war

Iranian officials dismiss Trump’s ultimatum, condemn latest threats as ‘incitement to war crimes’.

Video captured the moment of a direct hit by an Iranian missile on a residential building in Israel’s Haifa. Multiple injuries were reported and some people are feared trapped under the rubble of the partially collapsed structure.

Dr. Patrick Turner hasn’t had an easy life and his harrowing backstory should be explored on-screen

Call the Midwife needs to revisit the heartbreaking past of Dr. Patrick Turner in the anticipated new prequel.

The BBC period drama launched in 2012 and is based on the memoirs of legendary nurse and midwife Jennifer Worth.

The plot was originally set in 1957, when the National Health Service was a fairly new concept, with the latest episodes covering the early 1970s.

However, a new series will rewind the clock back to World War II and feature younger versions of beloved characters Sisters Julienne, Monica Joan, and Evangelina, originally portrayed by Jenny Agutter, Judy Parfitt, and Pam Ferris, during the London Blitz.

The three-part mini-series, called Sisters In Arms, is expected to take pride of place during the forthcoming Christmas period.

Fans will no doubt hope Dr. Turner’s character is explored in the prequel, given his previous hints of a troubled past.

The much-loved family man has been a staple of the drama since its launch, and viewers have been gripped by his professional and personal life.

Fans will remember the touching moment when Dr. Turner (Stephen McGann) found love with former nun, Shelagh Mannion (Laura Main), with the couple now raising four children together in their cosy home.

However, it hasn’t always been smooth sailing for Dr. Turner, as it was revealed that he suffered a severe mental breakdown in 1945. The horrors of World War II became too much to bear for the doctor, requiring a five-month stay in a psychiatric hospital.

During series three of the BBC show, Dr. Turner and Shelagh attended an in-depth adoption meeting where he was asked about his career break from April to December 1945.

“I was injured”, Dr. Turner protests before declining to comment further on the reason why he was discharged from the army.

He sternly added, “You must understand. It was the end of the war. I was medical Corps, trying to save lives at the front.”

It was then confirmed that Dr. Turner had been an inpatient at Northfield Military Psychiatric Hospital for five months, where he was treated for war neurosis, now known as Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), leaving Shelagh shocked.

“I was worn out. There was too much death. I recovered. I’m recovered”, he bravely confirmed as heartache wiped across his face.

As he failed to tell the finer details of his agonising experience, the Call the Midwife prequel should explore the trials and tribulations of Dr’Turner’s life during World War II.

The former armyman has an extraordinary medical knowledge, but how did he cope with the war? What was Dr. Turner’s experience of a psychiatric ward during the 1940s, at a time when treatment consisted of electroconvulsive shock therapy?

We are so invested in the character that we need to see how his historic experience during the conflict shaped his commitment to being a doctor, serving the gritty community in Poplar and becoming a much-loved character.

Call the Midwife is available to stream on BBC iPlayer

The greatest threat to stability in the Middle East is not Iran, but “the US working closely together with Israel”, argues United States political scientist John Mearsheimer.

Mearsheimer tells host Steve Clemons that the notion that the US and Israel are making a safer, more stable Middle East is “ludicrous”. And the idea that Iran is “the great destabiliser” in the region is “a myth that the US and Israel purvey”.

After US President Donald Trump insisted that “We have all the cards; they have none”, Mearsheimer says the exact opposite is true – “and that’s why we are in desperate straits”.

US president threatens to strike power plants and bridges on Tuesday in an expletive-laden social media post.

United States President Donald Trump has threatened to attack civilian infrastructure inside Iran, including bridges and power plants, if the Strait of Hormuz is not reopened by his stated deadline of Monday.

Trump made the threat in an expletive-laden social media post on Sunday, in which he repeated previous threats to pummel vital infrastructure across Iran.

“Tuesday will be Power Plant Day, and Bridge Day, all wrapped up in one, in Iran. There will be nothing like it!!! Open the F****** Strait, you crazy b*******, or you’ll be living in Hell – JUST WATCH! Praise be to Allah,” Trump said in a Truth Social post.

On March 26, Trump set a 10-day deadline for Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, a key shipping route for the global energy market, where traffic has ground to a halt since the US and Israel first attacked Iran on February 28.

He told Fox News on Sunday that Iran was currently negotiating with the US and that he believed the two could reach a deal before the deadline.

The US president has frequently repeated that Iran is seeking a deal to end the war and that fighting will end soon since the conflict began. Iran has stated that it is not seeking to end the war and has vowed to step up escalation across the region if its infrastructure is targeted.

Throughout the war, US officials have threatened Iran with overwhelming violence if it does not capitulate to US demands. Last week, US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth threatened to send Iran “back to the Stone Age”.

US-Israeli strikes have already targeted civilian infrastructure and facilities, including bridges, schools, healthcare facilities, and universities. Experts have warned that some of those strikes could constitute war crimes.

The US president has said that he will hold a news conference in the White House on Monday.

Trump also offered additional details about the operation to locate and extract the pilot of an F-15E fighter jet that was shot down over Iran on Friday.

