Iran supreme leader says US suffered 'disgraceful defeat', as Israel 'kidnaps' flotilla activists

Iran's soccer team represents the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), not the people of Iran, and FIFA should ban the team from participating in the upcoming World Cup, protesters gathered outside the FIFA Congress in Vancouver said on Thursday.

"This is not Iran, this is the Islamic Republic's team. This is IRGC's team," said Pouria Mahmoudi, an organiser with Mission for My Homeland, which brought together about 30 protesters draped in Iranian flags and holding signs supporting Iranian opposition figure Reza Pahlavi.

"They're here not to represent Iran. They're here to normalise what's happening in Iran, the massacre in Iran. So, no, they should not be in the World Cup," he told news agency Reuters.

Iran have qualified for the June 11-July 19 tournament but their participation has been fraught, with Tehran requesting alternative venues for matches on U.S. soil amid the nation's two-month old conflict with the United States and Israel.

FIFA President Gianni Infantino reiterated on Thursday that he expected Iran to participate and play matches in the U.S., and U.S. President Donald Trump later in the day said he agreed with Infantino's position.

Air defences were heard in the Iranian capital Tehran on Thursday night after they were activated to counter small aircraft and drones, Iranian media reported.

"The sound of air defence activation has been heard in some parts of Tehran. It is not yet clear whether this sound is related to a defence test or to counter possible 'reconnaissance drones' in the sky over Tehran," the Tasnim and Fars news agencies reported.

The agencies later said reports indicated that the air defence systems were activated "to counter small aircraft and reconnaissance drones", without providing further details.

"The sound of the air defence stopped after about 20 minutes of activity and countering small aircraft," they reported.

Tehran was now in a "normal situation", according to the news agencies.

US President Donald Trump faces a deadline on Friday to end the Iran war or make the case to Congress for extending it, but the date is most likely to pass without altering the course of a conflict that has lapsed into a standoff over shipping routes.

Ending the war appears highly unlikely.

Instead, analysts and congressional aides said they expect Trump to notify Congress that he plans a 30-day extension or disregard the deadline, with his administration arguing that a current ceasefire with Tehran marked an end to the conflict.

Like most policies in a bitterly divided Congress, war powers have become deeply partisan, with opposition Democrats calling for Congress to reassert its constitutional right to declare war and Republicans accusing Democrats of trying to use War Powers law to weaken Trump.

Democrats have tried repeatedly since the war began on February 28 to pass resolutions to force Trump to withdraw US forces or obtain congressional authorization. But Trump's Republicans, who hold slim majorities in the Senate and House of Representatives, have voted them down almost unanimously.

Republicans blocked a sixth such effort in the Senate on Thursday, a day before the war powers deadline, although Senator Susan Collins of Maine, who has voted against previous resolutions, became the second member of her party to back the measure, along with Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky, who has backed all of the resolutions.

Under the 1973 War Powers Resolution, the president can wage military action for only 60 days before ending it, coming to Congress for authorization or seeking a 30-day extension due to "unavoidable military necessity regarding the safety of United States Armed Forces."

The Iran conflict began on February 28, when Israel and the United States began airstrikes on Iran. Trump formally notified Congress of the conflict 48 hours later, starting the 60-day deadline clock that ends May 1.

The United States on Thursday backed ally Israel after it intercepted an aid flotilla headed to Gaza and warned European allies, from whose territory the ships sailed, against support for the "stunt."

"Consistent with international law, ports constitute internal waters over which coastal states exercise full territorial sovereignty," State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott said after flotilla organizers said 211 people were detained by Israel, including a Paris city councillor, in international waters off the Greek island of Crete.

"The United States expects all our allies...to take decisive action against this meaningless political stunt by denying port access, docking, departure and refueling to vessels participating in the flotilla," Pigott said.

"The United States will explore using available tools to impose consequences on those who provide support to this pro-Hamas flotilla and supports our allies' legal actions against it."

The pro-Palestinian activists were the latest to attempt to break an Israeli blockade of Gaza, the coastal Palestinian territory that lies in rubble after two years of relentless Israeli assault in response to the unprecedented October 7, 2023, attack by Hamas.

Spain, whose government is often at loggerheads with US President Donald Trump, strongly condemned the Israeli action against the flotilla, summoning the Israeli charge d'affaires in Madrid.

Palestinian football federation President Jibril Rajoub refused to take part in a photo opportunity with Israel soccer official Basim Sheikh Suliman in a tense incident at the end of FIFA's Congress on Thursday.

After both Rajoub and Suliman had addressed delegates, FIFA President Gianni Infantino invited both men to stand alongside him.

