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
Ceasefire falters as US, Iran exchange attacks on each other’s military sites; Kuwait intercepts drones
Trump seeks to reinforceIsrael-Hezbollah truce as Tel Aviv’s escalated strikes in Lebanon raise global alarm
Iran’s ambassador to Turkiye, Mohammad-Hassan Habibollahzadeh, says visas have been issued for the country’s national football team to participate in the upcoming World Cup, which begins next week, Al Jazeera reports.
State-run news agency IRNA reports comments from Habibollahzadeh confirming that Mexico had granted visas to all players and staff members travelling with the team.
In comments shared by Iran’s Tasnim news agency, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi says Tehran has made it clear that it “will not remain silent” in the face of an attack on Beirut, according to Al Jazeera.
“Any attack on Beirut will have grave consequences and lead to a full resumption of war,” Araghchi says in an interview with Lebanese news outlet Al Mayadeen.
“At the moment when Israel threatened to attack the suburbs of Beirut, we adopted a decisive stance and the Iranian armed forces were put on full alert for a counterattack.”
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has told lawmakers that Washington’s military campaign against Iran, codenamed “Operation Epic Fury”, has concluded and that any subsequent American military action will be defensive in nature rather than part of an ongoing offensive operation.
Rubio made the remarks during a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing when members of Congress questioned the administration’s assessment of the conflict and its aftermath.
During the hearing, Rubio announced, “We’re no longer conducting sustained strikes inside of Iran to degrade their military, because Epic Fury is over.”
According to the secretary, the United States had destroyed Iran’s defence industrial base, significantly reduced its missile launchers and drone stockpile, destroyed what remained of its air force and wiped out its conventional navy.
“Those are all gone,” Rubio said. “So, I consider that victory, and we did, too. And that was the purpose of Epic Fury.”
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio testifies during a House Committee on Foreign Affairs hearing in the Rayburn House Office Building in Washington DC, the US on June 3, 2026. — AFP
Bahrain has arrested 15 people accused of working for Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), hours after Tehran launched attacks on the country and neighbouring Kuwait, Al Jazeera reports.
The interior ministry says investigations are ongoing to identify all individuals connected to the alleged Iranian cell.
Bahrain has launched a security crackdown since Iran began attacking the country in late February, arresting dozens of people accused of collaborating with Tehran.
Qatar’s former prime minister says it is “astonishing” that Iran continues to respond to attacks by striking its Gulf neighbours, Al Jazeera reports.
In a post on X, Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber Al Thani has described Iran’s latest attacks on Bahrain and Kuwait as “unjustifiable” and questioned whether they had been premeditated.
Al Thani says Qatar remains committed to maintaining positive relations with Iran, but stresses that Doha would not be “blackmailed” by its neighbour. He has also called on Gulf states to adopt a unified stance towards Tehran, arguing that such solidarity would demonstrate that Iranian attacks will not weaken them.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) claims that the destruction of the passenger terminal at Kuwait International Airport was caused by an “error in the American Patriot systems”, rather than a strike by Tehran, the semi-official Tasnim news agency reports.
An IRGC spokesperson says, “The IRGC Aerospace Force has made no shots toward this target.”
Hezbollah has claimed several attacks on Israeli forces and military equipment stationed at southern Lebanon’s Beaufort Castle in recent hours, according to Al Jazeera.
The group says it targeted the outpost with a barrage of rockets, artillery shells and an attack drone.
Israeli forces captured the site, home to a 900-year-old fortress atop a rocky hilltop outside Nabatieh, on Saturday.
Iran’s parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf says that Tehran will meet any attack with a strong response, AFP reports, citing local media, after its Revolutionary Guard said it had targeted Kuwait in retaliation for US attacks.
“Today, the Iranian nation, in its battle with America and the Zionist regime, showed that the era of free-of-charge Iran threats is over and that any aggression will be met with a decisive, regrettable, and proportionate response,” Ghalibaf says, according to local news agency ISNA.
US Congressman Thomas Massie has announced that he is co-sponsoring a bill to prevent the transfer of weaponry to Israel.
In a post on X, Massie says that Tel Aviv has used American munitions to kill tens of thousands of people and that “America is morally obligated to end support of Israel’s devastation of Gaza and its people.”
Israeli air strikes have targeted the southern Lebanese town of Barish, located in the Tyre district, as well as Froun and Burj Qalawiya in the Bint Jbeil district, Al Jazeera correspondents on the ground are reporting.
At least one person was wounded in the Burj Qalawiya attack, the state-run National News Agency reports.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has said that his country is executing “self-defence strikes” against sites “the US is permitted to use to attack civilian shipping and violate the ceasefire”.
