Europe Today: Iran vows to set US troops 'on fire' as war enters fifth week

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00:14Good morning, it is Monday the 30th of March. I'm Maeve McMahon and you're watching Europe Today,

00:20your daily wrap of European news and context in just 20 minutes.

00:25Coming up, Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says he plans to further expand the

00:31military campaign in southern Lebanon. This as the United Nations warns of widespread devastation

00:37in Lebanon with around 20% of the population now internally displaced and many dead.

00:44Meanwhile, Iran says it would set any US troops on fire after reports the Pentagon is planning

00:49potential raids and troop deployments. With the conflict entering its six-month, G7 finance

00:55and energy ministers are holding emergency talks today to try to contain the growing energy shock

01:00while Iran is grappling with power cuts after airstrikes and explosions were heard in the

01:05capital throughout the night. For more on what seems to be intensifying on all fronts, we can

01:10cross over now to Doha and bring in your news's regional correspondent there, Adel Khalim, for an

01:15update. Good morning, Adel. So we're seeing through the night Israel and Iran continuing to trade

01:20strikes despite Pakistan's attempts to bring all players around the table for talks. What's the

01:25latest? Maeve, the situation across the region is quite volatile. Over the weekend, diplomatic efforts

01:32intensified with regional powers such as Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Egypt sending their top diplomats

01:38to Pakistan in hopes of creating a path to direct talks between Washington and Tehran

01:43and de-escalate this now month-long war. Now, speaking to reporters on Air Force One,

01:48US President Donald Trump says they are negotiating with Iran, quote, directly and indirectly,

01:52but also says troops could seize Karg Island, Iran's oil export hub. The US has deployed around 3,500

01:58more troops to the region and Iran is already responding with what looks like a warning. State

02:04media says its parliament speaker warned Iranian forces were, quote, waiting for the arrival of

02:09American troops on the ground to rain fire on them. On Friday, it carried out a strike on a US

02:14airbase

02:15in Saudi Arabia, injuring 15 troops and damaging several aircraft. So the message there seems

02:20twofold. It's a warning to Washington about what could happen if things escalate and a signal to

02:27regional allies that they are within striking range. Meanwhile, all American universities here in Qatar

02:32have now been closed. And that's in direct response to a threat from the IRGC as in response to US

02:41Israeli targeting two Iranian universities.

02:44Okay, so everyone very much still there on edge. Adil Khalim, thank you so much for that update there from

02:50Doha. Meanwhile, Israel is facing controversy over Palm Sunday celebrations in Jerusalem this weekend.

02:56That saw four representatives of the Catholic Church prevented from holding mass

03:00by Israeli police. Israel has already weighed in with the Prime Minister saying he will offer

03:04full and immediate access after the Vatican demanded answers. For more, we're joined now in the studio by

03:10our EU editor, Maria Tadeo. Good morning, Maria.

03:13Good morning.

03:14So look, this is not really just about religion. It's an international diplomatic spat now. What happened?

03:18Well, it is and it was becoming one because you immediately saw a reaction, not just from the Vatican,

03:23which said that this was the first time in, quote, centuries that the Patriarch of Jerusalem,

03:28the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem was not able to enter the Holy Church of the Sepulchre because

03:34of security reasons initially cited by Israel. You also had very strong comments from the Italian

03:40Prime Minister, which has recalled the Israeli ambassador to Italy, the French president,

03:46the Spanish Prime Minister, too. In that sort of heat building over the day, the course of the day,

03:52also leading up to what is going to be a critical week, because of course,

03:55this is Easter week and more celebrations are expected, certainly from the Thursday to the

03:59Sunday. The Israeli governments have now reversed course. The Israeli Prime Minister,

04:03and hopefully we can put this up on the board, put our statement yesterday saying this is Benjamin

04:08Netanyahu, that as soon as he learned about the incident. So, of course, that is Cardinal

04:13Pizzabala not being able to enter the church. He has now instructed authorities to enable the

04:19Patriarch to hold services as he wishes. Of course, as I say, this is relevant because of the status quo

04:25in Jerusalem when it comes to putting together holy sites for three religions, but also this is Easter

04:31week. So, it is a very, well, the most important celebration for Christians, certainly for Catholics.

04:37It's a deeply spiritual moment, also emotional. So, this you have to dread very carefully.

04:41Well, you see it now. The Israeli authorities sort of backpedaling, saying perhaps there was

04:46a confusion among the different authorities. This was all done because of security reasons.

