Follow our live coverage here.

TEHRAN - Iran’s Revolutionary Guard on March 29 threatened to target US universities in the Middle East after saying US-Israeli strikes had destroyed two Iranian universities.

“If the US government wants its universities in the region to be free from retaliation... it must condemn the bombing of the universities in an official statement by 12 noon on Monday, March 30, Tehran time,” said the statement published by Iranian media.

The statement added: “We advise all employees, professors, and students of American universities in the region and residents of their surrounding areas” stay a kilometre away from campuses.

Several US universities have campuses scattered throughout the Gulf region, such as Texas A&M University in Qatar and New York University in the United Arab Emirates.

Strikes overnight on March 27 to March 28 hit Tehran, including the university of science and technology in the northeast of the capital, damaging buildings but not causing any casualties, according to media reports. AFP

CAIRO, March 29 - Arab foreign ministers agreed unanimously on Sunday to nominate Egyptian diplomat Nabil Fahmy as secretary-general of the Arab League, succeeding Ahmed Aboul Gheit, whose second term in charge ends in June 2026, Egyptian state media outlets reported.

The decision came during a video conference.

Under the Arab League charter, the secretary-general is appointed by at least a two-thirds majority. While the charter does not stipulate a specific nationality for the post, it has traditionally been held by an Egyptian, except for Tunisian Chedli Klibi, who held the position from 1979 to 1990, reflecting Cairo’s role as host of the organization’s headquarters.

ISLAMABAD/DUBAI – Iran said it was ready to respond to a US ground attack, accusing Washington on March 29 of preparing a land assault even as it sought negotiations and as regional powers held talks in Pakistan to try to end the fighting.

The foreign ministers of Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Egypt were set to meet in Islamabad to discuss ways to halt the month-long US-Israeli war on Iran, which has killed thousands of people and caused the biggest disruption to global energy supplies.

Iran’s Parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf accused the US of sending messages about possible negotiations while secretly planning to send in its ground forces, adding that Iran was ready to respond if US troops were deployed.