“We have rescued the seriously wounded, and really brave, F-15 Crew Member/Officer, from deep inside the mountains of Iran,” he said in a separate social media post on Sunday.

“An AMAZING show of bravery and talent by all!”

WASHINGTON — Merely two weeks had passed since the Iran war began when Gen. Randy George, the Army’s highest-ranking officer, began sounding an alarm.

Touring a weapons depot in North Carolina, George warned lawmakers present that the conflict’s vast and ever-growing list of targets was straining U.S. capacity — “depleting our stockpiles faster than we can replace them,” as one congressman recalled. Since assuming Army leadership, George had made it his mission to strengthen the nation’s industrial base in anticipation of precisely this moment, when the United States would be engaged in a major war with a formidable adversary.

On Thursday, in a brief phone call, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth fired George. No reason was given, a U.S. official familiar with the matter told The Times.

The forced departure of George in the middle of a war created yet another blow to morale inside the Pentagon, where multiple officials expressed dismay over the state of the department’s leadership. Over the last year, Hegseth has fired five sitting members of the joint chiefs of staff, with only two holdovers remaining in their posts.

“Whenever you have a change in leadership, military or otherwise, there is bound to be some churn in information management,” one U.S. official said, granted anonymity to speak candidly. “So what you’re doing, in the middle of a war, as we are taking U.S. casualties, is you’re taking out the general in charge of making sure the right people and equipment are flowing into the Middle East.”

Inside the building, officials believe that Hegseth’s next target is Dan Driscoll, the Army secretary and an ally to President Trump. Driscoll has been seen by Hegseth’s aides as outshining the Defense secretary on prominent policy initiatives.

Gen. Randy George, U.S. Army chief of staff, speaks with soldiers during training exercises at Lightning Academy at Schofield Barracks in Honolulu on Nov. 10, 2025.

(Christopher Lee/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

It is a purge that Republican lawmakers on Capitol Hill fear could have tangible, detrimental effects on the war effort. Sens. Roger Wicker of Mississippi, Tom Cotton of Arkansas and Joni Ernst of Iowa, all members of the Senate Armed Services Committee, have expressed private concerns over George’s firing, a second U.S. official said.

Forcing out Army leadership responsible for training and equipping its soldiers, and for ensuring weapons stockpiles continue to meet demand, risks bureaucratic chaos and despair in the ranks at a time when the Trump administration is openly considering a ground operation in Iran.

Others in the Pentagon have raised concern over the U.S. military stockpile, including Air Force Secretary Troy Meink, who last month warned at a defense conference that munitions shortages were a concern even before the war began.

“It was something that we were concerned about even before the operation,” Meink said. “It has just been the fact that we couldn’t see the threat evolving and what we’re facing. So we definitely have to improve on that.”

Trump has denied that the United States faces weapons shortages, even after meeting with the nation’s top contractors last month in a push for them to increase — and on some products, quadruple — their output.

“What interceptors we have for Iran is because of Randy George,” the first U.S. official countered. “He continued to work that problem set up through [Thursday]. It’s a problem set he was working in real time.”

Jerry McGinn, director of the Center for the Industrial Base at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said U.S. forces have reached a stage in the war where they can pivot away from standoff weapons systems. With Iran’s air defenses largely degraded, they can instead rely on weapons such as laser-guided bombs, helping ease pressure on stockpiles.

But Iran’s downing of two U.S. aircraft on Friday suggests that longer-range weapons may still be necessary.

“When the stockpile is stressed, as it was after Ukraine and then now with Iran, any surge in need leads to a backlog as they try to replenish,” McGinn said.

“The three things they’ve been using a whole lot of are Tomahawks, [Terminal High Altitude Area Defense] and Patriots, and those inventories were already somewhat depleted after Midnight Hammer last summer,” McGinn added. “You can’t crank those out very fast.”

Beyond his role tending to the nation’s “magazine depth” — making sure the military isn’t firing more weapons than it is able to replenish — George also led the Pentagon’s effort to set up a joint task force last year aimed at speeding up the U.S. military’s ability to counter small unmanned aircraft systems, or drones.

The program has proved critical in the war effort. Tehran now relies heavily on its Shahed drones, with its missile production and launch capacity severely diminished.

Acknowledging the Pentagon expulsions, Iran’s embassy in South Africa posted photos on social media Friday x-ing out portraits of several top U.S. military officials fired in recent months.

“Regime change happened successfully,” the Iranians wrote.

Former Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has proposed a roadmap for ending the United States-Israeli war on Iran as tensions escalate across the Middle East.

Zarif’s plan was published by Foreign Affairs magazine on Friday and goes “beyond a temporary ceasefire”.

The war, which erupted on February 28 with US-Israeli strikes on Iran, has spread across the Middle East and convulsed the global economy as Tehran attacked its neighbours, claiming to be targeting US assets there and restricting movement of vessels in the Strait of Hormuz.

Regional hostilities showed no signs of abating on Sunday, a day after US President Donald Trump said Iran had 48 hours to cut a deal or face “all hell”.

