live U.S. to apply measures 'never seen before' on Iran, Trump official says
The U.S. will impose "never seen before" measures on Iran in order to economically isolate the country, Washington's Treasury Secreta...
A U.S. submarine strike sank an Iranian warship off the coast of Sri Lanka, leaving at least 80 dead, the country’s deputy foreign minister said. Meanwhile, Iran postponed the funeral of its late Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, according to state media.
Elsewhere, NATO forces intercepted an ballistic missile launched from Iran towards Turkish airspace and fighting also intensified along the Israel–Lebanon border.
At least 80 dead in U.S. attack on Iranian warship
Sri Lankan naval crews launched a search and rescue operation after receiving a distress call from the vessel.
Navy spokesman Commander Buddhika Sampath said 32 people had been pulled from the sea and taken to hospital.
The U.S. Department of Defense later released footage of the submarine strike. U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said: “An American submarine sank an Iranian warship that thought it was safe in international waters.”
Mourners in Iran’s capital, Tehran, had planned to pay their respects to the late Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Wednesday.
However, Iranian state media reported that the funeral had been postponed. A new date for the ceremony will be announced later.
A ballistic missile launched from Iran towards Turkish airspace was intercepted by NATO air and missile defence forces deployed in the eastern Mediterranean, according to the Turkish Ministry of Defence.
A NATO spokesperson condemned Iran’s targeting of Türkiye, which has the alliance’s second-largest military. Iran did not immediately comment on the incident.
Mojtaba Khamenei, the son of Iran’s late Supreme Leader, survived U.S. and Israeli airstrikes that killed his father and several other senior figures, two Iranian sources told Reuters on Wednesday.
He has since emerged as the frontrunner to succeed his father as Supreme Leader.
Israel bombed a four-storey residential block in the eastern Lebanese city of Baalbek, killing four people and wounding six others, Lebanon’s state news agency NNA reported on Wednesday.
Fighting along the Lebanese–Israeli border has escalated since Monday after Hezbollah fired missiles at Israel. In response, Israel struck targets in Lebanon and sent troops across the border into southern Lebanon.
At least 1,200 people have been evacuated from Iran through Azerbaijan’s Astara land border since the conflict began on Saturday (28 February).
Citizens from China, several European countries including Italy and Poland, as well as South Africa and the Philippines, are among those who have crossed the border.
Disruption in the Strait of Hormuz has increased the strategic importance of Bab al-Mandab, raising fears that instability in both waterways could trigger a wider global energy and trade crisis.
Flights at Catania airport in Sicily will remain suspended until early Friday as ash from Mount Etna continues to disrupt air travel, following hundreds of cancellations and diversions over the past week.
Iran says the Strait of Hormuz remains under its control, rejecting U.S. President Donald Trump’s claim of “total control” over the strategic waterway and insisting it will not reopen until Washington fulfils its commitments under an interim deal.
Iran and the United States remain at loggerheads over efforts to agree a permanent end to the war in the Gulf, according to a senior Iranian source who said there had been no progress in talks to revive the interim deal agreed in June and define a timeframe to implement it.
Russia has accused Ukraine of threatening global grain supplies after recent strikes on Black Sea agricultural infrastructure, while Moscow carried out a new overnight attack on Ukraine’s major Danube port of Izmail.
The suspension of two major grain terminals in Russia’s Black Sea port of Novorossiysk could increase pressure on Kazakhstan’s agricultural market if Russian exporters divert supplies to Central Asia at discounted prices.
Georgia’s Prime Minister says the EU’s inclusion of a major Black Sea cable project on a key infrastructure list is fresh evidence of the country’s importance to regional energy and digital connectivity.
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has dismissed Security Council Secretary Armen Grigoryan and appointed former parliament speaker Alen Simonyan as his replacement.
Central Asia’s economy has surpassed $543 billion, driven by Kazakhstan’s economic weight, strong exports and foreign investment, while growing trade across Asia points to an increasingly connected region.
The United Nations refugee agency is planning a settlement and carpet-weaving workshop for Afghan returnees in Kabul as the country grapples with large-scale returns and growing pressure on housing, jobs and basic services.
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