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
Egypt’s FM Dr Badr Abdelatty held a phone call with his Turkish counterpart Hakan Fidan yesterday to “discuss regional de-escalation efforts”, Egypt’s foreign ministry says.
“The two ministers exchanged views and assessments on the progress of negotiations between the United States and Iran, emphasising the paramount importance of supporting the negotiation process and relying on diplomacy and dialogue as the only way to reduce tensions and end the war,” the statement read.
“Both ministers expressed their hope that all parties would adopt wise and responsible positions and embrace diplomacy to resolve their differences,” it added.
The Israeli army has begun mobilising troops with the aim of intensifying its ground assault on Lebanon, the Israeli Broadcasting Authority reports according to Al Jazeera.
“The army has requested that soldiers who were discharged in recent days report for reserve duty immediately,” it said.
Minister of State for Interior Tallal Chaudhry, speaking to Geo News, has said that the country’s diplomacy was at “its height of the past 78 years,” appreciating the CDF Field Marshal Asim Munir’s “huge role” in the US-Iran mediation process.
Referring to an article published in TRT World commending CDF Munir’s role, the state minister said, “This is the [..] teamwork due to which Pakistan today is at the heights of diplomacy”.
He added that the country has also emerged as a “trusted partner” to all major global powers.
“It is not part of any alliance but is known as a common friend,” he added.
UAE presidential adviser Anwar Gargash has affirmed that his country is “capable of overcoming challenges with confidence and steadfastness”.
“Wars may impose circumstantial challenges, but the UAE was built on solid foundations that make it more capable of cohesion and overcoming them,” Gargash wrote on X.
“The UAE’s success was not born of chance, but the fruit of a steadfast vision and sincere, continuous work over the years,” he asserted.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said it reserved the “legitimate and definite” right to retaliate against any violations of the ceasefire by the United States, Reuters reports.
The IRGC also said its air defence units had shot down a US MQ-9 drone and opened fire on a fighter jet that allegedly entered Iranian airspace.
The Iranian supreme leader further said that Iran’s armed forces, “alongside the fighters of the Resistance Front — especially dear Lebanon — achieved remarkable victories against the two terrorist and fully armed American-Zionist armies” in the recent war.
He asserted that Iran “succeeded in rendering the Zionist regime helpless under its devastating blows” in the 2025 Iran-Israel conflict, delivering a “harsh slap to the aggressor America, and thwarting the enemy in its goal of Iran’s surrender”.
Khamenei noted solidified “threads of connection” among the Islamic Ummah and the Resistance Front, “from Iran to Lebanon, Palestine, Iraq and Syria, from Africa and Yemen to Afghanistan, Pakistan and all the free nations of the world”.
China has urged the “parties concerned” to observe a fragile ceasefire in the Middle East war, after US forces attacked missile sites in southern Iran as well as boats trying to lay mines, AFP reports.
“We urge the parties concerned to fulfil their ceasefire commitments, resolve disputes through peaceful means… and promote the early restoration of peace,” foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning told a regular news briefing when asked for China’s reaction.
China foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning addresses a press briefing on Nov 25, 2025. — fmprc.gov.cn/File
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei further said that the “shaky Zionist regime and the cancerous tumour of Israel have also drawn near to the final stages of their ill-fated lifespan”.
Khamenei stressed that the rituals at Arafat this year “hold double importance, and the depth and breadth of disavowing America and the Zionist regime surpasses the ritual of disavowal in the season and station of Haj”.
“After these blessed days, ‘Death to America’ and ‘Death to Israel’ will be the prevalent slogan of the Islamic Ummah,” he asserted.
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei has said the “nations and lands of the region will no longer be shields for American bases”.
In his message issued on the occasion of Haj, Khamenei said the US “will no longer have a safe haven for mischief and the establishment of military bases in the region”.
He also commended the “valiant warriors and self-sacrificing armed forces”, who “struck the Great Satan — namely America — and its trained beast, the Zionist regime”.
Israel will escalate strikes against Hezbollah in Lebanon, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said, as a US official said the militia had ignored warnings to halt firing at Israel in a conflict that could threaten US Iran negotiation, Reuters reports.
As the US and Iran appeared to draw closer to a potential deal on Sunday, Netanyahu said he and President Donald Trump agreed in a phone call that Israel would retain the right to confront perceived threats on all fronts, including Lebanon.
