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
Islamabad stays in frame for hosting US-Iran deal signing ceremony
State media in Iran say the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has launched attacks on bases used by armed separatist groups in northern Iraq, Al Jazeera reports.
The operation was carried out by the IRGC’s ground forces, but the reports did not specify which groups were targeted or provide details on locations hit.
Esmaeil Kousari, an Iranian parliamentarian and member of the National Security and Foreign Policy Commission, has said that the nuclear file has been removed from the negotiating table with the United States, Iran’s ISNA news agency reports.
“Negotiations are ongoing, but we have not reached a final agreement,” he stated.
“Current negotiations are focused on completely ending the war.”
Hamid Reza Haji Babaei, deputy speaker of Iran’s parliament, has stated that planning for the coming months should be based on the assumption that the siege will continue and should not be affected by possible partial openings by the enemy, according to Iran’s ISNA news agency.
He said: “We are encircling the enemy’s economic siege, and we must vigorously pursue and activate alternative routes and land corridors.”
An Israeli strike near a hospital in Tyre, south Lebanon wounded 13 staffers, the Lebanese health ministry has said, as Israel pushes forward its offensive deeper into the country, AFP reports.
“The Israeli enemy launched an airstrike in the vicinity of Hiram Hospital in Tyre, injuring 13 hospital staff members and causing significant damage,” the ministry said in a statement, urging “the international community to put an end to the escalating and expanding Israeli attacks”.
Iran has restored gas production at three offshore platforms in the South Pars gas field that had been forced to halt output after Israeli attacks disrupted processing capacity at some onshore facilities, the chief executive of the Pars Oil and Gas Company told state media, Reuters reports.
Touraj Dehqani said the platforms had not been damaged. He said production from the three platforms was being routed to other processing plants in the region while repairs continue at damaged facilities, including the Phase 14 refinery.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has declared that the Israeli forces’ capture of Beaufort castle in southern Lebanon marked a “dramatic shift” in Israel’s campaign against Hezbollah in Lebanon, AFP reports.
“Today, we have returned to Beaufort in a different way. We have returned united, determined, and stronger than ever,” Netanyahu said in a video statement.
“The capture of Beaufort is a dramatic stage and a dramatic shift in the policy we are leading. We have broken the barrier of fear. We are taking the initiative, we are operating on all fronts — in Syria, in Gaza, in Lebanon.”
France has requested an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council after Israeli forces seized the medieval Beaufort castle in Lebanon, AFP quotes the French foreign minister as saying.
“I have requested an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council because, while we recognise Israel’s right, like that of all countries, to self-defence… nothing can justify the continuation of Israeli military operations in Lebanon and its ever-deeper occupation of Lebanese territory,” Jean-Noel Barrot said on the BFMTV channel.
The European Union is considering a temporary freeze to its price cap on Russian oil amid the Middle East crisis, Bloomberg Newsreports, citing people familiar with the matter.
Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, Iran’s parliamentary speaker and top negotiator, says Iran will not accept any agreement ending its conflict with the US unless there is certainty that the Iranian people’s rights are secured, Al Jazeera reports, citing Iranian media.
He was speaking during a virtual session of the Islamic Consultative Assembly held this morning.
“There is no trust in the enemy’s words and promises. Our only criterion is to achieve tangible results before we fulfil our commitments in return,” he added after taking an oath as the re-elected speaker of parliament alongside its praesidium.
“We will not approve any agreement until we are sure that we have taken the rights of the Iranian people,” he was quoted as saying by ISNA.
Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz says the invading troops will remain stationed at Beaufort Castle after the strategic hilltop was captured in southern Lebanon, Al Jazeera reports.
Decades after the Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon, “the Israeli flag is once again flying over the peaks overlooking the Galilee communities”, Katz said at a memorial ceremony for fallen soldiers of the 1982 war, according to The Times of Israel newspaper.
“Our heroic soldiers have captured Beaufort once again, and will remain there as part of the security zone in Lebanon,” he was quoted as saying.
The visit of the head of the Iranian Red Crescent Society (IRCS) to Geneva this week has become a platform for highlighting the humanitarian dimensions of the war and pursuing the rights of victims and aid workers, according to IRNA.
The three-day visit by Pirhossein Kolivand included meetings with senior officials from the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), the United Nations, and representatives of several countries.
Kolivand described the attacks on residential areas, hospitals, educational centres, ambulances, rescue vehicles, and Red Crescent helicopters as “blatant violations of international humanitarian law”.
Speaking to IRNA, IRGC Deputy for Political Affairs Yadollah Javani has said the US and Israel had incorrectly assumed they could achieve a quick victory by imposing war on the Iranian nation.
