Month: March 2026

The HILL – Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Sunday his country could feasibly defend itself in the event of a U.S. ground incursion.

“For the time being we are capable enough. We have very brave soldiers, who are waiting for any enemy who enters into our soil to fight with them, and to kill them and destroy them,” Araghchi told host Kristen Welker on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

President Trump and other administration officials have not ruled out sending ground troops into Iran, as the U.S.-Israeli conflict with the Middle Eastern country enters its second week. So far, seven U.S. service members have died in the conflict.

“[It would] have to be [for] a very good reason. And I would say if we ever did that, they would be so decimated that they wouldn’t be able to fight at the ground level,” the president told reporters aboard Air Force One on Saturday, on sending ground forces.

The foreign minister pushed back on Trump calling for Iran’s “UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER” to end the war, saying Iran will “never” do so.

Araghchi also slammed the president for arguing he should be involved in selecting the country’s next leader.

“We allow nobody to interfere in our domestic affairs,” Araghchi said Sunday. “This is up to the Iranian people to elect their new leader. They have already elected the Assembly of Experts, and the Assembly of Experts will do the job. It’s only the business of the Iranian people, and nobody else’s business.”

The Iranian Fars News Agency reported later Sunday that the country’s Assembly of Experts selected Mojtaba Khamenei, the son of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei — who was killed on the first day of U.S.-Israeli airstrikes — as the next supreme leader of Iran. Trump told Axios on Thursday that the younger Khamenei would be an “unacceptable” choice as the next leader.

As of Saturday, U.S.-Israeli strikes in Iran have also killed 1,205 people, including at least 194 children, according to the U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency.

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Bristol24/7 – Two protests took place less than 50 metres apart in Bristol city centre on Sunday afternoon as rival groups gathered to voice sharply different views on the escalating conflict involving Iran.

Amid dancing, drumming and music, a carnivalesque atmosphere ensued as Iranian monarchists – who support the restoration of the monarchy that ruled Iran before the Iranian Revolution – expressed support for the actions of the United States and Israel and called for “freedom for Iran”.

‘This is not a war – this is a mission to save humanity’, ‘Stop executions’ and ‘Thank you, president Trump’ were among the placards held aloft.

Just a stone’s throw away at Cascade Steps, a smaller anti-war counter-protest gathered to “raise awareness and demand that Iran not be subjected to aggression or bombings”.

Organised by Rana Basharat Ali Khan, around 15 demonstrators listened to speeches while waving Iranian flags alongside the Union Jack.

“We are small in number but big in heart. Peace and love,” said one speaker into a microphone.

At several points during the early afternoon, tensions between some members of the two groups briefly flared.

Police officers formed a human barrier to keep the groups apart.

Protesters from both sides could be heard shouting “shame on you” across the divide.

Views among Iranians are deeply polarised between a pro-regime minority that supports the Islamic Republic’s stability and regional policies and others demanding change amid economic hardship and political repression.

The US and Israel are continuing large-scale strikes on Iran, including an attack on an oil depot on Saturday.

Human Rights Activists News Agency says 1,205 civilians have been killed in Iran since February 28 during the unrest.

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NOTUS – Top House Armed Services lawmakers say they don’t have a clear picture of how the U.S. military is using AI in the ongoing war with Iran.

The U.S. military used Anthropic’s AI software to plan thousands of bombings in Iran late last month despite top Pentagon officials announcing a ban on the company, The Wall Street Journal reported. Anthropic’s software was reportedly paired with the military’s Palantir-developed tool, Maven Smart System, to leverage massive amounts of classified data to orchestrate attacks with the help of AI.

It’s the first time an AI model like Anthropic’s has been used by the U.S. for major war operations, but the specifics are unknown to the public — and to many lawmakers who oversee the military.

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Rep. Adam Smith, the top Democrat on the Armed Services Committee, said he does not think Congress has enough visibility into how the military is using AI for these strikes.

“I think it’s something that we should pay more attention to and learn more about how they’re using AI in the battlefield,” Smith told NOTUS. “It’s something we need a lot more information on for sure.”

He said that “without question” he would “push and work on” obtaining classified briefings with senior officials about the use of AI on the battlefield.

Armed Services Committee Chair Mike Rogers told NOTUS Congress does not have a detailed enough view into how the Pentagon is using AI to know whether there is always a person involved in approving strikes.

