Israel launched a new wave of strikes on Iran early Friday, March 27, ahead of the planned United Nations Security Council meeting to discuss attacks on Iranian civilian infrastructure, while Iran and the United States appeared at a diplomatic impasse, setting the stage for more potential escalation as the first month of the Middle East war nears its end.
As the war entered day 28, Israel’s Friday attack on targets “in the heart of Tehran” came after the country said it would be “intensifying” its strikes on Iranian weapons production facilities, but there was no immediate information on what was hit.
Smoke also rose over Beirut, although Israel did not immediately report hitting the Lebanese capital, while air raid sirens sounded in Israel as the military said it was working to intercept Iranian missiles. Iran kept up its attacks on its Gulf Arab neighbours, with incoming drones and missiles reported in both Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates.
Since the war began, more than 1,900 people have been killed in Iran, the Health Ministry said. Meanwhile, 18 people have died in Israel, and at least three Israeli soldiers have also been killed in Lebanon. At least 13 American troops have been killed. Four people in the occupied West Bank and 20 in Gulf Arab states have also died.
Authorities said more than 1,100 people have died in Lebanon. In Iraq, where Iranian-supported militia groups have entered the conflict, 80 members of the security forces have been killed. Millions of people in Lebanon and Iran have been displaced.
UN Security Council to hold closed meeting on Iran
The UN Security Council scheduled a closed consultation on Iran on Friday morning.
Russia asked for the meeting on US-Israeli attacks on civilian infrastructure in the country, two UN diplomats said, speaking late Thursday on condition of anonymity because the meeting is not public.
“The Russian Federation has requested closed-door consultations with the UN Security Council due to the ongoing strikes on civilian infrastructure in Iran, including educational and healthcare facilities.”
The United States, which holds the Security Council presidency, scheduled the meeting.
The UN Human Rights Council will be holding a separate meeting on the same day in Geneva, centred around the deadly strike on the Minab girls’ school in Iran.
Saudi Arabia urges citizens to leave Lebanon immediately
The Saudi Embassy in Beirut said in a statement on Friday that the decision is related to the “repercussions of the current events” taking place in Lebanon.
The embassy added that Saudi Arabia’s travel ban to Lebanon has been in place for years.
Israel has moved thousands of troops across the border into Lebanon, and Israeli forces and Iran-backed Hezbollah militants have been fighting on the ground for at least three weeks.
Missile alerts in Bahrain and Qatar
Bahrain sounded its missile alert siren late Friday morning over an incoming Iranian attack.
Qatar, which had not seen a major attack in days, also sounded its alerts on Friday.
World now recognises Iran as a global threat: PM Netanyahu
Israeli newspaper, Israel Hayom, quoted Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as saying that Iran will collapse but not immediately with a “knockout blow.”
He said, “There is a perception that Iran will collapse immediately and peace will prevail, but things do not work that way.”
“There will be a change for the better to some extent, but not a knockout blow. The world now understands what we have been saying: that Iran poses a global threat.”
Russia’s top diplomat denies that Moscow is providing intelligence to Iran
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that Russia and Iran have a military-technical cooperation agreement, and Moscow “supplied Iran with certain types of military products.”
“But we can’t accept the accusations that we’re helping Iran with intelligence,” Lavrov said in an interview to France Television on Thursday night.
He added that “everyone knows” the coordinates of US military bases in the region. “It’s public information. I’m not surprised that Iran is attacking them,” Lavrov said.
Kuwait’s Shuwaikh port attacked
Kuwait Port Authority said drones targeted the Shuwaikh Port near Kuwait City on Thursday morning. The authority said in a statement that the attack caused “material damage” but reported no casualties.
Thai ship under attack in the Strait
A Thai-flagged cargo ship that came under attack from Iran in the Strait of Hormuz and was abandoned by its crew has run aground, Iranian media reported.
The Mayuree Naree came under attack on March 11, with three of its mariners going missing and still not found.
The semiofficial Tasnim and Fars news agencies, believed to be close to Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, reported that the cargo ship ran aground near the village of Ramchah on Qeshm Island.
Israeli media says more than 8,000 tons of ammunition arrived in Tel Aviv
Times of Israel reported that since the start of the war, more than 8,000 tons of arms, ammunition and military equipment have arrived in Tel Aviv.
Iran sends letter to UN over threats against country’s officials
Iran sent a letter to the United Nations over claims that the country’s foreign minister and parliament speaker had been “targets for assassination.”
The letter, dated Thursday and signed by Ambassador Amir Saeid Iravani, focused on media reports that Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and Speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf both had been spared for the time being by Israel and the US as negotiations to reach a ceasefire in the war go on.
“The reports indicate the existence of an operational framework contemplating the assassination of the highest-ranking political officials of the Islamic Republic of Iran,” the letter reads.
It added, “The conditional nature of the purported ‘suspension’ further underscores that the threat remains real, deliberate and ongoing.”
The letter called any such program “state-sponsored terrorism.”
The war’s opening airstrikes by Israel killed Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Other military commanders have been killed as well.
Qalibaf has been considered as a possible negotiating partner to the US, while Araghchi has continued diplomatic outreach.
(With inputs from AP)
