Iran rejects 'stupid' Trump ultimatum; Israel bombs Lebanon

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An Iranian drone attacked an office complex for government ministries in Kuwait on Sunday, causing significant material damage but no casualties, state media reported, citing the finance ministry.

(Reuters)

Kuwait's military said on Sunday its air defences were working to intercept missiles and drones fired towards the Gulf nation's territory.

"Kuwaiti Air Defenses are currently responding to hostile missile and drone threats," the Kuwaiti army posted on X, adding that any explosions heard were air defence interceptions.

Israel was targeted by missiles launched from Iran on Sunday, the Israeli military said, in the latest salvo in the Middle East war.

"A short while ago, the IDF identified missiles launched from Iran toward the territory of the State of Israel," the military said on social media.

Kuwait Petroleum ​Corporation (KPC) said a fire erupted in the Shuwaikh oil sector complex after a drone attack, with no injuries reported, the Kuwaiti state news agency reported early on Sunday.

Emergency and firefighting teams were dealing with the fire, it added.

(Reuters)

Iran's central military command on Saturday rejected US President Donald Trump's threat to destroy the country's vital infrastructure if it does not accept a peace deal within 48 hours.

General Ali Abdollahi Aliabadi, in a statement from the Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters, said Trump's threat was a "a helpless, nervous, unbalanced and stupid action".

And, echoing the religious language of Trump's social media post, he warned that "the simple meaning of this message is that the gates of hell will open for you".

Iranian media on Saturday quoted two daughters of slain former Iranian covert operations chief Qassem Soleimani denying that two Iranian women arrested in the United States were their relatives.

Earlier, the US State Department had announced that a niece and a grand-niece of Soleimani had been arrested and stripped of their US residency. The statement identified the niece as Hamideh Soleimani Afshar. Her daughter was not named.

But, according to the Iranian news agency Fars, Soleimani's daughter Zeinab said: "The US State Department's claim is a lie: the people arrested in the United States have no connection to the family."

Iranian state TV cited another daughter, Narjes, a member of Tehran's Islamic City Council, as saying: "To this day, no member of the family nor any relative of Martyr Soleimani has resided in the United States."

The Israeli military said on Saturday it would strike an area near the crossing between Syria and Lebanon, urging residents to evacuate immediately.

"Due to Hezbollah's use of the Masnaa Crossing for military purposes and smuggling of combat equipment, the IDF intends to carry out strikes on the crossing in the near future," the military's Arabic-Language spokesman, Colonel Avichay Adraee, wrote on X.

(AFP)

US satellite imagery company Planet Labs said Saturday it will stop publishing high-resolution aerial pictures of the area involved in the Middle East war, following a request from President Donald Trump's government.

Planet said the US government had asked satellite imagery providers to implement an "indefinite withhold of imagery".

"Effective retroactively from 9 March 2026, Planet is moving to a managed access model, extending the publication delay for all new imagery within the designated AOI (area of interest), and releasing imagery on a case-by-case basis and for urgent, mission-critical requirements or in the public interest," the company said in a message to clients received by AFP.

This area was defined in a previous announcement as all of Iran and allied bases in the area, as well as Gulf states and existing conflict zones.

Planet, founded in 2010 by former NASA scientists and whose images are widely used by media and researchers, said it expected the new policy to last until the end of the conflict.

An Iranian official said five people were killed after US-Israeli strikes on Saturday that targeted a petrochemical hub in the southwest of the country, according to ISNA news agency.

"Five people were martyred following the American-Zionist enemy attack on some companies located in the Mahshahr Petrochemical Special Economic Zone," ISNA said, citing the deputy governor of Khuzestan province, Valiollah Hayati.

(AFP)

Israeli emergency services said its crew treated five people who were injured Saturday in Tel Aviv and surrounding areas after Iran fired several rounds of missiles toward Israel.

Since midnight, eight waves of Iranian missiles have been launched towards Israel, according to the Israeli military.

Israel is preparing to attack Iranian energy facilities but is awaiting a green light from the United States, a senior Israeli defense official said on Saturday, adding that any such attacks would likely come within the next week.

The comments came after US President Donald Trump issued a 48-hour ultimatum, sharpening focus on whether Washington would back further Israeli military action against Iran.

(Reuters)

Israel's military renewed its strikes on the southern Lebanese city of Tyre on Saturday after ordering its tens of thousands of residents to flee.

Israel has intensified its bombardment of Lebanon and launched a ground invasion in the south since 2 March, when Hezbollah entered the Middle East war following the assassination of Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.

The Israeli army struck three buildings it had warned people to evacuate, according to Lebanon's state-run National News Agency (NNA).