“I don’t have that kind of fidelity into it,” Rogers said. “My plate is full already. I’m not looking for detail like that.”

In the aftermath of the initial strikes, U.S. officials told Reuters it is likely the U.S. military played a role in a drone strike of an Iranian girls’ school that killed over 170 civilians, most of them students, in southern Iran, according to local authorities. The human rights group Human Rights Activists News Agency hassaid that civilian targets like hospitals and parks have been hit since the U.S. and Israeli attacks began.

The Pentagon did not respond to requests for comment about the use of AI in these strikes.

Anthropic’s contracting dispute with the Pentagon has brought increased scrutiny into the use of AI on the battlefield. Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei refused to give the Pentagon unfettered access to the company’s AI tools over concerns of domestic mass surveillance and fully automated attacks.

The Pentagon has said it is not looking to eliminate human oversight over attacks, but would not let Anthropic impose conditions on the department. Anthropic was officially declared a supply-chain risk in retaliation on Thursday.

Lawmakers including Sen. Mark Kelly have started asking defense officials for transparency into how the military is using AI on the battlefield.

“Companies like Anthropic and others in the AI industry have published their own safety frameworks of how advanced AI systems should be deployed,” Kelly said in a hearing with senior defense officials on Thursday. “But Congress has not yet set any kind of clear statutory framework for how AI can be used in lethal military operations.”

“Before we rapidly scale up production and field more of these systems that have AI incorporated into their capability, we need a clear answer on this,” he added.

Some lawmakers are supportive of AI integration into defense. Republican Rep. Rob Wittman, a member of the Armed Services Committee, told NOTUS he is confident that there is a human in the loop during military strikes.

“There’s programs, like Maven and others, that use AI to help gather information in helping the decision-making process. There’s never a situation where a human’s not in the loop to make a decision about the deployment of a weapon,” Wittman said.

He described AI as “an enabler for folks in the battle space,” adding: “It’ll never replace a human being.”

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Radio New Zealand – Israel’s onslaught against Iran has entered a new phase, targeting energy resources in the country including fuel storage sites.

Meanwhile, Iranian clerics are close to picking the country’s next supreme leader, according to state media, but the chosen candidate has not yet been named. The new figurehead would replace Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the leader of nearly four decades who was killed in the war’s opening salvo.

Iran’s retaliatory strikes against US-friendly Gulf nations appear to be continuing, despite President Masoud Pezeshkian apologising on Saturday for previous attacks on the oil-rich kingdoms and suggesting they would end.

US President Donald Trump said American ground troops could “possibly” be sent to Iran, but added there would have to be a “very good reason.”Here’s what to know:

What are the main headlines?

• Uncertainty over leader annnouncement: Hours after suggestions that a new supreme leader had been selected in Iran, no public statement has been made by the body responsible for choosing the successor to Khamenei. Some senior clerics in the 88-member Assembly of Experts have complained about the delay. Adding to this lack of clarity, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told NBC News on Sunday that “nobody knows” who will be the next supreme leader.
• Iranian oil targeted: Israel has begun striking oil storage sites in Iran as part of the next phase of the war. The Israeli military said it hit fuel sites in the capital Tehran on Saturday evening that distribute fuel “to various consumers, including military entities in Iran.” A CNN team in Tehran saw blackened rain fall on the city on Sunday morning.
• ‘Surprises prepared’: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a recorded statement that Israel and the US have achieved “almost complete control” over Iranian skies, and that there are “many more targets and surprises prepared.”
• Gulf attacks continue: Countries across the Persian Gulf reported airstrikes and interceptions heading into early Sunday morning. The various drone and missile attacks come despite Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian apologizing to Gulf nations for the past week’s attacks on US bases in the region, saying Iran would stop striking its neighbours unless it came under attack.

What’s happening in Iran and Lebanon?

