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Brazil President Withdraws His Country’s Ambassador to Israel after Criticizing War in Gaza

Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva gestures as he attends a meeting on the National Commitment to Childhood Literacy, in Brasilia, Brazil, 28 May 2024. (EPA)
Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva gestures as he attends a meeting on the National Commitment to Childhood Literacy, in Brasilia, Brazil, 28 May 2024. (EPA)
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Brazil President Withdraws His Country’s Ambassador to Israel after Criticizing War in Gaza

Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva gestures as he attends a meeting on the National Commitment to Childhood Literacy, in Brasilia, Brazil, 28 May 2024. (EPA)
Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva gestures as he attends a meeting on the National Commitment to Childhood Literacy, in Brasilia, Brazil, 28 May 2024. (EPA)

Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva withdrew his ambassador to Israel on Wednesday after months of tensions between the two countries over the war in Gaza, the latest repercussion from a South American nation over Israel's military campaign in the Palestinian territory.

The move was announced in Brazil’s official gazette.

Israel’s foreign ministry said no official message has yet been received from the Brazilian government on the matter. However, following the media reports, the Brazilian chargé d’affaires was summoned to appear at the ministry on Thursday for a meeting.

Lula has been a frequent critic of Israel’s offensive in Gaza, which he compared to the Holocaust earlier this year. That led Israel’s Foreign Minister Israel Katz to summon the Brazilian ambassador to the national Holocaust museum in Jerusalem for a public reprimand.

At the time, Lula called Brazil’s Ambassador Frederico Meyer home. Wednesday’s action represented an escalation — a diplomatic downgrade, with the Brazilian Embassy in Israel still there but without an ambassador in the post.

According to a person at Brazil’s foreign ministry, the official removal comes was in response to Meyer's humiliation by Israel's top diplomat. The person, who has knowledge of the situation, spoke on condition of anonymity as he wasn’t authorized to speak publicly.

Meyer has been transferred to Geneva and will join Brazil's permanent mission to the United Nations and other international organizations.

The war in Gaza, now in its eighth month, began when the Palestinian Hamas group burst into southern Israel in a surprise attack on Oct. 7, killing some 1,200 civilians and taking around 250 hostage.

Israel’s offensive in response to that attack has killed at least 36,096 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between fighters and civilians in its count. Israel says it has killed 13,000 militants.

In February, Brazil's Lula said that “what is happening in the Gaza Strip and to the Palestinian people hasn’t been seen in any other moment in history. Actually, it did when Hitler decided to kill the Jews.”

Israel says its war in Gaza is a defensive action triggered by Hamas' unprecedented assault and rejects any comparisons of its offensive to the Holocaust.

Earlier this month, Colombia broke diplomatic relations with Israel. Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro had previously suspended purchases of weapons from Israel and had also compared that country’s actions in Gaza to those of Nazi Germany.

Also in the region, Bolivia and Belize have also severed diplomatic relations with Israel over the Israel-Hamas war.

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World

War-Related Oil Squeeze a ‘Short-Term Pain,’ US Official Insists

A customer fuels up with regular gasoline priced at $5.29 at a Chevron gas station in Bellevue, Wash., Friday, March 13, 2026. (AP)
A customer fuels up with regular gasoline priced at $5.29 at a Chevron gas station in Bellevue, Wash., Friday, March 13, 2026. (AP)
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War-Related Oil Squeeze a ‘Short-Term Pain,’ US Official Insists

A customer fuels up with regular gasoline priced at $5.29 at a Chevron gas station in Bellevue, Wash., Friday, March 13, 2026. (AP)
A customer fuels up with regular gasoline priced at $5.29 at a Chevron gas station in Bellevue, Wash., Friday, March 13, 2026. (AP)

President Donald Trump's top energy official said Sunday that Americans will have to endure the "short-term pain" of higher prices at the pump as US forces conduct their war against Iran.

Now in the third week of a multi-dimensional Middle East conflict that has seen US and Israeli forces pound Iran's military targets, and Tehran responding with missile and drone attacks against several neighboring states, global energy prices have soared.

And concern has swelled that a lengthy blockage by Iran of the critical Strait of Hormuz could send crude prices through the roof.

"President Trump needed to act now... to stop the killing of American soldiers, to stop the destabilization of the region, and to end Iran's ability to threaten energy markets," US Energy Secretary Chris Wright told ABC News talk show "This Week."

He said economic conditions would grow dramatically worse without the ongoing military operation "to defang the Iranian regime" and ensure it can no longer threaten the world with nuclear weapons.

"This is short-term pain to get through to a much better place where the Middle East can no longer be held hostage by the one rogue nation in Iran," Wright added.

The energy secretary also said he predicted the war could end "in the next few weeks, and we'll see a rebound in (fuel) supplies and a pushing down of prices after that."

Since the war began, gas prices have soared in the United States, where Trump in 2024 campaigned relentlessly on a vow to lower fuel costs for Americans. The issue is a critical one for US voters, who head to the polls in November for the country's mid-term congressional elections.

Gas prices have jumped 25 percent in the past month, to $3.70 per gallon, according to the American Automobile Association.

The Trump administration has stressed other governments should help in a possible effort to unblock the Strait of Hormuz by escorting tankers through the narrow waterway along Iran's coast.

