United News of Bangladesh

Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir has called for the execution of Palestinian prisoners by hanging, pledging to do everything within his authority to ensure they are executed "one by one". Speaking with former Israeli captive Rom Braslavski, Ben-Gvir said that hanging would be the primary method of execution under the death penalty legislation he has been actively promoting. Israel claims to have killed senior Hezbollah commander in Lebanon "I will do the impossible when the time comes," the minister remarked during the conversation. "I promise you that I will do everything in my power and turn the world upside down to make this happen". In addition to his comments on the death penalty, Ben-Gvir expressed satisfaction regarding the harsher conditions Palestinian prisoners are currently facing within the Israeli penal system. The statement follows legislative action taken by Israel’s parliament on March 30, 2026, which imposed the death penalty by hanging for Palestinians convicted of killing Israelis. The law applies in cases where a military court determines the act was "terrorism" or was driven by a "denial of the existence of the State of Israel". With inputs from Al Jazeera

The Israeli military on Sunday claimed it has killed Abu Hassan Alaa, a senior commander of Hezbollah’s “Badder Unit,” during an operation in southern Lebanon. In a statement posted on X, the military accused Alaa of coordinating attacks against Israeli troops, specifically citing his involvement in the launch of explosive drones targeting soldiers in southern Lebanon. The strike was carried out in response to Hezbollah’s recent actions against Israeli personnel within the designated “Security Zone”, Israeli military said. Iran says Qatar holding 3 missing pilots; Israeli strikes kill 11 in Lebanon This claim follows reports from just hours earlier in which Israel said it had killed another Hezbollah commander, Ali Samir al-Haj Hassan, in a strike on the southern village of Ansar. Local reports indicated that at least seven people, including two women and three children, were killed during that specific strike in Ansar. With inputs from Al Jazeera

Iran said Saturday that Qatar is holding three of its pilots who went missing after their aircraft were shot down in March, a claim Doha rejected, as Israeli airstrikes in southern Lebanon killed at least 11 people amid rising tensions across the Middle East. Iran’s Missing Persons Committee of the Armed Forces General Staff said Qatar’s military captured the three pilots after their jets were downed. Tehran had previously said it had no information about the pilots’ fate. Iran also alleged that Qatar had prevented the pilots from meeting or communicating with their families and Iranian officials. It appealed to the president of the International Committee of the Red Cross for assistance. Qatar denied the allegation. Foreign Ministry spokesperson Majed Al Ansari said the pilots’ aircraft had been shot down and that Qatari search teams had recovered the remains of one of them. He said Iran had been invited in April to inspect the search efforts but did not respond. Iran said a fourth pilot was killed during a mission targeting a military base in Qatar, according to Iranian state media. Meanwhile, an oil tanker operated by Abu Dhabi’s state-owned oil and gas company ADNOC was attacked while passing through the Strait of Hormuz, the UAE’s state-run WAM news agency reported. No one was injured in Friday evening’s incident, which the UAE described as the third attack on an ADNOC-operated vessel in the strategic waterway within a week. The United Arab Emirates called on Iran to halt what it described as unprovoked attacks. The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations centre separately reported that a bulk carrier was hit in its hull by an unidentified projectile on Friday. It was not immediately clear whether it was the same vessel. The Strait of Hormuz, through which about one-fifth of the world’s traded oil and natural gas passed before the latest conflict, has remained a major flashpoint since the war began with US and Israeli strikes on Iran on Feb. 28. Meanwhile, Israeli airstrikes in southern Lebanon killed at least 11 people on Saturday, among the deadliest attacks since a fragile truce between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah took effect on June 20. Lebanon’s Health Ministry and state news agency said an Israeli strike on a house near Ansar killed seven people, including three children, and wounded two others. Another strike in Deir al-Zahrani killed four people and injured 17. The Israeli military said it killed a Hezbollah battalion commander and several other militants at a command centre in southern Lebanon, saying the strike was carried out in response to Hezbollah activity against Israeli troops. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said three Israeli soldiers were seriously wounded and blamed an explosive drone. The Israeli military said the commander’s family was present at the site but was not the intended target, while Israeli authorities accused him of using family members as human shields. The strikes came amid a framework agreement between Lebanon and Israel aimed at paving the way for an Israeli withdrawal from southern Lebanon in return for Hezbollah’s disarmament. Hezbollah has rejected direct negotiations and was not part of the agreement. In Yemen, Iran-backed Houthi rebels attacked the government-controlled Red Sea port of Mokha, killing at least three people, including two marines, Yemeni authorities said. Port director Abdul-Malik al-Sharabi said Friday evening’s attack also forced the suspension of port operations. Yemeni military spokesperson Col. Majed al-Nazili said the Houthis fired six ballistic missiles at the port. The attack was the latest escalation by the Houthis against government-held areas and neighbouring Saudi Arabia, raising concerns that the conflict could push Yemen back into a wider civil war. Analysts say the escalation is part of Iran’s broader effort to increase pressure on the United States and its regional allies.

