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”
Iran, US agreed to a two-week on April 8; the truce was later extended indefinitely and remains in place
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 and Iran exchanged fire on May 8 despite the ceasefire
Even as hostilities briefly renewed, Washington said it was awaiting Iran’s response to a US proposal that would stop the fighting but leave the most contentious issues unresolved for now
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan says Ankara does not want the conflict between the United States and Iran to spread further across the region, Anadolu reports.
Erdogan has made the remarks during a meeting in Istanbul with Masrour Barzani, the Prime Minister of Iraq’s Kurdish Regional Government (KRG), according to Turkiye’s Communications Directorate.
The two sides discussed the latest regional developments during the meeting, where Erdogan expressed concern over attacks on Iraqi territory, including in Erbil, and said Turkiye opposed the expansion of the US-Israeli war on Iran to other countries in the region.
A liquefied natural gas (LNG) tanker has started to exit the Persian Gulf, with all other observable shipping through the Strait of Hormuz at a standstill following recent clashes, Bloomberg reports.
US President Donald Trump, meanwhile, seeks to reopen the vital energy channel at all costs, the outlet adds
Iran’s oil infrastructure may be the source of a suspected slick off a key island export terminal, but satellite images showed it is “much reduced”, an environmental group tells AFP.
Satellite images in the past days appeared to show an oil slick spreading off the coast of Iran’s Kharg Island. It was not immediately clear what had caused the apparent spill off the island’s west coast.
“The cause and origin of the slick remain unknown and cannot be determined conclusively from the available imagery alone,” a UK-based non-governmental organisation, the Conflict and Environment Observatory, tells AFP.
“While offshore infrastructure in the wider area could be a potential source, we are unable to identify a definitive point of origin or attribute the spill to a specific cause at this time,” says Leon Moreland from the observatory.
But, he adds, “the slick appears visually consistent with oil based on analysis” of imagery from the Copernicus Data Space browser.
The UK will send a destroyer to the Middle East ahead of any international mission to help protect shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, according to its defence ministry.
“The pre-positioning of HMS Dragon is part of prudent planning that will ensure that the UK is ready, as part of a multinational coalition jointly led by the UK and France, to secure the strait, when conditions allow,” a ministry spokesperson tells AFP.
An explosive drone launched by Hezbollah has been located in Israeli territory near the Lebanese border in the morning, Al Jazeera reports citing the Israeli military.
It adds that there was no damage or casualties, and that crews are working to remove it from the area.
Lebanese official media reported a new Israeli strike outside Beirut, moments after it reported two strikes on the highway linking the capital to the country’s south, AFP reports.
The state-run National News Agency said the strike hit the Chouf district, around 20 kilometres (12 miles) south of Beirut and not far from a previous strike on the Saadiyat highway.
Both areas are outside Hezbollah’s traditional strongholds and came despite a ceasefire in the Iran-backed group’s war with Israel.
This photograph taken from the southern Lebanese area of Nabatieh shows smoke trails of Israeli shelling on the village of Mayfadoun on May 9, 2026. —AFP
In an interview with Politico, former CIA director Leon Panetta says that the US is “stuck in a stalemate with Iran”.
Asked about US claims that military objectives have been met, Panetta says, “The basic objective that the president was after, which was regime change, did not happen.
“Since that time, the president has come up with a number of reasons why the United States got involved in this war and has really confused the issue,” he adds, citing perceived threats of an “imminent” attack by Iran, and stopping them from acquiring nuclear weapons.
“This was going to be a short war, six to eight weeks; we’re obviously in only the tenth week of this war,” Panetta says. “Both sides are exhausted, both sides would like to bring this war to an end.”
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan held a phone call with UAE President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, during which the two leaders discussed “bilateral relations, as well as regional and global matters.”
According to a statement, Erdogan underscored the importance Turkiye attaches to strengthening cooperation with the UAE across several sectors, particularly trade, energy and security.
Referring to the hardships experienced in the region amid tensions between Iran and the United States, Erdogan said the situation was saddening and stressed that Turkiye would continue to “fully support” the sovereignty and security of the UAE. He also extended his sympathies over the damages suffered.
He further stressed that dialogue and cooperation should be enhanced to address the region’s security needs and preserve regional stability.
Egypt will receive an extra $300 million as part of a $1 billion World Bank development financing package to help it confront fallout from the Iran war, Stephane Guimbert, the World Bank’s division director for Egypt, Yemen, and Djibouti, has told reporters, Reuters reports.
The package, consisting of $800m from the World Bank and a $200m British guarantee, is to support private sector-led job creation, macroeconomic stability, and the green transition. The bank’s board approved it yesterday.
The bank’s share was increased from $500m due to “the uncertainty in the region and the shock facing Egypt, like other countries, because of the war in Iran”, he said.
The financing is on terms unavailable in commercial markets at around 6pc interest, with a maturity of 30 years and a grace period before repayments begin, Guimbert said.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has said Europe wanted to work to keep the Nato alliance functioning, despite differences with the United States that the Iran war has exposed, Reuters reports.
“We are really willing to keep this alliance alive for the future,” Merz said at a press conference with Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson.
He also said Sweden and Finland had strengthened the European pillar of the alliance.
