World

Taliban Renames Country Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan

Published

5 years ago

August 17, 2021

Eric

The Taliban has renamed Afghanistan the ‘Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan’ after its fighters swept into the capital, Kabul, a bustling metropolis of six million that has turned into a male-dominated city without police or traffic controls.

Aljazeera reports that scores of Afghans ran alongside a US military plane as it taxied on the runway and several clung to the side as the jet took off with Senior US military officials confirming to Aljazeera that the chaos left seven dead, as well as several who fell from the flight.

According to AP, the Taliban, a militant group that ran the country in the late 1990s, have again taken control.

The US-led invasion of Afghanistan in 2001 ousted the insurgents from power, but they never left.

After they blitzed across the country in recent days, the Western-backed government that has run the country for 20 years collapsed.

CNN reports that hundreds of people poured onto the tarmac at Kabul’s international airport, desperately seeking a route out of Afghanistan on Monday after the Taliban’s sudden seizure of power sparked a chaotic Western withdrawal and brought to a crashing end the United States’ two-decade mission in the country.

Meanwhile, at a special session of the UN Security Council in New York, UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, urged Taliban to show “the utmost restraint to protect lives” and demanded that anyone who wanted to leave the country must be able to do so.

US President Joe Biden also received a briefing by top security officials on the situation in Afghanistan, the White House said.

“This morning, the President was briefed by his national security team, including the Secretary of Defense and Chairman Milley, on the security situation at Hamid Karzai International Airport, and ongoing efforts to safely evacuate American citizens, US Embassy personnel and local staff, SIV (special immigrant visa) applicants and their families, and other vulnerable Afghans,” it said in a statement.

Middle East

Saudi Arabia Shuts Down One of World’s Largest Oil Refinery after Iran’s Drone Strike

Published

15 hours ago

March 2, 2026

Eric

Saudi Aramco has halted operations at its Ras Tanura refinery in Saudi Arabia after a reported drone strike in the area, according to Reuters.

Ras Tanura, one of the largest oil refining and export facilities in the world, has a refining capacity of roughly 550,000 barrels per day and serves as the kingdom’s largest oil export terminal.

The facility handles approximately 6.5 million barrels of crude daily nearly 7% of global oil supply flows through this single site.

Reports indicate the attack was carried out by Iran amid rising regional tensions, affecting critical Aramco infrastructure.

Following the strike, a fire reportedly broke out in the refinery’s processing complex.

Authorities say the blaze has been contained, and no casualties were recorded.

A series of strikes by the US and Israel against Iran began last Saturday.

World

Trump Claims 48 Iran Leaders Killed in US-Israeli Operations

Published

23 hours ago

March 2, 2026

Eric

The United States President, Donald Trump, has claimed that over 48 Iranian leaders have been killed in ongoing U.S.-Israeli bombardments, describing the offensive as a major success.

“Nobody can believe the success we’re having, 48 leaders are gone in one shot. And it’s moving along rapidly,” Trump said in an interview with Fox News.

The military strike, launched Saturday, aims to dismantle the Islamic Republic’s leadership and degrade its military capabilities.

Iran has confirmed the death of its supreme leader, Ali Khamenei.

In a separate interview with CNBC, Trump reiterated his confidence in the operation’s progress.

“We’re doing our job not just for us but for the world. And everything is ahead of schedule,” he said. “Things are evolving in a very positive way right now, a very positive way.”

The interviews were conducted before the U.S. military announced its first casualties in the conflict. United States Central Command (CENTCOM) confirmed that three service members were killed, five seriously wounded, and several others sustained lighter injuries.

CENTCOM also said U.S. forces had sunk an Iranian warship at a dock in the Gulf of Oman as part of ongoing operations.

Middle East

Iran Confirms Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei Dead after US-Israeli Attacks

Published

2 days ago

March 1, 2026

Eric

Iranian state media have confirmed that Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed at his office in the Israeli-US attacks on Iran, following earlier reports of his killing by US and Israeli officials.

