04-01 00:00 · 中东,局势,AlJazeera,中东
In an exclusive interview with Al Jazeera, Secretary of State Rubio said US war objectives would be achieved in ‘weeks’.
As the war on Iran enters day 32, US and Israeli air strikes continue across Iran, with powerful explosions reported in Tehran and Isfahan.
In an exclusive interview with Al Jazeera, United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio said communication between Tehran and Washington is ongoing, mostly through intermediaries, adding US war objectives would be achieved in “weeks, not months”.
Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump has threatened to destroy Iran’s main oil export hub and energy infrastructure if no deal is reached soon.
In Iran
- Hormuz plan: State media reported that a parliamentary commission approved tolls on vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz, a key oil and gas route effectively closed by the war.
- Trump threatens Kharg Island: Trump threatened to destroy Iran’s oil export hub of Kharg Island, oil wells and power plants if no deal is reached soon.
- Strikes on Tehran and Isfahan: Israel and the US continued with their bombardment, with powerful explosions reported in Tehran and Isfahan.
- Tehran sceptical of US talks: Al Jazeera’s Mohamed Vall said Iranian leaders are focused on the war effort as they deeply distrust the US, believing Washington is not genuinely ready for negotiations on ending the war.
- 87th wave of attacks: Iran’s latest wave of regional attacks – the 87th in a month – was launched by the country’s navy. Vall said it serves as a “very strong message to the US”, proving Washington’s claims of obliterating Iran’s naval forces to be untrue.
- IRGC confirms Tangsiri death: The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) confirmed the death of its naval commander, Admiral Alireza Tangsiri, who was killed in an Israeli strike recently.
War diplomacy
- Pakistan-China talks: Pakistan’s Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar is visiting Beijing on Tuesday for talks with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, following the weekend meetings in Islamabad with top diplomats from Saudi Arabia, Turkiye and Egypt.
- G7 ministers pledge action on energy: The Group of Seven economy and finance ministers said they were ready to take “all necessary measures” to stabilise the energy market.
- Egypt’s el-Sisi asks Trump to help stop war: “I say to President Trump: no one will be able to stop the war in our region, in the Gulf … Please, help us to stop the war, you are capable of it,” President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi said in Cairo.
- UN slams Israel death penalty law: The UN rights chief has criticised the Israeli parliament’s approval of a “deeply discriminatory” new death penalty bill for Palestinians convicted of deadly attacks, warning that applying it on occupied Palestinian territory “would constitute a war crime”.
- NATO intercepts Turkiye-bound missile: NATO forces intercepted a missile fired from Iran towards Turkiye – the fourth since the start of the Middle East war.
- Paris ‘surprised’ by Trump remarks: French President Emmanuel Macron’s office said it was “surprised” by Trump’s criticism of France as “very unhelpful” after Paris refused to allow planes carrying military supplies to fly over its territory.
- Infantino on Iran: FIFA chief Gianni Infantino said that Iran “will be at the World Cup” and will play their group matches in the US as scheduled, despite the war.
In the Gulf
- Attack on Kuwaiti oil tanker: Iran launched a “direct and criminal” attack on the Al-Salmi, a fully loaded Kuwaiti oil tanker stationed at Dubai port.
- Missile interceptions in Saudi Arabia: Saudi Arabia says it intercepted at least eight ballistic missiles targeting Riyadh and the energy-rich Eastern province.
- Gulf leaders condemn escalation: During a summit in Jeddah, the leaders of Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Jordan jointly condemned Iran’s attacks on key civilian facilities.
- Regional alerts: The conflict’s spillover has put neighbouring states on high alert, with Bahrain activating sirens and urging its residents to head to the nearest safe place.
- Araghchi calls to ‘eject US forces’ from region: Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said it is “high time” for US troops to leave their bases in Gulf states.
In the US
- Rubio confirms indirect talks: Much of the communication between Tehran and Washington is indirect and through intermediaries, but messages and some direct contacts are continuing, Rubio told Al Jazeera.
- Hormuz: Rubio said the waterway will remain open regardless of Iran’s actions.
- US war aims ‘weeks, not months’: The state secretary said US war objectives could be achieved “in weeks, not months” and that it was on track after destroying Iran’s air force and much of its navy.
- US troops file complaints: More than 200 US soldiers have filed complaints regarding superior officers using religious rhetoric to justify the war.
- US supports Israeli law: The US State Department publicly supported Israel following the Israeli parliament’s approval of a law that allows the execution of Palestinians convicted of deadly attacks.
