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One of Iran\u2019s top football players has been expelled from the national team for a perceived act of disloyalty to the government, according to Iranian media.<\/p>\n
Sardar Azmoun is said to have upset authorities this week by posting a picture on social media of a meeting with Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, ruler of Dubai.<\/p>\n
A report on the Fars News Agency, which has links to Iran\u2019s hardline Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, cited \u201can informed source within the national team\u201d as saying that Azmoun, 31, had been expelled from the squad.<\/p>\n
The country\u2019s women\u2019s football team returned to Iran earlier this week<\/a>. While seven members of the delegation had sought asylum in Australia last week, five later changed their minds, including captain Zahra Ghanbari.<\/p>\n Share<\/a>Israel launches fresh wave of strikes on Tehran<\/p>\n Israel says it has launched more strikes on the Iranian capital.<\/p>\n In a brief statement on X, the Israel Defense Forces said: \u201cThe IDF has now begun a wave of strikes targeting infrastructure of the Iranian terror regime in the heart of Tehran.\u201d<\/p>\n Activists reported hearing strikes across the city, the AP reports.<\/p>\n Share<\/a>UAE, Kuwait authorities say responding to missile attacks<\/p>\n Emirati and Kuwaiti air defences were responding to missile attacks early on Friday, Kuwait\u2019s army and the UAE\u2019s interior ministry said in separate statements.<\/p>\n Elsewhere in the Gulf, Bahrain\u2019s interior ministry said air raid sirens were activated, and Saudi Arabia\u2019s defence ministry said it had intercepted a drone in the country\u2019s east.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a022.36 EDT<\/p>\n Welcome summary<\/p>\n Hello and welcome to our continuing live coverage of the US-Israel war on Iran<\/a> and the effect the conflict is having on the region, the world and the global economy.<\/p>\n Benjamin Netanyahu has hinted at a possible \u201cground component\u201d to the US-Israel warn on Iran \u2013 while Donald Trump suggested the US had no plans to put boots on the ground.<\/p>\n \u201cYou don\u2019t want to replace one ayatollah with another,\u201d the Israeli prime minister said on Thursday, adding that the Iranian regime was unlikely to be overthrown \u200busing air strikes alone.<\/p>\n It is \u201coften said\u201d that you can\u2019t \u201cdo revolutions from the air\u201d, Netanyahu told a press conference. \u201cThere has to be a ground component as well. There are many possibilities for this ground component and I take the liberty of not sharing [those] with you.\u201d<\/p>\n Trump, meanwhile, claimed he had no plans for the US to engage in such an operation. \u201cI\u2019m not putting troops anywhere,\u201d he told a reporter, when asked about using ground troops. But he added: \u201cIf I were, I certainly wouldn\u2019t tell you.\u201d<\/p>\n The president also confirmed that the Pentagon has asked Congress to approve a further $200bn to fund the war.<\/p>\n Some 65% of Americans believe Trump will order troops into a large-scale ground war in Iran<\/a>, according to a new Reuters\/Ipsos poll, but just 7% support that idea.<\/p>\n In other developments:<\/p>\n Benjamin Netanyahu denied that Donald Trump was \u201cdragged\u201d into the war by Israel, as he tried to pour cold water on suggestions that Israel influenced the US\u2019s decision to attack Iran and amid growing signs <\/a>that the US and Israel are not aligned on their war aims. \u201cDoes anyone really think that someone can tell President Trump what to do,\u201d the Israeli prime minister said, adding: \u201cI misled no one.\u201d<\/p>\n Netanyahu also stated that Israel \u201cacted alone\u201d in striking Iran\u2019s South Pars gasfield, though he didn\u2019t address whether or not he had told Trump about the attack beforehand. \u201cPresident Trump asked us to hold off on future attacks, and we\u2019re holding out,\u201d he added. Trump has distanced himself<\/a> from Israel\u2019s attack on the world\u2019s largest gasfield<\/a> (which he claimed on Wednesday that Washington \u201cknew nothing\u201d about), and confirmed today that he told Netanyahu to stop attacking Iran\u2019s energy facilities.<\/p>\n Netanyahu also claimed that Iran has \u201cno ability to enrich uranium at the moment and no capability of manufacturing ballistic missiles\u201d. He said that the war would take \u201cas long as is necessary\u201d, adding: \u201cWe will crush them entirely, all those capabilities.\u201d<\/p>\n Iranian attacks on Ras Laffan Industrial City in Qatar have reduced the country\u2019s liquefied natural gas (LNG) export capacity by 17%, according to QatarEnergy, the state-run energy giant. The \u201cextensive damage\u201d could reduce its annual revenues by $20bn and take \u201cup to five years\u201d to repair, Saad al-Kaabi, the Qatari energy minister and CEO of QatarEnergy, said in a statement.<\/p>\n US Central Command said that it has destroyed the Iranian regime\u2019s surface-to-surface missile plant in Karaj. The plant was used to \u201cassemble ballistic missiles that threatened Americans, neighboring countries, and commercial shipping,\u201d Centcom said<\/a>.<\/p>\n France will double its humanitarian aid to Lebanon to the value of \u20ac17m ($19.7m), foreign minister Jean-Noel Barrot said, as Lebanon<\/a> grapples with Israel\u2019s latest military assault. Israeli strikes on Beirut and its ground invasion of southern Lebanon have killed over 1,000 people, including 118 children, and wounded more than 2,500 since Tel Aviv\u2019s renewed offensive on 2 March. More than one million \u2013 roughly one in five \u2013 of the population have been displaced.<\/p>\n An Iranian missile attack hit Israel\u2019s oil refineries in the northern port city of Haifa but did not cause \u201csignificant damage\u201c, Israel\u2019s energy ministry said. Energy minister Eli Cohen said power was briefly disrupted, with electricity restored to most of those who were affected, Reuters reported.<\/p>\n