By Michael Georgy DUBAI, March 4 (Reuters) - Ayatollah Alireza Arafi has emerged as a central figure in Iran’s power structure at a moment of unprecedented turmoil, propelled into a leadership role from the ranks of top clerics after the killing of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali
The CIA has reportedly been in contact with Iranian Kurdish armed groups since last year, as Israel presses for Kurdish engagement.
Speaking at an early-morning press conference, Secretary of Defense Hegseth said the U.S. and Israel would have 'complete control' of the Iranian skies soon, allowing them to 'fly all day, all night – finding, fixing and finishing the Iranian military and their leaders'
WARSAW, March 4 (Reuters) - Iran's government is making a strong case for its demise by indiscriminately attacking its neighbours, EU's top diplomat Kaja Kallas told reporters on Wednesday. "Iran's strategy is to sow chaos and set the region on fire," Kallas said. Turkey said
DOHA, March 4 (Reuters) - Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi told his Qatari counterpart Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani that Iranian missile attacks were directed at U.S. interests and not at Qatar. Qatar's top diplomat "categorically rejected" that claim and
Terrified travellers fleeing war in Iran for the safety of neighbouring countries have described the extent of US and Israeli air strikes around the country, which have pummelled many regional cities as well as the capital Tehran. AFP spoke to Iranians as well as foreign
A UK warship due to be sent to Cyprus amid the US and Israel's war with Iran will not set sail from Britain until next week, Western officials said Wednesday. Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced on Tuesday that he was deploying HMS Dragon, a Type 45 defence destroyer to aid
By Tuvan Gumrukcu ANKARA, March 4 (Reuters) - Turkey said that NATO air defences destroyed an Iranian ballistic missile headed into Turkish airspace on Wednesday, marking the first time the alliance member has been drawn into the Middle East conflict and raising the possibility
By Anna Hirtenstein, Andrew Mills and Jonathan Saul March 4 (Reuters) - Iranian drone attacks could disrupt the Strait of Hormuz for months, but how long the Islamic Republic could sustain its missile barrage is less clear, according to intelligence sources and military analysts.
BEIJING, March 4 (Reuters) - China will send a special envoy to the Middle East for mediation,Foreign Minister Wang Yi told his Saudi Arabian and UAE counterparts on Wednesday according to statements from his ministry, as conflict in the region continued to escalate. China
The US Senate is set to vote Wednesday on a resolution aimed at curbing President Donald Trump's authority to continue military strikes on Iran, in the first congressional test of support for a conflict launched without explicit approval from lawmakers. The bipartisan measure,
A ballistic missile launched from Iran and heading towards Turkish airspace via Iraq and Syria was destroyed by NATO air defence systems, Turkish officials said Wednesday. The defence ministry said it had been "engaged and neutralised by NATO air-and-missile defence assets
Pentagon projects American and Israel warplanes will have complete control of Iran’s skies in less than a week, enabling the US to conserve valuable precision longer-range munitions.