• Focus on Gulf states: Iran is using more of its firepower on neighboring Gulf states than it is on targeting Israel, with a spokesperson for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) saying Tehran is using 60% of its offensive capabilities to attack US assets in the Middle East, and 40% to fire at targets of the Israeli regime. “We consider the Americans the main enemy in this war, and for this reason, they are prioritized for punishment,” the spokesperson said.
• US warning: US Central Command issued a warning to the Iranian people that Iran was putting them at risk by using “heavily populated civilian areas” to launch drones and ballistic missiles, potentially making those areas military targets.
• Over 1200 dead: At least 1,205 civilians have been killed in Iran since the conflict began last Saturday, according to the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA). The total, which includes 194 children, is as of 5 p.m. ET on Saturday, HRANA said.
• ‘Quagmire’: Iran’s top security official said Trump’s war against Iran is the result of his “international miscalculation,” in that Trump thought he could repeat the Venezuela model in Iran. In an interview broadcast on Iranian state TV, Ali Larijani said the US is now “stuck in the quagmire of its own miscalculations,” and that Trump had failed to achieve his aims through strikes on Iran.
• Central Beirut hit: At least four people have been killed and 10 others wounded after an Israeli strike hit a hotel in central Beirut, Reuters reported early Sunday, citing Lebanon’s health ministry. The attack notably hit the heart of Beirut, rather than the Hezbollah-controlled southern suburbs. Israel’s military said it had “conducted a precise strike” targeting key commanders in the IRGC’s Quds Force. Overall, at least 394 people have been killed in Lebanon since Israel began striking the country earlier this week, according to its health ministry.

What’s happening in the rest of region?

• Strikes continue: Countries across the Persian Gulf reported airstrikes and interceptions. The Kuwaiti Army said that a “wave of hostile drones” targeted fuel storage at Kuwait International Airport. Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the UAE and Qatar also all reported fresh aerial attacks.
• Desalination plant: During the ongoing strikes a desalination plant was damaged in Bahrain; however Bahraini authorities told CNN that water supplies were not disrupted. Across the Gulf, water desalination plants are critical infrastructure, providing between 60% and 90% of drinking water by desalination of seawater.
• Israeli casualties: Two Israeli soldiers were killed in southern Lebanon early Sunday morning, according to the Israeli military, marking the country’s first military deaths since the war began. Additionally, at least 14 Israeli soldiers have been injured in the latest fighting across the Israel-Lebanon border.
• Travel chaos continues: Some airlines in the Middle East are running limited flight schedules, while other operations remain suspended, as aviation disruption persists. Meanwhile approximately 2000 travellers are set to depart on 40 scheduled flights Sunday from Ben Gurion Airport in Israel, in the first outbound flights from the airport since the war began.

The latest from Trump

• Possible escalation: Trump said US troops could “possibly” be sent on the ground in Iran, as the war continues, but there would have to be a “very good reason.”
• Kurdish involvement: Trump said the US does not want Iranian Kurdish groups involved in the war with Iran, contradicting previous efforts by the CIA, reported by CNN, to arm them in the hopes of sparking an uprising. “We’re not looking to the Kurds going in. We’re very friendly with the Kurds, as you know, but we don’t want to make the war any more complex than it already is,” Trump said.
• Shifting blame: The president cast blame on Tehran for the strike on an Iranian elementary school that killed at least 168 children and 14 teachers, despite analysis by CNN and experts suggesting the US military was likely responsible.

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CBC – Members of the Iranian diaspora in New Brunswick have been celebrating what they see as the beginning of change in their home country, but not without anxiety over how that change will happen.

Tabassom Tallaie moved to Fredericton from Iran about 10 years ago. She said many of her fellow Iranian-born New Brunswickers have mixed feelings about the current war, which began in the early hours of Feb. 28 with air strikes on Iran by the United States and Israel.

But despite concerns over the safety of friends and loved ones in Iran, “the joy is outweighing the stress,” Tallaie said.

Most Iranians have been “dearly and eagerly asking for a foreign assistive intervention,” Tallaie said. “They knew that this was the ultimate way that could give them some hope to overthrow the regime.”

Tallaie gathered with dozens of other New Brunswickers in Miramichi on Feb. 28 to show solidarity with Iranian protesters who have been calling for an end to the 47-year-old Islamic Republic regime.

In January, Iran’s government cracked down violently on protests, killing more than 7,000 people according to the U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency. Some Iranian New Brunswickers are convinced the death toll is much higher, in the tens of thousands.

Shayan Faal moved to New Brunswick from Tehran four years ago. He helped organize the Miramichi event to show support for the protesters in Iran.

“They wanted freedom,” Faal said of the protesters across Iran. “They come on the street, have a peaceful gathering, but the government didn’t accept their voices, and they decided to murder them.”

Faal said the crowd in Miramichi raised the historic lion and sun flag of Iran, now used by those opposing the Islamic Republic. About an hour after the flag went up, Faal said the crowd learned that Ali Khamenei, the supreme leader of the Islamic Republic, had been killed.

