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U.S. President Donald Trump has signalled a dramatic escalation in the ongoing war with Iran on Friday by ruling out negotiations and declaring that any resolution to the conflict would require Tehran’s “unconditional surrender.”  Trump said that only after Iran capitulates and a “great and acceptable leader” emerges would the United States and its allies consider helping rebuild the country’s economy and stability. Image of POTUS Trump monitoring Operation Epic Fury; Via: White House “After that… we will work tirelessly to bring Iran back from the brink of destruction,” Trump wrote, ending the message with the slogan “MAKE IRAN GREAT AGAIN (MIGA!)”. The remarks reinforced Washington’s increasingly maximalist war aims and underscored that the United States expects the political future of Iran to align with American preferences following the conflict. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, earlier, said mediation efforts were already underway to end the war, suggesting that unnamed...

The widening war between the United States, Israel and Iran has continued to expand across multiple theatres on Friday, with Sri Lanka taking control of an Iranian naval vessel near its waters after the sinking of another warship, Israel launching new strikes across Iran and Lebanon, and Iran retaliating with missile and drone attacks targeting several Gulf states that host U.S. forces.  File Photo: Global Times The developments show that the conflict, now stretching from the Persian Gulf to the Indian Ocean, has evolved into a broader regional confrontation involving naval incidents, cross-border airstrikes, leadership upheaval in Tehran and growing international evacuation efforts as governments scramble to move citizens out of the region. Sri Lanka on Friday began transferring more than 200 sailors from an Iranian naval vessel anchored outside its territorial waters after the ship sought assistance following the sinking of another Iranian warship by a U.S. submarine earlier thi...

The World Health Organization on Thursday warned that the widening war between the United States, Israel and Iran is rapidly turning into a major humanitarian crisis across the Middle East, with more than 1,000 people killed, over 100,000 displaced and the conflict now affecting at least sixteen countries across the region and beyond. Image Via: WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the organization has already verified multiple attacks on health infrastructure as the war intensifies. According to WHO monitoring, at least thirteen strikes have hit healthcare facilities inside Iran, while one attack has been recorded in Lebanon amid the expanding Israel–Hezbollah fighting along the border. “Escalating conflict across Iran and the Middle East has killed over 1,000 people, displaced over 100,000 more and affected 16 countries,” Tedros said in a statement, warning that damage to hospitals and medical systems is now emergin...

French President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday called for an immediate halt to escalating hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah and warned against the war spreading into Lebanon, saying both sides must step back from military escalation as the wider Iran conflict destabilises the region. Image Via: Visegrad24 Macron said he held discussions with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, U.S. President Donald Trump and Lebanese leaders before presenting a plan aimed at stopping the cross-border fighting that has intensified along Israel’s northern frontier. He said the objective was to prevent Lebanon from being dragged into a wider regional war linked to the ongoing U.S.–Israeli campaign against Iran. “For Lebanon, we must act,” Macron wrote in a statement. “Everything must be done to prevent this country close to France from being dragged into war once again.” Macron said Hezbollah must immediately stop firing rockets and missiles into Israel, while Israel must avoid launching a gr...

The growing disruption around the Strait of Hormuz is beginning to strain the economic lifelines of the Gulf region, with container shipping routes blocked, cargo vessels diverting and aviation networks only slowly resuming operations as the war involving Iran, the United States and Israel continues to destabilise global trade corridors. Maritime tracking data from MarineTraffic shows that vessel crossings through the strategic waterway have dropped dramatically, with traffic estimated to be down by between 88% and 100% compared with normal levels. The slowdown has effectively blocked access to major Gulf container hubs including Jebel Ali in Dubai, Khalifa Port in Abu Dhabi, Dammam in Saudi Arabia and ports across Qatar, Bahrain and Kuwait. Representational Image Via: MarineTraffic on X The disruption is particularly alarming because the Arabian Peninsula relies heavily on imported food supplies routed through these shipping hubs. More than 50 million people in the region depend on c...

