in a war that serves no benefit to the American people nor justifies the cost of American lives," Kent wrote.

- 'Misinformation campaign' -

As head of the NCTC, Kent worked under Tulsi Gabbard, the director of national intelligence, analyzing and coordinating the US response to terrorist threats and serving as the principal counterterrorism adviser to the president.

"Until June of 2025, you understood that the wars in the Middle East were a trap that robbed America of the precious lives of our patriots and depleted the wealth and prosperity of our nation," Kent said in his letter to Trump, which he posted on X.

Kent accused "high-ranking Israeli officials and influential members of the American media" with engaging in a misinformation campaign that "sowed pro-war sentiments to encourage a war with Iran."

"This echo chamber was used to deceive you into believing that Iran posed an imminent threat to the United States, and that should you strike now," he said.

"This was a lie and is the same tactic the Israelis used to draw us into the disastrous Iraq war," Kent said.

"I cannot support sending the next generation off to fight and die in a war that serves no benefit to the American people nor justifies the cost of American lives," he added.

Senator Mark Warner, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, said Kent's "record is deeply troubling."

"But on this point, he is right: there was no credible evidence of an imminent threat from Iran that would justify rushing the United States into another war of choice in the Middle East," Warner said.

Kent ran twice unsuccessfully -- in 2022 and 2024 -- as a Trump-endorsed Republican for a seat in the US House of Representatives from Washington state.

World

Poland Will Not Send Its Troops to Iran, PM Tusk Says

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk attends the government meeting at the Chancellery of the Prime Minister in Warsaw, Poland, 13 March 2026. (EPA)
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk attends the government meeting at the Chancellery of the Prime Minister in Warsaw, Poland, 13 March 2026. (EPA)
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Poland Will Not Send Its Troops to Iran, PM Tusk Says

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk attends the government meeting at the Chancellery of the Prime Minister in Warsaw, Poland, 13 March 2026. (EPA)
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk attends the government meeting at the Chancellery of the Prime Minister in Warsaw, Poland, 13 March 2026. (EPA)

Poland ‌will not send troops to Iran as the conflict does not directly affect its security, Prime Minister Donald Tusk said on Tuesday, adding that the United States and other powers understood Warsaw's decision.

US President Donald Trump called on allies over the weekend ‌to help ‌secure the Strait of ‌Hormuz ⁠as Iranian forces continue ⁠attacks on the vital waterway amid the US-Israeli war on Iran, now in its third week.

Poland's government "does not plan any expedition to Iran, and this ⁠does not raise any ‌doubts on ‌the part of our allies," Tusk said ‌before a government meeting.

He said ‌this covered Poland's land, air and naval forces, which are still being built up in the face ‌of the conflict over the border in Ukraine.

Tusk said securing ⁠the ⁠Baltic Sea remained a central element of Poland's strategy.

A number of other US allies, including Germany, Spain and Italy, have said they have no immediate plans to send ships to help reopen the Strait of Hormuz, which Iran has effectively shut with attacks and threats of attacks.

World

Oil Tankers ‘Starting to Dribble Through’ Strait of Hormuz, Says White House

Luojiashan tanker sits anchored in Muscat, as Iran vows to close the Strait of Hormuz, amid the US-Israeli conflict with Iran, in Muscat, Oman, March 7, 2026. (Reuters)
Luojiashan tanker sits anchored in Muscat, as Iran vows to close the Strait of Hormuz, amid the US-Israeli conflict with Iran, in Muscat, Oman, March 7, 2026. (Reuters)
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Oil Tankers ‘Starting to Dribble Through’ Strait of Hormuz, Says White House

Luojiashan tanker sits anchored in Muscat, as Iran vows to close the Strait of Hormuz, amid the US-Israeli conflict with Iran, in Muscat, Oman, March 7, 2026. (Reuters)
Luojiashan tanker sits anchored in Muscat, as Iran vows to close the Strait of Hormuz, amid the US-Israeli conflict with Iran, in Muscat, Oman, March 7, 2026. (Reuters)

Oil tankers are crossing the Strait of Hormuz and Iran's actions to choke traffic through the shipping route have not hurt the US economy, White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett told CNBC on Tuesday, reiterating the Trump administration's position that the war should be over in weeks, not months.

"Already you're seeing tankers are starting to dribble through the straits, and I think ‌it's a ‌sign of how little Iran has ‌left," ⁠he said.

"We're very ⁠optimistic that this is going to be over in the short run, and then there will be price repercussions when it is over for a few weeks, as the ships make it to the refineries."

Hassett said there ⁠is concern that Asia may not ‌be exporting as much ‌refined oil to the US to handle a decrease in ‌supply from the Middle East.

"We're seeing ‌some signs that they might be pulling that back to make sure that they have enough energy for themselves. And we've got a plan for that," ‌he said.

Trump on Monday postponed his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping ⁠to focus ⁠on the war in Iran.

Hassett said the US action in Iran is in China's interest.

"This is one case where the objectives of both countries are aligned, that we want, you know, a stable world oil market," he said. "When this war is over, which will be sometime soon, I'm sure they'll get together and have a lot to talk about, and hopefully when the Chinese will express some gratitude."