A projectile from a US-Israeli attack hit near the Bushehr nuclear power plant in southern Iran on Saturday, killing one person, state media reported.

“Following the US-Zionist criminal attacks, this Saturday morning, around 8:30 am, a projectile hit the area near the Bushehr nuclear power plant in the southwest,” said the official IRNA news agency.

It added that one of the building’s guards was killed but noted that there was no damage to the plant’s facilities.

The International Atomic Energy Agency on Saturday said that it has been informed by Iran about a projectile striking close to the premises of the plant.

The IAEA said in an X post that one of the site’s physical protection staff members was killed by a projectile fragment and that a building on site was affected by shockwaves and fragments.

“No increase in radiation levels was reported,” the IAEA said.

Iran’s Tasnim news agency said earlier on Saturday the incident did not damage the main parts of the plant and that production was unaffected.

Israeli police prevented the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem from entering the Church of the Holy Sepulchre to celebrate Palm Sunday mass, according to the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem.

“This morning, the Israeli police prevented the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, His Beatitude Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, Head of the Catholic Church in the Holy Land ... from entering the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, as they made their way to celebrate the Palm Sunday Mass,” a statement issued by the Patriarchate said.

“As a result, and for the first time in centuries, the Heads of the Church were prevented from celebrating the Palm Sunday Mass at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.”

“This incident is a grave precedent and disregards the sensibilities of billions of people around the world, who during this week, look to Jerusalem.”

There was no immediate response from the Israeli police.

Since the Middle East war began on February 28, Israeli authorities have banned large gatherings, including at synagogues, churches and mosques.

Public gatherings are limited to around 50 people.

The Latin Patriarchate had already announced it had cancelled the traditional Palm Sunday procession that normally runs from the Mount of Olives into Jerusalem and draws thousands of worshippers each year.

The Patriarchate said Cardinal Pierbattista was stopped “while proceeding privately and without any characteristics of a procession or ceremonial act.”

“The heads of churches have acted with full responsibility and, since the outset of the war, have complied with all imposed restrictions,” the Patriarchate said.

“Preventing the entry of the Cardinal and the Custos, who bear the highest ecclesiastical responsibility for the Catholic Church and the Holy Places, constitutes a manifestly unreasonable and grossly disproportionate measure,” it said.

“This hasty and fundamentally flawed decision, tainted by improper considerations, represents an extreme departure from basic principles of reasonableness, freedom of worship, and respect for the status quo.”

President Donald Trump said on Monday the US has had good and productive conversations with Iran and he will order the military to postpone any military strikes against Iranian power plants and energy infrastructure for five days.

Trump’s move followed a threat by Iran to attack Israel’s power plants and those supplying US bases across the Gulf region if the US targets Iran’s power network.

Conversations with Iran will continue throughout the week, Trump said in a social media post.

“I HAVE INSTRUCTED THE DEPARTMENT OF WAR TO POSTPONE ANY AND ALL MILITARY STRIKES AGAINST IRANIAN POWER PLANTS AND ENERGY INFRASTRUCTURE FOR A FIVE DAY PERIOD, SUBJECT TO THE SUCCESS OF THE ONGOING MEETINGS AND DISCUSSIONS,” he wrote.

Israel’s military has been ordered to destroy all bridges over Lebanon’s Litani River and to step up the demolition of Lebanese homes near the Israeli border, the country’s defense minister said on Sunday.

The military struck a bridge in south Lebanon, AFP reported, after a warning was issued earlier in the day.

Earlier, an Israeli was killed in his car near the border with Lebanon after what the military described as a “launch” from Lebanese territory. It was the first Israeli civilian death linked to fire from Lebanon in the current war. Two Israeli soldiers have also been killed in fighting in southern Lebanon.

International law generally prohibits militaries from attacking civilian infrastructure, and the United Nations human rights chief has criticized Israel’s actions in Lebanon, particularly its use of widespread evacuation orders.

Defense Minister Israel Katz said the military had been ordered to destroy all bridges over the Litani River used for “terrorist activity,” to prevent Hezbollah militants and weapons from moving south. He also said the military was ordered to accelerate the demolition of Lebanese homes in “frontline villages” to neutralize threats to Israeli communities.

Katz described the approach as similar to the model used in Beit Hanoun and Rafah in Gaza, where the military created buffer zones by clearing and demolishing buildings near the border.

The remarks were made during a meeting with the military chief of staff and other senior officials, his office said.

Intensive bombing campaign

The Israeli army announced on Sunday that it killed Abu Khalil Barji, Commander of the Special Forces in Hezbollah’s Radwan Force, along with two others in strikes on Saturday on Majdal Selm in southern Lebanon.

“Barji served for years as a commander in the Radwan Force and recently commanded its special forces, which were mainly responsible for attacking IDF troops. Additionally, the IDF struck Hezbollah terrorist infrastructure in various areas across southern Lebanon,” the army said.

