While You Were Sleeping: 5 stories you might have missed, March 24, 2026
· The Straits TimesTrump approved Iran operation after Netanyahu argued for joint killing of Khamenei
Less than 48 hours before the US-Israeli strike on Iran began, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke by phone to President Donald Trump about the reasons for launching the kind of complex, far-off war the American leader once had campaigned against.
Both Mr Trump and Mr Netanyahu knew from intelligence briefings earlier in the week that Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and his key lieutenants would soon meet at his compound in Tehran, making them vulnerable to a “decapitation strike” – an attack against a country's top leaders often used by Israelis but traditionally less so by the United States.
But new intelligence suggested that the meeting had been moved forward to the morning from the night of Feb 28, according to three people briefed on the call.
Reuters was unable to determine how Mr Netanyahu’s argument affected Mr Trump as he contemplated issuing orders to strike, but the call amounted to the Israeli leader’s closing argument to his US counterpart. The three sources briefed on the call said they believed it - along with the intelligence showing a closing window to kill Iran's leader - was a catalyst for Mr Trump’s final decision to order the military on Feb 27 to move ahead with Operation Epic Fury.
Iran denies talks with US after Trump postpones strikes on power grid
Iran denied on March 23 that it had engaged in negotiations with the United States, after President Donald Trump postponed a threat to bomb Iran’s power grid because of what he described as productive talks with unidentified Iranian officials.
Mr Trump wrote early in the US morning on his Truth Social platform that the US and Iran had held “very good and productive” conversations about a “complete and total resolution of hostilities in the Middle East”.
As a result, he said, he was postponing a plan to hit Iran’s energy grid for five days. His announcement sent share prices sharply higher and oil prices sharply lower, a sudden reversal to a market swoon caused by his weekend threats and Iran’s vows to respond.
Ukraine has ‘irrefutable’ evidence of Russia providing intelligence to Iran: Zelensky
Ukraine's military intelligence has "irrefutable" evidence that Russia continues to provide intelligence to Iran and such activity can only prolong the war in the Middle East, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on March 23.
"Russia is using its own signals intelligence and electronic intelligence capabilities, as well as part of the data obtained through cooperation with partners in the Middle East," he said on X after meeting the head of military intelligence.
Speaking later in his nightly video address, Mr Zelensky said there was "growing evidence" of continued Russian efforts to funnel intelligence to Iran.
World gave Israel ‘licence to torture Palestinians’: UN expert
The world has given Israel “a licence to torture Palestinians”, a UN expert said March 23, with life in the occupied territories “a continuum of physical and mental suffering”.
Ms Francesca Albanese, the UN’s special rapporteur on the rights situation in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967, alleged that “torture has effectively become state policy” in Israel.
“Israel has effectively been given a licence to torture Palestinians, because most of your governments, your ministers, have allowed it,” she said, as she presented her latest report to the UN Human Rights Council.
Italy’s Meloni loses key referendum ahead of 2027 Italian election
Italian voters emphatically rejected a flagship judicial reform championed by Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, dealing a blow to her right-wing coalition ahead of 2027's general elections.
With most ballots counted after the March 22-23 referendum, the opposition-backed "No" bloc took almost 54 per cent of the vote against 46 per cent who approved of the government drive to rewrite the constitution and revamp Italy's fiercely independent judiciary.
"The Italians have decided and we respect this decision," Ms Meloni said in a message posted on social media.