Russia Evacuates Dozens Of Staff From Bushehr

RFE
04 Apr 2026

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16:40

EU Finance Ministers Call For Windfall Tax On Energy Companies As Iran War Drives Prices Higher

Finance ministers from Germany, Italy, Spain, Portugal, and Austria have jointly urged the European Commission to introduce a blocwide windfall tax on energy companies profits, citing soaring fuel costs linked to the ongoing war in the Middle East, Reuters reported.

The ministers said such a tax could help ease financial pressure on households and demonstrate European solidarity.

In a letter sent on April 3 to EU Climate Commissioner Wopke Hoekstra, the group said the current spike in energy prices reflects market distortions caused by the Middle East conflict and argued that firms benefiting from the crisis should contribute to relief measures.

They cited emergency tax measures used in 2022 during Europes energy crisis following Russias invasion of Ukraine as a precedent.

The letter comes amid a surge in European fuel costs. Gas prices have risen more than 70 percent since late February, and average EU petrol and diesel retail prices have climbed noticeably, with gasoline up around 14 percent and diesel about 30 percent in the weeks following the conflict, Marketscreener reported.

As of April 4, Brent crude oil prices were trading near $100.50 per barrel, retreating from a high of nearly $120 per barrel reached in late March.

The ministers said the proposed windfall tax would help distribute the financial burden more fairly among consumers affected by the conflict and called on the European Commission to act swiftly to implement a legal framework.

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16:27

Trump Gives Tehran 48 Hours To Make Deal, Open Strait Or Face 'Hell'

US President Donald Trump on April 4 told the Iranian regime that time is running out and that it must make a deal or open the crucial Strait of Hormuz to shipping or face hell, renewing an earlier threat in which he vowed to send Iran back to the stone ages.

Remember when I gave Iran ten days to MAKE A DEAL or OPEN UP THE HORMUZ STRAIT. Time is running out - 48 hours before all Hell will reign down on them. Glory be to GOD!, he wrote on his Truth Social platform.

The remarks came even as US forces searched for a missing crew member after an F-15E jet fighter was shot down a day earlier over Iran. One crew member has been rescued, US officials said.

Trump has previously set deadlines for Iran to make a deal or to open the Strait of Hormuz, through which some 20 percent of global oil and natural gas supplies pass. Tehran has effectively blocked the passage, leading to a worldwide energy crisis.

On March 30, Trump said that "if for any reason a deal is not shortly reached" US forces will react " by blowing up and completely obliterating all of their Electric Generating Plants, Oil Wells and Kharg Island (and possibly all desalinization plants!)

Trump on March 21 originally gave Tehran a 48-hour deadline, but then extended it, saying he wanted to give talks a chance to succeed.

Iran has rejected a 15-point US plan presented to it through Pakistani mediators but on April 4 left open the possibility of further negotiations.

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16:21

Russia Evacuates Dozens Of Staff From Irans Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant

Director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Rafael Grossi

Russias state-owned nuclear agency, Rosatom, evacuated 198 staff members from Irans Bushehr nuclear power plant on April 4, continuing a withdrawal that began after the conflict escalated in the region in late February, according to Russian news agencies.

The Bushehr plant, Irans only operational nuclear facility, was built with Russian assistance and is jointly run by Iranian and Russian personnel.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said on April 4 that Iran had informed it of a projectile striking close to the Bushehr site, killing a guard. The nuclear watchdog said that the main parts of the plant were unaffected and radiation levels remained normal.

The reported strike has not been independently confirmed, and neither the US nor Israeli militaries have confirmed any involvement in an attack on the facility.

IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi said in a post on X: [Nuclear power plant] sites or nearby areas must never be attacked maximum military restraint is essential to avoid the risk of a nuclear accident.

Rosatom chief Aleksei Likhachev said the situation was developing according to a worst-case scenario and confirmed that Russian President Vladimir Putin had been informed. It was unclear if the evacuation of personnel was planned or connected to the reported strike close to Bushehr.

