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US told Turkey war on Iran would end in just four days, expert says Ragip Soylu on Mon, 03/16/2026 - 13:05 Asli Aydintasbas, who has sources within Washington and Ankara, says US had believed it would quickly declare victory Iranians after crossing into Turkey at the Kapikoy Border Gate in the eastern Van province, Turkey, 3 March 2026 (Reuters/Dilara Senkaya) Off The United States government had told Turkey through official channels that the war on Iran would only take four days, Asli Aydintasbas, a Washington-based Turkey expert, said during an interview on Sunday. “Turkey and some of its allies were told, through official channels, that this operation would take days and be completed in four days,” Aydintasbas, a fellow at the Brookings Institution, said in an interview with the Serbestiyet news site. “You cannot tell a Nato ally that you have made a four-day plan and then extend the operation to 14 days. In a sense, this was also a betrayal of the regional countries.” Since January, Turkey tried hard to stop a joint Israeli and US attack on Iran, making several proposals to Washington and Tehran and trying to host mediation talks in Istanbul. However, Turkish officials said Iran did not want to accept the Turkish offers, including arranging a trilateral teleconference between Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian and US President Donald Trump. (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); After several rounds of talks in Oman, with a much narrower scope focused on Iran’s nuclear programme, Washington and Israel launched strikes against Iran last month, unprovoked. Aydintasbas said that US and Israeli objectives on Iran were different, with Israel ideally preferring regime change in Iran, but if that was not possible, then an Iran that is fragmented and “Syrianised”. She added that Trump, on the other hand, sought a quick victory and a return to nuclear negotiations after extracting major concessions from Iran, at least expecting a Venezuela-like option in which regime officials cooperated with Washington. Aydintasbas said the Trump administration had not consulted any Iran experts in Washington and instead hoped for a quick turnover. “Every Iran expert I spoke to said the regime would not change through a military operation, that it would not change through air strikes,” she said. (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); “So, driven a bit by Israel’s encouragement and a bit by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s urging, Trump wanted to carry out a hit-and-run move, and now he is stuck in an open-ended war.” She said that Washington had the idea that if Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei were overthrown or killed, the regime would collapse. “Trump began this process hoping to find a Delcy Rodriguez-type figure in Iran and strike a deal with the regime. Instead, what he has in front of him now is someone like Kim Jong-un,” she added, referring to the new supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, who lost his wife and daughter in a strike along with his father. Kurdish half-plans Several reports earlier this month suggested that Trump was also planning to use Iranian and, to some extent, Iraqi Kurds to launch attacks on the border and establish control over some areas. Aydintasbas said this idea, too, was another indicator of how unserious the White House approach had been to launching a war on Iran, something that concerns the entire planet. (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); “I think everyone watching Trump from a distance is aware of this. It is very much a ‘we’ll build the plane while flying it’ style approach: let’s just start and see what happens. We will kill Khamenei quickly, then they will kneel, then they will come to a nuclear agreement, and I will announce a great success before the midterms,” she said. “But once Trump saw that regime change was not possible and that Iran was showing resistance even after Khamenei, he seems to have asked: ‘So what can we do?’” Iraq warns Kurdish authorities not to get drawn into war on Iran, sources say Read More » Aydintasbas said that once it was clear to everyone that regime change would not happen in a few days, the American civilian bureaucracy came up with several options, remembering the Kurds, whom Washington had often worked with after the Iraq War, the First Gulf War and in Syria. “Maybe Senator Lindsey Graham called and said, ‘Wait a minute, there are Kurds,’” she said. “With Trump saying on the phone, ‘Kurds, great, who should I call?’” Aydintasbas said she does not believe Trump has the patience or interest to understand that the Kurds are not a monolithic group. “Somehow this plan circulated for two to three days. But there was a major backlash, both in the media and from Turkey behind the scenes,” she said. “I think Turkey expressed serious objections through US envoy Thomas Barrack and through its own channels. And from what I heard, countries like Saudi Arabia also said, ‘Wait a minute, what are you doing? A civil war in Iran is a dangerous thing.’” Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said earlier this month that US Secretary of State Marco Rubio had denied bringing up a plan to use the Kurds in Iran. Trump initially appeared to encourage the idea, reportedly telling Kurdish leaders that they would have to “choose a side” in the conflict. However, he later appeared to backtrack. “I don't want the Kurds to go into Iran,” Trump told reporters last week.  “They’re willing to go in, but I’ve told them I don’t want them to go in. The war is complicated enough without getting the Kurds involved.” War on Iran Ankara News Post Date Override 0 Update Date Mon, 05/04/2020 - 21:19 Update Date Override 0

Despite degraded launch capabilities, Iran has enough missiles to fire strategically, keep region on edge, say experts.