Against this backdrop, Zarif’s roadmap said that although Iran viewed itself as successful in the war, prolonging the conflict – while potentially “psychologically satisfying” for Tehran – would only result in further loss of civilian lives and destruction of infrastructure.

Iran should, therefore, offer to “place limits on its nuclear program” under international monitoring as well as “reopen the Strait of Hormuz in exchange for an end to all sanctions”, Zarif wrote.

Since the war began, Iran has virtually blocked the key waterway, through which one-fifth of the world’s crude oil and natural gas supplies normally pass.

Nuclear limits on Iran would include a commitment to never seek nuclear weapons and to blend its entire stockpile of enriched uranium so its enrichment levels fall below 3.67 percent, Zarif said.

According to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) estimates, Iran is believed to have about 440kg (970lb) of uranium enriched to 60 percent, a level at which uranium can be quickly enriched to the 90 percent threshold needed to produce a nuclear weapon.

Zarif called Trump’s demand for zero enrichment “fanciful” thinking.

Iran should also “accept a mutual nonaggression pact with the United States” in which both countries pledge to not strike each other in the future, the former minister said.

The US should also end all sanctions and United Nations Security Council resolutions against Iran, he added.

Regional consortium

Zarif also outlined potential roles for regional and international actors.

He suggested that China and Russia along with the US could help create a regional fuel-enrichment consortium with Iran and its Gulf neighbours at West Asia’s sole enrichment facility with Iran transferring all enriched material and equipment there.

Zarif additionally proposed that Gulf states, UN Security Council powers and possibly Egypt, Pakistan and Turkiye should form a regional security framework to “ensure nonaggression, cooperation and freedom of navigation”, including arrangements to guarantee safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz.

“To further consolidate peace, Iran and the United States should initiate mutually beneficial trade, economic and technological cooperation,” Zarif added.

The Iranian politician said this roadmap would benefit Trump, offering him a “well-timed off-ramp” and an opportunity to claim peace.

“Emotions may be high, and each side is boasting about its war-front victories. But history best remembers those who make peace,” he said.

The US has presented Iran with a 15-point plan for a ceasefire as Pakistan, Turkiye and Egypt have been trying to achieve direct talks, but there has been no signs of progress on the diplomatic front.

What about the Gulf?

Officials from Gulf states have responded to Zarif’s proposal, criticising it for overlooking Tehran’s attacks against its neighbours.

“Reading M. Javad Zarif’s article in Foreign Affairs ignores one of the core flaws in Iran’s strategy: aggression against its Gulf Arab neighbors,” Anwar Gargash, the diplomatic adviser to the president of the United Arab Emirates, said on X on Saturday.

“Thousands of missiles & drones targeting infrastructure, civilians, even mediators, is not strength; it is hubris & strategic failure. The Arab world has seen this before: destruction peddled as victory,” he added.

Former Qatari Prime Minister Hamad bin Jassim Al Thani also responded to Zarif’s plan, writing on X on Sunday that he “agreed with much of it” and it took a “clever” approach.

Still, he pushed back, stating that the war has “led us all into a path that is more complicated and dangerous” and chiding Iran for its attacks on the Gulf.

“You may believe that you have achieved progress in some aspects, and perhaps temporary tactical gains, but the cost was clear: the loss of an important part of your friends in the region, and the erosion of the trust that was built over years,” he wrote.

“Today, we need a voice like yours [Zarif’s] merging from within Iran to propose solutions to this war,” he added.

The talks have focused on a ‘smooth passage’ through the Strait of Hormuz, as Tehran effectively blocks the vital waterway.

Oman and ⁠⁠Iran ⁠⁠have held deputy foreign ⁠⁠minister-level talks, discussing ⁠⁠options to ensure the smooth transit of vessels through the Strait ‌‌of Hormuz, according to the Omani Foreign Ministry.

The meeting was held on Saturday “at the level of undersecretaries in the foreign ministries of the two countries”, the ministry said on Sunday in a post on X, adding that it was “attended by specialists from both sides”.

“Possible options were discussed regarding ensuring the smooth passage through the Strait of Hormuz during these circumstances witnessed in the region,” it added. “During the meeting, experts from both sides presented a number of visions and proposals that will be studied.”

On Sunday, three Omani ships appeared to be transiting the Strait of Hormuz, outside Iran’s “approved corridor” near Larak Island, according to tracking data monitored by shipping journal Lloyd’s List.

The convoy consists of two large oil supertankers and one liquefied natural gas (LNG) carrier that are sailing “unusually close to the Omani coast”, according to the United Kingdom-based outlet.

The developments come after an Iranian ⁠⁠official said on ⁠⁠Thursday that Iran was drafting a protocol with ⁠⁠Oman to monitor ⁠⁠traffic in the ⁠⁠strait, through which about a fifth of global ‌‌oil supplies travel, and which Iran has severely restricted in retaliation for the ongoing US-Israeli war on the country.

