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Iran Vows to Avenge the Death of 2 IRGC Members in Syria

Site after the Israeli strike in Damascus (Reuters)
Site after the Israeli strike in Damascus (Reuters)
    Tel Aviv, Tehran - Asharq Al-Awsat
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Iran Vows to Avenge the Death of 2 IRGC Members in Syria

Site after the Israeli strike in Damascus (Reuters)
Site after the Israeli strike in Damascus (Reuters)

Israel awaits with anticipation Iran's retaliation for the airstrike on Syria that killed four people on Monday, including two of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC).

Syrian state media said that two civilians were killed during the attack, while the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) said they were two Syrian militants fighting with pro-Iran militias.

The Observatory said the two dead Iranians killed were affiliated with al-Quds Force. Six militiamen were also wounded, it added.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh said revenge for Monday's strike will be taken, adding that holding Israel accountable for such attacks "is one of the main goals of the resistance (forces) in the region."

The IRGC's Sepah News website said: "Guard colonels Ehsan Karbalaipour and Morteza Saidnejad were martyred, a crime committed by the Zionist regime, during a rocket attack on the suburbs of Damascus, Syria, yesterday morning."

The site stated that Israel would "pay for this crime."

The strike's target was an ammunition depot operated by Iran-backed militias near Damascus international airport.

SOHR said Israel has carried out raids in Syria at least seven times this year.

Iran is Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's strongest ally in the conflict. The Syrian army and thousands of Iranian-backed militants are fighting the Syrian opposition, backed by the Russian air force.

According to Walla's military correspondent, Israel is aware of Iran's determination to respond to the killing of the two IRGC members.

The Israeli army raised the state of alert and readiness of its units operating the "Iron Dome" systems along the border with Syria and stated that it was preparing for a possible missile attack from Syria.

In April, Iran admitted to casualties among its forces during an Israeli attack on sites in Syria, including seven fighters killed in an attack on T4 airport east of Homs. A month later, Iran responded with a barrage of missiles fired by armed militia at Israeli sites.

The Quds Force unofficial Telegram channel reported that Iran retaliated for the death of its members at the Syrian T4 base after an Israeli raid that killed seven Iranian forces in 2018.

The channel reported that Tehran responded by bombing an Israeli base in the occupied Golan with fifty missiles, noting that Israelis did not report the attack and the damage incurred.

Several Israeli experts admitted that the firing of 50 missiles from Syria at Israeli bases was an unprecedented matter that surprised observers.

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World

Iran’s Former Top Diplomat Urges Deal with US to End War

A newly constructed bridge struck by US airstrikes Thursday is seen in Karaj, west of Tehran, Iran, Friday, April 3, 2026. (AP)
A newly constructed bridge struck by US airstrikes Thursday is seen in Karaj, west of Tehran, Iran, Friday, April 3, 2026. (AP)
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Iran’s Former Top Diplomat Urges Deal with US to End War

A newly constructed bridge struck by US airstrikes Thursday is seen in Karaj, west of Tehran, Iran, Friday, April 3, 2026. (AP)
A newly constructed bridge struck by US airstrikes Thursday is seen in Karaj, west of Tehran, Iran, Friday, April 3, 2026. (AP)

Iran should make a deal with the United States to end the war by offering to curb its nuclear program and reopen the Strait of Hormuz in exchange for sanctions relief, a former Iranian foreign minister said.

Mohammad Javad Zarif, who served as foreign minister from 2013-2021, claimed in an op-ed for American journal Foreign Affairs that Tehran had the "upper hand" in the conflict against the US and Israel, but argued Iran needed to stop the war to prevent the loss of more civilian lives and damage to infrastructure.

"Iran should use its upper hand not to keep fighting but to declare victory and make a deal that both ends this conflict and prevents the next one," Zarif said in the piece published late Thursday.

"It should offer to place limits on its nuclear program and to reopen the Strait of Hormuz in exchange for an end to all sanctions -- a deal Washington wouldn't take before but might accept now," he added.

Iran should also be prepared to accept a mutual "nonaggression pact" with the United States, as well as economic relations, he said. Tehran and Washington have had no diplomatic ties since shortly after the 1979 revolution.

Zarif, one of the architects of the now moribund 2015 deal over the Iranian nuclear program, is seen as a relative moderate within the regime’s elite, but has no official post in the current government.

However, this is one of the first times during this conflict that a high-profile figure in Iran has called for a deal and an end to the war, with top military and political officials urging daily for fighting to continue until the US is defeated.

US President Donald Trump has evoked ongoing talks with Tehran without giving details but also threatened to send the country "back to the stone ages" if it fails to agree terms.

