United States | Pakistan

Iran is fighting a “full-scale war” with the United States, its president said on Monday, as Washington expanded its strikes across the Islamic republic including a city hosting a nuclear power plant. Iran kept up its own attacks across the region in response, with its Revolutionary Guards announcing they had hit targets in Bahrain, Jordan and Syria, while Bahrain said Tehran had targeted its air navigation systems. “The reality is that today the Islamic Republic of Iran is engaged in a full-scale war,” said President Masoud Pezeshkian, according to a presidency statement. He added that “we must be realistic and accept the natural consequences of this resistance”. His comments came after state media and local authorities reported US strikes on Monday in the north and centre of the country, further than areas near the blockaded Strait of Hormuz waterway through which a fifth of world oil supplies transited prior to the war. The Middle East war resumed after a weeks-long lull prompted by an agreement signed in ...

The United States on Friday approved multibillion-dollar weapons sales to both Saudi Arabia and Israel, at a point of high tensions with Iran. The State Department said it green-lighted a $3.8-billion sale of 30 Apache attack helicopters to Israel, which has agreed to a fragile ceasefire in Gaza. “The United States is committed to the security of Israel, and it is vital to US national interests to assist Israel to develop and maintain a strong and ready self-defense capability,” the State Department said in a statement. “This proposed sale is consistent with those objectives,” it said. Also in the package was a $1.8 billion sale of joint light tactical vehicles. The United States sends billions of dollars worth of military supplies per year to Israel, largely in aid rather than sales. Israel and Hamas reached a US-backed ceasefire in October that largely paused two years of war. Tensions are high elsewhere in the region as the United States deploys a major military contingent in waters near Iran. The State De...

Deputy Prime Minister Mohammad Ishaq Dar will visit the United States next week to attend the high-level signature events of Pakistan’s UN Security Council (UNSC) Presidency in New York, as well as for certain engagements in Washington.