Qatar foreign ministry spokesman Majed al-Ansari accuses Iran of targeting civilian areas as he calls for de-escalation.

Israeli strike on prison was a war crime, UN concludes An Israeli air strike on a Iranian prison that killed more than 70 people in June 2025 was a war crime according to the UN official leading the investigation. Sara Hossain, chair of the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Iran, also told the UN Human Rights Council that the strike on Evin prison killed 80 people including one child and eight women. Her report on the attack, she said, "Israel committed the war crime of intentionally directing attacks against a civilian object". She added, as the war on Iran continues to rage, that "external military action does not provide accountability or bring meaningful change. Instead, it risks intensifying domestic repression".

Iranian authorities have arrested more than 500 people accused of helping facilitate strikes against Iran by sharing information with foreign intelligence agencies and media outlets.

BERLIN/BRUSSELS/LONDON, March 16 (Reuters) - U.S. allies said they had no immediate plans to send ships to unblock the Strait of Hormuz, rebuffing a request by President Donald Trump for military support to keep the vital waterway open. Trump called on nations to help police the strait after Iran responded to U.S.-Israeli attacks by using drones, missiles and mines to effectively close the strategic channel off its shores for tankers transporting a fifth of global oil supply.

President’s latest criticism of the media comes as his FCC chairman threatens to revoke broadcasters’ license for their coverage of the Iran war

Israeli strike kills nine officers and personnel, says Gaza health ministry An attack on Sunday by the Israeli military has led to the deaths of police officers and governorate personnel in the centre of Gaza. The attacks, which are being investigated by the Israeli army, was described by the interior ministry as a "heinous crime", adding that it "targeted a police vehicle carrying several officers and personnel in the central governorate". Another four people were reported to have been killed in earlier Israeli air strike in the Nuseirat refugee camp which the Israeli military says it is also investigating. The strikes have sparked condemnation as further examples of Israel's breaching the ceasefire agreed in October.

Israel’s Forever Wars  Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

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Bay Area Iranian Americans weigh hope, fear as Iran war enters week three  Axios

Iran vowed at the United Nations on Monday that it would not submit to "lawless aggression", saying its citizens were in "grave danger" from US and Israeli strikes. At the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, where countries were discussing the rights situation in Iran -- notably following its deadly crackdown on protesters in recent months -- Tehran said the focus instead should be on the Middle East war.

Qatar’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Majed Al Ansari says Iranian attacks have targeted residential areas.

