Iran’s Revolutionary Guards continued launching attacks on neighboring countries despite President Pezeshkian’s apology to regional states and his order for the armed forces to halt such strikes, highlighting tensions over who controls wartime decisions.

Two cargo ships owned by a sanctioned Iranian shipping company have departed a Chinese chemical-storage port carrying cargo and are heading toward Iran, the Washington Post reported citing an analysis of ship-tracking data, satellite imagery and sanctions records.

Ali Larijani, the secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, told the state TV on Saturday that the Islamic Republic will not "leave Trump alone" over his killing of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.

An Iranian sailor who was killed when the warship Dena was struck by the US near Sri Lanka had called his father shortly beforehand, saying American forces had issued two warnings for the crew to abandon the vessel, a source close to the family told Iran International.

Azerbaijani media reported that the country’s security service has placed several operatives of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) under pursuit for allegedly preparing “terrorist acts” and has foiled their plots.

President Massoud Pezeshkian is facing growing criticism from political figures and analysts for failing to seize what some viewed as a rare opportunity to de-escalate the regional conflict while repairing the state’s broken relationship with Iranians.

US Senator Ted Cruz told Iran International this week that the US-Israel military campaign aims to remove the Islamic Republic from power and diminish Tehran’s ability to “terrorize” or harm its neighbors.

Funeral plans for Iran’s former Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei have been revised multiple times this week, reflecting mounting security fears, uncertainty over foreign attendance and unresolved questions about succession.

UNICEF called on all parties in the Iran conflict to protect civilians, warning that children were increasingly bearing the toll of the fighting with reports of rising casualties.

Human rights groups and families of detainees warn that wartime conditions inside Iranian prisons could trigger another tragedy like the June strike on Tehran’s Evin prison.

As war spreads across the Middle East and attention focuses on oil, the region’s most dangerous soft targets may be desalination plants.

For decades, the wife of Iran’s former Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei lived almost entirely outside public view. Even her death was reported reluctantly, as though she had never been there at all.