ROME (AP) — The Vatican said Monday it was investigating a possible antisemitic incident, in which a Swiss Guard allegedly made a spitting gesture toward two Jewish women.
The alleged incident occurred during a papal audience Oct. 29, at the entrance to St. Peter’s Square. The audience that day was dedicated to marking the anniversary of a 1965 declaration on the church’s relations with Jews and other non-Christians.
The alleged victims were part of an international Jewish delegation attending the papal audience, during which Pope Leo XIV reaffirmed Catholic-Jewish relations and vowed to fight antisemitism.
One of the people involved, Israeli writer and theatre director Michal Govrin, told The Associated Press the incident happened as she was walking with a colleague through a side entrance to St. Peter’s Square, as part of an international delegation of Jews.
One of the Swiss Guards hissed the phrase “Les Juifs," or “the Jews” in French, as they passed, Govrin said in a written statement.
“We were totally shocked,” she added. “Such an incident of Jewish hatred inside the Vatican?! In contrast to the Pope’s important words strongly condemning anti-Semitism and calling for collaboration and peace?!"
Govrin said her colleague turned to the guard and said, “You said ‘Les Juifs’,” to which the guard replied, “No, I didn't,” and “You are lying.” He then made “a contemptuous sound of spitting toward us,” Govrin said.
Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni said “the Pontifical Swiss Guard has received a report regarding an incident at one of the entrances to the Vatican City State, in which elements interpreted as having antisemitic connotations were detected.”
Bruni added that, according to a preliminary reconstruction, the episode indicated a disagreement had arisen over a request to take photos at a guard post.
On that same day, addressing the audience, Pope Leo said “the Church does not tolerate antisemitism and fights it,” with his remarks drawing prolonged applause from the crowd.
Founded in 1506, the Pontifical Swiss Guard is the world’s oldest standing military corps and is charged with protecting the Pope.
“The Pontifical Swiss Guard, in keeping with its centuries-old tradition of service, reaffirms its ongoing commitment to ensuring that its mission is always carried out with respect for the dignity of each person and the fundamental principles of equality and non-discrimination,” Bruni said.
FILE - Swiss Guards march in the St. Damasus Courtyard at the Vatican on Oct. 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini, File)
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran hit a tanker off the coast of Qatar and Kuwait International Airport early Wednesday as Tehran remained unrelenting in its attacks on its Gulf Arab neighbors, while acknowledging for the first time that Washington had been in direct contact about a possible ceasefire.
Israel sounded warnings of incoming fire from both Yemen and Iran, while launching its own attacks in Lebanon that killed at least five people.
An airstrike on Tehran appeared to have hit the former U.S. Embassy compound, which has been controlled by Iran’s Revolutionary Guard since the 1979 hostage crisis. Witnesses said buildings outside the massive compound had their windows blown out and that it appears the strike happened inside the walled facility.
With no sign of the war abating and more than 3,000 lives already lost, U.S. President Donald Trump suggested it could be over within two weeks even as he moved to bring thousands more troops to the region.
Trump has been under growing pressure to end the war as Iran’s grip on shipping through the Strait of Hormuz and its attacks on regional energy infrastructure have sent gas prices skyrocketing to their highest level since 2022 and caused broad stock market fluctuations.
Iran throttled ship traffic through the strait, which leads from the Persian Gulf to the open ocean, after it was attacked by the U.S. and Israel on Feb. 28. In peacetime, a fifth of the world’s oil transits the strait and the spot price of Brent crude, the international standard, is up more than 40% since the start of the war, trading at more than $104 a barrel.
The U.S. has presented Iran with a 15-point plan aimed at bringing about a ceasefire, which includes a demand for the strait to be reopened. Iran’s own five-point response includes it retaining sovereignty over the waterway, and Trump on Tuesday suggested that the war could be brought to an end even with Iran still controlling the strait.
The U.S. “will not have anything to do with” what happens in the Strait of Hormuz, instead telling reporters that the responsibility for keeping the vital waterway open would belong with countries that rely on it.