Israeli airstrikes on southern Lebanon killed at least nine people Saturday, the deadliest escalation since a June 20 truce between Israel and Hezbollah. Lebanon’s Health Ministry reported that a strike on a home in Ansar killed seven people, including three children. Another strike in Deir al-Zahrani killed two others. Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam condemned the attacks on X, saing the victims were not military targets and urging Israel to halt the "intimidation". Strikes also targeted the strategic Ali Taher hill overlooking Nabatiyeh. The Israeli military claimed it hit Hezbollah infrastructure in response to actions against its soldiers. Hezbollah was not party to the June 26 "framework agreement," which envisioned Israeli withdrawal in exchange for the group's disarmament. Despite seven rounds of talks, including recent sessions in Rome, Hezbollah refuses to disarm. Since the war erupted on March 2, over 4,000 people have been killed in Lebanon. On the Israeli side, approximately 40 soldiers and three civilians have died, including two soldiers killed in an explosion earlier this month.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Wednesday called for dialogue and negotiations to achieve a comprehensive and durable settlement of the conflicts in the Gulf and the Red Sea. Farhan Haq, the UN deputy spokesman, stated that the Secretary-General is closely monitoring developments in the Middle East, specifically the situations in and around the Strait of Hormuz and the Red Sea. Guterres remains convinced that a lasting resolution can only be reached through diplomatic engagement. Pentagon review: 153 civilians killed in US strikes on Houthis last year "Such a settlement would help restore stability and confidence across the region, while also safeguarding the navigational rights and freedoms in and around the Strait of Hormuz and in the Red Sea," Haq said. The spokesman also noted that UN Special Envoy for Yemen Hans Grundberg is continuing his efforts to de-escalate the situation in Yemen. Haq emphasized that any activities disrupting shipping along the coast of Yemen also hinder UN efforts to deliver essential supplies to the war-torn country. Consequently, the United Nations has called for an immediate end to all such obstructions in the Red Sea and the Bab al-Mandab strait.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Thursday accused the Israeli government of attempting to push the Palestinian cause off the international agenda by exploiting regional conflicts and chaos. Speaking at a joint press conference with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Erdogan asserted that the administration of Benjamin Netanyahu aims to remove Palestine from the "common agenda of humanity" through regional instability. He maintained that these efforts would fail, promising that Turkiye will continue to fight for the establishment of an independent Palestinian state. Pentagon review: 153 civilians killed in US strikes on Houthis last year "No matter what they do, they will not succeed. The Palestinian cause will continue to grow in people’s hearts," Erdogan said. President Abbas, who arrived in Ankara on Wednesday, described the discussions as "important and fruitful." He was accompanied by a high-level delegation, including intelligence chief Majed Faraj, diplomatic adviser Majdi Khalidi, and senior official Ziad Abu Amr. The leaders' meeting focused on recent regional developments and the ongoing struggle for Palestinian statehood. With inputs from Al Jazeera

