Austria has rejected "several" requests from the United States to use its airspace for military operations against Iran, the Austrian news agency APA reported on Thursday.

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is ready to participate in any measures to secure navigation in the Strait of Hormuz amid ongoing regional tensions, a senior UAE official said Thursday.

TEHRAN, April 2 (Xinhua) -- Iran's main military command, Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters, said on Thursday the war will continue until the enemies surrender, according to the semi-official Fars news agency.The headquarters spokesman Ebrahim Zolfaghari warned of more crushing, expanded and devastating actions in response to the U.S. and Israeli attacks.Zolfaghari accused the United States and Israel of possessing incomplete intelligence on Iran's military power and capabilities, stressing, You know nothing of our very expanded and strategic capacities.He added that the enemies do not have any information of and would never be able to target Iran's strategic military production sites and must pay the price for their aggression.Echoing the sentiment, Iran's Defense Ministry spokesman Reza Talaei-Nik said on Thursday that the enemy has failed to divide (Iran), topple the establishment, weaken the Iranian armed forces, sow discord in the country's national sovereignty, incite internal unrest, open the Strait of Hormuz and make the people abandon their resistance and defense.Talaei-Nik vowed that Iranian forces, people, and the resistance front will continue punishing enemies until they secure reparations, destroy U.S. military bases in West Asia, force American troops to flee, achieve full surrender, and receive guarantees that wars will not be repeated against Iran.On Feb. 28, Israel and the United States launched joint attacks on Tehran and several other Iranian cities, killing Iran's then Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, along with senior military commanders and civilians. Iran responded with waves of missile and drone strikes targeting Israel and U.S. assets in the Middle East, while tightening control over the Strait of Hormuz by restricting passage by vessels belonging to or affiliated with Israel and the United States. ■

TEHRAN, April 2 (Xinhua) -- Iran on Thursday executed a man convicted of setting a military center in the capital Tehran on fire during recent unrest, the Mizan news agency of the Iranian judiciary reported.The report identified the convict as Amir-Hossein Hatami, saying he was among the enemy's terrorist elements in the January riots, who, along with others, attempted to break into a classified military center, destroy it, and seize weapons stored inside.It said that Hatami had confessed to seeking to topple the establishment by taking part in the riots and targeting the military center to find weapons and ammunition.His death sentence was upheld by the Supreme Court of Iran following judicial proceedings, the report added.Protests erupted in dozens of Iranian cities in late December 2025 following a sharp depreciation of the rial. Authorities have expressed their willingness to address economic grievances but have also warned against violence, vandalism, and unrest.The demonstrations began peacefully but later turned violent, causing casualties and widespread damage to public property, mosques, government buildings, and banks. Iranian officials have blamed the violence on the United States and Israel.

JERUSALEM, April 2 (Xinhua) -- The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said on Thursday that it killed over 40 Hezbollah militants in air, sea, and ground strikes in southern Lebanon over the past day.It also struck dozens of terror infrastructure sites, according to a statement by the military.Targets hit by the Israeli air force included dozens of headquarters, weapons storage facilities, launch sites, and anti-tank missile positions.The Israeli navy conducted a precise strike targeting a Hezbollah weapons storage facility.During ground operations, troops eliminated a Hezbollah militant cell and struck three armed militants on motorcycles, the IDF said.It added that Israeli soldiers also dismantled dozens of infrastructure sites, including observation posts, anti-tank missile launch positions, underground hideouts, and weapons storage facilities, seizing a large quantity of weapons.

Commander of the Fatehin unit of Iran's Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC) Mohammad-Ali Fathalizadeh was killed on Wednesday in the ongoing war with the United States and Israel, Iran's Defa Press news agency, a news outlet affiliated with the General Staff of Iran's Armed Forces, reported on