04:51No malice, no ill intent, but nonetheless will reverse course to allow masks to take place.

04:56And meanwhile, today we will see G7 emergency talks among finance and energy ministers. What should we

05:01expect?

05:02Well, yes. So, you see the war is now pretty much touching every aspect of life. Today is G7 energy

05:07ministers, G7 finance ministers, and also the central bankers who will be joining. And that is

05:12relevant because it tells you there are concerns perhaps on the fiscal side of things, the economy

05:17on a much broader basis. So, they are meeting today. The International Agency for Energy said last

05:24week that this could be the biggest disruption since the 70s. Of course, the goal is now to bring

05:29together the big seven economies around the world. When it comes to the Europeans, there's a number of

05:34measures that have been floated and put on the table. One is considering now a windfall tax.

05:39So, of course, that is a special tax that gets put, affecting the corporates because of these

05:45extra profits that they may book, passing on them to the consumer. This is a tax that is not popular

05:51among corporates and companies, but that could be installed. For the time being, no immediate action,

05:56but it's certainly on the table. There has been also speculation about an oil price cap. This was done

06:01in 2022 when Russia invaded Ukraine. And then, of course, there's a commission which has been under

06:06immense pressure for two weeks now, especially going back to the summit, to put together now a

06:11full package. They say they are working on it, but the goal is to put fiscal measures, tailor measures

06:16that do not affect, of course, climate targets and regulations. Just briefly, are they really united

06:23though, the G7? Well, that's a very good point because we saw already on the Friday when the G7

06:28foreign ministers met in France. There was a reported spat between Marco Rubio, the U.S.

06:34Secretary of State, and Kayakalas, a top European diplomat, in which it's understood that Kayakalas

06:40asked the Americans, when are you going to increase pressure on Russia? This is connected to the

06:44energy story because oil up means more extra money for Russia. And the Americans have to have snapped

06:51back and say, well, if you think you can do a better job, then you do it.

06:54Okay. Maria Tadeo, our EU news editor, thank you so much for those updates. And just on Israel,

06:59your news is reporting an exclusive story this morning about the Prime Minister's new measures

07:03against settler violence, as the IDF potentially plans to move some troops from Lebanon towards

07:08the West Bank. You can read more about that on our website. But now, coming up, we'll be joined

07:13by the EU Commissioner for the Oceans and Fisheries from Cyprus, Kostas Kadis, a former Minister for

07:19Education and Agriculture back home. His country, of course, Cyprus, is now in the spotlight for the

07:25six months, the first six months of the year, because Cyprus is currently holding the rotating

07:29EU presidency of the EU Council. Commissioner Kadis, thank you so much for joining us here.

07:34Thank you for inviting me. And good morning.

07:37So, of course, you're chairing, Cyprus is chairing now the EU Council, not yourself, because obviously,

07:41as a commissioner, you don't represent your country, you represent all Europeans. But,

07:45you know, the war in Iran has really dominated the issue. How is it impacting you?

07:51You mean the presidency? Yeah.

07:54As far as I know, they have postponed all the activities during March. But things are returning

08:05back to normality from April and onwards. So, I think that now things will be normal and the

08:14presidency will be concluded normally.

08:17And are Cypriots feeling safe now? Because a few weeks ago, we saw a lot of drones intercepted.

08:22We saw Manu Macron coming in.

08:23Yeah. Now things are getting better. No more incidents after that first attack. And life

08:34in Cyprus is back to normality.

08:36And meanwhile, as these wars are raging, there's still serious issues facing the European Union

08:42when it comes to climate, the environment, many policies being neglected. We're seeing

08:46severe overfishing, we're seeing pollution, and we're seeing biodiversity loss. And this

08:50is the area that you're supposed to prioritise. But how can you in a world with so many wars raging?

08:56Yeah. The challenges are many. Now we're focusing on providing support to our sector so that it

09:07remains competitive, because indeed, the conflict in the Middle East has negatively affected the

09:15fisheries and aquaculture sectors, the seafood market and the coastal communities. And we need

09:25to discuss a way of supporting the sector to remain competitive.

09:31So what kind of measures are you thinking of? Short-term measures are you thinking of?

09:34This is a topic that we will discuss today at the Agri-Fish Council. We're exploring solutions in the

09:40framework of the European Maritime Fisheries and Aquaculture Fund. We want to enable member states to

09:46provide support to the member states through this fund. This was done again in the energy crisis.

