Global News Podcast - US downplays suggestions it could commit war crimes in Iran

Episode Date: March 31, 2026

The White House has downplayed concerns that Donald Trump's threat to hit Iran's civilian infrastructure could lead to the US potentially carrying out war crimes. President Trump said the US military would destroy Iran's electricity plants, Kharg island and desalination plants if Iran did not make a deal. Also: The United Nations Security Council is holding an emergency meeting after two more UN peackeepers were killed in southern Lebanon. Australia's internet regulator is investigating tech giants over suspected breaches of its new under-16s social media ban. And Celine Dion has announced her long-awaited return to the stage with a ten night residency in Paris.The Global News Podcast brings you the breaking news you need to hear, as it happens. Listen for the latest headlines and current affairs from around the world. Politics, economics, climate, business, technology, health – we cover it all with expert analysis and insight. Get the news that matters, delivered twice a day on weekdays and daily at weekends, plus special bonus episodes reacting to urgent breaking stories. Follow or subscribe now and never miss a moment. Get in touch: [e-mail]

This BBC podcast is supported by ads outside the UK. Their company's success helped build a nation. The company is such a big part of Korea's economy. But who are the family behind one of the world's tech giants? The major corporate empire that we now know today. Samsung. Inheritance Samsung from the BBC World Service explores the real-life dramas of the Lee family. There's a succession style drama underneath of all this.

Inheritance Samsung. Listen on BBC.com. the BBC app, or wherever you get your BBC podcasts. This is the Global News podcast from the BBC World Service. I'm Alex Ritson, and in the early hours of Tuesday the 31st of March, these are our main stories. President Donald Trump threatens to destroy Iran's energy infrastructure and desalination plants unless Tehran makes a deal.

The United Nations Security Council will hold an emergency meeting later today after two more UN peacekeepers were killed in southern Lebanon. And Israel's parliament passes a new law imposing the death penalty on Palestinians convicted of fatal attacks on Israel. Also in this podcast, months later, we heard in the news that premature infants had died in El Shifa hospital. I would look at the photos trying to feel as a mother, whether this could be my child or not. mature Palestinian babies evacuated from Gaza, finally return home. President Trump has been reading Iran the Riot Act since the start of the war, issuing threats to the Islamic Republic on an almost daily basis. Mr. Trump's latest warning to Tehran was to make a deal

to end the conflict or he would order the U.S. military to destroy all of Iran's oil wells, electricity generating plants and Haag Island. The country's critical hub for exceptional. sporting its oil. He went further, raising the possibility of making water a weapon of war by including desalination plants on his list, which a journalist read out during a press conference at the White House. Caroline Levitt, Mr. Trump's press secretary, was asked why her boss was threatening Iranian civilian infrastructure, which, if attacked, could constitute a war crime. The president has made it quite clear to the Iranian regime at this moment in time, as evidenced by the statement that you just...

read that their best move is to make a deal, or else the United States Armed Forces has capabilities beyond their wildest imagination, and the President is not afraid to use them. That's not what I said, Garrett. And you're saying the word potential for a reason, because I'm sure some experts are telling you that in your ear to try to ask me that question. Of course, this administration and the United States Armed Forces will always act within the confines of the law. But with respect to achieving the full objective. of Operation Epic Fury, President Trump is going to move forward unabated, and he expects the Iranian regime to make a deal with the administration. Iran said it had received U.S. peace proposals via

intermediaries, but these were unrealistic, illogical, and excessive. Although President Trump wants a deal for ending the war by the beginning of next week, Israel's Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has said he didn't want to put a schedule on the timeline for finishing the conflict. He told US television that more than half of Israel's military aims had been achieved since the start of the war more than four weeks ago. I've been speaking to our North America correspondent Peter Bowes. Iran doesn't appear to be backing down or showing any signs of coming on board as far as the US demands are concerned. Far from it, it's really hard to quantify any effect that the president's strategy is having. Indeed, it is difficult to define what the president's strategy is. He claims to be

in serious discussions with a new and more reasonable Iranian regime. But Donald Trump vacillates constantly. One moment he's making, as you suggest, increase threats against Iran, the other suggesting that talks are going well. And we're still not clear that actual talks are taking place, as opposed to an exchange of messages through intermediaries, which seems the most likely, but not direct contact.

