Iran players and team officials posed with photographs of children killed in the Middle East war before their friendly match against Costa Rica in Turkey on Tuesday.

Every Iran player held a photo during the national anthem before their 5-0 victory near the city of Antalya.

Iran's head coach Amir Ghalenoei and the vice-president of the Iranian Football Federation, Mehdi Mohammad Nabi, were among the officials who also held up the photographs.

FIFA president Gianni Infantino told AFP Tuesday that Iran "will be at the World Cup" and will play their group matches in the United States as scheduled, despite the Middle East war.

"Iran will be at the World Cup," Infantino said at half-time as Iran beat Costa Rica 5-0 in a friendly in southern Turkey.

"That's why we're here. We're delighted because they're a very, very strong team, I'm very happy."

"I've seen the team, I've spoken to the players and the coach, so everything is fine," added Infantino, whose attendance at Tuesday's game was unannounced.

GENEVA, March 31 (Reuters) - The U.N. rights chief on Tuesday urged Israel to repeal a law making death by hanging a default sentence for Palestinians convicted in military courts of deadly attacks, saying the legislation violated international humanitarian law.

"It raises serious concerns about due process violations, is deeply discriminatory, and must be promptly repealed," Volker Turk said in a statement sent to reporters.

By Phil Stewart

WASHINGTON, March 31 (Reuters) - Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth declined on Tuesday to reaffirm the U.S. commitment to NATO's collective defense, saying that would be up to President Donald Trump after key European allies refused to stand with the United States in the war against Iran.

The remarks by Hegseth at a Pentagon briefing were extraordinary, given that collective defense lies at the heart of the NATO alliance, which was formed in 1949 with the primary aim of countering the risk of Soviet attack on allied territory.

Iran's chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz has thrown the global economic system into turmoil, yet Israel, which launched attacks on Tehran alongside the United States, has emerged as a rare exception.

Since Israel and its US ally started the Middle East war on February 28, economies from Asia to Europe and the United States have come under pressure from surging oil and natural gas prices that have driven up fuel and electricity costs.

BEIRUT, March 31 (Reuters) - Three U.N. peacekeepers were killed this week in southern Lebanon, making the latest war between Israel and Hezbollah one of the deadliest chapters for a peacekeeping mission whose decades-long mandate expires this year.

The U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) first deployed in 1978 and has remained through successive conflicts, including a 2024 war during which its positions came under fire repeatedly.

March 31 (Reuters) - Initial findings of a probe into the deaths of two Indonesian peacekeepers in southern Lebanon point to a roadside explosion striking their convoy, the United Nations peacekeeping chief said on Tuesday.

The two peacekeepers with the UNIFIL force were killed on Monday near Bani Hayyan in south Lebanon and two other soldiers were wounded in the blast. Another Indonesian soldier was killed overnight Sunday into Monday when a projectile exploded near one of the group's positions.

(Corrects typographical error in headline)

March 31 (Reuters) - Iran's Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei is in the country but is refraining from making public appearances "for understandable reasons", the RTVI news outlet quoted Russia's ambassador to the country as saying on Tuesday.

Mojtaba replaced his father, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed when Israel and the United States launched their war on Iran more than a month ago. The U.S. has said it believes Mojtaba himself is wounded and likely disfigured.

BERLIN, March 31 (Reuters) - German Chancellor Friedrich Merz clarified on Tuesday comments he made about the return of Syrian refugees to their homeland after economists and politicians warned that a mass departure could have a serious economic effect.

At a press conference with Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa on Monday, Merz said some 80% of Syrians in Germany were expected to return to their home land in the next three years.

Fear for her son's fate kept Maisoun Shawamreh awake through the night in the occupied West Bank following the Israeli parliament's approval of a law permitting the execution of Palestinians convicted of deadly terror attacks.

"The mothers of prisoners -- none of us slept last night," Shawamreh told AFP as she joined a protest in Ramallah against the law on Tuesday.

Her son has been in detention for three years, awaiting sentencing on charges of attempted murder.

"He may or may not be subject to execution," she said, uncertain of what lies ahead.