09:55after the war initiated in Ukraine. And how nervous are the ministers? What's the kind of feeling

10:00that you're getting? Yes, they're getting nervous because the operators are very, very nervous.

10:08I met with representatives of the sector on Friday. They informed me that some operators have already

10:16stopped their activities because they had a marginal profitability. And now with the increase of

10:22the fuel prices, they cannot deal with the cost. Therefore, my message today will be clear to

10:31the ministers. First, we need a united response, a European response that will support the sector.

10:41And second, we need to accelerate our efforts towards energy transition in order to avoid future energy

10:52shocks like the ones we have today.

10:54And that, of course, takes time. Commissioner Kelly, thank you so much for coming in today on your

10:58stay here on Euronews. Now, moving on, Bruce Springsteen and Robert De Niro. Just some of the

11:04celebrities that took to the streets this weekend to protest against the politics and policies of

11:09President Donald Trump. Millions were out on the streets of America and also here in Europe.

11:14Jakob Janos takes a look at this so-called No Kings movement.

11:19As you might have heard, millions of Americans took to the streets this weekend for the No Kings

11:24protests against Donald Trump. But this movement did not stop at the US border. Across Europe,

11:31tens of thousands marched in major capitals, revealing a deep, continent-wide anxiety.

11:36But wait a second. What exactly is this movement about? And why it is important for Europe?

11:43No Kings movement protests against what participants view as Trump's authoritarian governance, targeting

11:49his immigration policies, climate denial and military actions in Iran. But why Europeans are

11:55so invested? Because his Make America Great Again ideology is already fighting for dominance

12:01inside the EU. And the ultimate test right now is Hungary. On the 12th of April, Prime Minister

12:07Viktor Orban faces the political fight of his life against conservative opposition leader Peter Magyar.

12:13And Orban has branded his government as Europe's MAGA stronghold, earning a total endorsement from the

12:19US president. And if Orban secures his fifth consecutive term with US backing, it will fuel other nationalist

12:27movements across the continent. And it's likely to raise concerns about eroding democracy, a weakened

12:33rule of law and a closer ties to Russia from inside the EU. And interestingly, in European

12:39republics like France and Italy, the protests seamlessly merge with domestic politics. But in constitutional

12:45monarchies like the UK, Spain and Denmark, organizers tried to avoid anti-royalist backlash, rebranding

12:51their marches to no tyrants and keeping their focus on US politics. And here's the irony. European

12:57politics has always been historically fragmented. But it seems that Donald Trump is unintentionally

13:03helping to forge a pan-European identity. Whether you are protesting against his policies or supporting

13:09his MAGA allies, he has become the continent's common denominator.

13:18Jakob Janus reporting for us there. Now moving on, the Finnish Prime Minister, Petri Orpo, has

13:23said that a number of Ukrainian drones have gone astray due to a Russian jamming of signals.

13:28Helsinki says Kyiv has been carrying out drone attacks on Russian territories along the more

13:32than 1,300 kilometre border with Finland. For more on how Finland has been beefing up a defence

13:38along that border, your News' defence correspondent Shona Murray sent us this dispatch.

13:42Good morning, Maeve. I'm coming to you from Giuseppe, which is the Finnish-Russian border. About 40

13:48kilometres inside the Russian part of this area is the Russian nuclear deterrence. So the importance

13:55of the Finnish border guard can't be underestimated. Most of the border here has existed for decades,

14:02but it was heavily fortified after the full-scale invasion. Because of course, the Finnish border

14:08guard are not just defending Finland, but NATO territory. And I got caught up with one of the

14:14Finnish border guards and I asked them how important their role is.

14:18First and most important is threats against border security, like large-scale illegal immigration or

14:27smaller illegal border crossings. That's the number one. And for example, we train our conscripts

14:33for our reserve, which is a useful tool if necessary on the wartime.

14:39So basically a full-scale invasion? Yeah, that's correct. Finland has had conscription for decades,

14:45which is why the Finnish model of security and defence is one of the most important all across

14:51Europe. In fact, a model for Europe. And I caught up with one of the conscripts and I asked him

14:55a little

14:56bit about his experience. Have you ever held anything like this before you joined as a conscript? Oh,

15:02never. I've never held a rifle in my life. So first time shooting was in the army. You start off

15:08with

15:08the basic assault rifle and I found out in the army that I have a gift for shooting. So that's

15:15how I

15:15got into this marksman. This right here, it's a personal camouflage net, mostly used by marksmans.