However Rajoub declined the gesture, refusing repeated attempts by Infantino to encourage him to participate in the moment.

At one point Rajoub could be heard to say: "We are suffering."

The Palestinian Football Association recently appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) over FIFA's refusal to sanction Israel over football clubs based in the West Bank.

The PFA maintains that clubs based in West Bank settlements should not be allowed to compete in leagues controlled by Israeli football authorities.

In 2024, United Nations experts said at least eight football clubs had been identified as playing in "Israeli colonial settlements" and called on FIFA to "fulfil its responsibility to respect human rights".

Speaking to reporters on Thursday, Rajoub called on FIFA to "apply the statutes with fairness, with logic."

"What's going on in Palestine is terrible, destroying all the Palestinian sport facilities in Gaza, the killings of hundreds of Palestinian athletes, employees... I think it's now the time to make justice," Rajoub said.

"The guy who spoke on behalf of Israel, he did not even pay attention to the suffering, to what's going on.

"I refused to shake hands. How can I shake hands or have a photo with such a man?"

The US embassy in Lebanon on Thursday urged a meeting between Lebanese and Israeli leaders as the health ministry said Israeli strikes on the country's south killed at least 17 people despite an ongoing ceasefire.

Israeli and Lebanese representatives this month have met twice in Washington -- the first such meetings in decades -- after Iran-backed Hezbollah group drew Lebanon into the Middle East war on March 2, sparking heavy Israeli strikes and a ground invasion.

After the first talks, US President Donald Trump announced a 10-day ceasefire in Lebanon that began on April 17, and a three-week extension after the second round.

Trump has said he hopes to host Lebanese President Joseph Aoun and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu "over the next couple of weeks" as the two countries prepare for direct negotiations.

The planned negotiations have caused a rift in Lebanon, with Hezbollah rejecting direct negotiations as well as Beirut's previous commitment to disarm it.

"Lebanon stands at a crossroads. Its people have a historic opportunity to reclaim their country and shape their future as a truly sovereign, independent nation," the embassy said, adding that "the time for hesitation is over".

A direct meeting between Aoun and Netanyahu, "facilitated by President Trump, would give Lebanon the chance to secure concrete guarantees on full sovereignty, territorial integrity, secure borders, humanitarian and reconstruction support, and the complete restoration of Lebanese state authority over every inch of its territory -- guaranteed by the United States," the statement added.

The United Arab Emirates has banned its citizens from travelling to Iran, Lebanon and Iraq, and urged Emiratis currently in those countries to leave immediately and return home, citing regional developments, the foreign ministry said on Thursday. 

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez on Thursday said Israel's interception of about 20 boats from the a Gaza-bound aid flotilla was illegal, after about 175 pro-Palestinian activists, including Spaniards, were arrested.

"Israel is once again violating international law by attacking a civilian flotilla in waters that do not belong to it," he wrote on X, urging the EU to freeze bilateral ties immediately and for maritime law to be respected.

U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday told reporters that "I'm OK" with Iran playing in the FIFA soccer World Cup, which will be held in North America in June and July.

Israeli strikes on south Lebanon killed at least 15 people, the health ministry said Thursday, as the country's president decried what he described as ongoing Israeli violations of a nearly two-week ceasefire.

The Lebanese army said another strike on a home in Kfar Rumman had also killed one of its soldiers and "several members of his family", though the health ministry had yet to include it in its toll.

Israel has pressed its attacks on Lebanon as the fragile ceasefire, announced after a round of direct talks between the two countries' ambassadors in Washington, neared its two-week mark.

The health ministry said Israeli strikes on four south Lebanon locations killed a total of 15 people, including at least five women and two children.

The state-run National News Agency (NNA) said one of the strikes killed four people from the same family, while another killed six people who were gathered near their village's cemetery.

FIFA President Gianni Infantino reiterated that Iran will play their World Cup games in the United States as scheduled on Thursday as he kicked off the global football body's summit in Vancouver.

Iran's participation at this year's tournament in Canada, Mexico and the United States has been shrouded in uncertainty since the eruption of war in the Middle East in February following strikes by the United States and Israel.

Infantino, who has repeatedly stated that Iran will be at the World Cup, underscored that stance at the start of his address to delegates in Vancouver.

"Let me start by the outset, confirming straightaway that of course Iran will be participating at the FIFA World Cup 2026," Infantino said. "And of course, Iran will play (in) the United States of America."

Iranian officials had floated the idea of shifting their group games from the United States to Mexico, but that proposal had already been nixed by Infantino.

In a further twist last week, Italy-born US special envoy Paolo Zampolli was reported to have floated the idea of Italy taking Iran's World Cup place.

