President Trump has said he took out Ayatollah Khamenei before “he got me” seemingly referring to the failed Iranian assassination attempts orchestrated against him.

“I got him before he got me,” Trump told ABC News Sunday as he reacted to the death of the Iranian Supreme Leader, 86. “They tried twice. Well I got him first.”

Iran has been threatening to assassinate Trump since 2020, in response to the killing of Iranian Gen. Qasem Soleimani.

And in June last year, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claimed Iran orchestrated two failed assassination attempts on Trump in 2024.

Netanyahu was probed on the claim before adding: “Through proxies, yes. Through their intel, yes. They want to kill him.”

An Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps official ordered Farhad Shakeri to stalk and assassinate Trump in the final weeks of the 2024 campaign.

Shakeri, who previously spent time in US prisons for robbery, told the FBI that an IRGC contact told him to create a plan within 7 days to surveil and kill Trump, according to a criminal compliant unsealed in a Manhattan federal court.

If Shakeri failed to meet the deadline, then the hit would’ve been postponed as the official believed it would have been easier to kill Trump if he lost the election.

Iran dismissed suggestions it was involved in attempts to assassinate US officials.

But, the regime has previously shared a clip that promoted a drone attack on Trump at his Mar-a-Lago golf course.

In the video, a robotic system piloted by Iranian operatives focuses in on Trump and former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo while they are on the course.

And, a text message from an Iranian operator is sent, which says: “Soleimani’s murderer and the one who gave the order will pay the price.”

The Iranian agents take out both men and the clip ends with the words: “Revenge is Definite.”

Trump revealed he left “very firm instructions” for Iran to be blown up if ever the regime carried out its threat.

“Anything ever happens, the whole country is going to get blown up,” he told NewsNation in January.

“I would absolutely hit them so hard. But I have very firm instructions.”

The ongoing conflict in the Middle East between US and Israel one one side and Iran on the other has affected the world of sport, including football, leaving several athletes stranded in the war zone and resulting in the cancellation or postponement of multiple events, including a match involving the iconic Cristiano Ronaldo.

Iran, after all,
is targeting Israel as well as multiple US assets across the Gulf including in nations such as United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Kuwait and Qatar in retaliation against Washington and Israel’s joint strikes targeting Tehran, which has led to the
death of their Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

The conflict has forced the Asian Football Confederation to postpone the continental club championship playoffs taking place in the Middle East. In a statement posted on Sunday, the governing body for Asian football confirmed that the AFC Champions League Elite Round of 16 games scheduled to take place on Monday and Tuesday will be rescheduled.

Al Nassr’s Champions League Two match against Al-Wasl postponed

Additionally, the AFC Champions League 2 and AFC Challenge League quarter-finals scheduled to take place on Tuesday and Wednesday in the West Zone will be postponed. No new dates have been announced by the AFC so far.

Al-Nassr, the Saudi Pro League club that Portuguese superstar Cristiano Ronaldo has been part of since 2023, was scheduled to face Emirati club Al-Wasl in Dubai in the AFC Cup quarter-finals.

“The AFC will continue to closely monitor this rapidly evolving situation and remains resolute in ensuring the safety and security of all players, teams, officials, and fans,” the AFC said in a statement.

The AFC, however, added that matches in the eastern part of the continent across all of AFC’s continental championships will continue as scheduled.

This includes the Women’s Asian Cup in Australia that gets underway next Sunday and features India – who had made history by securing qualification on merit for the tournament last year and are set to make their first appearance in over two decades.

At least six people were killed in clashes with police Sunday after hundreds of protesters stormed the US Consulate in the Pakistani port city of Karachi, authorities said.

The violence came after the United States and Israel attacked Iran and killed the country’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Police and officials at a hospital in Karachi said at least eight people were also wounded in the clashes.

Police in Karachi said the protesters were later dispersed and the situation was under control.

Karachi is the capital of southern Sindh province.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

Double Olympic medallist PV Sindhu is the most high profile Indian name to be stranded in the Middle East as conflict rages in the region in the wake of United States and Israel’s combined strikes on Iran that started Saturday.

Iran soon retaliated with strikes across multiple nations in the Middle East triggering a wider conflict. Several airports across the Gulf region have suspended operations due to the conflict leading to travellers getting stranded in these countries as they wait for situation to improve.

Here we take a look at some of the key stars from the sports world who are currently stranded in the Gulf due to this unfolding war.

PV Sindhu stranded in Dubai

Star Indian shuttler was on her way to the United Kingdom for the All England Championships but now she is stuck at the Dubai Airport. In a post on X, Sindhu described her ordeal saying that there was an explosion close to where she was stranded. If the situation does not improve quickly, it could also endanger Sindhu’s participation as the prestigious All England.

The ordeal continues to unfold, and the situation is becoming more frightening by the hour.

A few hours ago, there was an explosion close to where we were holed up at the airport. My coach had to quickly run out of the area as he was closest to the smoke and debris. It was an… https://t.co/ZdNtuALk0P

— Pvsindhu (@Pvsindhu1) March 1, 2026

Mushfiqur Rahim stuck in Jeddah

Former Bangladesh cricket captain Mushfiqur Rahim has been stranded in Jeddah while returning from his Umrah pilgrimage.

