Morning Digest: U.S. bombs targets on Iran’s oil export hub Kharg Island; Indian-flagged LPG carrier crosses Strait of Hormuz; and more

Here is a select list of stories to start the day with The Hindu's Morning Digest on March 14, 2026

U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday (March 13, 2026) said the U.S. military had heavily bombed targets on Iran's Kharg Island, which handles almost all of Iran's crude exports, and he threatened to hit the island's oil infrastructure. He also told reporters that U.S. and Israel’s objectives with Iran “might be a little different”.

Shivalik, an Indian-flagged LPG carrier with a cargo-carrying capacity of more than 54,000 tonnes, has crossed the Strait of Hormuz as on Friday night (March 13, 2026), according to marinetraffic.com. As per the website, the ship had departed from Ras Laffan, Qatar, on March 7 and was originally destined for the U.S. 

Around 100 sailors from the Iranian naval vessel IRIS Lavan, which has been docked at Kochi port since March 4, is learnt to have flown out of Kochi airport by a chartered flight on Friday (March 13, 2026) around 7 p.m. Some reports suggested that the flight was headed to Armenia, though it could not be independently verified.

Import of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) is a “slight issue of concern” because of the situation in West Asia, but no dry out has been reported among distributors in the country, Sujata Sharma, Joint Secretary at the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas told reporters on Friday (March 13, 2026).

A delegation of Opposition leaders on Friday (March 13, 2026) is to said to have pressed Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju to revoke the suspension of eight Lok Sabha members. The eight MPs, including seven from the Congress, have been barred from attending the remainder of the Budget Session.

Amid speculation that Deputy Chief Minister Samrat Choudhary is likely to succeed Nitish Kumar as the new Chief Minister of Bihar, Mr. Kumar on Friday (March 13, 2026) gave a subtle message to the people of the State that Mr. Choudhary would be his successor. Mr. Kumar is set to demit office after he filed nomination papers for the upcoming Rajya Sabha election on March 16.