Germany ready to help 'secure any peace'

The comments by German Defense Minister Pistorius come amid mixed signals over negotiations to end the war.

Meanwhile, Pakistan has confirmed it is relaying messages between Iran and the US.

Follow DW for more.

Here is a roundup of our coverage of the US-Israel war with Iran and its wider impact in the Middle East on Thursday, March 26, 2026:
Trump slams NATO allies, says will 'never forget'
President Donald Trump has hit out at NATO allies for not providing support to the United States and Israel's war in Iran.

Trump had already accused nations that were never consulted about the war of cowardice for not doing more to reopen the Strait of Hormuz .

"NATO nations have done absolutely nothing to help with the lunatic nation, now militarily decimated, of Iran," he posted on his Truth Social platform.

"The USA needs nothing from NATO but 'never forget' this very important point in time."
Iran's stranglehold on traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, which leads from the Gulf toward the open ocean, has allowed it to block ships that it perceives as aligned with the US and Israel.

Pakistan says it is mediating US-Iran contacts
Pakistan has said it is relaying messages between the United States and Iran as part of indirect talks to ease tensions in the Middle East.

"There has been unnecessary speculation in the media regarding peace talks to end ongoing conflict in the Middle East," Pakistani Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar wrote on X.

"Brotherly countries of Turkiye and Egypt, among others, are also extending their support to this initiative."
"Pakistan remains fully committed to promoting peace and continues to make every effort to ensure stability in the region and beyond," Dar added.

Kremlin dismisses report on Russia sending drones to Iran as 'lies'
The Kremlin says a Financial Times newspaper report that it was close to completing a shipment of drones to Iran was not true.

"There are so many lies being spread by the media ...

Do not pay attention to them," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

The Financial Times report cited Western intelligence officials as saying that Russia would complete the shipments of drones to Iran by the end of March.

Israel accelerates strikes amid possible Iran talks — report
Israel has reportedly intensified its military campaign against Iran , aiming to strike key targets before potential peace talks take shape.

Officials said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered the military to accelerate attacks over a 48-hour period to inflict maximum damage on Iran’s arms industry, the New York Times reported.

The push reflects concerns that the war could soon be halted if the United States moves toward negotiations with Tehran.

The Israeli officials told the NYT that the Israeli government was concerned about the 15-peace plan put forward by Trump to end the war.

In particular they were worried about the US ending the war before Israeli goals have been achieved.

Those consist of removing Iran's ballistic missile threat, preventing from developing a nuclear weapon and paving the way for Iranians to rise up and remove their government.

US-Israel war with Iran: How much does it really cost?

Beyond the human toll and soaring energy prices, the US-Israel war with Iran is racking up enormous military costs, with US and Iran spending on vastly different scales.

DW looks at where the money is going.

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Missile debris incident leaves two dead in Abu Dhabi
Authorities in Abu Dhabi have confirmed that two people were killed in an incident involving falling debris after air defense systems intercepted a ballistic missile.

Officials said three others were also injured, and several vehicles were damaged.

The incident followed the successful interception of the missile.

Pakistan says Israel took Iranian officials off kill list at its request — report
Iran's top diplomat and its parliamentary speaker were taken off Israel's hit list at the request of Pakistan, the Reuters news agency has reported.

A Pakistani official told Reuters that Israel had considered targeting Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and parliamentary speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf but held back after Islamabad urged Washington to intervene, warning there would be no one left to negotiate.

The official said the US then asked Israel to stand down.

DW was unable to verify the claim.

A day earlier, senior officials in Islamabad told AFP that a 15-point US proposal to end the war had been passed to Tehran via Pakistan.

Pakistan is being seen as a potential mediator due to its ties with both Iran and the United States, as well as its regional connections.

US sends 15-point ceasefire proposal to Iran via Pakistan
Iranian missile attack leaves 6 wounded, Israeli medics say
Israel 's military has said six people were injured after air defenses responded to missile attacks from Iran.

A spokesperson for Israel's Magen David Adom (MDA) emergency medical service said paramedics provided medical treatment to "six people who were lightly injured by blast effects," in an update to an earlier report that two had been hurt.

A spokesperson for MDA told public radio earlier on Thursday several houses in the central city of Kafr Qassem had been damaged, with the city's mayor saying it was caused by cluster munitions.

The Israeli military announced three times in around 90 minutes that it had "identified missiles launched from Iran toward the territory of the State of Israel."
"Defensive systems are operating to intercept the threat," the statements said, followed by announcements that people were "now permitted to leave protected spaces in all areas of the country."
There were air raid sirens in Jerusalem and Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, while blasts were also heard in Tel Aviv.

What to know about the negotiation claims between Iran and the US?