Sri Lanka confirmed Thursday that a second Iranian vessel has entered the country’s Exclusive Economic Zone and requested permission to make an urgent port call, a day after a U.S. submarine sank the Iranian frigate IRIS Dena in nearby international waters while it was returning from naval exercises in India. Cabinet spokesman Nalinda Jayatissa told lawmakers that the vessel had been detected in Sri Lanka’s EEZ and was awaiting government clearance to enter port, placing Colombo at the centre of the widening maritime fallout from the U.S.–Israel war against Iran. Representational Image: Alpha Defense The development comes amid heightened tensions in the northern Indian Ocean following the torpedo strike that destroyed the IRIS Dena off Sri Lanka’s southern coast.  The Iranian warship had been sailing back after participating in the Indian Navy’s International Fleet Review and MILAN naval exercises when it was hit by a U.S. submarine attack that reportedly killed dozens of Ira...

The United States–Israel war against Iran has entered its sixth day on Thursday with signs that the conflict could expand into a new front along Iran’s northern border, even as missile strikes, naval clashes and global evacuations intensified across the region.  Map by CIA (1992): Kurdish-inhabited area; Via: Vintage Maps on X Kurdish officials told the Associated Press, and quoted b y  global news networks, that Iranian Kurdish dissident groups based in northern Iraq are preparing for possible cross-border operations into Iran, with U.S. forces reportedly ready to provide air support if the fighters join the conflict. The development comes after intense waves of airstrikes hit dozens of Iranian military installations, police posts and frontier positions near the Iraqi border, suggesting Washington and Israel may be preparing to open a northern pressure point against Tehran.  Encouraging armed movements among Iran’s ethnic minorities could destabilise the country inter...

The U.S. Senate on Thursday rejected a resolution that sought to force congressional approval before any further American military action against Iran, and delivered an early show of political backing for President Donald Trump’s expanding war campaign alongside Israel. The measure failed by a vote of 47–53 in the Republican-controlled chamber, and showed the difficulty faced by lawmakers attempting to limit the administration’s authority as the conflict continues to intensify across the Middle East. Representational Image Via: Iran_Gov on X A similar war-powers bill in the House of Representatives also faces long odds when it comes up for a vote Thursday morning, where Republicans hold a majority and Trump has already signalled he would veto any measure restricting military operations. The fighting itself continued to expand on multiple fronts. Israel’s military said it had begun a “large-scale wave of strikes” targeting infrastructure in Iran’s capital, Tehran, this marks one of t...

Russian President Vladimir Putin warned Wednesday that the widening war involving the United States, Israel and Iran could push Europe into a deeper energy crisis, suggesting Moscow might even halt gas supplies to the continent as global prices surge. Speaking at the Kremlin on March 4 after meeting Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto, Putin told Russian journalist Pavel Zarubin that the widening Middle East conflict had intensified volatility in oil and gas markets and was forcing energy buyers to compete for supplies. “Both oil and gas prices have really risen,” Putin said, adding that the surge was partly linked to sanctions on Russian energy but also to “everything happening in the Middle East with the aggression against Iran.”  Image Via: Official Channel He said the situation had been compounded by risks around the Strait of Hormuz, one of the world’s most critical oil shipping routes. According to Putin, buyers willing to pay higher prices amid the war could divert g...

French President Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday urged Hezbollah to immediately stop its attacks on Israel and called on Israel to avoid launching a ground offensive into Lebanon , warning that further escalation could endanger the entire Middle East as the widening Iran war spreads to new fronts. Macron said he conveyed the message during talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as well as Lebanese President Joseph Aoun and Prime Minister Nawaf Salam, amid rising cross-border strikes between Israel and Hezbollah.  Representational Image Via Emmanuel Macron The French leader said Hezbollah’s continuing attacks were a “major error” that risks destabilising the region, while also stressing that Israel must respect Lebanon’s territorial integrity and return to the ceasefire framework along the border. The intervention comes as Israel intensifies operations against Hezbollah positions in southern Lebanon while expanding its broader war against Iran.  Israeli forces have ...

U.S. lawmakers are moving to assert congressional authority over the widening war with Iran, even as the White House defends the military campaign and new casualties emerge from the battlefield across the Middle East. The U.S. Senate is preparing to vote on a war powers resolution that would require congressional approval before any further American attacks against Iran. A parallel bill has been introduced in the House of Representatives, and reflect growing concern among some lawmakers that the United States has entered a major conflict without a formal debate in Congress. The measures face long odds in the Republican-controlled legislature and would almost certainly be vetoed by President Donald Trump if they passed. Representational Image: White Ho u se The push shows unease in Washington about the rapidly escalating war, which began with U.S.–Israeli airstrikes that killed Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and triggered retaliatory missile and drone attacks across the re...

