Iran renews attacks on Gulf countries
Global News Podcast
BBC
4.3 • 8.3K Ratings
🗓️ 20 March 2026
⏱️ 33 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Tehran has fired missiles and drones at its Gulf neighbours causing blazes at a Kuwait refinery and a Bahrain warehouse. Israel has launched more air attacks against Iran. Powerful explosions were reported in the capital. Iranian media said sixteen of its cargo ships anchored in the Gulf had been burnt out after being targeted there. There's been a warning that the world faces its greatest ever energy threat from the Iran war. Also, weight loss drugs are set to become much cheaper as patents expire in India and elewhere. A cyclone has hit Australia's northeastern coast bringing fierce winds, heavy rain and floods. An international aid convoy arrives in Cuba. Actor and martial artist Chuck Norris dies at 86. And Mission to the Moon, NASA’s huge rocket - now repaired - heads back to the launchpad at Cape Canaveral in Florida in preparation for the first crewed flight in more than half a century.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, podcasts. |
| 0:05.6 | This is the Global News podcast from the BBC World Service. |
| 0:12.0 | I'm Janet Jalil and at 16 hours GMT on Friday the 20th of March. |
| 0:16.4 | These are our main headlines. |
| 0:18.2 | Gulf countries come under renewed attacks from Iran as Israel continues |
| 0:22.2 | to bomb Tehran but pledges not to attack any more Iranian energy sites. But with oil and gas prices |
| 0:29.4 | still high, the International Energy Agency calls for people to work from home more, drive |
| 0:35.4 | slower and fly less to reduce demand for fuel. |
| 0:40.3 | Also in this podcast, with the patent about to expire in some countries on weight loss drugs |
| 0:47.2 | like OZempic and Wagovi, could cheaper generic products transform the battle against the |
| 0:53.1 | bulge and mission to the moon. |
| 0:56.5 | We will have the earth out the window as a single ball, something none of us have seen. |
| 1:02.5 | And then we're going to travel a quarter of a million miles away. |
| 1:06.1 | NASA's huge rocket now repaired heads back to the launch pad at Cape Canaveral in Florida in preparation |
| 1:12.4 | for the first crude flight in more than half a century. |
| 1:22.0 | For first, nearly three weeks since the US and Israel began their war with Iran. It is continuing to fire missiles |
| 1:29.4 | and drones at its Gulf neighbors, causing fires at a major refinery in Kuwait and a warehouse |
| 1:34.8 | in Bahrain. Blasts were also heard in Jerusalem. At the same time, Israel has again struck targets |
| 1:41.5 | in Iran. But after a rare rebuke from President Trump, the Israeli |
| 1:45.9 | Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has pledged not to hit Iranian energy sites again. |
| 1:52.3 | The Gulf states have been stunned and angered by the scale of Iran's response, not just hitting |
| 1:57.9 | US bases on their soil as expected, but also energy infrastructure, |
... |
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