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’s football federation is in discussions with FIFA about moving their World Cup matches from the United States to Mexico due to concerns about the safety of their players
Iran’s FM Abbas Araghchi denies media reports of any recent contact with US envoy Steve Witkoff
Debris from missile interception kills Pakistani national in Abu Dhabi
Israel’s military has targeted Iran’s security chief Ali Larijani, four Israeli officials said, adding that it was not immediately clear whether he was killed or injured, reports Reuters.
Larijani was one of the targets of strikes carried out by the Israeli military last night across Iran, the officials told Reuters.
Iran has not yet commented on the report. If his death is confirmed, he would be the most senior Iranian official to be killed after the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who died on the first day of the war.
Larijani, a former nuclear negotiator and a close ally of Khamenei, was seen in Tehran on Friday taking part in Quds Day rallies.
Later that day, the US offered a reward of up to $10 million for information on senior Iranian military and intelligence officials, including Larijani, as part of a list of 10 figures linked to the IRGC.
Multiple Israeli media outlets also said the strikes targeted Gholamreza Soleimani, the head of the Basij Resistance Force and other senior Basij figures, with the outcome of the strikes still being assessed.
Then-parliament speaker Ali Larijani attends a news conference in Damascus, Syria on Feb 16, 2020. — Reuters/File
Rocket and drone attacks on the US embassy and a diplomatic facility in Iraq have resumed after a series of strikes earlier today, Al Jazeera reports citing security sources.
Rockets and an explosive drone targeted the embassy in Baghdad, triggering sirens, and an explosion was heard near the compound.
At least three explosive drones also targeted a US diplomatic facility near Baghdad International Airport, activating the counter-rocket artillery and mortar (C-RAM) air defence systems, the sources added.
There were no immediate reports of casualties or damage.
The Iranian women’s football team has arrived in Istanbul on their way home from Malaysia, after five players withdrew asylum claims they had lodged in Australia, Reuters reports.
Australia granted humanitarian visas to six players and one support staff member after they sought asylum, saying they feared persecution if they returned to Iran.
Concerns over their safety surfaced after several players failed to sing the national anthem at a women’s Asian Cup match earlier this month.
Five of the group have since changed their minds and decided to return home, with Australian media reporting the latest withdrawal on Monday.
They rejoined the rest of the squad in Kuala Lumpur, where the team had been staying since leaving Sydney last week, leaving only two players still in Australia.
A diplomatic adviser to the UAE president, Anwar Gargash, says his country could join an international effort led by the US to ensure the safety and security of the Strait of Hormuz, Reuters reports.
Speaking in an online event organised by the Council on Foreign Relations, an American-based think tank, Gargash has said that the UAE does not currently have active talks with Iran.
Saudi Interior Minister Abdulaziz bin Saud has discussed recent developments and attacks on the Gulf countries and the region in a call with his Omani counterpart Hamoud bin Faisal Al Busaidi.
“I affirmed to His Excellency that the Kingdom stands by the sisterly Sultanate of Oman in everything that ensures its security, stability and the safety of its citizens and residents,” the Saudi interior minister said on X.
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar says Tel Aviv has effectively won its war with Iran, but has not indicated when the conflict might end, saying only that the campaign would continue until its objectives were achieved, Reuters reports.
Speaking at a news conference, Saar said Israel was seeking to remove “existential threats”, but did not say how the government would determine when those goals had been met.
“One must be patient,” he said, speaking on the 18th day of a war that has killed more than 2,000 people, most of them in Iran and Lebanon, but also in Israel, Iraq and across the Gulf.
US Democratic Senator Bernie Sanders says he agrees with Joe Kent’s decision to resign as Washington’s national counterterrorism chief over the Iran war.
“Kent and I don’t agree on much, but he is right: ‘Iran posed no imminent threat to our nation, and it is clear that we started this war due to pressure from Israel and its powerful American lobby,’” Sanders has written on X.
