Several US aircraft were shot down or damaged and crews injured on Friday in one of the worst days for the US military in the war with Iran, with search operations ongoing for a missing US aviator in southwestern Iran.
Amnesty International said on Thursday that Iran’s recruitment of children as young as 12 for roles linked to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps amounts to a war crime.
Residents told Iran International that severe shortages and soaring prices for key medicines, including insulin and blood thinners, have persisted over the past month, with some insulin brands reaching seventy million rials (≈$46.7).
Argentina has designated Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps a terrorist organization, broadening a years-long effort by Buenos Aires to hold Tehran and its proxies responsible for the deadliest attacks in the country’s history.
The death of 11-year-old Alireza Jafari, the first known child recruit killed during the Iran war, underscores what rights advocates describe as a governing doctrine that places regime survival above civilian protection amid mounting wartime pressure.
A leaked internal directive from the IRGC’s missile command appears to show that the use of civilian locations to conceal, support and in some cases facilitate missile launch operations is not ad hoc, but structured, documented and built into operational planning.
Iran’s security and military forces moved personnel, weapons and equipment into at least 70 civilian sites during the US-Israeli airstrikes, an Iran International investigation found, exposing what appears to be a nationwide pattern of using public spaces for military purposes.
Serious disagreements have emerged between Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian and IRGC chief-commander Ahmad Vahidi over how to manage the war and its damaging impact on people’s livelihoods and the economy, sources with knowledge of the matter told Iran International.
Iran’s recent attempted strike on a joint UK–US military base in the Indian Ocean, some 4,000 km from its territory, marks more than an escalation — it is a wake-up call for the West, experts told Iran International.
An official from Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said the minimum age for participation in war-related support roles has been lowered to 12, according to remarks aired on state media.
Residents across Iran report a surge in security measures, nighttime patrols and pro-government rallies that they say are creating an atmosphere of fear and intimidation during the ongoing war, according to messages sent to Iran International.
North Koreans are increasingly worried about the possibility of overseas troop deployments as the Iran war intensifies, with rumors of involvement spreading in border regions and among families of military-age men, according to reports from North Korea.
Iran has received a US 15-point proposal via Pakistan aimed at opening a path toward a ceasefire, a senior Iranian source told Reuters on Wednesday, though the venue for any talks was still under discussion and Tehran publicly denied that negotiations with Washington had begun.
Reports that the United States is considering Iran’s parliament speaker as a potential negotiating channel, alongside a proposal for high-level talks, have brought into focus a deeper question: is Washington probing who truly holds power inside Iran?
In history, authoritarian systems usually fall twice: first psychologically, when fear breaks; then politically, when the men with guns hesitate. Iran’s recent shocks look less like a single crisis than a classic collapse sequence unfolding at speed.
Ambiguous reports of contacts between US and Iranian officials may reflect a tactical effort to calm markets, shape global opinion and deepen uncertainty inside a state already gripped by paranoia, analysts and former US officials told Iran International.
Russia and China expressed concern on Monday over restrictions in the Strait of Hormuz and warned that further escalation could widen the conflict and disrupt global energy supplies.
The commander of US Central Command said Iran has increasingly targeted civilian sites across the Middle East out of "desperation" as its military capabilities deteriorate in the third week of the war.
Tehran signalled on Sunday that it would not back down after President Donald Trump threatened to strike Iran’s electricity grid within 48 hours, warning that it would retaliate by targeting regional infrastructure if such an attack takes place.
A warning by US President Donald Trump that Iran’s power plants could be targeted if disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz continue has drawn attention to a key question: how vulnerable is Iran’s electricity network?
Revolutionary Guard Aerospace Force commander Majid Mousavi has come under criticism from senior IRGC officials for being absent during ongoing clashes and leaving his forces without leadership, sources with knowledge of the matter told Iran International.
A meeting of senior Iranian officials that was hit by an Israeli airstrike on February 28 may have been linked to the Islamic Republic’s final deliberations over building a nuclear weapon.