While You Were Sleeping: 5 stories you might have missed, March 20, 2026
· The Straits TimesTrump tells Israel not to repeat strikes on Iran’s energy
US President Donald Trump said on March 19 he had told Israel not to repeat its attacks on Iranian natural gas infrastructure as tit-for-tat strikes on energy plants sent energy prices spiralling, sharply escalating the US-Israeli war on Iran.
Mr Trump’s comment came as energy prices jumped on March 19 after Iran responded to an Israeli attack on a major gas field by hitting Qatar’s Ras Laffan Industrial City, which processes around a fifth of the world’s liquefied natural gas, causing damage that will take years to repair.
Saudi Arabia’s main port on the Red Sea, where it has been able to divert some exports to avoid Iran’s closure of the Gulf’s exit point, the Strait of Hormuz, was also attacked.
The strikes underscored Iran’s continued ability to exact a heavy price for the US-Israeli campaign, and the limits of air defences in protecting the Gulf’s most valuable and strategic energy assets.
Trump draws Pearl Harbor parallel in Japan PM meet
President Donald Trump on March 19 drew a parallel between US strikes on Iran and Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor decades ago, as he defended the war against Tehran at a meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi in Washington.
“We wanted surprise. Who knows better about surprise than Japan? Why didn’t you tell me about Pearl Harbor?” Mr Trump said, when a journalist asked why he had not told allies about his war plans. “You believe in surprise, I think much more so than us.”
Ms Takaichi’s eyes widened and she shifted in her chair as Mr Trump, seated beside her in the Oval Office, evoked the moment that drew the US into World War II.
Iran no longer has uranium enrichment capacity
Iran no longer has the capacity to enrich uranium or make ballistic missiles after 20 days of US-Israeli air attacks, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told a news conference on March 19.
“We are winning, and Iran is being decimated,” Mr Netanyahu said, noting that Iran’s missile and drone arsenal is being massively degraded and will be destroyed.
“What we’re destroying now are the factories that produce the components to make these missiles and to make the nuclear weapons that they’re trying to produce,” Mr Netanyahu said.
Kyiv, Washington negotiators to meet in US
Ukrainian and US negotiators will meet in the United States on March 20 in a bid to revive stalled talks on Russia’s invasion, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said.
Talks between Russia and Ukraine, brokered and pushed by the United States, have been derailed by the US-Israeli war with Iran that broke out in February.
“There has been a pause in negotiations; it is time to end it,” Mr Zelensky said in his daily address on March 19, announcing the first US-Ukraine meeting since the Middle East war started.
Fifa Asean Cup to take place from Sept-Oct 2026
South-east Asian football nations could find themselves competing in back-to-back Asean tournaments in 2026, after Fifa announced on March 20 that its inaugural Fifa Asean Cup is scheduled to take place from September to October.
In a media statement following an online Fifa Council meeting held at its headquarters in Zurich, Switzerland, football’s world governing body said that its council “approved the introduction of the Fifa Asean Cup, first presented to the Asean Summit in Malaysia in October 2025 to positive reception, with the first edition planned for September-October 2026”.
Fifa did not reveal more information although this is the first update that it has provided since it announced the formation of a new tournament for all 11 South-east Asian teams in Kuala Lumpur last October.