Turkiye’s Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan has lashed out at Israel after it claimed to have killed Iran’s national security chief Ali Larijani, denouncing its targeting of Tehran’s leaders as “illegal”, Al Jazeera reports.
“Israel’s political assassinations, especially those targeting Iranian statesmen and politicians, are truly illegal activities outside the normal laws of war,” Fidan has told a news conference.
If the Middle East war spreads, it could create a “permanent” refugee crisis, Turkiye’s top diplomat has warned, as Lebanon said Israel’s bombardment had displaced over a million people, according to AFP.
“If the war … spreads, there is a possibility this will turn into a permanent refugee crisis with refugees seeking shelter outside the borders of their countries,” Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan has told a news conference.
US President Donald Trump has told reporters that he thought Europe would have sent minesweepers to assist Washington in the Strait of Hormuz, adding that it was “not a big deal” but “unfair” to the United States, Reuters reports.
US President Donald Trump has said UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer has made the wrong choice in not supporting Washington over the war in the Middle East, AFP reports.
“He hasn’t been supportive, and I think it’s a big mistake,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. “I’m disappointed with Keir — I like him, I think he’s a nice man, but I’m disappointed.”
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt has assailed outgoing US national counterterrorism chief Joe Kent, who resigned earlier today over his opposition to the war in Iran.
“There are many false claims in this letter, but let me address one specifically: that ‘Iran posed no imminent threat to our nation,’” Leavitt has said on X, referring to Kent’s resignation letter.
She noted that this was the “same false claim” repeated by “Democrats and some in the liberal media”.
“As President Trump has clearly and explicitly stated, he had strong and compelling evidence that Iran was going to attack the United States first,” Leavitt added.
“This evidence was compiled from many sources and factors. President Trump would never make the decision to deploy military assets against a foreign adversary in a vacuum.”
Calling Tehran the “number one state sponsor of terrorism”, Leavitt has alleged that Iran “proudly killed Americans” and openly threatened Washington until the launch of Operation Epic Fury.
“Iran was aggressively expanding their short-range ballistic missiles to combine with their naval assets to give themselves immunity – meaning they would have a degree of a capabilities [sic] that would give them immunity to hold us and the rest of the world hostage,” Leavitt added.
Kuwait’s air defence system has detected and intercepted two ballistic missiles and 13 drones within the country’s airspace during the past 24 hours, a statement by the defence ministry’s spokesperson on X has said.
It adds that two minor injuries have been recorded as a result of falling debris. Both individuals are in stable condition, and no significant material damage has been reported.
US President Donald Trump has told reporters that Washington is not ready to leave the military operation in Iran yet, but that “we’ll be leaving in pretty much the very near future”.
The Israeli claim of killing Iran’s top security official Ali Larijani, if confirmed, would mark the most consequential setback for Iran since the assassination of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei at the start of the US-Israel war on the Islamic republic, which is now in its 18th day.
Larijani is one of the few remaining figures who straddle the political, security and diplomatic layers of the Iranian system at a time of war. He is not merely a senior insider, but part of a small cohort that can reconcile competing power centres within the state and translate battlefield developments into coherent political signalling. His role extends beyond messaging to quietly shaping external engagement, including maintaining channels that could, if required, support de-escalation.
His loss, if confirmed, would not fracture the system. It would rather narrow the space within which strategy is formulated, tilting the balance further toward a security-driven approach and reducing flexibility for any future political exit. It would also remove a figure who could have potentially offered an interlocutor for any eventual diplomatic opening, thereby limiting the range of options available not only to Tehran, but also to its adversaries.
US President Donald Trump has told reporters it was a “good thing” that Joe Kent resigned from his post as head of the National Counterterrorism Centre because he was “very weak on security”.
Kent earlier said he resigned over the Iran conflict.
US President Donald Trump says Nato is making “a very foolish mistake” by not wanting to aid the United States to unblock the Strait of Hormuz, even as he said that Washington did not need help.
