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A United States judge has said that he will not dismiss the drug-trafficking and weapons possession charges brought against former Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores.

But in a Thursday court hearing, Judge Alvin Hellerstein questioned whether the US government has the right to bar Venezuela from funding Maduro’s legal expenses.

The hearing was the first for Maduro and his wife since a brief January arraignment, where they pleaded not guilty.

Maduro and Flores have sought to have the charges against them thrown out. Hellerstein declined to do so, but he pressed the prosecution on some of the issues Maduro’s legal team raised in its petition to dismiss the case.

Among them was a decision by the administration of US President Donald Trump to prevent the Venezuelan government from financing Maduro’s defence.

Federal prosecutors argued that national security reasons prevented the US from allowing such payments. They also pointed to ongoing sanctions against the Venezuelan government.

But Hellerstein pushed back against that argument, noting that Trump had eased sanctions against Venezuela since Maduro’s abduction on January 3. He also questioned how Maduro might pose a security threat while imprisoned in New York.

“The defendant is here. Flores is here. They present no further national security threat,” said Hellerstein. “I see no abiding interest of national security on the right to defend themselves.”

Hellerstein emphasised that, in the US, all criminal defendants have the right to a vigorous defence, as part of the Constitution’s Sixth Amendment.

“The right that’s implicated, paramount over other rights, is the right to constitutional counsel,” he said.

Maduro, who led Venezuela from 2013 to 2026, has been charged with four criminal counts, including narco-terrorism conspiracy, conspiracy to import cocaine, the possession of machine guns and the conspiracy to possess machine guns and other destructive devices.

He and his wife were taken into US custody on January 3, after Trump launched an attack on Venezuela.

The Trump administration has framed the military operation as a “law enforcement function”, but experts say it was widely considered illegal under international law, which protects local sovereignty.

Maduro has cited his status as the leader of a foreign country as part of his push to see the case dismissed.

When he last appeared in court, on January 5, he told the judge, “I’m still the president of my country.”

In a February hearing, his defence team sought to dismiss the charges on the basis that preventing Venezuela from paying his legal fees was “interfering with Mr Maduro’s ability to retain counsel and, therefore, his right under the Sixth Amendment to counsel of his choice”.

In an interview with the news agency AFP on Thursday, Maduro’s son, Venezuelan lawmaker Nicolas Maduro Guerra, said that he trusts the US legal system but believes that his father’s trial has been mishandled.

“This trial has vestiges of illegitimacy from the start, because of the capture, the kidnapping, of an elected president in a military operation,” Maduro Guerra said in Caracas.

Protests and counter-protests took place in front of the New York City courthouse on Thursday, with some condemning the US’s actions and others holding signs in support of the trial with slogans like, “Maduro rot in prison.”

Trump himself weighed in on the proceedings during a Thursday cabinet meeting, hinting that further charges could be brought against Maduro.

“He emptied his prisons in Venezuela, emptied his prisons into our country,” Trump said of Maduro, reiterating an unsubstantiated claim.

“And I hope that charge will be brought at some point. Because that was a big charge that hasn’t been brought yet. It should be brought.”

Trump has had an adversarial relationship with Maduro since his first term in office, when he issued a bounty for the Venezuelan leader’s arrest. He has frequently repeated baseless claims that Maduro intentionally sent immigrants and drugs to the US in a bid to destabilise the country.

Those claims have served as a pretext for Trump claiming emergency powers in realms such as immigration and national security. On Thursday, Trump emphasised that, while he expected a “fair trial”, he expected more legal action to be taken against Maduro.

“I would imagine there are other trials coming because they’ve really sued him just at a fraction of the kind of things that he’s done,” Trump said. “Other cases are going to be brought, as you probably know.”

Court dismissed xAI claim that measures were taken after plaintiff produced video of nude person shortly before hearing.

A Dutch court has ordered Elon Musk’s xAI to stop generating and distributing nude images of people without their consent in the Netherlands, warning it would impose fines of 100,000 euros ($115,350) per day for noncompliance.

The Amsterdam District Court ruled Thursday that xAI’s Grok artificial intelligence tool and the X platform that hosts it were barred from “generating and/or distributing sexual imagery” featuring people “partially or wholly stripped naked without having given their explicit permission”.

The decision in a civil suit was one of the first times a judge has weighed in on xAI’s responsibility for creating tools that can be used to create sexualised images, amid a flood of complaints and investigations over Grok in the Americas, Europe, Asia and Australia.

Grok was launched by Musk in 2023 and distributed through his social media platform X, which is now part of his rocket and space exploration company SpaceX.

Offlimits, a Dutch centre monitoring online violence, took legal action in cooperation with the non-profit Victims Support Fund over a Grok feature allowing users to ask it to create hyper-realistic deepfake montages of naked women and children using real photos.

At a hearing this month, xAI lawyers had argued it was impossible to guarantee that abuse on its platform could be prevented, and the company should not be punished for the actions of malicious users.

They said the company had taken measures in January to prevent Grok from editing images of real people in revealing clothing, including restricting its image creation features to paid subscribers.

The court website said the judge had decided that Offlimits had shown there was reasonable doubt over the effectiveness of the measures taken to date. “For example, Offlimits managed to produce a video of a nude person using Grok shortly before the hearing,” it stated.

Offlimits director Robbert Hoving said the “burden is on the company” to make sure its tools are not used to create and distribute nonconsensual sexual images, including of children.

Earlier on Thursday, the European Parliament approved a ban on artificial intelligence systems generating sexualised deepfakes, after global outrage over non-consensual Grok-produced nudes.

The Army’s Rhode Island-sized test range in Utah’s high desert has long carefully policed access and entry privileges. But as the service takes notes from industry on how to innovate faster and move more efficiently, access to Dugway Proving Ground, and other Army test ranges, are becoming an easier ticket.

“We want you on our ranges,” Maj. Gen. Patrick Gaydon, commanding general of Army Test and Evaluation Command (ATEC), told a military and industry audience Wednesday at the Association of the United States Army’s Global Force Symposium in Huntsville, Ala.

“Ranges are national treasures, and we need industry to iterate in our program offices, to be able to iterate and learn how, on these ranges, to do things you can’t do elsewhere.”

For years, Gaydon said, the Army evaluated range access requests with a priority structure of one to five, in which industry was five – the lowest priority. This effectively “blocked industry off the ranges,” he said, as did a permissions process that required him to personally approve visits.

“I looked at that for my first couple months in command, but about a year ago, we completely changed that,” he said. “Approval authority is at the tester or commander level – as long as you have a nexus to defense. If you have a car company wanting to use a track out there that has nothing to do with defense, I’ll still [have to] approve that.”

