Morning Digest: France, Germany, U.K. ready to take ‘defensive action’ against Iran;India storms into T20 WC semis riding on Samson’s 97, and more

Morning Digest: Key updates on Iran tensions, India's T20 WC success, and airline disruptions amid escalating West Asia conflicts.

France, Germany and the U.K. said on Sunday (March 1, 2026) they were ready to defend their interests and those of its allies in the Gulf if necessary by taking “defensive action” against Iran. The three countries’ leaders were “appalled by the indiscriminate and disproportionate missile attacks launched by Iran against countries in the region, including those who were not involved in initial U.S. and Israeli military operations”, said the joint statement.

Iranian news agency ISNA reported that Gandhi hospital in northern Tehran was targeted on Sunday (March 1, 2026) by strikes, on the second day of a U.S.-Israeli air campaign against Iran. “Tehran’s Gandhi hospital was attacked by Zionist-American air strikes,” ISNA reported, while the Fars and Mizan agencies published a video, presented as being from inside the facility, showing debris on the floor among wheelchairs.

Indian airlines cancelled around 350 flights on Sunday (March 1, 2026), with Air India suspending 20 additional long-haul services to European destinations, including London, Zurich, Milan, Frankfurt and Copenhagen. The cancellations add to the complete suspension of flights by all Indian carriers to 11 countries in West Asia, following air strikes in the region in the wake of the war between Israel-U.S. and Iran and an urgent advisory issued by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) valid until March 2.

The U.S. military on Sunday (March 1, 2026) announced it had destroyed the headquarters of Iran’s powerful Revolutionary Guard force on the second day of war to overturn the Iranian government. “America has the most powerful military on earth, and the IRGC no longer has a headquarters,” the U.S. Central Command, or CENTCOM, said in a statement.

The Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has cautioned States against “possible violence” and “sporadic protests” in India in the wake of a joint military operations by the United States and Israel against Iran, a senior government official told The Hindu. Thousands of people took to the streets across the country to protest the killing of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in military strikes by the U.S.-Israel alliance on February 28. 

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday (March 1, 2026) night chaired a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Security, the highest decision-making body on security and strategic matters of the country, and it is learnt to have discussed the evolving situation arising out of the fresh conflict in West Asia.