Iran’s nationwide internet shutdown has entered its second month, as reported by the monitoring group NetBlocks.
Israel claims to have struck university in Tehran
According to the Israeli military, a strike was conducted against a university in Tehran, which it alleges functioned as a series of “military compounds.”
Trump threatens to blow up Iran’s energy resources
United States President Donald Trump said on social media that his administration “is in serious discussions” with Iran to end military operations. However, he threatened mass destruction of the country’s energy resources unless a deal is reached “shortly.”
“Great progress has been made but, if for any reason a deal is not shortly reached, which it probably will be, and if the Hormuz Strait is not immediately ‘Open for Business,’ we will conclude our lovely ‘stay’ in Iran by blowing up and completely obliterating all of their Electric Generating Plants, Oil Wells and Kharg Island (and possibly all desalinization plants!) which we have purposefully not yet ‘touched.’,” Trump posted.
“This will be in retribution for our many soldiers, and others, that Iran had butchered and killed over the old Regime’s 47 year ‘Reign of Terror.'”
Iran confirms Navy chief Tangsiri’s death
The Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps on Monday, March 30, confirmed the death of Alireza Tangsiri, a rear admiral in the navy, after Israel had claimed that its strikes had killed him on Thursday, March 26.
A statement from the IRGC read on state television said Tangsiri “joined the ranks of Allah due to the severity of his injuries.”
It praised his efforts, particularly in helping Iran maintain a chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz. “Every fighter is a Tangsiri, and we will see what surprises they will bring in the days and months ahead,” the statement added.
Text messages urges Iranians to defend the country
A text message campaign is calling on Iranians to volunteer to defend the country against a threatened US ground operation, according to copies of messages seen by The Associated Press.
One message declared “a national campaign for those willing to sacrifice their lives,” with a link to register “to defend the country’s territory.” A second similar text message suggested volunteers would soon see “deployment.”
It wasn’t immediately clear if the messages were sent by a government body.
There have been multiple text message campaigns within Iran, either encouraging people to join pro-government forces or threatening those who would stand against them. Some are clearly from the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, while the source of others is more obscure.
We have a lot of options: Trump suggests taking Iran’s Kharg Island
Trump has raised the idea of American forces seizing Iran’s Kharg Island, its main oil terminal in the Persian Gulf.
The comment by Trump came in an interview published early Monday by The Financial Times.
“Maybe we take Kharg Island, maybe we don’t. We have a lot of options,” Trump told the newspaper. “It would also mean we had to be there (on Kharg Island) for a while.”
“I don’t think they have any defence,” he added. “We could take it very easily.”
The US already launched airstrikes once that targeted military positions on the island. Iran has threatened to launch its own ground invasion of Gulf Arab countries and mine the Persian Gulf if US troops land on its territory.
To get an amphibious invasion force to Kharg would mean transiting the Strait of Hormuz and most of the Persian Gulf. Experts say that holding the island would also be a challenge, because in addition to its missiles and drones, it would be well within artillery range from the Iranian mainland.
The President also said that Iran had agreed to allow 20 ships carrying oil through the Strait of Hormuz starting Monday morning and continuing over the next few days “out of a sign of respect.”
“I would only say that we’re doing extremely well in that negotiation but you never know with Iran because we negotiate with them and then we always have to blow them up,” he said.
Earlier, Iran’s parliament speaker, Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, dismissed the talks in Pakistan as a cover after more US troops get to the area. He said Iranian forces were “waiting for the arrival of American troops on the ground to set them on fire and punish their regional partners forever,” according to state media.
Iran launches attacks on Israel, more infrastructure targeted in Gulf states
Sirens sounded at dawn near Israel’s main nuclear research centre, a part of the country that has been targeted repeatedly in recent days. Israel’s military also said it had taken out two drones launched from Yemen, where the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels entered the war on Saturday, March 28, with their first missile attack.
Iran kept up the pressure on its Gulf Arab neighbours, as Saudi Arabia intercepted five missiles targeting its oil-rich Eastern Province, Bahrain sounded a missile alert, and a fireball erupted over Dubai as an incoming missile was taken out by defences.
In Kuwait, an Iranian attack hit a power and desalination plant, killing one worker and injuring 10 soldiers, the state-run KUNA news agency reported.