In December, ATEC announced another change it billed as an effort to “combine speed with rigor” to get new tools into the hands of soldiers faster. An overhauled safety release process waived an array of paperwork red tape for troops testing out “non-type-classified systems,” or commercial and prototype gear, on Army ranges. Particularly as the service accelerates drone and anti-drone weapons testing, emphasizing low-cost and commercial solutions, this has become a headache.

During three large Army experimentation events in Germany, Hawaii and Texas, ATEC officials had to issue nearly three dozen safety release forms for unmanned aerial systems, UAS payloads, and counter-UAS weapons, officials said in a release.

The new process allows for group safety releases for systems already on the military’s cleared UAS “blue list,” as well as higher-echelon release authority to extend permissions beyond individual requesting units. It also extends some safety release expiration dates and waives evaluation for systems previously deemed low-risk.

Col. Joseph Alexander, commander of the Army’s Redstone Test Center in Huntsville, highlighted recent efforts to build a UAS test range as an extension of the “UAS test operations campus,” or UTOC, that opened there years before. 

Test personnel, he said, “came to use and said, ‘Hey, we’ve got more space. We need to go faster, because that’s the accelerated testing, to be able to deliver capability.”

The range, he said, aims to bring UAS testing needs “within 48 hours” for “some of those smaller, maybe time-sensitive missions.”

As the service announced in February, Redstone will also be home to a Future Long Range Assault Aircraft (FLRAA) test facility ahead of the fielding of the Army’s MV-75 tiltrotor aircraft, set to begin as soon as next year. This will include a $59 million radio frequency test space and a nearly 13,000-square-foot anechoic, or echoless, chamber for precision instrumentation assessment.

“You should be able to put weapons systems purpose-built for FLRAA [in there],” Alexander said.

While leaders are reducing barriers to range testing, the Army is pinning greater and greater hopes on its live-virtual-constructive evaluation environments. Gaydon said ATEC’s “bumper sticker” is a strategy to reduce live testing by 30% as they front-load digital engineering and model-based testing and development.

“Yesterday, I was in a FLRAA virtual prototype,” he said of the two Alabama-based MV-75 simulators manufacturer Bell-Textron delivered to the Army last year. “We can’t quite use that to test. We can use it to prepare test pilots to fly FLRAA. But that’s another example … that will certainly drive down the amount of live testing if we get it right with digital engineering.”

Contact the editor: Tyler@twz.com

Details of a plan submitted by Board of Peace Director General Nickolay Mladenov for the disarmament of Hamas and other Palestinian groups in Gaza have been seen by Al Jazeera.

The plan would see disarmament – one of the components of the October ceasefire to end Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza – implemented gradually over an eight-month, multiphase process.

The process would see disarmament in exchange for Israel fulfilling its own obligations, including allowing reconstruction materials into Gaza to begin the work of rebuilding the enclave after Israel’s devastation of the territory since October 2023. Israel would also allow an increase in humanitarian aid entering Gaza, and the plan envisions the transfer of the administration of the Palestinian territory to a national committee.

Mladenov referred to the plan in general terms in a speech to the United Nations Security Council on Wednesday. There he said the plan had been “presented to relevant armed groups” that were urged to accept the framework “without delay”.

“Decommissioning [arms] proceeds in parallel with staged withdrawal,” Mladenov said.

The disarmament of groups in Gaza has been a controversial topic, particularly as Israel has continued to attack the enclave during the ceasefire, killing hundreds of Palestinians. Israel has also not stopped restricting aid into Gaza, driving up prices, even as many in the territory remain displaced and unable to afford basic items.

Hamas has repeatedly refused to give up its arms as long as Israel’s occupation of Gaza continues. Israeli forces maintain a presence in Gaza in areas beyond a “yellow line”, giving it a de facto buffer zone that Palestinians cannot approach without risking being shot. Hamas has also said disarmament is an internal Palestinian matter that should be discussed between factions rather than imposed from the outside.

Hamas and Israel have so far not officially reacted to the details of the Mladenov plan. But Palestinian experts have previously told Al Jazeera that the plan in effect means the “political surrender” of Hamas.

The Board of Peace, created by United States President Donald Trump in the wake of the ceasefire his government brokered, has assumed oversight of Gaza’s administration.

Step-by-step process

The Mladenov plan operates on a step-by-step formula, with transitions between phases only taking place once both sides have fulfilled their obligations.

The first phase, spanning the first two weeks of the deal, would see a complete cessation of military operations by Israel and Hamas as well as the implementation of humanitarian protocols that Israel committed to under the ceasefire. Representatives of the Palestinian national committee – a technocratic body established after the ceasefire with the aim of administering Gaza – would also be allowed into Gaza during this phase to assume all security and administrative responsibilities.

The second phase of the proposal, which would take place between day 16 and day 60, represents the central element of the plan with the beginning of the disarmament process. Hamas and other Palestinian factions would cooperate to remove heavy weapons initially from areas controlled by Israel and then, before 90 days, from areas still controlled by Hamas.

Hamas would also destroy its tunnel network before day 90 of the plan.

For its part, Israel would be required to allow temporary prefabricated residential units to be constructed in locations approved by the Palestinian national committee.

Once all sides have met their obligations in the first three months of the plan, they would move on to the next phase, in which Israeli forces would gradually withdraw to the perimeters of Gaza after a monitoring committee determines that Palestinian factions in Gaza have been disarmed.

Security forces answerable to the Palestinian national committee would be tasked with gathering weapons. That task should be completed by day 251, and if it is, then Israel would withdraw from Gaza with the exception of an undefined security perimeter “until Gaza is secured … from the potential for a return of any terrorist threat”.

Full reconstruction would also be permitted at this stage as well as the lifting of restrictions on the entry of “dual-use materials”, such as concrete, steel, fertilisers and fuel, which Israel has severely restricted, arguing that they can be used for military purposes even as humanitarian groups emphasise their importance to civilian life.

Scepticism

The plan, if implemented, would mark a final end to the war and to Hamas’s almost two-decade-long rule of Gaza.

But stumbling blocks remain, including whether Israel is truly prepared to withdraw from Gaza, fulfil its commitments and not attempt to spoil any deal, as it has in the past.

Hamas and other Palestinian factions are deeply sceptical of Israel’s adherence to any deal and to the idea of giving up their weapons, seeing them as a vital part of Palestinian national resistance.

Hamas would also give up all control of Gaza as part of what the plan envisions as “one authority, one law, and one weapon” in the territory under the Palestinian national committee.

Mladenov referenced that principle at the UN, adding that “the people of Gaza want reconstruction, and reconstruction requires the decommissioning of weapons.”

Pakistan says it is mediating indirect talks between the US and Iran aimed at ending the war, with officials confirming negotiations are underway.

Kremlin spokesperson says talks are part of ‘​necessary dialogue’ with Washington as war in Ukraine continues for a fifth year.

A delegation of Russian officials has arrived in ‌the United States for meetings with their American counterparts.