“Unfortunately due to the war between USA, ISRAEL AND IRAN all the flight has return to Jeddah and now i am in jeddah airpot including thoushand of passengers…when and how we will able to go to Dhaka along with other Bangladeshi people,” Rahim wrote on his Facebook page.

Daniil Medvedev, Holger Rune among stranded tennis stars

Daniil Medvedev won the men’s singles event at the Dubai Tennis Championships. Him and all his competitors who had not left Dubai are now stranded. Reports suggest that Holger Rune is also stuck in Doha in Qatar where he was staying as part of his structured rehabilitation programme.

Graeme Souness stuck in Abu Dhabi

Liverpool legend and football expert also remains stranded in Abu Dhabi. He was supposed to catch a plane to the United Kingdom but the conflict has left him stuck at the airport in the UAE.

“Well right now, I’m at this airport, I’m hearing some pretty loud bangs going off, and that is anti-missiles taking out missiles being fired at some American base,” the Liverpool legend posted on his Instagram stories.

The death toll from a crackdown over Iran’s nationwide protests last month has reached at least 7,002 people killed with many more still feared dead, activists said Thursday.

The slow rise in the number of dead from the demonstrations adds to the overall tensions facing Iran both inside the country and abroad as it tries to negotiate with the United States over its nuclear program.

A second round of talks remains up in the air as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pressed his case directly with US President Donald Trump to intensify his demands on Tehran in the negotiations.

“There was nothing definitive reached other than I insisted that negotiations with Iran continue to see whether or not a Deal can be consummated. If it can, I let the Prime Minister know that will be a preference,” Trump wrote afterward on his TruthSocial website.

“Last time Iran decided that they were better off not making a Deal, and they were hit. … That did not work well for them. Hopefully this time they will be more reasonable and responsible.”

Meanwhile, Iran at home faces still-simmering anger over its wide-ranging suppression of all dissent in the Islamic Republic.

That rage may intensify in the coming days as families of the dead begin marking the traditional 40-day mourning for the loved ones.

Activists’ death toll slowly rises

The US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency, which offered the latest figures, has been accurate in counting deaths during previous rounds of unrest in Iran and relies on a network of activists in Iran to verify deaths.

The slow rise in the death toll has come as the agency slowly is able to crosscheck information as communication remains difficult with those inside of the Islamic Republic.

Iran’s government offered its only death toll on Jan. 21, saying 3,117 people were killed. Iran’s theocracy in the past has undercounted or not reported fatalities from past unrest.

The Associated Press has been unable to independently assess the death toll, given authorities have disrupted internet access and international calls in Iran.

The rise in the death toll comes as Iran tries to negotiate with the United States over its nuclear program.

Diplomacy over Iran continues

Senior Iranian security official Ali Larijani met Wednesday in Qatar with Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani.

Qatar hosts a major US military installation that Iran attacked in June, after the US bombed Iranian nuclear sites during the 12-day Iran-Israel war in June.

Larijani also met with officials of the Palestinian Hamas militant group, and in Oman with Tehran-backed Houthi rebels from Yemen on Tuesday.

Larijani told Qatar’s Al Jazeera satellite news network that Iran did not receive any specific proposal from the US in Oman, but acknowledged that there was an “exchange of messages.”

Qatar has been a key negotiator in the past with Iran, with which it shares a massive offshore natural gas field in the Persian Gulf.

Its state-run Qatar News Agency reported that ruling emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani spoke with Trump about “the current situation in the region and international efforts aimed at de-escalation and strengthening regional security and peace,” without elaborating.

The US has moved the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln, ships and warplanes to the Middle East to pressure Iran into an agreement and have the firepower necessary to strike the Islamic Republic should Trump choose to do so.

Already, US forces have shot down a drone they said got too close to the Lincoln and came to the aid of a US-flagged ship that Iranian forces tried to stop in the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf.

Trump told the news website Axios that he was considering sending a second carrier to the region. “We have an armada that is heading there and another one might be going,” he said.

Concern over Nobel Peace Prize laureate

Meanwhile, the Norwegian Nobel Committee said it was “deeply appalled by credible reports detailing the brutal arrest, physical abuse and ongoing life‑threatening mistreatment” of 2023 Peace Prize laureate Narges Mohammadi.

The committee that awards the prize said it had information Mohammadi had been beaten during her arrest in December and continued to be mistreated. It called for her immediate and unconditional release.

“She continues to be denied adequate, sustained medical follow‑up while being subjected to heavy interrogation and intimidation,” the committee said. “She has fainted several times, suffers from dangerously high blood pressure and has been prevented from accessing necessary follow‑up for suspected breast tumors.”

Iran just sentenced Mohammadi, 53, to over seven more years in prison. Supporters had warned for months before her arrest that she was at risk of being put back into prison after she received a furlough in December 2024 over medical concerns.