People run amid smoke from a fire, in the aftermath of Iranian strikes, according to the Foreign Ministry, at Kuwait International Airport in Kuwait City, Kuwait on June 3, 2026.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

Expressing regret for the damage caused by Iran’s strikes against its neighbours, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said on Saturday (March 7, 2026) that Tehran would no longer target these countries unless attacks originated from their territory. However, he vowed that Iran would not surrender in its war against the United States and Israel, even as U.S. President Donald Trump threatened to intensify strikes.

As the war entered its eighth day, Israel and the U.S. carried out strikes across Iran, particularly targeting the country’s Air Force, while Tehran fired at least eight missile salvos at Israel since midnight. Several Arab countries were targeted in drone and missile attacks despite Mr. Pezeshkian’s remarks.

Also Read: Israel-Iran war LIVE Updates on March 7, 2026

“Iran has never planned, nor will ever plan, an invasion of any neighbour,” Mr. Pezeshkian said in a televised address. “We have repeatedly said that they are our brothers. We aim to work hand-in-hand with our dear brothers and neighbours in the region to establish lasting peace and stability,” he noted.

He said that Tehran’s interim leadership council has decided that neighbouring countries would not be targeted “unless those countries launch an attack on us,” state media reported. He also said Iran “regretted” any damages caused to non-military assets hit by Iranian strikes.

‘No surrender’

On Friday (March 6), Mr. Trump ruled out a deal with Iran’s leadership and demanded “unconditional surrender”. Mr. Pezeshkian insisted this would never happen. “The enemies will take the dream of Iran’s surrender to their grave,” he said, as per a translation of the speech in the State media.

Later, the Iranian President wrote a series of social media posts defending Iran’s military response. “We stand firm to the last breath in defence of our country and resist. Iran’s defensive operations are exclusively against targets and facilities that are the origin and source of aggressive actions against the Iranian nation, and we consider them legitimate targets,” he said.

Iran’s Khatam al-Anbiya army headquarters said in a statement that Tehran respects the sovereignty of neighbouring countries and has not carried out any act of aggression against them. “However, all military bases and interests belonging to the criminal United States and the Israeli regime on land, at sea, and in the air across the region will be considered legitimate targets of powerful strikes by Iran’s Armed Forces,” it added.

‘Loser of the Middle East’

On Saturday (March 7), Mr. Trump claimed that Iran was “being beaten to hell” and had “surrendered” and promised not to attack its neighbours. “This promise was only made because of the relentless U.S. and Israeli attack. They were looking to take over and rule the Middle East. It is the first time that Iran has ever lost, in thousands of years, to surrounding Middle Eastern Countries. Iran is no longer the ‘Bully of the Middle East,’ they are, instead, ‘THE LOSER OF THE MIDDLE EAST’,” he wrote in a social media post. “Today Iran will be hit very hard,” he added.

The U.S. Central Command said that U.S. forces have struck over 3,000 targets in the first week of Operation Epic Fury, adding that “we are not slowing down”.

Continuing strikes

Neither side signalled any sign of de-escalation, even as attacks and counter-attacks continued throughout the day. The Israeli Defence Forces claimed to have destroyed at least 16 Quds Force planes in strikes. Iran fired waves of missiles targeting central Israel, but Israel has reported that there were no injuries.

An Iranian Army spokesperson said on Saturday (March 7), “220 American soldiers and commanders have been killed or wounded and significant damage has been inflicted on American assets in the region in retaliatory attacks by the Iranian Armed Forces over the past 24 hours.” The Revolutionary Guards also said they had targeted a Marshal Islands-flagged oil tanker in the Persian Gulf waters.

Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi accused the U.S. of attacking a freshwater desalination plant on Qeshm Island. “Water supply in 30 villages has been impacted. Attacking Iran’s infrastructure is a dangerous move with grave consequences. The U.S. set this precedent, not Iran,” he wrote on X.

Dubai’s main airport was forced to briefly close on Saturday (March 7) as Iran again launched missiles and drones at targets across the Gulf. Attacks were reported on Saturday (March 7) in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Kuwait, where the national oil company announced a “precautionary” cut to production. The UAE said it had been targeted with 16 ballistic missiles and more than 120 drones.

Published – March 07, 2026 11:45 pm IST

Image used for representational purposes. File
| Photo Credit: AP

The head of Israel’s military, Lieutenant General Herzi Halevi, resigned on Tuesday over his responsibility for its “failure” during the Palestinian militant group Hamas’s attack on October 7, 2023. File
| Photo Credit: AFP

The head of Israel’s military, Lieutenant General Herzi Halevi, resigned on Tuesday over his responsibility for its “failure” during the Palestinian militant group Hamas’s attack on October 7, 2023.

In his resignation letter, released by the army, Halevi said he was leaving “due to my acknowledgement of responsibility for the (military’s) failure on October 7”.