Britain drawn closer to Iran war as a reluctant Starmer moves to appease Trump Imran Mulla on Mon, 03/16/2026 - 10:51 The British prime minister is reportedly planning to send minesweeping drones to the Strait of Hormuz Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer speaks to the media on the situation in the Middle East, at Downing Street in central London on 16 March (AFP) Off British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said on Monday the UK is working on a "viable plan" to reopen the Strait of Hormuz after speaking to US President Donald Trump. His comments come after Trump threatened on Sunday night that Nato faces a "very bad" future if its member states fail to help America in opening up the crucial waterway, through which a fifth of the world's oil passes - and which Iran has effectively shut in response to the US-Israeli war on the country. The president had appealed on Saturday to Britain, China, France, Japan and South Korea to join a "team effort" to open up Hormuz. This has led to the latest in a series of difficult decisions for the British prime minister, who has sought to avoid active involvement in a war that is opposed by most of the British public. But the UK has nevertheless become embroiled in the conflict, allowing the US to use British military bases for bombers en route to targeting Iranian missile sites. (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); Starmer said in an address from Downing Street on Monday morning that the Strait of Hormuz must be reopened to "ensure stability in the markets", adding "that is not a simple task". He said the UK was working with "all of our allies" on a "viable plan" to reopen the choke point. Starmer added that the US-Israeli attack on Iran has "massively weakened" the military capability of the "abhorrent regime in Iran", but said there will need to be a "negotiated agreement" with the country to limit its ability to rebuild its nuclear programme and safeguard international shipping. Energy Secretary Ed Miliband said on Sunday that the government is considering sending minesweeping drones rather than warships to Hormuz. Minesweeping drones trick mines into detonating safely by flying in a pattern that makes them appear to be ships. (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); 'A very transactional presidency' Relations with the US have been strained over Britain’s initial refusal, when the war began, to allow the Americans to use the joint UK-US base on Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean to launch strikes on Iran. Whitehall sources told Middle East Eye that the Starmer government believes the US-Israeli attack has no lawful basis and joining would be against Britain's national interest. Trump said in an interview on Sunday night, after speaking to Starmer: "The UK might be considered the number one ally, the longest serving et cetera and [at the start of the war] when I asked for them to come, they didn’t want to come. Iranian leaders taunt ‘US Epstein class’ during war Read More » "And as soon as we basically wiped out the danger capacity from Iran, they said, "oh well we’ll send two ships", and I said, "We need these ships before we win, not after we win." I’ve long said that Nato is a one-way street." On Monday morning, Pat McFadden, the British work and pensions secretary, responded to Trump's comments by saying the UK was not obliged to agree to all of the US president's requests. "It’s a very transactional presidency, and our job is to navigate this, to always remember that the friendship between the United States and the United Kingdom runs very deep," McFadden said. "It’s a good relationship. It’s enduring, and I think it will outlast all the personalities involved." McFadden insisted that "we’ve not sought to be a protagonist in this" war.  In another interview on Monday, McFadden insisted that the current conflict was "not a Nato war" but a "US-Israeli action". Nato was founded by the US, Britain and ten other countries in 1949, with one of its key conditions being that an attack on one country should be treated as an attack on all.  McFadden said the alliance was not created for the "kind of situation that we're seeing in the Middle East". (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); Over the past two weeks, numerous US B-1 Lancer bombers have taken off from the Fairford Royal Air Force base in Gloucestershire in southern England to carry out strikes on Iran. Last Friday, a base in northern Iraq used by British troops was attacked by Iranian drones, wounding a number of American soldiers.  Starmer said on Monday morning that his priority is to work to "de-escalate" the war. But as events escalate and Trump's demands continue, Britain is finding itself drawn deeper into the conflict. UK Politics News Post Date Override 0 Update Date Mon, 05/04/2020 - 21:19 Update Date Override 0

MADRID, March 16 (Reuters) - Spain will not take part in any military mission in the Strait of Hormuz because it considers the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran to be illegal, Madrid's defence and foreign affairs ministers said on Monday. The leftist coalition government led by Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has criticised the offensive and banned participating U.S. aircraft from using jointly operated bases in southern Spain.

The port of Fujairah plays a crucial role in helping keep global supplies moving when the Strait of Hormuz is blocked.

Relative of US airman killed in Middle East crash calls war on Iran ‘uncalled for’  The Guardian

Nick Butler, who was a former adviser to Gordon Brown when he was prime minister, said ministers should be preparing now for a ‘significant shortfall of supply over the next two months’

