Loud blast heard near US embassy in Oslo, no injuries reported: report

BEIRUT, March 8 (Xinhua) - Lebanon's health ministry said an Israeli strike on a hotel in central Beirut killed at least four people and wounded 10 others, media reports said on Sunday.

TEHRAN, March 7 (Xinhua) -- A senior Iranian official said Saturday that Iran has not and will not attack those regional countries that do not put their airspace, land and facilities at the disposal of the enemies.Abolfazl Shekarchi, a spokesman for Iran's armed forces, made the remarks in a live interview with state-run IRIB TV while pointing to remarks earlier in the day by Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, who said the interim leadership council had decided to stop attacks by the country on neighbors unless it is targeted from those states.Shekarchi said from the first day of the U.S. and Israeli attacks, Iran's armed forces have considered any origin of attacks against the country as legitimate targets and taken the necessary actions.Shekarchi said that so far, those countries that have not put their airspace, land and facilities at the U.S. disposal for aggression against Iran have not been targeted. However, any state that provides the United States and Israel with space or a place to be used for action against us, that space and place will naturally be among our targets.He emphasized that as Pezeshkian said, Iran respects countries' national sovereignty and attaches great importance to all Muslim states' security, underlining that Iran has not and will not back down in the face of the United States and Israel, and will continue dealing crushing blows to them as before.Also on Saturday, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei, in a post on social media platform X, called on the United Nations to bear its legal and moral responsibilities regarding the illegal war on the country.The United States and Israel launched massive attacks on Iran on Feb. 28, killing Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, multiple senior military commanders and hundreds of civilians. Iran has responded with multiple waves of missile and drone attacks targeting Israel and U.S. assets across the region.

ABU DHABI, March 7 (Xinhua) -- Three foreign nationals of Pakistan, Nepal and Bangladesh have been killed and 112 residents of multiple nationalities have suffered minor injuries in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) amid the recent escalating regional tensions, the UAE's Defense Ministry said Saturday.Since the start of what the ministry described as Iranian attacks, the UAE's air defense systems have detected 221 ballistic missiles, 1,305 drones, and eight cruise missiles, the ministry said in a statement.It said the air defense systems intercepted 15 ballistic missiles and 119 drones launched toward the country on Saturday alone.Meanwhile, local media reports, citing the UAE's Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation, said that the country's private sector, including key activities such as service delivery, project implementation, facility construction, supply chain maintenance and technological development, continues to operate at full capacity despite the current regional situation.Still, the ministry encouraged companies to adopt remote work where possible and to avoid having workers present in open outdoor areas except for essential tasks, while urging employers to follow updates from official sources, according to the reports.The development came amid heightened regional tensions following joint U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran starting on Feb. 28, to which Iran responded with missile and drone attacks on Israel and U.S. assets across the Middle East.

TEHRAN, March 7 (Xinhua) -- Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) hit an oil tanker in the Strait of Hormuz on Saturday morning, the official news agency IRNA reported.The report said the violating oil tanker, sailing under the commercial name Prima, was struck by a drone after it failed to pay attention to frequent warnings issued by the IRGC's Navy about the prohibition of movement across the Strait of Hormuz due to security reasons.The report quoted the IRGC as saying that the strategic Strait of Hormuz has been under control for eight days since the beginning of the U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran and the killing of Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, and oil tankers and commercial vessels allied with the hostile states are not allowed to pass through it.Iran's state TV quoted a military source as saying on Friday that the Strait of Hormuz remained open, but warned that any vessels belonging to the United States or Israel would be considered military targets.The United States and Israel launched massive attacks on Iran on Feb. 28, killing Khamenei, multiple senior military commanders and hundreds of civilians. Iran has responded with multiple waves of missile and drone attacks targeting Israel and U.S. assets across the region.

Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said it carried out strikes on the U.S. Al Dhafra Air Base in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on Saturday morning, according to local media reports.