At least 400 people were killed and 250 injured in an air strike by Pakistan on a drug rehabilitation hospital in Kabul, Reuters reported citing a spokesman of the Afghan Taliban government.

Pakistan rejected the claim as false and misleading and said it “precisely ‌targeted military installations and terrorist support infrastructure” on Monday night.

“The visible secondary detonations after the strikes clearly indicate the presence of large ammunition depots,” Pakistani Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said in a post on X.

The conflict that began last month is the worst ever between the neighbours who share a 2,600-km (1,600-mile) border.

The escalation comes amid wider instability in the neighbourhood where the U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran and Tehran’s retaliation have plunged ⁠the Middle East into a crisis.

The strike came hours after the U.N. Security Council called on Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers to immediately step up efforts to combat terrorism. Pakistan accuses Kabul of harboring militant groups, particularly the Pakistani Taliban, which it says carry out attacks inside Pakistan.

The Security Council resolution, adopted unanimously, didn’t name Pakistan but condemns “in the strongest terms all terrorist activity including terrorist attacks.” The resolution also extends the U.N. political mission in Afghanistan, UNAMA, for three months.

Pakistan’s government accuses Afghanistan of providing safe haven to the Pakistani Taliban, which is designated as a terrorist organization by the United States, as well as to outlawed Baloch separatist groups and other militants who frequently target Pakistani security forces and civilians across the country. Kabul denies the charge, The Associated Press reports.

On Sunday, Pakistani Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said the military has killed 684 Afghan Taliban forces, a claim rejected by Afghanistan, which says casualties are far lower. Afghanistan’s Defense Ministry and other officials have said Afghanistan has killed more than 100 Pakistani soldiers.

US President Donald Trump said on Monday that he is planning to delay a visit to China later in March by about a month because of the Iran war, the BBC reported.

“We’ve requested that we delay it a month or so,” the BBC quoted Trump as saying at a press briefing in the White House, adding that it was important that he remained available to oversee the war.

Trump said he had proposed the delay solely to make sure he was around to manage the war.

“I’m looking forward to being with him,” he said, referring to Chinese President Xi Jinping. “We have a very good relationship.”

“There’s no tricks to it either,” Trump added. “It’s very simple. We’ve got a war going on. I think it’s important that I be here.”

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Monday that the meeting’s delay would not be due to Washington’s request that Beijing help in the Gulf, or any trade disagreements.

Bessent said: “The President wants to remain in DC to coordinate the war effort… Travelling abroad at a time like this may not be optimal.”

The latest development comes a day after Trump told the Financial Times that he might postpone the meeting if China did not help unblock the Strait of Hormuz – a critical waterway for the Gulf’s energy shipments.

He also called on other nations to help ships transit safely through the channel.

European Union foreign ministers showed “no appetite” to expand an EU naval mission in ‌the Middle East to the Strait of Hormuz for the time being, EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said on Monday.

The EU’s Aspides mission – named after the Greek word for “shields” – was established in 2024 to protect ships from attacks by Yemen’s Houthi rebel group in the Red Sea.

“Now, restarting the shipments of fertilisers, food and energy through the Strait of Hormuz is another urgent priority. Today, we discussed options to better protect the shipping in the region. The EU already has naval operations in place. We have Aspides that plays a key role in safeguarding freedom of navigation.  There was in our discussions a clear wish to strengthen this operation. But for the time being, there was no appetite in changing the mandate of operation Aspides – for now. While the Strait of Hormuz is at the centre stage, the Red Sea also remains critical. The risk that Houthis get involved is real, so we must remain vigilant,” EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice-President of the European Commission Kaja Kallas said at a press conference after the Foreign Affairs Council meeting. 

U.S. President Donald Trump has called on other nations to help police the strait after Iran responded to U.S.-Israeli ⁠attacks by using drones, missiles and mines to effectively close the channel for tankers that normally transport a fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas, according to Reuters.

“This is not Europe’s war – this situation in the region. We have the operation Aspides, as I said, in the Red Sea. The discussion was that it should be strengthened, because it does not have too many naval assets. It should have more. But the discussion on whether we are also extending this mandate to cover the Strait of Hormuz, to go north from the Muscat line, there was no appetite from the Member States to do that. As I said, nobody wants to go actively in this war. And of course, everybody is concerned what will be the outcome. What was stressed as well was the diplomatic outreach to have solutions,” Kallas added.

