Iranian Official Says Historic Sites Damaged In Israeli Attack On Isfahan
The deputy head of cultural heritage for Iran’s Isfahan Province said that several of the city’s most famous historic buildings have been damaged in attacks carried out by Israel.
Speaking to the reformist Sharq newspaper, Ruhollah Seyedoleskari claimed the strikes on March 9 damaged the Chehel Sotoun Palace, one of Isfahan’s most prominent monuments and part of a UNESCO-listed complex of Persian gardens.
He added that the Rakibkhaneh building, a Safavid-era royal stables complex dating back to the early 17th century, as well as Ashraf Hall and Timurid Hall, dating to the 14th–15th-century Timurid period, were also damaged. Windows at the nearby Ali Qapu Palace overlooking Isfahan’s Naqsh-e Jahan Square – also a UNESCO World Heritage Site -- were reportedly shattered as well.
The Israeli military earlier said Tehran, Isfahan, and southern Iran were among its targets on March 9. It appears the Isfahan governor’s office complex may have been the main target of the strikes there.
Last week, Golestan Palace in central Tehran, a UNESCO World Heritage site largely dating to the Qajar era, when a royal dynasty ruled Iran from 1789 until 1925, was also damaged in air strikes.
Rubio Says Iran Wants To 'Hold The World Hostage'
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has accused Iran of trying to “hold the world hostage” through retaliatory strikes across the Middle East, saying US military operations aimed at curbing Tehran’s capabilities were progressing as planned.
Rubio was speaking at an event on March 9 honoring wrongfully detained Americans, including Robert Levinson, a former FBI agent who disappeared in Iran in 2007 and who US officials believe died in Iranian custody.
Macron Orders Naval Deployment To Protect Shipping Routes
France will deploy about a dozen naval vessels, including the aircraft carrier group built around the French aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle, to the eastern Mediterranean, Red Sea, and possibly the Strait of Hormuz to support allies and protect shipping as tensions rise in the Middle East, President Emmanuel Macron said on March 9.
Speaking in Paphos in western Cyprus alongside Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides and Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, Macron said the deployment would remain “strictly defensive, standing alongside all countries attacked by Iran in its retaliation." He also said the move was intended "to ensure our credibility, and to contribute to regional de-escalation. "
"Ultimately, we aim to guarantee freedom of navigation and maritime security," Macron added.
Europe has been largely sidelined in the escalating confrontation involving the United States, Israel and Iran, but growing threats to regional shipping and surging oil prices have increased pressure on European governments to protect maritime routes.
With reporting by Reuters
Iran Sends Message Of 'Defiance' By Picking Mojtaba Khamenei As New Supreme Leader
- By Kian Sharifi
Iran’s choice of Mojtaba Khamenei as the country’s new supreme leader sends an explicit message to the United States and Israel: External pressure, including decapitation, will harden rather than reshape the Islamic republic's leadership, experts say.
Mojtaba Khamenei is the second-oldest son of former Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was assassinated in an air strike on February 28 as the United States and Israel launched an aerial bombardment of Iran. The younger Khamenei is known as a hard-line cleric and his selection by the Assembly of Experts, a clerical body, on March 8 represents continuity.
"The message from Tehran is one of defiance: you kill one Khamenei, we give you another," Ali Alfoneh, a senior fellow at the Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington, told RFE/RL.
At the same time, the choice also revealed a system under acute internal strain, one in which the powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), the elite branch of Iran’s armed forces and the backbone of the country’s theocracy, has displaced the clerically dominated political establishment as kingmakers in the country of some 90 million people, experts say.
Read more here.
Zelenskyy Says Ukraine Received 11 Requests For Help In Countering Iranian Drones
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a post on social media that 11 countries had contacted Kyiv for help in countering Iranian drones as Tehran sends waves of them across the Middle East in retaliation against US-Israeli strikes.
"As of now, there are 11 requests from countries neighboring Iran, European states, and the US," Zelenskyy wrote. "There is clear interest in Ukraine’s experience in protecting lives, relevant interceptors, electronic warfare systems, and training."U
He added that Ukraine was "ready to respond positively to requests from those who help us protect the lives of Ukrainians and the independence of Ukraine" and that some requests had "already been met with concrete decisions and specific support."
NATO Intercepts Iranian Missile Over Turkey; US Orders Adana Consulate Evacuation
NATO has shot down a ballistic missile over Turkish airspace for the second time since the United States and Israeli began their air strikes against Iran at the end of last month.
"NATO has again intercepted a missile heading to Turkey. NATO stands firm in its readiness to defend all Allies against any threat," the alliance said in a social media post on March 9.
It gave no further details.
The Turkish Defense Ministry confirmed the incident, adding that some ammunition fragments landed in empty fields in Gaziantep, a city in southern Turkey near the border with Syria. There were no casualties or injuries in the incident, it added.
Five days earlier, a similar incident occurred with NATO shooting down a missile launched from Iran.
Tehran did not immediately comment on the March 9 incident. It has said previously that it has not explicitly targeted Turkey.
A NATO official, who asked not to be named, told RFE/RL that there was “no indication that Article 4 is being discussed so far” in response to the incident. NATO's Article 4 allows any member state to request consultations with allies if it believes its territorial integrity, political independence, or security is threatened, often serving as an early step for coordinating a response to potential security risks.
Separately on March 9, the US Department of State ordered nonemergency staff and family members to leave the US Consulate General in the city of Adana in southern Turkey due to security risks.
Americans in southeast Turkey have been strongly encouraged to depart the region immediately.
Sleeping In A Tel Aviv Subway Station Takes Its Toll
EU Sees No 'Imminent' Oil Shortage As Crude Prices Soar
The European Union said on March 9 it is in no danger of an oil supply shortage amid possible cuts in production and soaring prices due to the growing conflict in the Middle East.
The benchmark price for crude oil jumped beyond $100 for the first time since Russia launched its invasion of neighboring Ukraine in 2022.
"There is no imminent oil supply shortage in Europe. Per our rules, all member states must have the 90 days emergency stocks," European Commission spokeswoman Anna-Kaisa Itkonen said.
Taking Cover In Tel Aviv
Our correspondent, Ray Furlong, is currently in Tel Aviv. Out reporting this morning, he saw a line of parents with baby strollers entering a public shelter after an alert of an incoming Iranian ballistic missile strike.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister: Ukraine And Iran Are 'Two Theaters Of One War'
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiha has warned that "developments in Europe and the Middle East are not isolated from each other."
"The war against the Iranian regime and Ukraine's defense against Russian aggression are two theaters of one war," he wrote on X on March 9.
"The regimes in Moscow and Tehran are inseparable: They are working together, sharing resources, weapons, and technologies. They represent the same threat to Ukraine, Europe, the United States, and Gulf states," he said. "One thing that unites regimes in Moscow and Tehran is that they only understand the language of strength."
Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced that Kyiv had sent interceptor drones and a team of experts to the Middle East in response to a US request for support against Iranian drones in the region.
According to The New York Times, citing an interview with Zelenskyy, a Ukrainian team of drone experts traveled to the region to protect US military bases in Jordan.
"As of now, it is too early to speak in detail. Next week, when the experts are on the ground, assess the situation and provide assistance -- since they are coming with the capabilities to assist right away -- we will proceed accordingly. Let us wait for the initial meetings," Zelenskyy wrote on X on March 8.