Saudi Arabia expels Iranian defense staff over attacks

Britain said on Saturday its Royal Air Force Akrotiri airbase in Cyprus will not be used under its agreement allowing the United States to launch strikes on Iranian missile sites from UK bases, after Prime Minister Keir Starmer assured Cyprus that its security was “fundamental” to London, Reuters reported.

The UK has instead authorized the use of RAF Fairford in England and the Diego Garcia base, while stressing it will not take part in offensive operations and does not want to be drawn into a wider conflict with Iran.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Saturday Israel will continue hitting its enemies “on all fronts” after what he calls a “very difficult evening,” following the Iranian missile strike on Dimona.

"I strengthen the emergency and rescue forces operating in the field right now, and I call on everyone to heed the instructions of the Home Front Command," he posted on X. "We are determined to continue to strike our enemies on all fronts."

Saudi Arabia’s foreign ministry said it has declared the Iranian embassy’s military attaché, his deputy, and three diplomats persona non grata, giving them 24 hours to leave the country.

"The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has notified the Military Attaché at the Embassy, the Assistant Military Attaché, and three members of the Mission's staff to leave the Kingdom as persona non grata, and that they must leave the Kingdom within 24 hours," it said in a statement.

"Iran's continued aggression means further escalation and will have a significant impact on relations now and in the future," the statement said.

The head of a Tehran rehabilitation center for orphaned girls with disabilities was arrested after objecting to a demand by IRGC forces to house 50 of their personnel at the facility, informed sources told Iran International.

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps forces sought to take over part of the Hamdaman rehabilitation institute. The head of the center objected to the request but was assaulted by the officers and subsequently detained, the sources said.

The director's whereabouts and condition remain unknown.

In January, a video of an Iranian father’s agonized search among the corpses of slain protesters in a Tehran morgue, looking for his son Sepehr, seared viewers with the enormity of the state’s mass killings.

Now, HRANA reports that the father, Esmail Shokri was violently arrested on Saturday night while visiting his son’s grave in Tehran’s Behesht-e Zahra cemetery and taken to an undisclosed location.

Read more about Sepehr Shokri's story