Since the war began on February 28, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has allowed some vessels to transit, including Pakistani, French, and Turkish-linked vessels. But about 3,000 others are stranded.

Strait effectively blocked

The waterway is a critical chokepoint for global energy shipments, especially oil and gas moving from the Gulf to Europe and Asia.

Disruptions there have injected volatility into the market and pushed oil- and gas-importing countries to seek alternative sources.

United States President Donald Trump, in a social media post over the weekend, threatened to unleash “all Hell” if it is not opened by Monday.

Egypt’s ⁠⁠Foreign ⁠⁠Minister Badr Abdelatty held separate calls ⁠⁠to discuss proposals for regional de-escalation ⁠⁠with US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and regional counterparts, including Iranian ‌‌Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, the Egyptian ministry said in a statement on Sunday.

Amin Saikal, a professor emeritus at the Australian National University, said an expansion of the war “is going to be hell for the whole region”. “There has to be some kind of negotiated settlement,” he told Al Jazeera on Sunday.

“But at this stage, the door for a diplomatic solution seems to be very narrow, unless President Trump decides that this conflict has caused so many problems for him domestically, as well as internationally, that it is really time to reach some compromise with the Iranians,” Saikal concluded.

A MAJOR airline has slashed the price of fares by 50% for summer as the Middle East war tumbles demand for long-haul flights.

Etihad is now offering some of the lowest ever prices seen for long-haul flights from the UK for May and June as it kicks off a price war with Gulf airlines.

Travellers can get return economy flights with the gulf airline from London to Sydney, via Abu Dhabi, from £688.

This is almost three times cheaper than flying to the Australian capital with British Airways (BA), via Singapore, on the same dates – which is £1,850 in economy.

The Foreign Office is currently advising against all but essential travel – which doesn’t include holidays – to the United Arab of Emirates amid the ongoing conflict.

But Etihad, which is the official airline of the UAE, appears to be gambling on hopes that the situation in the Middle East will have eased by next month.

C NYTHING

The major World Cup host city which once had the world’s tallest building

GO SEA

English coastal town overlooked by busy neighbours that’s like ‘going back to 1950s’

An Etihad insider told The Times, which analysed the airline’s prices: “As soon as travel picks up, we want to be back to flying planes 100 per cent full in all cabins, as we were before the conflict. These prices will help.”

The airline is also offering market-leading fares to other popular destinations from the UK, including the Maldives, Tokyo and Bangkok.

Brits can get return economy flights to the Maldives with the airline in May and June from £581 – compared with £3,380 with British Airways.

Flights to Singapore are form £391, but are £980 with BA.

Emirates and Qatar Airways, the other main Gulf airlines, have not cut their prices.

Demand for long-haul flights has plunged since the war in Iran first broke out at the end of February, with flights cancelled and the Foreign Office issuing “do not travel” warnings for countries in the Middle East.

Countries in Europe including Spain have seen demand rise, as Brits look for alternative destinations to travel to.

The UK Foreign Office states: “FCDO advises against all but essential travel to United Arab Emirates.

“Your travel insurance could be invalidated if you travel against advice from the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO).”

United States President Donald Trump said early on Sunday that an American soldier who went missing in Iran after the downing of his F-15E jet has been rescued following what observers called a dramatic firefight between Iranian and US rescue forces.

The US and Iran were racing to find the airman for about two days, with Tehran calling on the public to hand over the soldier to the authorities in what appeared to be attempts to capture an American prisoner of war as the US-Israel war on Iran entered its 37th day.

That scenario would have delivered a significant win to Tehran amid the ongoing pummelling of its territory, and for Washington, a stunning blow, analysts say. It could have been the moment that parts of Trump’s support base, which has so far supported the war, started to rethink their stance, they say.

“It was a major test for the American military because they really don’t want to leave any of their servicemen behind enemy lines,” Amin Saikal, a professor of Middle East and Central Asian studies at the Australian National University, told Al Jazeera.

But this rescue “also really frees up President Trump to pursue whatever strategy he has in mind”, Saikal added, referencing Trump’s 48-hour deadline for Iran to make a deal or open the Strait of Hormuz “before all Hell will reign down on them”. Trump has already threatened to bomb energy plants in Iran. Targeting of civilian infrastructure is seen as a violation of the laws of war.

At least 2,076 people have been killed, and 26,500 have been injured in Iran since February 28, when the US and Israel first launched strikes on Iran and killed Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei and several other senior military and political leaders.

The conflict has since escalated into a regional war with Iran retaliating against Gulf countries hosting US military and commercial assets.

What happened to the missing airman?

The F-15E jet carrying two members was flying over southern Iran when it was shot down on Friday morning local time.

According to Tehran, the aircraft was shot down by Iran’s “new advanced air defence system”, which it said remained effective despite claims by the US that it had been destroyed.

It was the first time during the war, and the first time since the invasion of Iraq in 2003, that a US aircraft had been shot down.

Washington immediately launched a rescue mission. Although US forces rescued one crew member hours after the crash, the second pilot, believed to be a colonel-rank weapons system officer, was yet to be found.

