The US and Israel on Feb 28 launched what they described as a “pre-emptive” joint strike against Iranian targets, with Trump announcing start of “major combat operations”
Pakistan hosted the first round of face-to-face talks between the US and Iran in 47 years in April; the talks ended without a breakthrough, but also without a breakdown
US Senator Chris Murphy has written a post on X noting that the country’s war on Iran has given Tehran control of the Strait of Hormuz, regardless of whatever agreement is reached.
“What a masterclass in incomptence by Trump and his team,” he writes.
Iranian parliamentarian Mahmoud Nabavian says in a post on X, “Relinquishing management and sovereignty over the Strait of Hormuz in an agreement with the enemy, for any reason, would be a pure loss and would lead to the defeat of the Iranian nation.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says he ordered the military to intensify its offensive in Lebanon in an effort to “crush” Hezbollah, accusing the group of targeting Israeli forces with drone attacks, according to AFP.
“I have ordered an even greater acceleration of our operations,” Netanyahu says in a video statement posted on his Telegram channel.
“It is true that they are attacking us with drones, including fibre-optic drones, but we have teams working on countermeasures and we will solve this issue… We will intensify our blows, increase our firepower, and we will crush them.”
National Assembly Speaker Ayaz Sadiq has congratulated his Iranian counterpart, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, on his re-election as the speaker of Iran’s parliament.
In a statement, he said Ghalibaf’s re-election is a “profound testament to the trust, confidence, and unwavering support reposed in his visionary leadership by the esteemed Members of the Islamic Consultative Assembly of Iran”.
Recalling Ghalibaf’s visit to Pakistan last year, Sadiq remarked that the visit significantly contributed towards strengthening parliamentary diplomacy, people-to-people linkages and government-to-government engagements between Islamabad and Tehran.
Sadiq also expressed confidence that under his counterpart, parliamentary cooperation and institutional exchanges between Pakistan and Iran would witness further expansion and consolidation.
Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian has issued an order to reopen international internet access, Reuters reports citing Iranian state media reports, which cited the head of public relations at Iran’s communications ministry.
Most Iranians have been unable to access the World Wide Web for 87 days, according to the internet observatory NetBlocks, with only a few citizens having access to expensive and advanced VPNs that circumvent the restrictions.
US President Donald Trump says the country lost “13 wonderful” troops killed in combat operations in Iran, reiterating his claim that Tehran will never have a nuclear weapon.
The president is addressing a Memorial Day ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery.
“The focus of the delegation’s visit to Doha is on issues relating to the Strait of Hormuz and highly enriched uranium,” Al Jazeera reports citing a regional diplomat.
“The governor of the Central Bank is part of the delegation to discuss the issue of frozen funds, which is addressed in the [memorandum of understanding] as part of an eventual final deal,” the source adds.
Lebanon’s Ministry of Public Health says that a total of 3,185 people have been killed by Israel since it entered a state of open war with Hezbollah on March 2, Al Jazeera reports.
A further 9,633 people have been wounded over that same period, it adds.
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum says her government has agreed to allow the Iranian national football team to stay in Mexico during the World Cup, adding that the United States did not want to host the team, Reuters reports.
The head of Iran’s soccer federation said on Saturday that the team’s base will be in the Mexican border city of Tijuana during the tournament.
Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister for Political Affairs, Majid Takht-Ravanchi, has called Indian Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri to discuss recent developments in the region, Indian foreign ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal says on X.
According to the spokesperson, the two diplomats also reviewed bilateral cooperation between their countries.
US President Donald Trump has seemingly predicated an emerging Iran peace deal on Muslim-majority nations across the Middle East and beyond normalising relations with Israel.
This brand new demand comes on the heels of a potential memorandum of understanding (MoU) between the US and Iran to end the war on all fronts and potentially lift oil waivers.
In a lengthy social media post, Trump has listed countries whose leaders he spoke with on Saturday about efforts to end the war with Iran.
“After all the work done by the United States to try and pull this very complex puzzle together, it should be mandatory that all of these countries, at a minimum, simultaneously sign onto the Abraham Accords,” he writes.
“Those countries discussed are Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (already a Member!), Qatar, Pakistan, Turkiye, Egypt, Jordan, and Bahrain (already a Member!)”
He adds, “It may be possible that one or two have a reason for not doing so, and that will be accepted, but most should be ready, willing, and able to make this settlement with Iran a far more historic event than it would otherwise be.
“It should start with the immediate signing by Saudi Arabia and Qatar, and everybody else should follow suit. If they don’t, they should not be part of this deal in that it shows bad intention.”
Being in Makkah has been nothing short of blissful for Hassan Qadiri, where participating in the festivities of the Haj pilgrimage is a welcome relief after weeks of devastating war back home in Iran, according to AFP.
Qadiri and his family took cover as intense Israeli and American bombing raids targeted his native city of Isfahan in central Iran until an April ceasefire began.
“We hear the call to prayer every day, not explosions here,” he tells AFP. “I’m very happy.”
Like many Iranians at this year’s Haj, Qadiri and his family are staying in a hotel near the Grand Mosque under the protection of Saudi security personnel, who actively prevent others from approaching the grounds to meet or speak with the pilgrims. The protocol is not provided to other visiting pilgrims.
“The Saudi treatment of us is good and everything is fine,” Qadiri adds.
His wife, who did not give her name and wore a black abaya with a turquoise vest that read “Isfahan”, agrees.
“Being here makes the war easier for us to bear,” she adds.
Oman’s top diplomat Badr bin Hamad Al-Busaidi, has spoken to Qatar’s Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani this morning by phone, Al Jazeera reports according to Oman’s foreign ministry.
The ministry said the call took place within the framework of ongoing regional consultations and the “coordination of visions”.
