The Israeli military has been pursuing a new war tactic in targeting checkpoints set up in the Iranian capital by the paramilitary Basij force as the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and the United States launch more attacks.

The heavily armed checkpoints, roadblocks and patrols have been ramping up in Tehran and across the country in the aftermath of thousands being killed during January’s nationwide protests, and particularly since the start of the ongoing war over two weeks ago.

IRGC-affiliated media confirmed that drone strikes have been hitting the heavily armed checkpoints since Wednesday night, killing and wounding a number of Basij members.

A funeral was held on Friday in the province of Semnan for Morteza Darbari, who was described by the IRGC-linked Tasnim news agency as the commander of a local Basij force based in a mosque in Tehran. He was killed while commanding an armed checkpoint in southeastern District 15.

Footage from the funeral of another killed member, Mohammad-Hossein Kouchaki, was aired by state media on Saturday, showing his family members, surrounded by his fellow Basij fighters armed with assault rifles, promising revenge.

“Both those [dissidents] inside and outside the country, their fate is clear, we will slay them all,” said Kouchaki’s mother at the event. “We will give martyrs on our path but will not bow down. No compromise, no surrender, battle until victory, sacrifice for Mojtaba Khamenei”.

Kouchaki was reported to have been killed in a drone strike in northeastern Tehran, for which the Israeli army confirmed responsibility by releasing footage. The site of the attack was close to where a major fuel depot was bombed days earlier amid wider Israeli attacks hitting Iranian oil reserves.

The state-run Fars news agency said checkpoints have also been similarly targeted in multiple other districts of the sprawling city, and that state forces are responding through “new and creative plans” to adapt to the strikes, and by increasing their patrols.

Intelligence ‘from Iranians’

According to unnamed sources cited by multiple Western news outlets, Israeli commanders have partly acted based on intelligence sent to them by Iranians who have been filming the roadblocks and sending messages through social media.

Videos coming out of Iran continue to be circulated on social media, despite a near-total internet shutdown now being imposed by the theocratic establishment for a 16th day, which has created a black market for the few proxy connections to the outside world that still work.

The state had also imposed a 20-day total internet blackout in response to the protests in January, meaning that more than 90 million Iranians have now spent more than a third of 2026 without access to the global internet. Satellite television dishes found in most homes are the only other alternatives to state media, but those have been disrupted with jamming signals by the authorities, as well.

Through state media, the political, military and judicial authorities of the Islamic Republic have been issuing threats of reprisal against any form of dissent, which could be construed as functioning in line with the interests of the US and Israel.

The police chief, an IRGC commander and state television hosts have all emphasised over the past week that people who take to the streets against the establishment will be treated as an “enemy”.

The judiciary announced on Saturday that any “rioters” who are arrested while acting against the establishment will have their assets confiscated in order to “compensate a part of the damages suffered during the war” with the US and Israel. Multiple people have already been arrested for trying to film missile impact sites and roadblocks, with authorities continuing to promise strict punishments.

This comes days after the judiciary said Iranians living outside the country will also have their assets confiscated if they engage in anti-establishment activities like participating in rallies calling for the return of Reza Pahlavi, the son of Iran’s US-backed shah, who was overthrown in a 1979 Islamic revolution.

War could drag on for weeks

Pahlavi released a video message on Saturday to say that he has a team in place for a “transition period” away from the Islamic Republic.

In lockstep with US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, he has called on Iranians to remain vigilant in their homes until a suitable time arrives to take to the streets.

The Israeli military has also characterised its strikes on the roadblocks in Tehran, as well as numerous Basij, IRGC and police bases across the country, as an attempt to weaken Iranian authorities’ domestic security apparatus.

“These forces led the regime’s primary efforts to suppress internal protests, particularly in recent months, employing severe violence, ‌mass ⁠arrests, and the use of force against civilian demonstrators,” the military said last week.

Speaking on Fox News Radio on Friday, Trump said the establishment in Iran will eventually fall, but “maybe not immediately”.

“They literally have people in the streets with machinegun, machine-gunning people down if they want to protest,” Trump claimed, referring to Iran’s state security forces.

“That’s a pretty big hurdle to climb for people that don’t have weapons,” he said about anti-establishment Iranians, adding that the military strikes will continue.

Both sides of the conflict have said the war could drag on for weeks, with Iranian officials saying there are no prospects for negotiations.

A senior spokesperson for Iranian armed forces claimed in a statement carried by state media on Saturday that the USS Abraham Lincoln supercarrier has been “taken out of commission and taken away from the region after sustaining serious damage”.

“If regional countries do not trust in the fake power of the US, American forces will be forced to leave the region because they can’t even defend their own forces and bases,” said Abolfazl Shekarchi.

HOUSTON (AP) — The United States is heading to the semifinals of the World Baseball Classic after a “different level of focus” helped this All-Star-studded team rebound from a shocking loss.

The U.S. beat Canada 5-3 on Friday night for a spot in the semifinals Sunday against the Dominican Republic. The big win came after an 8-6 loss to Italy in pool play left them needing help to advance to Friday’s game.

“Guys really locked in,” Yankees star Aaron Judge said. “We saw a different level of focus at our workout the other day and then even pregame today. It felt like the boys were locked and ready to go.”

The loss to Italy elicited criticism of the team and particularly manager Mark DeRosa after he prematurely said on a television interview the morning of the loss to Italy that: “Our ticket’s punched to the quarterfinals.”

Judge said he knows a lot of people had negative things to say about them after the Italy game, but they didn’t pay it any mind.

“There’s a lot of noise that’s been going on with that,” he said. “And I think it just speaks volumes to the players in this room, the manager we’ve got, everybody, that no matter what’s being said about us, what’s going on, we still got a job to do on the field.”

