Mohammad Bagher Zolghadr and Ali Larijani
The spokesman of Iran’s top military command said on Tuesday, March 24, that its armed forces will fight “until complete victory.”
The comments by Maj Gen. Ali Abdollahi Aliabadi of the Khatam-al Anbiya Central Headquarters appeared to be related to United States President Donald Trump’s announcement that there were negotiations ongoing between Tehran and Washington.
Iran has denied that any talks are taking place, though its foreign minister has been talking to counterparts around the region.
Iranian state television quoted Aliabadi as saying, “Iran’s powerful armed forces are proud, victorious and steadfast in defending Iran’s integrity, and this path will continue until complete victory.”
The general did not say what “complete victory” would look like, but it appeared likely Iran’s military was trying to warn against offering concessions in any possible negotiations with the United States.
Iran has named a former Iranian Revolutionary Guard commander as the new secretary of the country’s Supreme National Security Council, replacing Ali Larijani, who was killed in an airstrike.
Iranian state television identified the new secretary as Mohammad Bagher Zolghadr.
Zolghadr reached the rank of brigadier general in the Guard. He had been serving as the deputy chief of strategy of the judiciary for eight years until 2020.
The attacks from US and Israeli forces left more than 82,000 civilian structures damaged or destroyed, the Iranian Red Crescent Society said. The attacks also struck 62,000 homes, 281 hospitals, pharmacies, and medical centres as well. Moreover, 498 schools were damaged while 17 rescue points and 12 rescue vehicles were destroyed.
Lebanon’s Foreign Minister Youssef Ragi on Tuesday ordered the withdrawal of the Iranian ambassador, Mohammad Reza Sheybani, declaring him persona non grata and giving him until March 29 to leave the country.
Foreign Ministry spokesperson Denise Rahme told AP that the Iranian Embassy will still have a charge d’affaires to head its diplomatic mission.
“Today, I requested the Secretary General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Emigrants to summon the Iranian Chargé d’Affaires in Lebanon, to inform him of the decision to withdraw approval of the credentials of the appointed Iranian Ambassador, Mohammad Reza Sheybani, and to declare him persona non grata, obliging him to leave Lebanese territory within a period not exceeding 29 March,” he said.
Pakistan’s Prime Minister says his country is ready to “facilitate meaningful and conclusive talks” to end the Iran war.
Shehbaz Sharif made the comment in a post on X.
Pakistan is one of the countries pushing diplomatically for talks between Iran and the United States after President Donald Trump said Monday there were ongoing negotiations between Washington and Tehran.
“Subject to concurrence by the US and Iran, Pakistan stands ready and honoured to be the host to facilitate meaningful and conclusive talks for a comprehensive settlement of the ongoing conflict,” Sharif wrote.
Sailing through the Strait of Hormuz – the only sea channel linking the oil-rich Persian Gulf with open oceans – does not require permission from any country, a senior government official said as more Indian vessels prepared to sail through the war-hit zone.
Rejecting talks of stranded Indian vessels in the Persian Gulf being allowed to sail through the strait only after reaching some kind of an agreement with Iran, which controls the narrow shipping lane, Rajesh Kumar Singh, Special Secretary at the Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways, said the movement through strait is taken by shipping companies and their contracting entities after considering safety and other conditions.
Movement of ships through the strait had come to a near halt after the US and Israel launched military strikes against Iran, and Tehran’s sweeping retaliation that hit US bases in the Gulf regions as well as Israel.
“No permission is required to sail through the strait,” Sinha said at the media briefing on the developments in West Asia.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke to Donald Trump, focusing on the crisis in the Middle East. Modi called it a “useful exchange of views” and stressed that India “supports de-escalation and restoration of peace at the earliest.”
He also emphasized that the Strait of Hormuz needs to be “open, secure and accessible.”
“Received a call from President Trump and had a useful exchange of views on the situation in West Asia,” PM Modi said. “India supports de-escalation and restoration of peace at the earliest.”
Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr declared a “national energy emergency,” due to the war casuing risk to domestic fuel supplies and energy stability.
Under the declaration, which would initially last for a year, Marcos would lead a contingency committee that would monitor and ensure the availability and orderly distribution of fuel, food, medicines, agricultural products and other basic goods.
Authorities were ordered to take action against the hoarding, profiteering and manipulation of the supply of petroleum products. The Department of Migrant Workers, meanwhile, was asked to brace for the possible rescue and evacuation of Filipinos in the Middle East.
More than 2 million Filipinos live and work in the Middle East, including about 31,000 in Israel and 1,000 in Iran, but most have opted to stay in the region.
“A state of national energy emergency is hereby declared in light of the ongoing conflict in the Middle East, and the resulting imminent danger posed upon the availability and stability of the country’s energy supply,” the President said in an executive order.
Israel’s Magen David Adom rescue services said a 40 year-old man was in moderate condition and a woman and two-month old baby suffered minor injuries in the attack, in a day of heavy missile fire from Iran.
The impact caused damage to a mobile home, according to Fire and Rescue services.
Many members of Israel’s Bedouin community live in unrecognized villages in the south, often in mobile and makeshift homes. They face severe shortages of bomb shelters.
Meanwhile, Israel’s military says it identified more missiles launched from Iran towards southern Israel, for the second time in an hour. It’s the tenth wave of missiles launched toward Israel from Iran on Tuesday.
At the same time, sirens sounded in parts of northern Israel with no advance warning, suggesting fire from Lebanon.
Israel said it carried out an extensive series of strikes on Iranian “production sites,” without providing more information. In Tehran, a massive blast was heard in northern neighbourhoods and another in the city centre.
Iran also fired multiple waves of missiles at Israel.
In Tel Aviv, a missile with a 100-kilogram (220-pound) warhead slammed into a street in the city centre, blowing out windows of an apartment building and sending smoke billowing. Four people suffered minor wounds, rescue service worker Yoel Moshe said.
“It feels like you’re a (sitting) duck, waiting for the missiles to hit you, or someone next to you,” said Amir Hasid, emerging from a shelter.
In Kuwait, power lines were hit by air defence shrapnel, causing partial electricity outages for several hours. Bahrain said it was attacked with missiles and drones, the United Arab Emirates said air defence systems responded to similar attacks, and Saudi Arabia said it destroyed Iranian drones targeting its oil-rich Eastern Province.
Israel pounded Beirut’s southern suburbs, saying that it was targeting infrastructure used by the Iran-linked Hezbollah militant group.
A strike on a residential apartment southeast of the Lebanese capital killed at least three people, including a 3-year-old girl, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry. Another five people were killed in the south.
The dramatic move offers the latest evidence of the deterioration in relations between Lebanon and Iran. Iranian flights have been banned from landing in Lebanon, out of fear that they would carry weapons or funding for Hezbollah, and some top Lebanese government officials have been critical of Tehran’s role in the country, accusing it of dragging Lebanon into another war with Israel.
Authorities say Israeli strikes have killed more than 1,000 people in Lebanon and displaced more than 1 million.
Iran’s death toll has surpassed 1,500, its Health Ministry has said. In Israel, 15 people have been killed. At least 13 US military members have been killed, along with more than a dozen civilians, in the occupied West Bank and Gulf Arab states.
(With inputs from the Associated Press)
This post was last modified on March 24, 2026 7:48 pm