At least one Black Hawk helicopter was hit in the initial rescue, but US officials said it managed to stay airborne.

Trump suggested that the US appeared to have the location of the airman and was tracking him as the rescue mission unfolded in an area with difficult, mountainous terrain that made physical recovery challenging.

An A-10 Warthog aircraft was also hit near the Strait of Hormuz around the same time as the F-15E, but its pilot was able to eject before the plane crashed and was subsequently rescued. Iranian media reported that this aircraft was also hit by Iran’s defence system.

How did Iran react?

Following the downing of the F-15E, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) cordoned off some parts of the mountainous southwestern Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad province because they believed the airman went down in the vicinity.

Iranian media also reported that parts of the southern Khuzestan region, an important energy hub, were being scrutinised. That region was the focus of heavy US-Israeli strikes on Saturday that killed at least five people and injured dozens.

Iranian authorities, in a rare move, called on the public on Friday to help find and capture the missing American soldier. State media reported that Tehran offered a $60,000 reward for the airman as clips on state TV repeatedly played footage showing the remnants of the downed US aircraft.

Nomadic tribes in the area, appearing to heed the calls, set about searching for the US airman. Footage from state media showed men carrying rifles and Iranian flags moving in between the mountains of the country’s southwest region.

Some successfully shot at two US Black Hawks that were part of the rescue mission, Iranian officials said. The BBC also verified footage appearing to show Iranian men firing their rifles at US helicopters.

Nomadic groups in Iran, and elsewhere, usually carry rifles to protect their cattle from wildlife and bandits.

The IRGC on Sunday claimed that Iranian forces destroyed two C-130 aircraft and two Black Hawk helicopters during the operation to rescue the US pilot in southern Isfahan.

What did the US do to retrieve the soldier?

Early on Sunday morning, Trump announced in a post on Truth Social that the missing soldier had been rescued in “one of the most daring Search and Rescue Operations in U.S History”.

“This brave Warrior was behind enemy lines in the treacherous mountains of Iran, being hunted down by our enemies, who were getting closer and closer by the hour, but was never truly alone because his Commander in Chief, Secretary of War, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and fellow Warfighters were monitoring his location 24 hours a day, and diligently planning for his rescue,” Trump said in his message.

The president revealed some details of the high-risk operation. He had ordered that dozens of aircraft carrying “lethal weapons” be sent in to retrieve the airman who had managed to evade Iranian forces for two days. All the while, the US was tracking the airman.

Although Trump did not reveal details of the firefight believed to have ensued when the US closed in on the airman and went to retrieve him, he confirmed that the officer “sustained injuries” and added that “he will be just fine”.

Al Jazeera’s John Hendren gathered that there was a “heavy firefight” as what was meant to be a “get-in and get-out” rescue operation dragged on.

While US forces had aimed to use the cover of night to conduct the rescue mission after closing in on the airman, enemy fire prolonged the mission into daylight, making it more dangerous.

“We’ve heard it described to us as a heavy firefight,” Hendren reported. “In the end, they managed to spirit that airman out of the country … and into safety, but it didn’t come without injuries, including injuries to that airman himself, but in the end, the US was allowed to avoid a situation where they would have a prisoner of war inside of Iran.”

Hendren added that the US had earlier started a disinformation campaign in Iran, according to officials, claiming the airman was already rescued, to jeopardise Iran’s search.

Iran has not yet confirmed the incident. Al Jazeera’s Tohid Asadi, reporting from Tehran, said the firefight appeared to have occurred in the Kohgiluyeh Boyer-Ahmad region, and that nine people have been reported killed in “strikes”, although it is unclear if it was related to the US rescue mission.

Meanwhile, Iranian authorities said on Sunday morning that yet another US aircraft – a Lockheed C-130 Hercules – had been downed.

The US has not responded to those claims. At least one such aircraft was spotted flying low over southwest Iran, along with two smaller refuelling helicopters, during the rescue mission effort of the last 48 hours.

Tens of thousands of Iraqi Shia leader Muqtada Sadr’s supporters rallied across Baghdad and other cities on Saturday, protesting against the US-Israel war on Iran.

Iraq has been unwillingly drawn into the regional tension, suffering attacks targeting both US interests and pro-Iranian factions within its territory.

In Baghdad’s Tahrir Square, enormous crowds, including some women, filled the streets, brandishing Iraqi flags and shouting: “No, no to Israel” and “No, no to America”.

“What America and Israel are doing in their aggression against the countries of the region is not a war of a military nature, but a senseless war,” said Dhirgham Samir, a demonstrator in his 40s.

“Today’s demonstration is an expression of rejection of aggression, arrogance, and injustice throughout the world, not just in Iraq,” he told the AFP news agency, adding that “this is a senseless war, targeting civilians”.

The ongoing war has resulted in thousands of casualties throughout the region since it began.

Sadr had issued calls for peaceful demonstrations “to condemn the Zionist-American aggression and to establish peace in the region”.