The visit, which began on Thursday, marks the first such trip since ⁠relations strained over Moscow’s war in Ukraine.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said, “We hope that these first tentative steps will, of course, make their contribution to the further revival of our bilateral engagement.”

He said President Vladimir Putin had set the “main directives” for the trip and would be “thoroughly briefed” on the meeting.

The visit comes as US-brokered talks seeking a deal to end the war in Ukraine are in effect frozen.

Several rounds of negotiations since US President Donald Trump returned to the White House last year have failed to break the deadlock, with the Kremlin ruling out compromises to halt its years-long offensive.

Russia, a close ally of Iran, has also been cited by Western intelligence officials as one of the backers of the Iranian government, as Tehran fights a war launched by the US and Israel.

A report in the United Kingdom-based Financial Times newspaper on Wednesday alleged that Russia was close to completing a shipment of drones to Iran.

Responding to questions about the report, Peskov said, “There are so many lies being spread by the media … Do not pay attention to them.”

Russia this week carried out one of the largest aerial attacks since the start of its war on Ukraine, launching 948 drones in 24 hours as it moved troops and equipment to the front line.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy issued a new appeal for allies to supply Kyiv with air defence munitions, warning that Kyiv, which relies on the US for air defence systems against ballistic missiles, will face a deficit of missiles while Washington is focused on the US-Israeli war on Iran.

Talks between Ukraine and the US that opened in the US state of Florida on Saturday again failed to produce a security guarantee that Kyiv has long sought from Washington.

My deepest sympathies lie with the Iranian people, whose hearts are torn in many directions. Many long for freedom and dignity, yet they remain wary of the long history of Western imperial intervention across the world, including their own country.

The Iranian people who took to the streets in recent years did not call for one form of domination to replace another. They demanded an end to oppression in all its forms, not the beginning of a new round under the Western thumb. Nor did they want change at any cost.

At every step, history teaches us – these promises of freedom offered by the West are never fulfilled.

The reason is simple. The freedom of others is simply not on the Western agenda, no matter its public rhetoric. Imperialism of this nature does not want freedom; it wants control, domination, power and profit.

On March 4, as bombs were falling around him in Tehran, Mohamad Maljoo, an Iranian dissident, was finally able to connect to the internet. He wrote on his Telegram channel: “Those who claim that one can rain fire on the body of Iran in the name of striking the Islamic Republic while imagining that the people will remain unharmed either do not understand the reality of war or deliberately choose to ignore it. Bombs do not discriminate. Destruction does not operate selectively.”

The truth of his warning echoes from Palestine to Iran: “Life does not flourish in the shadow of oppression. Nor does it grow beneath the rubble of bombs.”

As a Palestinian, I feel the pain and determination in these words. I cannot help but feel solidarity.

We, Palestinians, know the horror of war in our bodies. We understand the shudders caused by yet another explosion, the tears of orphans and the despair of sleepless nights as fires burn everywhere. From the 1948 Nakba (catastrophe) to the current Ibadah (destruction), we have felt the pain of genocide for many generations. We see the echoes of our experience in the plight of others.

The US-Israel war on Iran began with something all too familiar to us: a strike on a school.

According to UNICEF, an average of a classroom full of children was killed each day for two years in Gaza; 432 out of the Strip’s 564 schools sustained “direct hits” from the Israeli army.

The Shajareh Tayyebeh, a girls’ elementary school in the city of Minab in southern Iran, was also a “direct hit”. About 170 young girls between the ages of six and 12 and staff were killed by two high-precision US-made Tomahawk missiles on February 28.

After the initial strike, teachers rushed to protect the students. Paramedics hurried to the scene to rescue the wounded. And then, a second bomb fell.

It was a double-tap strike – a horror of modern-day warfare that people of Gaza know all too well. It is designed to kill its target and then kill again those who come to the rescue.

Like in Gaza, the attack on the girls’ school in Minab did not remain an exception. Over the past three weeks, Israel and the United States have rained death and destruction on public spaces across Iran. Schools, hospitals, sports halls, stadiums, stores, cafes, bazaars and historical sites have been attacked. More than 5,000 residential units have been hit, and over 1,900 civilians have been killed.

As in Gaza, the cumulative goal is not only physical destruction, but also the spread of fear and terror. The targeting of civilian spaces thus operates as a form of psychological warfare — an assault on the very idea of safety and normality.

Targeting civilian infrastructure is against international law. Yet the US and Israel view international legal norms through the lens of US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who has repeatedly expressed his disdain for the rules of engagement, calling them “stupid”.

By now, it is clear that Gaza has served as Israel’s laboratory, as a testing ground, for the vision it seeks to impose across the entire region.

Just days ago, Israel’s Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich issued a chilling warning: “Dahiyeh [in southern Beirut] will look like Khan Younis.”

The destruction of Khan Younis – my hometown – has become the new model of devastation to be repeated elsewhere. In Lebanon, in the span of 20 days, this model has resulted in the massacre of nearly 1,100 people, including 120 children – a full classroom every three days.

What we witness in Gaza travels to Lebanon, then on to Iran.

What is the ultimate goal? The consolidation of Israeli hegemony in the region. The strategy is not necessarily the complete overthrow of the Iranian regime, but rather to break the Iranian state itself and significantly curtail its capacity to project power. A weakened or broken Iran would no longer be an obstacle to Israeli regional supremacy.

All this is happening with the full support of the US. Just last month, US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee voiced his approval for Israeli expansion into “Greater Israel”.

Other Western powers have also consented, supporting the illegal war on Iran, albeit refusing to commit their own troops, ships and aircraft.

In his poem “The Earth Is Closing on Us”, Mahmoud Darwish wrote:

“Where should we go after the last frontier?
Where should the birds fly after the last sky?
Where should the plants sleep after the last breath of air?”

Soon, this may become the reality for the entire region. Under Israel’s absolute and unrestrained dominance, we will all feel as if we have nowhere left to go. What will life under this reality look like?

If Gaza is the laboratory, then we can picture that the region will burn in flames for years to come.  Whenever Israel wants to, it will “mow the lawn” to impose its will over any government and to suppress any rebellion from the people of the region.

The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera’s editorial stance.

The war launched by the United States and Israel has killed more than 1,500 people in Iran.

This number is considered conservative, as actual calculations are yet to be released by the authorities.

But the devastation from the war has also triggered mass displacement in the country: the United Nations refugee agency, UNHCR, estimates that 3.2 million people – more than 3 percent of the population – have already been displaced within Iran since US-Israeli strikes began on February 28.

Twenty-seven days into the conflict, aid agencies and countries bordering Iran are bracing themselves for a potential refugee crisis as civilians begin to flee the violence.

Cross-border flows have been limited and largely economic or short-term. In Afghanistan, most arrivals are Afghan returnees from Iran, citing insecurity or forced returns. Pakistan reports only authorised entries by citizens or traders, with no refugee inflows.