The US government later distanced themselves from that proposal, with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio saying Iran's footballers would be welcome.

Kenya will waive its fuel quality rules, the government announced Thursday, in an emergency measure to keep supplies running amid shortages caused by the Middle East war.

The east African country is heavily reliant on fuel imports from the Gulf and has been one of the most affected by the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz.

A request from the energy ministry and petrol suppliers "to temporarily waive the sulphur parameter to the maximum limit of 50mg/kg... for a period of six months" was approved by the ministry of investments, trade and industry, it said in a statement.

The measure is "intended to ensure continued fuel availability and sustain economic stability during the current period of global supply disruption," it added.

UN chief Antonio Guterres warned on Thursday that the closure of the Strait of Hormuz was "strangling the global economy" and supply chains would take "months to recover".

Two members of the Iran delegation were permitted to be at the FIFA congress on Thursday but chose not to attend after one was denied entry to Canada, news agency Reuters reported- citing a source with direct knowledge of the matter.

The Congress opened at the Vancouver Convention centre with no seats set up for Iran and only 210 out of the 211 members associations listed as present.

The Israeli army said Thursday that a soldier was killed in southern Lebanon, the fourth such death since a fragile ceasefire took effect there earlier this month.

Sergeant Liem Ben Hemo, 19, "died in combat in the south of Lebanon", the army said in a statement, adding that another soldier was wounded in the incident.

The latest death brings to 17 the number of soldiers killed since the war began with Hezbollah on 2 March, according to an AFP tally based on military figures.

One Israeli civilian working for the army has also been killed.

Israel's foreign minister on Thursday said that activists forcibly and illegally intercepted earlier on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla by the Israeli military in international waters would be taken to Greece.

"In coordination with the Greek government, the civilians who were transferred from the flotilla vessels to the Israeli vessel will be brought ashore in Greece in the coming hours," Gideon Saar wrote on X, thanking the Greek government "for its willingness to receive the flotilla participants."

U.S. President Donald Trump criticised German Chancellor ​Friedrich Merz on Thursday, saying he should focus on trying to end the Russia-Ukraine war and spend "less time on interfering" with the effort to tackle the "Iran's nuclear threat."

Trump made his comments in a Truth Social post.

Israel's defence minister on Thursday said his country may soon have to "act again" against Iran, to ensure the Islamic republic "does not once again become a threat to Israel".

"US President Donald Trump, in coordination with (Israeli) Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, is leading the efforts to achieve the campaign's objectives, to ensure that Iran does not once again become a threat to Israel, the United States and the free world in the future," Israel Katz said during a military ceremony, according to a statement from his office.

"We support this effort and are providing the necessary support, but it is possible that we may soon have to act again to ensure these objectives are met," he added.

Spain on Thursday said it "energetically condemns" the illegal seizure by Israeli forces of a Gaza-bound aid flotilla carrying Spanish nationals in international waters off Greece.

Madrid has summoned Israel's charge d'affaires in Spain to convey its protest over the detention of the Global Sumud Flotilla vessels, the foreign ministry added in a statement.

Spanish diplomatic staff in Israel are in contact with the organisers of the flotilla, and Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares has spoken with his counterparts who also have nationals on board, the statement said.

The latest flotilla of pro-Palestinian activists seeking to break Israel's blockade on Gaza set sail in recent weeks from Marseille in France, Barcelona in Spain, and Syracuse in Italy.

Organisers announced early on Thursday that their boats had been surrounded by Israeli military ships while off the coast of Crete.

An Israeli rights organisation petitioned Israel's Supreme Court on Thursday to demand the immediate release of 14 Palestinian doctors from Gaza who have been held without charge for more than a year.

Physicians for Human Rights Israel (PHRI) said the doctors have been denied adequate medical care and food and subjected to physical abuse while in detention. The group said they are being held under Israel's Unlawful Combatants Law, which allows for indefinite detention without charge.

"The Israeli army already investigated them and despite the lack of any evidence incriminating them ... (prosecutors) decided to continue their detention," said lawyer Nasser Odeh, who represents Hussam Abu Safiya, the detained director of Gaza's Kamal Adwan Hospital.

It was not immediately clear if or when the court would hear the petition.

The 14 doctors are among nearly 400 healthcare workers detained by Israel during its two-year assault on Gaza. Around 60 healthcare workers remain in detention, including the doctors represented by PHRI.

None of the 14 have been formally charged or told why they are being held, the organisation said.

Iran's parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf vowed on Thursday that his country's control over the strategic Strait of Hormuz would ensure a future without US presence in the area.

