Democracy Dies with Dictatorship
NY Times
Mar 29, 2026
Iran War Live Updates: Israel Strikes Tehran as Regional Diplomats Gather in Pakistan for Talks
Israel said it launched a wave of strikes targeting infrastructure in Tehran and other areas, and Iran retaliated. Officials from Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Turkey were meeting in Pakistan in hopes of finding a way to end the war.
Updated
March 29, 2026, 7:22 a.m. ET9 minutes ago
Aaron Boxerman and Sanam Mahoozi
Here's the latest
Israel bombarded Iran with an intense wave of airstrikes on Sunday, and Iran responded by firing ballistic missiles at Israel, even as Middle East diplomats gathered in Pakistan in hopes of finding a way to end the war.
The Trump administration has sent Iran a 15-point plan to end the conflict, delivered via Pakistani mediators. Iranian officials publicly rebuffed the offer. Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, the Iranian parliamentary speaker, accused President Trump on Sunday of engaging in a front of diplomacy while “secretly planning a ground invasion.”
On Sunday, foreign ministers from Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Turkey convened in the Pakistani capital, Islamabad, for further discussions. But there was little sign that U.S. or Iranian officials would show up.
Also on Sunday, Iran shot drones and missiles at Israel and at U.S. allies across the Persian Gulf, setting off air-raid alerts in parts of the region.
Residents in Tehran, the Iranian capital, reported some of the heaviest airstrikes over the weekend since the bombing campaign began on Feb. 28. Israel’s military said it was attacking weapons production sites and air-defense systems, among other targets.
Israeli and American attacks have yet to compel Iran to accept U.S. terms for a diplomatic settlement or to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, a crucial oil shipping route. Iranian forces have successfully blockaded the waterway — through which about one-fifth of the world’s oil transits — sending the price of oil soaring by more than 50 percent since last month.
That leaves Mr. Trump, for now, with several options to escalate, each of which could have far-reaching consequences, analysts say. He could carry out his ultimatum to bombard Iranian power plants unless Iran opens the Strait of Hormuz by April 6. But such an attack could potentially affect millions of Iranian civilians and constitute a war crime under the Geneva Conventions.
Another option would be to launch a risky ground assault to seize Iran’s enriched uranium, which U.S. officials say could one day be used in a nuclear weapon. On Saturday, an expeditionary force of 2,500 U.S. Marines arrived in the Middle East, attached to a group of ships equipped for amphibious assault.
Iran and its allies have also been escalating their attacks.
The Houthis, an Iran-allied rebel group in Yemen, joined the widening war on Saturday with an unsuccessful missile attack on Israel. The Houthis could further ensnarl global shipping, already under stress by the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, by threatening vessels passing through the nearby Red Sea.
During the war in Gaza, the Houthis disrupted international shipping by menacing vessels in the Red Sea. Yahya Saree, a Houthi military spokesman, said that the latest attacks from Yemen would continue “until the aggression ends.”
Here’s what else we’re covering:
Lebanese journalists killed: Crowds of mourners gathered in Beirut on Sunday for the funeral of three Lebanese journalists killed in an Israeli airstrike. They were Ali Choeib, a well-known television presenter for the Hezbollah-owned Al Manar channel; Fatima Ftouni, who worked for Al-Mayadeen, another channel close to Hezbollah; and her brother, Mohammad Ftouni, also a journalist. The Israeli military said Mr. Choeib was a member of Hezbollah’s armed wing. It declined to comment on the killing of the other two journalists.
Iran: A human rights monitoring group said the number of attacks recorded on Saturday in Iran was among the highest for a single day since the start of the war on Feb. 28. The group, Human Rights Activists News Agency, or HRANA, said it had documented 701 strikes over 24 hours, resulting in at least 24 civilians being killed and 88 injured. Three-quarters of the airstrikes hit in the capital, Tehran, the group said. Since the start of the conflict, HRANA has recorded at least 1,551 civilian deaths, including 236 children.
Shipping: Pakistan’s deputy prime minister said on Saturday that Iran had agreed to let 20 vessels sailing under the Pakistani flag through the Strait of Hormuz. Two ships will cross per day, Ishaq Dar said in a statement on social media. “This is a welcome and constructive gesture by Iran and deserves appreciation,” he said. There was no immediate confirmation from Iran.
Americans injured: A U.S. official said on Saturday that about two dozen U.S. service members had been wounded in an earlier Iranian strike on a military base in Saudi Arabia. The attack on the Prince Sultan Air Base seriously injured two of the soldiers and damaged two military planes, according to U.S. officials. It was one of the most serious breaches of U.S. defenses since the war began in late February.
March 29, 2026, 6:54 a.m. ET40 minutes ago
Reporting from Jerusalem
Iran has been firing ballistic missiles at Israel at a steady pace all day. At least six barrages have been shot at the country since midnight, without causing casualties. Many of the Iranian attacks have been intercepted by Israeli defenses, although a few have slipped through since the war began on 28 Feb., killing at least 16 people so far. But the constant air-raid sirens and the threat of further attacks has kept many schools and businesses shuttered in Israel for about a month of war.
March 29, 2026, 6:39 a.m. ET55 minutes ago
Isabel Kershner and Sanam Mahoozi
An Iranian official on Sunday underscored the leadership’s public messaging that American efforts at diplomacy cannot be trusted, even as officials from Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Turkey were gathering in Pakistan in hopes of finding a way to end to the war. “At one moment he speaks of negotiations, and just hours later, he decides to pursue war,” Ebrahim Zolfaghari, spokesman of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, said of President Trump in a statement.
