عربي English Türkçe اردو فارسى
Logo
Latest News
World

Israel Strikes 'Decimated' Iran as War Roils Markets

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Iran was being "decimated" in the war. Ronen Zvulun / POOL/AFP
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Iran was being "decimated" in the war. Ronen Zvulun / POOL/AFP
TT
TT

Israel Strikes 'Decimated' Iran as War Roils Markets

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Iran was being "decimated" in the war. Ronen Zvulun / POOL/AFP
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Iran was being "decimated" in the war. Ronen Zvulun / POOL/AFP

Israel launched a new wave of strikes on Tehran on Friday after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Iran was being "decimated."

The Iranian capital, under near daily bombardment since a joint US-Israeli attack started the war on February 28, was hit by strikes the Israeli military said were "targeting infrastructure of the Iranian terror regime".

The bombardment came shortly after Netanyahu said the Middle East war had eradicated the Iranian republic's capacity to enrich uranium or manufacture ballistic missiles as the conflict heads towards a fourth week.

"We are winning and Iran is being decimated," the Israeli premier said at a press conference.

But Iran has kept up retaliatory fire on Israel and Gulf nations, including attacks on oil and gas facilities that have exacerbated concerns of a global energy supply shock.

Several blasts were heard over Jerusalem on Thursday night as Israel's military said it had identified three rounds of Iranian missile fire, with no reports of casualties.

The United Arab Emirates and Kuwait reported missile attacks, while Saudi Arabia intercepted more than a dozen drones early Friday as Gulf nations began the observation of Eid al-Fitr, the holiday that marks the end of the Islamic fasting month of Ramadan.

The war, which has killed hundreds and displaced thousands, has quickly spread to Lebanon where the Israeli military has carried out regular bombardments in response to rocket fire on Israel by Iran ally Hezbollah.

Lebanon's health ministry said the death toll from Israeli airstrikes on southern and eastern Lebanon as well as on the capital Beirut and its southern suburbs has surpassed 1,000.

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun, during a meeting with French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot on Thursday, renewed a call for a truce between Israel and Hezbollah and the opening of negotiations that France's president later said depended on Israel agreeing to join.

Netanyahu, enjoying rising popularity at home from a conflict that has drawn attention away from the Gaza war, said Israel was "winning" against Iran.

"I also see this war ending a lot faster than people think," he said, without providing a specific timeframe.

- 'Cracks' in Iran -

Netanyahu said Israel saw "cracks" in the Iranian leadership and was trying to exploit them.

"Mojtaba, the replacement ayatollah, has not shown his face," he said, in a reference to Iran's newly appointed supreme leader, the son of Ali Khamenei who was killed in an Israeli airstrike on the first day of the war.

Fears of energy supply shortages have sent gas prices surging and oil prices sitting around $100 a barrel.

There was slight optimism on Friday as crude prices eased during early Asia trading in response to Netanyahu's remarks suggesting that the war would end earlier than many feared.

Iranians were marking the new year spring festival of Nowruz on Friday, as well as the final day of Ramadan, with state media reporting Iran would observe the Eid holiday on Saturday.

- No timeframe -

US President Donald Trump indicated he did not know in advance about Israel's raid on South Pars, which supplies about 70 percent of Iran's domestic needs.

"We get along great. It's coordinated, but on occasion, he'll do something" that Washington opposes, Trump said.

Netanyahu said Israel acted alone with the strike and it would respect Trump's request to hold off on future attacks on the gas field.

Trump warned that the United States would "blow up" South Pars if Tehran did not stop attacking Qatar but he said there was no current plan to send ground troops into Iran.

Netanyahu indicated that changing the government in Tehran would require "a ground component", without elaborating.

"There are many possibilities for this ground component and I take the liberty of not sharing (those) with you," he said.

As concerns grow over the conflict's economic fallout, President Emmanuel Macron said France planned to talk with permanent members of the UN Security Council about establishing a framework to secure navigation in the Strait of Hormuz -- but only after fighting had stopped.

Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth said there was no clear end in sight for the war.

"We wouldn't want to set a definitive timeframe," he told reporters.

