International
Iran promises to punish Israel for destroying its consulate in Syria and killing a general
Tehran promised on Monday a harsh response against Israel for bombing and destroying its consulate in Damascus, where the Iranian ambassador resided, who came out unharmed, but who caused at least eight deaths, including an important brigade general of the Revolutionary Guard.
In one of the hardest blows to Iran in recent years in Syria, Iran’s ambassador to this country, Hossein Akbari, said on Iranian state television from Damascus that “the Zionist regime (Israel) acts against international laws, so he will receive a harsh response from us.”
“The Islamic Republic of Iran reserves its right to take countermeasures, and will decide on the type of reaction and punishment of the aggressor,” said, for his part, the spokesman of the Iranian Foreign Ministry, Naser Kanani.
The Syrian authorities accused the “Israeli enemy” of launching a bombing “around 5:00 p.m. today (14.00 GMT),” from the Golan Heights occupied by Israel against the “Iranian consulate building in Damascus,” according to an unidentified military source, which pointed out that the air defenses shot down “some” of the launched missiles.
Akbari witnessed from the embassy window of the attack on the consulate, which, according to him, was carried out with F-35 fighters that fired six missiles at Iranian facilities.
So far, Israel has not claimed this action, as is usual in its attacks on the Syrian territory.
On the battlefield, the Shifa hospital in Gaza City, the largest in the entire Strip, has been completely out of service after two weeks of military operation by the Israeli Army, which ended this morning.
“The destruction of the complex makes it impossible to resume work and the hospital has been completely out of service,” the director of Shifa, Marwan Abu Saada, told the media.
For its part, the Civil Defense of the Gaza Strip denounced on Monday that, after the departure of Israeli troops from the hospital, they have found corpses with signs of having been executed, others burned and also in a state of decomposition.
“Most of the bodies are decomposing and we reach bodies that are skeletons burned inside the medical complex,” Civil Defense spokesman Mahmud Busal said in a statement.
“It is difficult to count the number of martyrs, since the occupation raised the roads and buried the bodies in and near the Shifa complex,” Busal said.
According to the Civil Defense, there are dozens of bodies in the residential apartments in the vicinity of the medical complex for “the massacres committed by the occupation.”
The Israeli troops, who launched the operation on Shifa on March 18, claim to have killed about 200 alleged militiamen and identified 500 members of Hamas and Islamic Jihad, after interrogating about 800 suspects.
The Army insists that its military operations have not been directed against “patients, health personnel or medical equipment,” although the Gazaz Ministry of Health, controlled by Hamas, yesterday denounced that this incursion of the troops has left at least 400 dead throughout the area and the destruction of more than a thousand houses.
For Israel, this is one of the most “success” operations they have carried out since the beginning of the war, on October 7, due to the high number of alleged “terrorists” they have managed to capture in the hospital, where they assure that the militias of the Strip were regrouping.
Meanwhile, in Israel, a drone attack hit a building near the port of Eilat, in the south of the country, without injuries being reported.
According to the Israeli Army, the aggression came “from the east,” apparently from Iraq.
“After the sirens that sounded in the city of Eilat and in the Hevel Eilot area over an infiltration of hostile planes, the soldiers of the Israel Defense Forces identified a suspicious air target that crossed from the east to Israeli territory,” said a military statement.
“The target fell in the area of the Gulf of Eilat. No injuries were reported and there was minor damage to a building,” he added.
The reference to the projectile coincides with the claim, this morning, by the Islamic Resistance of Iraq of an attack “towards our occupied lands in solidarity with the Palestinian people of Gaza.”
Israeli media suggest that the target of the attack would be the frigate Saar 6, moored in the port of Eilat, since the impact occurred in a nearby building.
Eilat has been the target of launching several ballistic missiles, cruise missiles and drones in parallel to the war, but most of them came from the Houthis of Yemen, a group related to Iran.
International
Trump floats Vance-Rubio potential Republican ticket for 2028 election
U.S. President Donald Trump suggested on Monday that Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubiocould potentially form a Republican presidential ticket for the 2028 elections.
Speaking during a dinner with law enforcement officials as part of National Police Week, Trump publicly praised both officials and said they could make “an ideal team” for the next presidential race.
“Who likes JD Vance? Who likes Marco Rubio?” Trump asked attendees before adding that the pair “sound like a good combination.”
The president highlighted his vice president’s performance in office, stating that their current partnership has been highly effective. “JD is perfect, that has been a perfect formula,” Trump told reporters later.
He further suggested that a Vance-Rubio pairing could represent a strong presidential and vice-presidential ticket, although he stopped short of offering any formal endorsement.
“I think it sounds like a presidential candidate and a vice-presidential candidate,” he said, while clarifying that his remarks should not be interpreted as an official backing of any future campaign.
So far, neither Vance nor Rubio has publicly confirmed any intention to run in the 2028 presidential election.
Rubio previously sought the Republican nomination in 2016 but withdrew after losing the primary race to Trump. Later, in a December 2025 interview with Vanity Fair, he said he would be among the first to support Vance if he decided to run for the White House.
Vance, meanwhile, has recently dismissed speculation of any political rivalry with Rubio amid growing discussion about potential future GOP leadership.
International
Russia Accuses Ukraine of Violating Victory Day Truce
Russia accused Ukraine on Saturday of violating a Victory Day truce that was reportedly agreed with mediation from the United States, claiming that Ukrainian forces carried out attacks on Russian territory as well as on the annexed Crimean peninsula.
Despite the declared ceasefire, the Russian Ministry of Defense said in a statement that Ukrainian forces attacked Russian military positions using attack drones and artillery.
According to the ministry, Ukrainian forces made twelve attempts to advance toward Russian-held positions across several sectors of the front line.
It also alleged that Ukrainian strikes targeted civilian infrastructure in Crimea, several border regions, the Caucasus, and other areas including Moscow and Perm in the Ural region.
The Defense Ministry estimated around 8,900 violations of the ceasefire in total, including more than 7,000 drone attacks and over 1,000 strikes involving tanks, artillery, multiple rocket launch systems, and mortars since the truce came into effect at midnight.
Russia said its forces responded “symmetrically” to what it described as violations by Ukrainian troops.
Earlier, the Kremlin denied claims that Ukraine attempted to sabotage a military parade in Red Square marking the 81st anniversary of the Soviet victory over Nazi Germany in World War II.
“No attempts were made. Everything went well,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told local media.
International
Trump Says U.S.-Iran Talks Progressing, Signals Possible Deal on Strait of Hormuz
U.S. President Donald Trump said Wednesday that Washington is holding “very good” talks with Iran and stated that there is a strong possibility of reaching an agreement to end the conflict and reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
“We’ve had very good conversations over the last 44 hours, and it’s very possible that we’ll reach an agreement,” Trump said during an event held in the Oval Office at the White House.
The president’s remarks came just hours after he announced a temporary suspension of the military operation aimed at escorting vessels stranded in the Persian Gulf due to Iran’s blockade of the strategic Strait of Hormuz.
Trump explained that the pause in operations is intended to facilitate diplomatic negotiations between both sides and prevent further military escalation in the region.
“We’re in good shape, and right now things are going well. Now we have to achieve what we need to achieve. If we don’t, we’ll have to go much further,” the Republican president warned.
In a post published on his social media platform Truth Social, Trump reiterated that if Iran accepts Washington’s proposed conditions, military operations and the naval blockade affecting the Islamic republic would come to an end.
However, he also issued a new warning to the Iranian government, stating that the United States would respond with attacks “of greater intensity” if Tehran rejects the agreement promoted by the White House.
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