Beneath Baghdad’s Freedom Monument, which honours Iraq’s independence declaration, protesters denounced what they characterised as US and Israeli meddling in regional matters.

“They violate the rights of all the peoples of the region first, and then the world,” Muslim leader Ali al-Fartousi told AFP. “Humanity must speak out against these people and stop them. The time has come for the entire world to stand united against global Zionist-American arrogance.”

Sadr commands a loyal following of millions within Iraq’s Shia majority and has consistently demonstrated his ability to mobilise large crowds. Though he has opposed various governments over the years, his influence extends into Iraqi ministries and official institutions through his representatives.

Iran claims another US aircraft involved in the rescue of the F-15 fighter pilot has been shot down.

The United States has rescued the second crew member of a US F-15 jet shot down, President Donald Trump confirms, as Iran claims another US aircraft involved in the rescue has been downed in the province of Isfahan.

“This brave Warrior was behind enemy lines in the treacherous mountains of Iran, being hunted down by our enemies,” Trump posted on his social media platform Truth Social on Sunday. “He sustained injuries, but he will be just fine.”

The airman, who Trump said held the rank of colonel, was the second member of a two-person crew of an F-15 that Iran said on Friday had been brought down by its air defences.

“This miraculous search and rescue operation comes in addition to a successful rescue of another brave pilot yesterday, which we did not confirm because we did not want to jeopardise our second rescue operation.”

The rescue resolves a crisis for the White House with the war on Iran in its sixth week.

The first member of the crew had been rescued, triggering a high-stakes search for the remaining airman by both Iran and the US.

Al Jazeera’s Tohid Asadi, reporting from Tehran, said there had been no confirmation or denial from the Iranians on the pilot’s rescue.

“Over the past 24 hours, we have witnessed continuous air strikes on the location where the fighter jet was downed,” he said.

Another plane down?

Separately on Sunday, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said it shot down a US aircraft that was looking for the missing officer in the southern province of Isfahan, according to Iran’s Fars news agency.

Fars posted a photo on its Telegram channel, showing thick smoke rising from a field, and said: “Trump’s desperate attempt to cover up a huge defeat.” Fars did not provide any details on the plane that was downed.

The high-stakes US rescue effort, which involved dozens of military aircraft, encountered fierce resistance from Iran.

Before Trump’s confirmation, Al Jazeera’s Jon Hendren, reporting from Washington, DC, quoted a US official as saying that US forces had encircled and were moving in on the downed airman, who had managed to avoid Iranian units for about two days.

“And then a firefight broke out. This happened in daylight,” Hendren reported. “Generally, special operations troops would go in for a rescue operation like that, and they would try to extract someone very quickly in the darkness. This went on for hours, we were told.”

In a separate incident, an A-10 Warthog fighter crashed after being hit over Kuwait, with the pilot ejecting, officials said. The degree of any injuries among the aircraft crew remained unclear.

Still, Trump was triumphant.

“The fact that we were able to pull off both of these operations, without a single American killed, or even wounded, just proves once again that we have achieved overwhelming air dominance and superiority over the Iranian skies,” he said in his statement.

Company says move amid US-Israel war on Iran comes after a request from the US government.

Satellite imaging company Planet Labs has said it will indefinitely withhold visuals of Iran and the ⁠region of conflict in the Middle East to comply with a request from United States President Donald Trump’s administration.

The US company announced the decision in an email to customers on Saturday, with news agencies quoting it as saying the government had asked satellite imagery providers ⁠to impose an “indefinite withhold of imagery”.

The restriction expands upon a 14-day delay on imagery of the Middle East that Planet Labs implemented last month, which extended an initial 96-hour delay, a move the firm said was meant to prevent adversaries from using the imagery to attack the US and its allies.

Planet Labs said it will withhold imagery dating back to March 9 and ‌that it expects the policy to remain in effect until the end of the war, which began on February 28 when the US and Israel launched aerial attacks against Iran. The conflict has since spread across the region, with Iran firing missile and drone barrages at Israel and US assets, as well as civilian infrastructure across the Gulf.

Planet Labs, which was founded in 2010 by former NASA scientists, said in its email to customers that it would switch to a “managed distribution of images” deemed not ⁠to pose a risk to safety.

Under a new system, Planet Labs will release imagery on a case-by-case basis for urgent, mission-critical requirements or in the public interest.

“These ⁠are extraordinary circumstances, and we are doing all we can to balance ⁠the needs of all our stakeholders,” the California-based company was quoted as saying.

Military uses of satellite technology include target identification, weapons guidance, missile tracking and communications. Some space specialists say Iran could be accessing commercial imagery, including pictures obtained via US adversaries. Satellite images also help journalists and academics ⁠studying hard-to-reach places.

Tehran says Iraq will face no restrictions in waterway, praising country’s ‘struggle’ against the US.

Iran has announced that Iraqi ships are free to pass the Strait of Hormuz, the latest sign of Tehran easing its stranglehold on the critical conduit for global energy supplies.

Iraq will be exempt from all restrictions in the strait, with controls only applying to “enemy countries”, Iran’s Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters said in a statement on Saturday.