By Idrees Ali, Phil Stewart, Doina Chiacu and Susan Heavey WASHINGTON, March 4 (Reuters) - Iran is firing fewer missiles than it did at the start of the war on Saturday, the top U.S. general said on Wednesday, as he argued Iran's military capabilities were greatly diminished as
By Parisa Hafezi and Angus McDowall DUBAI, March 4 (Reuters) - Iran’s Revolutionary Guards have tightened their grip on wartime decision‑making despite the loss of top commanders, senior sources say, driving a hardline strategy that is propelling Tehran's drone‑and‑missile
By Yousef Saba, Jonathan Saul and Anna Hirtenstein March 4 (Reuters) - The U.S.–Iran war widened on Wednesday after a U.S. strike hit an Iranian warship off Sri Lanka, deepening a crisis that has paralysed shipping through the Strait of Hormuz for a fifth day and choked off
March 4 (Reuters) - At least 80 were people killed in a U.S. submarine strike on an Iranian warship in the Indian Ocean, Sri Lanka's deputy foreign minister told local television on Wednesday. (Reporting by Uditha Jayasinghe, writing by Shilpa Jamkhandikar; Editing by YP Rajesh)
Iran's attacks have rattled a region long seen as a safe commercial hub. In the long term, they could push Gulf states closer to Washington and possibly toward deeper ties with Israel – if the war does not escalate
March 4 (Reuters) - Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's son Mojtaba has emerged as frontrunner to succeed his late father as Iran's supreme leader after years spent forging close ties with the elite Revolutionary Guards and building influence in the clerical establishment. Mojtaba
WASHINGTON, March 4 (Reuters) - The U.S. military said on Wednesday that it killed an Iranian official who headed a unit behind an alleged assassination plot against President Donald Trump. "The leader of the unit who attempted to assassinate President Trump has been hunted
WASHINGTON, March 4 (Reuters) - U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said on Wednesday the United States was winning in the war against Iran and that the U.S. military could fight as long as needed. "Our air defenses and that of our allies have plenty of runway. We can sustain
By Olivia Le Poidevin GENEVA, March 4 (Reuters) - An independent United Nations probe investigating rights violations in Iran condemned on Wednesday attacks by Israel and the United States on Iran as well as Tehran's retaliatory strikes across the region, saying they violated
More relieved passengers arrived home from the Gulf region on Wednesday as further flights resumed five days into the war triggered by US-Israeli attacks on Iran. Aviation analytics company Cirium said that of the more than 36,000 flights scheduled to fly to or from the Middle
By Joshua McElwee VATICAN CITY, March 4 (Reuters) - The Vatican's top diplomat warned on Wednesday that the ongoing U.S.-Israeli attacks on Iran undermine international law and said nations do not have a right to launch "preventive wars", in an unusually direct criticism of the
WASHINGTON, March 4 (Reuters) - The United States military carried out a strike that hit an Iranian warship off Sri Lanka's coast, three U.S. officials told Reuters on Wednesday. One of the officials, who was speaking on condition of anonymity, said it was carried out by a
By Angelo Amante ROME, March 4 (Reuters) - Italy's government is likely to provide military aid, including an air defence system, to Gulf nations that have requested help with equipment in the face of Iranian air strikes, two sources said on Wednesday. The sources, who asked
LONDON, March 4 (Reuters) - Britain needs to keep a cool head over the conflict in the Middle East to address the public's concerns about escalation, Prime Minister Keir Starmer said on Wednesday. Starmer was speaking after U.S. President Donald Trump heaped fresh criticism on
Turkey said 'that we reserve the right to respond to any hostile actions against our country' • The incident marks the first time that NATO member Turkey, Iran's neighbor to the northwest, has been drawn into the conflict between Iran and the U.S. and Israel
March 4 (Reuters) - Operatives from Iran's Ministry of Intelligence signalled openness to the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to talks on ending the war, the New York Times reported on Wednesday, citing officials briefed on the matter. The offer was made through an
By Laila Bassam, Maya Gebeily, Tom Perry and Nazih Osseiran BEIRUT, March 4 (Reuters) - Hezbollah’s decision to enter the Middle East war in support of its patron Iran has opened a rift with its main political ally at home in Lebanon, leaving the group deeply isolated as the
By Patricia Zengerle WASHINGTON, March 4 (Reuters) - Lawmakers in the U.S. Senate were set to begin voting on Wednesday on a bipartisan war powers resolution aiming to stop the military campaign against Iran and require that any hostilities against it be authorized by Congress.
By Nathan Layne and Aleksandra Michalska MANCHESTER, New Hampshire, March 4 (Reuters) - When Michael Leary learned the United States had struck Iran, he questioned whether the move honored the "America First" pledge that earned his vote for President Donald Trump and feared it
March 4 (Reuters) - The U.S. military has joined Israel and attacked more than 1,000 targets in Iran and killed many of its top officials, including Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Below is a look at the legality of the U.S. attacks, which critics say exceed the
An Iranian ballistic munition was detected heading toward Turkish airspace on Wednesday after passing through Iraq and Syria was intercepted, Turkish authorities said.