- ‘Decisive’ days: Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth said on Tu
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04-01 00:00 · 中东,局势,AlJazeera,中东
Iran’s top diplomat Araghchi has told Al Jazeera that, despite contacts, Iran is not in negotiations with the US.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has confirmed that messages had been exchanged with the United States, either directly or through countries in the region, amid the ongoing US-Israel war on Iran.
During an interview with Al Jazeera, Araghchi said that the contacts with the US did not mean that Tehran was in negotiations with Washington.
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“I receive messages from [US special envoy Steve] Witkoff directly, as before, and this does not mean that we are in negotiations,” he said.
“There is no truth to the claim of negotiations with any party in Iran. All messages are conveyed through the Foreign Ministry or received by it, and there are communications between security agencies,” he said.
Araghchi explained that they have never had a “good experience” negotiating with the US, adding that one time years ago they secured a deal, only for the US to withdraw from it, alluding to the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).
“We do not have any faith that negotiations with the US will yield any results. The trust level is at zero”, he said, adding: “We don’t see honesty.”
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian also said on Tuesday that the US does not believe in diplomacy, as Iran was attacked twice during negotiations with Washington, our colleagues at Al Jazeera Arabic reported.
Pezeshkian, who held a phone call with European Council President Antonio Costa on Tuesday, also said that while his country has the “necessary will” to end the ongoing war, guarantees are required to “prevent repetition of the aggression”.
However, US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth told a press conference on the same day that while Washington wants to secure a deal to end the war and open up the Strait of Hormuz, they are prepared to continue “negotiating with bombs”.
In the Strait of Hormuz, Araghchi said the “reality” is that it lies within Oman’s and Iran’s territorial waters and is therefore ordinary to be used “strategically”.
“Only for the ships of those who are at war with us, this strait is closed. That is normal during war – we cannot let our enemies use our territorial waters for commerce,” he explained.
“Ships linked to other countries – because of security concerns, because of high insurance prices, or whatever other reason – they have decided not to use the Strait,” he said, adding that some of those countries have negotiated with them.
He said after the war, what becomes of the security of the waterway will be up to Oman and Iran to decide, but said that the strait could be a “peaceful waterway”.
Amid reports of a possibility of a US ground operation in the country, the Iranian official reiterated that Tehran was not scared.
“We are waiting for them,” he said, adding: “I don’t think they’d dare to do such a thing. There will be a lot of strength waiting for them.”
“We know very well how to defend ourselves. In a ground war, we can do it even better. We are completely ready to confront any sort of ground attack. We hope they do not make such a mistake,” Araghchi said.
The foreign minister also clarified to Al Jazeera that Tehran has not yet responded to the 15-point proposal that was sent by the US, “nor have we submitted any proposals or conditions.”
Reporting from Tehran, Al Jazeera’s Ali Hashem said that much of what Araghchi talked about was not new, but the significant update was the contact with Witkoff.
“The new piece of information is that he’s in touch directly with Witkoff and that there are some security discussions going on,” he said.
Last week, a senior diplomatic source told Al Jazeera that Iran had received a 15-point plan from the US that was aimed at ending the war.
The plan included proposals ranging from calls on Iran to commit to never acquiring a nuclear weapon to limiting its missile stockpile in both range and quantity.
Still, the Iranian foreign minister reiterated that Iran will only accept an end to all attacks in the region rather than a ceasefire.
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03-31 00:00 · 中东,局势,AlJazeera,中东
The announcement comes after Madrid refused to let Washington use jointly operated military bases for the war on Iran.
Spain has closed its airspace to planes of the United States involved in the US-Israel war on Iran, the latest step in the country’s opposition to the conflict.
Defence Minister Margarita Robles confirmed the airspace closure to reporters on Monday after Spain’s El Pais newspaper first reported on it, quoting military sources.
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“This was made perfectly clear to the American military and forces from the very beginning. Therefore, neither the bases are authorised, nor, of course, is the use of Spanish airspace authorised for any actions related to the war in Iran,” Robles said.
“I think everyone knows Spain’s position; it’s very clear,” the minister added, calling the war on Iran “profoundly illegal and profoundly unjust”.
Spain had already said earlier this month that the US could not use jointly operated military bases in the war, which Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has described as “unjustifiable” and “dangerous”.
Trump’s threats
US President Donald Trump threatened to cut trade with Madrid after the Spanish government denied the US use of the Rota and Moron military bases in southern Spain, forcing 15 US aircraft to relocate.