"Today, by managing the Strait of Hormuz, Iran will provide itself and its neighbours with the precious blessing of a future free from American presence and interference," said Ghalibaf in a post on X to mark the national "Persian Gulf" day.

Italy condemns Israel's seizure of aid ships bound for Gaza and demands the immediate release of all Italians who have been "unlawfully detained," Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's office said on Thursday.

Israel intercepted the vessels in international waters near Greece late on Wednesday, a move the organisers -- Global Sumud Flotilla -- called an act of piracy against boats carrying humanitarian aid to the war-ravaged Palestinian enclave.

Rome also urged Israel to respect international law and guarantee the safety of those on board. It did not say how many Italians had been detained.

"The government reaffirms its commitment to continuing to provide humanitarian aid to Gaza within the framework of our cooperation and in accordance with international law," it said in a statement.

Organisers of a Gaza-bound aid flotilla on Thursday said Israel's army had "kidnapped" 211 activists, including a Paris city councillor in a raid in international waters off Greece.

Helene Coron, a spokeswoman for the Global Sumud France, told an online news conference that the operation had taken place near the Greek island of Crete, at an "unprecedented" distance from the Gaza coast, violating international laws.

Yasmine Scola, an activist on board the flotilla, said her colleagues had been "kidnapped" by Israel.

Israel's foreign ministry had earlier put the number of those detained at 175.

Coron said those intercepted included Paris Communist local councillor Raphaelle Primet and another 10 French nationals.

Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei said in a written message on Thursday that the United States had been defeated in its war on Iran.

"Today, two months after the largest military deployment and aggression by the world's bullies in the region, and the United States' disgraceful defeat in its plans, a new chapter is unfolding for the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz," said Khamenei in the message read on state television.

Iran’s supreme leader said on Thursday that the Islamic Republic will protect its "nuclear and missile capabilities" as a national asset, even as U.S. President Donald Trump tries to get a deal on those issues.

Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei spoke in a written statement read aloud on Iranian state television, as he has since he took over after the 28 February airstrike that killed his 86-year-old father, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

"Ninety million proud and honorable Iranians inside and outside the country regard all of Iran’s identity-based, spiritual, human, scientific, industrial and technological capacities — from nanotechnology and biotechnology to nuclear and missile capabilities — as national assets, and will protect them just as they protect the country’s waters, land and airspace," Khamenei said.

Iran's new Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei said in a published written message on Thursday that a new chapter for the Gulf and Strait of Hormuz has been taking shape since the Iran war with the United States and Israel broke out on 28 February.

Iran's Supreme Leader said that Tehran would secure the Gulf region and eliminate what he described as "the enemy's abuses of the waterway."

The Supreme Leader added that new management of the Strait of Hormuz would bring calm, progress, and economic benefits to all Gulf nations.

The leaders of major media companies around the world, including The Associated Press, are calling on Israel's government to lift a ban keeping foreign journalists from being able to independently enter and report from Gaza, a barrier that's been in place since the war's start in 2023 and continues even as a ceasefire has been in place for more than six months.

"Being on the ground is essential. It allows journalists to question official accounts on all sides, to speak directly with civilians and report back what they witness firsthand," said the statement from the executives, released Thursday. "That is why news organisations send their reporters into the field, often at great personal risk."

Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian on Thursday said a US naval blockade on Iranian ports would deepen disruptions in the Gulf and would fail to achieve its targets.

"Any attempt to impose a maritime blockade or restrictions is contrary to international law... and is doomed to fail," Pezeshkian said in a statement.

He added that such measures would "not only fail to enhance regional security, but are in fact a source of tension and a disruption to lasting stability in the Persian Gulf".

President Donald Trump said a US naval blockade against Iran could last months, leading oil prices to spike to their highest level in more than four years, which held into Thursday.

Trump is expected to receive a briefing on Thursday on new plans for potential military action in Iran from Admiral Brad Cooper, the head of US Central Command, two sources with knowledge told Axios.

With diplomacy between Iran and the United States at a standstill after false starts, Trump spoke by phone Wednesday with Russian President Vladimir Putin, who warned him of "damaging consequences" if the United States and Israel resume their war on Iran.

Israel's foreign ministry said on Thursday that Israeli forces had arrested about 175 activists aboard 20 ships from an aid-laden flotilla bound for Gaza.

"Approximately 175 activists from more than 20 boats... are now making their way peacefully to Israel," the ministry said in a statement, including a video of the activists aboard an Israeli navy ship.

Israel controls all entry points to Gaza, and has been accused by the United Nations and foreign NGOs of strangling the flow of goods into the territory, causing shortages since the start of the war in October 2023.