Israel has carried out an intensive bombing campaign on southern Lebanon and areas of Beirut targeting Hezbollah, after the Iran-backed militant group opened fire on Israel in response to Israel’s killing of Iran’s supreme leader.

On March 13, the military destroyed a bridge over the Litani River for the first time in the current war. It said it was used by Hezbollah, and destroyed two more bridges on March 18.

Israeli soldiers have also carried out what the military describes as ground maneuvers and targeted raids on villages that it says are targeting Hezbollah militants and weapons.

Israeli officials say the air and ground campaigns are aimed at protecting residents in northern Israel near the Lebanese border from Hezbollah attacks. More than 1,000 people in Lebanon have been killed so far and hundreds of thousands have been displaced.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot met with his Israeli counterpart, Gideon Saar, in Jerusalem on Friday, telling reporters that he had expressed France’s reservations about a ground operation of “significant scale and duration.”

Barrot said he had urged Lebanese and Israeli officials to find a lasting solution, which he said could not be achieved through military force alone.

Earlier this month, Katz warned the Lebanese government it would face infrastructure damage and territorial losses unless Hezbollah was disarmed. The Lebanese government has outlawed Hezbollah military activity and said it wanted to engage in direct talks with Israel.

Agencies

Critical infrastructure and energy facilities in the Middle East could be “irreversibly destroyed” should Iranian power plants be targeted, Iran’s Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf said in comments posted on X on Sunday.

Qalibaf said regional infrastructure would become “legitimate targets” should Iran’s facilities be hit, and that its retaliation would increase the price of oil for a while.

His comments come after US President Donald Trump warned that Iranian power plants would be targeted if the Strait of Hormuz is not “fully open” within 48 hours.

“If Iran doesn’t FULLY OPEN, WITHOUT THREAT, the Strait of Hormuz, within 48 HOURS from this exact point in time, the United States of America will hit and obliterate their various POWER PLANTS, STARTING WITH THE BIGGEST ONE FIRST!” Trump said on social media.

Iran’s Khatam al-Anbiya military command headquarters said Sunday that if the US attacks Iran’s fuel and energy infrastructure, then Iran would target all US energy, information technology and desalination infrastructure in the region.

Reuters, Al-Arabiya

Iran’s Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei on Friday said the enemies of the Islamic republic were being defeated in the war against the US and Israel in a written message for the Persian New Year, Nowruz.

“At the moment, due to the particular unity that has been created between you our compatriots -- despite all the differences in religious, intellectual, cultural and political origins -- the enemy has been defeated,” said Khamenei, who is yet to appear in public after being named to succeed his father Ali Khamenei who was killed in an airstrike at the a start of the war.

Tehran welcomes any initiative that leads to a complete end to the war, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on Sunday, adding that diplomacy remains in place with Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Oman and neighboring countries.

The top diplomat said that Iran was ready to form an investigative committee with regional countries on targets that were attacked, according to Iranian media.

He said that it was possible that Israel was behind the attacks on civil targets in Arab countries adding that Tehran did not target any civilian residential areas in regional countries. Araghchi also noted that the US-made drone Lucas, similar to Iran’s Shahed drones, might be behind the attacks in the Gulf countries.

 Meanwhile, the top Iranian diplomat urged other countries to refrain from any action that could widen the scope of the war with Israel and the United States.

In a phone call with French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot, he called on other countries to “refrain from any action that could lead to escalation and expansion of the conflict,” according to an Iranian foreign ministry statement.

His remarks came after US President Donald Trump called for other nations’ warships to help protect world oil supplies passing through the Strait of Hormuz, which has been virtually blocked by the threat of Iranian attacks.

The war in Iran has entered its third week without any signs of a breakthrough that could halt the escalation.

On Feb. 28, the United States and Israel began a large-scale military operation against Iran. The White House said the attack came against the backdrop of what it described as a “missile and nuclear threats from Iran.” The US-Israeli strikes killed a number of Iran’s front-line leaders, most notably Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.

A Defense Ministry statement said the drones were shot down in Rub' al-Khali (Empty Desert Quarter) as they targeted the Shaybah oilfield in southern Saudi Arabia.

The ministry said in a later statement that nine drones heading toward the Shaybah oil field had been intercepted and destroyed.

The new interceptions brought the number of drones shot down by Saudi air defenses on Monday to 23.

Regional escalation flared up since Israel and the US launched a joint attack on Iran on Feb. 28, killing more than 1,200 people so far, including Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, according to Iranian authorities.

Tehran has retaliated with drone and missile strikes targeting Israel, Jordan, Iraq, and Gulf countries that are home to US military assets.

Donald Trump disregarded threats made by Iranian top national security official, Ali Larijani, who on Saturday said that “Trump must pay” for the United States strikes on Iran.