"As an Iranian, outraged by Donald Trump's reckless aggression and crude insults, yet proud of our armed forces and resilient people, I am torn about publishing this peace-plan in Foreign Affairs," Zarif wrote in English on X Friday.

"Yet I'm convinced that war must end on terms consistent with Iran's national interests," he added.

Zarif in the Foreign Affairs piece warned that "although continuing to fight the United States and Israel might be psychologically satisfying, it will lead only to the further destruction of civilian lives and infrastructure".

World

China Says Peace Talks Advance Between Afghanistan, Pakistan

Local residents look at a damaged area of a police station after an overnight deadly bombing in the Bannu district of northwestern Pakistan, Friday, April 3, 2026. (AP)
Local residents look at a damaged area of a police station after an overnight deadly bombing in the Bannu district of northwestern Pakistan, Friday, April 3, 2026. (AP)
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China Says Peace Talks Advance Between Afghanistan, Pakistan

Local residents look at a damaged area of a police station after an overnight deadly bombing in the Bannu district of northwestern Pakistan, Friday, April 3, 2026. (AP)
Local residents look at a damaged area of a police station after an overnight deadly bombing in the Bannu district of northwestern Pakistan, Friday, April 3, 2026. (AP)

Negotiations ‌between Afghanistan and Pakistan are advancing steadily, China said on Friday following reports that the South Asian neighbors were meeting there to try to end their worst conflict since the Taliban returned to power in 2021.

China, which shares a western border with both nations, has been trying to mediate between the allies ‌turned foes, ‌holding telephone calls with their ‌foreign ⁠ministers and sending ⁠a special envoy on visits in March.

"Both Pakistan and Afghanistan attach importance to, and welcome, China's mediation, and are willing to sit down for talks again, which is a positive development," ⁠foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning told ‌a daily press ‌conference.

Mao did not say where the ‌talks were being held, though the neighbors ‌have previously said they were in the northwestern city of Urumqi.

China has been mediating and promoting talks, in close communication with both ‌sides to build suitable conditions and provide a platform, Mao ⁠said, ⁠adding that the three countries would issue further information in due course.

The fighting between Pakistan and Afghanistan that started in October has killed scores of people on both sides, with Afghans taking the brunt.

Islamabad accuses the Afghan Taliban of harboring militants who launch attacks in Pakistan, although Kabul denies this calling the militancy its neighbor's domestic problem.

World

USS Gerald R. Ford Carrier Departs Croatia

Harbor tugboats and other civilian vessels approach the US Navy aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford at an anchor point off the Croatian coastal city of Split on March 28, 2026, for a scheduled port visit and maintenance stop following involvement Middle East war operations. (AFP)
Harbor tugboats and other civilian vessels approach the US Navy aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford at an anchor point off the Croatian coastal city of Split on March 28, 2026, for a scheduled port visit and maintenance stop following involvement Middle East war operations. (AFP)
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USS Gerald R. Ford Carrier Departs Croatia

Harbor tugboats and other civilian vessels approach the US Navy aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford at an anchor point off the Croatian coastal city of Split on March 28, 2026, for a scheduled port visit and maintenance stop following involvement Middle East war operations. (AFP)
Harbor tugboats and other civilian vessels approach the US Navy aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford at an anchor point off the Croatian coastal city of Split on March 28, 2026, for a scheduled port visit and maintenance stop following involvement Middle East war operations. (AFP)

The USS Gerald R. Ford has departed Croatia after a five-day port visit, the US Navy said Thursday without specifying where the world's largest aircraft carrier is headed next.

The carrier "remains poised for full mission tasking in support of national objectives in any area of operation," according to the Navy, which said the ship "completed scheduled repairs and received supplies to sustain operations."

The carrier played a major role in the US-Israeli air campaign against Iran but sailed to Crete and then Croatia after a laundry fire broke out on March 12.

The blaze injured two sailors and caused major damage to some 100 beds, according to the US military. The Navy said Thursday that the "routine investigation into the ship's laundry and berthing fire is ongoing."

The Ford's exit from Iran operations left a gap in US forces in the region, taking the number of carriers deployed there from two to one.

But the USS George H.W. Bush aircraft carrier and its accompanying warships left port for what the military described as a "regularly scheduled deployment" on Tuesday, and it is reportedly bound for the Middle East.

The Ford has been at sea for more than nine months -- a deployment that has already seen it take part in US operations in the Caribbean, where Washington's forces have carried out strikes on alleged drug-smuggling boats, interdicted sanctioned tankers and seized Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro.