Wednesday, March 4, 2026
Iran postpones Khamenei funeral as US-Israeli bombardment continues
TEHRAN, Iran
Authorities in Iran have postponed the funeral ceremony for the late Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, as US and Israeli forces continue intense strikes across the country.
An official said there had been many requests from people wanting to attend the three-day event at a Tehran prayer complex and that infrastructure needed to be prepared. It had been due to begin on Wednesday night.
A member of the Assembly of Experts meanwhile said the clerical body was "close" to choosing a successor to Khamenei, who was killed in a strike at the start of the US and Israeli assault on Saturday.
Iran has responded by launching missiles and drones at Israel and Gulf states with US bases.
Kuwait's health ministry said overnight that a girl had been killed by shrapnel that fell on a residential area during an Iranian attack.
Meanwhile, US Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth said a US submarine sank an Iranian navy frigate in the Indian Ocean off the coast of Sri Lanka.
"[The warship] thought it was safe in international waters. Instead, it was sunk by a torpedo. Quiet death," he told reporters.
Sri Lanka's Defence Secretary Air Vice Marshal Sampath Thuyyakontha said the bodies of 80 people on board the Iris Dena had been recovered.
Another 32 people have been rescued, while dozens more are missing.
Hegseth also said that US and Israeli forces would have total aerial superiority over Iran within days and would "soon" control the country.
"This was never meant to be a fair fight, and it is not a fair fight. We are punching them while they're down," he declared.
The secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, Ali Larijani, said US President Donald Trump had "dragged the American people into an unjust war".
Khamenei - who was Iran's spiritual leader and its highest authority - was killed at his compound in Tehran in the first wave of US and Israeli strikes, along with his wife, one of their adult sons, and several top officials.
The three-day funeral ceremony for the 86-year-old cleric had been due to start at 22:00 local time (18:30 GMT) on Wednesday, with mourners invited to pay their respects as he lay in state at the capital's Grand Mosalla prayer complex.
But on Wednesday morning, the head of the Islamic Propaganda Co-ordination Council of Tehran province told the hardline Tasnim news agency that it had been decided to postpone the ceremony until "a more appropriate time".
Seyyed Mohsen Mahmoudi said this was because of "the high volume of requests to attend this ceremony and the need to provide appropriate facilities to host the people".
Following Khamenei's assassination, state media showed crowds of the Islamic Republic's supporters protesting in Tehran against the US and Israeli attacks.
But social media videos also showed opponents celebrating on the streets in the capital and other cities.
Khamenei became supreme leader in 1989 after the death of the Islamic Republic's founding father, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. He maintained a firm grip on Iran's politics and its armed forces, and suppressed challenges to the ruling system, sometimes violently.
Many people called for his overthrow or his death during nationwide protests in late December and early January. Security forces under his command crushed the uprising with unprecedented force, killing at least 6,480 people, according to human rights groups.
Iran's new supreme leader is supposed to be chosen by the Assembly of Experts. The clerical body's 88 members are elected by Iranians every eight years, but Khamenei ensured they were conservatives who would follow his guidance on picking a successor.
26 medical workers missing after South Sudan attacks
JUBA, South Sudan
More than two dozen Doctors Without Borders workers remain unaccounted for a month after attacks in South Sudan, the medical charity said.
Two facilities operated by the group, known by French acronym MSF, were attacked on Feb. 3 in Jonglei State, northeast of the capital, Juba, where violence has displaced an estimated 280,000 people since December.
A hospital in the town of Lankien was bombed by government forces, MSF said, while another medical facility in the town of Pieri was raided by “unknown assailants.” Both were located in opposition-held areas.
Staff working at the two facilities fled alongside much of the local population into deeply rural areas where armed clashes and aerial bombardments were ongoing.
MSF said in a statement on Monday that “26 of 291 of our colleagues working in Lankien and Pieri remain unaccounted for.
“We have lost contact with them amid ongoing insecurity," it said.
The lack of communication with its staff could be linked to the limited network connectivity in much of the state. Staff members who had been contacted described “destruction, violence and extreme hardships.”
Fighting escalated sharply in December, when opposition forces captured a string of government outposts in north central Jonglei. In January, the government responded with a counteroffensive that recaptured most of the area it had lost.
Displaced people in Akobo, an opposition-held town near the Ethiopian border, described horrific violence by government fighters. Many described not being able to find food or water as they walked for days to reach safety.