Under the left-wing government led by Sanchez, Spain has been Europe’s loudest opposing voice against US and Israeli military actions in the Middle East, at a time when the European Union vaguely called for de-escalation and protecting civilians without rejecting the assault on Iran.
Commenting on the war earlier this month, the prime minister said: “This is how humanity’s great disasters start … The world cannot solve its problems with conflicts and bombs.”
Spain has also been a vocal critic of Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza. In October, its parliament approved the enshrinement in law of a total arms embargo on Israel, permanently banning the sale of weapons, dual-use technology and military equipment.
That announcement drew a furious response from Israel, which had already withdrawn its ambassador when Spain recognised a Palestinian state in May 2024.
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03-31 00:00 · 中东,局势,AlJazeera,中东
Palestinian Authority calls the bill a ‘war crime’ against Palestinians, says it breaches the Fourth Geneva Convention.
Israel’s parliament, the Knesset, has passed a controversial one-sided bill that will instruct military courts to impose the death penalty on Palestinians convicted of killing Israelis in acts of “terror”, but will not impose the same penalty on Jewish Israelis convicted of killing Palestinians.
The law, which enters into effect within 30 days, was approved on Monday in the 120-seat Knesset by 62 lawmakers, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, with 48 voting against it and one abstention.
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Its passage marks a major victory for Israel’s far right, with National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir having pushed for its enactment as one of the main conditions of his Otzma Yehudit (Jewish Power) party’s coalition agreement with Netanyahu.
The Palestinian Authority called the bill “a war crime against the Palestinian people”, saying that it breached the Fourth Geneva Convention, “particularly the protections it guarantees for individuals and the safeguards for fair trials”.
The new law, introduced as Israel’s genocide against Palestinians in Gaza continues, instructs military courts trying only West Bank Palestinians, who are not Israeli citizens, to impose the draconian sentence for lethal attacks on Israelis.
Amichai Cohen, a senior fellow at the Israel Democracy Institute’s Center for Democratic Values and Institutions, told the Associated Press that “Jews will not be indicted under this law”.
Under international law, he noted, Israel’s parliament should not be legislating in the West Bank, which is not sovereign Israeli territory in spite of the best efforts of Netanyahu’s far-right coalition to annex the territory to Israel.
The lawyer for the Knesset’s National Security Committee also raised several concerns during earlier deliberations, noting that it did not allow clemency, contradicting international conventions.
Rights group B’Tselem pointed out prior to the Knesset’s approval of the bill that the conviction rate for Palestinians tried in military courts is about 96 percent. “In many cases, these convictions are based on ‘confessions’ obtained through pressure and torture during interrogations,” it said in a post on X on Sunday.
“The law is worded in such a way that it targets only Palestinians. And it will turn the killing of Palestinians into an accepted and common tool of punishment through several mechanisms,” said the group.
According to Palestinian prisoner advocacy group Addameer, more than a third of the 9,500 Palestinians detained by Israel as of March 11 were being held under administrative detention without being tried.
Minutes after the law was passed, the Association of Civil Rights in Israel said it had filed a petition with Israel’s Supreme Court to challenge it, describing it as “discriminatory by design” and “enacted without legal authority” over West Bank Palestinians.
On its website, the association notes, among other criticisms, that the “threshold for imposing the death penalty would be lowered”, with courts able to impose sentences of death by hanging by simple majority rather than a unanimous decision by judges.
Though Israel technically has the death penalty on the books as a possible punishment for acts of genocide, espionage during wartime, and for certain “terror” offences, the country hasn’t put anyone to death since Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann was executed in 1962.
Appearing in the Knesset before voting began, Ben-Gvir wore a pin featuring a small metal noose on his lapel. “From today, every terrorist will know, and the whole world will know, that whoever takes a life, the State of Israel will take their life,” he said.
The bill, which comes into effect as the occupied West Bank experiences a surge in Israeli military and settler violence, was condemned by the foreign ministers of France, Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom on Sunday.
Amnesty International said in February that it would make the death penalty “another discriminatory tool in Israel’s system of apartheid”.
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03-31 00:00 · 中东,局势,AlJazeera,中东
Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Turkiye and Egypt set up a team for backchannel talks with the US and Iran.
Islamabad, Pakistan – When the foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia, Turkiye and Egypt landed in Islamabad over the weekend, it marked the second meeting in less than two weeks of a diplomatic track working to contain the fallout of the US-Israel war on Iran and Tehran’s retaliatory strikes across the region.