Rockets and at least five drones were launched at the U.S. embassy in Baghdad ‌early on Tuesday from areas around the city, Reuters reported citing Iraqi security sources.

The attack has been described as the most intense since the start of the U.S.-Israel war with Iran.

Reuters reported citing an eyewitness that at least three drones ⁠headed in the direction of the embassy. The C-RAM air defence system shot down two of them while a third struck inside the embassy compound, from which fire and smoke could be seen rising, the eyewitness said.

Iranian backed militias have been attacking U.S. interests in Iraq in retaliation for the war which began on February 28, according to Reuters.

On Monday, Iran-aligned group Kataib Hezbollah announced the death of its ⁠senior commander and spokesperson, and Popular Mobilization Forces said air strikes killed at least eight of its fighters in the Iraqi ⁠town of al-Qaim near Syria.

Reuters reported that Iraqi security forces have been deployed across parts of the capital and closed Baghdad’s ⁠fortified Green Zone, which houses government buildings and diplomatic missions including the U.S. embassy.

The U.S. and Israel launched what they described as a pre-emptive strike against Iran on February 28, claiming that Tehran was developing a nuclear weapon and posed a threat—an allegation Iran has denied. In response, Iran launched counterattacks, firing missiles and drones at Israel, as well as at U.S. assets and other targets across the Middle East.

Iran’s new supreme leader survived US and Israeli air strikes because he stepped outside for a walk in his garden minutes before his home was hit by missiles, according to a leaked audio obtained by The Telegraph.

The recording reveals that Mojtaba Khamenei was targeted in the same attack that killed his father Ali Khamenei and other members of the Iranian leadership, and his family. But he had gone outside “to do something” moments before Israeli Blue Sparrow ballistic missiles hit his residence at 9.32am local time on Feb 28.

The recording is attributed to Mazaher Hosseini, head of protocol for Ali Khamenei’s office, who delivers a statement to senior clerics and Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) commanders and provides the first detailed account of what happened inside the supreme leader’s compound when it came under fire.

The Telegraph said the recording was leaked to it and has since been independently verified.

Hosseini revealed that Mojtaba Khamenei suffered an injury to his leg in the strikes, while his wife and son were killed instantly and his brother-in-law was decapitated, according to the report.

The body of Mohammad Shirazi, chief of Khamenei’s military bureau, was also “blown to pieces”. Only “a few kilos of flesh” could be used to identify him, Hosseini told the meeting, held on March 12 in Tehran’s Qolhak neighbourhood.

On Feb 28, Ali Khamenei and senior security officials were gathered for a meeting when missiles hit the compound. Mohammad Pakpour, the IRGC chief, Aziz Nasirzadeh, Iran’s defence minister, and Ali Khamenei were among those killed.

Mr Hosseini said in the recording: “God’s will was that Mojtaba had to go out to the yard to do something and then return.

“He was outside and was heading upstairs when they struck the building with a missile. His wife, Ms Haddad, was martyred instantly.”

Mr Hosseini said Mojtaba sustained only “a minor injury to his leg”.

According to Mr Hosseini, the strikes targeted multiple locations within the office complex simultaneously and appeared aimed at wiping out the entire Khamenei family.

Mojtaba was selected as supreme leader on March 9.

He has not been seen since the start of the war or since his election. His only message to his people came in the form of a written message read on state television.

Israel’s Defense Minister ‌Israel Katz said on Tuesday that ⁠Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council of Iran, Ali Larijani, had been killed in an ‌Israeli ⁠strike.

Multiple Israeli media outlets also said the ⁠strikes targeted Gholamreza Soleimani, the head of the Basij Resistance Force and other senior Basij figures.

There was no confirmation from ⁠Iran.

Katz said Larijani had been “eliminated” and that he and the Israeli prime minister had instructed the military to “continue hunting down” Iran’s leadership, according to the BBC.

Meanwhile, Iranian state media published a handwritten note by Larijani, though it was not clear whether it was intended as proof of the life of the senior official. Larijani’s note, published on his social media pages, commemorates 84 Iranian sailors, whose funeral is expected on Tuesday, killed in a US attack on their naval ship in international waters, Al Jazeera reported. 

Sri Lanka has declared every Wednesday a holiday for public institutions to conserve fuel as the island nation grapples with possible shortages in the wake of the US and Israel’s war with Iran, BBC reported.

“We must prepare for the worst, but hope for the best,” President Anura Kumara Dissanayake said at an emergency meeting with senior officials on Monday.