“We know that there are some differences. We know that we are seeing challenges, all of us, but our final goal is to bring this conflict to an end and to guarantee that Iran is not able to produce nuclear weapons,” Merz said.
“And this goal is a common goal between America and Europe.”
The US Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has targeted 10 individuals and companies for “enabling efforts by Iran’s military to secure weapons, as well as raw materials with applications in Iran’s Shahed‑series unmanned aerial vehicles and ballistic missile programme,” it says on X.
“While the surviving IRGC leaders are trapped like rats in a sinking ship, the Treasury Department is unrelenting in our Economic Fury campaign,” US Treasury Secretary is quoted as saying in a statement.
“Under President Trump’s decisive leadership, we will continue to act to keep America safe and target foreign individuals and companies providing Iran’s military with weapons for use against US forces.”
According to the Treasury, it has targeted entities in the Middle East, Asia and eastern Europe.
A young girl, who was previously reported as injured, has succumbed to her injuries at the President Nabih Berri Governmental Hospital in Nabatieh, after she and her father were targeted by a triple-tap drone attack, Al Jazeera reports citing Lebanon’s National News Agency.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu interrupted an uncharacteristically long silence over the Iran conflict this week with a video commentary insisting he had “full coordination” with Donald Trump, with whom he spoke “almost daily”.
“The insistence that all was rosy in the US-Israeli relationship followed weeks of reports in the domestic press that Israel was no longer being consulted over the Iran conflict, and even less over Pakistani-brokered peace talks,” writes Julian Borger in The Guardian.
“He is doing so much talking about how great the relationship is that it makes me rather concerned about how much tension there is,” said Dahlia Scheindlin, an American-Israeli political consultant and pollster.
Ian’s football federation said that the men’s national team will take part in the 2026 World Cup this summer, but demanded that joint hosts the United States, Mexico and Canada agree to its conditions amid the Middle East war, AFP reports.
“We will definitely participate in the 2026 World Cup, but the hosts must take our concerns into account,” the Iranian federation said on its official website.
“We will participate in the World Cup tournament, but without any retreat from our beliefs, culture, and convictions.”
Lebanese state media reported Israeli strikes on the country’s south after Israel’s army issued an evacuation warning to several villages, as well as in other areas despite a ceasefire with Hezbollah, AFP reports.
Israeli warplanes “launched a strike on the town of Zrariyeh after a morning warning”, the state-run National News Agency said, also reporting strikes on several other areas included in the Israeli warning, in which the army said it would act against Hezbollah.
The agency also reported Israeli airstrikes and artillery shelling on other areas of the country’s south not mentioned in the warning, along with casualties in several locations.
A man has been killed in a triple-tap Israeli drone attack in the southern Lebanese city of Nabatieh, Al Jazeera reports citing National News Agency.
The agency reported that the victims were riding on a motorcycle near Al-Sabah High School when the first drone attack struck them, followed by two more.
The daughter has been reported to be undergoing surgery in Nabatieh.
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun has held a phone conversation with President of the United Arab Emirates Mohamed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan and discussed the current situation in Lebanon and the region.
According to a social media post on X, Lebanese presidency has said, Aoun affirmed solidarity with the people of the UAE during the “sensitive circumstances” in the region.
It has further said, President Aoun also briefed the Gulf country’s president on the developments regarding the Lebanese-American-Israeli meetings being held in Washington.
At least three people have been killed in an Israeli air attack on the Tyre district in southern Lebanon, Al Jazeera says, citing the National News Agency.
The NNA reported that victims were travelling in a car when attacked near the Martyr Mohammed Saad High School, between Burj Rahhal and al-Abbassieh.
Bahrain’s interior ministry said it had arrested 41 people it said were linked to Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, the state news agency reported, according to Reuters.
The ministry said security authorities uncovered a group linked to Iran’s IRGC, adding that investigations by the public prosecutor had also involved cases related to sympathy with Iranian attacks.
This photograph taken from the southern Lebanese area of Marjayoun (Marjeyoun) shows smoke rising from the site of an Israeli strike that targeted the village of Mayfadoun on May 9, 2026. —AFP
The image from the southern Lebanese area of Marjayoun (Marjeyoun) shows smoke rising from the site of an Israeli strike that targeted the village of Arnoun on May 9, 2026. —AFP
This photograph taken from the southern Lebanese area of Marjayoun (Marjeyoun) shows smoke rising from the site of an Israeli strike that targeted the village of Arnoun on May 9, 2026. —AFP
This photograph taken from the southern Lebanese area of Tyre shows people around the beach against the backdrop of smoke rising from the site of an Israeli airstrike that targeted the village of El Qlaile on May 8, 2026. —AFP
The Central Insurance of Iran has announced that the resources to pay for vehicles damaged in the war with the US-Israel will roll out soon, Al Jazeera reports.
Officials at the Central Insurance Company and Iran Insurance assessed that about 30,000 cars have been damaged.
Damages below 30 million tomans ($387) have been paid out in recent weeks, the officials noted, adding that the cases of damages above this figure will be processed in the near future.
People gather near damaged vehicles in the aftermath of Israeli strikes, in Tehran, Iran, March 3. — Reuters/File