The enemies’ strategic objectives, Javani said, included destroying Iran’s nuclear capabilities, eliminating its missile defence capacity, and ultimately overthrowing the republic. He said those goals have failed, resulting in a shift in regional equations in Iran’s favour.
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has said 28 vessels, including oil tankers, containers and other commercial ships, passed through the Strait of Hormuz over the past 24 hours “with the coordination and security of the IRGC Navy”.
“Intelligent control of the Strait of Hormuz is being carried out continuously and with firmness and authority,” its statement carried by the Fars news agency said.
Iranian authorities have shut down a cafe in central Tehran over allegations that it promoted “satanic” activities, AFP reports, citing local media.
The cafe, located on Tehran’s famed Valiasr street, had hosted events featuring Western-style music that “provided a setting for abnormal behaviours,” the Fars news agency reported.
The Mehr news agency said police accused patrons of engaging in “satanic movements”.
A 14-second muted video carried by Tasnim news agency showed a packed venue where performers played guitars while some customers nodded their heads in apparent rhythm with the music.
Iranian authorities have long carried out raids and arrests targeting gatherings or networks accused of promoting “satanism”, and have in the past labelled some rock and heavy metal concerts as satanist events.
A top IRGC commander says Iran’s enemies made a strategic miscalculation in assessing Iran’s capabilities and resolve, arguing that Tehran has emerged in a stronger position while the United States faces decline and failure.
Speaking to IRNA last night, IRGC Deputy for Political Affairs Yadollah Javani said the enemies had incorrectly assumed they could achieve a quick victory by imposing war on the Iranian nation.
The enemies’ strategic objectives, Javani said, included destroying Iran’s nuclear capabilities, eliminating its missile defence capacity, and ultimately overthrowing the Islamic Republic.
He said those goals have failed, resulting in a shift in regional equations in Iran’s favour.
Javani said the United States must choose between accepting the conditions and rights of the Iranian people or continuing the war.
Rising fuel prices triggered by the Middle East war are driving a sharp increase in carpooling, with a ride-sharing platform reporting a surge in new users seeking cheaper ways to travel.
The world’s largest carpooling platform BlaBlaCar said soaring energy costs have pushed 600,000 additional drivers onto the app this year — 20 per cent more than initially projected — as commuters look to offset the rising cost of fuel.
In India, its single biggest market with more than 20 million users in 2025, the number of passengers has increased by 40pc since the start of the US-Israeli airstrikes against Iran on February 28.
Last year, the global carpooling leader posted record-breaking figures in the world’s most populous country India — outpacing Brazil with 19m users and France with 7m, according to Benjamin Retourne, the platform’s product director.
Heavy traffic moves along a busy road as it rains during a power-cut at the toll-gates at Gurgaon on the outskirts of New Delhi on July 31, 2012. — Reuters/File
The Israeli military claims a “suspicious hostile aerial target” has entered the country’s airspace from the north and has fallen in an open area, Al Jazeera reports.
The object triggered sirens in numerous towns along the border, according to the brief statement. The military said there were no casualties.
Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz has said that the military had captured the strategic medieval fortress of Beaufort in southern Lebanon, AFP reports.
“Forty-four years after the heroic Battle of Beaufort, and on this day commemorating the soldiers who fell in the First Lebanon War (1982), our troops have returned to the summit of Beaufort and once again raised the Israeli flag there,” Katz said on his Telegram channel.
The Israeli military has warned Lebanese civilians living south of the Zahrani river to evacuate the region, warning that it was stepping up operations it insisted were against Hezbollah, according to AFP.
“Residents of southern Lebanon, you must move immediately to north of the Zahrani,” the military’s Arabic-language spokesman Avichay Adraee posted on social media.
Israeli troops have captured a strategic mountain topped with a Crusader-built castle in southern Lebanon, the military says, with the Associated Press noting it was Israel’s deepest incursion into the country in more than a quarter century.
The capture of Beaufort castle near the city of Nabatiyeh came after days of intense fighting and airstrikes in nearby villages.
Describing the capture as a “major gain for Israel”, AP said Israeli troops previously captured the castle in 1982 and held it until they withdrew from Lebanon in 2000.
The Israeli army’s Arabic spokesperson Avichay Adraee posted a photograph on X showing Israeli troops walking outside the Beaufort castle.
Israeli forces have launched several air attacks on the town of Deir ez-Zahrani at dawn, killing several people, Al Jazeera reports, citing Lebanon’s National News Agency.
The attacks targeted residential buildings where people were sleeping and resulted in injuries to many, the NNA reported.
The agency said rescue workers were at the scene trying to recover victims. “A number of people remain trapped under the rubble,” it reported.
A photograph taken from the Marjayoun area in southern Lebanon shows smoke rising after an Israeli air strike on the village of Arnoun on May 30, 2026. — AFP