Nearly 90% of all the oil and gas flowing through the Strait of Hormuz last year was bound for Asia, which is the world’s largest oil-importing region.

Nacho Sánchez, a Spanish member of the European Parliament, praised the Armenian government’s policy aimed at strengthening ties with the European Union and the approach of Armenian society in that direction.

In an interview with Armenpress in Brussels, Sánchez also addressed the activities of the Democracy Support Group (DEG), recently formed in the European Parliament, and its cooperation with the Armenian parliament.

He also spoke about steps taken by the European Union aimed at securing the release of Armenian prisoners held in Azerbaijan, as well as other related issues.

The interview is presented below:

– Mr. Sanchez, since the creation of the Democracy Support Group (DEG), what concrete work has been carried out, what results have been achieved, and overall how would you assess the group’s activities so far?

We managed the issue in the following way. We decided on four, five, six priority countries, and we decided to include Armenia in the last round. Then, my mission as a lead member in this capacity, when I visited the country in another format, was to use my visit to conduct a parallel agenda with the parliamentary leadership. This is a parliament-to-parliament relationship, and it works on two levels.

At a technical level, meaning whatever the Armenian Parliament needs from a technical point of view — the organization of the registry, IT equipment, these kinds of practical matters — we had a very productive meeting with the Secretary General of the Parliament.

But at the political level, which is the level in which I have to work more deeply, the aim is to try to create the conditions to overcome polarization. I know the country is very polarized, and the Parliament is very polarized. And our duty is to try to create those conditions.

And the way in which we do this part of the role is to gather the leaders of the fractions together. And we did it. They came to the European Parliament a couple of weeks ago, and they had a very, very intensive agenda in which we talked about politics. The first sessions were inevitably shaped by inertia, because the inertia is there. They tried to transfer to the European Union the same quarrels and opinions that they use among themselves, but later they entered into the agenda and were very interested in many practical aspects that we offered them the opportunity to learn from the European Parliament.

When I went to Yerevan, I asked the people: are you ready to engage in this kind of program even before the elections? And everybody said yes, meaning the European Union Ambassador said yes, the leaders of the factions said yes, and then we did it, even though we knew for sure that when elections are approaching, tensions are inevitably higher. But it was good to have the leaders together even before the elections.

–Since Armenia has been included in the DEG, and considering that the European Parliament often maintains representations in countries involved in such frameworks, could the next step be the opening of a European Parliament regional office in Armenia?

-No, we use our embassies, meaning our interlocutor in the field is the ambassador, the European Union ambassador. The European Union ambassador is not only the ambassador of the Commission or the External Service of the Council, he is the ambassador of the European Union. And then we work normally with the embassies, and the ambassador is aware of this new format in our relationship, Parliament to Parliament. And this is the way.

But we are creating a kind of trust and regular contact. And this is good for, let’s say, the European aspirations of Armenia. That is the background over which we created this priority status for Armenia.

–The Euronest Parliamentary Assembly session took place in Yerevan at the end of last year, and this year the first Armenia–EU summit is expected. How do you assess the current dynamics of Armenia–European Union relations and their future prospects?

I think it is very positive because we have been, let’s say, answering a request from the Armenian authorities, and I think from society, to move closer to the European Union. That is for sure. And we appreciate a lot this policy, not only of the government but of society, to move closer to the European Union.

And then we explore every format, meaning visits from commissioners, dealing with connectivity, whatever other part of the agenda, and regarding the Parliament, in what way the European Parliament can help the Armenian Parliament to try to tackle this situation.

Regarding the fact that these activities started before the elections (the parliamentary elections in Armenia on June 7), I would prefer not to have a summit so close to the elections. It is not in my hands to decide, but for sure we have to be careful not to be understood in Armenia as helping one or another contender.

And for sure, to have a summit so close to the election offers a platform for Prime Minister Pashinyan to appear before public opinion in a good light. But it is not within my capacity to decide what the agenda of the Commission should be, and they decided to do it in May. I only warn everyone to be careful not to become involved in the domestic arena.

 – Mr. Sánchez, ahead of the upcoming elections in Armenia, have you received an invitation to send election observers? If so, should we expect a large delegation from the European Parliament?

I don’t know. We have to decide. There is a system to decide, rotating among political groups and others. I can imagine there is going to be a lot of interest from my colleagues, but I’m not sure whether we have formally received the invitation. But for sure, the invitation is going to be there. Armenia is not only a priority country, but it is one of the countries for which we are preparing a mission if we are invited. But I’m not sure whether, at the current moment, we have received the invitation.

