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Dark haze over Tehran as US-Israeli forces bomb oil storage facilities

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Smoke rises after a strike on oil storage facilities in Tehran. [Majid Asgaripour/WANA via Reuters] By Anadolu, AP, EPA and Reuters
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•  Warplanes hit five oil facilities in overnight strikes in and around the Iranian capital, killing four people.

•  A dark haze hung over the city as Sunday morning broke and a smell of burning lingered in the air.

Huge fireballs and thick plumes of smoke rose over Tehran after joint United States-Israeli air strikes hit fuel depots in the Iranian capital.

Iran’s oil distribution company said four of its employees were killed in the blitz, as a dark haze hung over the city on Sunday and the smell of burning oil lingered in the air.

Fire burns at the Aghdasieh oil depot in Tehran, Iran. [Screengrab/Social Media via Reuters]

Saturday’s strikes triggered large fires after hitting four oil storage facilities and an oil transfer and production centre in Tehran and neighbouring Alborz province, the Fars news agency reported. Iranian state media described the incident as an “attack from the US and the Zionist regime”.

The facilities targeted were the Aghdasieh oil warehouse in northeast Tehran, the Tehran refinery in the south, the Shahran oil depot in the west, and an oil depot in the city of Karaj. Witnesses said oil from the Shahran depot had leaked into nearby streets.

Israel said it had struck “a number of fuel storage facilities in Tehran” that were used “to operate military infrastructure”.

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Shortly after the attacks, which appeared to mark a new phase in the war, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his government would press on with the assault and strike Iran’s rulers “without mercy”.

“We have an organised plan with many surprises to destabilise the regime and enable change,” he said in a video statement. “We have many more targets.”

Joint US-Israeli attacks on Iran have continued for a ninth day, killing more than 1,300 people in Iran and about 300 in Lebanon, according to officials. About a dozen people have been killed in Israel.

 

International

U.S., Iran agree two-week ceasefire as Iran reopens Strait of Hormuz

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Strait of Hormuz
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Iran has confirmed a two-week ceasefire announced by U.S. President Donald Trump, the Tasnim news agency, which is close to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), reported early on Wednesday.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz would be possible for two weeks in coordination with Iran’s armed forces “and with due consideration of technical limitations.”

Trump had made reopening the waterway a condition for the ceasefire and had threatened to target Iran’s energy sector and infrastructure, including bridges, if Tehran failed to comply, setting a deadline of 0000 GMT.

The Strait of Hormuz, crucial to global oil and gas trade, has been largely closed since the United States and Israel launched large-scale attacks on Iran on Feb. 28.

According to a senior U.S. official, Israel will also adhere to what Trump described as a “double sided CEASEFIRE.”

Pakistan, which has mediated between Tehran and Washington, said that an immediate ceasefire between Iran and the US had taken effect.

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Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif wrote on X that the Islamic Republic of Iran and the U.S., along with their allies, had agreed to an “immediate ceasefire everywhere,” including in Lebanon.

“I warmly welcome the sagacious gesture and extend deepest gratitude to the leadership of both the countries and invite their delegations to Islamabad on Friday … to further negotiate for a conclusive agreement to settle all disputes,” Sharif said.

Trump earlier said Sharif had asked him to refrain from carrying out the threatened attacks.

The U.S. has received a 10-point proposal from Iran and believed it offered a “workable basis” for negotiations, Trump wrote on his platform Truth Social.

According to The New York Times, the plan calls for lifting all sanctions imposed on Iran. (dpa/NAN)

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Earthquake kills 8 members of same family in Afghanistan

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An earthquake that struck Afghanistan overnight killed eight members of the same family in Kabul province, the health ministry said on Saturday.

The 5.8-magnitude quake struck at 8.42 pm (1612 GMT) on Friday at a depth of 186 kilometres (115 miles) at the epicentre in northeastern Badakhshan province, according to the US Geological Survey (USGS).

Shaking was felt in multiple parts of the country, including the capital Kabul, according to AFP journalists.

“In the Gosfand Dara area of Kabul Province, eight members of a family died as a result of the earthquake,” Health Ministry spokesman Sharafat Zaman said in a message to media.

He added that a child aged around two years old was the only survivor from the household and the country’s disaster management agency said the boy had been injured in the tremor.

Afghanistan is frequently jolted by earthquakes, particularly along the Hindu Kush mountain range near where the Eurasian and Indian tectonic plates meet.

In August, a shallow magnitude 6 earthquake wiped out mountainside villages and killed more than 2,200 people in eastern Afghanistan, making it the deadliest tremor in the country’s recent history.

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AFP

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Iran executes two members of banned opposition group

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Image Credit: X
Iran Executes Two Members Of MEK For Involvement In Multiple Terrorist Acts Image Credit: X
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Iran on Saturday executed two men convicted of membership in a banned opposition group and carrying out disruptive actions aimed at overthrowing the Islamic republic, the judiciary said.

The executions were the latest in a series targeting members of the banned People’s Mujahedin of Iran (MEK), after four other convicted members of the group were executed earlier in the week.

They also come against the backdrop of Iran’s war with the United States and Israel, sparked by US-Israeli strikes on February 28 that killed the country’s supreme leader and have since triggered a wider regional conflict.

“Abolhassan Montazer and Vahid Baniamerian … were hanged after trial and their sentences were upheld by the Supreme Court,” the judiciary’s Mizan Online website said on Saturday.

The men were found guilty of attempting “rebellion through involvement in multiple terrorist acts”, as well as membership in the MEK group and carrying out acts of sabotage aimed at overthrowing the Islamic republic.

It was not immediately clear when the men were arrested.

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The MEK, which initially supported the 1979 Islamic revolution before falling out with the leadership in the 1980s, has since been in exile and is designated a terrorist organisation by Tehran.

Iran is the world’s second most prolific executioner after China, according to rights groups.

Since the war began, it has executed multiple individuals, including on Thursday, when authorities executed a man convicted of acting on behalf of Israel and the United States during a wave of anti-government protests earlier this year.

On March 19, three others convicted of killing police officers during the protests were also executed.

Also in March, Iran executed Kouroush Keyvani, a dual Iranian-Swedish national, on charges of spying for Israel, drawing condemnation from Stockholm and the European Union.

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