"It will be at the president's choosing, ultimately, where we say, 'Hey, we've achieved what we need to.'"

 

 

Most Viewed

 
 
World

Running App Reveals Location of France Aircraft Carrier in Mediterranean

French President Emmanuel Macron (C) visits the French aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle, deployed to the Mediterranean following Iranian drone strikes on Cyprus on the Mediterranean Sea, on March 9, 2026, on the sidelines of his trip to Cyprus to discuss regional security. (Photo by Gonzalo Fuentes / POOL / AFP)
French President Emmanuel Macron (C) visits the French aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle, deployed to the Mediterranean following Iranian drone strikes on Cyprus on the Mediterranean Sea, on March 9, 2026, on the sidelines of his trip to Cyprus to discuss regional security. (Photo by Gonzalo Fuentes / POOL / AFP)
TT
TT

Running App Reveals Location of France Aircraft Carrier in Mediterranean

French President Emmanuel Macron (C) visits the French aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle, deployed to the Mediterranean following Iranian drone strikes on Cyprus on the Mediterranean Sea, on March 9, 2026, on the sidelines of his trip to Cyprus to discuss regional security. (Photo by Gonzalo Fuentes / POOL / AFP)
French President Emmanuel Macron (C) visits the French aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle, deployed to the Mediterranean following Iranian drone strikes on Cyprus on the Mediterranean Sea, on March 9, 2026, on the sidelines of his trip to Cyprus to discuss regional security. (Photo by Gonzalo Fuentes / POOL / AFP)

A member of the French navy using an app to track his jogging performance broadcast the exact position of his country's flagship aircraft carrier, a newspaper has reported.

France deployed the Charles de Gaulle -- and accompanying frigates -- to the Mediterranean in early March shortly after US-Israeli strikes on Iran sparked war in the Middle East.

It has been in the eastern Mediterranean since March 9 as part of what Emmanuel Macron has called a "purely defensive" posture in support of France's allies in the conflict.

Le Monde newspaper reported on Thursday that the runner jogged in circles on a ship in movement on March 13 in the middle of the sea northwest of Cyprus, according to his public profile on the Strava fitness tracking app, while satellite images showed the aircraft carrier was in the immediate vicinity at the time.

The same person had also been running in Copenhagen, Denmark, in late February, across a bridge from Malmo, Sweden, where the Charles de Gaulle was anchored at the time, Strava data showed.

The French armed forces told AFP appropriate measures would be taken if the report was true, as members of the navy were regularly reminded about the risk of security breaches using such apps.

"The reported case -- if confirmed -- does not comply with the current instructions," it said.

Running app profiles have given away sensitive information before.

World

Israeli Reservist Arrested on Suspicion of Spying for Iran

A long exposure showing the interception of a ballistic missile in the skies above Tel Aviv, as sirens sounds across central Israel, 20 March 2026. EPA/ABIR SULTAN
A long exposure showing the interception of a ballistic missile in the skies above Tel Aviv, as sirens sounds across central Israel, 20 March 2026. EPA/ABIR SULTAN
TT
TT

Israeli Reservist Arrested on Suspicion of Spying for Iran

A long exposure showing the interception of a ballistic missile in the skies above Tel Aviv, as sirens sounds across central Israel, 20 March 2026. EPA/ABIR SULTAN
A long exposure showing the interception of a ballistic missile in the skies above Tel Aviv, as sirens sounds across central Israel, 20 March 2026. EPA/ABIR SULTAN

Israeli police said on Friday they had arrested an army reservist who served on the Iron Dome air defense system on suspicion of passing secrets to Iran.

The arrest comes as Israel and the United States are locked in a war with Iran that has spread across the Middle East.

"Raz Cohen, a 26-year-old resident of Jerusalem who served in the reserves in the Iron Dome system, was recently arrested on suspicion of committing security offenses involving contact with Iranian intelligence," Israeli police said.

"Over the course of several months, the citizen maintained contact with Iranian intelligence operatives and, under their instructions, was asked to carry out various security missions, including passing on sensitive security information."