Asked about French President Emmanuel Macron’s refusal to join military operations in Iran, US President Donald Trump has said, “He’ll be out of office very soon, so let’s see.”
The US president is addressing reporters during a meeting with Irish Prime Minister Micheal Martin at the White House.
Since March 2, Israeli attacks have killed 912 people in Lebanon and wounded 2,221 more, the country’s Ministry of Public Health has said in its latest update, according to Al Jazeera.
Al Jazeera adds that the toll stood at 886 a day prior.
US President Donald Trump has castigated Nato members and other allied nations for refusing to participate in military operations against Iran.
In a post on Truth Social, Trump lamented that allies are not getting involved even though other nations “strongly agreed with what we are doing, and that Iran cannot, in any way, shape, or form, be allowed to have a nuclear weapon”.
“I am not surprised by their action, however, because I always considered Nato, where we spend hundreds of billions of dollars per year protecting these same countries, to be a one-way street — we will protect them, but they will do nothing for us, in particular, in a time of need,” the US president has said.
Trump reiterated his claim that US forces “decimated” Iran’s navy and air force and destroyed their anti-aircraft and radar, along with making sure that Iranian leaders “at virtually every level, are gone”, no longer posing a threat to Middle Eastern allies, or the world.
“Because of the fact that we have had such military success, we no longer ‘need’, or desire, the Nato Countries’ assistance — we never did! Likewise, Japan, Australia, or South Korea,” Trump said.
Calling the US “by far the most powerful country anywhere in the world”, he added that Washington does not need the help of anyone.
Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar, in a meeting with Iranian ambassador Reza Amiri Moghadam, has stressed that dialogue and diplomacy remain the only viable path to resolving the ongoing Middle East conflict and achieving lasting peace and stability in the region.
According to the Foreign Office (FO), the ambassador called on Dar, expressing gratitude for Pakistan’s moral support amid the US-Israeli war with Tehran.
“The DPM/FM conveyed his condolences over the loss of precious lives in the conflict and expressed hope for an early resolution,” the FO adds.
Smoke rises as an Israeli artillery unit fires towards Lebanon, amid escalation between Hezbollah and Israel, on the Israeli side of the Israel-Lebanon border on March 17. — Reuters
An aeroplane flies as smoke rises after an Israeli strike, following an escalation between Hezbollah and Israel, in Beirut, Lebanon on March 17. — Reuters
Firefighters work at the site of an Israeli air strike near the airport in Beirut, Lebanon on March 17. — AFP
Smoke rises on Lebanon’s side of the border with Israel, amid escalation between Hezbollah and Israel, as seen from northern Israel on March 17. — Reuters
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum says her country would have no problem hosting Iran’s matches in the 2026 World Cup, if football governing body FIFA agrees, Reuters reports.
Iran’s football federation has asked FIFA to move its World Cup matches to Mexico from the United States due to concerns about the safety of its players after the US launched joint air strikes in the country.
French President Emmanuel Macron says France will never take part in operations to unblock the Strait of Hormuz, and that Paris is carrying on with work to prepare a coalition that can provide freedom of navigation once hostilities end, AFP reports.
“We are not party to the conflict and therefore France will never take part in operations to open or liberate the Strait of Hormuz in the current context,” Macron has said at the start of a cabinet meeting to discuss the conflicts in the Middle East.
“However, we are convinced that once the situation becomes calmer … we are ready, alongside other nations, to take responsibility for an escort system.”
Hezbollah has denied it had any members in Kuwait after the Gulf country announced the arrest of 14 Kuwaitis and two Lebanese nationals allegedly affiliated with the group over a “sabotage plot”, AFP reports.
Kuwait’s interior ministry had said in a statement Monday that the group “aimed to destabilise the country’s security and recruit individuals to join the terrorist organisation”.
Hezbollah has said in a statement that it “categorically denies the allegations and accusations issued by the Kuwaiti interior ministry”.
The group has called the allegations “baseless” and added: “There are no Hezbollah cells, members or networks in Kuwait.”
