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Smoke rises after Iran carried out a missile strike on the main headquarters of the U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet in Manama in retaliation against US-Israeli attacks, in Bahrain February 28, 2026. [Stringer – Anadolu Agency]
Iran launched retaliatory missile and drone strikes over the weekend against eight countries across the Middle East, killing dozens and wounding hundreds, as a second day of explosions shook the region following joint US-Israeli military operations against Tehran, Anadolu reports.
So far, Iranian strikes have hit Bahrain, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. Inside Iran, the Iranian Red Crescent reported at least 201 people killed and 747 injured from US-Israeli attacks that began Saturday.
In Israel, nine Israelis were killed in an Iranian missile strike that directly hit a building in Beit Shemesh in west Jerusalem on Sunday.
The US also reported casualties, with US Central Command confirming three service members killed and five “seriously wounded” since the start of attacks against Iran.
The strikes took a toll across the Gulf. The United Arab Emirates reported that three people from Pakistan, Nepal and Bangladesh were killed, while 58 people of different nationalities were injured in Iranian missile and drone strikes following a US-Israeli attack on Iran.
Kuwait’s Health Ministry also said that one person was killed and 32 others were injured amid the current regional escalation.
In Qatar, the number of injuries rose to 16 following retaliatory strikes by Iran, officials announced.
Iraq reported two dead and three wounded in a strike on the Jurf al-Nasr area of Babil province.
In Bahrain, an Iranian drone struck Bahrain International Airport, causing material damage but no casualties, the Bahraini Ministry of Interior reported.
In the capital, Manama, a separate kamikaze drone hit a building on Al-Ma’arid Street. Images circulating on social media showed smoke rising from the site, though authorities have not yet released information on potential injuries or fatalities.
In Oman, five people were injured in two separate incidents — four aboard a Palau-flagged oil tanker struck north of Khasab Port, and one foreign worker hurt in a drone attack on Duqm Port.
No casualties were reported in Jordan or Saudi Arabia.
The US and Israel launched an attack on Iran on Saturday, killing several top Iranian leaders, including Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Tehran retaliated with a series of drone and missile attacks that targeted Israel, US assets and several Gulf countries.
This came after an earlier wave of attacks by Tel Aviv and Washington in June last year, triggering a 12-day war before a ceasefire was announced.
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People watch as smoke rises on the skyline after an explosion in Tehran, Iran, this morning
THE United States and Israel bombed Iran this morning in an unprovoked act of war.
An emergency demonstration has been called outside Downing Street for 3.30pm today to oppose war on Iran, which could escalate into regional or even world war.
Iranian media reported strikes nationwide, and smoke could be seen rising from the capital Tehran. US President Donald Trump announced the start of “major combat operations” and called for regime change in the country, urging Iranians to rise up in collaboration with the attackers.
A huge US armada has built up in the Middle East in recent weeks, larger than that assembled in the Caribbean before the US bombed Venezuela and kidnapped its president last month. Mr Trump suggested the war could be a bloody one, anticipating US casualties and saying “that often happens in war.”
Talks had been ongoing in Geneva over US insistence that Iran abandon uranium enrichment for its civil nuclear power programme, as Washington claims Iran is seeking a nuclear weapon, something it has always denied.
Mr Trump unilaterally tore up the previous agreement on Iranian nuclear power (the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, signed in 2015) in 2018, and broke up negotiations on the issue last year by joining an unprovoked Israeli bombing spree as they were under way.
This year’s talks may also have been undertaken in bad faith by the United States, with an Israeli official briefing Reuters that the attacks had been planned for months and the launch date decided weeks ago.
Israel reported yesterday morning that retaliatory Iranian missiles had already begun to hit the country.
Tens of thousands of US troops — and about 4,000 British soldiers — are stationed on bases in the Middle East, which could be targeted by Iran in retaliation.
It is unclear if British bases have been used in any capacity by the US in the attacks. Reports in recent weeks have suggested British authorities objected to involvement in any attack, though Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has also indicated he would be prepared to join US aggression against Iran.
Former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said: “The attacks on Iran by Israel and the United States are illegal, unprovoked and unjustifiable.
“Peace and diplomacy was possible. Instead, Israel and the United States chose war.
“This is the behaviour of rogue states — and they have jeopardised the safety of humankind around the world with this catastrophic act of aggression.
Orcas discuss Donald Trump and the killer apes’ concept of democracy. Front Orca warns that Trump is crashing his country’s economy and that everything he does he does for the fantastically wealthy.
Israeli tanks are seen by the border in Rafah, Gaza on May 6, 2024. (Photo by IDF – Handout/Anadolu via Getty Images)
The number of journalists killed by Israel is remarkably high even when compared to the number of journalists killed in other conflict zones.