“I have no idea what he is talking about, who he is. I couldn’t care less,” Trump said in an interview with CBS News late Saturday evening, adding that Larijani has “already been defeated.”

Larijani serves as the secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, a key body shaping foreign policy and security. The council includes Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian, top military commanders and intelligence officials.

Trump and Iranian leaders have exchanged threatening comments since the start of this war, casting doubts on any diplomacy between the two sides in the near future, as regional leaders push for an end to the conflict that has already entered its ninth day.

“We will relentlessly avenge the blood of our leader and our people. Trump must pay and will pay,” Larijani said on X on Saturday.

He has emerged as a prominent figure post the death of Iran’s leader Ali Khamenei who was killed in US-Israeli strikes on the first day of the war.

Pushing back on similar statement from other Iranian leaders, Trump reiterated that US strikes on Iran will continue as he calls for an “unconditional surrender.”

Meanwhile, the US leader has not ruled out US troops on the ground. On Saturday, Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One that it is a possibility for a “very good reason.”

“Could there be? Possibly, for a very good reason. If we ever did that, they [Iran] would be so decimated that they wouldn’t be able to fight on the ground,” he said.

Next supreme leader must ‘be hated by the enemy’

The wife of Iran’s slain Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei died Monday of wounds sustained in a US-Israeli attack, Iranian media reported.

Mansoureh Khojasteh Bagherzadeh, 79, had been in a coma since strikes carried out by the US and Israel on Saturday killed Khamenei, the semi-official Tasnim news agency said.

Iran on Sunday confirmed the death of Khamenei, his daughter, grandson, son-in-law, and one of his daughters-in-law in the US-Israeli offensive.

The US and Israel launched a large-scale attack on Iran on Saturday, killing several top Iranian leaders. Tehran has retaliated with drone and missile strikes targeting Israel as well as Gulf countries which are home to US assets.

Washington and Tel Aviv accuse Tehran of pursuing nuclear and missile programs that threaten Israel and US allies in the region. Iran says its nuclear program is peaceful and that it does not seek to produce nuclear weapons.

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Russian President Vladimir Putin discussed Iran’s attacks on Saudi Arabia and other neighboring countries during a phone call on Monday.

The two leaders discussed regional developments as well as “the Iranian attacks targeting the Kingdom and other brotherly countries,” the official Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported.

The Kremlin also reported the call, saying: “Both sides expressed serious concern about the real risks of the conflict spreading, which has already affected the territories of a number of Arab countries and could have catastrophic consequences.”

In a separate call on Monday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov discussed the ongoing conflict in the Middle East with his Saudi counterpart Prince Faisal bin Farhan.

“The ministers stressed that Russia and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia advocate for the immediate cessation of all hostilities and the adoption of priority measures to prevent attacks against civilians and civilian infrastructure in both Iran and its neighbors,” the Russian foreign ministry said.

Al Arabiya

Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said Monday his government has banned Hezbollah’s military and security activities and limited the group’s role to political work, ordering the army to enforce a plan to restrict weapons to state control north of the Litani River.

“The state rejects any military or security actions launched from Lebanese territory,” Salam told a news conference after a Cabinet meeting at the presidential palace east of Beirut, chaired by President Joseph Aoun.

He said the Cabinet decided to prohibit any military operations outside “legitimate state institutions.”

“The decision of war and peace rests exclusively with the state,” he stressed.

Salam said the move requires limiting Hezbollah’s activities and obligating the group to hand over its weapons, describing its recent actions as “a violation of Cabinet decisions.”

He instructed the Lebanese army command to implement the government’s plan decisively, particularly the provision aimed at restricting weapons north of the Litani River.

Hezbollah said early Monday that it had targeted a military site in northern Israel with a barrage of rockets and drones, in response to ongoing Israeli attacks on Lebanon and a joint US-Israeli military campaign on Iran.

Israel launched a series of airstrikes on Beirut’s southern suburbs and southern Lebanon in response, killing at least 31 and injuring 149, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry.

Saudi Arabia confirmed Saturday that Iran hit Riyadh and its eastern region with strikes, warning it reserved the right to defend itself including by retaliating.

Saudi Arabia “expressed its strongest condemnation of the blatant and cowardly Iranian attacks targeting the Riyadh and Eastern Province regions, which were repelled,” the foreign ministry said in a statement.

“In light of this unjustified aggression, the Kingdom affirms that it will take all necessary measures to defend its security and protect its territory, citizens and residents, including with the option of responding to the aggression.”

The United States and Israel carried out military strikes on Iran on Saturday, targeting its top leaders and plunging the Middle East into a conflict that President Donald Trump said would end a security threat to the US and give Iranians a chance to topple their rulers.

Tehran called the attacks unprovoked and illegal, and responded by launching missiles at Israel and at several Gulf countries that host American bases.