“We hold profound respect for Iraq’s national sovereignty,” the military command said in the statement carried by the semi-official Tasnim News Agency.

“You are a nation that bears the scars of American occupation, and your struggle against the US is worthy of praise and admiration.”

Iran’s announcement came as US President Donald Trump reiterated his demands for Tehran to make a deal or relinquish control of the waterway, warning in a social media post that “all hell” would rain down within 48 hours otherwise.

Iran’s Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters rejected Trump’s demand, calling his threat a “helpless, nervous, unbalanced and stupid action”.

Iran has effectively blockaded the strait, which usually carries about one-fifth of global oil and liquified natural gas supplies, since the US and Israel launched their war on the country on February 28.

While maritime traffic has ticked up in recent weeks under a de facto toll booth system imposed by Tehran, it is still down more than 90 percent from normal levels, according to ship tracking data.

According to Lloyd’s List Intelligence, there were 53 transits through the strait last week, up from 36 the previous week and the most since the war began.

The collapse of shipping in the waterway has thrown a wrench in global energy markets, pushing up fuel prices and prompting authorities in many countries to roll out emergency energy conservation measures.

Brent crude, the international benchmark, has hovered above $109 a barrel in recent days, with many analysts predicting prices to surge much higher if the waterway is not unblocked soon.

Iraq’s oil production, which provides most of Baghdad’s revenues, has been hit especially hard by the war.

Iraq’s oil ministry announced last month that production had fallen to 1.2 million barrels a day, down from 4.3 million barrels, amid declining crude shortage capacity due to the effective halt of exports through the strait.

Iraq was the world’s six-biggest oil producer in 2023, accounting for 4 percent of global supply, according to the US Energy Information Administration.

Iran says US-Israeli attacks on the Mahshahr Petrochemical Zone have killed five and wounded 170.

Soon after the war between the US, Israel and Iran began, its ripple effects were evident.

Pakistan stands out as one of the countries paying a heavy price.

It’s heavily dependent on energy supplies from the Gulf.

And with the Strait of Hormuz blocked, the government increased the fuel price twice in a month.

The increases triggered mass protests, with people furious at the government’s decision to pass on the burden of higher costs.

Why is Pakistan more vulnerable to the current crisis than other countries?

Presenter: Rishaad Salamat

Guests:

Kaiser Bengali – Economist and former head of the Chief Minister’s Policy Reform Unit for Balochistan

Michael Kugelman – Senior fellow for South Asia at the Atlantic Council

Ali Salman – Founder and CEO of the Policy Research Institute of Market Economy

April 3 (UPI) — A French-owned shipping vessel on Friday was the first Western ship permitted to transit the Strait of Hormuz since the United States and Israel started the war in Iran.

The container ship, owned by the company CMA CGM, is one of several that were permitted to transit the Strait after weeks of Iran permitting few, if any, vessels to pass through it.

The French ship sailed under the flag of Malta and is believed to have been idling in the Persian Gulf since early March, similar to many other vessels, after Iran choked off non-Iranian traffic in response to the war.

The ship switched on its transponder and looked to leave the gulf Thursday afternoon after Iran permitted several ships to transit the Strait, Euronews and The Guardian reported.

The other vessels were three tankers, at least one of which was a liquefied natural gas tanker with a Panamian flag that is owned by a Japanese company.

The Strait of Hormuz is one of the busiest trade routes in the world and, among other things that are shipped through it, sees roughly 20% of the world’s oil and gas supply transit daily under normal circumstances.

The United States has discussed sending U.S. Navy vessels to escort ships through the Strait, although that could be expensive, time consuming and put U.S. troops and assets in danger. Other nations — including Britain — were beginning to look for ways to move vessels through the Strait regardless of the war in Iran.

France, for example, struck a deal with South Korea on Friday to work together to secure safe passage for their vessels through the strait.

Both nations rely on oil and gas from the region, on top of other parts of the global supply chain in which they participate, and said they are working together to deal with the economic and energy crises that have been triggered by the war in Iran.

“This explosion will definitely worsen their condition.” The chief of Tehran’s Del Aram Sina Psychiatric Hospital showed media the damage a recent US-Israeli strike caused to the medical facility. He says it is now unable to treat patients suffering conditions like PTSD.

Prime Minister Meloni is the first EU and NATO country leader to visit the region since the war began.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has met Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani in Doha to discuss the energy crisis due to the ongoing United States and Israeli war on Iran.

Meloni met the Qatari leader on Saturday in Doha, the second stop on a regional tour that began in Saudi Arabia the previous day and continues with a visit to the United Arab Emirates.

The leaders “tackled energy issues … and discussed possible measures to mitigate the shocks suffered”, according to a statement from her office.

Meloni told the Qatari leader that Rome was ready to “contribute to the rehabilitation of Qatari energy infrastructure, which is essential to energy security on a global scale”, the statement added.

