Russia Says It Will Target French Troops if They Are Sent to Ukraine 

A woman walks in front of a crater caused by a Russian missile attack in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, Wednesday, May 8, 2024. (AP)
A woman walks in front of a crater caused by a Russian missile attack in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, Wednesday, May 8, 2024. (AP)
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Russia Says It Will Target French Troops if They Are Sent to Ukraine 

A woman walks in front of a crater caused by a Russian missile attack in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, Wednesday, May 8, 2024. (AP)
A woman walks in front of a crater caused by a Russian missile attack in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, Wednesday, May 8, 2024. (AP)

Russia warned France on Wednesday that if President Emmanuel Macron sent troops to Ukraine, then they would be seen as legitimate targets by the Russian military.

Macron caused controversy in February by saying he could not rule out the deployment of ground troops in Ukraine in the future. The French leader warned that if Russia wins in Ukraine then Europe's credibility will be reduced to zero.

"It is characteristic that Macron himself explains this rhetoric with the desire to create some kind of 'strategic uncertainty' for Russia," Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told reporters.

"We have to disappoint him - for us the situation looks more than certain," Zakharova said.

"If the French appear in the conflict zone, they will inevitably become targets for the Russian armed forces. It seems to me that Paris already has proof of this."

Zakharova said Russia was already seeing growing numbers of French nationals among those killed in Ukraine.

Russia said on Monday it would practice the deployment of tactical nuclear weapons as part of a military exercise after what the Moscow said were threats from France, Britain and the United States.



Iran Has Fired 400 Missiles at Israel, 92% Intercepted since Start of War

A woman stands inside a destroyed building, amid the US-Israeli conflict with Iran, in Tehran, Iran, March 21, 2026. Reuters/Alaa Al-Marjani
A woman stands inside a destroyed building, amid the US-Israeli conflict with Iran, in Tehran, Iran, March 21, 2026. Reuters/Alaa Al-Marjani
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Iran Has Fired 400 Missiles at Israel, 92% Intercepted since Start of War

A woman stands inside a destroyed building, amid the US-Israeli conflict with Iran, in Tehran, Iran, March 21, 2026. Reuters/Alaa Al-Marjani
A woman stands inside a destroyed building, amid the US-Israeli conflict with Iran, in Tehran, Iran, March 21, 2026. Reuters/Alaa Al-Marjani

Israel's military said on Sunday that Iran had fired more than 400 ballistic missiles at Israel since the start of the Middle East war, with around 92 percent of them intercepted.

The figures were announced a day after Iranian missiles struck two towns in southern Israel, leaving around 175 people needing medical treatment.

"Iran has fired over 400 ballistic missiles. We have had great interception rates. We have approximately a 92 percent successful interception rate," Israeli military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Nadav Shoshani told journalists.

One of the towns hit on Saturday was Dimona, widely believed to hold Israel's undeclared nuclear arsenal.

The impact of the missile was just five kilometres from the town's nuclear facility, AFP reported.

The other nearby town to be hit was Arad, which saw extensive damage to several buildings.

Shoshani said the missiles fired on Saturday were "not different from ballistic missiles" and that there had now only been four direct hits during the war so far.

The Israeli military has said it will investigate the failure to intercept the incoming fire on Saturday.

"We have intercepted in the past and will intercept in the future," Shoshani said.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu acknowledged Saturday was a "very difficult evening" and urged residents to head to protection centres whenever sirens blare.

On Sunday he visited Arad, where he vowed to continue pursuing top Iranian officials.

"We are going after the IRGC (Iran's Revolutionary Guards), this criminal gang," Netanyahu told journalists at the site.

"We're going after them personally, their leaders, their installations, their economic assets. We're going after them personally."

One man was wounded Sunday in the commercial hub of Tel Aviv in what local media said was a blast from a cluster munition.


Türkiye Discusses Steps to End War with Iran, US, EU, Egypt in Calls

A man looks at residential buildings damaged by an Iranian missile strike in Arad, southern Israel, Sunday, March 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)
A man looks at residential buildings damaged by an Iranian missile strike in Arad, southern Israel, Sunday, March 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)
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Türkiye Discusses Steps to End War with Iran, US, EU, Egypt in Calls

A man looks at residential buildings damaged by an Iranian missile strike in Arad, southern Israel, Sunday, March 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)
A man looks at residential buildings damaged by an Iranian missile strike in Arad, southern Israel, Sunday, March 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan discussed steps to end the war between Iran, the United States and Israel with counterparts from Iran and Egypt, as well as US officials and the European Union, a Turkish diplomatic source said on Sunday.

The source said Fidan had held separate calls with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi, Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty, European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas, and US officials, without elaborating further.


Iran Minister Says US, Israeli Strikes Caused 'Heavy Damage' to Water, Energy Infrastructure

The Iranian flag waves in front of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) headquarters, before the beginning of a board of governors meeting, amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in Vienna, Austria, March 1, 2021. (Reuters)
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Iran Minister Says US, Israeli Strikes Caused 'Heavy Damage' to Water, Energy Infrastructure

The Iranian flag waves in front of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) headquarters, before the beginning of a board of governors meeting, amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in Vienna, Austria, March 1, 2021. (Reuters)

Iran's critical water and energy infrastructure have suffered extensive damage due to US and Israeli strikes on tens of thousands of civilian sites, officials said on Sunday.

Israel and the United States launched strikes on Iran on February 28, killing the Islamic republic's supreme leader and sparking a war that has since spread across the Middle East.

"The country's vital water and electricity infrastructure has suffered heavy damage following terrorist and cyber attacks by the United States and the Zionist regime," said energy minister Abbas Aliabadi, according to ISNA news agency, AFP reported.

"The attacks targeted dozens of water transmission and treatment facilities and destroyed parts of critical water supply networks," he noted, adding that efforts were under way to repair the damage.

Iran's Red Crescent chief Pirhossein Kolivand said the total number of damaged civilian sites "has reached 81,365 based on the latest field assessments".

He said the figure includes residential and commercial units, schools, medical centers and vehicles.

"Behind every damaged unit stands a family, a life, a memory, a livelihood, and a future that has collapsed beneath the rubble of war and violence," he added.

AFP has not been able to access sites or verify the figures outside of the Iranian capital, but journalists in Tehran have reported damage to multiple residential buildings and other civilian infrastructure.

More than 1,200 Iranians have been killed in US and Israeli strikes, according to the latest toll from Iran's health ministry on March 8, which could not be independently verified.

On Sunday, ISNA news agency reported that strikes had damaged a hospital in the southern city of Ahvaz, in Khuzestan province.

Other media, including Fars news agency, showed images of rescuers pulling bodies from the rubble of destroyed buildings in the northern city of Tabriz.

It was not immediately clear when those strikes took place.

Earlier on Sunday, US President Donald Trump threatened to strike Iran's power plants if it failed to reopen the strategic Strait of Hormuz within 48 hours.

Traffic through the vital strait -- through which 20 percent of the world's crude oil and liquefied natural gas normally passes -- has been brought to a near-standstill since the start of the war.

Iranian forces have attacked multiple vessels, saying they failed to heed "warnings" against transiting the waterway.

In recent days, Iran has allowed some vessels from countries it considers friendly to pass, while warning it would block ships from countries it says have joined the "aggression" against it.

In response to Trump, Iran threatened to target energy infrastructure and desalination plants across the region.