Latest news with #UniversityofTehran
Leaders
20-07-2025
- Climate
- Leaders
5.1-Magnitude Earthquake Hits Northern Iran
A 5.1-magnitude earthquake struck today near the border of Iran's Golestan and Semnan provinces. The University of Tehran's Institute of Geophysics reported that the quake occurred at a depth of 10 kilometers, with its epicenter located at latitude 36.7 and longitude 54.83. Initial reports indicate no casualties or major damage resulting from the earthquake. Related Topics : 5.4-Magnitude Earthquake Jolts West Texas Region Saudi Leadership Condoles Thai King Over Earthquake Victims KSrelief Supervisor General Visits Housing Project for Earthquake Victims in Turkey West Texas Feel Tremors after 4.9 Magnitude Earthquakes Short link :
Express Tribune
20-06-2025
- Politics
- Express Tribune
Relieved Pakistanis recall 'horrifying nights' in Iran
Pakistanis carrying their belongings walk across the Pakistan-Iran border after in Taftan. Photo: AFP Mohammad Hassan anxiously returned to Pakistan from neighbouring Iran this week after witnessing drones, missiles, and explosions tear through Tehran's sky during what he called long, "horrifying nights". The 35-year-old University of Tehran student is one of about 3,000 Pakistanis who, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, have returned home since Israel launched its aerial war against its long-time enemy last week. Governments around the world are scrambling to evacuate their nationals caught up in the rapidly spiralling conflict as Israel and Iran trade missile and drone strikes. "I was in the city centre where most of the strikes took place and even one of the student dormitories was attacked and luckily no one was dead, but students were injured," Hassan said. There are more than 500 Pakistani students at his university alone, he said, all of them on their way "back home". "Those days and nights were very horrifying... hearing sirens, the wailing, the danger of being hit by missiles. As one peeped out the window in the night, you could see drones, missiles with fire tails," he told AFP. Mohammad Khalil, a 41-year-old petroleum engineer, left Tehran three days ago, the capital of the Islamic Republic looking like a ghost town as residents sheltered indoors and families fled. "In the last two days, I saw people moving out of the city in different vehicles with necessary commodities," Khalil said. Abdul Ghani Khan sells medical equipment in Peshawar and travels to Iran regularly for supplies. He had been in Tehran for a week when the first Israeli missiles fell on Friday. Khan had to make the journey home by road because the airspace is now closed. Pakistan has also shut its border crossings with Iran to all except Pakistanis wanting to return home. "We saw drones, red lights of anti-aircraft guns and I spotted one building catch fire," Khan said. Mohammad Asif, a lawyer from Lahore in Pakistan's east, heard about the air strikes while on a pilgrimage in Qom. He wasn't initially afraid and continued his pilgrimage to Mashhad. That was until Israeli strikes hit the airport in Mashhad, nearly 1,000 kilometres (620 miles) from the Pakistani border. Samreen Ali was also in Mashhad but, like Asif, cut her trip short and returned with her husband and 15-year-old son. She was praying in a mosque in Mashhad when Israel struck the city. Ali said she had visited Iran nine times before on pilgrimages and never imagined witnessing war there. "I was offering prayer when I heard two explosions," she told AFP. She then noticed she wasn't receiving messages on her phone and assumed that "communication was being restricted... because of the war". Syed Saqib, 46, was in Qom and had to travel 500 kilometres (310 miles) by bus southeast to Yazd. "We had to take alternative routes, spend an entire night waiting at a bus terminal," Saqib said. They then boarded buses to Zahedan, a city near the border with Pakistan's Balochistan province. A relieved Saqib recalled making the border crossing at Taftan, surrounded by families carrying heavy luggage.