March 29, 2026, 6:16 a.m. ET1 hour ago
Sanam Mahoozi
Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, the Speaker of Iran’s parliament, on Sunday accused the United States of engaging in a front of diplomacy while “secretly planning a ground invasion.” An expeditionary force of 2,500 U.S. Marines arrived in the Middle East on Saturday, marking a new escalation in the conflict.
In a defiant statement carried by state media marking the 30th day of the war, Ghalibaf said Iran’s forces were “waiting for American soldiers to enter on the ground so they can set them on fire.”
Ghalibaf described the American 15-point plan to end the war as an attempt to achieve by diplomacy what the United States “failed to achieve in war.” He said that Iran would not accept “humiliation” or surrender, adding, “We are certain we can punish America and make it regret ever considering an attack on Iran.”
March 29, 2026, 5:22 a.m. ET2 hours ago
Reporting from Beirut, Lebanon
Ali Choeib, a correspondent for Al-Manar, a Lebanese television network affiliated with the Iran-backed Lebanese militant group, Hezbollah, is one of three journalists being buried in southern Beirut today. Fatima Ftouni was a correspondent with Al-Mayadeen, another Lebanese broadcaster whose editorial line typically aligns with the group, and Mohammad Ftouni, a cameraman with the same channel. The three were traveling in a car near the southern town of Jezzine when they were hit by an Israeli strike. Although Hezbollah is an armed group, it also functions as a political party, and human rights advocates say that expressing support for it does not make someone a lawful target.
March 29, 2026, 5:22 a.m. ET2 hours ago
Reporting from Jerusalem
Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani, an Israeli military spokesman, said on Sunday that Choeib had been officially recruited by Hezbollah’s military wing in 2020. The Israeli military issued a photograph of Choeib in uniform. Colonel Shoshani declined to comment on the killing of the other two journalists.
March 29, 2026, 4:38 a.m. ET3 hours ago
Reporting from Beirut, Lebanon
The bodies of three Lebanese journalists killed in Israeli airstrikes on Saturday in southern Lebanon arrived at a cemetery on the southern outskirts of Beirut. Hundreds of mourners — including family, friends and fellow journalists, mostly wearing black — gathered for the ceremony. Wails and ululations rose as rain lashed the city.
March 29, 2026, 4:37 a.m. ET3 hours ago
Sanam Mahoozi
Iran’s internet blackout has now continued for 30 days, cutting the vast majority of the country’s roughly 92 million people off from the outside world through four weeks of war, according to NetBlocks, an independent, London-based group that monitors internet censorship. The group said on Sunday that connectivity in Iran remained at just 1 percent of ordinary levels.
March 29, 2026, 4:09 a.m. ET3 hours ago
Iran correspondent
Martje van Raamsdonk, the Iran country director for the Norwegian Refugee Council, a humanitarian group, said in a phone interview from Tehran on Sunday morning that there were intense airstrikes in the country on Saturday.
“On Saturday early morning we had attacks very close by at 1 a.m., then again at 3 a.m.” local time, she said. There were more strikes on Saturday evening around 10 p.m., she said. “Those I can speak from personal experience. They feel so close by.”
The NRC, one of the few international aid organizations operating in Iran, has historically focused on serving Afghan refugees there, though it is now ramping up its services to Iranians affected by the war. Though millions of people have fled Tehran and other major urban areas in search of safety, van Raamsdonk said, “actually nowhere seems to be safe.”
March 29, 2026, 4:08 a.m. ET3 hours ago
Reham Mourshed
Reporting from Damascus, Syria
Saudi Arabia’s ministry of defense said on Sunday morning that the country had intercepted and destroyed 10 drones in the previous few hours.
March 29, 2026, 3:43 a.m. ET4 hours ago
Reporting from Jerusalem
Iranian state media reported that the U.S.-Israeli coalition bombarded the southern Iranian port of Bandar Khamir on Sunday, killing at least five people. There was no immediate comment from either the Israeli or American militaries.
March 29, 2026, 3:18 a.m. ET4 hours ago
Sanam Mahoozi
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps threatened to respond to the bombing of the Iran University of Science and Technology in downtown Tehran overnight by attacking Israeli and American colleges in the Middle East.
According to Iranian state media, several research and educational buildings were damaged at the university.
Some of the United States’ Persian Gulf allies host branches of American colleges. In the previous war between Israel and Iran last June, at least one Israeli university was badly damaged in an Iranian missile attack.
March 29, 2026, 1:55 a.m. ET6 hours ago
The Israeli Air Force said on Sunday that it had carried out another wave of strikes targeting infrastructure in Tehran and other areas of Iran.
Earlier Sunday, the Israeli military said it also struck the Iranian capital the previous day. The Israeli military said it targeted weapons storage and production sites, temporary command centers, air defense systems and observation posts used by the Iranian regime. The capital sustained one of the heaviest days of bombardment since the war began a month ago, according to the Human Rights Activists News Agency.
March 29, 2026, 1:49 a.m. ET6 hours ago
Delegations have begun arriving at Pakistan’s Foreign Office in Islamabad for two days of talks among the foreign ministers of Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Egypt. Turkey and Egypt’s top diplomats are in the capital, with Saudi Arabia’s expected by midday local time.
The talks are part of Pakistan’s latest effort to mediate the war in the Middle East, with the foreign ministers scheduled to meet with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif of Pakistan.