He said he was leaving at a time of “significant successes” for the military, though he also said that “not all” of Israel’s war goals had been met.

“The objectives of the war have not all been achieved. The army will continue to fight to further dismantle Hamas and its governing capabilities, ensure the return of the hostages”, and enable Israelis displaced by militant attacks to return home, he said.

Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid praised Halevi for stepping down and called on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to follow suit.

“Now, it is time for them to take responsibility and resign — the prime minister and his entire catastrophic government.”

Major General Yaron Finkelman, the head of Israel’s southern military command, which is responsible for Gaza, also resigned.

The pair’s resignation comes days into a ceasefire with Hamas that brought to a halt 15 months of war sparked by the deadliest attack in Israel’s history.

Halevi requested to leave his role on March 6, saying “until then, I will complete the inquiries into the events of October 7 and strengthen the (military’s) readiness”.

On October 7, 2023 thousands of Palestinian fighters stormed into southern Israel from Gaza.

Their attack resulted in the deaths of 1,210 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of official Israeli figures.

They also took 251 hostages into Gaza, including women, children and elderly people.

Gaza was heavily surveilled at the time of the attack and surrounded by a high-tech border fence complete with sensors and remote-operated machine guns.

The militants were able, despite Israel’s state-of-the-art defences, to storm a major military base as well as residential communities across the south and a music festival, where they committed atrocities.

It took the military three days to completely clear the militants from Israeli territory.

New Delhi:

In another setback to President Bashar al-Assad’s hold on power, the Syrian government forces have lost control of Daraa city, widely regarded as the birthplace of Syria’s 2011 civil uprising.

New Delhi:

Indian government reaffirmed its commitment to supporting the people of Palestine with a recent shipment of 30 tonnes of medical supplies amid the ongoing conflict in the Middle East.
This consignment includes essential medicines and anti-cancer drugs.

????????’s support to the people of Palestine continues.

Extending humanitarian assistance to the people of Palestine, ???????? sends 30 tons of medical supplies comprising essential life-saving and anti-cancer drugs to Palestine. pic.twitter.com/gvHFnDhlGd

— Randhir Jaiswal (@MEAIndia) October 29, 2024

Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Randhitr Jaiswal shared a post on X and stated, “India’s support to the people of Palestine continues. Extending humanitarian assistance to the people of Palestine sends 30 tonnes of medical supplies comprising essential life-saving and anti-cancer drugs to Palestine.”

Last week, India sent its first tranche of assistance for the people of Palestine through UNRWA, which includes 30 tonnes of medicine and food items.

???????? sends humanitarian assistance for the people of Palestine through UNRWA.

The first tranche of assistance comprising 30 tons of medicine and food items has departed today.

The consignment includes a wide range of essential medicines and surgical supplies, dental products,… pic.twitter.com/ZlFiKOfezx

— Randhir Jaiswal (@MEAIndia) October 22, 2024

“India sends humanitarian assistance for the people of Palestine through the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA),” Mr Jaiswal said on X.

“The first tranche of assistance, comprising 30 tons of medicine and food items has departed today. The consignment includes a wide range of essential medicines and surgical supplies, dental products, general medical items and high-energy biscuits,” the post added.

Notably, India has long supported a two-state solution to the Israel-Palestine conflict. PM Modi was one of the first global leaders to condemn the horrific terror attack on Israel by Hamas on October 7 and repeatedly expressed concerns over the deteriorating situation in Gaza.

India also sent humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza as part of its commitment. In July, India released the first installment of 2.5 million dollars to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, UNRWA, for Palestine refugees for the year 2024-25.

Last month, UNRWA said people in Gaza are living in “inhumane” conditions.

The agency said on the social media platform X that piles of waste are accumulating in central Gaza, while sewage water is leaking into the streets.

“Families have no choice but to live next to this accumulated waste, exposing them to foul odours and the imminent risk of a health disaster,” the UNWRA added. The UN agency called for an immediate ceasefire.

Meanwhile, Israel’s parliament has passed a law banning the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), a move branded “outrageous” by the humanitarian organisation, Al Jazeera reported.

The ban will significantly restrict UNRWA’s activities across occupied East Jerusalem and the occupied West Bank.

The move comes as the 24-day Israeli siege of northern Gaza has killed more than 1,000 Palestinians, destroying neighbourhoods and wiping out entire families.

Riyadh:

Global business leaders meet in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday for a glitzy investor forum as conflict shakes the region and scepticism mounts over the Gulf kingdom’s most ambitious development projects. The Future Investment Initiative (FII) debuted in 2017 as a showcase for de facto ruler Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s dream of diversifying the economy of the world’s largest crude exporter away from oil.

This year’s three-day event is expected to draw more than 7,000 delegates including TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew and the chief executives of Citigroup and Goldman Sachs.