“That made us all happy,” Faal said. “We were crying out of joy, because you can’t imagine how hard it was being under this regime.”

Fariba Breau couldn’t make it to Miramichi but was part of informal gatherings of fellow ex-pat Iranians in Moncton.  Breau left Iran in 1983 and eventually found her way to New Brunswick in 2010.

“I was waiting for something like this for so many years,” Breau said. “It’s such a huge emotion that I’m going through.”

“At this moment, you really need to be around people who can understand you, and to support each other emotionally.

“I know it’s really odd to wish for an attack from a foreign country, but people are at this stage where they can’t fight this regime empty-handed, by themselves.”

 

Contact with friends and family restricted

Meysam Bakhti left Iran in 2021 and now lives in Moncton.  Like others, he’s had difficulty staying connected with friends and family in Iran ever since the Islamic Republic restricted internet access in January.

“I have lost contact with my family, but I receive every now and then messages from my friends,” Bakhti said.

In those messages he’s heard that the Iranian regime soldiers are still heavily armed, and making efforts to avoid the strikes by Israel and the U.S.

“The resistance will continue on the part of the regime officials, until they will all be hit by the United States and Israeli missiles and airplanes,” Bakhti said.

 

Hope for Pahlavi to lead transitional government

Bakhti said a lot now depends on Reza Pahlavi, the son of the former shah of Iran, who is offering to serve as a transitional leader for the country, if the Islamic Republic government falls.

“I think that he’s got a very high chance of running the country,” Bahkti said, until Iranians can “vote for the future system of government.”

Faal said that many in the diaspora agree that Pahlavi is the one to transition Iran away from nearly 50 years of the Islamic Republic.  “We have not been united, either in Canada nor in Iran… as we are today,” said Faal.

Breau also believes that Pahlavi is the key to Iran’s future, should the Islamic Republic fall.

“We are not all monarchists,” Breau said, but see Pahlavi as “the safest choice for a transition government.”

Tallaie said she looks forward to a “secular, democratic, people-held regime” for the future of Iran.

Once the current regime reaches its “maximum weakness point” under assault from the U.S. and Israel, “that’s when the people are planning to go back to the streets and claim the government and the power for themselves,” Tallaie said.

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Common Dreams – US and Israeli missiles have hit a school in Iran for the fourth time in six days, according to videos shared on social media by a spokesperson for the Iranian Foreign Ministry on Friday.

Spokesperson Esmaeil Baqaei said that the Shahid Hamedani School, an elementary school in Niloufar Square, Tehran, had been “targeted by the American/Israeli aggressors.”

He posted a video showing the school filled with dozens of young students prior to the attack, followed by scenes of the school in ruins, with several empty classrooms filled with rubble.

Baquaei said it showed “how the United States administration is helping the people of Iran.” He did not include any information about the number of casualties or the circumstances of the attack.

According to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), at least 192 children have been killed across the Middle East since the US and Israel launched a regime change war this past Saturday.

Most of them were girls ages 7-12 who were killed on Saturday during an attack at a girls’ school in the southern Iranian town of Minab.

At least 175 people were reported to have been killed in the attack, which unnamed officials have said was “likely” carried out by the United States, according to Reuters. HuffPost reported that Pentagon officials have briefed Congress that the US “was most likely responsible.”

Eyewitnesses and relatives of the victims have told Middle East Eye that the attack was a “double-tap” strike in which survivors and first responders were targeted following the initial bombing. An Al Jazeera investigation has concluded that the attack was likely “deliberate.”

Iranian media have also published CCTV video of a separate strike on the same day, in which a missile landed next to a boys’ school in Qazvin, resulting in scenes of terrified students and teachers running for their lives.

On Thursday, two other schools in the town of Parand, southwest of Tehran, were hit by missiles fired by the US and Israel, according to Iranian state media. The Fars News Agency shared photos of a classroom filled with debris. So far, no casualties from the attack have been reported.

US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has said that as it wages its war in Iran, the US is not abiding by “stupid rules of engagement,” and has boasted of raining down “death and destruction from the sky all day long.”

According to data analyzed by the Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), part of a US-based human rights monitor for Iran, at least 1,168 civilians have been killed by US-Israeli attacks since Saturday. The Iranian government on Friday put the death toll at 1,332 people.

