{"id":70464,"date":"2026-03-31T06:56:56","date_gmt":"2026-03-31T11:56:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/2026\/03\/31\/first-thing-kuwaiti-tanker-hit-by-iranian-drone-attack-in-dubai-port\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T06:56:56","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T11:56:56","slug":"first-thing-kuwaiti-tanker-hit-by-iranian-drone-attack-in-dubai-port","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/2026\/03\/31\/first-thing-kuwaiti-tanker-hit-by-iranian-drone-attack-in-dubai-port\/","title":{"rendered":"First Thing: Kuwaiti tanker hit by Iranian drone attack in Dubai port"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The attack came hours after Trump threatened to \u2018obliterate\u2019 Iran\u2019s energy plants and oil wells unless it opened the strait of Hormuz. Plus, Israel to give death penalty to Palestinians convicted of lethal attacks<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/info\/2018\/sep\/17\/guardian-us-morning-briefing-sign-up-to-stay-informed\"><strong>Don\u2019t already get First Thing in your inbox? Sign up here<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Good morning.<\/p>\n<p>Iran attacked and set alight <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/world\/2026\/mar\/31\/kuwaiti-tanker-hit-by-iranian-attack-in-dubai-port-raising-oil-spill-fears\">a fully loaded crude oil tanker<\/a> anchored at Dubai port, causing damage to the vessel\u2019s hull, in the latest strike on merchant vessels in the Gulf and the strait of Hormuz. The fire was extinguished within hours and no injuries were reported.<\/p>\n<p><strong>What has Trump said about the war\u2019s end?<\/strong> He has continued to give mixed messages, threatening to destroy Iran\u2019s energy facilities unless it agrees to peace terms \u2013 while simultaneously claiming diplomatic progress in ending the war the US started together with Israel. Iran has accused the US of using diplomacy as a smokescreen to prepare for more attacks.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Which countries are most vulnerable to economic shocks?<\/strong> The Philippines, which imports almost all of its <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/world\/2026\/mar\/23\/iran-war-energy-crisis-1970s-oil-shocks-fatih-birol-iea\">crude oil from the Middle East<\/a>, is particularly exposed to surging prices, which have triggered protests and widespread anger.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Why now?<\/strong> The government of Iran, which the US has attacked, is a prolific and sophisticated disinformation actor, while Russian and Chinese influence operations continue to target US allies globally.<\/p>\n<p><strong>How would the embassies do it?<\/strong> They have been told to use local influencers, academics and community leaders abroad to make US-funded narratives feel more organic.<\/p>\n<p> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/us-news\/2026\/mar\/31\/first-thing-kuwaiti-tanker-hit-by-iranian-drone-attack-in-dubai-port\">Continue reading&#8230;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The attack came hours after Trump threatened to \u2018obliterate\u2019 Iran\u2019s energy plants and oil wells unless it opened the strait of Hormuz. Plus, Israel to give death penalty to Palestinians convicted of lethal attacks Don\u2019t already get First Thing in your inbox? Sign up here Good morning. Iran attacked and set alight a fully loaded &#8230; <a title=\"First Thing: Kuwaiti tanker hit by Iranian drone attack in Dubai port\" class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/2026\/03\/31\/first-thing-kuwaiti-tanker-hit-by-iranian-drone-attack-in-dubai-port\/\" aria-label=\"Read more about First Thing: Kuwaiti tanker hit by Iranian drone attack in Dubai port\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_hide_featured_image":false,"_jetpack_featured_image_duplicate_dismissed":0,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-70464","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70464","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=70464"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70464\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=70464"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=70464"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=70464"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}