For the second year in a row, conflict in the Middle East is likely to shape panel discussions and side meetings.

Last year’s FII took place just weeks after Hamas’s unprecedented attack on southern Israel triggered the war in Gaza, with high-level speakers warning about economic turmoil should the fighting draw in other countries.

A year later those fears have been realised, as Israel presses operations against Hezbollah in Lebanon and carries out tit-for-tat strikes with Iran.

“I suspect attendees will reflect seriously on the grinding nature of the Israel-Gaza war, a new invasion in Lebanon, and ongoing concerns over region-wide conflict escalations,” said Robert Mogielnicki of the Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington.

“The Saudis have been effective in shielding their country from the worst effects of regional conflict for now, but it’s very difficult to find a silver lining in this manner of conflict raging across the Middle East region.”

FII Institute CEO Richard Attias told a press conference in Riyadh this month that the gathering is not meant to focus on “politics” and should instead tackle big-picture investments “to build a better world”.

“We are an independent platform and we don’t want to be, forgive me for the word, polluted by any political events,” said Attias, former producer of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

“I am curating events for 35 years now, and I learned one thing: The show must go on.”

‘Doubters beware’

This year’s FII, sometimes referred to as “Davos in the Desert”, also comes as Saudi officials try to demonstrate progress on signature elements of Prince Mohammed’s Vision 2030 reform agenda.

Authorities have reportedly scaled back 2030 size and population targets for NEOM, a planned futuristic megacity in northwest Saudi Arabia meant to feature a ski resort and twin skyscrapers 170 kilometres (105 miles) long.

On Sunday, NEOM announced the opening of its “first physical showcase”, a luxury Red Sea island known as Sindalah featuring restaurants, hotels and yachting berths.

“There was so much scepticism over NEOM in the Western media that the Saudis had to do something to demonstrate their commitment,” said Jim Krane of Rice University’s Baker Institute.

“The early opening at NEOM is probably designed to embarrass the naysayers by telling the world that Saudi Arabia is moving ahead. It’s a ‘doubters beware’ message.”

Saudi Finance Minister Mohammed al-Jadaan said in May that “shocks” including the war in Gaza were prompting officials to “reprioritise” some aspects of Vision 2030.

At a briefing with journalists in December last year, Jadaan said officials had decided to push the timeframe for some major projects past 2030, though he did not provide details and also noted that others would be accelerated.

Saudi Arabia has enacted a series of oil cuts since 2022 in a bid to hike prices and is currently producing around nine million barrels per day, well below its declared capacity of 12 million bpd.

Last month the finance ministry said it anticipated a budget deficit of 2.3 percent of GDP in 2025, citing increased government spending and lower oil revenues.

Additional spending commitments meanwhile continue to pile up for events such as Expo 2030 and the 2034 World Cup, for which Saudi Arabia is the sole bidder.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Oslo:

Norway has raised its terrorism threat assessment to the second-highest level due to an increased risk of attacks against Jewish and Israeli targets, the national police directorate said on Tuesday.

Last week police in neighbouring Denmark charged two men suspected of detonating hand grenades near Israel’s Copenhagen embassy, while police in Sweden are investigating a suspected shooting near the Israeli diplomatic mission in Stockholm.

Norwegian police officers, who are normally unarmed, will now carry guns nationwide as a result of the decision by the PST security service to raise the threat level, the directorate said.

“PST raises the terror threat level in Norway from moderate to high as a result of the ongoing escalation of the conflict in the Middle East,” the police said in a statement.

“It is primarily the threat to Jewish and Israeli targets that has been further intensified,” the statement said.

The PST risk assessment was raised from level three (moderate) to level four (high), on PST’s five-point scale where the top end of the range would indicate imminent danger.

National Police Commissioner Benedicte Bjoernland said there was an increased likelihood of attempted terrorism.

“…we have a number of measures in place to protect the population,” she said in a statement.

Sweden in August last year raised its terrorist alert to the second-highest level after Koran burnings outraged Muslims and triggered threats from jihadists.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

File photo of Pope Francis
| Photo Credit: AFP

Pope Francis on Monday (October 7, 2024) slammed the “shameful inability” of world powers to end the conflict in the Middle East, on the first anniversary of Hamas’s deadly October 7 attack on Israel.

“A year ago, the fuse of hatred was lit; it did not sputter, but exploded in a spiral of violence, in the shameful inability of the international community and the most powerful countries to silence the weapons and put an end to the tragedy of war,” he said in an open letter to Catholics in the Middle East.

“Blood is still being shed, as are tears. Anger is growing, along with the desire for revenge, while it seems that few people care about what is most needed and what is most desired: dialogue and peace.”

The 87-year-old had previously declared Monday (October 7, 2024) a global day for prayer and fasting for peace, following similar initiatives for other conflicts in recent years.