A new report from a major press freedom group has found that a record 129 journalists were killed in 2025, and that Israel was responsible for two-thirds of the worldwide total.
The Tuesday report from the Committee to Protect Journalists says that the Israeli military has cumulatively killed more journalists than any other government since CPJ started tracking reporter deaths in 1992, with the vast majority being Palestinian media workers in Gaza.
The report also finds an increase in the use of drones to attack journalists, with Israel accounting for more than 70% of the 39 documented instances of reporters killed by drone strikes.
The number of journalists killed by Israel is remarkably high even when compared to the number of journalists killed in other conflict zones.
Only nine journalists were killed in Sudan, for example, while just four journalists were killed in Ukraine, despite both countries being in the midst of brutal conflicts that have collectively killed hundreds of thousands of people.
A report issued in December by Reporters Without Borders similarly found that Israel was responsible for the most journalists deaths in 2025, the third consecutive year that the country had held that distinction.
The CPJ report also points the finger at governments for not taking their responsibilities to protect journalists seriously.
“The rising number of journalist deaths globally is fueled by a persistent culture of impunity,” the report states. “Very few transparent investigations have been conducted into the 47 cases of targeted killings (classified as ‘murder’ in CPJ’s longstanding methodology) documented by CPJ in 2025—the highest number of journalists deliberately killed for their work in the past decade—and no one has been held accountable in any of the cases.”
CPJ CEO Jodie Ginsberg said that attacks on the media are “a leading indicator of attacks on other freedoms, and much more needs to be done to prevent these killings and punish the perpetrators,” adding that “we are all at risk when journalists are killed for reporting the news.”
Genocide denier and Current UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer is quoted that he supports Zionism without qualification. He also confirms that UK air force support has been essential in Israel’s mass-murdering genocide. Includes URLs https://www.declassifieduk.org/keir-starmers-100-spy-flights-over-gaza-in-support-of-israel/ and https://youtu.be/O74hZCKKdpAKeir Starmer objects to criticism of the IDF. He asks how could anyone object to them starving people to death, forced marches like the Nazis did, bombing Gaza’s hospitals and universities, mass-murdering journalists, healthworkers and starving people queuing for food, killing and raping prisoners and murdering children. He calls for people to stop obstructing his genocide for Israel.Orcas discuss Genocide-supporting and complicit Zionists. Donald Trump, Keith Starmer, David Lammy, Rachel Reeves, Angela Rayner and Wes Streeting are acknowledged as evil genocide-complicit and supporting cnuts.
A Lockheed Martin F35B Lightning II demonstrates it’s STOVL (Short Take off Vertical Landing) function during the Royal International Air Tattoo at RAF Fairford, July 2016
ANTI-ARMS campaigners have urged the government to “correct the record” and end arms sales to Israel after the country’s use of F-35 jets — worth billions to supplier Lockheed Martin — throughout the Gaza genocide was confirmed.
Tel Aviv’s ambassador to the United States, Yechiel Leiter, said that Israeli pilots’ flight hours on the F-35 were “greater than that of all the pilots of the other foreign countries that were partners in developing the aircraft.”
He added: “When I visited there a few weeks ago, [Lockheed Martin’s] CEO told me that Israel’s information and developments ‘are worth many billions to my company’.”
The comments completely contradict the British government’s insistence that Israel is a “minor customer” of the global F-35 programme, the Campaign Against Arms Trade (Caat) pointed out.
Britain makes 15 per cent of the warplane. Israel has 48 F-35s, with 27 more on order.
Genocide denying UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy says that UK is suspending 30 of 350 arms licences to Israel. He also confirms the UK government’s support for Israel’s Gaza genocide and the UK government and military’s active participation in genocide.Keir Starmer objects to criticism of the IDF. He asks how could anyone object to them starving people to death, forced marches like the Nazis did, bombing Gaza’s hospitals and universities, mass-murdering journalists, healthworkers and starving people queuing for food, killing and raping prisoners and murdering children. He calls for people to stop obstructing his genocide for Israel.Orcas discuss Genocide-supporting and complicit Zionists. Donald Trump, Keith Starmer, David Lammy, Rachel Reeves, Angela Rayner and Wes Streeting are acknowledged as evil genocide-complicit and supporting cnuts.
United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres (L) stands next to UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk at the opening of the 61st session of the UN Human Rights Council at the United Nations office in Geneva on February 23, 2026. (Photo by Fabrice Coffrini/AFP via Getty Images)
“We are living in a world where mass suffering is excused away… where humans are used as bargaining chips… where international law is treated as a mere inconvenience,” said UN Secretary-General António Guterres.
