Iran | Pakistan

UNITED NATIONS: Pakistan struck a delicate balance at a tense UN Security Council meeting on Saturday, condemning unwarranted attacks on Iran, expressing solidarity with Gulf states, and urging an immediate return to negotiations and diplomacy. The Council’s emergency session examined the repercussions of the US and Israeli air strikes on Iran and laid bare the deep divisions within the 15-member body over the escalating crisis. Speaking at the meeting, Pakistan’s Permanent Representative, Ambassador Asim Iftikhar Ahmad, outlined Islamabad’s growing concern as the situation in the Middle East becomes more complex with each new development. “Pakistan condemns the initiation of unwarranted attacks against the Islamic Republic of Iran, in violation of international law,” the ambassador said. At the same time, he stressed that Pakistan also “condemns the attacks against the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Jordan, Kuwait, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, and stands in solidarity with all these brotherly count...

On the international chessboard, no piece can move as freely as the United States. It moves vertically, horizontally and diagonally, across any number of squares. Regime change in Venezuela, blockades on Cuba, strikes on Iran, all within a few months. It can move north, east, south and west. And Iran? Iran is the opposing king trapped in a corner by not only the king and rook (Israel), but also its own pawns — the many factions inside Iran that the Israelis have been funding to rise up against it. A war against it from abroad and at home. In refusing to capitulate, the Iranians have decided they would rather die on their feet than be checkmated on their knees in front of their rivals. The opening gambit By the day prior to the strikes, the US had at least 50 per cent of its deployable air power around the Middle East poised to attack Iran, including more than 250 combat aircraft. As Professor Pape from the University of Chicago notes, the US had never deployed this much force against a potential enemy and not...

Airspace across 10 countries has been shut following the Iran–Israel war, disrupting thousands of flights and leaving hundreds of thousands of passengers stranded worldwide.

The assassination of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s Supreme Leader and Marjai Taqleed for millions of Shia Muslims, in coordinated US-Israeli airstrikes marks a turning point not only for the Islamic Republic of Iran but for the wider West Asian region. His assassination removes a figure who for more than three decades stood at the apex of Iran’s political, military and religious order. Yet those expecting the immediate collapse of the Iranian system may be misreading both its structure and its history. Ayatollah Khamenei was not merely a head of state. As Supreme Leader, he exercised ultimate authority over foreign policy, the armed forces and the direction of the revolution. As Marjai Taqleed, a source of emulation in Shia jurisprudence, he embodied religious legitimacy that extended beyond Iran’s borders. His passing, therefore, creates a vacuum that is institutional as much as personal. Under Iran’s constitution, an interim council comprising President Masoud Pezeshkian, the judiciary chief, and a cleric ...

108 killed in Israeli strike on girls school in Iran

Islamabad - The outbreak of conflict between Israel and the United States against Iran, triggered by joint US-Israeli strikes across Iran, has drawn frantic calls for calm as deep consternation spreads across globe.

The United States and Israel launched a wave of strikes against targets in Iran on Saturday, triggering explosions in the capital Tehran and an escalation across the region. “We are going to destroy their missiles and raze their missile industry to the ground. It will be totally — again — obliterated. We’re going to annihilate their navy,” said US President Donald Trump in an address from his Florida home posted to his Truth Social platform. On the other hand, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the operation aimed to “remove the existential threat posed by the terrorist regime in Iran”, and urged Iranians to overthrow the Islamic Republic’s clerical leadership. In response to the Israel-US aggression, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps of Iran later in the day confirmed the launch of the “first wave” of missile and drone attacks against Israel in response to the strikes on its territory. Political figures and analysts in Pakistan have condemned the recent developments, particularly criticising ...

Countries in the Middle East and around the world were watching with bated breath after the United States and Israel carried out long-feared strikes on Iran on Saturday. Trump: ‘annihilate’ US President Donald Trump vowed that the strikes would cripple Iran’s military and urged Iranians to rise up against the Islamic republic. “We are going to destroy their missiles and raze their missile industry to the ground. It will be totally — again — obliterated. We’re going to annihilate their navy,” Trump said in the address from his Florida home posted to his Truth Social platform. Calling on Iranians to stand up to their government, Trump added: “The hour of your freedom is at hand.” But he also warned that “the lives of courageous American heroes may be lost and we may have casualties”. Netanyahu ‘cast off the yoke’ Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the operation aimed to “remove the existential threat posed by the terrorist regime in Iran”, and urged Iranians to overthrow the Islamic republic’s cleri...