More than 3,643 civilian sites have been damaged in attacks attributed to the US and Israel, according to figures released by the Iranian Red Crescent Society—among them have been 3,090 homes, 528 commercial centres, 13 medical facilities and nine Red Crescent centres.

Amjad Iraqi, a senior analyst at the International Crisis Group, told Al Jazeera that these routine attacks on civilian infrastructure increasingly resemble those carried out by Israel during its more than two-years of genocide in Gaza.

“There are straight lines between what Israel has attempted to do… in Gaza, to completely decimate and collapse the systems that existed there,” Iraqi said, “to what we are seeing in Iran, on a much more massive and dangerous scale, to bring down the Islamic Republic and to cause as much devastation as possible.”

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THE HILL – President Trump vowed early Saturday to press on with U.S. military operations against Iran, declaring the country would be “hit very hard,” even after its president apologized for attacks against regional neighbors.

“Today Iran will be hit very hard! Under serious consideration for complete destruction and certain death, because of Iran’s bad behavior, are areas and groups of people that were not considered for targeting up until this moment in time,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social.

The warning came after Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian defiantly rejected Trump’s demand for “unconditional” surrender in a video message filmed as the conflict entered a second week.

Pezeshkian said that is a “dream that they should take to their grave,” according to The Associated Press.

He also said that Iran’s temporary leadership council, which has been in charge since Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed in joint U.S.-Israeli strikes last Saturday, had agreed to halt strikes against other countries in the region unless the attacks originated from their territory.

“I should apologize to the neighboring countries that were attacked by Iran, on my own behalf,” Pezeshkian reportedly said. “From now on, they should not attack neighboring countries or fire missiles at them, unless we are attacked by those countries. I think we should solve this through diplomacy.”

His comments appear to be aimed at easing regional tensions as the conflict spills outside of Iran’s borders — but also come as explosions were reported at Dubai International Airport and Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.

Iranian state TV reported Saturday morning that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said it struck Al Dhafra Air Base, a U.S. command post in the UAE; however, those reports have not been independently verified.

Trump suggested Pezeshkian’s apology was made only “because of the relentless U.S. and Israeli attack,” which has sought to topple the regime and stifle Tehran’s nuclear program and ballistic missile capabilities.

“Iran is no longer the ‘Bully of the Middle East,’ they are, instead, ‘THE LOSER OF THE MIDDLE EAST,’ and will be for many decades until they surrender or, more likely, completely collapse!” the president wrote.

At least 1,172 civilians and 176 military personnel have been killed in Iran since the operation began, according to preliminary estimates from the U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency.

The AP has reported at least 11 deaths in Israel as a result of retaliatory Iranian strikes. Six U.S. service members were also killed in an Iranian airstrike at a tactical operations center in Kuwait.

A dignified transfer for the U.S. soldiers will take place at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware on Saturday. Trump is expected to attend.

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TIME – When it comes to geopolitical tensions spilling into the world of sports, the Iran war—now in its seventh day—has no historical precedent.

According to Pacific University professor Jules Boykoff, an expert on international sports politics, a World Cup host country has never attacked one of the tournament’s participants some three months before the beginning of the most-watched sporting event on the planet. “Soccer-wise,” says Boykoff, “it moves us into uncharted territory.”

The military action against Iran initiated by President Donald Trump—winner of FIFA’s inaugural Peace Prize in December—in concert with Israel certainly cast a pall over the 100-day countdown, marked on March 3, to a World Cup that FIFA president, and Trump ally, Gianni Infantino has promised to be “simply the greatest event that humanity, that mankind, has ever seen and will ever see.”

Will Iran be able to, or want to, participate in the World Cup after the U.S.-Israel bombings killed Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, other Iranian political and military leaders, and according to the U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency, more than 1,000 civilians, including 181 children, in the first five days of the war? The country’s games in Los Angeles against New Zealand on June 15, Belgium on June 21, and against Egypt in Seattle on June 26 hang in the balance.

On Monday, Iranian soccer federation president Mehdi Taj was quoted as telling state television: “What is certain is that after this attack, we cannot be expected to look forward to the World Cup with hope.”

Iranian soccer officials did not respond to a TIME interview request.

“Of course, we will monitor the developments around all issues around the world,” FIFA secretary general Mattias Grafström said on Feb. 28. “We had the final draw in Washington, where all teams participated and, of course, our focus is to have a safe World Cup with everybody participating.”

