Iran Talks Must Include Missiles and Rights Abuse, Says Rubio
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said the United States is ready to meet Iran this week, but any discussions must address both its missile and nuclear programs as well as its support for regional militias.
“In order for talks to actually lead to something meaningful, they will have to include certain things, and that includes the range of their ballistic missiles, that includes their sponsorship of terrorist organizations across the region, that includes their nuclear program, and that includes the treatment of their own people,” Rubio told reporters on February 4.
Tehran has previously insisted that any negotiations should be confined to its nuclear program, and that it refuses to discuss its missile capabilities or support for regional allies.
Meanwhile, the US news site Axios is reporting that Washington has said it will not agree to Tehran's demands to change the location and format of talks planned for February 6, according to two US officials it spoke to.
Although the US and Iran were reportedly set to meet in Istanbul alongside regional observers, Tehran said it would rather relocate the talks to Oman and keep them bilateral, arguing this would ensure the agenda stays focused on nuclear issues alone.
Italy's Meloni Travels To Saudi Arabia In Show Of Support Amid Iranian Attacks
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has flown to Saudi Arabia for a previously unannounced trip that will also include meetings with officials from Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, a government official said on April 3.
Meloni's two-day visit is aimed at showing support for Gulf partners that are in the Iranian line of fire and to protect Italy's own energy supplies, the official said.
Italy is highly dependent on energy imports and has been struck by rising energy prices.
Reuters reported that before the war, about 10 percent of Italy's total gas consumption was covered by Qatari liquefied natural gas and that Middle East oil accounted for 12 percent of Italy's total oil imports last year.
It wasn't immediately clear if Meloni would visit Qatar and the UAE or meet with officials while in Saudi Arabia.
It is the first trip by a European Union leader to Saudi Arabia since the United States and Israel launched their air campaign against Iran at the end of February.
Tehran has retaliated for the air strikes by launching missile a drone attacks against Israel and most Gulf Arab states.
France Demands Immediate Release Of Iranian Human Rights Lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh
France has demanded that Iran release prominent Iranian human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh, who was arrested on April 1 at her residence in Tehran.
"France calls for the immediate release of Nasrin Sotoudeh and all those arbitrarily detained in Iran," a Foreign Ministry spokesman said.
Mehraveh Khandan, the attorney's daughter who is living outside Iran, said security forces also confiscated Sotoudeh's personal electronic devices, including her mobile phone and laptop.
Reza Khandan, Sotoudeh's husband, has been in prison since December 2024.
Sotoudeh, who won awards including the 2012 Sakharov Prize of the European Parliament and the 2020 Right Livelihood award, has been arrested several times since 2010.
She has campaigned for a variety of human rights-related issues in the repressive state, including working to prevent the execution of people convicted of crimes committed while minors.
Her detention has included periods of solitary confinement, highlighting the challenges faced by human rights defenders in Iran. Tehran has further cracked down on dissent during its current war with the United States and Israel.
"This arrest is yet another illustration of the Iranian regime's systematic policy of persecuting and intimidating human rights defenders, which must stop," the French ministry spokesman said.
Britain Deploys Its Air Defense System To Kuwait
Britain is deploying its air defense system to Kuwait, Prime Minister Keir Starmer's office announced on April 3, following an overnight Iranian drone attack on a Kuwaiti oil facility.
Starmer discussed the deployment of the UK’s Rapid Sentry air defense system to the Gulf country, during a call with the crown prince of Kuwait. The conversation occurred just hours after a drone attack hit the Mina Al-Ahmadi refinery, one of the most important in Kuwait and the wider region.
According to a press release from Starmer's office, the Rapid Sentry system, which is designed primarily to shoot down drones and other low-flying aerial threats, will protect Kuwaiti and British personnel and interests in the region.
The British prime minister condemned the "reckless" overnight drone attack on the Kuwaiti oil refinery and reiterated that the UK stands with Kuwait and all its allies in the Gulf.