A Pentagon review has confirmed that U.S. airstrikes targeting Houthi rebels in Yemen killed 153 civilians and injured 243 others last year. The unclassified assessment, submitted to Congress, focused on three strikes in April 2025 during a campaign to secure Red Sea trade routes. The deadliest strike occurred at the Ras Isa port, killing 80 people and injuring 171. Attacks also targeted sites near the rebel-held capital, Sanaa. Drone strikes hit key oil facilities in western Libya as car bomb kills officer in east While U.S. Central Command maintained the operations were intended to eliminate Houthi revenue and fuel sources rather than harm the Yemeni people, the review concluded the strikes "more likely than not" resulted in civilian harm. The report follows mounting scrutiny of civilian casualties under the Trump administration, including an earlier strike on an Iranian primary school that killed 168 people. Reports indicate Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has reduced the department's office for mitigating civilian harm. The findings come as intensified Houthi attacks on Saudi oil facilities and Yemeni forces threaten to collapse the 2022 truce and reignite the civil war.

President Donald Trump, who has long argued that decades of economic pressure failed to curb Iran’s nuclear ambitions, is now turning back to financial pressure in hopes of ending the war with Tehran. The Trump administration believes months of U.S. bombing have pushed Iran’s economy close to a breaking point and could force its leaders to accept demands to abandon its nuclear program and fully reopen the Strait of Hormuz to oil and natural gas tankers. Trump said Monday that because Iran is seeking compensation as part of any peace agreement, the United States would also seek compensation. His remarks came as he increasingly portrayed Iran as being on the verge of financial collapse, despite the country having faced U.S. sanctions for decades. Such sanctions are generally viewed as a long-term pressure tool rather than an immediate means of ending a war. The shift comes as U.S. supplies of some key weapons have declined and intermittent negotiations appear to have stalled again. Trump, however, maintains that increased pressure could produce a breakthrough. “Yeah, they can make trouble, but they’re broke,” Trump told reporters. “They have no money. You know, Iran is broke, totally broke. And, they’re not paying their soldiers. They have inflation of 300%.” Iran is experiencing high inflation, although Trump’s estimate is above figures administration officials have cited. A prolonged conflict also threatens to fuel inflation elsewhere, including in the United States, where the war and rising gasoline prices have become unpopular. Crude oil prices rose Monday after investors interpreted Trump’s comments as suggesting that fewer vessels would be able to pass through the Strait of Hormuz, further restricting global supplies of gasoline, jet fuel, natural gas and other energy products. The waterway, through which about 20% of the world’s oil supplies moved before the conflict, has been largely closed since the war began. Efforts to reopen it have been short-lived, as Iran has increasingly used access to the strait as leverage in negotiations. Iran, meanwhile, has shown little public concern about the prospect of additional sanctions. “Whenever Washington proves itself incapable of pursuing diplomacy, it retreats into sanctions; and whenever those sanctions fail to produce results, it simply increases the dose,” Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei said on social media. He warned that continued reliance on sanctions could further reduce Washington’s chances of finding a way out of the crisis. White House calls sanctions effort Operation Economic Fury Trump did not specify what new financial measures he might impose. However, his administration has been carrying out what it calls “Operation Economic Fury” against Iran since April 16. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has described the campaign as the “financial equivalent” of a bombing operation, with countries that purchase Iranian oil or conduct financial transactions with Iran potentially facing sanctions. One challenge for the strategy is that sanctions cannot produce effects as quickly as the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, said Richard Nephew, a senior research scholar at Columbia University who helped oversee Iran sanctions policy during the Obama administration. Nephew said the effectiveness of sanctions is also limited because Trump has not clearly defined the strategic objectives of the war. At different times, Trump has focused on preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon, reopening the strait and curbing its ballistic missile program. Instead, Trump has launched an extensive aerial campaign that has caused significant destruction without bringing the swift end to the conflict he initially promised. “Economic pressure is a possible element in his strategy, but he’s yet to explain the purpose,” Nephew said. He argued that Trump has weakened his own position through what he described as inadequate use of force, unclear objectives and shifting positions on negotiations. Still, sanctions and the continuing U.S. naval blockade of Iranian ports provide Washington with significant economic and financial leverage, said Juan Zarate, a former deputy national security adviser under President George W. Bush. Zarate said U.S. sanctions against third countries doing business with Iran could also have an impact, although such measures take time to work. “The ultimate question will be how far the United States is willing to go to constrict Iran’s oil trade and threaten third countries with severe sanctions — and whether it has the patience to test whether the economic pain will change the regime’s behavior,” Zarate said. Trump has criticized previous sanctions Trump’s renewed emphasis on economic pressure represents a shift from his previous criticism of sanctions-based approaches toward Iran. He has repeatedly argued that sanctions imposed by previous administrations did not go far enough to prevent Iran from developing its military and nuclear capabilities. Speaking last week in Las Vegas, Trump defended the bombing, missile and drone campaign that began Feb. 28, saying economic sanctions imposed on Iran since November 1979 had failed to achieve their objective. “It’s been 47 years, but really, it’s been 50 years because they’ve been saying 47 for three years, it’s been 50 years,” Trump said. “And no other president has done what you should have done a long time ago, because Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon, can’t have it.” The Iranian economy has been badly affected by the war. The International Monetary Fund estimates that Iran’s overall economy will contract by 5.4%, while the Iranian government recently reported an annual inflation rate of 88.6%. The U.S. Treasury Department said average Iranian oil shipments have fallen from 1.8 million barrels per day before the war to less than 500,000 barrels per day over the past month. The U.S. economy, meanwhile, has continued to expand, although inflation remains elevated and borrowing costs have increased. Those pressures have hurt Trump’s popularity and contributed to public disapproval of the war with Iran. A senior U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the administration’s strategy, said U.S. military action has reduced Iran’s ability to produce, sell and transport oil and other energy resources. The administration considers the naval blockade and sanctions effective and believes Trump has additional measures that could be intensified over the coming weeks and months. Trump is effectively arguing that Americans are better positioned to withstand economic difficulties than Iranians, who have faced years of economic hardship. “It’s not just what the military can do — we’ve got the most powerful economy in the world as well,” Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Monday alongside Bessent. “And when you’ve got a motivated treasury secretary who can pull a lot of levers because he knows how to do it, you can put a lot of pressure on adversaries.”