New Straits Times
19-06-2025
- Politics
- New Straits Times
Iran leader 'can no longer exist' after hospital hit
JERUSALEM: Israel's defence minister warned that Iran's supreme leader "can no longer be allowed to exist" after a hospital was hit in an Iranian missile strike on Thursday, spiking tensions in the week-old war. As President Donald Trump dangled the prospect of US involvement, Soroka Hospital in the southern city of Beersheba was left in flames by a bombardment that Iran said targeted a military and intelligence base. Israel, fearing Iran is on the verge of developing a nuclear weapon, launched air strikes against its arch enemy last week, triggering a conflict that has left more than 200 people dead on both sides. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Iran would "pay a heavy price" for the hospital strike, while Defence Minister Israel Katz issued a stark warning for supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. "Khamenei openly declares that he wants Israel destroyed -- he personally gives the order to fire on hospitals," Katz told reporters. "He considers the destruction of the state of Israel to be a goal. Such a man can no longer be allowed to exist." Hospital director Shlomi Codish said 40 people were injured at the Soroka, where an evacuated surgical building was hit leaving smoke billowing. "Several wards were completely demolished and there is extensive damage across the entire hospital with damage to buildings, structures, windows, ceilings across the medical centre," he told journalists at the site. The latest escalation came on the seventh day of deadly exchanges between the two countries that have plunged the region into a new crisis, 19 months into the Gaza war. Mohammad Hassan, a Pakistani student at the University of Tehran, described frightening scenes in Iran's capital during the Israeli strikes. "Those days and nights were very horrifying... hearing sirens, the wailing, the danger of being hit by missiles," he told AFP after returning to Pakistan. "As one peeped out the window in the night, you could see drones, missiles with fire tails." Khamenei has rejected Trump's demand for an "unconditional surrender", despite the president's claims that "Iran's got a lot of trouble and they want to negotiate". Trump has left his intentions on joining the conflict deliberately ambiguous, saying Wednesday: "I may do it, I may not do it. I mean, nobody knows what I'm going to do. "The next week is going to be very big," he added, without further details. Any US involvement would be expected to involve the bombing of a crucial underground Iranian nuclear facility in Fordo, using specially developed bunker-busting bombs. The White House said Trump would receive an intelligence briefing on Thursday, a US holiday. Top US diplomat Marco Rubio is set meet his British counterpart for talks expected to focus on the conflict. "I have ideas as to what to do, but I haven't made a final (decision)," Trump said. "I like to make the final decision one second before it's due, because things change. Especially with war." The Wall Street Journal reported that Trump had told aides on Tuesday he had approved attack plans but was holding off to see if Iran would give up its nuclear programme. The US president had favoured a diplomatic route to end Iran's nuclear programme, seeking a deal to replace the 2015 agreement he tore up in his first term. But since Israel unleashed the campaign against Iran last week, Trump has stood behind the key US ally. On Thursday morning, Israel said it had carried out dozens of fresh raids on Iranian targets overnight, including the partially built Arak nuclear reactor and a uranium enrichment facility in Natanz. The Israeli military said the Arak site in central Iran had been hit "to prevent the reactor from being restored and used for nuclear weapons development". There was a "near-total national internet blackout" in Iran on Wednesday, a London-based watchdog said, with Iran's Fars news agency confirming tighter internet restrictions after initial curbs imposed last week. The military campaign has sparked calls for a return to diplomacy. Russian President Vladimir Putin said Thursday that a deal to guarantee both Israel's security and Iran's desire for a civilian nuclear programme was possible. "I believe it would be good for all of us together to look for ways to stop the fighting and seek ways for the participants in the conflict to find an agreement," he told foreign journalists at a televised event. He said Iran had not asked Russia for military help. An Israeli military official, who asked not to be named, said Wednesday that Iran had fired around 400 ballistic missiles and 1,000 drones since the conflict began on Friday. Iranian strikes have killed at least 24 people and injured hundreds since they began, Netanyahu's office said on Monday. Iran said Sunday that Israeli strikes had killed at least 224 people, including military commanders, nuclear scientists and civilians. Iran had been enriching uranium to 60 per cent -- far above the 3.67-per cent limit set by the 2015 deal, but still short of the 90 per cent needed for a nuclear warhead. Israel has maintained ambiguity on its own arsenal, but the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute says it has 90 nuclear warheads.
Yahoo
19-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Relieved Pakistanis recall 'horrifying nights' as Israel, Iran trade strikes
Mohammad Hassan anxiously returned to Pakistan from neighbouring Iran this week after witnessing drones, missiles, and explosions tear through Tehran's sky during what he called long, "horrifying nights". The 35-year-old University of Tehran student is one of about 3,000 Pakistanis who, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, have returned home since Israel launched its aerial war against its long-time enemy last week. Governments around the world are scrambling to evacuate their nationals caught up in the rapidly spiralling conflict as Israel and Iran trade missile and drone strikes. "I was in the city centre where most of the strikes took place and even one of the student dormitories was attacked and luckily no one was dead, but students were injured," Hassan said. There are more than 500 Pakistani students at his university alone, he said, all of them on their way "back home". "Those days and nights were very horrifying... hearing sirens, the wailing, the danger of being hit by missiles. As one peeped out the window in the night, you could see drones, missiles with fire tails," he told AFP. - Ghost town - Pakistan and Iran have a shaky diplomatic relationship. They bombed each other's territory little more than a year ago, both claiming to target