An AFP correspondent said a missile hit an 11-storey building northeast of Tyre, completely destroying it and reducing it to a pile of rubble that covered a nearby gas station.

A second raid on a five-storey building near the city levelled half of it, leaving the other half standing. The third strike was on the Burj al-Shamali Palestinian refugee camp, southeast of the city.

Tens of thousands of people have left Tyre, but around 20,000 remain, including 15,000 displaced from surrounding villages, despite Israeli evacuation warnings covering most of the city and a broad swathe of the south.

The strikes came hours after Israeli attacks damaged a hospital in the city.

(AFP and TNA staff)

The Israeli military said Saturday it had detected a missile launched from Yemen towards Israeli territory, the fifth time it has detected such an attack since the start of the Middle East war.

(AFP)

Tens of thousands of supporters of Iraqi Shiite leader Moqtada Sadr rallied in Baghdad and across the country on Saturday, condemning Israel and the United States and demanding an end to the war.

The massive crowds came as the Middle East war was due to enter its sixth week after strikes launched by the US and Israel against Iran on 28 February.

Iraq has been unwillingly drawn into the conflict, with strikes targeting US interests on its soil as well as attacks against pro-Iran groups in the country.

Tens of thousands of men and some women packed into the streets around Baghdad's central Tahrir Square on Saturday, waving the national flag and chanting: "No, no to Israel" and "No, no to America".

"What America and Israel are doing in their aggression against the countries of the region is not a war of a military nature, but a senseless war," Dhirgham Samir, attending the rally, told AFP.

(AFP)

"Today's demonstration is an expression of rejection of aggression, arrogance, and injustice throughout the world, not just in Iraq," he said.

The Israeli military said a soldier had been killed on Saturday in fighting in southern Lebanon, where its forces are engaged in clashes with Hezbollah.

The latest fatality brings the number of Israeli soldiers killed in south Lebanon to 11 since the army invaded the country last month.

Israeli forces destroyed 17 surveillance cameras linked to the United Nations peacekeepers' main headquarters in southern Lebanon in 24 hours, a UN security official told AFP on Saturday.

Since the start of the Israel-Hezbollah war on 2 March, the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) has been hit repeatedly by Israeli forces, who have invaded the south and begun destroying border villages.

The official, who requested anonymity, said "17 of the headquarters' cameras have been destroyed by the Israeli army" in the coastal town of Naqura.

UNIFIL spokeswoman Kandice Ardiel told AFP on Saturday that "the cameras appear to have been destroyed by some kind of laser".

She added that "[Israeli] soldiers are present in Naqura and have been undertaking massive demolitions of buildings in the village this week".

Earlier this week, Ardiel told AFP that "not only have these demolitions destroyed civilian homes and businesses, but the strength of the blasts have caused damage to UNIFIL's headquarters".

Three Indonesian peacekeepers from the UN force have been killed in two separate incidents over the past week.

(AFP and TNA staff)

Iran's Khatam al-Anbiya joint military command said Iraq would be exempt from any restrictions on transit through the Strait of Hormuz, Iranian media reported on Saturday, signaling preferential treatment for Baghdad as Tehran tightens control over the strategic waterway.

US federal agents have arrested the niece and grand-niece of late Iranian military commander Qassem Soleimani after Secretary of State Marco Rubio revoked their lawful permanent resident status, the State Department said on Saturday.

"Hamideh Soleimani Afshar and her daughter are now in the custody of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement," the State Department said in a statement after Rubio revoked their green cards.

US President Donald Trump on Saturday said Iran had 48 hours left to make a deal on opening the vital Strait of Hormuz or face "Hell."

"Remember when I gave Iran ten days to MAKE A DEAL or OPEN UP THE HORMUZ STRAIT," Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.

"Time is running out - 48 hours before all Hell will reign (sic) down on them," the president said Saturday, adding: "Glory be to GOD!"

Trump had initially threatened on March 21 to "obliterate" Iran's power plants, beginning with the country's biggest, "if Iran doesn't FULLY OPEN, WITHOUT THREAT, the Strait of Hormuz, within 48 HOURS."

Two days later, however, he said "very good and productive conversations" were being held with Iranian authorities, and that he had postponed any strikes on power plants for five days.

He later again pushed the deadline back, to expire at 8:00 pm Monday (0000 GMT Tuesday).

Experts have said that attacks on civilian energy infrastructure could constitute a war crime.

Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the war in the Middle East had led to a "geostrategic impasse", during a telephone conversation with NATO chief Mark Rutte, his office said Saturday.

"President Erdogan said the process started by the intervention against Iran had led to a geostrategic impasse and that the international community had to redouble its efforts to bring end this war," said the statement.

US-Israeli strikes have hit more than 30 universities across Iran since the war broke out in late February, Iran's science minister said on Saturday.

