President Donald Trump said Monday that "regime change" was underway in Iran as the United States holds peace talks with an unidentified alternative leader.
Trump's surprise announcement to reporters in Florida was short on detail about whom the US side had contacted, but he said it was "not the supreme leader," Mojtaba Khamenei.
He described the unidentified negotiator as "a top person" and "the most respected and the leader."
VATICAN CITY, March 23 (Reuters) - Pope Leo sharply criticised aerial bombardments on Monday, saying they are indiscriminate and should be banned, in his latest anti-war comments as the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran enters its fourth week.
Leo, the first U.S. pope, did not specifically mention the expanding conflict in a meeting with executives and staff from Italy's ITA Airways, but he strongly decried the use of airpower in warfare.
"No one should have to fear that threats of death and destruction might come from the sky," said the pope.
LONDON, March 23 (Reuters) - British police said on Monday an attack on Jewish community ambulances in north London was not being treated as a terrorist incident but the investigation would be led by counter terrorism officers.
"While this has not been declared a terrorist incident at this stage, the investigation is now being led by counter terrorism policing, with all the specialist expertise they bring and all lines of inquiry remain open," Detective Chief Superintendent Luke Williams said.
WASHINGTON, March 23 (Reuters) - President Donald Trump said on Monday the U.S. has had good and productive conversations with Iran and he will order the military to postpone any military strikes against Iranian power plants and energy infrastructure for five days.
Trump's move followed a threat by Iran to attack Israel's power plants and those supplying U.S. bases across the Gulf region if the U.S. targets Iran's power network.
The USS Gerald R. Ford, the world's largest aircraft carrier that has been part of Middle East war operations, on Monday returned to a naval base in Crete, an AFP photographer said.
The vessel, which took on food, fuel and ammunition at Souda Bay in February, reported a laundry fire on March 12 which injured two crew members.
The United States and Israel launched a massive air campaign against Iran in late February following a major US military buildup in the Middle East that included the Ford and another aircraft carrier, the Abraham Lincoln.
PRAGUE, March 23 (Reuters) - Czech police and defence company LPP, which produces drones for Ukraine, are investigating a fire at a factory in the city of Pardubice for possible links to Russian interests, LPP said on Monday.
Police are treating Friday's incident as a deliberate attack after Czech media outlets received emails from a group that protested the manufacturing of weapons for Israel, claiming responsibility for the blaze.
LJUBLJANA, March 23 (Reuters) - Slovenia's political parties looked set for urgent coalition talks on Monday after no clear winner emerged from an election that could sway the Alpine country's domestic and foreignagenda.
Prime Minister Robert Golob's liberal Freedom Movement (GS) party was in a near dead heat with the right-leaning Slovenian Democratic Party (SDS) led by populist ex-prime minister Janez Jansa with nearly all votes counted from Sunday's poll.
MOSCOW, March 23 (Reuters) - U.S.-Israeli strikes near the Bushehr nuclear power plant in Iran are extremely dangerous and Russia has shared its concerns with the United States, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Monday.
Such strikes could have irreparable consequences, Peskov said.
"We believe that strikes on nuclear facilities are potentially extremely dangerous. (...) Therefore, the Russian side, taking an extremely responsible stance on this issue, has repeatedly voiced its concerns," Peskov said.
By Bo Erickson
MEMPHIS, March 23 (Reuters) - Four weeks into the Iran war, U.S. President Donald Trump will shift his focus from overseas conflict to law‑and‑order, visiting Memphis, Tennessee, on Monday to highlight his crime crackdown to bolster his party ahead of November midterm elections.
LONDON, March 23 (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said on Monday there had been no assessment that mainland Britain was being targeted by Iran.
"We carry out assessments all the time in order to keep us safe, and there's no assessment that we're being targeted in that way," Starmer told reporters.
He was asked if Britain could be targeted by Iran after reports at the weekend that Iran had fired two ballistic missiles at the U.S.-U.K. military base Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean.
