Washington, March 7: The US State Department said that it has approved a possible Foreign Military Sale to Israel of munitions and related support services, including 12,000 aerial bombs.

The deal is worth about 151.8 million US dollars, the department said in a statement.

Israel has requested to purchase 12,000 BLU-110A/B general purpose, 1,000-pound bomb bodies, reports Xinhua news agency, quoting the US State Department statement.

“The Secretary of State (Marco Rubio) has determined and provided detailed justification that an emergency exists that requires the immediate sale to the Government of Israel of the above defense articles and defense services is in the national security interests of the United States, thereby waiving the Congressional review requirements under Section 36(b) of the Arms Export Control Act,” it said.

“The proposed sale will improve Israel’s capability to meet current and future threats, strengthen its homeland defence, and serve as a deterrent to regional threats,” it added.

The package also includes US government and contractor engineering, logistics, technical support services, and other related elements of logistics and program support, said the statement.

The United States and Israel launched massive attacks on Iran on February 28, killing Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, multiple senior military commanders and hundreds of civilians. Iran has responded with multiple waves of missile and drone attacks targeting Israel and US assets across the region.

As tensions sharply escalated between the United States, Israel and Iran, the conflict entered its eighth day, with Israel carrying out a fresh round of strikes while explosions were reported at one of Tehran’s main commercial airports.

The confrontation, which began on February 28 with a strike in Tehran, has steadily widened in scope. What initially appeared to be a series of aerial exchanges has now expanded into a broader theatre of conflict, including drone attacks taking place across the Gulf region.

US President Donald Trump adopted a hardline stance on the crisis, stating that there would be “no deal” with Iran unless it offered what he described as “unconditional surrender”.

He further suggested that after such a capitulation, Iran should move toward selecting a new leadership that would be acceptable to his administration.

Riyadh, March 7: Saudi Arabia on Saturday cautioned Iran against engaging in what it described as “misguided calculations” as tensions across the West Asia region continue to intensify amid an expanding conflict.

Iran has directed retaliatory missile and drone strikes toward Israel and US military positions, while also launching hundreds of ballistic missiles and thousands of drones toward Arab states across the Gulf.

These attacks have targeted energy infrastructure, civilian locations, and US military bases spread across the region.

Saudi Arabia’s Defence Minister Khalid bin Salman Al Saud issued the warning following a meeting with Pakistan’s Army Chief Field Marshal Asim Munir.

After the discussions, the minister expressed hope that Iran would “act with wisdom and reason” and refrain from taking steps that could further inflame the already volatile situation, urging Tehran to avoid “misguided calculations.”

Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia reported that its air defence systems successfully intercepted another incoming attack.

The Kingdom said a ballistic missile aimed at a military facility southeast of the capital was neutralised before reaching its target.

“A ballistic missile launched toward Prince Sultan Air Base was intercepted and destroyed,” the Saudi Defence Ministry said in a post on X.

Saudi officials also disclosed that multiple aerial threats had been neutralised in recent days.

According to the Defence Ministry, four drones were shot down on Friday (local time), including three in the eastern areas of Riyadh and another to the northeast of the capital. Authorities further said that a cruise missile was intercepted over the city of Kharj.

Earlier in the week, Iranian drones also targeted the US Embassy in Riyadh. Saudi Arabia’s Defence Ministry said two drones struck the compound, causing what it described as “limited fire” and only minor structural damage.

Following the incident, the US Embassy urged American citizens to avoid visiting the compound as a precautionary measure.

Saudi Arabia’s key energy infrastructure has also been targeted during the ongoing attacks. The Ras Tanura oil refinery, one of the Kingdom’s major crude processing facilities, came under a drone assault as well.

However, Saudi air defences managed to bring down the incoming aircraft before they could cause damage, a military spokesperson told the state-run Saudi Press Agency.

The Ras Tanura refinery has a production capacity of more than half a million barrels of crude oil per day, making it one of the most significant oil processing sites in the country.

New York, March 7: A Pakistani man has been convicted of plotting with Iran to assassinate US President Donald Trump in a verdict handed down coincidentally while Washington and Tehran are locked in a war.

A Federal jury on Friday found Asif Merchant guilty of trying to hire hitmen to kill Trump and, possibly, other politicians, under the direction of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC).

The 47-year-old Pakistani faces life in prison when he is sentenced.

The plot was to have taken place in 2024 during the presidential campaign, but was foiled because a fellow Pakistani he approached for help with the plot was an informant for the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).

“The FBI and our partners stopped that deadly plot,” the agency’s Director Kash Patel said after the verdict.

“This was not the first attempt by Iran to harm our citizens on US soil; the other efforts also failed”, he added.

Merchant was arrested in July 2024 as he was leaving the US and charged in the case the next month.

War Secretary Pete Hegseth said on Wednesday that the US killed the Iranian mastermind of the plot, but did not identify the person.

The dates for the trial that started last week in a Brooklyn Federal court in the city were set long before the Iran conflict.

The judge presiding over the trial, Eric Komitee, remarked about the coincidence, “This trial is happening in interesting times”.

During the trial, Merchant admitted to participating in the plot, claiming it was because of threats by Iran against his family in that country.

He said that he received spycraft training from the IRGC and was also given two other names besides Trump for possible attacks — President Joe Biden and Nikki Haley, the Indian American politician who initially pursued the Republican Party presidential nomination.

Merchant had two wives, one in his homeland, Pakistan, and another in Iran, which he visited often and where he was recruited by the IRGC.

The prosecution said that he began working for the IRGC in Pakistan in 2022 or 2023, and by his own admission, was sent later in 2023 to the US to look for IRGC recruits.

The prosecutor in the case, Nina Gupta, told the court on Monday that Merchant used a clothing business as cover for the operation, and he wanted to attack those whom he believed were against “Pakistan and the Muslim world”.

He told the court that his mission was changed the next year and sent back to the US to hire “Mafia” members to steal documents, organise protests, and arrange the assassination of one of the three politicians who were targeted.

According to the prosecution, he contacted an acquaintance in New York identified as Nadeem Ali to help with the plot.

Ali, who was an FBI informant, notified the agency, and undercover officers came on board pretending to be hitmen for hire, according to the prosecution’s case.

Merchant gave the undercover officers a $5,000 down payment to carry out the assassination, and he was recorded sketching out the plot on a napkin in a New York hotel room.

In a secret recording of a meeting with the undercover agents played in court, Merchant told them, “Maybe you can, say, kill someone”.

And he added, “Maybe it’s some political person”.

The prosecution said that he searched the internet for places where Trump was holding rallies.

In another coincidence, totally unrelated to Merchant’s plot, a day after his arrest, a man tried to assassinate Trump at a rally in Pennsylvania, missing him by inches, with the bullet grazing his ear.