KUWAIT CITY: Smoke rises from a high-rise building following a drone attack.—AFP
DUBAI: Iran’s Assembly of Experts has named Mojtaba Khamenei to replace his father, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, as the country’s new supreme leader, state media reported on Sunday.
Mojtaba, a mid-ranking cleric with close ties to the powerful Revolutionary Guards, had long been viewed by elements of Iran’s ruling establishment as a potential successor to his father, who was assassinated after the United States and Israel launched strikes on Iran.
Although Iran’s ruling ideology frowns on the principle of hereditary succession, he has a powerful following within the Guards and his dead father’s still-influential office.
A member of the council, Ayatollah Mohsen Heidari Alekasir, said in a video on Sunday that a candidate had been selected based on Khamenei’s guidance that Iran’s top leader should be “hated by the enemy”.
“Even the Great Satan (US) has mentioned his name,” Heidari Alekasir said of the chosen successor, days after US President Donald Trump said Mojtaba was an “unacceptable” choice for him.
Mojtaba amassed power under his father as a senior figure close to the security forces and the vast business empire they control. He has opposed reformers seeking to engage with the West as it tries to curb Iran’s nuclear programme.
His close ties with the elite Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) give him added leverage across Iran’s political and security apparatus and he has built up influence behind the scenes as his father’s “gatekeeper”, sources familiar with the matter said.
Mojtaba was born in 1969 in Mashhad and grew up as his father was helping lead the opposition to the Shah. As a young man, he served in the Iran-Iraq war.
Mojtaba studied in the seminaries of Qom, Iran’s centre of theological learning, and has the clerical rank of Hojjatoleslam.
He has never held a formal position in the Islamic Republic’s government. He has appeared at loyalist rallies, but has rarely spoken in public.
MIRANSHAH: A child was killed and four people were left injured on Sunday after a mortar shell allegedly fired from the Afghan side landed in a residential area during an exchange of fire near the Pak-Afghan border in North Waziristan, police said.
According to police sources, the incident occurred at around 7:30pm when heavy firing erupted between both sides of the border in the Ghulam Khan area.
During the exchange of fire, a mortar shell fired from across the border fell in the nearby village of Golakhel and exploded in a residential locality, they added.
As a result of the explosion, they said a minor died on the spot while four other people sustained injuries.
Local residents immediately took the injured to the Tehsil Headquarters Hospital in Miranshah, where they were being provided medical treatment.
Hospital sources said some of the injured were in critical condition, while doctors and medical staff remained engaged in emergency treatment.
Following the incident, Tehsildar Miranshah Ghani Wazir and Tehsildar Ghulam Khan Aziz Wazir reached the hospital’s emergency ward on the directives of North Waziristan Deputy Commissioner Yousaf Karim.
They directed doctors and hospital staff to ensure the provision of all necessary medical facilities to the injured.
Officials said the emergency department of the hospital had been put on high alert and treatment of the injured was continuing.
The Ghulam Khan border crossing in North Waziristan is an important route for trade and travel between Pakistan and Afghanistan. However, the crossing remains completely closed at present due to the prevailing security situation.
A civilian was killed, and a police constable was injured when armed men on motorcycles opened fire on a police patrol in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Lakki Marwat district, officials said.
A police official confirmed that the attack occurred in the Serai Naurang town, adding that “a gun battle between the police and the assailants erupted after the firing attack.”
The official said the bodies of the civilian and the injured cop were taken to the Tehsil Headquarters Hospital in the Serai Naurang town.
The attack comes amid a worsening security situation in Lakki Marwat district, which has witnessed repeated militant assaults on police and security forces in recent years.
The area, along with neighbouring Bannu and North Waziristan, has experienced a surge in attacks attributed largely to the outlawed Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), with patrols, checkpoints and police stations frequently targeted.
• Sale fast-tracks 12,000 thousand-pound bomb bodies in $152m deal
• Secretary of State Rubio cites ‘emergency’ to justify sidestepping lawmakers
• Democrat slams White House, calls it an ‘emergency of its own creation’
WASHINGTON: The US State Department said on Friday it has approved a sale worth $151.8 million to Israel for munitions and munitions support, without submitting it for congressional review.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio determined that an emergency existed requiring an immediate sale to Israel, the State Department said. The announcement came a week after the U.S. and Israel began attacks on Iran.
Israel had requested 12,000 BLU-110A/B general purpose, 1,000-pound bomb bodies, the State Department said in a statement. The principal contractor will be Repkon USA, located in Texas, it said.
The State Department said Rubio determined that the sale is “in the national security interests of the United States”.
Democratic US Rep Gregory Meeks said Rubio’s decision to use emergency authority to bypass congressional review showed a lack of preparation for the war on Iran.