Turkiye, Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan report stable borders, limited authorised crossings, and occasional evacuations of third-country nationals.

Iraq has seen small-scale returns and 325 Iranian nationals crossing the border, citing the crisis. Within Iran, people have been forced from the ruins of their homes, and several hospitals, nuclear facilities, refineries and desalination plants have been hit.

However, pressure on the ground in Iran is mounting as more than 85,176 civilian sites have been damaged since the war began, including 282 healthcare facilities, 600 schools and 64,583 homes. In Tehran alone, the city administration said to local media that nearly 14,000 residential units in the capital have been damaged and at least 6,000 people have been accommodated in municipal hotels.

The growing risks of disruption to essential services are driving complex mobility patterns.

More than one million displaced in Lebanon

But Iran is not the only country where the rapidly expanding war has led to a displacement crisis.

The Israeli army has expanded its forced displacement orders for residents of southern Lebanon – from the Litani River to north of the Zahrani River, about 40km (25 miles) north of the Israeli border.

According to the Norwegian Refugee Council, Israel’s sweeping evacuation orders now cover more than 1,470sq km (568sq miles), or about 14 percent of the country’s territory.

The map below shows more than 100 towns and villages across the country that are under forced evacuation orders from the Israeli military.

Israel’s ground troops are also now increasingly expanding their de facto occupation of parts of southern Lebanon, with Israeli authorities claiming that they want to create what they describe as a “buffer zone”.

Nearly one in five people in Lebanon – or 18 percent of the population – have been displaced over the past two weeks.

According to the International Organization for Migration, the total number of registered displaced people has reached 1,049,328, and the number of displaced people residing in collective shelters is 132,742.

The pace of displacement has outstripped the country’s shelter capacity. Many families have been unable to secure accommodation and are spending nights in streets, vehicles or public spaces as collective shelters fill up. For many of them, this is not the first time.

More than 250,000 people have left Lebanon over the past two weeks, a 40 percent increase compared with the last two weeks of February.

Much of the outward movement has been towards neighbouring Syria. As of March 17, more than 125,000 people had crossed the border. Nearly half are children. Most are Syrian nationals, with about 7,000 Lebanese among those crossing.

Southern Lebanon’s bridges attacked

Israel has struck several bridges in southern Lebanon, connecting the country through the Litani River.

Israeli forces have attacked:

• Qasmiyeh Bridge.
• Coastal Highway Bridge.
• al-Qantara Bridge.
• Khardali Bridge.
• al-Dalafa Bridge.
• Zaraiya-Tirseflay Bridge.

Footage and photos of the locations, verified by Al Jazeera, show each bridge specifically bombed, making them impossible to use. These were key crossings linking Lebanon’s south.

Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz had last week ordered the military to destroy all crossings over the Litani River and homes close to the border between the two countries.

The areas in Lebanon near the Israeli border to the Litani River are the same locations where at least a million people have been pushed out.

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun has said the attacks on the bridges are “an attempt to sever the geographical connection between the southern Litani region and the rest of Lebanese territory”.

He said they fell “within suspicious schemes to establish a buffer zone along the Israeli border, solidify the reality of the occupation and seek Israeli expansion within Lebanese territory”.

Oil prices are expected to remain high because of uncertainty over the war on Iran, according to analyst Muyu Xu.
She warns prices could reach as high as $120 if tensions escalate and disrupt key supply routes, with countries holding limited reserves likely to feel the impact the most.

Iran will play two friendly matches in Turkiye as they prepare for the FIFA World Cup in the US, Canada and Mexico.

Iran’s men’s football team have been training in southern Turkiye as they ⁠prepare for two ⁠upcoming friendly matches before the FIFA World Cup, where the squad are likely to attract heightened attention against the backdrop of the United States-Israel ⁠war on Iran.

Team Melli held a training session in Belek, a resort area near the Mediterranean city of Antalya, with tightly restricted media access as officials ⁠said they wanted to avoid distractions before the matches described as critical to their World Cup preparations.

Iran’s football federation is in discussions with world governing body FIFA about moving its World Cup matches to Mexico from the US due ‌to concerns over player safety, federation President Mehdi Taj said last week.

Iran’s camp has largely sought to keep a low public profile as the team builds towards the World Cup, where they are expected to face intense political and media scrutiny.

In Belek, no interviews with players or coaches were made available, and a team media representative said the squad were focused entirely ⁠on their immediate competitive programme.

Iran will play two matches ⁠in Antalya, against Nigeria on Friday and Costa Rica on Tuesday.

The friendlies were originally scheduled to take place in Jordan, but were moved to Turkiye following the outbreak of the war on Iran.

The ⁠players appeared relaxed during the session in sunny conditions, with staff and players at times chatting and joking.

Among those ⁠present was forward Mehdi Taremi, who has been ⁠in the spotlight in recent days after swapping shirts with an Israeli opponent while playing for his club Olympiacos in Greece.

Striker Sardar Azmoun was omitted from the squad after posting a picture on ‌his Instagram feed of a meeting with Dubai’s ruler Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum.

Iranian media reported that Azmoun, who has scored 57 goals in 91 internationals, ‌had ‌been expelled from the national team for a perceived act of disloyalty to the government.

French and Brazilian stars in focus as former world champions meet in a glamour friendly in Boston, US, before the World Cup.

Brazil and France will be among the leading contenders for FIFA World Cup glory later this year, and the two heavyweight teams continue their preparations for the tournament by facing off in a glamour friendly in the United States on Thursday.

With fewer than three months until kickoff, the countries ranked fifth and third respectively in the world rankings are in the US, familiarising themselves with what lies in store for them this June-July.

When and where is the Brazil vs France friendly match?

The former world champions go head-to-head on Thursday at 20:00 GMT at the Gillette Stadium near Boston, Massachusetts.

The home of the National Football League (NFL) side New England Patriots is the venue for the first meeting of these teams in exactly 11 years, since Brazil came from behind to win 3-1 in a friendly at the Stadium of France in March 2015 with goals from Oscar, Neymar and Luiz Gustavo.

How is Brazil’s form ahead of the match?

Brazil laboured their way through South American World Cup qualifying with six defeats in 18 games as they finished fifth. Now they are hoping the appointment of Carlo Ancelotti as coach will give them a genuine chance of winning a record-extending sixth World Cup, and first since 2002.

After this match, they will head to Orlando, Florida, for the next friendly on March 31 against Croatia, the team that ousted them from the 2022 World Cup in the quarterfinals.

Will Brazil miss Neymar?

Neymar is now 34 and has not played for his country since October 2023, but his absence from the squad has still been one of the main talking points coming into these matches.

“It is a physical issue, not technical. With the ball, he is great, but he needs to improve physically,” Ancelotti said after being asked about the absence of the former Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain superstar, now at Santos.

