US ground troops will be burnt, warns Iran

Regional diplomats gather in Pak to broker end to war

Dubai: A top Iranian official warned the US against a ground invasion, saying American troops would be set “on fire,” as regional diplomats gathered in Pakistan on Sunday in a push to broker an end to the month-long war.

Iran’s parliament speaker, Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, dismissed weekend talks as a cover while the US dispatches additional troops to the Middle East. He said Iran was prepared to confront any American forces on its soil and would respond harshly against both US troops and Washington’s regional allies, according to Iranian

state media.

The remarks came as Pakistan said the foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia, Turkiye and Egypt were holding talks in Islamabad without US or Israeli participation.

Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif earlier said he and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian had held “extensive discussions” on the regional hostilities.

Yet there were few signs of progress as Israel and the US kept up strikes on Iran, and Tehran responded by firing missiles and drones across the region.

More than 3,000 people have been killed throughout the month-long war that began with US and Israeli strikes on Iran, triggering Iran’s attacks on Israel and neighbouring Gulf Arab states.

Israel announced waves of incoming strikes from Iran on Sunday, and explosions could be heard throughout Tehran.

Iran on Sunday warned of additional escalation after Israeli airstrikes hit several universities, including ones that Israel claimed were used for nuclear research and development.

The paramilitary Revolutionary Guard warned in a statement that Iran would consider Israeli universities and branches of American universities in the region “legitimate targets” unless offered safety assurances for Iranian universities, state media reported.

American colleges, including Georgetown, New York University and Northwestern, have campuses in Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.

“If the US government wants its universities in the region spared, it should condemn the bombardment of (Iranian) universities by 12 o’clock Monday, March 30, in an official statement,” the Guard said. It also demanded that the US stop Israel from striking Iranian universities and research centres.

Israel PM: Will widen invasion of Lebanon

Islamabad: Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced on Sunday that his country will widen its invasion of southern Lebanon.

Netanyahu said Israel would expand what he called the “existing security strip” in Lebanon as Israeli forces continue to target the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militant group.

“We are determined to fundamentally change the situation in the north,” he said.

On a visit to northern Israel, he said, “Hezbollah still has residual capability to fire rockets at us”. There were no immediate details.

In Lebanon, officials say more than 1,100 people have been killed in the fighting since the Iran war began.