US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, speaking on Fox News "Sunday Morning Futures," said oil could soon flow through the strait if such escorts -- and shipping insurance -- are worked out.

"Could be a day, could be a week," Duffy said of possible escorts.

World

Israel Says ‘No Interceptor Shortage’ After Reports of Scarcity as Iranian Missiles Injure at Least 8

15 March 2027, Israel, Tel Aviv: People watch the site of a projectile impact following an Iranian strike on Tel Aviv. (dpa)
15 March 2027, Israel, Tel Aviv: People watch the site of a projectile impact following an Iranian strike on Tel Aviv. (dpa)
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Israel Says ‘No Interceptor Shortage’ After Reports of Scarcity as Iranian Missiles Injure at Least 8

15 March 2027, Israel, Tel Aviv: People watch the site of a projectile impact following an Iranian strike on Tel Aviv. (dpa)
15 March 2027, Israel, Tel Aviv: People watch the site of a projectile impact following an Iranian strike on Tel Aviv. (dpa)

An Israeli military source on Sunday denied media reports that Israel was running low on missile interceptors crucial to its air defenses, adding that the army was "continuously monitoring the situation". 

Citing US officials, news outlet Semafor had reported that Israel had informed the United States that it was "running critically low on ballistic missile interceptors", as the US-Israeli war against Iran entered its third week. 

"As of now, there is no interceptor shortage. The Israeli army is prepared for prolonged combat. We are continuously monitoring the situation," the military source said, in response to media queries. 

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar also dismissed the reports when questioned by journalists earlier on Sunday. 

At least eight people were injured in Israel Sunday following repeated missile launches from Iran, at least two of which contained cluster munitions according to Israeli authorities. 

Israeli police released footage from a CCTV camera in the Tel Aviv area showing an impact on a road, saying that it was from "cluster munitions" that caused "damage at several locations". 

Bomblets and shrapnel from the missile wounded four people in various parts of the Tel Aviv metropolitan area, according to the Magen David Adom (MDA) rescue service. 

A man in his 60s was hospitalized with moderate injuries to his head from broken glass, while three were treated due to the shock waves from the blast. 

In another barrage shortly before noon, two men aged 62 and 44 reported minor injuries "from pieces of asphalt that struck them as a result of the blast", according to MDA. 

During a salvo toward the Tel Aviv area at around 3:00 am (0100 GMT), a man and a woman in their 80s suffered light injuries, from glass shards and smoke inhalation respectively. 

Another Iranian missile directed at Israel's southernmost city of Eilat was intercepted before reaching the target, without causing injuries. The municipality of Eilat quoted security sources saying it was a cluster missile. 

By late midday on Sunday, seven missile salvos were launched from Iran toward the State of Israel, some of which were intercepted. 

Saar on Sunday accused Iran of targeting civilian areas, during a visit to the northern Arab Israeli town of Zarzir, hit two days prior by shrapnel from an Iranian missile that lightly wounded almost 60 residents. 

"While we are targeting military objectives... the Iranian regime is targeting civilians," Saar said. 

"All the casualties we faced during these two weeks of confrontation... are civilians from Iranian missiles. This is of course a war crime," he added. 

His words were echoed by police superintendent Shlomi Schlezinger while speaking near the site of one of the impacts on Sunday. 

Iran is "always targeting crowded places, with people, the big major cities," he said in central Tel Aviv. 

He attributed the relatively low number of Israeli casualties to civilians' adherence to safety instructions. 

"We have a lot of collateral damage to cars and buildings, as you can see," he said. 

"We're used to, in the last 16 days, to be in shelters and in safe rooms when we have the alarm." 

According to Haaretz, citing security officials, 250 ballistic missiles had been fired by Iran at Israel as of March 13. 

Twelve people have been killed in Israel by missiles or falling debris since the start of the war, according to an AFP tally of figures given by Israeli authorities and first responders. 

World

Iran FM Sees No Reason for Talks After Trump Says It Wants Deal

09 September 2025, Egypt, Cairo: Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi attends a joint press conference in Cairo. (dpa)
09 September 2025, Egypt, Cairo: Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi attends a joint press conference in Cairo. (dpa)
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Iran FM Sees No Reason for Talks After Trump Says It Wants Deal

09 September 2025, Egypt, Cairo: Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi attends a joint press conference in Cairo. (dpa)
09 September 2025, Egypt, Cairo: Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi attends a joint press conference in Cairo. (dpa)

Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Iran was not interested in talks with the United States, pushing back on President Donald Trump's stance that Tehran wants a deal to end the war.

"We are stable and strong enough. We are only defending our people," Araghchi told CBS's "Face The Nation," in an interview aired Sunday.

"We don't see any reason why we should talk with Americans, because we were talking with them when they decided to attack us.

"There is no good experience talking with Americans."

Trump on Saturday said Iran wanted a deal, but that he was not prepared to make one on current terms, without giving further details.

"We never asked for a ceasefire, and we have never asked even for negotiation," Araghchi said.

He added that Iran was ready to talk to countries who want to negotiate for selected oil tankers to pass through the key Strait of Hormuz export route.

"I cannot mention any country in particular, but we have been approached by a number of countries who want to have a safe passage for their vessels," he said.