live Iran Using Banned Cluster Weapons, Says Rights Watchdog

In response to threats from Iran against US- and Israeli-affiliated universities in the region, the American University of Armenia (AUA) has suspended in-person classes and moved to online instruction.

In a statement, the Yerevan-based university said that it had received no direct threats and it was just taking a "precautionary measure."

On March 29, the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps announced that it considers Israeli and American universities in the Middle East "legitimate targets" in response to attacks it claimed hit universities in the capital Tehran and in the central city of Isfahan.

Those reported strikes have not been confirmed by the US or Israel.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) says the Iranian government has repeatedly made use of cluster munitions delivered by ballistic missiles, which violates the laws of war and may constitute war crimes.

The New York-based rights group reported that three separate Iranian attacks involving cluster munitions had hit populated areas in Israel, killing at least four people.

"Iran's use of cluster munitions in populated areas of Israel poses a foreseeable and long-lasting danger to civilians," said Patrick Thompson, Human Rights Watch's crisis, conflict, and arms researcher.

"Cluster munition bomblets are dispersed over a wide area, making them unlawfully indiscriminate in violation of the laws of war."

HRW said that although Iran is not a party to the 2008 Convention on Cluster Munitions -- which comprehensively bans all production and use of these weapons -- international humanitarian law still bans indiscriminate attacks, including those that cannot distinguish between civilians and military targets.

Iranian media have reported that Majid Zakariaei, commander of the protection unit of the Natural Resources and Watershed Management Organization, a government body responsible for forests and water resources, has been killed.

According to the semiofficial ISNA news agency, Zakariaei was wounded in attacks on March 28.

The report said he died on the night of March 29.

Zakariaei had served as commander of the unit for one year and had previously headed the protection unit of Iran’s State Land Affairs Organization.

Iran has executed two men convicted of links to the exiled Iranian opposition group, Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK), and of plotting attacks in Tehran with improvised launcher devices, the Iranian judiciary’s news outlet said on March 30.

The two men, identified as Akbar Daneshvar-Kar and Mohammad Taqavi Sangdehi, were executed in the early hours of March 30. Iranian media said they were accused of carrying out “multiple terrorist acts,” and that explosive devices and related equipment were found in safe houses linked to them.

The MEK is an Iranian opposition group dating to the 1960s that has opposed both the Shah and the Islamic republic. It was previously designated by the United States as a foreign terrorist organization before being delisted in 2012.

In November 2025, Mai Sato, the UN special rapporteur on human rights in Iran, warned that the cases of the two men and four others were marked by serious due process concerns, including delayed access to lawyers and allegations of torture, and said imposing the death penalty in such cases would violate international law.

With reporting by Reuters

The New York Times late on March 29 reports that several hundred US special operations troops have arrived in the Middle East to give President Donald Trump and the military additional options in the war with Iran.

The report, citing two unnamed US officials, said the commandos have not yet been assigned specific roles in the conflict. They will join the thousands of marines and elite paratroopers being sent to the region to join the 50,000 troops already there.

The commando forces include Army Rangers and Navy SEALs, the Times cited the officials as saying.

US leaders, including Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, have said the deployment of any additional troops would be designed to give the president further options in dealing with Iran.

Among the possibilities is a potential seizing of Iran's Kharg Island, a key oil terminal and a major cog in the country's economic machine. The US military could also seek ways to safeguard shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, which has been largely closed by Iran.

Another potential use of special forces, the Times reported, would be a mission to capture Iran’s highly enriched uranium supplies at the Isfahan nuclear site.

The reported noted that military experts caution that even 50,000 troops are a small number for a major land operation. The US-led coalition that invaded Iraq in 2003 was close to 250,000 at the beginning, the Times said.

US President Donald Trump said he wants to “take the oil in Iran” and perhaps seize Kharg Island, while at the same time insisting that Washington is doing “extremely well” in negotiations with Iran and said he is "pretty sure" a peace deal will be reached.

The mixing of threats and the possibility of peace deal with Tehran came in an interview published late on March 29 in the Financial Times and remarks an hour later to reporters aboardAir Force One.

To reporters, Trump hailed progress in talks with Iran, saying they were being held directly and indirectly and asserted that Tehran was partially opening the crucial Strait of Hormuz, the waterway through which some 20 percent of the world's oil and natural gas supplies pass.

He didn't elaborate on what he called direct talks with Iran, whose leaders deny negotiations are taking place. Tehran has said it received a 15-point US peace plan, which it said it would not accept.

"We are doing extremely well in that negotiation. But you never know with Iran because we negotiate with them and then we always have to blow them up...whether it's with B52 bombers" or by having torn up the 2015 landmark nuclear deal that Tehran signed with world powers, including the United States, Russia, and China.

"I think we will make a deal with them. Pretty sure. But it's possible we won't," he told reporters. "But we've had regime change already. [The Iranian] regime was decimated, destroyed. They're all dead."

He said, without being specific, that the current leaders have been "very reasonable."

In the FT interview, Trump said that “my preference would be to take the oil," likening the situation to that of Venezuela, where the said the intends to take control of the oil industry “indefinitely” after US forces captured strongman leader Nicolas Maduro in January.