(A FIFA spokesperson declined to comment further: Grafström did not return an email requesting comment. If Iran were to boycott, either Iraq—who faces either Suriname or Bolivia in a playoff on March 31 for one of the final World Cup positions—or the United Arab Emirates, who lost to Iraq in a World Cup qualifier in November, could take its place.)

Andrew Giuliani, executive director of the White House Task Force for the FIFA World Cup 2026, said on Feb. 28: “The largest state sponsor of terrorism in my lifetime is dead. Today’s action by the 45th and 47th President of the United States will make the world a safer place and start a chain reaction of peace. My heart is with the thousands of American service members’ families who were victims of the Ayatollah’s ‘Death to America’ mission. The head of the snake spreading that vile message has now been cut off, and I pray the Iranian people will seize their liberty. We’ll deal with soccer games tomorrow—tonight, we celebrate their opportunity for freedom.”

Giuliani did not respond to a message seeking an interview; a task force spokesperson declined to comment further.

In 2025, Trump suspended the entry of Iranian nationals into the United States. An exemption, however, was carved out for “any athlete or member of an athletic team, including the coaches, persons performing a necessary support role, and immediate relatives, traveling for the World Cup, Olympics, or other major sporting event as determined by the Secretary of State.” So while Iranian players and coaches would be able to travel for the World Cup, soccer fans from Iran would be restricted from coming to the United States. Members of the country’s global diaspora would be counted on to support the team, which in the past has been at the center of political battles.

At the 2022 Qatar World Cup, for example, before a game against Wales, fans supporting the Iranian government clashed with those protesting against the regime. The Iranian women’s team, competing in the Asian Cup in Australia, on Monday declined to sing the national anthem before its match against South Korea, a move that was interpreted by many as an act of resistance against the current regime. On Thursday, however, the team saluted and sang the anthem in the midst of the ongoing conflict in the Middle East.

Given the Iranian regime’s crackdowns on protests that preceded the war—according to the Human Rights Activist News Agency, that violence resulted in more than 6,000 deaths—some Iranian-Americans don’t think a team that represents a brutal government should appear on the World Cup stage.

“Two years ago, I know Iranian fans would be heartbroken if the team wasn’t sent,” says Abbas Milani, director of Iranian studies at Stanford University. “Today, I think they will be angry at the athletes who would want to represent Iran in such a moment of calamity.”

Others want Iran to play, and are especially eager to support the soccer players in this charged atmosphere. They don’t equate the team with the regime.

“There’s tons of people in the U.S. right now that hate Trump with a passion, but nobody is saying this is Trump’s team that’s playing in the World Cup,” says an Iranian-American soccer fan, who asked to remain anonymous for fear of backlash within the diaspora. “These are young kids that are in their 20s, that have dedicated their life to the sport. I feel nothing but proud when they do well.”

Iran’s participation in the World Cup probably has no real downside, for any parties in the conflict.

“In a perfect world, the team comes here and plays because being connected to other people, and being connected not as the subjects of governments who have issues, but just as members of the human family, is important,” says Jamal Abdi, president of the National Iranian American Council. “That’s important politically, too. Because when you know who you’re bombing, you’re less inclined to bomb them.”

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Radio Free Europe – The United States and Israel vowed no letup in their military campaign against Iran, with Tel Aviv launching a fresh “broad wave of strikes” while US President Donald Trump said Tehran “is going to be in for a lot of hurt” in the coming days.

“The big-scale hitting goes now,” Trump said on March 3 at the White House during a meeting with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz.

“They no longer have air protections, they no longer have any detection systems left at all, so they’re going to be in for a lot of hurt,” he warned.

Trump also reiterated that, along with Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, much of the Iranian leadership had been killed in the US-Israeli attacks, leaving the regime in uncertain hands.

“Most of the people we had in mind are dead. Now we have another group. They may be dead also, based on reports,” he said.

 

‘Shock And Awe’

After Trump spoke, the chief of the US military’s Central Command, Admiral Brad Cooper, said Operation Epic Fury represents the largest US buildup in the Middle East in a generation.

More than 50,000 US troops, over 200 fighter aircraft, two aircraft carrier strike groups, and long-range bombers are participating in the operation, Cooper said. He described the opening phase as nearly double the scale of the 2003 “shock and awe” campaign in Iraq.