rebels using their neighbour's land to launch attacks. Yet they have never suspended trade, tourism and academic ties. Iranian consulates across Pakistan have stepped up efforts to promote their universities. Between 25 million and 35 million Pakistani Shiite Muslims also hope to make at least one pilgrimage in their lifetime to holy sites in Iran, foremost among them the sacred city of Qom. Mohammad Khalil, a 41-year-old petroleum engineer, left Tehran three days ago, the capital of the Islamic Republic looking like a ghost town as residents sheltered indoors and families fled. "In the last two days, I saw people moving out of the city in different vehicles with necessary commodities," Khalil said. Abdul Ghani Khan sells medical equipment in his hometown of Peshawar in northwest Pakistan and travels to Iran regularly for supplies. He had been in Tehran for a week when the first Israeli missiles fell on Friday. Iran and Israel have traded heavy missile fire in the days since, raising fears of a wider regional conflict. Pakistan is in a difficult position as the only Muslim-majority country with nuclear weapons. It, like Iran, does not recognise Israel but is also a major ally of the United States. Khan had to make the journey home by road because the airspace is now closed. Pakistan has also shut its border crossings with Iran to all except Pakistanis wanting to return home. "We saw drones, red lights of anti-aircraft guns and I spotted one building catch fire," Khan said. - 'Offering prayer' - Mohammad Asif, a lawyer from Lahore in Pakistan's east, heard about the air strikes while on a pilgrimage in Qom. He wasn't initially afraid and continued his pilgrimage to Mashhad in Iran's northeast, home to the golden-domed Imam Reza shrine. That was until Israeli strikes hit the airport in Mashhad, nearly 1,000 kilometres (620 miles) from the Pakistani border. Samreen Ali was also in Mashhad but, like Asif, cut her trip short and returned with her husband and 15-year-old son. She was praying in a mosque in Mashhad when Israel struck the city. Ali said she had visited Iran nine times before on pilgrimages and never imagined witnessing war there. "I was offering prayer when I heard two explosions," she told AFP. She then noticed she wasn't receiving messages on her phone and assumed that "communication was being restricted... because of the war". Syed Saqib, 46, was in Qom and had to travel 500 kilometres (310 miles) by bus southeast to Yazd. "We had to take alternative routes, spend an entire night waiting at a bus terminal," Saqib said. They then boarded buses to Zahedan, a city near the border with Pakistan's Balochistan province. A relieved Saqib recalled making the border crossing at Taftan, surrounded by families carrying heavy luggage. mak-sam/stm/pbt
France 24
19-06-2025
- Politics
- France 24
Relieved Pakistanis recall 'horrifying nights' as Israel, Iran trade strikes
The 35-year-old University of Tehran student is one of about 3,000 Pakistanis who, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, have returned home since Israel launched its aerial war against its long-time enemy last week. Governments around the world are scrambling to evacuate their nationals caught up in the rapidly spiralling conflict as Israel and Iran trade missile and drone strikes. "I was in the city centre where most of the strikes took place and even one of the student dormitories was attacked and luckily no one was dead, but students were injured," Hassan said. There are more than 500 Pakistani students at his university alone, he said, all of them on their way "back home". "Those days and nights were very horrifying... hearing sirens, the wailing, the danger of being hit by missiles. As one peeped out the window in the night, you could see drones, missiles with fire tails," he told AFP. Ghost town Pakistan and Iran have a shaky diplomatic relationship. They bombed each other's territory little more than a year ago, both claiming to target rebels using their neighbour's land to launch attacks. Yet they have never suspended trade, tourism and academic ties. Iranian consulates across Pakistan have stepped up efforts to promote their universities. Between 25 million and 35 million Pakistani Shiite Muslims also hope to make at least one pilgrimage in their lifetime to holy sites in Iran, foremost among them the sacred city of Qom. Mohammad Khalil, a 41-year-old petroleum engineer, left Tehran three days ago, the capital of the Islamic Republic looking like a ghost town as residents sheltered indoors and families fled. "In the last two days, I saw people moving out of the city in different vehicles with necessary commodities," Khalil said. Abdul Ghani Khan sells medical equipment in his hometown of Peshawar in northwest Pakistan and travels to Iran regularly for supplies. He had been in Tehran for a week when the first Israeli missiles fell on Friday. Iran and Israel have traded heavy missile fire in the days since, raising fears of a wider regional conflict. Pakistan is in a difficult position as the only Muslim-majority country with nuclear weapons. It, like Iran, does not recognise Israel but is also a major ally of the United States. Khan had to make the journey home by road because the airspace is now closed. Pakistan has also shut its border crossings with Iran to all except Pakistanis wanting to return home. "We saw drones, red lights of anti-aircraft guns and I spotted one building catch fire," Khan said. 'Offering prayer' Mohammad Asif, a lawyer from Lahore in Pakistan's east, heard about the air strikes while on a pilgrimage in Qom. He wasn't initially afraid and continued his pilgrimage to Mashhad in Iran's northeast, home to the golden-domed Imam Reza shrine. That was until Israeli strikes hit the airport in Mashhad, nearly 1,000 kilometres (620 miles) from the Pakistani border. Samreen Ali was also in Mashhad but, like Asif, cut her trip short and returned with her husband and 15-year-old son. She was praying in a mosque in Mashhad when Israel struck the city. Ali said she had visited Iran nine times before on pilgrimages and never imagined witnessing war there. "I was offering prayer when I heard two explosions," she told AFP. She then noticed she wasn't receiving messages on her phone and assumed that "communication was being restricted... because of the war". Syed Saqib, 46, was in Qom and had to travel 500 kilometres (310 miles) by bus southeast to Yazd. "We had to take alternative routes, spend an entire night waiting at a bus terminal," Saqib said. They then boarded buses to Zahedan, a city near the border with Pakistan's Balochistan province. A relieved Saqib recalled making the border crossing at Taftan, surrounded by families carrying heavy luggage.