Italy is highly dependent on energy imports and is concerned about rising energy prices that have resulted from Iran’s effective blocking of the Strait of Hormuz, a key waterway through which some 20 percent of global oil and liquified natural gas transits.

The Qatari emir’s office said in a statement that both sides had “stressed the need to work towards de-escalation”.

“And prioritise political dialogue and diplomacy as the best way to contain the current crisis in the Middle East and its repercussions on energy and supply chains, and to safeguard energy security in the region,” the statement said.

“They also reviewed bilateral cooperation between the two countries and ways to support and develop it in various fields, particularly in the economy and energy,” it added.

Since the beginning of the war at the end of February, Iran has targeted US and Israeli targets in the region, in addition to targeting Gulf countries, including Qatar.

Iran has targeted Qatar’s energy installations, including a missile strike on Ras Laffan Industrial City, the country’s main gas facility, that caused “significant damage”. Doha says the attacks will affect its natural gas export capacity.

An Italian government source told the AFP news agency that Meloni’s trip to the Gulf aimed to “strengthen relations with these countries and repeat Italy’s support against Iranian attacks”.

The source added that the region was a “crucial source of oil and gas for Italy” and that Meloni is the first leader of a European Union or NATO country to travel to the region since the war broke out.

After meeting the Qatari emir, Meloni travelled to the United Arab Emirates, where she was received by President Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan.

United States President Donald Trump has issued another threat to Iran, writing that it has two days to “make a deal or open up the Hormuz Strait”.

Saturday’s brief, three-sentence post on Truth Social did not reference the ongoing search for a US pilot who is believed to have ejected over Iran after an F-15 fighter jet crashed in the country. Iran has taken responsibility for the downing, the first of its kind since the US and Israeli launched attacks on Iran on February 28.

A separate incident on Friday saw Iran claim it shot down an A-10 Warthog near the Strait of Hormuz, raising questions about Trump’s earlier assertion that the US has established dominance over Iran’s airspace.

Rather than remark on the recent crashes, Trump’s post focused on a 10-day deadline he announced on March 26.

He had called on Iran to open the Strait of Hormuz to international traffic, or else face the “destruction” of its energy plants. That 10-day period is set to expire on Monday.

“Remember when I gave Iran ten days to MAKE A DEAL or OPEN UP THE HORMUZ STRAIT,” Trump wrote. “Time is running out – 48 hours before all Hell will reign down on them. Glory be to GOD!”

Stalled negotiations

While Trump did not provide further details about Saturday’s threat, in a series of posts this week, he pledged to attack Iran’s power plants, oil facilities and “possibly all desalinization plants”.

During a national address on Wednesday, he also threatened to bomb Iran “back to the Stone Ages”, and on Friday, he cheered a strike on a bridge that connects Tehran to the Caspian Sea.

Just this week, more than 100 international law experts published an open letter, warning that targeting civilian infrastructure is a violation of the Geneva Convention and could constitute war crimes.

The Trump administration has also offered shifting objectives and plans for ending the war.

Administration officials have repeatedly said that the US prefers a diplomatic solution. Trump, meanwhile, has touted “victories” even as he has hinted at more weeks of attacks.

At the same time, Iran and the US have sent contradictory messages on the progress of peace talks.

On Saturday, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Tehran remained open to diplomacy, after Iran rejected an “unreasonable” 15-point plan put forward by the Trump administration.

“What we care about are the terms of a conclusive and lasting END to the illegal war that is imposed on us,” Araghchi said in a post on X.

The US, however, has argued that Iran’s demand that it maintain “sovereignty” over the Strait of Hormuz is a non-starter.

Pakistan has indicated it will continue to try to support ceasefire negotiations despite the ongoing “obstacles”.

No mention of downed pilot

While Trump has not publicly addressed the ongoing search for the US pilot, NBC News reported on Friday that he did not believe the incident would affect any negotiations with Iran.

“No, not at all. No, it’s war,” he reportedly told the network in a phone call.

Nevertheless, experts have warned that the possible Iranian capture of the pilot could create a crisis for Washington, giving Tehran a major leverage point that could snarl any diplomatic resolution.

The incident could also undermine US claims it has a dominant position in negotiations.

Marina Miron, a researcher at King’s College London, said the shooting down of the F-15 undercuts statements from Trump and Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth that the US has established complete control over Iranian airspace.

“Now we have a visible example that Iran still has the capability to target and successfully shoot down US aircraft, making this, of course, very important for Iran to demonstrate the capability to resist,” Miron told Al Jazeera.

“Most likely, the kinds of air defences that Iran is using, such as man-portable air defences, will be much more difficult to locate.”

Any US efforts to rescue the pilot would risk US casualties, Miron added, heightening the risk of further military escalation.

“It’s a race for time, because right now we have this critical window of up to 72 hours where both sides are trying to get hold of the pilot for both military and political purposes,” she said.

“A civilised government never targets institutions of knowledge.” Iran’s minister of science said the US and Israel are the ones that belong in the Stone Age following an attack on Tehran’s Shahid Beheshti University. Al Jazeera’s Tohid Asadi visited the site to see the damage.