"To date, more than 30 universities have been directly targeted," Hossein Simai Sarraf told reporters during a visit to the Shahid Beheshti University in northern Tehran, which was struck on Friday.

Iran used a new air defence system on Friday to target a US fighter jet, Iran's Khatam al-Anbiya joint military command said on Saturday.

A spokesperson for the joint military command said the country would "definitely achieve full control" over its airspace, according to Iranian state media.

Russia on Saturday condemned an "evil" US-Israeli strike on Iran's nuclear plant in Bushehr, which hosts Russian staff, and urged an immediate end to attacks on atomic facilities.

"We strongly condemn this evil deed, which resulted in loss of life," said foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova.

"Strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities, including the Bushehr nuclear power plant, must cease immediately," she added.

Indonesia received the bodies of three peacekeepers on Saturday who were killed by Israel while on deployment in Lebanon, and called for security guarantees for blue helmets a day after another three of its soldiers were injured.

The soldiers' coffins, draped in the Indonesian flag, arrived at the international airport and were carried into a hall on the shoulders of uniformed comrades for a ceremony attended by President Prabowo Subianto.

Family members of the men wept over the coffins, each fronted by a photograph of the dead soldier in a gold frame.

Prabowo saluted each portrait and held the hands of grieving loved ones, some weeping unconsolably.

Another three Indonesian peacekeepers were injured in Lebanon Friday, two seriously, officials said.

Iran's Revolutionary Guards said on Saturday they targeted an Israel-linked ship in the Gulf in a drone attack, setting it on fire.

On their Sepah News website, the Guards said they targeted a commercial vessel, the MSC Ishyka, "owned by the Israeli regime and flying the flag of a third country" at the Khalifa Bin Salman port in Bahrain.

The Guards naval forces had earlier said in a post on X that the ship was attacked "in the Strait of Hormuz".

"A drone struck the vessel ... linked to the Zionist regime in the Strait of Hormuz; the ship caught fire," they said.

The MarineTraffic website said the Liberian-flagged ship was still moored at the port in Bahrain on Friday night.

Russia started a planned evacuation of 198 workers from Iran's Bushehr atomic plant shortly after a US-Israeli projectile hit near the facility, Russian state media said on Saturday.

"As planned, we began the main phase of the evacuation today. About 20 minutes after that ill-fated strike, buses set off from Bushehr station towards the Iranian-Armenian border. 198 people, to be precise -- this is the largest evacuation," Russia's nuclear agency Rosatom head Alexey Likhachev was quoted as saying by TASS news agency.

Iran's Revolutionary Guards said on Saturday they targeted an Israel-linked ship in the Strait of Hormuz in a drone attack, setting it on fire.

"A drone struck the vessel ... linked to the Zionist regime in the Strait of Hormuz; the ship caught fire," the Guards naval forces posted on X, adding that the ship was called the MSC Ishyka.

Two drones hit the BP-operated North Rumaila oilfield in southern Iraq on Saturday, wounding three Iraqi workers, security and energy sources said.

The attack took place shortly after another drone hit storage facilities west of the port city of Basra that belong to foreign oil companies, the sources said.

The drone strikes had no impact on operations in this part of Iraq's giant Rumaila oilfield, as they targeted an equipment storage facility, said two Iraqi engineers working at the field.

Foreign staff were evacuated following an earlier drone strike on the oilfield, sources told Reuters last month.

Iran's oil exports from the key island of Kharg have increased even as the war with the United States and Israel rages, Iranian media reported on Saturday.

"Following the visits carried out and meetings held on Kharg island, I must say that in recent days not only have oil exports not decreased, but they have increased," ISNA news agency quoted Moussa Ahmadi, the head of the Iranian parliament's energy commission, as saying.

Kharg Island, located off Iran's western coast, is a vital oil export terminal for the country.

The Israeli military issued a displacement order on Saturday to residents of the coastal city of Tyre in southern Lebanon, ahead of planned strikes on Hezbollah targets.

"Urgent warning to the residents of the city of Tyre... Hezbollah's terrorist activity compels the [army] to operate against it with determination," the military's Arabic-language spokesman Colonel Avichay Adraee said on X.

"For your safety, we call on you to evacuate your homes immediately, according to the area shown on the map, and move north of the Zahrani River," he said, adding that the area extended to the Burj al-Shamali refugee camp.

Iran has authorised the passage of vessels carrying essential goods to its ports through the Strait of Hormuz, according to a letter cited by Iran's Tasnim news agency on Saturday.

The letter indicates that ships heading to Iranian ports, including those currently in the Gulf of Oman, must coordinate with authorities and comply with established protocols to transit the strait, Tasnim said.