The attacks on facilities operated by MSF in Lankien and Pieri are part of an uptick in violence on humanitarian staff, supplies and infrastructure, aid groups say. Facilities operated by MSF have been attacked 10 times in the last 12 months.
“This violence has taken an unbearable toll not only on health care services, but on the very people who kept them running,” said Yashovardhan, MSF head of mission in South Sudan, who only uses one name.
“Medical workers must never be targets," he said. "We are deeply concerned about what has happened to our colleagues and the communities we serve.”
Tuesday, March 3, 2026
Six US soldiers killed in Iranian strike on Kuwait base
WASHINGTON, United States
Six American soldiers were killed in an Iranian strike against a military facility in Kuwait on Sunday, the US has confirmed.
US Central Command originally said three soldiers died in the incident but officials confirmed on Monday that the death toll had doubled, after one person succumbed to their injuries and two more bodies were found in the rubble.
Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth confirmed a US bunker in Kuwait was hit when a retaliatory strike launched by Iran evaded air defences. "Every once in a while you might have one," he said in a briefing on Monday.
The six deaths are the only fatalities confirmed by the US military since it launched a new war against Iran with Israel.
In the briefing, Hegseth said a "powerful weapon" struck a "tactical operations centre that was fortified", without providing further details about the site's location.
Three US military officials with direct knowledge of Iran's attack told our reporter that the service members killed in Kuwait were hit in an apparent drone attack.
They had been working in a makeshift office space.
The US has a long-standing defence relationship with Kuwait, and more than 13,000 American soldiers are stationed in the Gulf nation.
Iran has responded to attacks against it by launching missiles at Gulf countries allied with the US. Bahrain, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Oman and Qatar have all also seen strikes.
Separately in Kuwait, the US confirmed three fighter jets were downed after what it described as an incident of "friendly fire" on Monday.
Footage showed the jets spiralling to the ground. The pilots involved all managed to eject and survived the incident.
Iran state media claimed the Iranian military had shot down the jets, without providing evidence.
US strikes on Iran could spur nuclear proliferation, warns Russia
MOSCOW, Russia
US and Israeli strikes on Iran could encourage the Islamic Republic and its Arab neighbours to acquire nuclear weapons, Russia’s Foreign Minister warned on Tuesday.
Rather than limit nuclear proliferation, nations may now feel they need the bomb - or risk being attacked by the United States, Sergei Lavrov said at a press conference in Moscow.
He also rejected US claims that Tehran had been in pursuit of a nuclear arsenal.
"We hear about the goals of this war regularly, but we still see no evidence that Iran was developing nuclear weapons—precisely what served as the main, if not the only, justification for the war. There is confirmation from the IAEA, as well as from American professional intelligence officers, that Iran neither produced nor attempted to produce nuclear weapons."
Lavrov also appeared to defend Tehran’s claim that its nuclear programme is civilian purposes alone, including producing clear energy.
"The right to enrich uranium for the purposes of the peaceful use of nuclear energy is inalienable. To say that Iran alone in the entire world should give up this right, which other states possess, is probably not very realistic."
Iran is one of Russia’s closest allies in the Middle East. President Putin has condemned the killing of its Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and called for an immediate end to the hostilities.
In 2025, Russia and Iran signed a strategic partnership treaty aimed at strengthening ties, including in military matters.
Sudan government says drone attacks came 'from Ethiopian territory'
KHARTOUM, Sudan
Sudan’s army-aligned government has accused Ethiopia of involvement in recent drone strikes, saying attacks launched “from inside Ethiopian territory” targeted sites in Sudan in February and March.
In a statement on Monday, Sudan’s foreign ministry warned Ethiopian authorities of what it called the consequences of these “hostile acts,” describing the incidents as “clear aggression.”
The statement did not specify who carried out the attacks, how many occurred, or which locations were hit. It marks the first time Khartoum has officially accused Ethiopia of interference in Sudan’s nearly three-year-long war between the regular army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces.
The conflict has increasingly drawn in regional and international actors. At a recent UN Security Council meeting, British Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper said the absence of a ceasefire was due to military leaders believing victory was still possible as they continue to acquire more lethal weapons, citing external support from multiple states.
Sudanese officials have also accused the United Arab Emirates of increasing arms shipments via Ethiopia to the RSF since late 2025, allegations Abu Dhabi denies. Meanwhile, army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan is backed by Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Turkey.
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk has warned that civilian killings have more than doubled this year, describing the war as “bloody and senseless” and fuelled by foreign sponsors. Amid fears of regional spillover, Chad has closed its border with Sudan.
Monday, March 2, 2026
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)