“The Trump administration has repeatedly insisted it was fully prepared for this war,” Meeks said in a statement. “Rushing to invoke emergency authority to circumvent Congress tells a different story. This is an emergency of the Trump administration’s own creation.”
The US and Israel launched an air assault on Iran on Feb. 28, and Iran responded with its own attacks in Israel and on regional countries with US bases.
In the last week, US and Israeli attacks have killed at least 1,332 Iranian civilians and thousands more have been wounded, according to Iran’s UN ambassador. Many top Iranian leaders, including Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, have also been killed.
The US military has said six service members were killed in a strike on a Kuwait facility, while Israel has said at least 10 civilians have been killed across Israel so far.
Washington has maintained strong support for Israel under President Donald Trump and former President Joe Biden during more than two years of Israeli wars in Gaza, Lebanon and Iran.
The Trump administration has also previously made military sales to Israel by skipping congressional reviews, as did the Biden administration when it was in power.
Washington’s military support has faced scrutiny from rights experts, particularly during Israel’s assault on Gaza that has killed tens of thousands, caused a hunger crisis, internally displaced Gaza’s entire population and led to assessments of genocide from scholars and a UN inquiry.
Israel calls its actions self-defence after Hamas-led militants killed 1,200 people and took more than 250 hostages in an October 2023 attack.
• Tehran apologises to neighbours as war with US, Israel enters second week
• Says it will attack Gulf states only if strikes originate from their territory
• Iranian drones strike US bases in UAE, Bahrain
• Israeli army says 3,400 strikes conducted on Iran since war began
• Ankara warns Tehran against firing more missiles towards Turkiye
• Saudi minister warns Iran against ‘miscalculation’; Arab League to meet today
• UAE president tells ‘enemies’ country is ‘no easy prey’
• Emirates says intercepted 15 ballistic missiles, 119 drones
TEHRAN: Israel and Iran traded attacks as the Middle East war entered a second week on Saturday, while Tehran made an unusual apology to neighbouring states, apparently seeking to calm regional anger at Iranian strikes on Gulf civilian targets, but it dismissed US President Donald Trump’s demand for Tehran’s unconditional surrender as “a dream”.
“I personally apologise to neighbouring countries that were affected by Iran’s actions,’’ Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said, urging them not to join US-Israeli attacks on Iran.
He said the country’s temporary leadership council had agreed to suspend attacks on nearby states unless strikes on Iran originated from their territory.
Trump nonetheless cast Iran’s apology as a surrender, while saying the country would be “hit very hard” on Saturday and warned the US could widen its attacks to areas and groups of people that were not previously designated targets.
Iran targets US bases
Pezeshkian’s comments caused a political stir in Iran, prompting his office to reiterate Iran’s military would respond firmly to attacks from US bases in the region.
Hours after Pezeshkian’s announcement, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said their drones struck a US air combat centre at Al Dhafra Air Base, near Abu Dhabi, capital of the United Arab Emirates. The Revolutionary Guards also targeted US forces at a base in Bahrain, the Iranian state media said. Blasts were also heard in Doha, a Reuters witness said.
Gholamhossein Mohseni-Ejei, Iran’s judiciary chief, said evidence from Iran’s armed forces indicates that the territory of some regional countries was being used to carry out attacks against Iran.
Heavy strikes on those targets will continue, said Mohseni-Ejei, who is also a member of the interim leadership council set up after Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was assassinated in an airstrike on his compound at the start of the conflict.
Huge explosions were heard in several parts of the Iranian capital, state media reported.
The US-Israeli attacks have killed at least 1,332 Iranian civilians and wounded thousands, according to Iran’s UN ambassador, Amir Saeid Iravani. Iranian attacks have killed 10 people in Israel and at least six US service members have been killed.
Meanwhile, a classified report by the US National Intelligence Council has found that even a large-scale assault on Iran would be unlikely to oust its entrenched military and clerical establishment, according to The Washington Post’s John Hudson.
“The report outlined succession scenarios resulting from either a short or extended US military campaign. In both cases, it concluded the clerical and military establishment would respond to Khamenei’s killing by following protocols designed to preserve continuity of power,” he wrote on X.
“The report says the prospect of Iran’s fragmented opposition taking control of the country is “unlikely,” raising doubts about Trump’s declared plan to “clean out” Iran’s leadership structure and install a ruler of his choosing,” he added.
Gulf states hit by drones, missiles
The US-Israeli war on Iran has already spilled beyond Iran’s borders, as Tehran has responded by hitting Israel and Gulf Arab states hosting US military installations and Israel has launched fresh attacks in Lebanon after the Iran-aligned militia Hezbollah fired across the border.
Gulf states voiced outrage that their civilian infrastructure — hotels, ports and oil facilities — was struck. The UAE, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, Oman, Saudi Arabia and Iraq have all reported drone or missile attacks over the past week.
