UAE calls for swift end to Iran-Israel war, warns of regional fallout

The commander of Iran’s Quds Force arms transfer unit, Behnam Shahriari, was killed while traveling in western Iran, more than 1,000 kilometers from Israel’s border, the Israel Defense Forces said Saturday in a post on its official X account.

The IDF said Shahriari was responsible for transferring weapons and funds to proxy groups including Hezbollah, Hamas, and the Houthis, and played a central role in supplying rockets used against Israel during the current war.

His death, the IDF said, dealt a major blow to Iran’s regional network and the ability of its allies to rebuild after Israeli military operations.

Iran has filed a formal complaint against Rafael Grossi, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), accusing him of bias and failure to protect Iran’s peaceful nuclear activities, Iran’s UN envoy said in a letter to the Security Council.

The letter, submitted by Ambassador Amir Saeid Iravani and published by state media on Saturday, said Grossi failed to take preventive action against Israeli threats and ignored international resolutions banning attacks on civilian nuclear sites.

Iran also criticized Grossi’s public comments ahead of Israel’s recent strikes and accused him of “politicized and selective” conduct. The letter called his actions a violation of the IAEA’s statute and demanded the complaint be circulated as an official Security Council document.

Saeed Izadi, commander of the Palestine Corps within Iran’s Quds Force, was killed in a strike on an apartment in Qom, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said Saturday.

Katz said Izadi was responsible for funding and arming Hamas ahead of the October 7 attack, and called the operation a major achievement for Israeli intelligence and the air force. “Israel’s long arm will reach all its enemies,” he said.

Donald Trump’s 14-day deadline on Iran is a strategic pause to allow US forces to fully deploy in the Middle East as he mulls airstrikes on Iranian nuclear facilities, former commander of US forces in the region David Petraeus told Iran International.

Petraeus emphasized that Trump’s move to give Iran a two-week deadline is not mere posturing. It reflects a deliberate and calculated buildup of US military forces in the region.

“The real reason behind the two-week window is to allow the second US aircraft carrier strike group to arrive in the region and for the US military to be fully positioned,” he said.

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Israel struck the Isfahan nuclear site early Saturday, but there have been no casualties or hazardous leaks so far, the province’s deputy governor said, according to IRGC-linked Fars news agency.

He said air defenses responded to the attack and most explosions were due to defensive fire.