Israel has widened its strike campaign inside Iran on Wednesday, and targeted security and internal control forces in Tehran after it earlier hit a building in Qom linked by Iranian media to the clerical panel charged with selecting Iran’s next supreme leader, as Iran’s Revolutionary Guard launched a fresh volley of ballistic missiles and Iran-backed groups signaled potential new fronts across the region. Representational Image Via: IDF The Israeli military said it carried out a series of strikes across Tehran aimed at the Basij and other internal security-related buildings. It described the targets as part of Iran’s security apparatus that has suppressed protests in the past.  Iranian semiofficial outlets also reported an airstrike in the holy city of Qom that hit a building they linked to the Assembly of Experts, the body tasked under Iranian law with choosing a successor to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed at the start of the war. Iranian reports said there ...

Governments across Europe, North America, South Asia and the Middle East are scrambling to evacuate their citizens as the widening Iran war has shut large swaths of Gulf airspace, disrupted commercial aviation and left tens of thousands stranded, while leaders in Washington debated the war’s objectives even as international watchdogs sought to calm fears over nuclear risks. Chancellor Merz meets US President Trump; Via: Foc u s Online From Romanian pilgrims to tourists and diplomats’ families, foreign nationals have struggled to leave Israel, Lebanon and parts of the Gulf as major airlines canceled flights and regional airspace closures narrowed exit options.  Some evacuees described fear as missiles and drones crossed the skies, followed by relief upon reaching neighboring countries by land. Israel announced that Ben-Gurion Airport would reopen for limited incoming repatriation flights beginning early Thursday, initially allowing one passenger flight per hour, as governments coord...

Iran has launched a second wave of missiles toward Israel within about 90 minutes on Tuesday, the Israeli military confirmed, as Hezbollah declared it would enter an “open war” with Israel and a fire broke out at the Fujairah port in the United Arab Emirates following a drone interception. The Israeli military confirmed that missiles were launched from Iran toward Israeli territory for the second time in roughly an hour and a half. The announcement came amid heightened regional tensions after days of cross-border strikes and retaliatory attacks that have already drawn in Lebanon and multiple Gulf states. Damage to the Hezbollah-owned Al-Nour radio building in Dahieh; Via: Agoraphobic Journalist In Beirut, senior Hezbollah official Mahmoud Komati said the group would no longer exercise restraint and would return to armed confrontation with Israel. In comments released by Hezbollah’s media office, Komati has said that after more than a year of observing a ceasefire that ended the previou...

Iran’s Natanz nuclear enrichment site has sustained “some recent damage” during the ongoing U.S.-Israeli airstrike campaign, the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog said Tuesday, while stressing that no radiological consequences are expected from the impact. Representational Image Via EasternVoices on X The International Atomic Energy Agency said the damage at Natanz was concentrated on entrance buildings to the underground portion of the facility.  The agency did not report any radiation leaks. Natanz, one of Iran’s most closely monitored nuclear sites, had previously been targeted during the 12-day Iran–Israel war in June. The disclosure came as the human toll inside Iran continued to rise. The Iranian Red Crescent Society said at least 787 people have been killed since the start of the U.S.-Israeli air campaign.  The updated figure marks a significant increase from earlier casualty reports and underscores the scale of the bombardment across multiple Iranian cities. Iranian sta...

The United States has expanded its evacuation of non-emergency diplomatic personnel and family members in the Middle East to six countries  on Tuesday , adding the United Arab Emirates to a growing list that already includes Bahrain, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait and Qatar, as the Iran war intensifies across the Gulf and beyond. The U.S. State Department’s decision brings the UAE—home to Dubai and Abu Dhabi and long regarded as one of the region’s safest commercial hubs—into the formal evacuation framework amid escalating security concerns.  Fuel tank at Oman's Duqm port hit by several drones, according to state media; Via: Ragip Soylu The U.S. Embassy in Abu Dhabi warned that militant groups could carry out attacks with little or no warning and said potential targets may include tourist sites, transport hubs, shopping centers, government buildings, places of worship and locations associated with Jewish and Israeli communities. The move comes as the conflict spreads geographically and ...