“Because in my eyes and those of my staff, he is not at 100 percent. So he needs to keep working to get back to 100 percent.”

Who will be the key players for Brazil?

In the meantime, Brazil’s main man is Real Madrid forward Vinicius Junior, while others likely to have key roles at the World Cup, such as goalkeeper Alisson Becker, centre-back Gabriel Magalhaes and midfielder Bruno Guimaraes, are missing here.

Despite a glittering club career that includes two Champions League triumphs and three La Liga titles, Vinicius has scored eight goals in 45 appearances for the five-time world champions and is determined to turn promise into international silverware with his second World Cup on the horizon.

“I feel more at ease, I’m happier; ⁠and when I’m happier, everyone around me is ⁠happier and more confident too,” Vinicius told reporters.

“I hope that everything I do for Real, I can go on to do ⁠here with the Brazilian national team. That’s my biggest goal. It’s where I’ve always dreamed of being, ⁠and I want to bring great pride ⁠to our country and a lot of joy to our entire nation.”

Among other players to feature is Rayan, the uncapped 19-year-old who earned his place after impressing in the Premier League for Bournemouth since arriving from Vasco da Gama in January.

Will Mbappe start for France?

The main focus for France, as ever, is Kylian Mbappe, and the national team captain was eager to feature on this trip after overcoming a knee injury to return for Real Madrid just last week.

There had been mounting fears in France that the 27-year-old’s fitness could become a real issue, but he said missing the World Cup or the end of the club season was never a concern.

“It is behind me. I was following a protocol, and I wanted to start playing again gradually. I hope to be able to play during this international break and to start being decisive again,” he said on Monday.

What happened in the last Brazil-France match?

The last competitive meeting of the teams came at the 2006 World Cup, when France beat Brazil 1-0 in the quarterfinals, thanks to a Thierry Henry goal and a masterful performance by Zidane.

Will Brazil and France meet in the World Cup?

If both win their groups at the upcoming World Cup as expected, they would not meet each other until the final.

Getting that far is the aim for these sides, and Thursday’s game will be a good gauge of where both stand as the competition approaches.

The Venezuelan leader, who is accused of plotting to traffic cocaine, denies all charges as part of an imperialist plot.

Former Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro is set to return to a New York courtroom as he seeks to have his drug trafficking indictment dismissed.

Thursday marks the first time that Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, will be in court since a January arraignment at which he protested his abduction by United States military forces and pleaded not guilty to all charges against him.

Maduro, 63, and Flores, 69, remain jailed at a detention centre in Brooklyn. Neither has requested bail.

Judge Alvin Hellerstein has yet to set a trial date, though that could potentially be announced at the hearing.

Maduro, who has led Venezuela since 2013, was abducted in Caracas by US special forces on January 3.

His lawyer contends that Washington is violating the deposed leader’s constitutional rights by blocking Venezuelan government funds from being used to pay his legal costs.

The former president and Flores continue to enjoy some support in Venezuela, with murals and billboards across the capital, Caracas, demanding their return.

However, while Maduro’s ruling party remains in control, he himself has been gradually sidelined within the government led by acting President Delcy Rodriguez.

Rodriguez has removed key figures loyal to Maduro, including his longtime defence minister and attorney general. She has also reshaped state institutions, named new ambassadors, and dismantled core elements of the self-declared socialist project that has governed Venezuela for more than 20 years.

Accusations of helping Colombian rebels

US prosecutors have accused Maduro and several alleged associates of “narco-terrorism” and plotting to traffic cocaine into the United States. If convicted, the charges could carry maximum penalties of life in prison under US law.

Congress created the narcoterrorism statute 20 years ago to target drug traffickers who finance activities the US considers “terrorism”.

Since then, 83 people, including Maduro, have been charged with violating it.

According to the Reuters news agency, the 2006 statute at issue has produced four trial convictions. Two were later overturned over issues stemming from witness credibility.

Maduro is also accused of leading a conspiracy in which officials in his government helped move cocaine through Venezuela in collaboration with traffickers, including the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), which Washington labelled a terrorist organisation from 1997 to 2021.

Maduro and his fellow indicted officials have always denied wrongdoing, saying the US charges are part of an imperialist plot to harm Venezuela.

French far-right leader Marine Le Pen said on Wednesday that the US has “clearly made a mistake” in attacking Iran, Anadolu reports.

“What I see is that the United States clearly made a mistake, thinking the Iranian regime would fall within a few days. It has not fallen. The Iranian regime is extremely strong,” Le Pen, head of the National Rally (RN), told France Inter radio.

She said Trump’s war goals are “erratic” and questioned the ultimate objective of the conflict, adding that “no one knows” what he seeks to achieve.

Le Pen underscored that the war has affected several Gulf countries and caused a heavy imbalance in energy supplies.

READ: French president says US-Israel attacks on Iran ‘outside the framework of international law’

“Russia is Hungary’s energy supplier,” and “Ukraine hinders Russia’s oil supply to Hungary,” she added.

The National Rally leader described Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban as a “symbol of resistance” to the European Commission.

“It is perfectly natural that I come to support our allies during electoral situations,” she said, stressing that she does not interfere in Hungary’s internal affairs.

Regional escalation has continued to flare since the US and Israel launched a joint offensive on Iran on Feb. 28, killing so far over 1,300 people, including then-Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.

Iran has retaliated with drone and missile strikes targeting Israel, along with Jordan, Iraq, and Gulf countries hosting US military assets, causing casualties and damage to infrastructure while disrupting global markets and aviation.

READ: Iran calls for urgent UN Human Rights Council meeting over school bombing

EXPLAINER

The US and Israel’s war on Iran is intensifying, as Trump again claims Iranian leaders want to ‘make a deal’.

The United States and Israel’s war on Iran continues, with an Al Jazeera correspondent in Tehran reporting strikes are “increasing in number and in intensity” amid conflicting claims about whether negotiations are taking place.

US President Donald Trump says talks are happening, but Iran rejects the talks, saying it will continue to “resist” US aggression.

On Thursday, Iran carried out retaliatory strikes against Israel and several Gulf countries, as the Middle East conflict sees no signs of ending, and global energy and food prices continue to rise.