“That’s not for us. That’ll be for France. That’ll be for whoever’s using the strait,” Trump said.
It was not clear why Trump brought up France, since Europe receives very little oil shipped through the strait, with most going to Asian countries. The president plans a prime-time address on Wednesday.
Trump, who has vacillated between insisting there is progress in diplomatic talks with Iran and threatening to widen the war, added that the U.S. is “finishing the job” in Iran and predicted it will be “maybe two weeks, maybe a couple of days longer to do the job.”
Trump has warned that if a ceasefire is not reached “shortly,” and if the strait is not reopened, the U.S. would broaden its offensive, including by attacking the Kharg Island oil export hub and possibly desalination plants.
Thousands of Marines and paratroopers have been ordered to the region in possible preparation for an assault in Kharg, though to reach the island by ship would mean transiting the Strait of Hormuz and the Persian Gulf, which Iran has threatened to mine.
In an interview with pan-Arab broadcaster Al Jazeera, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi acknowledged receiving direct messages from U.S. Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff. He insisted, however, that there were no direct negotiations and said Iran has no faith that talks with the U.S. could yield any results, saying “the trust level is at zero.”
He warned against any attempt to launch a ground offensive, saying “we are waiting for them.”
“We know very well how to defend ourselves,” Araghchi said.
Early Wednesday a tanker off the coast of Qatar was hit with a projectile, the British military’s United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center said. The crew was reportedly unharmed. A fully-loaded Kuwaiti oil tanker came under attack off Dubai the day before, one of more than 20 ships attacked by Iran during the war.
Bahrain sounded two alerts for incoming missiles, and said an Iranian attack had caused a fire at a business facility.
In Kuwait, the state-run KUNA news agency said a drone had hit a fuel tank at Kuwait International Airport, sparking a “large fire” that crews were working to control.
Two drones were also intercepted in Saudi Arabia, which has come under repeated Iranian attack, and air raid sirens sounded in Israel though there were no immediate reports of damage or casualties.
In Iran, Israel said it had hit a plant producing fentanyl, a powerful synthetic opioid, to allegedly be used in a chemical weapons program. Iran acknowledged the strike on Tofigh Daru factory, but insisted it only supplied “hospital drugs” used for medical purposes.
The strike happened Tuesday, both the Israelis and the Iranians said.
Hospitals extensively use fentanyl to treat severe pain. But a small amount of the drug can be fatal.
Both Israel and the United States have alleged in recent years that Iran was experimenting with fentanyl in munitions.
In Beirut, at least five people were killed in an Israeli strike on a Beirut neighborhood. Lebanon’s Health Ministry said another 21 people were wounded.
Israel invaded southern Lebanon after the Iran-linked Hezbollah militant group began launching missiles into northern Israel days after the outbreak of the wider war. Many Lebanese fear another prolonged military occupation.
More than 1,200 people have been killed in Lebanon and more than 1 million displaced, according to authorities. Ten Israeli soldiers have also died there.
In Iran, authorities say more than 1,900 people have been killed, while 19 have been reported dead in Israel.
Since the Iran war began, 13 U.S. service members have been killed and 348 wounded, six seriously, according to U.S. Central Command.
More than two dozen people have died in Gulf states and the occupied West Bank.
Rising reported from Bangkok. AP writer Giovanna Dell’Orto in Miami, Florida contributed to this report.
Firefighters and rescue workers work at the site of Israeli airstrikes, in Beirut, Lebanon, Wednesday, April 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
A firefighter extinguishes a car at the site of Israeli airstrikes, in Beirut, Lebanon, Wednesday, April 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
Israel's rescue teams and residents take shelter as sirens sounds next to a site struck by an Iranian missile in Bnei Brak, Wednesday, April 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty)
A police vehicle is seen through a shattered windshield at the site of an Israeli strike in Beirut, Lebanon, Wednesday, April 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)
Two men ride scooters past charred debris at the site of an Israeli strike in Beirut, Lebanon, Wednesday, April 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)