Is there a strong appetite in the White House to put, as they call it, boots on the ground? Well, there's no indication that the White House wants a ground war, but it is, I think, deliberately keeping that option on the table, as it has since the start of the war at the end of last month. Officials have been quite careful to talk about all options, which is a familiar phrasing of the various scenarios that could unfold, I think, designed to maintain pressure on Tehran.

In fact, if I were to attempt to define what the strategy is, it will be one of maximum pressure without full, commitment. So keeping military options visible, and we're watching the buildup of U.S. military personnel in the Gulf, but relying on air power, deterrence, negotiation, whatever that is taking to avoid the political and human costs of boots on the ground. President Trump is set next Monday as his deadline for a deal. How much pressure is he under at home to finish this war? I think he's under significant domestic pressure, and it is growing every day. There's certainly economic pressure, rising oil and fuel prices, linked to the

disruption in the Middle East. They're certainly feeding domestic concern. Public opinion is broadly against the war continuing. There was an opinion poll published towards the end of last week, which suggested that around 61% of Americans disapprove of Mr. Trump's handling of the conflict, only about 37% approving. Separate polling has suggested that a majority of voters, about 54%, opposed the military action altogether. And I think most significantly, six in ten, say that the strikes have already gone too far.

Peter Bose. An emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council will be held on Tuesday after two more peacekeepers with the UN's unifil force were killed in southern Lebanon. It's there. Israeli forces have been fighting the Iranian-backed group Hezbollah. Our route correspondent, Lina Sinjab,

sent this update. This is probably the deadliest time of this war in Lebanon. UNIFEL has come to announce two of its peacekeepers have been killed. They haven't confirmed how this happened or who's the source of the killing. The Lebanese army, though, said one soldier have been killed and many others injured in an Israeli strike on a checkpoint south of the city of Tear. This comes after escalation, more than. escalation, more airstrikes in the south of the capital, Beirut and in the south of the

country. Over the weekend, three journalists have been killed. More than seven paramedics have been also killed, totaling the number of paramedics being killed in this war to 52. The Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that they are expanding their ground operation in the south of Lebanon. They've already taken control of nearly 10% of Lebanon's territory to the south of Littani River, there are talks that they are reaching even further north of Litaany River. This is an area that is home to hundreds of thousands, many of whom have fled their areas and their villages. The total number of displaced people have reached over 1.2 million scattered around the country with no idea when they are going to go back to their homes.

But the problem is in the south that there are still almost 150,000 civilians who are still trapped with no way to reach north of the country after Israeli bombed the infrastructure, cutting out routes and bridges and fuel station. The Lebanese have lived an occupation and Israeli occupation since 1982 for 18 years and now they fear that they're living this situation again, especially that at the time Hezbollah is determined to continue firing rockets into northern Israel with no, you know, respond to any mediation for talks, for, for negotiations for a way to de-escalate the tension. Lina Sinjab.

Myanmar has been hit harder than most by the fuel shortages caused by the war in Iran. Once an oil exporter, it now relies on imports for 90% of its oil and refined petroleum. The military government tried restricting motorists to driving on alternate days, based on the number plates, but has now introduced a rationing system using barcodes, which means drivers can use less than one tank of petrol a week. Our Southeast Asia correspondent Jonathan Head filed this report from Yangon. Endless queues of cars, taxis, minibuses and motorbikes can be seen outside pretty much every petrol station in Myanmar.

They start forming early in the morning long before the fuel supplies arrive. Some of these people have waited more than two hours to get to this point. And even when they reach the pumps, they're subject to strict rationing. just 35 litres a week for most private cars. The increasing cost is putting a huge strain on a population already struggling with an economy that has collapsed thanks to the ongoing civil war. And their only alternative to getting fuel here

is to use the black market where fuel costs more than 10 times as much as it does here. Now, to respond to this, some people are turning to Chinese-made EVs, but even that's not a small. solution in Myanmar because electricity supplies here are so erratic. Many households rely on generators for which they can no longer get the fuel needed to power them. Jonathan Head in Yangon. Members of the Israeli Parliament or Knesset have voted to pass a new law imposing the death penalty

on Palestinians convicted of fatal attacks on Israel. Although the death penalty has long been legal in Israel, only two people have been executed in the country's history. European nations, including France and Germany, say the legislation risks undermining Israel's democratic principles. Our Middle East analyst Sebastian Usher reports. This has been on the cards for a long time. We've just had the second and third final readings in the connectus. It passed relatively smoothly, relatively easily. It's essentially a law that will mean that Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and in the part of Gaza that is under Israeli control will, once they've been convicted of carrying out a deadly attack, an attack essentially

