Pakistan Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar spoke with his Japanese counterpart Toshimitsu Motegi by phone and called for “urgent de-escalation.”
A Pakistan Foreign Ministry statement said Dar “reaffirmed Pakistan’s commitment to supporting all initiatives aimed at de-escalation and the achievement of lasting peace and stability.”
Motegi appreciated and supported Pakistan’s “constructive role” in facilitating dialogue and diplomacy for regional peace and stability, the ministry said, adding that the leaders agreed to maintain contact.
2:56 PM GMT+5
European Council president says escalation will not achieve ceasefire
European Council President António Costa said Monday that an “escalation will not achieve a ceasefire and peace,” which was likely a warning aimed at U.S. President Donald Trump.
“Only negotiations will, namely the ongoing efforts led by regional partners,” he added in the statement posted on X.
Costa’s call comes as Trump has threatened to begin bombing power plants and bridges this week if Iran does not open the Strait of Hormuz.
He wrote that “any targeting of civilian infrastructure, namely energy facilities, is illegal and unacceptable.”
“The Iranian civilian population is the main victim of the Iranian regime,” Costa wrote. “It would also be the main victim of a widening of the military campaign.”
1:23 PM GMT+5
Professor says airstrike hit Tehran’s Sharif University of Technology
An airstrike hit an information and communication technology building at Tehran’s Sharif University of Technology on Monday morning, according to Mohammed Vesal, an economics professor at the university.
Vesal, who spoke to a team from The Associated Press that had traveled to Iran from abroad to report there, said the attack disrupted online learning for the university.
All students have left the campus because of the war.
“All web services of the university are down now because of this violent attack on our infrastructure,” Vesal said. “This is a purely academic institution.”
Sharif University of Technology is considered Iran’s top engineering school.
Multiple countries over the years have sanctioned the university for its work with the military, particularly on Iran’s ballistic missile program, which is controlled by the country’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard.
12:41 PM GMT+5
Iran Revolutionary Guard intelligence head killed
The head of intelligence for Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard was killed Monday in an attack targeting him, Iranian state media said.
Maj. Gen. Majid Khademi died in the attack, which the Guard blamed on the United States and Israel.
It did not elaborate on where Khademi was killed. However, multiple airstrikes targeted residential areas around Iran’s capital, Tehran, early Monday morning.
Khademi took over for Gen. Mohammad Kazemi, who Israel killed in the 12-day war in June.
The Guard’s intelligence organization wields vast powers within Iran and answers only to the country’s supreme leader. It often has been linked to the detention of Western nationals or those with ties abroad. It also has been accused of carrying out extraterritorial killings and attacks targeting opponents of the country’s theocracy.
Source: AP news