Iran has effectively shut the ​Strait of Hormuz, which normally carries about a fifth of the world's total oil trade, in retaliation for US-Israeli attacks that began on 28 February.

A US-Israeli strike on Saturday hit a cement plant in southern Iran, media reported, adding that operations were not interrupted.

"The American-Zionist attack against the cement plant of Bandar Khamir did not leave any casualties," said Tasnim news agency, quoting Ahmad Nafisi, the deputy governor of the southern Hormozgan province.

He added that operations at the plant have "continued as normal".

A hospital in the coastal Lebanese city of Tyre was damaged by Israeli airstrikes on nearby buildings that wounded 11 people, the health ministry said on Saturday.

The director of the Lebanese Italian Hospital told the state-run National News Agency (NNA) that it would "remain open to provide the necessary medical care" despite the damage.

Strikes destroyed two buildings nearby, an AFP correspondent saw, shattering windows and causing suspended ceilings to collapse in the hospital, the facility's management said.

A series of attacks hit the Tyre region on Saturday, including one on its port that struck a small boat and damaged others moored nearby, the AFP correspondent said.

Iraq closed the Shalamcheh border crossing with Iran after airstrikes on the Iranian side killed an Iraqi citizen, security sources said on Saturday.

The sources said at least five Iraqis were seriously wounded in the strikes, which hit a passenger reception area on the Iranian side.

Iraqi police recovered the body of a man, while the wounded were taken to hospital, most in critical condition.

Iraq's border authorities ordered the crossing closed to trade and travellers, the authorities said in a statement.

A projectile from a US-Israeli attack hit near the Bushehr nuclear power plant in southern Iran on Saturday, killing one person, state media reported.

"Following the US-Zionist criminal attacks, this Saturday morning, around 8:30 am, a projectile hit the area near the Bushehr nuclear power plant in the southwest," said the official IRNA news agency.

It added that one of the building's guards was killed but noted that there was no damage to the plant's facilities.

A fire broke out early on Saturday at storage facilities belonging to foreign oil companies west of Iraq's Basra after a drone strike, security sources told Reuters. 

An attack killed one fighter from the former paramilitary coalition Hashed al-Shaabi on Saturday, the alliance said, blaming the US and Israel.

"This treacherous attack resulted in the martyrdom of one PMF fighter and the wounding of four others, as well as a member of the ministry of defence," said a short statement from the group, which is also known as the Popular Mobilisation Forces (PMF).

Now part of Iraq's regular armed forces, the PMF also contains pro-Iran factions and has been repeatedly targeted since the start of the Middle East war.

US-Israeli strikes on Saturday targeted a petrochemicals hub in southwestern Iran, hitting several companies in the area, Iranian media reported.

"Explosions occurred in the Special Petrochemical Zone of Mahshahr," said Fars news agency, citing the deputy governor for Khuzestan province.

Fars said the "US-Israeli attack on Mahshahr" hit three companies in the area, while Tasnim news agency said "the extent of the damage remains unknown".

Shrapnel from intercepted drones injured four people in Bahrain, authorities said on Saturday, as Iran pressed its attacks on its Gulf neighbours.

Separately, two buildings in Dubai were hit by debris, including one housing the US cloud computing firm Oracle, authorities in the United Arab Emirates said.

Bahrain's interior ministry said on X: "As a result of Iranian aggression, 4 citizens sustained minor injuries & several houses in Sitra were damaged by shrapnel from the interception of Iranian drones."

It added that civil defence and ambulance teams were still present at the site.

Meanwhile, the Dubai Media Office said: "Authorities confirm that they responded to a minor incident caused by debris from an aerial interception that fell on the facade of the Oracle building in Dubai Internet City. No injuries were reported."

It added on X that debris hit the facade of another building in the Dubai Marina area, also reporting no injuries.

Iran on Saturday executed two men it said were convicted of links to an opposition group, the People's Mojahedin Organisation of Iran, and of carrying out armed attacks, domestic media reported.

The executions were the latest in recent days of individuals with PMOI links. The PMOI confirmed Saturday's executions, saying in a statement that Iran was "trying to hide its weakness by executing political prisoners, especially PMOI members and supporters." Four PMOI members were executed earlier this week, it said.

The group said the two men executed on Saturday were arrested in January 2024 and had their death sentences upheld in December 2025.

A second Turkish-flagged ship has crossed the war-torn Strait of Hormuz, Turkey's Transport Minister Abdulkadir Uraloglu said Saturday.

Uraloglu said that when the war broke out on 28 February, there were 15 ships belonging to Turkish shipowners waiting to go through the strategic strait. "Two of these 15 made the crossing," he said in an interview on the private CNN Turk channel.