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”
The United Arab Emirates’ foreign minister has condemned remarks by Iran, rejecting “any allegations or threats that infringe upon its sovereignty”.
“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs emphasised in its statement that the UAE’s international and defence relations and partnerships are a matter of pure sovereignty, and no party has the right to use them as a pretext for threats, interference, or incitement,” the ministry has said in a statement.
It adds that any discourse that includes a direct or indirect threat to the security of the UAE is “unacceptable behaviour that contravenes the principles of good neighbourliness, the rules of international law, and the Charter of the United Nations”.
Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam says it is premature to talk of any high-level meeting between Lebanon and Israel, Reuters reports.
Salam, in comments carried by Lebanon’s National News Agency (NNA), says shoring up a ceasefire will be the basis for any new round of negotiations that might be held by Lebanese and Israeli government envoys in Washington.
Salam says Lebanon is not seeking normalisation with Israel, but rather achieving peace.
The current circumstances “are not ripe to talk about high-level meetings,” he adds, according to NNA.
“Our minimum demand is a timetable for Israel’s withdrawal,” he says, adding that the government will develop its plan to restrict weapons to state control — an effort aimed at securing Hezbollah’s disarmament.
US State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott tells Al Jazeera that US President Donald Trump has made it clear that he prefers the diplomatic path but is not going to be “rushed into a bad deal”.
“Trump is going to make a good deal for the American people,” Pigott says. “Make no mistake that Trump means what he says when he says the Iranian regime can never be allowed to obtain a nuclear weapon.”
Israeli warplanes have targeted an apartment with three missiles in the vicinity of Haret Hreik in the southern suburbs of Beirut, Al Jazeera reports citing Lebanon’s National News Agency (NNA).
Jets were also reportedly flying at a very low altitude over the Bekaa Valley.
US President Donald Trump says Washington will get enriched uranium from Iran, as the two countries struggle to reach an agreement on ending the Middle East war, Reuters reports.
“We’re going to get it,” Trump tells a reporter as he leaves a White House event.
One of Trump’s central objectives in launching military strikes against Iran was to ensure Tehran does not develop a nuclear weapon. Iran has yet to hand over more than 408 kilogrammes of highly enriched uranium.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says his country is “prepared for all scenarios” in dealing with Iran, in a video statement released by his office, according to AFP.
“We are … prepared for all scenarios, and those are the instructions I have given to the army and our security services,” Netanyahu has said in the video released at the start of a security cabinet meeting.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claims that the country has targeted a Hezbollah commander in strikes on the Lebanese capital, Beirut.
In a post on X, Netanyahu writes, “I instructed, together with Defence Minister Israel Katz, to strike now in Beirut the commander of the Radwan Force in the terrorist organisation Hezbollah in order to neutralise him.”
Netanyahu claims that the Radwan force has attacked Israeli settlements and military personnel.
“No terrorist has immunity — Israel’s long arm will reach every enemy and murderer,” he adds.
According to Al Jazeera, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has announced that he will speak to US President Donald Trump later today about the ongoing US-Iranian negotiations to end the war.
“There is full coordination between us, there are no surprises. We share common goals, and the most important goal is the removal of the enriched material from Iran, all the enriched material, and the dismantling of Iran’s enrichment capabilities,” he has said.
Bahrain’s interior ministry says an unspecified number of people with “close links” to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) have recently been arrested in the country, some suspected of espionage, Al Jazeera reports.
United States Central Command (Centcom) has announced that an Iranian-flagged unladen tanker has been “disabled” by US forces in the Gulf of Oman, as it was headed towards an Iranian port.
In a statement shared on X, Centcom said its forces observed the M/T Hasna as it transited international waters en route to an Iranian port on the Gulf of Oman.
“American forces issued multiple warnings and informed the Iranian-flagged vessel it was in violation of the US blockade,” the statement reads.
“After Hasna’s crew failed to comply with repeated warnings, US forces disabled the tanker’s rudder by firing several rounds from the 20mm cannon gun of a US Navy F/A-18 Super Hornet launched from USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72). Hasna is no longer transiting to Iran.”
French President Emmanuel Macron has conveyed his concerns to Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian about Iranian strikes on the United Arab Emirates earlier this week.
“All parties must lift the blockade of the Strait, without delay and without conditions,” he has said in a post on X. “We must durably return to the regime of full freedom of navigation that prevailed before the conflict.”
Macron adds that France’s multinational naval mission can help restore confidence among shipowners and insurers.
“It will, by its very nature, be distinct from the warring parties. The pre-positioning of the aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle fits within this context,” he states.
“Recent events clearly demonstrate the usefulness that such a mission would have. I have invited the Iranian president to seize this opportunity, and I intend to discuss this matter with [US] President Trump,” Macron says.
“The return of calm in the Strait will help advance negotiations on the nuclear issue, the ballistic issue, and the regional situation. The Europeans, on whom the lifting of sanctions depends, will take their place in this process.”
Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri says any agreement with Israel needs to ensure guarantees as Tel Aviv “violated” the cessation of hostilities despite Hezbollah’s commitment to it.
Berri tells Al Jazeera that Iran’s foreign minister had confirmed to them that Lebanon would be part of any deal the US secures to end the war, adding that he hoped the Iran-US negotiations would reach a “positive conclusion soon”.
Major US passenger airlines spent just over $5 billion on jet fuel in March, up $1.8bn or 56 per cent from what they spent in February, Reuters reports, citing the US Transportation Department.
The cost per gallon of fuel in March was $3.13, up 74 cents, and 31pc over February. Fuel use rose 20pc in March, the department adds.
Since the US-Israeli war with Iran began, disruptions to shipping through the Strait of Hormuz have roiled global oil markets. Surging jet fuel prices have created the air travel industry’s biggest crisis since the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Israeli military says on of its soldiers has been “severely injured” in southern Lebanon, Al Jazeera reports.
The soldier was wounded “as a result of an explosive drone impact” earlier today, Israel’s military says, adding that the soldier has been evacuated and hospitalised.
Iran’s permanent mission to the United Nations says that a permanent end to the war, the lifting of the US naval blockade and the restoration of normal passage are “the only viable solution” to resolve the crisis in the Strait of Hormuz.
“Instead, the US is pushing a flawed, politically motivated UN Security Council draft resolution under the pretext of “freedom of navigation” to advance its political agenda and legitimise unlawful actions—not to resolve the crisis,” the mission says in a post on X.
“Iran calls on Member States to act on the basis of logic, fairness and principle, not pressure, reject the draft, and refrain from supporting or co-sponsoring it.”
Iran’s Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf has accused the US of trying to use economic and media pressure to create divisions within Iran and push it to “surrender”, a tactic he says will fail, according to Al Jazeera.
“The enemy is very hopeful about economic pressure, and it is clear that they have once again received false reports, and based on these reports, they have made wrong decisions,” Ghalibaf has said in comments carried by Iran’s Fars news agency. “This wrong decision will cause everyone to suffer.”
He says that no matter the extent of the economic pressure, “the Iranian nation will endure … for the sake of the independence.”
Two bodies have been recovered by civil defence teams in Tyre, southern Lebanon after Israeli strikes targeted a car near Al-Siraj High School, Al Jazeera reports.
Lebanon’s National News Agency also reported that an Israeli raid targeted a house in the town of Khirbet Selm, next to the municipality building.