It added that the officials discussed ways to support efforts to achieve the “desired consensus” on several issues, including resuming maritime navigation through the Strait of Hormuz.
An Iranian official says the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz would proceed in phases, with an initial stage involving the release of frozen Iranian assets by the United States, the start of minesweeping operations and the easing of the current US blockade, Anadolu reports, citing a report published by The Washington Post.
Speaking anonymously to the paper, the Iranian official says the first phase will include the release of $12 billion in frozen Iranian assets, minesweeping operations in the Strait of Hormuz and the lifting of the US blockade.
The official adds that the proposed memorandum of understanding will not constitute a nuclear agreement, but rather a commitment to conduct future negotiations on nuclear-related issues. The official further says that a more detailed announcement could be made later today.
Israel’s military has warned residents of 10 villages, most of them in southern Lebanon, to evacuate their homes ahead of expected strikes against alleged Hezbollah targets, AFP reports.
“In light of Hezbollah’s violation of the ceasefire agreement, the Israel Defence Forces are compelled to operate against it with force,” the military’s Arabic-language spokesperson, Colonel Avichay Adraee, says in a social media post, listing the names of the villages.
“For your safety, you must evacuate your homes immediately and move at least 1,000 metres away from these towns and villages to open areas.”
Adraee has issued another evacuation warning directed at residents of a building in Rashidiyeh and two buildings in Burj al-Shamali, near the city of Tyre.
“We urge residents of the building marked in red on the attached map, as well as nearby buildings: you are located near a facility used by the Hezbollah terrorist organisation,” he writes on X.
Iran claims to have shot down a hostile drone over the Persian Gulf using a new air defence system, the Fars news agency reports.
“Iranian fighters, unveiling the new Arash-i-Kamangir systems, successfully shot down a hostile drone over the strategic waters of the Persian Gulf,” the agency reports.
“This operation, carried out using a system with stealth capabilities, is considered a clear and decisive message from Iran,” the report adds. “Relevant officials emphasised that ‘this is a sign from us that no stealth drone will be able to penetrate the skies of the Persian Gulf anymore.’”
An Iranian health ministry official says the injuries suffered by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei in US-Israeli strikes in late February are only “superficial”, offering a rare account of the day he was wounded, AFP reports.
The 56-year-old has not appeared publicly since he was named as Iran’s supreme leader on March 8, issuing only written statements, fuelling speculation about his health.
Health ministry spokesman Hossein Kermanpour describes the day Khamenei was wounded and his arrival at a hospital, which he did not identify. He said the supreme leader arrived at the hospital around 1pm on February 28 and “entered the operating room along with several other wounded individuals”.
“Apart from superficial injuries to the face, head and legs, which caused neither amputation nor any particular medical problem, nothing major had happened,” Kermanpour tells the ILNA news agency. “From my perspective as a physician, these were not considered serious injuries and required no special procedures apart from one or two stitches.”
He adds that Khamenei, who was fasting until nightfall during Ramazan, “refused to break his fast and kept fasting until iftar, which itself showed his good health”.
Kermanpour says he was discharged from the hospital at around 2am on March 1, but did not say where he was moved.
Iran has said that 32 ships have passed through the Strait of Hormuz after “obtaining permission with the coordination and security of the IRGC Navy”, Al Jazeera reports.
In a report published by the semi-official Tasnim news agency, the navy notes that the ships include oil tankers, container ships, and other commercial vessels.
A high-level Iranian delegation that includes the country’s top negotiator and central bank chief are in Doha to discuss a peace agreement with the US and the release of frozen funds, a source briefed on the matter told AFP.
“Iran’s Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi arrived in Doha earlier today for talks on ongoing diplomatic efforts to end the conflict,” the source said, requesting anonymity to discuss sensitive matters.
The visit will focus, the source added, “on issues relating to the Strait and highly enriched uranium. The Central Bank governor is part of the delegation to discuss the issue of frozen funds, which is addressed in the MoU as part of an eventual final deal.”
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has declared that Iran will not surrender to US pressures and excessive demands, saying the country’s negotiators will ensure the full restoration of the nation’s rights through the diplomatic process, Press TV reports.
Speaking at a meeting with members of the Chamber of Commerce, Pezeshkian noted that after failing on the military front, the enemy has now concentrated its efforts on economic warfare.
“The Islamic Republic of Iran will not surrender to excessive pressures and demands under any circumstances,” he said.
Israel’s far-right national security minister, Itamar Ben Gvir, calls for a return to “intensive” fighting in Lebanon, despite a ceasefire aimed at halting hostilities between Israeli forces and Hezbollah, AFP reports.
“It is time for the prime minister to take a firm stand with Donald Trump and tell him that Israel is returning to war in Lebanon,” Ben Gvir says on X.
“Electricity to Lebanon must be cut off, the Zahrani must be seized, and intensive warfare resumed,” he adds, referring to a river in southern Lebanon which runs further north than current Israeli ground operations.
Bezalel Smotrich, Israel’s far-right finance minister, says Israel must “put an end to the threat of Hezbollah’s explosive drones”, Al Jazeera reports.
He notes the approval of a special budget of approximately 2 billion shekels ($692 million) for technological solutions to address the drone threat earlier this week.
Citing the killing of an Israeli soldier in a Hezbollah drone attack in southern Lebanon, the Religious Zionist Party leader says, “For every explosive drone, 10 buildings must fall in Beirut. The response to a significant threat must be significant.
“You don’t counter a strategic threat with shielding alone, but by changing the rules and the equation. We cannot shield ourselves forever. Only exacting a deterrent and disproportionate price from the enemy will reshape the equation against our foes on all fronts,” he adds in a post on X.