15:22When I go back to my like my shooting spot, I'll take it off, lay it over my rifle and

15:27then shoot like

15:28that. We're training for reconnaissance. So if war were to start, we would go over the border,

15:35behind enemy lines and produce information and try and find valuable targets.

15:44Your news is Shona Murray. They're reporting for us from the Finnish-Russian border. But as you heard

15:50earlier, agricultural ministers from all across the EU will be gathering in Brussels to stay for key talks

15:55to hear what exactly is at stake for them. I'm joined now by the Irish Minister for State from

16:00the Department of Agriculture and Food. That is Timmy Dooley. Good morning.

16:04Morning, Maeve. How are you?

16:05Good. Great to have you with us here. So just tell us, how is the instability in the Middle East

16:08and

16:09the ongoing war, of course, in Ukraine impacting your talks today?

16:12Yeah, but sure, it's impacting talks right across Europe. Every council of ministers are obviously

16:17concerned. From an Irish perspective, we want to see de-escalation. That's really always the

16:22approach that Ireland has to take. Try to get a level of agreement between all sides here.

16:27And how are you getting your voice out then?

16:29Well, I think the Taoiseach has been very clear. As you know, he was in Washington recently in

16:33the celebration of St. Patrick's Day. And in his conversations with President Trump,

16:37made it very clear that Ireland can act in a role which we have been very good at,

16:42as part of that de-escalation process.

16:45And did President Trump listen to him?

16:46Well, I would hope so. I think President Trump listens to people right across the world,

16:50and leaders across the world. But I think Ireland's position has always been about trying

16:55to pull back from the front line, get a dialogue going. All wars ultimately end.

17:01And what you would want to do is that they end with the least loss of life and least disruption

17:06to the activities of, particularly in Europe, member states, but right throughout the world.

17:11And I think as we-

17:12Because the Europeans still don't have clarity on what President Trump's plan is here to end the war.

17:16Nobody seems to have, and that's understandable. But I think as we move towards taking on the

17:21presidency in the latter half of this year, Prime Minister Martin will come into the frame very much

17:27in acting as head of that European institution. And I think, you know, from Ireland's perspective,

17:34we've always been really good at peacekeeping, peace monitoring, and de-escalation.

17:40And that's again where we will try to bring our skill set to the fore.

17:43And meanwhile today, are you focusing on any particular measures to look after farmers across the board?

17:47Well, of course, the issue for farmers is very stark at the minute, particularly on the rising cost of fuel

17:52and also the cost and supply of fertilizer. We want to see a mechanism in place that the CBAM initiative

18:00can be put to the side. But we need that mechanism in place that would allow that to happen.

18:06So that will be for discussion today. And again, the ongoing fuel crisis, of course,

18:10is impacting both on farmers and on fishermen and women, as Commissioner Caddys had rightly identified earlier.

18:15And what about the EU Mercosur deal? The Commission has decided it will be provisionally implemented

18:19as of the 1st of May. Does that make you angry?

18:22Well, no, we note the decision of the Commission. As you know, Ireland was not able to accept the final

18:28agreement,

18:28although we did get heavily involved in the discussions about ensuring, insofar as possible,

18:34that safeguards were there from a market impact perspective. Look, we saw from the start that there were issues

18:39around standards, environmental issues. And from that perspective, we want to ensure now that as the Commission

18:49moves into a phase of implementation, that the safeguards that were put in place are adhered to,

18:55and that the appropriate monitoring is in place to ensure that all those inspections are there.

18:59And very briefly, the EU-Australia deal?

19:00Yeah. Good or bad?

19:01Well, as you know, Ireland has deep-seated links with Australians. There's scarcely a family in Ireland

19:08that hasn't got links there. So there's real opportunities there. But obviously, we'll have to see the detail.

19:12But there are significant opportunities for Ireland, both at the agri-food sector and right across all aspects.

19:19Like the EU-India deal too. A good one for Ireland. Not like Mercosur, as you say there.

19:23Minister Timmy Doolan, thank you so much for coming into us here today on Europe Today on Euronews.

19:28And thank you so much for tuning in for more news analysis. Do visit Euronews.com.

19:33You can also download our app for more intense news. But that does bring this episode to an end.

19:37Thank you so much for joining us. See you soon on Euronews.

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