Iran had mended fences with its Gulf neighbours in recent years, including with former regional arch-rival Saudi Arabia.
The president of the United Arab Emirates said his nation was in a time of war but was well and told his enemies it was no easy prey, in his first public comments since Iran launched missiles at its Gulf neighbour.
“The UAE has thick skin and bitter flesh — we are no easy prey,” Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, who is also ruler of Abu Dhabi, said in comments, made on Friday when visiting those injured in strikes, aired on Abu Dhabi TV on Saturday.
“We will carry out our duty towards our country, our people and our residents who are also part of our family,” he said.
The UAE also said its air defences intercepted 15 missiles and 119 drones on Saturday morning and video footage showed one projectile crashing into Dubai airport, the world’s busiest for international traffic.
Saudi Arabia’s Defence Minister Prince Khalid bin Salman urged Iran to “avoid miscalculation”. In a series of statements, the Saudi defence ministry said it had thwarted repeated missile launches at an air base which houses US military personnel and drone attacks at a major oil field.
Meanwhile, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan warned Iran on Saturday against firing any more missiles towards Turkiye, after Nato air defences destroyed a missile heading into Turkish airspace several days ago.
Speaking at a press conference in Istanbul, Fidan also said Turkiye opposed all scenarios aiming to create ethnicity-based civil war in Iran, adding that such scenarios could lead to migrant waves.
Turkiye is also considering the possibility of sending F-16 fighter jets to Northern Cyprus as a security measure, a Turkish defence ministry source said, days after the island was targeted by a drone attack.
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan earlier told British Prime Minister Keir Starmer by phone that there are still things that can be done to build a ground for dialogue on Iran, and that Turkiye’s peace-focused efforts are ongoing.
Iran rejects Trump call
Iran’s apparent strategy of maximum chaos has driven up the costs of the conflict by raising energy prices, hurting global business and logistics links and shaking trust in the stability of a critical region for the world’s economy.
Early on Saturday, the Iranian army said its navy had carried out drone strikes against targets in Israel as well as US gathering points and bases in Abu Dhabi and Kuwait.
Speaking at an event hosting Latin American leaders in Miami, Florida, Trump said on Saturday the US had knocked out 42 Iranian navy ships in three days.
Israel’s military said on Saturday evening that it had begun a new “wave of strikes” in Tehran.
It said more than 80 fighter jets completed a wave of strikes on Iranian military sites, missile launchers and other targets in Tehran and central Iran.
The Israeli military reported identifying missiles fired from Iran at Israel on eight different occasions on Saturday, setting off air raid sirens in parts of the country and prompting Israeli air defences to intercept incoming fire.
Israel’s military also said it had struck aircraft belonging to Iran’s Revolutionary Guards at Tehran’s Mehrabad airport, as part of a wave of strikes overnight on the city.
It said that “16 aircraft of the ‘Quds Force’ unit of the IRGC were precisely dismantled”, referring to the branch of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards that oversees its foreign operations.
The Israeli military had carried out around 3,400 strikes on Iran since Israel and the United States started the war against Tehran a week ago.
Military spokesman Brigadier General Effie Defrin said on Saturday that roughly 7,500 munitions had been dropped on targets in Iran during the operation.
The war has roiled global markets and oil prices have hit multi-year highs with the Strait of Hormuz effectively shut. About one-fifth of global oil moves daily through the strait.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards hit a Marshall Islands-flagged tanker in Hormuz, Iranian state media reported on Saturday. Trump has said the US Navy could escort ships in the Gulf. But Iran’s Revolutionary Guards challenged him to do so, with spokesperson Alimohammad Naini saying Iran “welcomes” and is “awaiting” any US presence in the strait, state media said.
Iran’s military called on its neighbour Azerbaijan to “expel the Zionists” from its territory in order to preserve its security, a day after Baku accused Tehran of plotting attacks on its territory. “We declare to Iran’s neighbouring country, the Republic of Azerbaijan, as a Muslim country, to expel the Zionists from that country in order to prevent the spread of insecurity in the region and not to endanger the security of its people and Islamic Iran,” a military spokesman said in a statement.
Meanwhile, the foreign ministers of the Arab League will hold an emergency meeting on Sunday to discuss Iranian attacks on several of the group’s members, the bloc’s assistant secretary-general told AFP.
‘Hands Off Iran’ march
Meanwhile, thousands of protesters marched through London on Saturday calling for an end to the US and Israeli strikes on Iran, according to The Independent. Between 5,000 and 6,000 people turned out for the “Hands Off Iran” march, the Metropolitan Police said, with demonstrators chanting: “Stop the bombing now, now, now.”