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15:45

Iran Claims To Down US F-15E With New Air Defense System

Iran has claimed that a new, advanced air defense system was used to shoot down the US F-15E Strike Eagle over Iran.

During a press briefing on April 3, Ebrahim Zolfaghari, a spokesperson at Iran's Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters (the joint operational command headquarters of the Iranian military), said the downing of the jet with a new, advanced defense system showed that US President Donald Trumps claims that Iranian air defenses had been destroyed were incorrect.

We will certainly achieve full control over our countrys skies, Zolfaghari added.

Military analysts have described Iran's air defense as a layered network that integrates domestically produced systems, including the long-range Bavar-373 and the more mobile, medium-range Khordad-15, along with mobile hit-to-kill technologies capable of firing multiple missiles simultaneously.

Hit-to-kill technology is where an interceptor destroys its target through a high-speed physical collision rather than an explosive warhead. Exactly how Iran utilizes Hit-to-kill is unclear.

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15:18

Iran, US-Israel Continue To Exchange Strikes

On April 4, Iran continued attacks on Western-operated energy facilities in Iraq.

Two drones struck the BP-operated North Rumaila oil field in southern Iraq, wounding three Iraqi workers. Earlier the same day, another drone hit storage facilities near Iraq's southeastern port of Basra, which is used by foreign oil companies. Reports also indicate that two drones hit the Majnoon oil field in southern Iraq, following the earlier attacks.

The Shalamcheh border crossing between Iraq and Iran was officially closed after an air strike on the Iranian side killed an Iraqi citizen.

On April 4, news agencies reported that US-Israeli strikes in Iran targeted multiple sites, including a nuclear plant, a petrochemical hub, a trade terminal, and a cement factory.

On April 3, Shahid Beheshti University in northern Tehran was hit by an air strike, reportedly damaging parts of the campus. The European Union and other countries have sanctioned the university for what they have said is research relevant to the development of nuclear weapons.

According to AFP, Iranian Science Minister Hossein Simai Sarraf told reporters during a visit to the university that over 30 universities across Iran have been attacked by US and Israeli forces since late February.

US and Israeli forces have not confirmed any attack on the Shahid Beheshti University and Sarraf's claims can not be independently verified.

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14:36

Some Shipping Traffic Resuming Through Strait Of Hormuz

Reuters and Iran's Tasnim news agency, which is close to the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, reported on April 4 that Iran has allowed vessels carrying essential goods through the Strait of Hormuz, including humanitarian aid and basic supplies, to reach its ports, provided they coordinate with local authorities.

The strait has been blocked by Iran since February 28.

Since April 3, ships from Oman, Pakistan, Turkey, India, France, and Japan have passed through the strait, according to MarineTraffic and LSEG. Among them, the Sohar LNG, which is Panama-flagged and co-owned by Japan's Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, became the first Japan-linked vessel and liquefied natural gas (LNG) carrier to transit through the strait since the conflict began. Other successful passages included an Indian liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) tanker and a French container ship.

Despite this, Japan's Transport Ministry has said that about 45 Japanese-operated ships remain stranded in the region, primarily in the Persian Gulf. Based on vessel-tracking data from MarineTraffic and LSEG, overall traffic is estimated at around 512 percent of prewar levels.

As of April, reports from maritime intelligence firms, news agencies, and government ministries show 2,190 vessels stranded in the region, including 400 oil tankers.

US intelligence sources, cited by Reuters on April 3, warn that Iran is unlikely to fully reopen the strait soon, using control of the waterway as leverage over the United States. US President Donald Trump has suggested US forces could act to reopen the passage if necessary.

The UN Security Council plans to vote next week on a Bahraini resolution to protect shipping. China and Russia have opposed authorizing force, while the draft, backed by the Gulf states and Washington, would allow defensive measures for at least six months.

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10:38

Iran Executes Two More Men On Terrorism Charges

Iran executed two men on April 4 convicted of carrying out terrorist acts and links to the opposition Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK), according to the Mizan News Agency, which is close to the country's judiciary.

