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Pope Leo XIV on Sunday prayed the “roar of bombs” in the Middle East will cease, as the war triggered by US-Israeli air strikes on Iran extended into its ninth day.
News from the region “continues to arouse deep dismay”, the US-born pope said at the end of the Angelus prayer.
“Added to the episodes of violence and devastation and the widespread climate of hatred and fear, is the fear that the conflict will spread, and that other countries in the region, including beloved Lebanon, may once again sink into instability,” he said.
On Sunday, Iran was preparing to reveal its new supreme leader, after US-Israeli air strikes destroyed fuel dumps and triggered fires that choked much of Tehran in a thick blanket of smoke.
Read Also: Trump Attends Return Of First US Troops Killed In Iran War
Iranian missile-and-drone retaliation has targeted many Gulf countries and further afield in the Middle East.
US President Donald Trump has refused to rule out sending American ground troops into Iran, but continues to insist that the war is progressing speedily.
Leo said he prayed “that the roar of the bombs may cease, the weapons may fall silent, and a space for dialogue may open in which the voices of the peoples may be heard”.
US President Donald Trump attended the return Saturday of the bodies of the first six US soldiers killed during the escalating war with Iran.
Trump, wearing a white “USA” baseball cap and accompanied by several Cabinet members, saluted as each flag-draped case was carried from a military transport plane at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware, where the remains of US troops killed overseas are returned to American soil.
The troops were killed last Sunday when a drone struck a key US command center in Kuwait, a day after the United States and Israel launched a sweeping military campaign against Iran.
Trump, wearing a white “USA” baseball cap and accompanied by several Cabinet members, saluted as each flag-draped case was carried from a military transport plane at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware, where the remains of US troops killed overseas are returned to American soil.
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The troops were killed last Sunday when a drone struck a key US command center in Kuwait, a day after the United States and Israel launched a sweeping military campaign against Iran.
Iran’s military called on its neighbour Azerbaijan to “expel the Zionists” from its territory on Saturday in order to preserve its security, a day after Baku accused Tehran of plotting attacks on its territory.
Israel is a close ally of Azerbaijan’s and a key arms supplier, while Tehran has long accused Israel of using Azerbaijani territory for intelligence operations.
“We declare to Iran’s neighbouring country, the Republic of Azerbaijan, as a Muslim country, to expel the Zionists from that country in order to prevent the spread of insecurity in the region and not to endanger the security of its people and Islamic Iran,” a military spokesman said in a statement.
Azerbaijan on Friday said it had foiled a series of planned Iranian terrorist attacks on its territory including on a key oil pipeline, a synagogue and Jewish community leaders.
Iran did not comment on the accusations.
President Trump has taken a jab at Iran for apologising to its neighbouring countries affected by retaliatory airstrikes.
Iran had conducted missile and drone strikes on multiple US military bases in Gulf countries — including Bahrain, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and Kuwait — as retaliation for the “preemptive” strikes launched by the US and Israel.
Earlier, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkan had said Iran has no intention of invading neighbouring countries, calling for regional cooperation to establish peace and calm.
“I deem it necessary to apologise to neighbouring countries that were attacked,” Pezeshkian said.
“We do not intend to invade neighbouring countries.”
Reacting in a post on his Truth Social platform on Saturday, Trump said Iran’s apology was a result of the “relentless US and Israeli attack’ on the country.
The US president accused Iran of planning to take over the Middle East.
“Iran, which is being beat to HELL, has apologised and surrendered to its Middle East neighbours,” Trump posted.