ISLAMABAD: After announcing a whopping Rs55 per litre increase in petrol and high-speed diesel prices, the government also silently increased the price of kerosene by almost 70 per cent, it emerged on Saturday.
A notification to this effect was issued by the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority. According to the notification, the price of kerosene has been increased by Rs130.08 to Rs318.81 per litre.
The notification said that the increase would come into effect on March 7 (Saturday). The previous price of kerosene, which went into effect on March 1, was Rs 188.73 per litre.
Kerosene is commonly used by households in remote areas where access to liquefied petroleum gas cylinders is difficult. Petrol and high-speed diesel are the major revenue spinners with their monthly sales of about 700,000 to 800,000 tonnes compared to just 10,000 tonnes of monthly demand for kerosene.
The development comes a day after the government increased petrol and diesel prices, mere hours after Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb assured the nation that petroleum reserves were sufficient and the situation remained under control.
At the same time, the government also shelved a proposed national action plan that envisaged work from home and distance learning measures in response to a potential fuel crisis, and instead decided to keep normal activities unchanged for at least a week.
Ahead of the midnight implementation of the price hike, long queues formed at petrol pumps across several cities as motorists rushed to fill their tanks before the new rates took effect. Reports from different parts of the country suggested that some fuel stations temporarily closed their pumps, apparently to avoid selling fuel at the old prices.
A man exits the terminal at London’s Stansted Airport on a government-chartered flight.—Reuters
• Major carriers divert or turn back due to missile fire fears
• Many stranded in chaos as major hubs like Dubai run below capacity
• European countries begin repatriation flights amid extended high-risk regional warnings
DUBAI: With commercial air travel in the Middle East faltering amid missile threats that have forced major carriers to divert flights, a desperate scramble to flee the war-hit Gulf has fuelled a surge in demand for private jets, sending prices as high as $200,000 for a one-way trip.
When Samuel Lait launched PetX Jets, a private flight firm focused on pet travel in Dubai, he expected queries from owners flying with their animals. Instead, his inbox is full of requests from young adults, pregnant couples and the elderly wanting to flee the United Arab Emirates.
“The original idea was to transport pets and their owners between the UK and Dubai primarily. And that’s very much changed since Saturday,” Lait said. “We’re trying to sort of move with what’s happening.”
Residents and travellers are exploring alternative ways to leave, including crossing by land into Oman and Saudi Arabia to catch flights.
“Since the escalation of tensions in the region, we have seen a significant increase in bookings … every 10 minutes we have requests,” said Altay Kula, CEO of France-based private jet broker Jet-VIP. “People are seeking solutions to leave the Middle East, particularly Dubai and Qatar.”
Both Lait and Kula said charter flight prices from the region have leaped since the conflict began.
The typical price for a light jet carrying six people from Dubai to Istanbul has doubled from $50,000 to $100,000, Kula said. A heavier aircraft for up to 15 people has jumped from $110,000 to $200,000.
Operators also face a scarcity of airport slots in nearby hubs like Muscat and Riyadh due to spiking traffic. Kula said it can take up to 24 hours just to get authorisation to pick up passengers in Oman, while airspace restrictions make it difficult to get slots in Dubai itself.
Rescue flights hindered
Separately, a Lufthansa jet headed to the Middle East diverted over safety fears and an Air France repatriation flight was forced back by missile fire on Friday, underscoring the extreme danger in the region’s skies even as some Emirati airlines resumed limited flights from the war-hit Gulf.
The outbreak of the US-Israel war against Iran has led to widespread flight cancellations, leaving airlines and governments scrambling to support thousands of stranded passengers as the conflict entered its seventh day. The disruption has hit global travel, sending airline shares from New Zealand to Japan sliding and driving up fuel prices over supply fears.
Passengers have paid huge sums for last-minute dashes to airports and overland trips to less impacted hubs to escape the Middle East. With most regional airspace still closed over missile and drone concerns, some described the situation as “absolute chaos”.
The instability was highlighted when a Lufthansa flight to the Saudi capital Riyadh diverted to Cairo on Friday over safety concerns, a day after an Air France flight made a similar move.
The turnaround “reflects the instability in the region and the complexity of repatriation operations,” French Transport Minister Philippe Tabarot said. Britain’s first repatriation flight from Oman landed at London’s Stansted Airport early on Friday after delays, with similar flights for other European nations arriving or en route.
The European Union Aviation Safety Agency extended a warning about high risks to air traffic in the region until March 11.
The limited operations have hit travellers on key routes from Europe to the Asia-Pacific particularly hard. Gulf carriers Emirates, Qatar Airways and Etihad normally fly about one-third of all passengers between Europe and Asia.
As of Thursday, traffic at Dubai’s DXB, the world’s busiest international airport, remained at only 25 per cent of normal levels, according to flight-tracking website Flightradar24.