Desalination plants remain crucial to water supplies in the Gulf Arab states, and an Iranian attack previously damaged a desalination plant in Bahrain during the war. The facilities are typically paired with power plants, because of the large amount of energy required to remove salt from the water to make it drinkable.
Israel’s military launched a new wave of attacks on Iran, saying it was striking “military infrastructure” across Tehran. Iranian media also reported that one of the facilities of Tabriz Petrochemical was struck in a northern province of the country. They said no hazardous materials had been released.
In Lebanon, which Israel has invaded by ground, an Indonesian peacekeeper was killed and three others wounded when a projectile exploded near a village in the south.
Over the weekend, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the military will widen its invasion, expanding the “existing security strip” in that country’s south as it targets the Iran-linked Hezbollah militia.
UAE minister calls for ‘disarmament’ of Iranian missile program
Comments by Noura Al Kaabi, a minister of state at the United Arab Emirates’s Foreign Ministry, offered another signal that the Emirates wants more than just a ceasefire to stop the war.
In a column published by the state-linked, English-language newspaper The National, Al Kaabi denounced the missile and drone attacks targeting her country and Iran’s chokehold over the Strait of Hormuz.
“We want a normal neighbor,” she wrote. “An Iranian regime that launches ballistic missiles at homes, weaponizes global trade and supports proxies is no longer an acceptable feature of the regional landscape.”
She added: “We want a guarantee that this will never happen again.”
A petrochemical plant was hit in Iran strike, state media say
The plant is located some 530 kilometers northwest of the capital, Tehran.
Firefighters put out a blaze at the site, media reported.
Iranian lawmaker suggests Tehran leave nuclear nonproliferation treaty
The comment by Alaeddin Boroujerdi to Iranian state television comes after hard-liners in Tehran have long suggested taking the step.
“Why should we accept the restrictions?” Boroujerdi said. “We are not seeking a nuclear weapon anyway. But it’s not like that we are supposed to observe the rules of the game and they bomb us.”
The Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty is a landmark international accord meant to stop the spread of nuclear arms. Countries that signed it agreed not to build or obtain nuclear weapons and allow the International Atomic Energy Agency to conduct inspections to verify they correctly declared their programs. Iran has been restricting IAEA inspections for years and hasn’t let them visit the three enrichment sites bombed by the US in June.
Latest reports of fire in the region
Israel’s military said on Monday morning that it was striking ‘military infrastructure’ across Tehran.
Bahrain sounded its missile alert sirens twice on Monday.
Israel’s military twice warned that Iran had launched missiles at the country. After the first warning around dawn, sirens went off in the area near Israel’s main nuclear research center, a part of the country that has been targeted repeatedly over the past days.
Death toll climbs
In Lebanon, officials said more than 1,200 people have been killed and more than 1 million have been displaced. Five Israeli soldiers have also lost their lives.
In Iran, authorities say more than 1,900 people have been killed, while 19 have been reported dead in Israel.
In Iraq, where Iranian-supported militia groups have entered the conflict, 80 members of the security forces have died.
In Gulf states, 20 people have been killed. Four have been killed in the occupied West Bank.
Thirteen US service members have been killed in the war.
Oil prices rise again as concerns of global crisis grow
Iran’s attacks on the energy infrastructure of the region and its stranglehold on the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the world’s oil is shipped in peacetime, has sent oil prices skyrocketing and given rise to growing concerns about a global energy crisis.
In early trading, the spot price of Brent crude oil, the international standard, was around USD 115, up nearly 60 per cent from when the US and Israel started the war with attacks on Iran on February 28.
As pressure has grown on Trump to bring an end to the conflict, the US has presented Iran a 15-point plan that includes it agreeing to open the Strait of Hormuz to shipping. Iran, meantime, has produced a five-point plan with its own terms, including maintaining its sovereignty over the key waterway.
Pakistan announced Sunday, March 29, that it would soon host talks between the US and Iran, though there was no immediate word from Washington or Tehran, and it was unclear whether discussions on the monthlong war would be direct or indirect.
Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar the talks would be held “in the coming days.”
Trump says diplomatic approach going well but suggests military expansion is possible
(With inputs from agencies)
