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”
Anwar Gargash, senior adviser to UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, says he has met with Luigi Di Maio, the European Union’s special representative for the Gulf region, Al Jazeera reports.
Maio “affirmed the Union’s full support for the State of the United Arab Emirates in confronting Iranian aggression”, Gargash has said in a post on X. “He also expressed his appreciation for the protection and care provided by the State to more than 200,000 European residents who contribute to various aspects of life.”
General Alexus Grynkewich, Nato’s Supreme Allied Commander Europe, has thanked Iraq and allies for the safe relocation of Nato personnel in the country to the alliance’s command in Naples, Italy, Al Jazeera reports.
“I would also like to thank the dedicated men and women of Nato Mission Iraq, who continued their mission throughout this period. They are true professionals,” he has said in a statement.
The alliance confirmed in a statement that the last Nato Mission Iraq personnel left Iraq today, and would continue their work from Naples.
Nato Mission Iraq is a non-combat mission, tasked with advisory and capability-building work to assist Iraq in building more sustainable and effective security institutions, the alliance says. It aims to enable Iraqi security forces to stabilise their country, fight terrorism, and prevent the return of Islamic State.
As Qatar reels from an Iranian attack that has hobbled its giant natural gas company, its boss, who doubles as the country’s energy minister, says he had warned officials and executives of just such a danger should Iran’s own sites be hit.
“I was always warning, talking to executives from oil and gas that are partnered with us, talking to the US Secretary of Energy, to warn him of that consequence and that that could be detrimental to us,” QatarEnergy Chief Executive Officer Saad al-Kaabi tells Reuters.
“They were aware of the threat, and they were always reminded by me, almost on a daily basis, that we need to make sure that there is restraint on oil and gas facilities,” he adds.
The US Department of Energy has deferred to the White House on the matter.
Asked for comment, White House spokesperson Taylor Rogers said: “President Trump and his entire energy team were not ignorant of the reality that there would be short-term disruptions to oil and gas supply during the ongoing operations in Iran, and planned for these highly anticipated, temporary disruptions.”
QatarEnergy CEO and Qatar’s Minister of Energy Saad al-Kaabi speaks during a news conference after a signing ceremony in Beirut, Lebanon on January 29, 2023. — Reuters/File
Israel claims it has “eliminated” the intelligence chief of Iran’s Basij paramilitary force in a previous strike that also assassinated the force’s top commander, AFP reports.
“Earlier this week, the air force, guided precisely by military intelligence, struck the senior leadership of the Basij unit in the heart of Tehran, in an attack that eliminated the unit’s commander, Gholamreza Soleimani, along with several other senior commanders,” the military has said.
“The IDF now confirms that in this strike, Ismaeil Ahmadi, who served as head of the intelligence directorate of the Basij unit, was also eliminated,” it claimed.
Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian has delivered a Nowruz message saying his country does not seek war with its neighbours, and reiterating that it does not wish to acquire nuclear weapons, Al Jazeera reports citing state media.
In the message, Pezeshkian said Iran did not seek war with neighbouring and Muslim countries. “Our difficulties are the result of the interference of enemies,” he said. “Our dear neighbours who surround us, you are our brothers… We have come to resolve all these differences with you.”
He said Iran proposed that “to establish peace and stability in the region, a regional security structure be formed from Islamic countries”.
“We do not need the presence of outsiders in the region.”
He stressed Iran was not seeking nuclear weapons, saying the supreme leader had declared they were religiously forbidden, and no officials were permitted to pursue plans to obtain them.
The son of Iran’s deposed shah has called for a “free” and “prosperous” Iran in a Nowruz message addressed to Iranians, Al Jazeera reports.
In a statement, Reza Pahlavi described the past year as one of “national solidarity” and “great sacrifices”, saying it brought the country closer to what he called a “final victory” over the Islamic republic.
Framing the situation as a “patriotic battle”, he praised those killed in opposition to the authorities and pledged continued support for their families.
Pahlavi said tens of thousands of Iranians have been lost in what he described as a “struggle” against the ruling system.
Iran’s Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei has said that Iranians have dealt a “dizzying blow” to the country’s “enemies”, reports AFP.
By showing unity and resolve, Iranians had “dealt him (the enemy) a dizzying blow so that he now starts uttering contradictory words and nonsense,” Khamenei said in a written message for Persian New Year.
He also said Iran and allied forces in the region were “in no way” behind attacks on Oman and Turkey during the war, instead blaming “deception by the Zionist enemy” in reference to Israel.
Human Rights Watch has warned that continued tit-for-tat strikes on energy infrastructure by Iran, Israel and the United States “risk causing economic and environmental catastrophe to civilians” in Iran, across the Gulf and economically marginalised people worldwide.
A statement from the group’s Middle East and North Africa Deputy Director, Michael Page, has called for an end to any attacks targeting civilian energy infrastructure.
Drone attacks have hit Kuwait’s Mina Al-Ahmadi oil refinery, causing several fires but no casualties, state media has said citing the national oil company, AFP reports.
“The Mina Al-Ahmadi refinery … was subjected early today to several hostile drone attacks, causing fires in some of its units,” the official Kuwait News Agency said, adding that “several refinery units were shut down”.
The Kuwaiti army later said that the fire was brought under control without any casualties.
“Two drones targeted one of the units in a refinery of the Kuwait Petroleum Corporation, resulting in a fire that was brought under control by the specialised teams, without any injuries,” it said on X.
Iran’s Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei has said the enemies of the Islamic republic are being defeated in the war against the US and Israel in a written message for the Persian New Year, Nowruz, reports Reuters.