US President Donald Trump has doubled down on his insistence that Iran is taking part in peace talks, despite Tehran's denials that it is.

Trump said the Iranian negotiators to whom he was talking were hesitant to confirm negotiations were ongoing for fear of being killed by their own side.

"They are negotiating, by the way, and they want to make a deal so badly, but they're afraid to say it because they figure they’ll be killed by their own people," Trump said on Wednesday.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on Wednesday said that Iran did not plan to negotiate with the US and that Tehran would keep fighting, after receiving Washington's proposed 15-point peace plan via Pakistan on Wednesday.

"At present, our policy is the continuation of resistance," Araghchi said on state TV, adding: "We do not intend to negotiate — so far, no negotiations have taken place, and I believe our position is completely principled."
"Speaking of negotiations now is an admission of defeat," he said.

Trump had threatened to "obliterate" Iran's power plants if Tehran did not open up the Strait of Hormuz within 48 hours.

However, by Monday the US president said he would give Iran five days as the alleged talks took place.

Observers highlighted Trump’s decision to U-turn hours before the deadline expired as another example of a TACO moment — an acronym of "Trump Always Chickens Out" — in which the president ramps up rhetoric before walking back his threats.

It has also been pointed out that Trump's threats and retreats coincide with market openings.

The initial threat came late Friday and was reversed early Monday , with a new 5-day deadline given, which would again fall on Friday.

Thousands of oil contracts were traded 15 minutes before Trump said he would hold off on attacking Iran's energy infrastructure, a phenomenon that sent prices tumbling.

Iran has stressed they cannot trust US diplomacy, having been attacked twice during negotiations in the last nine months.

Tehran has suggested that Trump is trying to buy time without spooking markets too much while amassing troops in the region.

There have been numerous reports of vessels transporting US Marines being deployed to the Middle East.

How Iran responded to Donald Trump's claims of US-Iran talks
US Postal Service announces price rise as Iran war pushes up costs
The US Postal Service has announced it's seeking a temporary 8% increase on some mail and parcel deliveries to deal with rising transportation ‌fuel costs.

"Transportation costs have been increasing, and our competitors have reacted with a number of surcharges," USPS said in a statement .

Delivery giant UPS imposed a fuel surcharge in the United States in early March, and Fedex also frequently updates its fuel surcharge based on US gasoline prices.

If approved by the Postal ‌Regulatory Commission, the price increase would come into effect on April 26.

Australia's ban on visitors from Iran starts today
Australia has temporarily stopped visitors from Iran from entering the country.

The ban goes into effect today, Thursday.

Announcing the ban, the government said there was a greater risk of Iranians being unwilling or unable to leave because of the war in Iran.

The ban prevents Iranians holding a certain type of visitor visa (Subclass 600) from traveling to Australia for six months.

You can read more about Australian's ban on visitors from Iran here .

Russia reportedly sending drone shipment to Iran — Financial Times
Russia is close to completing the delivery of a shipment of drones to Iran , the Financial Times reports.

The UK-based newspaper cited two unnamed officials briefed on the intelligence.

"The processing of deliveries began in early March and was expected to be completed by the end of the month," FT reported.

It was not clear what type of drones Russia was sending, FT said.

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said earlier in March that it was "100% facts" that Iran has used Russian-made Shahed drones to target US bases in the Middle East.

Russia and Iran have been exchanging "drone technology and production know-how" since 2022, according to the Atlantic Council think-tank.

Russia now manufactures its own version of the Shahed drone, originally developed by Iran.

The Wall Street Journal also reported last week that Russia was providing Iran with satellite imagery and improved drone technology.

German defense minister says Berlin 'ready to secure any peace'
German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius has described the Iran war as an economic "catastrophe" and said that Germany was ready to "ready to secure any peace."
"To make it crystal clear, this war is a catastrophe for the world's economies," Pistorius told reporters in Australia on Thursday.

He stressed that Germany was not consulted before the war started and that it is not Germany's war.

"Nobody asked us before.

It’s not our war, and, therefore, we don’t want to get sucked into that war," Pistorius said.

"If it comes to a ​point where we have a ceasefire, ⁠we ​will discuss every ​kind of operation ​to secure ‌the peace and especially the ​freedom ⁠of navigation in the Hormuz ⁠Strait ," he said.

The minister did not go into detail about how that could play out.

Pistorius is on a week-long visit to the Indo-Pacific region, including Australia.

Welcome to our reporting and analysis of the 26th day of the war in Iran and its global fallout.

Before you dive into what's happening on Thursday, you should probably know that on Wednesday:
If you missed out on any of our coverage on Wednesday of the Iran war, you can catch up on it here .