At least four people were killed and 30 others were wounded as a bus overturned on an intercity road in Iran's eastern South Khorasan province on Tuesday, state-run IRIB news agency reported. The incident occurred in Darmian County at 6:40 a.m. local time (0310 GMT), IRIB quoted the province's deputy traffic police chief as saying. The bus was carrying 40 passengers, said the official, adding that those wounded in the incident were transferred to hospital. The cause of the incident remains under investigation.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday officially rejected a 15-point Gaza peace roadmap presented by the U.S.-led "Board of Peace," insisting that Israeli forces will not withdraw until Hamas is completely disarmed. Marking Israel’s first straightforward rejection of the plan, Netanyahu told a cabinet meeting that forces- estimated to control 70 percent of Gaza —will continue operations to "thwart threats". He defined disarmament as the removal of all weapons, both heavy and light. While noting ongoing talks with the U.S., Netanyahu stated that while some ideas are acceptable, Israel will "stand our ground" on disputed matters. The plan, drafted by Nickolay Mladenov in May and announced by U.S. President Donald Trump in July, claimed agreement on the "complete disarmament" of armed groups. Hamas previously agreed to the roadmap’s second phase but demanded a complete halt to "aggression," full Israeli withdrawal, and reconstruction progress. Since an October 2025 ceasefire, Israeli attacks have reportedly killed over 1,250 people and injured 4,100 in Gaza, according to local health authorities.