A 40-day mourning period for the longtime Iranian leader has been announced.

The Sunday confirmation comes after Iran’s Tasnim and Mehr news agencies initially reported that Khamenei remained “steadfast and firm in commanding the field”.

US President Donald Trump wrote in a post on his Truth Social platform earlier in the day that 86-year-old Khamenei was killed in the joint US-Israeli strikes, which began early on Saturday.

“He was unable to avoid our Intelligence and Highly Sophisticated Tracking Systems and, working closely with Israel, there was not a thing he, or the other leaders that have been killed along with him, could do,” Trump wrote.

“This is the single greatest chance for the Iranian people to take back their Country,” he said. “Hopefully, the IRGC [Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps] and Police will peacefully merge with the Iranian Patriots.”

While Iranian authorities have long planned for the possible killing of Khamenei in the event of a war with the US and Israel, his assassination injects new uncertainty into an unfolding conflict that has already spurred concerns that fighting could escalate and expand further.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had earlier also claimed that there were “growing signs” that Khamenei had been killed.

Additionally, the Reuters news agency, citing an unnamed senior Israeli official, had reported that Khamenei’s body had ⁠been located.

Khamenei has been Iran’s supreme leader since 1989, succeeding the founder of the post-shah Iran, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, who steered Iran’s 1979 revolution.

The supreme leader holds ultimate authority over all branches of government, the military and the judiciary, while also acting as the country’s spiritual leader.

Barbara Slavin, a distinguished fellow at the Stimson Center in Washington, DC, told Al Jazeera that Iran “has a plan” in place in the event that Khamenei’s death is confirmed.

“There will probably be a council that will be set up to run the country. It may already have been running the country, as far as we know,” she said.

Trump signals continued strikes

Saturday’s strikes on Iran targeted 24 provinces, killing at least 201 people, according to Iranian media reports, citing the Red Crescent.

Among the attacks, Israel struck two schools in Iran, killing at least 108 people at the Shajareh Tayyebeh girls’ elementary school in the southern city of Minab, and two others at a school east of the capital, Tehran.

Netanyahu said in his address that many “senior figures” had been “eliminated” in the wave of attacks targeting senior leaders, as Trump called for the government to be toppled.

Israel, Netanyahu said, had killed “commanders in the Revolutionary Guard and senior officials in the nuclear programme. And we will continue.”

Trump indicated on his Truth Social post that “heavy and pinpoint bombing” of Iran would go on “uninterrupted throughout the week or, as long as necessary”.

Iran’s counterattacks on Saturday triggered air-defence interceptions in several countries where airbases with US assets are hosted, including Kuwait, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain.

On Saturday evening, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said that the third and fourth waves of “retaliatory” strikes on US and Israeli positions were ongoing, according to a statement carried by the IRNA news agency.

Guterres calls for de-escalation

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told an emergency meeting of the Security Council that he deeply regretted that an opportunity for diplomacy had been “squandered”.

“Military action carries the risk of igniting a chain of events that no one can control in the most volatile region of the world,” he told the 15-member body. “I call for de-escalation and an immediate cessation of hostilities”.

Addressing the Security Council, Iran’s UN ambassador, Amir Saeid Iravani, said the US and Israel had “initiated an unprovoked and premeditated aggression”, attacking “civilian populated areas in multiple large cities of Iran, where millions of people reside”.

“This is not only an act of aggression, it is a war crime, and a crime against humanity,” he said.

The US ambassador to the UN, Mike Waltz, insisted that the military action was lawful. “Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon,” he said. “That principle is not a matter of politics. It’s a matter of global security.”

China’s UN ambassador, Fu Cong, said Beijing was very concerned by “the sudden escalation of regional tensions”.

Russia’s ambassador, Vassily Nebenzia, condemned the US-Israeli air strikes, demanding that the US and Israel “immediately cease their aggressive actions”.

Source: Aljazeera