on the state of Israel, by default, they will be executed within 90 days. They'll be executed by hanging. This is in military courts. And as it stands, there is, isn't an appeal. This is something that's been pushed through very much by the hard right national security minister, Itima bin Guevier. It's a real victory for him to get this through. It has been attacked within Israel by rights groups and outside. European governments, others have expressed their deep concern, that it's discriminatory because although it doesn't explicitly say that this is only for Palestinians, because of the way that it's a phrase the way that it's couched, there's the faintest shadow of a chance that a Jewish extremist

also convicted of a killing would not face a death penalty. Sebastian Usher in Jerusalem. During Israel's war in Gaza, 31 newborn babies were evacuated for medical treatment when the IDF attacked Al-Shefa Hospital, claiming Hamas was using it as a base. Two and a half years later, with a fragile ceasefire in place and the Rafa crossing partially open, some of those Palestinian children have now returned to Gaza and been reunited with their families. Our correspondent Lucy Williamson reports. It was the other battle at Shifa Hospital. Dozens of premature babies, born into war, dependent on a waning system of life support,

power cuts, as deadly as gunfire. The evacuations were hurried convoys through an active combat zone. In the chaos of displacement, links to some parents were lost. One of those babies was Sundus Al-Kurd's daughter Bissan. Months later, we heard in the news that premature infants had died in El Shifa Hospital. I would look at the photos, trying to feel as a mother, whether this could be my child or not. I lived for nearly a year between despair and hope

that my daughter might still be alive. Today, eight of those children came home, a small triumph of Gaza's fragile ceasefire deal. The chaos at NASA Hospital, for once, a sign of excitement. Bissan was one of those who returned today. The baby in an incubator, now a toddler. in bright pink glasses. Her first battle for survival won.

She could still face another. Six months into this ceasefire, Gaza's future is uncertain. Stuck in limbo between war and peace. With Israel's new wars in Lebanon and Iran, attention has drained away from Gaza, but the lessons it holds are more relevant than ever, about the challenge of leveraging military might into peace. Lucy Williamson.

Still to come in this podcast. I'm almost 79 years old, so 40 years ago I said, I'll be back. Now I say, oh, my back. The Hollywood actor Arnold Schwarzenegger receives an honorary doctorate. Their company's success helped build a nation. The company is such a big part of Korea's economy. But who are the family behind one of the world's tech giants? The major corporate empire that we now know today.

Samsung. Inheritance Samsung from the BBC World Service explores the real-life dramas of the Lee family. There's a succession-style drama underneath of all this. Inheritance, Samsung. Listen on BBC.com, the BBC app, or wherever you get your BBC podcasts. This is the Global News podcast. British jets have been flying defensive missions over Cyprus, Jordan, Qatar, and Bahrain ever since the US and Israel

began their bombing campaign against Iran. They've clocked up more than a thousand hours of flying and have already shot down several drones. Our defence correspondent Jonathan Beale joined the crew of an RAF refueling tanker on a mission from RAF Akrateri in Cyprus. A typhoon jet rips through the night sky above RAF Akritiri in Symmas.

Followed. by the heavier rumble of a Voyager refueling tanker, which we've joined on a mission to hunt down Iranian drones. Post-clay, you're up. Soon the shimmering lights of Cyprus fade into the distance. And for the crew in the Voyager, signs of a war still waging. Over in that direction, you've got the Israel-Lebelon coast, so quite often you can see either incoming missiles from Iran

or the Israeli response going up to that as well. So we just saw a flash of orange there. That could have been a missile going up or going down. Potentially, yep. We are still in the turn. Roger. Proof, Iran is still a threat after a month of heavy US and Israeli bombing. Yeah, we're safe here.

We're safe here. It's very much targeted at that area as opposed to the Isle of Cyprus. Yeah, it might be the Iron Dome from Israel or something else. So we don't necessarily know that there's just a lot of kinetic things happening in the area at the moment. The typhoon and an F-35 refueled several times from this petrol station in the sky after looking for targets. This time, they find none. But British jets have shot down several drones. On the ground, an F-35 pilot explains its no easy task, with the drones flying low and slow.