Pakistan’s Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar confirmed at the conclusion of Sunday’s consultations that the US and Iran had expressed confidence in Pakistan to facilitate direct talks. Islamabad, he said, was “honoured” to host them “in the coming days, for a comprehensive and lasting settlement of the ongoing conflict”.
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The four ministers, he added, held “a very detailed and in-depth discussion” on the war, reaffirmed “unity to contain the situation, reduce the risk of military escalations and create conditions for structured negotiations”, and agreed to constitute a Committee of Four senior officials, one from each foreign ministry, to work out the modalities of the process.
Besides Dar, the meeting was attended by foreign ministers Hakan Fidan of Turkiye, Badr Abdelatty of Egypt and Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud of Saudi Arabia.
The quadrilateral format first came together on the sidelines of the broader Arab and Islamic consultative meeting in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on March 19. What began as a wider gathering has hardened into a focused four-country peace push, with Pakistan acting as the primary channel between Washington and Tehran.
Hours later, in an interview with the British newspaper Financial Times, United States President Donald Trump said his “favourite thing is to take the oil in Iran” and did not rule out seizing Kharg Island, the export hub that handles roughly 90 percent of Iran’s crude.
“Maybe we take Kharg Island, maybe we don’t. We have a lot of options,” Trump said. He also confirmed that indirect talks via Pakistani “emissaries” were progressing and reiterated the April 6 deadline he set on Truth Social on March 26 for Iran to accept a deal or face US strikes on its energy sector.
But on board Air Force One on Sunday, Trump said, “I do see a deal in Iran, yeah. Could be soon”, and described negotiations as going “extremely well”.
Those contrasting postures underscored the central tension confronting Pakistan’s diplomatic initiative.
At a moment when Islamabad and its partners are attempting to build a multilateral framework to prevent further escalation, the war appears headed in the opposite direction, with continued Israeli strikes and an expanding US military presence in the region.
‘Baby steps’ amid escalation
Mushahid Hussain Sayed, former Pakistani information minister, senator and foreign policy analyst, said the Islamabad meeting was significant for three reasons.
He described it as the first institutional initiative from the Muslim world aimed at opening a pathway to dialogue.
According to Sayed, Pakistan and Turkiye, both neighbours of Iran, are among the most credible interlocutors available, one a nuclear power and the other a NATO member.
“Both Iran and the US have reposed confidence in Pakistan as a bridge of communication between Tehran and Washington, and most likely the feasible venue for any future peace talks,” he told Al Jazeera.
But he was blunt about the limitations. “These are baby steps for diplomacy in a war scenario that is not only escalating but also becoming more complicated by the day,” Sayed said.
Masood Khan, Pakistan’s former ambassador to the US and the United Nations, said the meeting had “opened a diplomatic corridor, building on earlier shuttle diplomacy, sustained communications and behind-the-scenes efforts to persuade the United States and Iran to engage”.
The Committee of Four, he said, provides a structured backchannel, enabling “a step-by-step, layered, and calibrated process” supported by regional consensus.
Khan outlined four possible stages: trust-building measures, ceasefire negotiations, direct talks on complex issues including the nuclear programme and the Strait of Hormuz, and ultimately an agreement on reciprocal commitments.
However, he cautioned that major obstacles remain. “Tehran’s demands for war reparations and its sovereignty over the Strait of Hormuz are likely to prove the most difficult issues to resolve,” Khan told Al Jazeera.
Before the ministers’ meeting, Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif held a 90-minute call with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, briefing him on Islamabad’s diplomatic outreach to the US, Gulf states and other Islamic countries to “create a conducive environment for peace talks”, according to a statement f
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03-31 00:00 · 中东,局势,AlJazeera,中东
Fighters from a major Iraqi pro-Iran armed group have entered the country, carrying aid — and a signal of support.
Tehran, Iran – Iranian authorities have welcomed a number of paramilitary Iraqi forces as part of a “humanitarian convoy” while war with the United States and Israel threatens to enter a new phase involving potential ground assaults.
Footage circulated online by Iranian and Iraqi media outlets on Saturday and Sunday showed a convoy belonging to Hashd al-Shaabi, also known as the Popular Mobilisation Forces (PMF) of Iran-aligned fighters, entering Iran.
The convoy consisted of dozens of pickup trucks carrying packaged cargo, as well as men in military attire, some of whom also wore clerical turbans. The group waved the Iraqi flag, as well as the flag of Lebanon’s Hezbollah, another member of the Tehran-led “axis of resistance” of armed forces.
The Fars news agency, affiliated with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), whose Quds Force leads the axis, described the movement as “the first humanitarian aid convoy from the people of Iraq”.