WHO Raises Alarm Over Risks To Health Facilities
The World Health Organization (WHO) has warned that the conflict in Iran and the wider region is impacting the delivery of health services and the safety of health workers, patients, and civilians at health facilities.
WHO Director-General Tedros Ghebreyesus said that since the start of the US-Israeli strikes on Iran, "WHO has verified over 20 attacks on health care in Iran, resulting in at least nine deaths."
In a April 2 X post, Ghebreyesus highlighted damage to the Pasteur Institute of Iran -- a leading Iranian medical research center founded in 1920 -- saying the facility had suffered extensive damage and was no longer able to deliver its usual health services.
While best known for its public health research, including work on infectious diseases, the facility has faced international scrutiny in the past. In 2007, the Japanese government listed it as an “entity of concern” over potential biological and chemical weapons proliferation.
Iranian President Masud Pezeshkian, a former heart surgeon, condemned the alleged attack on the Pasteur Institute, urging international health organizations and physicians worldwide to respond to this "crime against humanity."
However, a US official denied that American forces struck the Pasteur Institute, and an Israeli military spokesperson said they were "not aware" of any IDF strike on the facility on that day, according to The Wall Street Journal.
US Hit Key Bridge To 'Eliminate Military Supply Route'
A US Central Command (CENTCOM) defense official has told RFE/RL's Radio Farda that US forces struck a key bridge in northern Iran to eliminate a "planned military supply route for sustaining Iran's ballistic missile and attack drone force."
The B1 highway bridge, which links Tehran to Karaj in the Alborz Province and has been described in Iranian media as the highest in the Middle East, was hit by two US air strikes on April 2, causing significant damage.
Iranian officials said eight people were killed and 95 injured in the attacks, although those figures could not be independently verified. Officials quoted in the Iranian media have said that the bridge was still under construction and denied it was being used as a military supply route.
Posting on TruthSocial on April 2, US President Donald Trump said, "The biggest bridge in Iran comes tumbling down, never to be used again.
In his latest warning to the regime, Trump threatened more attacks on Iranian electrical power plants and bridges.
Drone Attack Hits Major Oil Refinery In Kuwait
A drone attack hit an oil refinery in Kuwait early on April 3, sparking fires at several of its units, according to the state-owned Kuwait Petroleum Company (KPC).
In a statement on X, the KPC said that the Mina Al-Ahmadi refinery had been targeted in a "malicious drone attack," resulting in fires in several operational units.
Emergency teams were working to contain the blazes and there were no reports of injuries, the statement said.
The Mina Al-Ahmadi refinery is one of the most important oil refineries in Kuwait and the wider Gulf region.
Over a month since the start of US-Israeli strikes on Iran, Tehran continues to conduct drone and missile attacks on neighboring Gulf states, targeting their energy facilities.
Trump Warns US 'Hasn't Even Started' To Destroy 'What's Left In Iran'
President Donald Trump said the US military "hasn't even started" to destroy what is left of Iran after a month of devastating attacks and threatened to strike more bridges and electrical power plants in the latest social media posts warning the regime in Tehran.
"Our Military, the greatest and most powerful (by far!) anywhere in the World, hasn’t even started destroying what’s left in Iran. Bridges next, then Electric Power Plants! New Regime leadership knows what has to be done, and has to be done, FAST!," Trump wrote on Truth Social late on April 2.
A day earlier, Trump warned Tehran to "make a deal before it is too late" and hailed a US military strike on a key bridge linking the capital to nearby provinces. Iran said eight people were killed and nearly 100 injured in the attack on the B1 Bridge, although the account could not independently be verified.
Read more here.
UN Security Council Delays Vote On Use Of 'Defensive' Force In Strait Of Hormuz
The UN Security Council has delayed a vote on a draft resolution to allow the use of "defensive" force to protect shipping from Iranian attacks in the crucial Strait of Hormuz.