There are lots of risks, as you might expect, as operating a fast jet is a dangerous business, let alone if you're trying to do targeting close to the surface of the land or the sea, and integrate with a lot of other assets in what might be a complicated scenario that's evolving very rapidly. Akritory's defences were bolstered before the war started. But there have been reinforcements after a... a drone hit the base, including helicopters carrying air defence missiles. In addition to the armoured vehicles fitted with the same, I asked Major General Tom Buick, the commander of British forces Cyprus,

whether it's enough to deter Iran from trying to carry out any future attack. All I'll say is that the amount of capability that we have got to deploy that here means that I am as sure as I can be that we're in a good place. you do not think this base will be attacked again by... It could easily be attacked again. So I'm not saying it's been attacked once, so I'll be a fool to say it's not going to be attacked again. What I'm saying is that given the amount of warning out there

and the air defence assets we've got in place, we're as well protected as we can be. Visual, I think we've got you on T-Caz at the moment, 8,000 feet below 20 miles. We're going to start a left-hand turn for you. British. British jets have been flying these defensive missions for a month now. But when and how this war ends

is out of their hands. This could become another enduring commitment for an already stretched British armed forces. Jonathan Beale. Some of the world's biggest social media companies are being investigated by the Australian internet regulator over suspected breaches of its new social media ban for under 16s.

The government and campaigners said the changes were crucial in order to protect children from harmful content. and addictive algorithms. The BBC's Simon Atkinson told me more. This is the first report from the regulator since the social media ban was instigated in December, and in it the country's safety commissioner, who's basically in charge of this,

said they had significant concerns about the compliance. Five of the platforms covered by the law, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok and YouTube. It's basically all the big ones, and it's identified what it's calling poor practices across those companies. So some of those are basically around the way that children are effectively getting around the ban, around the restrictions. So that includes companies giving children who at some point said they were under 16,

giving them the chance to show that they are, in fact, over 16, allowing children to repeatedly try the same age assurance methods again and again until they get the result thereafter to kind of convince the system that they are 16, and also not providing effective ways for parents and others to report those under 16s who, still had access to social media. So the regulator says it's going to gather evidence now of those breaches and move into enforcement mode. The powers it has basically are fines, and they're fairly minuscule compared to the profits of these tech giants. They work out about $33 million. And of course, because these are predominantly US-owned firms, but this is law in Australia,

so it only has regulation and jurisdiction over under 16s accessing the platforms here in Australia. Any response from those social media giants? Yeah, I've contacted all of those which the regulator has had concerns about today. TikTok had nothing to add at this point. I'm still waiting to hear from Google, which of course owns YouTube. Meta, the owner of Facebook and Instagram, it did respond. It said it wanted to stress that although there were a list of these people practices, not all of them applied to Meta, it said it was committed to complying with the law. And also effectively, it said, look, it's actually very hard to determine accurately when someone as 16 or not, that there's a margin of error and it wants more of the emphasis to be put on the

operators of the app stores to determine before these apps are downloaded. And Snap, they've also applied, the owner of Snapchat. It said it's locked 450,000 accounts since the ban and continue to lock more every day. It also alluded to it being difficult. It said, you know, this is a new and untested law, and that improvements to preventing underage users from having Snapchat accounts is going to take time to kind of perfect. Simon Atkinson in Queensland. It's a voice that is famous for instilling fear. Asthma vista, baby.

That was, of course, Arnold Schwarzenegger, who's now offering inspiration to students in Belfast. The actor, bodybuilder, and former governor of California has been awarded an honorary doctorate by Ulster University. Our island correspondent Chris Page was at the ceremony. Ulster University, please welcome our very special guest, Arnold Schwarzenegger. Students held up signs saying,

Hastelavista, Ulster, as the movie icon arrived in Belfast City Centre. Arnold Schwarzenegger said it was six decades since he first visited Northern Ireland for a bodybuilding exhibition. He described his nervousness when the host asked him to say a few words for the audience. he'd never spoken in public before. Since then, he's won Mr. Universe, been awarded numerous movie prizes, and been elected Governor of California.

After he received his honorary degree, Dr Schwarzenegger was asked for life lessons for young people studying at Ulster University. He used an illustration from weight training to make his point. If I do the exercise and it's easy, no bicycle will grow. But when I train with heavier weight and a struggle, then it will grow.

And that's the way it is in life. Most important thing is work, work, work, there is no shortcut. He said he still had ambitions, though hinted he was feeling some of the aches of aging. I'm almost 79 years old, so 40 years ago I said, I'll be back. Now I say, oh, my back. His parting message was, ignore the naysayers who tell you, that your ambitions aren't possible. Dr Schwarzenegger's advice was to be relentless, like the Terminator.

