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Iran warns Middle East nations, claims 500 US troops hit as Houthis enter war (VIDEOS, PHOTOS)

The Yemeni Houthis say they’re ready for “direct military intervention” and confirmed their first ballistic missile strike on Israel

Published 27 Mar, 2026 21:45 | Updated 28 Mar, 2026 13:09

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has warned nations in the region not to allow their territory to be used for attacks against Iran, urging them to stay out of the conflict.

“We have said many times that Iran doesn’t carry out preemptive attacks,” Pezeshkian wrote on X, but warned that it “will retaliate strongly if our infrastructure or economic centers are targeted.”

“To the countries of the region: If you want development and security, don’t let our enemies run the war from your lands,” he said.

His warning follows claims by army spokesman Ebrahim Zolfaghari that more than 500 US troops have been killed or wounded in strikes on alleged American “hideouts” across the region. Zolfaghari said US President Donald Trump and his commanders must “fully understand that the region will become a cemetery for American soldiers” if the US launches a ground invasion.

At least three killed after US-Israeli airstrikes raze residential building in Tehran (VIDEO)

Pakistani Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar said his counterparts from Saudi Arabia, Türkiye, and Egypt will meet with him in Islamabad for talks aimed at de-escalating tensions over Iran and the wider region.

Earlier, the Yemeni Houthis said they are ready for “direct military intervention” on Iran’s side, confirming their first ballistic missile strike against Israel. The group said its “operations… will continue… until the end of the offensive on all resistance fronts in Lebanon, Iraq, and Palestine.”

Trump maintains that Iran has been “decimated,” telling a Saudi-backed forum there are only “3,554 targets left” to strike. His envoy, Steve Witkoff, said the administration hopes to hold talks with Tehran in the coming days, even as reports suggest the US is weighing a ground invasion, deploying additional forces, and drafting options for a “final blow.”

Here are the latest developments:

The UN nuclear watchdog says Iran reported a new suspected Israeli strike near the Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant – the third incident of the kind in ten days – with IAEA chief Rafael Grossi urging “maximum military restraint.”

Trump is reportedly considering renaming the Strait of Hormuz if Iran is pushed out of the waterway, with options including the ‘Strait of America’.

Iran claims it destroyed a Ukrainian anti-drone systems depot in Dubai in strikes against alleged US “hideouts,” and struck key Israeli electronic warfare and radar facilities in Haifa and fuel storage sites linked to Ben Gurion Air Base.

An Israeli airstrike in southern Lebanon has killed two journalists – Al Mayadeen’s Fatima Fatuni and Al-Manar’s Ali Shuaib – just over a week after RT correspondent Steve Sweeney and his cameraman, Ali Rida Sbeity, were injured in a similar strike while filming in the area.

Follow our live coverage below for continuous updates. You can also read our previous updates here.

28 March 2026
16:27 GMT
The IDF has claimed to have struck Iran’s Maritime Industries Organization – a defense industry complex – in Tehran overnight. Additionally, Israeli warplanes targeted several other Iranian weapons production facilities, according to the statement.
16:25 GMT
The US Central Command has dismissed earlier claims by Iranian army spokesperson Ebrahim Zolfaghari that more than 500 American troops had been killed or wounded in strikes on alleged American “hideouts” across the region, stating that “no US personnel have been attacked in Dubai”.
The US military claimed that the “Iranian regime is manufacturing lies on social media to hide the reality that their military capabilities are undeniably overwhelmed and degraded.”
16:06 GMT
Emirates Global Aluminium has reported that its Al Taweelah site “sustained significant damage during the Iranian missile and drone attacks at Khalifa Economic Zone Abu Dhabi.” Several employees suffered non-life-threatening injuries, according to the statement.
15:37 GMT
The killing of Al-Manar correspondent Ali Shuaib and Al Mayadeen’s Fatima Fatuni by an Israeli airstrike in southern Lebanon was “without doubt, an attempt to silence the truth,” RT correspondent Steve Sweeney believes.
“Ali and Fatima were very powerful voices from the south, very well-known and very well-loved across all of Lebanon,” according to Sweeney’s emotional account.
Fatuni had seven family members killed in an Israeli airstrike several weeks ago, and had to report from the ground, he recounted, calling her an “incredibly brave soul.”
Fatuni’s brother, Mohamed, who was also in the journalists’ car when it came under Israeli attack, perished as well, Sweeney revealed.
“Of course, the Israelis fear a microphone, they fear a camera, they fear a pen more than they do a bullet and a bomb – because it’s this that delivers the truth,” the RT correspondent concluded.
READ MORE: ‘Deliberate attack’: RT correspondent recounts surviving Israeli airstrike (VIDEO)
Sweeney and his cameraman, Ali Rida Sbeity, narrowly escaped death just last week while filming in southern Lebanon. An Israeli missile struck less than ten meters away from their filming position, injuring both journalists.
15:25 GMT
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun has strongly condemned the Israeli airstrike that killed Al-Manar correspondent Ali Shuaib and Al Mayadeen’s Fatima Fatuni in southern Lebanon.
“Once again, the Israeli aggression violates the most basic rules of international law, international humanitarian law and the laws of war, by targeting journalists, who are ultimately civilians performing a professional duty,” Aoun stated.
He described the attack as a “blatant crime that violates all the norms and treaties under which journalists enjoy international protection in wars.”
15:04 GMT
RT cameraman Ali Rida Sbeity, who was friends with and worked on multiple occasions with slain Al-Manar correspondent Ali Shuaib and Al Mayadeen’s Fatima Fatuni, said the journalists’ vehicle was hit by an Israeli double-tap strike. The second impact came when emergency workers had approached the car, according to Sbeity.
Ali Shuaib “was seen as the dean of correspondents in southern Lebanon – he’s been there for a very very long time,” Sbeity recounted, adding that the late Al-Manar correspondent was “very supportive to any field journalist who wanted to go south.”
Sbeity also dismissed as absurd IDF claims that Ali Shuaib was a militant operating under the guise of a war correspondent.
14:49 GMT
US Vice President J.D. Vance has said that Washington expects the conflict with Iran to be “short-term.” Appearing on Benny Johnson’s podcast, published on Saturday, the US official noted that Trump “has been very clear about this – that we’re not interested in being in Iran a year down the road, two years down the road.”
“We’re going to be out of there soon and gas prices are going to come back down,” Vance added.
14:26 GMT
Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) claims to have struck a US F-16 fighter jet south of Fars Province, according to Press TV.
14:18 GMT
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) claims that it located and destroyed 122 cluster bombs dropped by US and Israeli warplanes on Fars Province, according to Tasnim News.
13:43 GMT
US CENTCOM has dropped yet another piece of “unclassified” strike footage – this time showing what appear to be Iranian naval vessels getting hit, along with the caption: “For decades, Iranian naval vessels have threatened and harassed global shipping… but those days are over.”
For decades, Iranian naval vessels have threatened and harassed global shipping in regional waters, but those days are over. pic.twitter.com/J4WUwpfU24
— U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM) March 28, 2026