In Iran

• Intensifying attacks: US-Israeli attacks on Iran are “increasing in number and in intensity”, according to Al Jazeera correspondent, with Israel announcing extensive strikes on central Isfahan. Alongside US forces, Israel has launched a “wave of extensive strikes” across Iran.
• Civilian casualties reported: Iranian media reported that two teenage boys were killed in a recent US-Israeli strike on a residential area in a village in the county of Shiraz.
• Iran talks: US President Donald Trump insisted that Iran was taking part in peace talks.
• Iran chooses ‘resistance’: Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Tehran will continue its “resistance” and does not intend to negotiate.
• US targets missile capacities: The US has hit two-thirds of Iran’s production facilities for missiles and drones, a top officer said.
• Threat to Iranian island: Tehran warned enemies may try to occupy one of its islands with support from an unnamed regional country.
• Iran’s leverage: Jane Foley, an analyst from Rabobank, noted that Tehran’s position on negotiations leaves the ball firmly in their court. Because the critical Strait of Hormuz remains effectively closed, she suggests Iran could have the power to dictate the terms of any resolution.
• New toll legislation: The Iranian parliament is preparing a draft law that would mandate the collection of tolls and duties from ships and tankers transiting the Strait of Hormuz, treating the waterway like a standard transit corridor.

In the Gulf

• Hezbollah plot uncovered in Kuwait: Authorities arrested six people allegedly linked to Hezbollah, accused of planning assassinations in the Gulf state, the Interior Ministry said.
• Saudi Arabia: Saudi Arabia’s Defence Ministry on Thursday morning announced the interception and destruction of a drone in the Eastern Province. Its air defence systems intercepted and destroyed at least two dozen drones targeting the Eastern Province, home to the majority of the kingdom’s oil facilities, on Wednesday.
• Bahrain: A fire broke out at a facility in the Muharraq Governorate due to what the Interior Ministry described as “Iranian aggression”.
• United Arab Emirates: The UAE’s Defence Ministry said on Thursday that its air defence systems have been actively responding to and intercepting incoming missiles and drones from Iran.

In the US

• Trump says Iran wants a deal: Trump again claims Iranian leaders want to “make a deal so badly” but are afraid to say so “because they figure they’ll be killed by their own people”.
• Trump threatens ‘hell’ if no deal: Trump is ready to “unleash hell” on Iran if Tehran does not accept a deal to end the war, the White House warned on Wednesday.
• Strategic posturing: Jason Campbell, a former Pentagon official, said US threats to “hit Iran harder” are more about signalling than intensifying attacks.
• Intentional vagueness: Campbell told Al Jazeera that Trump is deliberately omitting specific details because he wants the Iranian regime to believe the US is fully capable and willing to execute these harsher attacks.

In Israel

• Missile salvoes: Israel’s army on Thursday morning said it had detected a wave of missiles from Iran heading towards the country, the second salvo in less than 30 minutes.
• Rockets and missiles targeting Israel: Iranian missiles continue to target central and northern Israel. Additionally, Hezbollah has fired volleys of rockets into the Western Galilee region.

In Iraq, Lebanon

• Gulf issues Iraq demand: Gulf states and Jordan have urged Iraq to stop attacks by pro-Iran armed groups from its territory.
• Ground clashes with Hezbollah: Israeli troops have crossed the border into Lebanese territory and are actively engaging in ground combat. Hezbollah says its fighters are continuing to clash with invading Israeli troops in south Lebanon.
• Defending Lebanese soil: Hezbollah’s Secretary-General Naim Qassem stated that the group is now in a war against both the US and Israel and will do everything it can to defend Lebanese territory.

Oil markets and food

• Oil prices climb: Oil prices have climbed higher amid fading hopes of de-escalation in the Iran war following Tehran’s rejection that talks with the US are under way.
• Food supply shocks: Antony Currie, a columnist for Breakingviews, warned that the Iran war will likely have a more severe impact on global food security than Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

A week into the United States-Israeli war on Iran, and Iran’s attacks on its Gulf neighbours, Jaya Khuntia spoke – as he often did – to his Doha-based son Kuna on the phone.

It was March 6, about 10pm, and Khuntia and the family were worried. “He told me, ‘I am safe here, don’t worry,’” the father recalled from the conversation with Kuna.

It was the last time they spoke.

The next day, the family in Naikanipalli village of India’s eastern Odisha state received a phone call from Kuna’s roommate telling them that the son had suffered a heart attack after hearing the sound of missiles and debris from interceptions falling near their residence. He collapsed and was later declared dead. Kuna’s body reached home days later.

Al Jazeera cannot independently confirm the cause of Kuna’s death, but the family of the 25-year-old, who worked as a pipe fitter in Qatar’s capital, is among millions across South Asia directly affected by the war in the Middle East.

Of the eight people killed in the United Arab Emirates in Iranian attacks, two were Emirati military personnel, a third a Palestinian civilian, and the remaining five were from South Asia: Three from Pakistan, and one each from Bangladesh and Nepal. All three people killed in Oman were from India. An Indian national and a Bangladeshi national are the only deaths in Saudi Arabia.

Migrant workers from South Asia total nearly 21 million people in the Gulf nations, a third of the total population of the region. At stake, for their families back home, is the safety of their loved ones and the future of their dreams.

The Khuntia family had taken on a 300,000-rupee ($3200) debt in 2025 for the marriages of their two daughters. Kuna’s income in Doha – where he had moved only in late 2025 – of 35,000 rupees ($372) was helping them collect what they needed to pay back the loan. Kuna had been sending back about 15,000 rupees ($164) every month.

“We thought our suffering was finally ending,” Jaya said, his voice trembling. “My only son would say, ‘Baba, don’t worry, I am here.’ He was our only hope… our everything.”

That hope is now extinguished. “That one call finished us,” Jaya cried. “He promised to return after clearing our debts … but he came back in a coffin. We have nothing left now. Losing our only son is the biggest debt we have to live with.”

‘I thought we would be next’

In all, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE – the six Arab countries in the Gulf – host 35 million foreign nationals, who form a majority of their total population, 62 million.

They include 9 million people from India, 5 million each from Pakistan and Bangladesh, 1.2 million from Nepal, and 650,000 from Sri Lanka. Most of them are engaged in blue-collar work, building or supporting the industries and services that are at the heart of the Gulf’s success and prosperity.

But since the US and Israel launched their war on Iran, these migrant workers have often been among the most vulnerable. That vulnerability extends beyond deaths and injuries to the very nature of their work: Oil refineries, construction areas, airports and docks, where many work, have been targeted in Iranian attacks.

The suspension of work at many of these facilities, coupled with fears of a major economic downturn in the region, has also left many workers and their families worried about the future of their jobs.

Hamza*, a Pakistani migrant labourer working at an oil storage facility in the UAE, recalled a recent attack that he witnessed. “A drone struck a storage unit right in front of us. We were completely shaken. Most of us there are from India, Pakistan and Bangladesh.

“We couldn’t sleep for nights after that. The drone was so close that it could have killed us, too,” Hamza added. “For a moment, I thought we would be next.”

Despite these dangers, he said, leaving is not an option.

“We want to go back, but we can’t,” Hamza said. “Our families depend on us. It’s dangerous here, but if we stop working, they will have nothing to eat. We have no choice.”

Experts say Hamza’s sentiment is common across South Asian blue-collar workers in the Gulf, because of poverty and limited employment opportunities back home.