The two men were the remaining defendants in a six-person case. The other four men were executed earlier this week.

MEK is an exiled opposition group that seeks to overthrow the Islamic republic and is regarded by Tehran as a terrorist organization. In recent weeks, there has been a surge in executions, particularly targeting members of the MEK.

The two men, Abolhassan Montazer and Vahid Bani-Amerian, were reportedly executed "on charges of rebellion through involvement in numerous terrorist acts and explosions led by the terrorist group of the MEK, membership in a rebel group, gathering and colluding to commit a crime against the internal security of the country."

Iran's Supreme Court upheld the verdict, Mizan reported.

Earlier this week, Hamed Bani-Amerian, the brother of Vahid Bani-Amerian, told RFE/RL's Radio Farda that "The Supreme Court had raised objections to the verdict and the case and returned the case to the court of first instance to resolve the objections."

But then, he said -- speaking before his brother's execution -- "suddenly we were faced with the news of the execution of four of my brother's co-defendants."

Bani-Amerian was referring to the other four men being tried -- Babak Alipour, Pouya Ghobadi, Mohammad Taghavi Sangdehi, and Akbar Daneshvarkar -- who were executed by Iranian authorities at Ghezel Hesar Prison in the city of Karaj, about 20 kilometers northwest of Tehran. Sangdehi and Daneshvarkar were executed by hanging on March 30; Alipour and Ghobadi were executed a day later.

In recent weeks, Iranian state media have reported increasing numbers of people arrested for being "spies" and "mercenaries."

Iran has maintained one of the world's highest execution rates for years, with the numberestimated to have more than doubled in 2025compared to 2024.

UN human rights experts and the UN High Commissioner have expressed grave concern over the recent surge in executions in Iran.

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01:08

We are now closing the live blog for the day. We'll be back tomorrow at 7:30 a.m. Central European time to cover the latest events across the Middle East.

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01:05

Rescue Mission Races To Find Crew Member Of US Jet Downed Over Iran

WASHINGTON -- Rescue teams continue to search early on April 4 for a US crew member missing after their fighter jet was brought down over Iran, one of two American forces planes reportedly knocked out of the sky in the region a day earlier.

A US official told RFE/RL one crew member was recovered while the search is ongoing for the second in the first known loss of an American plane, a two-seat F-15E jet, to hostile fire since the war began.

Separately, a US official later said another US Air Force warplane, an A-10 attack aircraft, crashed in the Persian Gulf and that the lone pilot in that incident was safely recovered. Full details were not immediately available.

Iranian state media also reported the downing of both planes. Iranian officials said they also were searching for the missing crew member of the first plane and urged citizens to report to the authorities any information that could lead to the airman's capture.

Specifics of the Iran rescue mission were not provided by the US official who spoke to RFE/RL.

To read the full story, clickhere.

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20:41

3.4.2026

US Embassy In Lebanon Warns That Iran, Allies Could Target Universities

The US Embassy in Lebanon on April 3 warned that Iran and its allied groups could attempt to target universities in the country.

"Iran and its aligned terrorist militias may intend to target universities in Lebanon," asecurity alertsaid on the embassy website.

"The security situation in Lebanon is volatile and unpredictable. Air strikes, drones and rocket attacks occur throughout the country, especially in the south, the Beqaa, and parts of Beirut," the security alert also said.

The American University in central Beirut is one of the most prestigious educational institutions in the region.

"If you are in the country, the Department of State urges U.S. citizens to depart Lebanon while commercial flight options remain available," it added.

It did not identify any specific institutions, but it comes days after Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps threatened to target US universities in the Middle East, claiming that US-Israeli strikes had destroyed two Iranian universities.

Lebanon is home to the American University of Beirut, one of the most prominent US institutions in the region, whose campus and hospital are in central Beirut.

The Israeli military has been blasting sites in Beirut and southern Lebanon known to house assets of the Iran-backed Hezbollah movement, deemed a terrorist organization by the United States.

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