First baseman Bryce Harper echoed Judge’s sentiments that they didn’t worry about what outsiders were saying about the team.

“People are going to have their opinion about us,” he said. “I don’t think any of them are going to be sitting at our dinner table or our Thanksgiving dinner, so it doesn’t really matter what anybody says, that’s always been my call on that kind of stuff.”

The Americans did eventually punch their ticket to the quarterfinals when Italy beat Mexico to win Pool B and give the U.S. second place.

Starter Logan Webb, who threw 4 2/3 scoreless innings Friday night, said the team’s path to the semifinals was not ideal but he was proud that the guys got the job done.

“It kind of feels like a second chance and… I felt like it was a newfound energy today,” he said.

Third baseman Alex Bregman appreciated the professionalism in the clubhouse as the team dealt with the adversity from the loss to Italy.

“One of the biggest things that you see around all these great players is everyone’s present and they’re not worried about the future or the past,” he said. “They’re worried about that game, that moment, that pitch, the next pitch. And it was just a good, good response today.”

Now the challenge gets even bigger as the U.S. faces a Dominican t eam that beat South Korea 10-0 Friday in seven innings to advance to the semifinals.

The Americans will send reigning NL Cy Young Award winner Paul Skenes to the mound Sunday to contend with a roster that is also chock full of All-Stars.

“I expect it to be like one of the best games of all time,” DeRosa said.

Judge is thrilled that the team is heading to Miami and can’t wait for what’s waiting for the U.S. there.

“The boys are excited, that’s for sure,” he said. “Definitely getting a taste for playoff atmosphere in March, definitely gets the juices flowing a little bit.”

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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb

Iran is deploying explosive-laden drone boats disguised as wooden fishing vessels in the Strait of Hormuz, a defense expert has warned — a move that signals a new phase of hybrid maritime warfare in one of the world’s most critical shipping lanes.

Cameron Chell, CEO of drone technology firm Draganfly, spoke after the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) confirmed that a Marshall Islands–flagged oil tanker was struck March 1 by an Iranian unmanned surface vehicle north of Muscat, Oman.

“UKMTO has received confirmation that the vessel was attacked by an uncrewed surface vehicle (USV), and that the crew has been evacuated to shore,” UKMTO said in a threat assessment.

Reports also indicated that two additional oil tankers were hit March 11 by remote-controlled explosive boats in the Gulf, as Iran intensified attacks on foreign vessels following the start of the U.S. Operation Epic Fury against the regime on Feb. 28.

FIRES RAGE AT IRAN’S BANDAR ABBAS NAVAL HEADQUARTERS, STRAIT OF HORMUZ TRAFFIC STALLED

The use of so-called “suicide skiffs” represents a growing asymmetric threat in the narrow, 21-mile-wide Strait, Chell warned, while highlighting the technological capabilities behind these attacks.

“The Iranians probably have use of radio remote control, line of sight, frequency hopping, or encrypted radio communication between the skiffs and the Hormuz shoreline,” Chell told Fox News Digital.

“These can be jammed and tracked, but when there’s 50 of these boats, it’s hard to try to find them all along this shoreline or to find a 20-foot wooden fishing boat that is laden with explosives.

“They can have one person controlling a swarm of 10 boats,” he said before describing how there “could also be autonomous swarming where they might have 10 boats that can act with a large level of independence, because they’re pre-programmed.”

“The boats would be used to ram into targets and explode,” Chell clarified.

EX-NAVY SEAL WARNS WITHDRAWING FROM IRAN NOW WOULD HAND ‘VICTORY’ TO REGIME

Chell’s comments followed a March 12 Reuters report stating that six vessels had been attacked in the Gulf and Strait of Hormuz. 

Sources said that Iran had also deployed about a dozen mines, complicating efforts to maintain any traffic through the critical waterway.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told Sky News Thursday that the U.S. Navy, potentially alongside an international coalition, would escort ships when militarily feasible.

U.K. Defense Secretary John Healey also said discussions were underway with European counterparts stressing the global economic stakes tied to the strait. Chell, however, questioned current defensive readiness.

“The drone defense fleets that the U.S. Navy would not have been set up to take these suicide skiffs out,” Chell said.

“The U.S. would be using manned aircraft in order to take them out, which are fantastic at taking out a large target, but inefficient in taking out 50 boats at one time that are an average of 25 or 30 feet in size, laden with explosives.

IRAN’S DRONE SWARMS CHALLENGE US AIR DEFENSES AS TROOPS IN MIDDLE EAST FACE RISING THREATS

“Given the Strait’s geography, it would require patrolling by many aircraft and would require pervasive surveillance over the area, a rapid response to any activity that’s happening,” he said.

As Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei vowed to keep the Strait closed as leverage against the U.S. and Israel, oil prices continue to surge, with Chell also highlighting the geographic advantage Iran holds.

“The geographic layout of the Strait lends itself very well to relatively unsophisticated suicide skiffs, unmanned surface vehicles or USVs,” he warned before describing how the area “lends itself to this low-cost, automatic, asymmetric warfare.”

“The Iranians can disguise them as fishing boats and can be anywhere from 12 to 30 feet, and a boat could be of any description,” Chell said.

“These skiffs are equipped with basic remote control capabilities that may or may not be using GPS waypoints or manual remote control.”

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“The skiffs are not autonomous, because the distance across the Strait is so short, and it’s very flat across this waterway, the communication signal could be carried for quite some time via a line of sight,” he added.

“They could literally have hundreds out there at a time, because they’re also so inexpensive to defend against,” Chell said.