There are unclear signals as to how long this should continue: on Monday US President Donald Trump said it would end "very soon", but shortly afterwards Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued a statement saying that they were "not done yet". The air strikes on Iran intensified on Tuesday, and Tehran also continued its attacks on Israel and the Gulf states. Europe's press casts about for realistic exit scenarios.

"Finally, to the great proud people of Iran, I say tonight that the hour of your freedom is at hand." US President Donald Trump made this promise to the people of Iran in his speech at the beginning of the Iran War. Following the killing of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, the regime has appointed his son Mojtaba Khamenei as his successor. Commentators see little to indicate that the mullahs' power base has been weakened.

At the start of auclear energy summitear Paris, EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen described Europe's move away fromuclear power as a "strategic mistake". In 1990, roughly one third of Europe's electricity came fromuclear energy; today that figure has dropped to just under 15 percent. Nuclear power is a "reliable and affordable source of low-emission energy," von der Leyen said.

In Cyprus, popular discontent is growing over the British military presence on the island. Demonstrators held a rally outside the presidential palace in Nicosia on Saturday calling for UK military bases to be closed. The demand comes in the wake of a drone strike from Lebanon on the Akrotiri air base on 1 March. The UK has had two bases in Akrotiri and Dhekelia since 1960 which areow being used by the US military in the Iran war.