Imran Khan, a faculty member at the New Delhi Institute of Management working on migration economics, said migrant labourers from South Asia are often driven by desperation to take up jobs in the Middle East. He said Western countries have, in recent years, dramatically raised entry barriers for less-educated blue-collar foreign workers.

“These workers are the worst affected during crises – whether war or natural disasters,” he says. “I have been speaking to several migrant labourers, particularly Indians in the Middle East, and many are living in distress since the conflict began.”

But, like Hamza, most cannot afford to leave, Khan said.

“They cannot simply quit. Their income would stop immediately, and there are very limited opportunities back home,” he explained. “They have families to support, and without these jobs, survival becomes difficult.”

Families – and societies – that depend on remittances

Middle Eastern countries remain a key source of remittances for South Asian nations such as India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Nepal. The remittances these five countries receive from the region, $103bn, are comparable to Oman’s total gross domestic product (GDP).

Just the remittances that India receives from the Gulf, $50bn, are more than Bahrain’s entire GDP. Pakistan receives $38.3bn in remittances, Bangladesh $13.5bn, Sri Lanka $8bn, and Nepal $5bn.

With the recent escalation of conflict in the Middle East, experts warn these flows could be significantly affected, especially if Gulf economies contract and layoffs follow.

Faisal Abbas, an expert in international economics and director at the Centre of Excellence on Population and Wellbeing Studies, a Pakistan-based research institute, said remittances from the Middle East form a crucial economic backbone for South Asian nations, not just families.

“Remittances are a critical pillar for Pakistan and other South Asian economies, and a large share comes from Middle Eastern countries,” he explained. “If the situation worsens, it will not be a positive development for the region.”

Pakistan’s remittances from the Gulf constitute nearly 10 percent of its GDP, about $400bn.

Abbas added that the effect may extend beyond remittance flows. “Migration patterns could also be disrupted. Many workers may return home, while those planning to migrate might reconsider,” he said. “This could further increase unemployment in a region already facing job shortages.”

Unlike Hamza, a number of South Asian workers are planning to return home.

Noor*, a migrant worker from Bangladesh employed at an oil facility in Saudi Arabia, said he no longer feels safe and plans to return home once his contract ends.

“I will never come back here again,” he said. “It’s too dangerous. We can’t even sleep at night. The fear never leaves us.”

Noor said drone attacks had occurred close to his workplace. “We saw it happen in front of us,” he said. “That fear stays with you… It doesn’t go away.”

His family, too, is deeply affected. “My children cry every time they call me. They are scared for my life,” he added.

He said he knows that returning to Bangladesh would mean more economic hardship for his family. But Noor said he had made up his mind.

“I would rather go back and struggle to survive with my family than live here in constant fear,” he said. “At least there, I will be with them.”

*Some names have been changed at the request of workers who fear retribution from contractors for speaking to the media.

Brent crude tops $104 a barrel as hopes fade for deescalation in US-Israel war on Iran.

Oil prices have climbed higher amid fading hopes of deescalation in the Iran war following Tehran’s denial that talks with the United States are under way.

Futures for Brent crude, the international benchmark, rose nearly 2 percent on Thursday to top $104 per barrel after Tehran dismissed reports of direct negotiations with US President Donald Trump’s administration.

The rise comes after oil prices eased on Wednesday following reports that Trump had shared a 15-point plan for ending the war with Iran.

Asian stock markets opened lower on Thursday, with Japan’s Nikkei 225, South Korea’s KOSPI and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index all seeing losses.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said in an interview with state media aired on Wednesday that Tehran was not engaged in direct talks with Washington and has “no intention of negotiating for now”.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt warned on Wednesday that Iran would be “hit harder” than ever before if Tehran did not accept military defeat.

Iran’s effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz, a conduit for one-fifth of global oil supplies, and its attacks on energy facilities across the Middle East have prompted a surge in energy prices worldwide.

Oil prices are up more than 40 percent compared with before the US and Israel launched strikes on Iran on February 28, prompting numerous countries to implement fuel rationing and other energy conservation measures.

Market-watchers say prices are likely to rise further until shipping is free to traverse the strait, despite efforts by countries to bolster supply by tapping emergency stockpiles in coordination with the International Energy Agency.

While Tehran has repeatedly claimed that the strait is open to ships that are not aligned with its enemies, daily transits have all but collapsed since the start of the conflict.

Four vessels were tracked transiting the waterway via their automatic identification systems on Tuesday, down from an average of 120 daily transits before the conflict, according to maritime intelligence firm Windward.

South Korea today rolled out the first series-produced example of its homegrown KF-21 fighter. This major milestone in the program also underscores just how quickly it has progressed, with the rollout coming a little over five years since the first prototype of the fighter was unveiled. The development schedule is especially impressive when compared with other new-generation fighter programs, although Seoul has taken some notable shortcuts to meet this aggressive timeline.

An official Republic of Korea Air Force video commemorates the rollout of the first series-produced KF-21:

KF-21 양산 1호기 출고 | 불모의 땅에서 항공 강국으로

The first series-production KF-21 — also known as the Boramae, meaning hawk in Korean — is a two-seater, unveiled in a ceremony today at the Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI) headquarters in Sacheon, southeast of Seoul.

President Lee Jae Myung told guests that the fighter symbolized South Korea’s “aspirations for self-reliant defense,” and said he was committed to establishing the country as one of the world’s top four defense powers.

“South Korea has finally secured weapons to protect peace with its own technology, not only on land and sea but also in the air,” Lee added.

There is no doubt that South Korea is fast emerging as a major player when it comes to defense manufacturing, and, increasingly, this is reflected in high-profile exports, too.

As well as the KF-21, Lee also took time to mention the country’s K9 self-propelled howitzer and Cheongung surface-to-air missile system, both of which have secured lucrative foreign sales. In the military aircraft sector, KAI’s T-50/FA-50 advanced jet trainer/light combat aircraft has also proven a force to be reckoned with in terms of global sales.

Returning to the KF-21, the jet was developed to replace South Korea’s now-retired F-4E Phantom II and still-active F-5E/F Tiger II fighters.

The program was formally launched in 2016, followed by the roll-out of the first prototype in April 2021, and the first flight of a prototype in July 2022. In May 2023, the KF-21 was provisionally judged “fit for combat.”

A total of six prototypes have been built and flown, two of these being completed in the two-seat version of the jet.

Previously announced plans call for the Republic of Korea Air Force (ROKAF) to receive 40 KF-21s by 2028 and have a full fleet of 120 aircraft deployed by 2032.

As to how South Korea got to this stage so fast, it has adopted a notably different approach from other next-generation fighter programs.

The KF-21 has never been billed as a fifth-generation fighter with all of the advanced features and capabilities that this entails. Instead, Seoul refers to it as a “4.5-generation fighter jet,” using nomenclature that’s more commonly used to define the new or significantly modernized fighters that appeared from the 1990s onward.