Al-Alam, the Arabic-language news channel run by Iranian state television, described the effort as a “loyalty campaign” and said it carried 70 tonnes of food and medical supplies. The Iranian government has repeatedly emphasised since the start of the war a month ago that the country does not face a shortage of essential goods.
The convoy started its journey from Basra in southern Iraq and crossed the border into Khuzestan in western Iran. It was spotted entering from Shalamcheh, a historic town on the border where invading Iraqi forces launched a deadly chemical gas attack during the eight-year war with Iran in the 1980s.
In the decades following the devastating war, and especially after the US invasion of Iraq in the early 2000s, the Iranian establishment grew close to armed factions in the neighbouring country, which became part of the anti-US and Israel regional axis.
During the journey this week, PMF fighters released videos in Abadan and Khorramshahr, as welcoming groups could be seen cheering them and Shia Muslim songs played in the background. The local Friday prayer imam was filmed exchanging warm greetings with the fighters and clerics while carrying a rifle himself as a sign of defiance during wartime.
The PMF, an umbrella group of armed factions that have now integrated into the regular Iraqi army, has claimed responsibility for attacks on US interests in Iraq and beyond and has itself been targeted.
There were unconfirmed reports and speculation online this week that some of the Iraqi forces had been spotted on the streets in Tehran, but there was no comment from Iranian authorities or any verified footage.
Such speculation is tied to years-long accusations that Iranian authorities use the PMF and other aligned armed groups to crack down on local dissent, including during nationwide protests, which the authorities have rejected.
The Basij paramilitary force of the IRGC and other security forces continue to set up heavily armed checkpoints and roadblocks on the streets in Tehran and other cities, and have launched a “campaign of warriors defending the homeland” that is officially recruiting children over 12 years old for field activities.
Amid a month-long internet shutdown, Iranian authorities have warned against dissent while the US and Israel express varying interest in overthrowing the Islamic Republic.
“I think we’ve had regime change; we can’t do much better than that,” US President Donald Trump told reporters aboard his presidential plane on Monday. “One regime was decimated, destroyed; they’re all dead. The next regime is mostly dead, and the third regime we’re dealing with different people than anybody has ever dealt with before.”
Washington says it has been preparing for a series of ground incursions on Iranian soil to take control of strategic islands on the country’s southern shores that are crucial for processing oil and gas resources while offering control over the strategic Strait of Hormuz.
At the same time, the US and Israel have been entertaining the idea of using armed Kurdish groups based in Iraq to open another ground front inside Iran.
Israel’s Channel 12 reported this week that premature leaks to the media, lobbying by allies, and assurances required by the Kurdish fighters have led the Trump administration to consider the plan unfeasible, at least for now.
Since the start of the war, the IRGC has repeatedly bombed Iraq-based interests linked with Kurdish fighters using explosive-laden drones and ballistic missiles that have also been launched against countries across the region.
Earlier in March, senior Defence Council official Ali Akbar Ahmadian said Iran has only targeted “bases of the US and the Zionist regime and secessionist groups” in the semi-autonomous Kurdish region of northern Iraq, but will bomb “all facilities” in the region if Kurdish fighters enter Iran.
US and Israeli warplanes continue to launch major strikes in Tehran and cities across the country, this week also hitting civilian nuclear sites, steel factories and
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03-31 00:00 · 中东,局势,AlJazeera,中东
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio spoke to Al Jazeera’s Hashem Ahelbarra about Iran war objectives.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said that talks with Iran are under way through intermediaries and that Washington will continue its military campaign until Tehran abandons its nuclear and missile programmes.
He warned on Monday that the Strait of Hormuz will be kept open “one way or another” and that US war objectives could be achieved “in weeks, not months”.
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He also said the United States would welcome political change in Iran if the opportunity arose, but said it was not an official objective. Rubio criticised some NATO allies for refusing US access to bases during the war, and said Washington is closely watching developments in Cuba and Venezuela.
Here are the key takeaways from Rubio’s exclusive interview with Al Jazeera’s Hashem Ahelbarra:
Marco Rubio says talks with Iran are happening
Much of the communication between Tehran and Washington is indirect and through intermediaries, but Rubio insisted that it is ongoing.
He said there are “messages and some direct talks going on between some inside of Iran and the United States, primarily through intermediaries”, adding that the US president “always prefers diplomacy, always prefers an outcome”.
His comments come as US President Donald Trump escalated his rhetoric on social media, threatening to “obliterate” Iran’s energy infrastructure if a ceasefire is not reached soon, Al Jazeera’s Kimberly Halkett reported from Washington.