“At the moment, due to the particular unity that has been created between you our compatriots — despite all the differences in religious, intellectual, cultural and political origins — a breakdown is brought about in the enemy,” said Khamenei.
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei has released a message on marking the start of Persian New Year, which he has named the year of a “resistance economy under national unity and national security.”
In the statement, released on his Telegram channel, Khamenei said that attacks against Turkey and Oman were not carried out by Iran or its allied forces, reports Reuters.
Israel’s foreign ministry has accused Iran of an “attack on the holy sites” of Jerusalem after an impact near the walls of the Old City following a missile warning, AFP reports.
“The Iranian attack on the holy sites sacred to all three religions reveals the madness of the Iranian regime, which claims to be religious,” Israel’s foreign ministry has written on X.
It was unclear whether the impact was from a missile or was caused by an interception.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has rejected US claims about causing major destruction to Iran’s air defences and navy, saying such a message is “detached from reality”, Al Jazeera reports.
“US government says one thing, reality says another,” Araghchi has written in a post on X. “Right as US authorities claim Iran’s air defences are gone, an F-35 gets hit. As they declare Iran’s navy finished, USS Gerald Ford turns back, and USS Abraham Lincoln drifts farther away.”
The top Iranian diplomat went on to compare the US’s framing of its war achievements to its framing of the Vietnam War in the 1960s and 1970s. “Different decade, same ‘we’re winning’”, he wrote.
The gymnastics World Cup event scheduled to take place in Doha in April has been cancelled due to the war in the Middle East, AFP reports, quoting the sport’s governing body.
“World Gymnastics reports that, following an urgent online vote and in light of the current situation in the Middle East, its executive committee has decided to cancel the 2026 edition of the Artistic Gymnastics Apparatus World Cup in Doha (QAT), scheduled to take place from April 15 to 18,” World Gymnastics said in a statement.
Nato has evacuated its personnel from Iraq, Saeed al Jayashi, advisor at Iraq’s national security advisory, has told Al Jazeera.
He said the withdrawal was temporary and that Nato personnel would return to Iraq once the US-Israeli war with Iran ends, and the situation in Iraq stabilises.
Dozens, if not hundreds, of ships are anchored at the entrance of the Strait of Hormuz, stopped from passing further due to the threat of Iranian attack, Al Jazeera reports citing Inzamam Rashid, a journalist reporting from near the waterway.
While the US and Israel had carried out overnight operations near Iran’s coast in an effort to secure the strait, Iran says it has set up an approved shipping corridor through the strait, he says.
“They have said that [they are] allowing select vessels to pass through the waters alongside the Iranian coast. What they have to do is get prior approval from the IRGC,” he adds.
Data shows that at least nine ships have passed through this route where the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps are verifying vessels, Rashid says.
Iran’s National Security and Foreign Policy Committee of the Parliament says that oil exports from Kharg Island are continuing uninterrupted, Al Jazeera reports.
“Security is fully established in Kharg Island, and oil export is going on without any problem and without any interruption,” its spokesperson has said in a statement carried by Iran’s Tasnim news agency.
Iran’s armed forces “are at the peak of their defence readiness and will give a decisive and crushing response to all the evils and attacks of the enemy”, the spokesperson has said.
Kharg Island, around 30 kilometres off Iran’s mainland, is a hub for roughly 90 per cent of the country’s crude oil exports. It was hit in US strikes last weekend, but no casualties were reported.
Israeli television has shown smoke rising from an impact site near the walls of Jerusalem’s Old City, after AFP journalists heard loud blasts following a warning of Iranian missiles.
The Israeli media showed footage of a crater in a road that appeared to be close to the Jewish and Armenian quarters of the historic Old City.
Police said they were “conducting searches to locate the impact sites of weapons and munitions or interception fragments within the Jerusalem District”.
Britain’s Foreign Minister Yvette Cooper has warned her Iranian counterpart in a phone call “against targeting UK bases, territory or interests directly”, a foreign office statement says, reports AFP.
The statement was a response to one issued by Iran’s foreign ministry in which it said Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told Cooper in the call on Thursday that any US use of British bases would be seen as “participation in aggression” against the Islamic republic.
Cooper told Araghchi “the defensive UK operations in the region were a response to the Iranian aggression against Gulf partners”, the UK foreign office said, adding: “She made clear that the UK wants to see a swift resolution to this conflict. “
The United States military is deploying thousands of additional Marines and sailors to the Middle East, Reuters reports quoting three US officials.
The sources, who were speaking on the condition of anonymity, did not say what the role of the additional troops would be.
One of the officials said that the USS Boxer, along with the Marine Expeditionary Unit aboard, were departing the West Coast of the United States about three weeks ahead of schedule.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has reiterated Tehran’s warning that no restraint will be shown if infrastructure is attacked, claiming they had intelligence on “ Israeli plans to strike infrastructure”.
“We are men and women of principles. Iranians do not sneak [an] attack adversaries while engaged in dialogue. Only when attacked do we powerfully respond.
“We have intelligence on Israeli plans to strike infrastructure. Once again: ZERO restraint if our infrastructure is attacked,” he said in a post on X.
Iranian authorities have arrested 45 people accused of acting as “mercenaries and separatists”, including several, it says, who were plotting an attack, Al Jazeera reports citing Iran’s IRIB broadcaster, which cited the intelligence ministry.
The ministry said the arrests in the provinces of Qazvin and West Azerbaijan included 16 people accused of sharing military coordinates with what it described as a hostile network. It claimed that six others were members of separatist groups allegedly plotting an attack in the northwestern city of Bukan.