Netanyahu doubled down on that message, saying in a video released on Telegram: “We are at war with Hezbollah, and we will intensify our strikes.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued a deeply controversial pledge on Tuesday to annex the Jordan Valley in the occupied West Bank if re-elected in September 17 polls. — AFP/File
Lebanese rescue workers have recovered 12 bodies following Israeli strikes on the town of Mashghara in the south of the country, Lebanon’s National News Agency (NNA) reports.
A number of people were also wounded, according to health authorities.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Esmaeil Baqaei has shared details of a US missile strike on a sports hall that occurred on February 28, which he said killed 24 people, including a two-year-old girl, Al Jazeera reports.
In his post on X, Baqaei said the attack utilised a new weapon system involving airburst missiles, “unleashing 180,000 of high-velocity tungsten pellets that tore through the area in every direction with devastating force”.
“This was not a mistake – it was a calculated decision to test the destructive power of a new weapon system on Iranian civilians,” Baqaei said.
“Such an act constitutes a clear and despicable war crime,” he asserted.
Iranian lawmaker Ebrahim Rezaei, a spokesperson for the parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Commission, has said that diplomats representing Tehran in mediated talks with the US “must negotiate from a position of victorious power”.
“The definitive victor of the war has been and remains the valiant Iranian nation,” Rezaei said in a post on X.
Spokesperson for Iran’s armed forces Abolfazl Shekarchi has warned that Tehran has “identified its targets” in case of an attack from the US and Israel and remains “ready for war,” Press TV reports.
“The response to any new aggression will be different from previous ones,” the spokesperson said, stressing that attacks will “go beyond regional borders and will be much more intense, devastating, and forceful”.
“If war breaks out again and Iran’s exports are blocked, the Islamic Republic of Iran will prevent the export of oil from the region,” the spokesperson further warned.
Israeli air attack on the town of Kfar Sir in the Nabatieh district of southern Lebanon, Al Jazeera reports.
Waves of Israeli attacks were reported across south Lebanon’s Tyre and Nabatieh districts, as well as in Mashgara in the western Bekaa Valley area, on Monday.
smoke rises following an Israeli air strike that targeted the southern Lebanese village of Nabatieh.—AFP
Pakistan has expressed support for the four proposals put forward by Chinese President Xi Jinping on safeguarding and promoting peace and stability in the Middle East, according to a joint statement released at the conclusion of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s visit to China.
According to the statement shared by the Foreign Office, China appreciated Pakistan’s efforts in facilitating a temporary ceasefire between the United States and Iran, as well as hosting talks in Islamabad.
“Both sides reiterated the importance of early implementation of a five-point initiative for restoring peace and stability in the Gulf and the Middle East region,” the statement added.
The two sides also expressed their readiness to jointly make positive contributions toward the early restoration of peace and stability in the region.
Brent crude futures rise over 2 per cent in Asian trade after the US military carried out strikes in Iran, keeping markets on edge as a deal to end the war and open up the Strait of Hormuz remained elusive, according to Reuters.
Brent futures up$1.98, or 2.1pc, to $98.12 a barrel as of 0405 GMT, after settling 7pc lower in the previous session.
US West Texas Intermediate crude was at$91.79 a barrel, up slightly from Monday’s last traded price but down $4.81, or 5pc, from Friday’s close. There was no settlement on Monday due to the US Memorial Day holiday.
The Japanese government approved $3 billion in spending on Tuesday to help households pay their electricity and gas bills as utility costs rise due to the Middle East war, AFP reports.
Like many Asian economies, Japan relies heavily on imported fuel from the Middle East, and has moved to counter the impact of the Strait of Hormuz blockade on supplies and prices.
The decision to help cover bills for three months from July comes a day after Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi announced a plan to compile a $19bn extra budget to help tackle soaring prices of everyday goods.
“We approved the spending of 513.5bn yen at the cabinet meeting today” to support electricity and gas bills between July and September, Masanao Ozaki, deputy chief cabinet secretary, told reporters.
Qatar has denied that it “offered” Iran $12 billion to finalise an agreement that would end the stalled US-Israeli war, a conflict that sent shockwaves through the region and beyond, Anadolu reports.
“Reports claiming that the State of Qatar ‘offered’ $12 billion to Iran to ensure the conclusion of an agreement are utterly baseless and are being circulated by parties seeking to derail the agreement and undermine diplomatic efforts aimed at de-escalating tensions and promoting stability in the region,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Majed Al Ansari said on US social media platform X.
“Qatar’s diplomatic role, in coordination with regional partners, is well established & publicly documented, & such narratives are nothing more than desperate attempts to tarnish Qatar’s reputation as a trusted international peace facilitator,” he added.