Exclusive: Israel to keep Al-Aqsa Mosque closed through Eid al-Fitr and beyond Lubna Masarwa on Mon, 03/16/2026 - 11:19 Sources tell MEE Israel has limited Al-Aqsa access to just 25 Waqf staff per shift for over two weeks A drone view shows the Dome of the Rock in Al-Aqsa Mosque amid heavy restrictions on worshippers accessing the holy site, 6 March 2026 (Reuters/Ilan Rosenberg) Off Israel is set to keep Al-Aqsa Mosque closed through the upcoming Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr and beyond, Middle East Eye has learnt. Sources familiar with the occupied East Jerusalem mosque’s affairs said Israeli authorities informed the Islamic Waqf, the body responsible for administering the site, of the decision in recent days. Al-Aqsa Mosque, one of the holiest sites in Islam, was closed by Israeli authorities earlier this month, citing the “security situation” amid the US-Israeli war on Iran. The unprecedented closure, particularly during the month of Ramadan, has been condemned by Palestinians as the latest attempt by Israel to exploit security tensions to impose further restrictions and consolidate control over Al-Aqsa. This has been the first Ramadan since Israel seized East Jerusalem in 1967 that Palestinians have been unable to perform Friday prayers at the mosque. (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); Last week, eight Muslim-majority countries condemned the “unjustified” closure, saying Israel has “no sovereignty” over the revered site and must lift the restrictions immediately. However, the closure has continued unchecked. Friday prayers and Ramadan night prayers remain banned, and Palestinians have been barred from reaching the site, with a heavy presence of Israeli forces in the Old City. Since the closure, no more than 25 Waqf staff members have been allowed inside the vast mosque complex per shift. A source told MEE that Israeli authorities even rejected a request for an additional staff member from the manuscripts department to enter the site. Police reportedly told the Waqf that if any additional employee were allowed in, Israeli settlers would be permitted to resume their daily incursions into the mosque. (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); The source added that Waqf officials suspect Israeli forces have also installed cameras inside prayer halls within Al-Aqsa Mosque, including inside the Dome of the Rock, enabling constant surveillance of the site. Old City shutdown The closure of the mosque has been accompanied by a near-total lockdown of the Old City, where Al-Aqsa Mosque and dozens of normally vibrant Palestinian-run markets are located. Only residents of the Old City have been allowed inside since the war with Iran began, leaving the area deserted. Meanwhile, life has continued largely uninterrupted just metres away outside the Old City’s ancient walls. Sunday was the Laylat al-Qadr, the holiest night in the Islamic calendar. Israel deployed hundreds of police to block routes to the mosque, forcing worshippers to pray on the streets under the threat of violence. (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); “Closing the Old City in this manner has never happened before,” said Dr Mustafa Abu Sway, a professor who teaches at Al-Aqsa Mosque and a member of the Islamic Waqf Council in Jerusalem. “There is an inconsistency when you compare what is happening inside the Old City with what is happening outside it, where people are moving freely, praying in mosques, and life in the city continues as normal.” Abu Sway added that if the concern were people’s safety, worshippers could take shelter in the prayer halls beneath Al-Aqsa, which can accommodate thousands. Palestinian worshippers pray outside the walls of Jerusalem's Old City on Laylat al-Qadr due to Israeli restrictions, 15 March 2026 (Ahmad Gharabli/AFP) Aouni Bazbaz, director of international affairs at the Islamic Waqf, told MEE earlier this month that the closure has raised concerns about long-term change. “This has fuelled fears that what is presented as a temporary measure could gradually become a permanent or semi-permanent arrangement, particularly if people become accustomed to the restrictions or if patterns of access to the site are altered,” he said. Al-Aqsa Mosque has been governed under a decades-long status quo, or international arrangement, preserving its religious status as an exclusively Islamic site. Under this status quo, the administration of the site, including control over access, falls to the Islamic Waqf in Jerusalem, the Jordanian-appointed religious endowment responsible for managing the mosque complex. However, since Israel’s occupation of East Jerusalem in 1967, Palestinians say this arrangement has been gradually eroded through increasing restrictions on Muslim access while Jewish presence and Israeli control have expanded. Israel’s control over East Jerusalem, including the Old City, violates several principles of international law, which stipulate that an occupying power has no sovereignty over the territory it occupies and cannot make permanent changes there. War on Iran Jerusalem News Post Date Override 0 Update Date Mon, 05/04/2020 - 21:19 Update Date Override 0

Qatar says diplomacy with Iran possible 'if they stop the attacks' Diplomatic talks with Iran are only possible if it ceases its attacks, Qatar's foreign ministry spokesman said on Monday, as Tehran presses its missile and drone campaign against Gulf states. "If they stop the attacks, then we can find a way out with diplomacy. But as long as our countries are being attacked, this is not the time to establish committees, it's the time to take a very principled position (on) protecting our countries and for them to stop attacking us immediately," Qatar's foreign ministry spokesman Majed al-Ansari said.