Unlike a ‘true’ fifth-generation fighter, the airframe design of the KF-21 is not primarily driven by stealth, and its level of sensor fusion is at a notably less advanced level than found in the F-35, for example.

For the ROKAF, a more austere fighter is less of an issue, since it is already receiving the U.S.-supplied F-35A.

At the same time, the KF-21 will bring a host of advanced features that wouldn’t be out of place on a more ambitious design.

These include an active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar and infrared search and track (IRST). Its armament will also include beyond-visual-range MBDA Meteor air-to-air missiles with ramjet propulsion and, reportedly, locally produced long-range cruise missiles, too.

There is also scope for further improvements, which would bring the KF-21 up to a standard much closer to a fifth-generation jet.

In its initial form, the KF-21 carries its weapons externally or semi-conformally, although the future Block 3 version of the jet is planned to feature internal weapons bays.

Other advanced versions of the jet are also being considered, including an escort jamming platform, a concept for which was revealed at the rollout ceremony today.

🇰🇷KF-21EJ (Escort Jammer) / KF-21EX (true 5th-generation variant with internal weapons bay) Concept.These concepts were introduced in the rollout ceremony video of the first mass-produced KF-21, showcasing potential future evolutions of the platform—ranging from dedicated… https://t.co/j7BvtoZQ39 pic.twitter.com/PRaAJHZWbW

— 笑脸男人 (@lfx160219) March 25, 2026

South Korea is also embracing the concept of crewed/uncrewed teaming to further enhance the capabilities of the KF-21.

Seoul expects to have its KF-21s working closely with homegrown stealth drones, as a means of boosting the potential of the crewed fighter as well as maximizing “combat mass.” In this regard, the existence of a two-seat version should have particular benefits, with the rear cockpit accommodating a dedicated drone controller. You can read more about the concept here.

In terms of raw performance, the KF-21 is no slouch, either, with claims of better kinematic performance than an F-16C.

By avoiding some of the aspects of fighter development that traditionally consume exorbitant time and funds, KAI has managed to leapfrog many other potential rivals. At the same time, a gap of five years between the rollout of the prototype and the first series-produced example compares to roughly 11 years between the first flight of the prototype X-35 Joint Strike Fighter and the first flight of the first full-production airframe, F-35A AF-6.

On this day in 2011, AF-6 took off. 🚀 #DYK: AF-6, the first production F-35, completed its first flight on Feb. 25, 2011.

Today, this fifth-generation fighter continues to evolve, ensuring allied forces stay ahead of any threat. pic.twitter.com/3Dj2mz1ss7

— F-35 Lightning II (@thef35) February 26, 2025

For Russia, too, there was a full 10 years between the first flight of the prototype T-50 in 2010 and the first flight of the first full-production Su-57 Felon airframe in 2020.

That’s not to say that the KF-21 hasn’t faced any problems. In particular, there has been a tricky relationship with Indonesia, which joined the program as a junior partner before becoming locked in disputes over costs and workshares.

According to the latest reports, Seoul plans to sign a deal to export 16 KF-21s to Indonesia. Today, President Lee also said that South Korea would seek other partner nations to further strengthen the competitiveness of its defense industry, perhaps also including the KF-21.

Increasingly, South Korea is developing a wide range of locally made air-launched weapons, avoiding reliance on arms imports and, at the same time, allowing Seoul to offer these for export itself without facing potential restrictions like the U.S. government’s International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR).

With South Korea’s growing pedigree as a supplier of higher-end arms, the KF-21 could well become a very attractive export prospect. In the meantime, however, the rollout of the series-produced jet brings the first delivery to the ROKAF a step closer and, with it, underscores the continued modernization of the air arm.

Contact the author: thomas@thewarzone.com

Home Affairs Department said decision to ban Iranian visitors amid the war on Iran was in Australia’s ‘national interest’.

Australia has temporarily banned visitors from Iran, claiming that the United States-Israeli war on the country has increased the risk that Iranian passport holders could refuse or be unable to fly home once their short-term visitor visas expire.

Australia’s Department of Home Affairs said on Wednesday that the restrictions on Iranian visitors would be for a period of six months, describing the move as in the “national interest amid rapidly changing global conditions”.

“The conflict in Iran has increased the risk that some temporary visa holders may be unable or unlikely to depart Australia when their visas expire,” the Home Affairs Department said in a statement.

“This measure gives the Government time to assess the situation properly, while still allowing flexibility in limited cases,” it said.

The ban applies to Iranian citizens who are currently outside Australia – even if they have an Australian visitor visa for tourism or work.

Exceptions to the ban include Iranian citizens already in Australia, those currently in transit to Australia, spouses, de facto partners, or dependent children of Australian citizens, and those with permanent visas.

Exemptions will also be considered on a case-by-case basis, such as for the parents of Australian citizens, the department said.

Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke said decisions on who can remain permanently in Australia should be made by the government and should not be the “random consequence of who booked a holiday”.

“There are many visitor visas which were issued before the conflict in Iran that may not have been issued if they were applied for now,” he said.

Burke added that the government is monitoring developments and “will adjust settings as required to ensure Australia’s migration system remains orderly, fair and sustainable”.

The Sydney-based Asylum Seekers Centre said in a post on social media that the ban on Iranian visitors was the result of a “shameful new law” rushed through Australia’s parliament that “threatens the very foundations of Australia’s onshore protection programme” for those seeking safety.

“For years, politicians have been stressing the importance of seeking safety through so-called legal routes,” the group said.

“Now, in the face of an international humanitarian crisis, the government is slamming the door shut and blocking a key pathway for people seeking safety today and in the future,” it said.

Earlier this month, US President Donald Trump called on Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to give the Iranian women’s football team asylum in Australia amid fears that players may face repercussions at home for failing to sing their national anthem before a Women’s Asian Cup 2026 match in Queensland.

Albanese later told reporters that five team members had sought assistance and “were safely located” by Australian authorities.

In total, seven players and officials were granted asylum in Australia, though five team members later reversed their decision to stay in Australia and chose to return home.

The Iranian team had arrived in Australia to participate in the football tournament before the US and Israel launched their attack on Iran on February 28.

According to Australian government figures up to 2024, more than 90,000 Australian residents were born in Iran, and large diaspora communities are present in major cities such as Sydney and Melbourne.

Ross Harrison, Senior Fellow at the Middle East Institute, says public talk of diplomacy between the US and Iran is hiding hardline positions, warning that despite the messaging, the situation is still likely heading toward military escalation.

These instances can often come at a financial cost, sometimes referred to as the “ADHD tax”, such as paying late fees and penalties for administrative delays, replacing frequently lost items, missing appointments or pre-booked travel, impulsive purchases and budgeting issues.