Chris Page reporting. Ever since the COVID-19 pandemic, governments around the world have been tackling the issue of economic inactivity, the relatively high number of people who are eligible for work, but not employed or actively looking for a job. But what prompts a disgruntled employee to quit? Anthony Klotz is a London-based American academic who foresaw that the pandemic would lead to what he called a great resignation of workers across the United States. He spoke to my colleague James Kumasami about the various jolts that can lead to people quitting their jobs.

The jolt is an event that makes us stop and rethink our relationship with work. And so you can imagine these often come from outside of work as well. So when we have a health scare or perhaps a thing, family member does. Or even when we hear about tragic news on the other side of the world, and we think to ourselves, you know, these important things are going on in the world and here's what I'm doing in my job. And then finally, I don't want to be completely negative. There's positive jolts as well. So even the positive events in our life, such as having a first child, getting married, or even reaching a big birthday, can cause us to take a step back and think,

is this what I want to be doing with my life? And are these jolt things that, you know, you might want to try and fight against, be aware of? Absolutely. And they're more common than we'd think. And so if we went around responding dramatically to every jolt we had, I think that would be a pretty hectic and disorganized way of working and living. And so I think ideally when these jolts happen, if you can, really do nothing until the emotion subsides.

And then try to figure out the cause of the jolt. What is this really telling us? why am I questioning, my job, my relationship with work right now, and what options do I have for responding to it? So even though the book is partly about quitting, often for most of our careers, quitting isn't an option for us when we experience these jolts. So what are the other options we have? Well, I'd like to ask you, I mean, you came up with this phrase, the great resignation. I think, what was it, May 2021, as, you know, the pandemic was in full swing. Why were you so certain then that people would quit their jobs afterwards? Well, it had to do mostly with jolts and then a little bit about the economy as well.

And so over the course of the pandemic, people experienced a number of different jolts. So the way that many people worked changed, the place where many people worked changed from in person to remote and then back again. And during the pandemic, I mean, look, it was a health scare for a lot of us. And, you know, a lot of people were sitting and thinking, if I make it through this, I'm going to change things. And all of these jolts were happening against the backdrop of a really slow economy that was shut down for the pandemic. And so you had this backlog, really, of jolts causing quitting in the economy. And coming out of the pandemic, the economy opened up pretty quickly, which is fairly rare,

and unleashed these jolts on the labor market. That was Anthony Clotz, author of Jolted, Why We Quit, When to Stay, and Why, It matters. Selene Dion has announced that she will return to the stage in the autumn, four years after she was diagnosed with a rare medical condition. The Canadian pop star, who's 58, will perform 10 shows in Paris. It's also her birthday, and she said this announcement was the best gift of her life. On Monday night, the multiple award-winning singers returned to the stage was marked by the Eiffel Tower lighting up with the message, Jesuit Pret, or I Am Ready. Our music correspondent Mark Savage reports on her long-awaited return. This is the news that Celine Dion's fans have been waiting for. She will come back for 10 nights in Paris this September and October, playing to more than 400,000 fans. It's six years since she last played a concert,

and in that time she's been diagnosed with an incredibly rare neurological condition called stiff person syndrome. It affects the muscles, including the vocal cords, and that has left her for a long time unable to sing, and when it was at its worst, it affected her mobility as well. But she's had years of intensive training, physical therapy and medicine, in order to be able to make her comeback. She said in a video message to her fans tonight

that she would even be able to dance when she's back on stage. Now, demand for those tickets is going to be incredibly high. You can register on her website, but they don't go on sale until next month. Mark Savage reporting on Celine Dion's remarkable music comeback. And that's all from us for now. If you want to get in touch, you can email us at global podcast at BBC.co.com. You can also find us on X at BBC World Service. Use the hashtag Global NewsPod.

And don't forget our sister podcast, the global story, which goes in-depth and be able. beyond the headlines on one big story. This edition of the Global News podcast was mixed by Holly Smith and produced by Ira Khan. The editor is Karen Martin. I'm Alex Ritsen. Until next time, goodbye. Their company's success helped build a nation.

The company is such a big part of Korea's economy. But who are the family behind one of the world's tech giants? The major corporate empire that we now know today. Samsung. Inheritance Samsung from the BBC World Service explores the real-life dramas of the Lee family. Here's a succession style drama underneath of all this. Inheritance Samsung. Listen on BBC.com, the BBC app, or wherever you get your BBC podcasts.