In his letter, the leader of the world’s almost 1.4 billion Catholics offered solidarity with followers in the region — “a small, defenceless flock” — on what he called “this sad day”.

But the Pope also addressed “the men and women of every confession and religion who in the Middle East are suffering from the insanity of war: I am close to you, I am with you”.

“I am with you, who have no voice, for despite all the talk of plans and strategies, there is little concern for those who suffer the devastation of war, which the powerful impose on others; yet they will be subject to the inflexible judgement of God,” he added.

Victoria stands in front a picture of her sister, Yulia Waxer Daunt, as she visits the site of the Nova music festival, where hundreds of revelers were killed and abducted by Hamas and taken into Gaza, on the one-year anniversary of the attack, near Kibbutz Reim, southern Israel on October 7, 2024.
| Photo Credit: AP

The United States has spent a record of at least $17.9 billion on military aid to Israel since the war in Gaza began and led to escalating conflict around the Middle East, according to a report for Brown University’s Costs of War project, released on the anniversary of Hamas’ attacks on Israel.

An additional $4.86 billion has gone into stepped-up U.S. military operations in the region since the Oct 7, 2023, attacks, researchers said in findings first provided to The Associated Press. That includes the costs of a Navy-led campaign to quell strikes on commercial shipping by Yemen’s Houthis, who are carrying them out in solidarity with the fellow Iranian-backed group Hamas.

Also Read: West Asia crisis updates (October 7, 2024)

The report — completed before Israel opened a second front, this one against Iranian-backed Hezbollah militants in Lebanon, in late September — is one of the first tallies of estimated U.S. costs as the Biden administration backs Israel in its conflicts in Gaza and Lebanon and seeks to contain hostilities by Iran-allied armed groups in the region.

The financial toll is on top of the cost in human lives: Hamas militants killed more than 1,200 people in Israel a year ago and took others hostage. Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed nearly 42,000 people in Gaza, according to the territory’s Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants in its count.

At least 1,400 people in Lebanon, including Hezbollah fighters and civilians, have been killed since Israel greatly expanded its strikes in that country in late September.

The financial costs were calculated by Linda J. Bilmes, a professor at Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government, who has assessed the full costs of U.S. wars since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, and fellow researchers William D. Hartung and Stephen Semler.

Here’s a look at where some of the U.S. taxpayer money went: Record military aid to Israel, who is a protege of the United States since its 1948 founding — is the biggest recipient of U.S. military aid in history, getting $251.2 billion in inflation-adjusted dollars since 1959, the report says.

Even so, the $17.9 billion spent since Oct. 7, 2023, in inflation-adjusted dollars, is by far the most military aid sent to Israel in one year. The U.S. committed to providing billions in military assistance to Israel and Egypt each year when they signed their 1979 U.S.-brokered peace treaty, and an agreement since the Obama administration set the annual amount for Israel at $3.8 billion through 2028.

The U.S. aid since the Gaza war started includes military financing, arms sales, at least $4.4 billion in drawdowns from U.S. stockpiles and hand-me-downs of used equipment.

Much of the US weapons delivered in the year were munitions, from artillery shells to 2,000-pound bunker-busters and precision-guided bombs.

Expenditures range from $4 billion to replenish Israel’s Iron Dome and David’s Sling missile defence systems to cash for rifles and jet fuel, the study says.

Unlike the U.S. publicly documented military aid to Ukraine, it was impossible to get the full details of what the U.S. has shipped Israel since last October 7, so the $17.9 billion for the year is a partial figure, the researchers said.

They cited Biden administration “efforts to hide the full amounts of aid and types of systems through bureaucratic maneuvering”. Funding for the key US ally during a war that has exacted a heavy toll on civilians has divided Americans during the presidential campaign. But support for Israel has long carried weight in U.S. politics, and Mr. Biden said on Friday (October 4, 2024) that “no administration has helped Israel more than I have”. The Biden administration has bolstered its military strength in the region since the war in Gaza started, aiming to deter and respond to any attacks on Israeli and American forces.

Those additional operations cost at least $4.86 billion, the report said, not including beefed-up US military aid to Egypt and other partners in the region.

The U.S. had 34,000 forces in the Middle East the day that Hamas broke through Israeli barricades around Gaza to attack. That number rose to about 50,000 in August when two aircraft carriers were in the region, aiming to discourage retaliation after a strike attributed to Israel killed Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Iran. The total is now around 43,000.

The number of U.S. vessels and aircraft deployed — aircraft carrier strike groups, an amphibious ready group, fighter squadrons, and air defense batteries — in the Mediterranean, Red Sea and Gulf of Aden has varied during the year.

The Pentagon has said another aircraft carrier strike group is headed to Europe very soon and that could increase the troop total again if two carriers are again in the region at the same time.