“Today, there is not a single Iranian ship under way in the Arabian Gulf, Strait of Hormuz, or Gulf of Oman,” Cooper said, describing what he called an unprecedented effort to eliminate Iran’s ability to threaten US forces.

“We’ve just begun,” he said. “But I have the utmost confidence that we, alongside our partners, will absolutely achieve our military objectives.”

He said the US military has destroyed 17 Iranian naval vessels — including a submarine — and struck nearly 2,000 targets across Iran in less than four days, according to the commander of US Central Command.

 

New Israeli Strikes

Separately, Israel said early on March 4 that it had launched a “broad wave of strikes,” saying its latest targets on the fifth day of the joint US-Israeli attack included Iranian “launch sites, air defense systems, and additional infrastructure.”

In Tehran, a city of some 10 million people, the streets appeared mostly deserted, with many fleeing the capital and others hunkering down at home.

“There are so few people that you’d think no one ever lived here,” Samireh, a 33-year-old nurse, told AFP.

Authorities have urged people to leave the capital. Police, armed security forces, and armored vehicles have been stationed at main junctions, carrying out random checks on vehicles, AFP added.

Reports from inside Iran are difficult to verify. The US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) said that nearly 1,100 civilians, including 181 children, have been killed in the air strikes.

 

Sirens Blare In Israel

In Israel, meanwhile, air raid sirens blared overnight as the Israeli military worked to intercept successive waves of incoming Iranian fire.

Police in Tel Aviv said shrapnel fell in the area, slightly injuring one woman. There were no other immediate reports of Israeli casualties.

Israel also pressed its renewed drive against Iran-allied Hezbollah elements in Beirut after the group’s military wing fired missiles into northern Israel.

Loud explosions were in the Lebanese capital Beirut shortly after midnight on March 4, as Israel and Hezbollah exchanged strikes and rocket fire, reportedly killing dozens of people. The UN said more than 30,000 people have been displaced in Lebanon.

 

Iranian Retaliation

There appeared to also be no letup in Iran’s retaliatory missile and drone firings, although results were not as dramatic as the US-Israeli strikes.

US diplomatic outposts — embassies and consulates — in the Middle East reported drone attacks, some causing minor damage but no casualties.

Iran has fired hundreds of missiles and drones targeting US military bases as well as key energy and commercial sites in Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Bahrain, and Qatar — all American allies — since February 28.

Officials in Qatar said an Iranian ballistic missile hit the US military base at Al-Udeid on March 3 without causing casualties.

The US Embassy in Riyadh was struck by two drones, causing a “limited fire” and “minor material damage,” Saudi Arabia’s Defense Ministry said, as tensions escalate across the Middle East.

 

Cooperation With Kurds?

Elsewhere, the leading Kurdish party in Iraq said its leaders had spoken to Trump about the next steps in the war against neighboring Iran.

The White House did not confirm the report, but said, ““President Trump has spoken with many regional partners.”

The Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) said Trump contacted party head Bafel Talabani to discuss US actions in neighboring Iran. US media reported that Trump also spoke with Iraqi Kurdish leader Masoud Barzani a day after the start of the US-Israeli attacks in Iran.

The report of the calls comes as The Wall Street Journal reported that Trump is considering supporting Iraqi Kurdish factions in a fight against the Iranian leadership.

The Iraqi Kurds have a large force at the border with Iran and also have links to the Kurdish minority in Iran. Ethnic Kurds have for decades been seeking an independent state and have long accused Tehran of oppressing its Kurdish minority.

The post US, Israel Vow No Letup And ‘A Lot Of Hurt’ As Campaign Against Iran Intensifies appeared first on Human Right Activists In Iran.

ABC News – The Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), a U.S.-based group that relies on a network of activists in Iran for its reporting, said in a statement Tuesday night that it has so far documented the deaths of 912 civilians and the injuries of 211 civilians in Iran, as a result of the ongoing U.S.-Israeli military operation.

Among those killed are at least 181 children under the age of 10, according to HRANA.

HRANA said it is reviewing 880 reports of other deaths.

“These figures reflect a devastating and escalating human toll and represent absolute minimums,” the group said in the statement. “The protection of civilians is not optional. It is a binding legal obligation.”

HRANA said it has also “verified credible reports of attacks on at least seven medical centers and emergency health facilities” in Iran.

ABC News cannot independently verify these numbers or information, but HRANA has been accurate in its reporting during previous periods of unrest and conflict in Iran.

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