Australia Grants Humanitarian Visas For Iran Soccer Players
Australia's Home Affairs Minister has announced that five members of Iran's women's soccer team have been granted humanitarian visas.
Yesterday, we reported on the alarming situation facing members of the national team, after an Iranian state TV presenter denounced them as "wartime traitors" for declining to sing along with their country's national anthem.
Trump: If Iran Disrupts Oil, US Will Hit '20 Times Harder'
US President Donald Trump warned that if Iran disrupts oil flow through the Strait of Hormuz, the United States will hit "twenty times harder" than they have been hit thus far.
"Additionally, we will take out easily destroyable targets that will make it virtually impossible for Iran to ever be built back," Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.
We are now closing the live blog for the day. We'll be back tomorrow at 7:30 a.m. Central European time to cover the latest events across the Middle East.
Trump Says Iran Campaign To End 'Very Soon,' Disappointed In Choice Of Khamenei's Son
US President Donald Trump said the military operation launched against Iran last month will end "very soon" and vowed to hit the country "much, much harder" if it blocks oil supplies in the Middle East.
Trump spoke on March 9 after Tehran launched multiple missiles and drones at Israel and Gulf Arab states following the announcement that Mojtaba Khamenei would succeed his late father, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, as supreme leader.
"We're winning very decisively. We're way ahead of schedule," Trump told a news conference in Florida.
"It's going to be ended soon." Asked whether it would end this week, he suggested it would not but said: "Soon. very soon."
"I will not allow a terrorist regime to hold the world hostage and attempt to stop the globe's oil supply. And if Iran does anything to do that, they'll get hit at a much, much harder level," Trump said.
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After the Iranian women's soccer team declined to sing along with their country's national anthem at an AFC Asian Cup game, an Iranian state TV presenter denounced them as "wartime traitors." Fearing for their safety if they returned to Iran, five of the players reportedly left their training camp in Australia on March 9 to seek asylum there, while their teammates are also still in Australia.
Rubio Says Iran 'Worst Offender' In Hostage-Taking
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has pointed to a new US policy aimed at deterring what Washington calls “hostage diplomacy.”
Speaking at the State Department during events marking US Hostage and Wrongful Detainee Day on March 9, Rubio said Iran has long used hostage-taking as a diplomatic tool.
“When it comes to hostage taking, there has been no worse offender in the world than the clerical regime in Tehran,” he said.
On February 27, the US formally designated Iran as a State Sponsor of Wrongful Detention (SSWD) -- the first country placed on the blacklist under a new law targeting governments that detain foreign nationals for political leverage.
The designation allows the US government to deploy a range of measures -- including sanctions and travel restrictions -- aimed at pressuring Tehran to release detainees.
The March 9 ceremony in Washington also marked the anniversary of the disappearance of former FBI agent Robert Levinson, who vanished in Iran in 2007.
Christopher Raia, deputy director of the FBI, said evidence now suggests Levinson likely died while in captivity in Iran. “Our evidence suggests that Bob died in captivity in Iran,” Raia said, calling him the longest-held American hostage in US history.
Raia said investigators continue to pursue leads and released posters last year identifying individuals believed responsible for Levinson’s kidnapping, detention, and probable death. “The urgency to uncover the facts of Bob’s disappearance has never been greater,” he said.
UN Human Rights Official Calls For 'Thorough Investigation' Into Strike On Girls' School
Nada Al‑Nashif, the UN deputy high commissioner for human rights, called on March 9 for an “prompt, impartial, and thorough investigation” into a deadly strike on a primary school in the city of Minab.
Speaking at the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva, Al-Nashif also cited the Iranian Red Crescent Society as saying that more than 65 schools across Iran had been “damaged or destroyed" since the start of the US-Israeli attacks on February 28
On the first day of those attacks on Iran, local officials in the southern Hormozgan Province said a girls’ school had also been hit, killing dozens of students.
The governor of Minab county updated the death toll on March 8 to 165 killed and 96 wounded.
Several investigative reports now suggest the school was struck because it was located next to a base belonging to the naval forces of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps.
Trump Suggests Iran War Could End Soon
U.S. President Donald Trump has suggested the war with Iran could end soon, claiming US forces had largely dismantled Tehran’s military capabilities after 10 days of strikes.
“I think the war is very complete, pretty much. They have no navy, no communications, they’ve got no Air Force,” a CBS News reporter wrote on X on March 9, citing comments from Trump. The president also warned Iran against further escalation, saying the country had already “shot everything they have to shoot.”
Trump made the remarks as he sharply criticized the selection of Mojtaba Khamenei to replace his late father, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, as Iran’s supreme leader. Trump told one media outlet he was “not happy” with the decision and told another that Tehran had made “a big mistake.”
In separate interviews, Trump said the United States was “very far” ahead of an initial four-to-five-week timeline for the war and suggested he had a different candidate in mind for Iran’s leadership, though he declined to name anyone.
Iran announced early on March 9 that a group of senior clerics had chosen Mojtaba Khamenei, 56, as the country’s new supreme leader. Iran’s powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps quickly pledged support for him.
Read our full news report here.
Iranian Peace Prize Winner Says She Does Not Support Attacks On Iran After Khamenei's Death
Shirin Ebadi, the first Iranian winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, said in a message published on her official Telegram channel that now that Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has been killed, she no longer supports the continuation of military attacks on Iran.
Referring to the killings that followed a new wave of protests in Iran on January 8–9, Ebadi wrote: “Under no circumstances could the people stop these killings. Therefore calling on the international community to implement the principle of ‘Responsibility to Protect’ was a human-rights action.”
Explaining the principle of “Responsibility to Protect,” she said it requires governments to prevent the killing of their citizens and allows other states to intervene if they fail to do so or are responsible for the violence.
She added that the elimination of the Iranian leader and senior military figures "can be justified under the principle of ‘Responsibility to Protect,’ but anything beyond that constitutes aggression against the country and must be condemned."
At the end of her message, Ebadi also wrote: “While condemning the military attack by the United States and Israel on Iran and considering it illegitimate after the death of Ali Khamenei, I must remind that this was a war imposed on the people of Iran by the misguided foreign policy of the Islamic republic.”
Trump Indicates Australia Will Grant Asylum To Iranian Women’s Soccer Players
Five members of Iran's women's national soccer team have reportedly been granted asylum in Australia after leaving their team hotel during the Women’s Asian Cup, fearing reprisals if they return home.
The team's players had drawn attention earlier by not singing the country's national anthem during the tournament, prompting accusations of treason from state media and raising fears for their safety.
US President Donald Trump seemed to suggest in a social media post that the players had been granted asylum, praising Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and saying some athletes were “being taken care of,” though others felt compelled to return because of threats to their families.
Australian authorities are said to have placed the five players under police protection while their asylum claims are being processed.