27 March 2026
20:40 GMT
Air raid sirens have blared across Israel after the IDF said it “identified missiles launched from Iran” with “defensive systems operating to intercept the threat.”
21:05 GMT
“Search and rescue forces, both reserve and regular forces, are currently operating at the sites in central Israel where reports of impact have been received,” the IDF said in a statement, urging the public to avoid gathering in these areas or recording the interceptions and impact sites.
21:34 GMT
Iranian media and pro-Tehran Telegram channels have circulated multiple videos allegedly showing the Israeli air defense failure to intercept several missiles over Tel Aviv.
21:43 GMT
Israeli first responders report that one person has been killed and several others injured after a ballistic missile carrying a cluster bomb warhead struck central Israel.
Following missile fire toward central Israel: MDA EMTs and paramedics have pronounced the death of a man approximately 60 years old at a scene in Tel Aviv, and are providing medical treatment to 2 lightly injured casualties at another scene in central Israel. pic.twitter.com/6ltXIcKWc6
— Magen David Adom (@Mdais) March 27, 2026
22:08 GMT
The International Atomic Energy Agency has insisted that there was no radiation threat, following the suspected Israeli strikes on multiple facilities linked to Iran’s civilian nuclear program and plants that use radioactive isotopes in their production processes.
READ MORE: Israel strikes nuclear sites, FBI chief hacked as Iran defies ‘bullies’: As it happened on March 27

“IAEA was informed by Iran that the heavy water production plant at Khondab was also hit today. No radiation risk seen as installation contains no declared nuclear material,” the UN nuclear watchdog said in a statement.
“Separately, Iran reported today that an industrial facility – the Khuzestan Steel Production Factory which uses sealed Co‑60 and Cs‑137 radioactive sources for gauging – was subjected to strikes but there was no off-site radiation release,” it added.
In a separate statement earlier in the day, the nuclear watchdog said it “has been informed by Iran that the Shahid Rezayee Nejad Yellow Cake Production Facility in Yazd province (also known as Ardakan) was attacked today. No increase in off-site radiation levels reported.”
22:17 GMT
READ MORE: At least three killed after US-Israeli airstrikes raze residential building in Tehran (VIDEO)

Last night’s airstrikes on what Israel called the “heart of Tehran” were among the most intense since the start of the month, according to RT’s Tehran bureau chief Hami Hamedi, who visited the site earlier in the day and witnessed rescuers combing through the debris in the hope of finding survivors.
“They are targeting residential areas, now they are attacking ordinary people,” one of the firefighters working at the site told Hamedi.
According to the rescuer, a two-year-old child was among the people pulled out from under the rubble. The death toll from the attack on Friday morning remains unclear as several more people are believed to still be trapped under the rubble.
22:38 GMT
Iran’s Bushehr nuclear power plant was struck by a missile at around 11:40 pm Friday, marking the third reported attack on the facility, according to the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran.
“An attack on peaceful nuclear facilities constitutes a flagrant violation of international law and poses a grave threat to regional security,” the organization said, while noting that luckily “no casualties, material damage, or technical disruptions have been reported.”
22:43 GMT
Dashcam footage circulating online apparently captured the moment one of Iranian missiles hit Tel Aviv, where Israeli authorities previously confirmed at least one fatality and several injuries.
23:30 GMT
The UN nuclear watchdog has confirmed that Iran informed it about a new suspected Israeli strike near the Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant, marking the third such incident in 10 days, with the International Atomic Energy Agency’s Director General Rafael Grossi reiterating his call on unnamed parties to exercise “maximum military restraint.”
“Grossi has again expressed deep concern over military activity in the vicinity of the facility, warning that damage to the reactor could cause a major radiological incident, and reiterated his call for maximum military restraint to avoid the risk of a nuclear accident,” the IAEA said.
23:41 GMT
The US president has called the Strait of Hormuz the “Strait of Trump,” and insisted that it was not an “accident,” referring to his move to rename the Gulf of Mexico the Gulf of America shortly after taking office in January 2025.
“We’re negotiating now, it would be great if they could do something, but they have to open up the Strait of Trump, I mean Hormuz,” Trump told a Saudi-backed investment conference in Miami. “Excuse me, I’m so sorry, such a terrible mistake. Fake news will say, ‘He accidentally said.’ There’s no accidents with me, not too many. If there were, we’d have a major story.”