“Any hostile act will be met with an immediate, decisive response. What sanctions and war failed to achieve won’t be won with more war,” he states in a post on X.
Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi has ordered the resumption of operations by oil companies in the country’s Kurdistan region, Al Jazeera reports citing a statement released by his office.
Some energy companies operating in Iraqi Kurdistan shut down oil and gas production at their fields because of repeated drone attacks on oilfields and energy infrastructure.
Kurdistan production shutdowns have added to the Middle East supply disruptions after the closure of the Strait of Hormuz by Iran and the subsequent blockade of Iran by the US.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says Iran is “playing with fire” after its attack on Kuwait, AFP reports.
“Iran surely knows what the [US] president has said, that if necessary, there’ll be a full-scale return to military action,” Netanyahu says in an interview with US channel CNBC when asked if there is still a ceasefire following recent attacks on Kuwait and Bahrain.
“You know, it’s the president’s decision. Israel is ready, and the US forces are ready. I think Iran should take that into account. I think they are taking it into account, but they’re playing with fire, that’s clear. “
Oman has condemned the recent attacks on its Gulf neighbours as a violation of international law and a threat to civilians, Al Jazeera reports.
The Omani Ministry of Foreign Affairs has expressed “full solidarity” with Bahrain and Kuwait and support for the measures the two countries are taking “to preserve their security and stability”.
“The Sultanate of Oman renews its call for restraint and avoiding escalation, and resorting to dialogue and diplomatic means to address crises and disputes,” it says.
The Israeli army has launched an air strike on the town of Tayr Harfa in southern Lebanon’s Tyre district, Al Jazeera correspondents on the ground are reporting.
Meanwhile, Hezbollah claims its fighters targeted an Israeli logistics vehicle with a drone strike in the vicinity of the town of Yahmar al-Shaqif, also in southern Lebanon.
US Secretary Marco Rubio has voiced hope that the latest round of talks in Washington between Israel and Lebanon will produce a security roadmap, despite Israel and Hezbollah’s continuing hostilities, AFP reports.
Israeli and Lebanese envoys meeting for the fourth round of direct talks in the US capital “hopefully today will … produce a joint statement and an action plan on the track for security in that country, independent from Hezbollah,” Rubio tells a congressional panel.
The negotiations come days after US President Donald Trump said the two countries had pledged to de-escalate.
But Israel and Hezbollah have continued to trade fire, with Hezbollah claiming missile attacks on northern Israel and Lebanon saying Israeli strikes in the south killed at least nine people, including two paramedics.
Saudi Arabia has strongly denounced Iran’s attack on Kuwait’s international airport, branding it “treacherous … aggression and [a] blatant violation” of Kuwaiti sovereignty.
In a statement from its foreign ministry, the kingdom has condemned the attacks on the airport and several of its vital facilities, which resulted in one fatality and multiple injuries.
French Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu has called on Israel to end its “illegal occupation” of Lebanese territory, warning that the country’s military strategy risks undermining regional stability, Anadolu reports.
Addressing the French National Assembly, Lecornu says the fragile ceasefire in Lebanon must be respected and criticises the ongoing Israeli military operations.
“It is clear that not only must the ceasefire be respected, it is fragile, to say the least, even resembling a kind of ‘ceasefire through fire,’ which is unacceptable, but Israel must put an end to this war and to the illegal occupation it maintains on Lebanese territory,” he states.
Lecornu argues that the conflict in Lebanon cannot be separated from wider efforts to address tensions involving Iran, saying France repeatedly warned its allies against sidelining the Lebanese issue.
“There will be no comprehensive solution to this war with Iran if the Lebanese issue is set aside,” he explains.
France’s Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu reacts during a session of questions to the government at The National Assembly, France’s lower house of parliament, in Paris on June 3, 2026. — AFP
Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Secretary-General Jasem Mohamed Albudaiwi has condemned Iranian attacks against Bahrain and Kuwait, calling them a “dangerous and unprecedented escalation”, Anadolu reports.
In a statement, Albudaiwi denounces the attacks on “civilian objects, infrastructure, headquarters and diplomatic missions” in the two Gulf states.
He adds that the attacks constitute a “dangerous and unprecedented escalation” and reflect the “Iranian regime’s insistence on pursuing rejected hostile policies targeting the security, stability and sovereignty of the GCC states“.
Albudaiwi further says that the continued attacks demonstrate Iran’s persistence in pursuing policies aimed at undermining regional security “in blatant defiance of international law, the UN Charter and all international norms”.