The vote was scheduled for April 3 at 11 a.m., but late on April 2 the vote was postponed, with the reason given that it was the Good Friday public holiday. A new date hasn't been set.
Earlier Jamal Alrowaiei, the UN ambassador for Bahrain -- which presented the draft resolution -- said: "We cannot accept economic terrorism affecting our region and the world, the whole world is being affected by the developments."
Iran has effectively blocked one of the world’s most important shipping lanes -- creating a bottleneck of oil and natural gas tankers and threatening global fuel supplies -- in retaliation for US-Israeli strikes that have blasted the country since February 28.
The head of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) backed the call for UN approval of force to protect the strait from Iranian attacks.
"Iran has closed the Strait of Hormuz, prevented commercial vessels and oil tankers from transiting, and imposed conditions on some to pass through the strait," GCC Secretary-General Jasem Mohamed AlBudaiwi said.
"We call upon the Security Council to assume its full responsibility and take all necessary measures to protect maritime routes and ensure the safe continuation of international navigation," AlBudaiwi said.
The GCC comprises Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait, and Oman.
Bahran’s text has gone through several amendments and is supported by the United States, but it faces some opposition in the Security Council, especially by Russia and China -- both of which hold veto power.
"The use of force cannot bring peace. Political settlement is the fundamental way forward," Chinese Ambassador Fu Cong told the Security Council.
"Authorizing member states to use force would amount to legitimizing the unlawful and indiscriminate use of force, which would inevitably lead to further escalation of the situation and lead to serious consequences," he added.
AFP reports that a sixth and final draft would allow member states -- either individually or as "voluntary multinational naval partnerships" -- to use "all defensive means necessary and commensurate with the circumstances."
Russia, a close ally of Iran, has denounced what it calls one-sided measures against Tehran.
The resolution applies to the strait and adjacent waters to "secure transit passage and to deter attempts to close, obstruct or otherwise interfere with international navigation through the Strait of Hormuz."
The measure would last for a period of at least six months and emphasizes the defensive nature of any intervention -- a stipulation that seems to have eased earlier French concerns.
With reporting by AFP
UN Chief Says World On Edge Of A 'Wider War,' Urges End To 'Spiral Of Death'
Amid vows by the United States and Iran to intensify attacks, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres on April 2 called for an end to the "spiral of death and destruction" in the Middle East.
"We are on the edge of a wider war that would engulf the whole Middle East with dramatic impacts around the globe," Guterres told reporters in New York.
Guterres cited the dangers of the situation in the Strait of Hormuz, where Iran has brought shipping to a near standstill, creating a bottleneck of oil and natural gas tankers, which has led to a global energy crisis
"When the Strait of Hormuz is strangled, the world's poorest and most vulnerable cannot breathe," Guterres said.
Read more here.
Zelenskyy Offers Freedom Of Navigation Expertise To Aid Hormuz Shipping
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has offered to provide Kyiv's expertise in dealing with freedom of navigation in the Black Sea to countries considering ways to keep the crucial Strait of Hormuz open amid conflict in the Middle East.
In his nightly video address on April 2, Zelenskyy said Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiha had participated in a virtual meeting convened by Britain devoted to reopening the strait, which has effectively been blocked by Iran.
"Ukraine has relevant expertise concerning sea waterways, concerning the defense and reopening of maritime traffic," Zelenskyy said without providing details.
"If [our] partners are ready to act we will consider how we can strengthen them, how we can apply our expertise, knowledge and technological potential."
During the conference, British Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper condemned Iran's "recklessness" for stopping nearly all shipping through the strait -- causing global economic chaos as flows of oil, gas, and other vital commodities have come to a halt.
Kyiv has developed technology -- including sea drones -- that has enabled it to score dramatic successes over Russian ships in the Black Sea, preventing Moscow from controlling the waterway.
Zelenskyy traveled to the Middle East, meeting with leaders as part of efforts to provide them with defense technology it has developed in four years of fighting against the Russian invasion.