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Iranian forces “are waiting for the arrival of American troops on the ground to set them on fire and punish their regional partners forever,” Iranian parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said on Sunday.
Ghalibaf added: “Our firing continues. Our missiles are in place. Our determination and faith have increased.”
The comments came as regional powers gathered in Pakistan for talks on how to end the fighting in the Middle East, as about 2,500 U.S. marines arrived in the region and Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen entered the war.
Foreign ministers from Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Egypt are in Islamabad for Sunday’s talks.
The war, which began when the United States and Israel attacked Iran on Feb. 28, has threatened global supplies of oil and natural gas, sparked fertilizer shortages and disrupted air travel. Iran’s grip on the strategic Strait of Hormuz has shaken markets and prices.
The U.S. and Israel continue to strike Iran, whose retaliatory attacks have targeted Israel and neighbouring Gulf Arab states. More than 3,000 people have been killed.
The Houthis’ entry could further hurt global shipping if they again target vessels in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait off the Red Sea, through which about 12 per cent of the world’s trade typically passes.
Egyptian, Pakistani ministers meet ahead of talks
Egypt’s top diplomat met his Pakistani counterpart in Islamabad on Sunday to discuss efforts to help bring the U.S. and Iran back to the negotiating table and ease tensions in the region, officials said.
Pakistani Foreign Affairs Minister Ishaq Dar and Egyptian Foreign Affairs Minister Badr Abdelatty will hold bilateral talks on regional developments, according to a statement by Pakistan’s Foreign Affairs Ministry.
Yemen’s Houthi rebels attacked Israel with a barrage of ballistic missiles Saturday, the first such strikes by the Iranian ally since the U.S. and Israel’s war on the Persian nation began.
The Egyptian Foreign Affairs Ministry said the meeting will discuss “the developments of the military escalation and de-escalation efforts in the region.”
During a stop in Qatar on Saturday, Abdelatty said their efforts aim to establish a “direct dialogue” between the U.S. and Iran.
Tehran threatens educational facilities
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) warned on Sunday it would consider Israeli universities and branches of American universities in the region “legitimate targets,” state media reported.
“If the U.S. government wants its universities in the region spared, it should condemn the bombardment of [Iranian] universities by 12 o’clock Monday, March 30, in an official statement,” the IRGC said in a statement, urging the evacuations of American and Israeli educational facilities and telling students and staff to stay at least one kilometre away.
It also demanded that the U.S. stop Israel from striking Iranian universities and research centres, which have been under fire in recent days. This is the first time Iran has threatened to strike Israeli and American universities.
Rallies are being held across the U.S. and the world on Saturday in the latest ‘No Kings’ protests against the Trump administration’s actions. Organizers said events were registered in all 50 states, with millions of people expected to march behind a long list of grievances including the war in Iran and the government’s aggressive immigration enforcement.
Catholic leaders barred from Church of Holy Sepulchre
The Latin Patriarchate said Jerusalem police prevented the Catholic Church’s senior leaders from entering the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem for the Palm Sunday mass.
It was “the first time in centuries” that church leaders were prevented from celebrating Palm Sunday at the place where Christians believe Jesus was crucified, the Patriarchate said.
“Preventing the entry of the Cardinal and the Custos, who bear the highest ecclesiastical responsibility for the Catholic Church and Holy Places, constitutes a manifestly unreasonable and grossly disproportionate measure,” the Latin Patriarchate said.
The Jerusalem police did not comment.
Pope Leo rejects claims that God justifies war
Pope Leo XIV has rejected claims that God justifies war and offered prayers for Christians in the Middle East during a mass on Palm Sunday. In his homily in St. Peter’s Square, he insisted that God is the “king of peace” who rejects violence and comforts those who are oppressed.
“Brothers and sisters, this is our God: Jesus, King of Peace, who rejects war, whom no one can use to justify war,” Leo said. “He does not listen to the prayers of those who wage war, but rejects them.”
He said he was praying for Christians “suffering the consequences of an atrocious conflict. In many cases, they cannot live fully the rites of these holy days.”
At a Christian worship service at the Pentagon on Wednesday, U.S. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth prayed for American bullets to hit their targets.
“Let every round find its mark against the enemies of righteousness and our great nation,” he said during the livestreamed service.
He also asked for U.S. personnel to be given “wisdom in every decision, endurance for the trial ahead, unbreakable unity, and overwhelming violence of action against those who deserve no mercy.”
6 Palestinians killed in Israeli strikes in Gaza
Two Israeli strikes early Sunday killed six Palestinians, including three police officers, in the Gaza Strip, hospital authorities said.
One strike hit a police checkpoint while another hit a group of people in the southern city of Khan Younis, according to Nasser Hospital, which received the bodies.
The Israeli military didn’t immediately comment on the strikes.
The people killed were the latest fatalities among Palestinians in the coastal enclave since an October ceasefire deal attempted to halt a two-year war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza. As of Wednesday, 673 Palestinians have reportedly been killed since the ceasefire began, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.
Israeli soldier killed in south Lebanon
Israel’s military said early Sunday that a soldier had been killed while three others were wounded in combat in southern Lebanon, as Israel expands its invasion there. The Israeli military identified the dead soldier as Sgt. Moshe Yitzchak Hacohen Katz, originally from New Haven, Conn.
This brings the total to five Israeli soldiers killed in southern Lebanon since the conflict with Hezbollah reignited after the militant group fired rockets into Israel on March 2.
Explosions rock Irbil as attacks target U.S. sites
Interceptions and drone activity were heard for hours overnight Saturday across Irbil, the capital of the semiautonomous Kurdish region in northern Iraq, including drones shot down while attempting to target the U.S. Consulate and nearby bases.
Associated Press journalists in the area reported non-stop loud explosions and saw at least one drone headed toward American facilities, in one of the most intense days of attacks since the war began.
Iran-aligned militias in Iraq have stepped up repeated drone and missile attacks on U.S. bases, including in Irbil.
In a statement on Saturday, the U.S. condemned what it called “despicable terrorist attacks” by Iran’s militant groups, saying the strikes on Kurdish regional President Nechirvan Barzani’s residence in Irbil earlier that day were “a direct assault on Iraq’s sovereignty, stability and unity.” The attack caused material damage but no casualties, and the residence was empty at the time.
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