-Numerous resolutions have been adopted on different platforms calling for the immediate release of Armenian prisoners unlawfully held in Baku. What concrete steps have been taken in this regard, including by the leadership of this structure? Are you satisfied with the response of the EU’s executive institutions, or do you believe the measures taken so far are still insufficient?

Well, the members of the European Parliament who are more committed to the country, such as myself, Nathalie Loiseau, and other colleagues, are always raising the issue. But we have to put pressure on the mediator who offered services, the United States, meaning that in the last August agreement or statement, it was clearly stated that the United States was taking care of this.

I know there are contacts, but we want these contacts to be fruitful and to bring these persons back home to Armenia because, listen, this is a military court. And they say, no, it is not a military procedure, but it is a military court. It is not the usual setting.

And then I read the indictment carefully. And the indictment concerns the war. And there are accusations that are astonishing, meaning: you dug trenches. Of course, you dug trenches, because there was a war situation.

And then I think it has to be assessed in that context. If we want to finish the logic of war, and finally have this de facto peace situation, and maybe in the future a peace treaty, it is senseless to keep these people in prison because of what they did during the war, because it was a war.

And then I think that at a certain moment in the process, I hope they are going to be released because of the pressure from the United States, because of the pressure from the European Union, and because the logic of the process demands closing the chapter of the war.

-The war atmosphere and the tension in South Caucasus continues with Iran. Your country, Spain, is among the few countries that, amid tensions surrounding Iran, continues to insist that the diplomacy should remain the only effective tool and opposes large-scale military scenarios. In this context, how do you comment Donald Trump’s threats to limit trade relations with Spain? What’s your stance about that? 

Yeah, it is a little bit astonishing that the statements of the Spanish Prime Minister, Mr. Sánchez, are considered something extraordinary. Because the usual thing we have always said is that when there is a violation of international law, we talk about the violation of international law. We talked about Georgia, we talked about Crimea, we talk about Ukraine, in Donbas, we talk about Gaza. And now, why should we change the idea?

It is not because the world changed, as Ursula von der Leyen (President of the European Commission)  said. It is because there is a new administration in America. It is not the world that changed. It is the American administration.

Then we have to stand for our role in the world, as has been underlined today by António Costa (President of the European Council). It is not to abandon the rules-based international order. On the contrary, it is to try to sustain the international rules-based order until this period in the United States passes.

-And last but not least, one of the key issues in the Armenia–Turkey normalization process is the opening of the border, yet there has been no tangible progress so far. In your view, where does the main obstacle lie?

Well, I am a little bit tired of these successive announcements of reopening, reopening for third-country nationals, and so on. I am just tired. The problem is that Turkey decided to externalize its foreign policy to Azerbaijan. To me, it is astonishing that a medium regional power, or an important regional power like Turkey, decided that this part of its foreign policy is not under its own control — that the owner is Baku.

To me, it is quite strange to understand that Turkey, bragging about its powerful position, is surrendering part of its foreign policy to another neighbor, even if I understand the closeness, one nation, two states, that kind of narrative.

But you appear to be in a position of not being able to deliver on your commitments regarding the opening of the border because you decided to delegate this part of your policy to a third country. This is a big question, and this is the big problem.

I do not understand it, I do not share it, and I would like Turkey to really deliver on these successive, tiring commitments about the reopening.

EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice-President of the European Commission Kaja Kallas has reaffirmed that the EU will send a Hybrid Rapid Response Team to Armenia to help counter threats ahead of the country’s June 7 elections. 

“Following the request from Armenia, the EU will deploy a Hybrid Rapid Response Team to help counter the threats ahead of the country’s elections. Supporting democratic resilience in our neighbourhood remains essential. We will not leave Armenia to face foreign interference alone. Democracies under pressure can count on Europe,” Kallas said at a press conference after the Foreign Affairs Council meeting. 

In December 2025, Kallas said that Armenia had requested the EU’s assistance in combating ‘malign influence’ ahead of the 2026 general elections.

Armenia’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ararat Mirzoyan, is conducting a working visit to the Sultanate of Oman from March 17 to 19. 

According to a press release issued by the foreign ministry, a meeting is scheduled with Oman’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Sayyid Badr bin Hamad bin Hamood Albusaidi. The official opening ceremony of the resident Embassy of the Republic of Armenia in Muscat, the capital of Oman, will take place during the visit. A gathering of ambassadors accredited to Arab countries is also planned.