Iran has been firing barrages of missiles at Israel in retaliation for a US-Israeli bombing campaign that began on February 28 with the killing of supreme leader Ali Khamenei.

Israel's state-of-the-art air defenses have managed to intercept many of the missiles fired by Tehran, but there have been deaths and damage to some strategic sites.

According to Israeli rescue services and authorities, Iranian missile fire toward Israel has killed 15 civilians in the country since the start of the war.

Four Palestinian women also died after Iranian missile fire in the occupied West Bank, the Ramallah-based health ministry said.

World

Italy, Germany and France Offer Help with Hormuz Only after Ceasefire

Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the Netherlands say they are ready "to contribute to appropriate efforts to ensure safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz" post-ceasefire. Giuseppe CACACE / AFP/File
Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the Netherlands say they are ready "to contribute to appropriate efforts to ensure safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz" post-ceasefire. Giuseppe CACACE / AFP/File
TT
TT

Italy, Germany and France Offer Help with Hormuz Only after Ceasefire

Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the Netherlands say they are ready "to contribute to appropriate efforts to ensure safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz" post-ceasefire. Giuseppe CACACE / AFP/File
Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the Netherlands say they are ready "to contribute to appropriate efforts to ensure safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz" post-ceasefire. Giuseppe CACACE / AFP/File

Six major international powers said Thursday they were ready "to contribute to" ensuring safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz, though three stressed that any initiative would take place post-ceasefire.

Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the Netherlands said Thursday they were ready "to contribute to appropriate efforts to ensure safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz".

The grouping said they "welcome the commitment of nations who are engaging in preparatory planning", as they condemned "in the strongest terms recent attacks by Iran on unarmed commercial vessels in the Gulf".

But Italy, Germany and France made clear later Thursday that they were not talking about any immediate military help, but rather a potential multilateral initiative after a ceasefire.

The declaration came as an effective Iranian blockade of the strait has paralyzed commercial shipping through the crucial maritime chokepoint, which in peacetime sees a fifth of global crude oil and liquefied natural gas pass through it.

The war, which erupted on February 28 when the United States and Israel began bombing Iran, has led Tehran to retaliate with strikes across the Gulf region.

Twenty-three commercial vessels, including 10 tankers, have reported incidents or having been attacked.

The situation has left around 20,000 seafarers stranded on approximately 3,200 vessels west of the strait, according to the International Maritime Organization.

"We express our deep concern about the escalating conflict," the allies' joint statement said.

"We call on Iran to cease immediately its threats, laying of mines, drone and missile attacks and other attempts to block the Strait to commercial shipping," it added.

"Freedom of navigation is a fundamental principle of international law, including under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.

"The effects of Iran's actions will be felt by people in all parts of the world, especially the most vulnerable."

- Not a 'war mission' -

US President Donald Trump has urged other world powers, and NATO, to help reopen the Hormuz Strait to commercial shipping.

But they have rebuffed his call in the short term while insisting they were open to discussions and planning.

Italy's Defense Minister Guido Crosetto said the statement by the six countries should not be seen as a "war mission".

"No entry into Hormuz without a truce and a comprehensive multilateral initiative", for which "it is right and appropriate for the United Nations to provide the legal framework", he said in a statement.

And in Berlin, Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said that any German military involvement "would depend on the situation after a ceasefire... and whether we could participate within the framework of an international mandate".

Military involvement would also require approval by the German parliament, he added.

French President Emmanuel Macron told reporters his country planned to sound out permanent members of the UN Security Council on the possibility of establishing a UN framework for future plans -- once the ongoing exchange of fire had ended -- to secure navigation in the Strait of Hormuz.

"We have initiated an exploratory process, and we will see in the coming days whether it stands a chance of succeeding," he said in Brussels following a European summit that took place on Thursday.

A UK defense official told reporters at a briefing Wednesday that "the level of threat is such that I don't see many nations being willing to put warships into the middle of that threat right now".

The defense official noted London has sent a "small number" of additional military "planners" to US Central Command to "help with the planning and option development for... whatever comes next in the Strait of Hormuz might look like".