The escalating chaos in the Middle East was apparently not enough for the Brussels bureaucrats to cut their weekend short European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has drawn mockery for her response to the Iran crisis after announcing that an emergency meeting on the situation can wait until after EU bureaucrats enjoy their weekend. US-Israeli strikes on Iran began on Saturday, killing Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, senior officials, and hundreds of civilians, including more than 100 schoolchildren in a strike on an elementary school. Iran retaliated with hundreds of missile and drone attacks on Israel and US bases across the Gulf, including in Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, and the UAE. “For regional security and stability, it is of the utmost importance that there is no further escalation through Iran’s unjustified attacks on partners in the region,” von der Leyen wrote on X late Saturday. Public attention, however, centered on her note in the same post t...
Posts
Shehbaz Sharif has delayed his trip due to the current domestic and regional situations Prime Minister Shebaz Sharif has postponed his planned trip to Russia, the Pakistani government has said. Sharif was scheduled to visit Russia March 3-5. The decision to postpone the trip was made due to the current domestic and regional situations, the Pakistani government said in a statement on Sunday. “The Prime Minister’s visit to Russia holds utmost importance for progress in the bilateral relations between the two countries, but in light of the current circumstances, the visit has been postponed,” it said. حالیہ علاقائی و داخلی صورتحال کے پیش نظر وزیرِ اعظم نے مشاورت کے بعد اپنے دورہء روس کو مؤخر کرنے کا فیصلہ کیا ہے۔ وزیرِ اعظم کا دورہء روس دونوں ممالک کے دو طرفہ تعلقات میں پیش رفت کیلئے انتہائی اہمیت رکھتا ہے، مگر موجودہ حالات کے پیش نظر یہ دورہ مؤخر کیا گیا ہے. دورے کی نئی… pic.twitter.com/pSxe5w6bQR — Government of Pakistan (@GovtofPakistan) March 1, 2026 A new date will be d...
Senator Lindsey Graham has called for more military intervention following the attack on the Islamic Republic The US should assassinate those who come to power in Iran if they remain hostile toward American interests, according to veteran war hawk Senator Lindsey Graham. The targeted killing of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and other senior officials was the opening part of a US-Israeli regime change operation launched on Saturday. In a Fox News interview on Sunday, Graham pushed for continued political assassinations abroad. “This regime is in its death throes. Finish them off!” he said. “The ultimate safety comes when people in charge of Iran don’t want to kill us.” “I don’t know who is going to take over Iran after this regime collapses but I know this. If you want to be a friend to America, we’ll be a friend to you. If you wanna keep this crap up, then you will pay the same price [as] the ayatollah,” Graham added, citing decades of Iranian support for anti-Am...
US-Israeli strikes on Iran and Tehran’s retaliation have triggered closures of key transit hubs, grounding flights across the region Hundreds of thousands travelers have been stranded across the Middle East following airspace closures triggered by unprovoked US-Israeli strikes on Iran, according to flight analytics firms. Massive strikes against Tehran began Saturday, killing Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, top officials, and hundreds of civilians. Tehran responded with hundreds of missile and drone attacks targeting US and Israeli bases across the Middle East. Iran has also reportedly targeted several major regional aviation hubs, including the Dubai International Airport in the UAE – the world’s busiest – where damage and casualties were reported, as well as sites near international airports in Bahrain, Kuwait, and Iraq. Following the escalation, Bahrain, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Qatar, and the UAE announced partial or total airspace closures, forcing fl...
The ‘decapitating’ strike against Tehran has triggered a succession process, but perhaps not the succession crisis it aimed for The past 24 hours have given Iran’s leadership transition a tangible shape, while also revealing how dangerously the very idea of “normal” is shifting in international politics. The death of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in a joint US-Israeli operation against Iran is a demonstrative precedent, read across the Middle East as the legalization of a blunt principle – when power is sufficient, sovereignty can be suspended at will. As a researcher of Middle Eastern politics, I cannot treat such actions as a “surgical strike.” They amount to the demolition of constraints that once, however imperfectly, made the international arena at least somewhat predictable. If the world’s leading military power and its closest regional ally signal that the physical elimination of a state’s top leader is an acceptable policy tool, then law becomes stage scenery rather than an organi...
The shipment was ordered by President Vladimir Putin to address shortages caused by cyclones Russia has delivered critical humanitarian aid to Madagascar, including around 60 tons of food, to support relief efforts after two consecutive cyclones, the Russian Embassy in the island nation has reported. Last month, Madagascar was struck by two powerful tropical systems, Gezani and Fytia, in quick succession. Fytia hit on January 31, causing severe flooding in the northwest and central highlands, killing at least 14 and displacing over 31,000. Gezani struck the eastern coast near Toamasina, the country’s main port, on February 10, devastating nearly 90% of infrastructure, killing at least 59, and leaving hundreds of thousands without shelter or clean water. The government declared a national state of emergency on February 14. On February 19, Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed support for Madagascar during talks in Moscow with the country’s interim president, Michael Randrianiri...