The secretary-general of the United Nations and the body’s top human rights official did not call out world leaders by name as they warned that “impunity has become a contagion” among powerful governments at the opening of the UN Human Rights Council’s annual session in Geneva on Monday.
But their comments appeared to allude to numerous recent actions by the Trump administration, whose officials have explicitly dismissed concerns about international law regarding the White House’s foreign policy in recent months.
Secretary-General António Guterres warned global officials that “the rule of law is being out-muscled by the rule of force.”
“This assault is not coming from the shadows. Or by surprise. It is happening in plain sight—and often led by those who hold the greatest power,” said Guterres.
The leader’s comments came nearly two months after President Donald Trump ordered an invasion of Venezuela, killing dozens of people, abducting President Nicolás Maduro and his wife and charging them with narcotics trafficking, and pushing to take control of the South American country’s oil supply.
That operation as well as the United States’ bombings of dozens of boats in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean in recent months—also ostensibly to fight “narcoterrorism”—have been violations of international law, according to numerous legal experts, with the former violating the prohibition on the use of force in Article 2(4) of the UN Charter.
Trump officials, including Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, however, have claimed the US has the right to use military force against any country if doing so advances US interests.
“We are living in a world where mass suffering is excused away… where humans are used as bargaining chips… where international law is treated as a mere inconvenience,” said Guterres on Monday. “Conflicts are multiplying and impunity has become a contagion. That is not due to a lack of knowledge, tools, or institutions. It is the result of political choices.”
When human rights fall, everything else tumbles.
Peace. Development. Social cohesion. Trust. Solidarity.
It’s more important than ever to translate political engagement into a path towards strengthening human rights everywhere.
The UN has directly condemned other policies by the Trump administration in recent weeks, including Trump’s executive order threatening tariffs on any country that provides Cuba with oil as it baselessly accused the island nation’s communist government of harboring terrorists, and Guterres has suggested Trump’s creation of a “Board of Peace” to govern Gaza is akin to “one power calling the shots.”
Guterres mentioned just two specific conflicts: Russia’s war on Ukraine and the “blatant violations of human rights, human dignity, and international law in the occupied Palestinian territory,” where the US-backed Israel Defense Forces have been waging war on Gaza and Israeli settlers have been carrying out increased violent attacks in the West Bank as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government pushes to further illegally annex the territory and make the creation of a Palestinian state impossible.
“The current trajectory is stark, clear, and purposeful: The two-state solution is being stripped away in broad daylight,” said Guterres. “The international community cannot allow this to happen.”
Regarding Ukraine, which will enter its fifth year of war with Russia on Tuesday and where more than 15,000 civilians have been killed, Guterres said, “It is more than past time to end the bloodshed.”
Volker Türk, the UN high commissioner for human rights, added in his own remarks that “domination and supremacy are making a comeback.”
“A fierce competition for power, control, and resources is playing out on the world stage at a rate and intensity unseen for the past 80 years,” said Türk. “The use of force to resolve disputes between and within countries is becoming normalized.”
Türk highlighted how “the gears of global power are shifting”, calling for people to band together to protect rights and create “a strong counterbalance to the top-down, autocratic trends we see today”.
Some world leaders, he said, are operating as though “they are above the law, and above the UN Charter.”
“They claim exceptional status, exceptional danger, or exceptional moral judgement to pursue their own agenda at any cost,” he said. “They spread disinformation to distract, silence, and marginalize.”
Türk also warned that some leaders appear to “weaponize their economic leverage”—an apparent reference to Trump’s decision to drastically cut foreign aid funding and withdraw from dozens of UN organizations last month, putting the international body at risk of “imminent financial collapse,” as Guterres said at the time.
“Humanitarian needs are exploding while funding collapses,” said Guterres on Monday. “Inequalities are widening at staggering speed. Countries are drowning in debt and despair. Climate chaos is accelerating… Across every front, those who are already vulnerable are being pushed further to the margins. And human rights defenders are among the first to be silenced when they try to warn us.”
“In this coordinated offensive, human rights are the first casualty,” he added, urging world leaders to “not let power write a new rulebook in which the vulnerable have no rights and the powerful have no limits.”
“Let this be the place that helps end the broad and brutal assault on human rights,” said Guterres. “Because a world that protects human rights protects itself.”
Donald Fuhrump says that Amerikkka doesn’t bother with crimes or charges anymore, not being 100% Amerikkkan and opposing his real estate intentions is enough.Orcas discuss Donald Trump and the killer apes’ concept of democracy. Front Orca warns that Trump is crashing his country’s economy and that everything he does he does for the fantastically wealthy.Elon Musk urges you to be a Fascist like him, says that you can ignore facts and reality then.
People watch as smoke rises on the skyline after an explosion in Tehran, Iran, this morning