“Taken together, Rubio’s statements and Trump’s posts suggest the US is pursuing a dual-track approach: keeping diplomatic channels open through intermediaries while simultaneously increasing military and economic pressure on Iran,” she said.
US demands Iran abandon nuclear and missile programmes
Rubio said Iran must abandon its nuclear weapons ambitions and stop producing missiles and drones that can threaten countries across the Gulf region, and insisted “The Iranian regime can never have nuclear weapons.”
He said Iran’s missile programme poses a direct threat to countries across the Gulf, and claimed “These short-range missiles that they’re launching, they only have one purpose, and that is to attack Saudi Arabia and the UAE and Qatar and Kuwait and Bahrain.”
Rubio said Iran could pursue civilian nuclear energy, but not in a way that would allow it to quickly develop a nuclear weapon.
“What they cannot have is a system that allows them to quickly weaponise it,” he said. “They have to abandon all these weapon programmes and all their nuclear ambitions.”
However, Hassan Ahmadian, an assistant professor at the University of Tehran, questioned the narrative that Iran poses an offensive threat in the region.
“When was the last time Iran attacked its neighbours over three centuries?” Ahmadian asked, arguing that Iran’s military strategy is shaped by deterrence in an asymmetric conflict.
“Why is it doing this now? Because it’s the underdog in an asymmetric war that it wants to shield itself by expanding.”
Ahmadian added that Iran has been a central focus of US policy for years.
“With the break of two wars in less than a year, we have experienced, Iran has been on the table in different US administrations – all options are on the table,” he said.
Strait of Hormuz will be kept open ‘one way or another’
Rubio said the US would not accept Iran claiming sovereignty over the Strait of Hormuz and warned that the waterway would remain open regardless of Iran’s actions.
“Not only is the sovereignty over the Strait of Hormuz not acceptable to us, it won’t be acceptable to the world.”
“It sets an incredible precedent … nations can now take over international waterways and claim them as their own.”
“The Strait of Hormuz will be open … It will be open one way or another,” he said, adding that otherwise, Iran would “face real consequences” from the US and other countries.
Iranian analysts suggested the closure of the strait is a temporary wartime measure and could be reversed once the conflict ends.
“It’s opened partially,” Ahmadian said, adding “I think there is no Iranian interest to not open it beyond the war.”
“It’s an asymmetric way of putting pressure on Americans, just as they are bombing Iran, and so after the war there would be no need,” Ahmadian explained. “There will be an arrangement, according to the Iranians, with the GCC [Gulf Cooperation Council] countries to reopen it and see how things are managed.”
War objectives will be achieved ‘in weeks, not months’
Rubio said the US military campaign is progressing quickly and outlined the military objectives Washington is trying to achieve.
“Those objectives are the destruction of their air force, which has been achieved, the destruction of their navy, which has largely been achieved.”
“A significant reduction in the number of missile launchers… and we are going to destroy the fa
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03-31 00:00 · 中东,局势,AlJazeera,中东
White House’s Karoline Leavitt says passing the conflict’s costs off to regional states is ‘an idea’ Donald Trump has.
The White House has suggested that US President Donald Trump will ask Arab countries to cover the cost of the United States’ war against Iran, estimated to be in the tens of billions of dollars.
Trump’s spokeswoman, Karoline Leavitt, was asked on Monday whether Arab states should pay for the war, as when US allies helped fund Washington’s intervention during the Gulf War in 1990.
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“I think it’s something the president would be quite interested in calling them to do,” Leavitt told reporters.
“I won’t get ahead of him on that, but certainly it’s an idea that I know that he has, and something that I think you’ll hear more from him on.”
The US led a global coalition of dozens of countries during the Gulf War to fend off Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait at the request of the country and several of its Arab neighbours.
In turn, states in the region and coalition members, including Germany and Japan, raised $54bn (the equivalent of $134bn today) to help pay for the US involvement.
This time, however, the US and Israel went to war with Iran unilaterally without involving their allies and regional countries.
Earlier this month, Sean Hannity, a right-wing commentator close to Trump, said any ceasefire deal should include making Iran pay for the cost of the war, which has killed nearly 2,000 Iranians.
“They must agree to repay America in oil for the entire cost of this entire military operation,” Hannity said.
However, Iran has set US compensation for war damage as one of its conditions.
Iran has retaliated against US and Israeli strikes with missile and drone attacks across the entire Middle East.
Iranian officials have said they are targeting US assets in the region, but Tehran has launched attacks against civilian sites, including hotels, airports and energy infrastructure, in several Gulf countries.