“To be honest with you, my favorite thing is to take the oil in Iran, but some stupid people back in the US say: ‘Why are you doing that?’ But they’re stupid people,” Trump was quoted by the FT as saying.

“Maybe we take Kharg Island, maybe we don’t. We have a lot of options,” Trump said, referring to the hub where most of Iran's oil is exported.

“It would also mean we had to be there [in Kharg Island] for a while,” he said “I don’t think they have any defense. We could take it very easily.”

Despite the threats, Trump insisted that indirect talks between the US and Iran via Pakistani “emissaries” were progressing well. Trump has imposed an April 6 deadline for Iran to accept a deal ending the war or face US strikes on its power plants.

Foremost on the administration's demand list is the reopening of the crucial Strait of Hormuz, which Iran has largely blocked, creating a bottleneck of oil and natural gas shipments.

Tehran has said it would allow "nonhostile" nations' ships to pass safely, which Trump hailed as progress.

Read more here.

Iran’s vice president on March 29 said Tehran plans to revamp governance of the crucial Strait of Hormuz to secure long-term economic and security gains.

"The Strait of Hormuz regime will no longer be as it was in the past," Mohammad Reza Aref wrote on social media.

He added that the government plans to "transform the battlefield achievements into sustainable economic and security benefits for the country."

He said efforts by Iran's enemies to bring about political change in Iran had merely led to "regime change in Hormuz."

Iranian sources told the dpa that the Iranian parliament is also planning legislation to introduce a toll system for the waterway, through which some 20 percent of the world’s oil and natural gas supplies transit.

Tehran has repeatedly attacked vessels in the strait, effectively closing down the shipping route.

The narrow passage -- located between Iran and Oman -- is the only link between the Gulf and the world's oceans.

With reporting by dpa

The ⁠International ⁠Atomic ‌Energy Agency (IAEA) on March 29 aid Iran's heavy-water reactor at Khondab, near the city of Arak,⁠ which ‌Tehran reported had been attacked on March 27, has suffered ‌severe damage and is no longer operational.

The Israeli military had said it struck the facility, officially known as the Khondab Heavy Water Research Reactor -- at least the second time the site had been hit following an Israeli air strike during the 12-day war in June 2025.

"STRUCK: Arak Heavy Water Plant in Central Iran—A Key Plutonium Production Site for Nuclear Weapons. The IDF will not allow the Iranian regime to continue advancing its nuclear weapons program, which poses an existential threat to Israel and the entire world," the Israeli Defense Forces wrote on X on March 27.

The IAEA said: "Based on independent analysis of satellite imagery and knowledge of the installation, the IAEA has confirmed the heavy water production plant at Khondab...has sustained severe damaged and is no longer operational. The installation contains no declared nuclear material,"

The reactor is part of a sprawling nuclear complex in central Iran that includes heavy-water production facilities, which allow Iran to use natural uranium as fuel without the need for high-level enrichment.

Pakistan's foreign minister on March 29 said Islamabad was preparing to host "meaningful ⁠talks" in the coming days to end the Middle East war, even though there has been no letup in the violence or harsh rhetoric between Washington and Tehran.

Ishaq Dar, speaking after talks between regional foreign ministers, said the top diplomats from Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Turkey had discussed possible ways to bring a permanent end to the war as well as potential US-Iran talks in the Pakistani capital.

"Pakistan will be honored ⁠to host and facilitate meaningful talks between the two sides in coming days, for a comprehensive and lasting settlement of the ongoing conflict," he said, although it was not clear if Washington and Tehran had agreed to such talks.

The Pakistani government has been acting as a mediator between Iran and the United States and has conveyed the US peace plan to Tehran.

A day earlier, Dar said Iran had agreed to allow an additional 20 Pakistani-flagged ships to pass through the Strait of Hormuz, with two vessels permitted to transit daily. Iran's effective blocking of the key waterway has created a bottleneck of oil and natural gas tankers seeking to deliver products to the world markets.

Iran has said it will allow ships from "nonhostile" nations to safely pass through the strait.

Sources told Reuters that the initial discussions between Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Egypt had focused on proposals to ‌reopen the strait to help relieve the widening economic pain around the world.

With reporting by Reuters and dpa

The Israeli military announced on Sunday, March 29, evening it had launched new strikes on targets across Tehran after it had detected seven new incoming missile salvoes fired from Iran during the day. "The IDF is currently striking Iranian terror regime targets across Tehran," the military said.

Iran said the barrage followed earlier strikes that knocked out power across parts of Tehran, neighboring Karaj, and elsewhere. State news agencies (FARS) reported several hours after the blackout that power had been restored in most of Tehran.

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Strike In Tehran Hits TV Broadcaster As Fire Breaks Out In Southern Israel

Earlier today, Iranian ballistic missiles struck open areas and residential outskirts in Beersheba, Israel. The Times of Israel reports that at least 11 people were lightly injured by shrapnel and falling debris. A significant blaze broke out at a chemical plant in the Ne'ot Hovav industrial zone near Beersheba. While the IDF initially stated it was caused by "interception fragments," or debris from an intercepted missile, newer reports from The Jerusalem Post suggest a direct hit or a very close proximity impact from an Iranian missile that appears to have pierced extensive Israeli air defense systems.