Ankara said NATO defenses intercepted a ballistic missile fired from Iran that was heading toward Turkish airspace, as Turkish officials called for restraint amid rising regional tensions.
By Eduardo Baptista BEIJING, March 4 (Reuters) - Weeks before U.S.–Israeli strikes in Iran, wide swathes of state-backed Chinese companies were eyeing projects in areas from energy and heavy industry to trade promotion, data showed, spotlighting the risks the war presents for
March 4 (Reuters) - A submarine attack on an Iranian ship off the coast of Sri Lanka has left at least 101 people missing, one dead and 78 injured, sources in Sri Lanka's navy and defence ministry told Reuters on Wednesday. It was unclear who attacked the ship, which the
By Parisa Hafezi DUBAI, March 4 (Reuters) - Mojtaba Khamenei, son of Iran's late Supreme Leader, has survived the U.S. and Israeli airstrikes on Iran in which his father Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed, two Iranian sources told Reuters on Wednesday. Mojtaba is seen by the
NICOSIA, March 4 (Reuters) - Cyprus said asuspect object had been detected close to Lebanese airspace on Wednesday, and a government source said two Greek F-16 fighter jets had been scrambled to intercept it. The alert was called off more than an hour later.
COLOMBO, March 4 (Reuters) - At least 101 people were missing and 78 wounded after a submarine attack on an Iranian ship off Sri Lanka's coast, sources in Sri Lanka's navy and defence ministry told Reuters on Wednesday. (Reporting by Uditha Jayasinghe, writing by Shilpa
Iran's Revolutionary Guards said Wednesday they had total control of the Strait of Hormuz, a key waterway for global energy transit, as Israel launched a new wave of strikes on the Iranian capital. In Lebanon, the Israeli military told residents south of the Litani River to
Iran's Revolutionary Guards said Wednesday they had total control of the Strait of Hormuz, a key waterway for global energy transit, as Israel launched a new wave of strikes on the Iranian capital. Governments scrambled to evacuate citizens stranded by the war in the Middle
MOSCOW, March 4 (Reuters) - Russia accused the United States on Wednesday of using an imaginary threat from Iran as a pretext to overthrow its constitutional order, and said Washington's calls for Iranians to seize power from their leaders were cynical and inhumane. Foreign
By Stanley Widianto JAKARTA, March 4 (Reuters) - Indonesia's foreign minister said talks on U.S. President Donald Trump's Gaza "Board of Peace," of which the Southeast Asian nation is a key troop-contributing member, were on hold due to the Middle East war. The U.S. and Israeli
GENEVA, March 4 (Reuters) - A committee of UN experts said on Wednesday it was "deeply disturbed" by the deaths of children amid escalating violence across the Middle East, particularly the bombing of a girls school in Iran. The Shajareh Tayyebeh girls’ school in Minab in
JOHANNESBURG, March 4 (Reuters) - South Africa is willing to play a mediating role in the Middle East conflict if asked, President Cyril Ramaphosa told local media on the sidelines of an energy conference in Cape Town. "South Africa is always ready to play a contributing role,
Analysts say damage to regional production facilities – not a closure of the Strait of Hormuz – poses the greatest risk to global supply, though prices may fall if the conflict is contained
By Alasdair Pal and Ryan Patrick Jones SYDNEY/TORONTO, March 4 (Reuters) - Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said on Wednesday the ongoing conflict in the Middle East was a "failure" of the international order, and the United States had not consulted its allies before
MADRID, March 4 (Reuters) - Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez on Wednesday doubled down on his opposition to the attack on Iran by the U.S. and Israel, warning that the conflict risked playing "Russian roulette" with the lives of millions. Sanchez was responding after U.S.
Iran coach Marziyeh Jafari said Wednesday her team had "so much concern" about their families at home as war rages with players "fully disconnected" from them during the Women's Asian Cup. The Iranian team are preparing to face host nation Australia on the Gold Coast Thursday