US media outlets reported earlier this month that officials told members of the US Congress in a classified hearing that the first six days of the war cost $11.3bn.
The Center for Strategic and International Studies estimated that the number rose to $16.5bn by day 12 of the conflict. The bill is likely far higher now as the war enters its 31st day.
The White House is seeking at least $200bn in additional military spending from Congress to help fund the military campaign in Iran and replenish the Pentagon’s munition stockpiles.
Beyond the immediate price tag for the US military, the war – which saw Iran close down the Strait of Hormuz – has sent global energy prices soaring.
The average price of one gallon (3.8 litres) of petrol in the US is now $3.99, according to an American Automobile Association (AAA) tracker, more than $1 higher than before the war started.
On Monday, Leavitt reiterated the Trump administration’s assertion that the surge in energy prices will be outweighed by the gains of weakening Iran.
“The overall message, as we repeatedly stated again: These are short-term actions and short-term price fluctuations for the long-term benefit of ending the threat that Iran poses to the United States of America, our troops and our allies in the region,” she told reporters.
Iran argues that it was attacked first in the middle of diplomatic talks, and it did not pose a threat to the US or the region.
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03-31 00:00 · 中东,局势,AlJazeera,中东
Legal expert says targeting civilian sites would be ‘collective punishment’, which is prohibited under laws of war.
Donald Trump has renewed his threat to “blow up” a range of civilian infrastructure in Iran, including all of the country’s desalination plants, in a move that would threaten the water source for millions of people and that experts say would be illegal.
The United States president has been regularly warning Iran about possible US strikes against energy and electricity facilities, but on Monday, he added water stations to the list of targets.
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“The United States of America is in serious discussions with A NEW, AND MORE REASONABLE, REGIME to end our Military Operations in Iran,” Trump wrote in a social media post.
He added that “great progress” has been made in the talks.
“But, if for any reason a deal is not shortly reached, which it probably will be, and if the Hormuz Strait is not immediately ‘Open for Business,’ we will conclude our lovely ‘stay’ in Iran by blowing up and completely obliterating all of their Electric Generating Plants, Oil Wells and Kharg Island (and possibly all desalinization plants!), which we have purposefully not yet ‘touched’,” the US president said.
International law explicitly bans making civilian sites the “object of attack or of reprisals”.
Yusra Suedi, assistant professor in international law at the University of Manchester, said Trump’s threat “reinforces the climate of impunity around collective punishment in warfare”.
“This is clearly an act of collective punishment, which is prohibited under international humanitarian law. You can’t deliberately harm an entire civilian population to pressure its government,” Suedi told Al Jazeera.
Fears of collective punishment and war crimes
The Fourth Geneva Convention says: “Collective penalties and likewise all measures of intimidation or of terrorism are prohibited.”
Raed Jarrar, advocacy director at the rights group DAWN, said Trump’s threats represent “clear, public evidence of criminal intent”.
“Threatening to obliterate a nation’s power grid, oil infrastructure and water supply to coerce its government is not a negotiating tactic; it is textbook collective punishment and a war crime,” Jarrar told Al Jazeera.
The White House said later on Monday that Trump has made it clear to Iranians that the US has “capabilities beyond their wildest imagination”.
Asked about the illegality of targeting civilian sites, White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt told reporters: “This administration and the United States Armed Forces will always act within the confines of the law.”
Annie Shiel, US Director at Center for Civilians in Conflict (CIVIC), described Trump’s threats as “appalling”.
“President Trump is threatening to destroy infrastructure — like electrical and water facilities — that is essential for civilian survival,” Shiel told Al Jazeera.
“The impacts of such attacks would be devastating and widespread: think hospitals without power for life-saving care, illnesses from a lack of clean water, and people completely cut off from communications, unable to reach loved ones or access emergency information.”
Trump first issued a threat to target Iran’s electrical grid and energy infrastructure on March 21 while also giving Tehran a 48-hour deadline to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
The US president later pushed the deadline back by five days before extending it again until April 6.
Over the past week, Trump has insisted that Iran is “begging” to make a deal and talks between Washington and Tehran are under way.
While Tehran has acknowledged receiving a 15-point ceasefire proposal from Washington through intermediaries, several Iranian officials have denied direct negotiations with the US.
US timeline ‘does remain’
Both Iran and the US have suggested that they are winning the war. Leavitt said on Monday that the initial timeline of four to six week that the Pentagon had set out for concluding the war “does remain”. The conflict is in its fifth week.
