@lcmporter.bsky.social
Award-winning correspondent based in Turkey for The National newspaper. English, français, العربيّة, فارسى, Türkçe öğreniyorum. I like elegant writing, translation, textiles, and the sea. All views are my own.
“If the war ends in a few months, both sides will declare victory, and the main losers will be the people of #Iran,” said Sina, one of the residents of Tehran who spoke to me for this story.
www.thenationalnews.com/news/mena/20...
وقتی که این جنگ به پیان میرسه، چه میشه؟ امرکیا به این سوال جواب نداره
#Iran’s political prisoners are being moved to unknown locations near military facilities where they are at greater risk of US/Israeli airstrikes & food & water supplies have dwindled, human rights groups & a prisoner’s relative told me.
www.thenationalnews.com/news/mena/20...
This is the second time in a week that Nato forces have shot down a ballistic missile appearing to target Turkey.
"All necessary measures will be taken decisively and without hesitation against any threat directed at our country's territory and airspace." 3/
Debris from the intercepted missile landed on "vacant land" in Gaziantep province in south-eastern Turkey and there were no injuries or casualties, the statement said.
2/
#Turkey said #NATO shot down a ballistic missile launched from Iran that had entered the country's airspace.
The missile, "was neutralised by Nato air and missile defense assets deployed in the Eastern Mediterranean," Ankara's Defense Ministry said in a statement.
1/
Spoke to an Iranian who hasn't been able to speak to his family since war started; 1 sibling is in prison in #Iran. "I feel a deep sense of longing cos we's separated & cos the internet is cut off, I’m really worried. I want to know whether my family & my loved ones are alive & well, how they are."
اینقدر اتفاقات میافتند که نمیتونیم هر چیزی رو پوشش بدهیم. (و خوب اگر سعی میکردیم نادقیق باشه، چون هر مقاله نیازمند بررسی واقعیت زیاده، و این روند طول میکشه). برام در ۱۲ سال به عنوان خبرنگار این سنگینترین دورانه و در شاهد آینده غیر قابل پیش بینی تر هستیم.
زنده باد #ایران
/3
ترس عمیق راجع به اینده. ناتوانی تماس با عزیزان. درد عمیق عمومی. پس از این لحظه کشور کجا میره؟ آینده منطقه کلا چیه؟ البته به این سؤالها نیمیتونیم جوابی بدیم. به عنوان خبرنگاران نگرانی دارم که هر چند که سعی میکنیم اتفاقات رو پوشش بدهیم……
/2
امروز روز اول است از وقتی جنگ شروع شد که گوشی من بسته ماند و اخبار رو چک نکردم. احساس خیلی سنگین و خردکننده دارم. و البته باید بگم که در مقیاسه با دیگران شرایط من خیلی خوبند. در نهایت من خارجی هستم و اصلا احساس مردم رو نمیتونم بفهمم. شادی فوق العاده در دل مردم زیاد پس از کشته شدن رهبر. 1/
For context on #Nakhchivan, the #Azerbaijani exclave attacked yesterday, see my piece from there reported in January: www.thenationalnews.com/news/mena/20...
Many, many acronyms. Many, many groups. My attempt to explain the Iranian Kurdish groups, amid lots of inaccurate conflating of them with Iraqi Kurds
www.thenationalnews.com/news/mena/20...
#Nato forces have shot down a ballistic missile that #Iran fired towards #Turkey, Ankara said, in an escalation of the Iran-US-Israel conflict spreading across the region.
www.thenationalnews.com/news/2026/03...
But #Turkey could still face threats from #Iran that don't involve direct missile/drone attacks - cyber attacks, disruption to energy flows. www.thenationalnews.com/news/mena/20...
Turkey is trying to steer a course back to diplomacy. Pres Erdogan speaking with Trump, leaders from UAE, KSA, Qatar, Kuwait, EU and Nato. Hakan Fidan has already spoken with at least 15 counterparts in recent days (I counted them). www.thenationalnews.com/news/mena/20...
Why hasn't #Turkey been attacked by #Iran, even though it held v similar positions before the conflict to the #Gulf countries who have been? Why did Pres Erdogan give condolences for Khamenei's death, despite the regional rivalries between Turkey and Iran? I try to explain:
قیمت جنگ #اسراییل و #امریکا در #ایران برای شهروندان و غیر نظامیان افزایش پیدا میکنه
https://www.thenationalnews.com/news/mena/2026/03/03/civilian-cost-of-us-israeli-war-mounts-in-iran
Air defence systems were “not really working” because most had been damaged or destroyed in the 12-day war with Israel last June, or on the first day of this conflict on Saturday, a resident of #Tehran #Iran told me.
“We don’t even have alarms.”
www.thenationalnews.com/news/mena/20...
The most detailed read yet on the operations that allowed the US and Israel to kill #Iran's supreme leader Ali Khamenei
www.ft.com/content/bf99...
APNewsAlert: VIENNA (AP) — UN nuclear watchdog: #Iran's Natanz nuclear site sustained 'some recent damage,' though 'no radiological consequence.'
787 people have now been killed in US and Israeli attacks on #Iran since Saturday, the country's Red Crescent Society has said.
The number was based on, "operational teams' field reports," the organisation said, and added that 504 locations in 153 of Iran's 300-plus counties had been attacked.
As the laid off Middle East News Editor, I concur. Management eliminated the positions of every single staff correspondent and bureau chief in the Middle East.
555 people have been killed in US and Israeli attacks across #Iran, the country's Red Crescent Society said.
100,000+ paramedics are responding to attacks that have so far impacted 131 of Iran's 491 counties, said the society - part of global network of national Red Cross/Red Crescent societies.
Radio/TV producers: I am available to consider media appearance requests but please be aware that I am in Istanbul, Turkey (not in Baghdad, Iraq, where I used to be based), or the UAE
Fear, mourning and joy in #Iran after news of #Khamenei's death
www.thenationalnews.com/news/mena/20...
. @POTUS says Ali Khamenei, #Iran’s Supreme Leader, is dead
At least 201 people have been killed in Iran following airstrikes by the U.S. and Israel, a spokesman for the Iranian Red Crescent Society told the Isna news agency.
Twenty-four of the country's 31 provinces have been targeted, and more than 740 people have been injured, he said.
Exclusive: three members of the #IRGC killed in an attack on security team of former president Mahmoud Ahmedinajad in north-eastern #Tehran
www.thenationalnews.com/news/mena/20...
The job I would not want right now: that of Omani Foreign Minister Badr Al-Busaidi, who is mediating between Iran and the US. A reminder that western countries often rely on their Middle Eastern partners to do the really hard job of to-ing and fro-ing in the hardest circumstances.
The video version of our story on Soheil Almasi, shot dead during protests last month in #Iran. Before he died, Soheil told his father: "Dad, if you're going to be a lion, it's better you be killed than to be a mouse and hide in a hole."
www.tiktok.com/@thenational...