In the wake of reported joint air strikes by Israel and the United States on Iran, the Pakistan government has directed aviation authorities to closely monitor the country’s airspace and adopt precautionary measures.

The UN nuclear watchdog issued a confidential report on Friday urging Iran to let it inspect all its nuclear sites and pointing at Isfahan as a place of interest because of a new enrichment plant and near-bomb-grade uranium that was stored there. The report was sent to members of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) ahead of a quarterly meeting next week of its 35-country board, amid nuclear talks between the United States and Iran, the latest round of which was held on Thursday with no breakthrough. Like previous IAEA reports, it could be used by Washington to support its argument that Tehran has not been transparent about its nuclear activities, at a time when US President Donald Trump has massed forces in the region and threatened new military action. The United States and Israel bombed Iranian nuclear sites last June, and Iran has since refused to show what happened to its stockpile of highly enriched uranium or allow IAEA inspectors access to sites where enrichment took place. “While the Agency ...

Iran said on Friday that in order to reach a deal, the United States will have to drop its “excessive demands”, tempering the optimism expressed after talks seen as a last-ditch bid to avert war. The Oman-mediated talks follow repeated threats from US President Donald Trump to strike Iran, and with the United States conducting its biggest military build-up in the region in decades. Trump, on February 19, gave Iran 15 days to reach a deal, and while Iran has insisted the discussions focus solely on its nuclear programme, the US wants Tehran’s missile programme and its support for armed groups curtailed. The Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday that Trump’s negotiating team would demand that Iran dismantle its three main nuclear sites and hand over all its remaining enriched uranium to the United States. Without specifying what demands he was referring to, Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on Friday told his Egyptian counterpart that “success in this path requires seriousness and realism from the other...

The United States hopes talks with Iran in Geneva will produce an agreement to prevent Tehran from acquiring nuclear weapons, and President Donald Trump has amassed forces in the Middle East to increase pressure on Iran to reach a deal. What is at stake? Iran has, over decades, developed an advanced and large-scale uranium enrichment programme. While enriched uranium can be used as fuel in power plants at various purity levels, at high levels it can be used to make nuclear weapons. Until Israel and the US attacked its nuclear facilities last June, Iran was enriching uranium to up to 60 per cent purity, a short step from the roughly 90pc that is weapons grade. It had enough material enriched to that level, if enriched further, for 10 nuclear weapons, according to an International Atomic Energy Agency yardstick, and more at lower levels. The IAEA, the UN nuclear watchdog, has not, however, been able to verify how much of that uranium stock remains. Iran has yet to declare what happened to it or allow the agency...

Iran and the United States held talks in Switzerland on Thursday, in a last-ditch bid to avert war under the shadow of the biggest American military build-up in the Middle East in decades. The Oman-mediated discussions follow repeated threats from Donald Trump to strike Iran, with the US president last Thursday giving Tehran 15 days to reach a deal. The US and Iranian delegations arrived at the venue at the Omani ambassador’s residence amid tight security, following a protest by Iranian exiles at their talks last week who threw objects at the Iranian motorcade. Oman’s Foreign Minister Badr Albusaidi confirmed that discussions had begun, saying the two sides expressed “unprecedented openness to new and creative ideas and solutions”. He later said the talks had been paused but would resume later in the day. Iran’s president insisted ahead of the talks that the Islamic republic was not “at all” seeking a nuclear weapon. “Our Supreme Leader has already stated that we will not have nuclear weapons at all,” Preside...

Iran sees the chance of a good outcome from a third round of talks with the United States, its President Masoud Pezeshkian said on Wednesday, as a delegation left for Geneva for negotiations over Tehran’s nuclear programme. A senior US official said on Monday that envoy Steve Witkoff and President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner are slated to meet with the Iranian delegation, led by Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi, in Geneva on Thursday. The two countries resumed negotiations over the long-disputed nuclear programme earlier this month as the US builds up its military capability in the Middle East ahead of possible strikes on the Islamic Republic. Iran has threatened to strike US bases in the region if it is attacked. Trump on February 19 said he was giving Tehran about 10 to 15 days to make a deal. “In relation to the talks, we see a good outlook, tomorrow in the meeting that Dr Araqchi will hold in Geneva … we have tried, with the guidance of the supreme leader, to manage this process to get out of th...

WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump opened the foreign-policy portion of his State of the Union address tonight with a carefully calibrated message on Iran, stating that his “preference is to solve this problem through diplomacy” while warning he would “never” allow Tehran to acquire a nuclear weapon. The formulation, which projected readiness for talks while keeping the option of military force deliberately ambiguous, reflected his broader doctrine of “peace through strength.” US President Donald Trump delivers the State of the Union address in the House Chamber of the US Capitol in Washington, DC, US on February 24, 2026. — Reuters Trump argued that a rebuilt US military and higher defence spending by Nato allies had strengthened Washington’s hand. At the same time, he asserted that Iran was developing missiles capable of reaching the United States and complained: “We haven’t heard those secret words (from Iran): ‘We will never have a nuclear weapon.’” He blamed Tehran for pursuing a “sinister nuclear pro...

Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on Tuesday that a nuclear deal was “within reach”, ahead of talks with the United States scheduled for later this week. “We have a historic opportunity to strike an unprecedented agreement that addresses mutual concerns and achieves mutual interests,” said Araghchi, in a post on the social media site X. He added that a deal was “within reach, but only if diplomacy is given priority”. The talks are set to take place on Thursday in Geneva, a senior US official said on Monday, with US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner slated to meet with an Iranian delegation for the negotiations. The two countries resumed negotiations earlier this month as the US builds up its military capability in the Middle East. Iran has threatened to strike US bases in the region if it is attacked. Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Majid Takht-Ravanchi said on Tuesday Iran is ready to take any necessary steps to reach a deal with the US. “We are ready to reach an agreement as soon as possible....

Iran said on Monday that any attack by the United States, including limited strikes, would be an “act of aggression” that would precipitate a response, after US President Donald Trump said he was considering a limited strike on Iran. “With respect to your first question concerning the limited strike, I think there is no limited strike,” foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said at a briefing in Tehran attended by an AFP journalist. “An act of aggression would be regarded as an act of aggression. Period. “And any state would react to an act of aggression as part of its inherent right of self-defence ferociously so that’s what we would do.” Trump said on Friday he was considering a limited strike if Tehran did not reach a deal with the US. “I guess I can say I am considering that,” he replied following a question from reporters. The two countries concluded a second round of indirect talks in Switzerland on Tuesday under Omani mediation, against the backdrop of a major US military build-up in the region. Fu...

Iran agreed a secret 500 million euro ($589 million) arms deal with Russia to acquire thousands of advanced shoulder-fired missiles, the Financial Times reported on Sunday. The agreement, signed in Moscow in December, commits Russia to deliver 500 man-portable “Verba” launch units and 2,500 “9M336” missiles over three years, the FT said, citing leaked Russian documents seen by the FT and several people familiar with the deal. Reuters could not immediately verify the report. Under the deal, the deliveries are scheduled in three tranches, running from 2027 through 2029, the FT said. The deal was negotiated between Russian state arms exporter Rosoboronexport and the Moscow representative of Iran’s Ministry of Defence and Armed Forces Logistics (MODAFL), the FT claimed. Tehran formally requested the systems last July, according to a contract seen by the FT. In June last year, US forces struck Iran’s three main nuclear sites as the country joined Israel’s military campaign against Iran. President Donald Trump said...

US envoy Steve Witkoff said on Saturday that President Donald Trump is questioning why Iran has not “capitulated” in the face of Washington’s military build-up aimed at pressuring them into a nuclear deal. The United States and Iran this week resumed Oman-mediated talks in Geneva aimed at averting the possibility of military action, after Washington dispatched two aircraft carriers, jets and weaponry to the region to back its warnings. In a Fox News interview with Trump’s daughter-in-law Lara, Witkoff said the president was “curious” about Iran’s position after he had warned them of severe consequences in the event they failed to strike a deal. “I don’t want to use the word ‘frustrated’, because he understands he has plenty of alternatives, but he’s curious as to why they haven’t… I don’t want to use the word ‘capitulated’, but why they haven’t capitulated,” he said. “Why, under this pressure, with the amount of seapower and naval power over there, why haven’t they come to us and said, ‘We profess we don’t wa...

• Trump tells reporters 32,000 killed during last month’s nationwide protests; UN expert puts toll at 20,000 • Pezeshkian says Tehran will not bow to pressure as threat of war looms large TEHRAN: The Iranian government has demanded evidence after the US President Donald Trump told reporters that 32,000 people were killed during last month’s nationwide protests in the Islamic Republic, Al Jazeera reported on Saturday. Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said the government released a list of 3,117 people, including about 200 security personnel, whom he described as “victims of recent terrorist operation”. “If anyone disputes accuracy of our data, please share any evidence,” the diplomat, who has previously stated that 690 people on the list were “terrorists” armed and funded by the US and Israel, wrote on X. His comments came as the threat of war looms increasingly large over the country and potentially the region, with Serbia on Saturday becoming the latest country to call on all its citizens to immediatel...