Despite the killing of several top Iranian officials, including Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, by the US and Israel, there is no public evidence to back Trump’s claim that there is a new government in the country.
Khamenei was replaced by his son Mojtaba, an appointment that Trump denounced.
Despite Trump’s frequent threats, Iran has continued to fire missiles and drones across the region and to close down the Strait of Hormuz, sending energy prices soaring across the world.
The Iranian ruling system has not faced any major antigovernment protests or defections during the conflict as the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps spearheads the country’s war effort.
So far, Trump’s threats to “obliterate” Iran’s civilian infrastructure have not deterred Tehran’s strikes or affected the defiance Iranian officials are expr
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03-31 00:00 · 中东,局势,AlJazeera,中东
Rights groups denounce Israeli legislation as a violation of international law that puts Palestinian prisoners at risk.
Israeli Knesset approves death penalty for Palestinians
Human rights groups and Palestinian leaders have condemned Israel’s passage of a law approving the use of the death penalty against Palestinians convicted of deadly attacks, calling the measure a violation of international law and inherently discriminatory.
The legislation, passed on Monday by Israel’s Parliament, the Knesset, makes the death penalty by hanging the default punishment for Palestinians in the occupied West Bank who have been found guilty of killing Israelis.
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It was championed by far-right Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who was seen celebrating with champagne in the parliamentary chamber after the law was passed with 62 votes to 48.
“We made history,” Ben-Gvir wrote in a social media post rejecting international calls to withdraw the legislation. “And I say to the people of the European Union who have applied pressure and threatened the State of Israel: We are not afraid, we will not submit,” he said.
The legislation comes amid a surge in Israeli military and settler attacks against Palestinians in the West Bank, as well as thousands of arrests, in the shadow of Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza. The Association for Civil Rights in Israel said it had filed an appeal against the law with Israel’s Supreme Court.
Here’s a quick look at how rights advocates and leaders have reacted to the death penalty law:
Palestinian Authority
The Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs condemned the legislation as a “dangerous escalation”.
In a social media post, the ministry stressed that “Israel has no sovereignty over Palestinian land” in the occupied territory.
“This law once again reveals the nature of the Israeli colonial system, which seeks to legitimise extrajudicial killing under legislative cover,” it said.
Hamas
The Palestinian group slammed the passage of the death penalty law as a “dangerous precedent that threatens the lives” of Palestinians held in Israeli prisons.
“This decision reaffirms the [Israeli] occupation and its leaders’ contempt for international law and their disregard for all humanitarian norms and conventions,” Hamas said in a statement.
The group called on the international community, including the United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross, to take immediate action to protect Palestinian prisoners from Israel’s “brutality”.
Mustafa Barghouti, Palestinian National Initiative secretary-general
Barghouti warned of the “seriousness” of the legislation, which he said would target Palestinian political prisoners and activists.
In a post on X, he also said that “proposing such an unjust and inhuman law reflects the depth of the fascist shift within the Israeli system, amid the international community’s failure to impose punitive measures against it”.
Palestinian Centre for Human Rights
The Gaza-based rights organisation said it condemned the law “in the strongest terms”.
“This law targets Palestinians and entrenches Israel’s long-standing policy of extrajudicial execution under the guise of law, in clear violation of international human rights and humanitarian law,” the PCHR said in a social media post.
The group called on the international community “to urgently intervene” in defence of Palestinian prisoners, while warning that “silence and inaction will only further deepen impunity and erode the rules-based international order”.
UN Human Rights Office
The UN Human Rights Office in Palestine called on Israel to “immediately repeal the discriminatory death penalty law”, noting that the measure violates the country’s obligations under international law.
“The United Nations opposes the death penalty under all circumstances. The implementation of this new law would violate international law’s prohibition of cruel, inhuman or degrading punishment,” the office said on X.
“Additionally, this law further entrenches Israel’s violation of the prohibition of racial segregation and apartheid as it will exclusively apply to Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and Israel, who are often convicted after unfair trials.”
Amnesty International
The global human rights group called on the Israeli authorities to repeal the law, which it described as “a public display of cruelty, discrimination and utter contempt for human rights”.
Erika Guevara-Rosas, Amnesty International’s senior director of research, advocacy, policy and campaigns, noted that the law’s passage comes just weeks after Israel dropped all charges against soldiers accused of sexually assaulting a Palestinian detainee.
“For years, we have seen an alarming pattern of apparent extrajudicial executions and other unlawful killings of Palestinians – with the perpetrators also enjoying near-total impunity,”
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