• US military, shipping will be legitimate targets: Iranian official
• Israeli PM, Marco Rubio discuss possible US intervention on call.
• Tel Aviv on high alert due to prospects of any action by Washington.

PARIS: Iran on Sunday warned that it would strike US military and shipping targets in the event of a new attack by Washington during an ongoing wave of protests.

“In the event of a military attack by the US, both the occupied territory and centres of the US military and shipping will be our legitimate targets,” said Iranian parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, who told parliament in comments broadcast by state TV.

Tehran’s warning comes as sources say Israel is on high alert for the possibility of US intervention amid protests in Iran.

The country has faced demonstrations since December 28, 2025, on the issue of soaring inflation, with authorities accusing the US and Israel of fomenting unrest.

US President Donald Trump has repeatedly threatened to intervene in recent days and warned Iran’s rulers against using force against demonstrators. On Saturday, Trump said the US stands “ready to help”.

The sources, who were present for Israeli security consultations over the weekend, did not elaborate on what Israel’s high-alert footing meant in practice. Israel and Iran fought a 12-day war in June, in which the US joined Israel in launching airstrikes.

In a phone call on Saturday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio discussed the possibility of US intervention in Iran, according to an Israeli source who was present for the conversation.

A US official confirmed the two men spoke but did not say what topics they discussed.

India proposes requiring smartphone makers to share source code with the government and make several software changes as part of a raft of security measures, prompting behind-the-scenes opposition from giants like Apple and Samsung.

The tech companies have countered that the package of 83 security standards, which would also include a requirement to alert the government to major software updates, lacks any global precedent and risks revealing proprietary details, according to four people familiar with the discussions and a Reuters review of confidential government and industry documents.

The plan is part of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s efforts to boost the security of user data as online fraud and data breaches increase in the world’s second-largest smartphone market, with nearly 750 million phones.

IT Secretary S Krishnan told Reuters that “any legitimate concerns of the industry will be addressed with an open mind”, adding it was “premature to read more into it”. A ministry spokesperson said it could not comment further due to ongoing consultation with tech companies on the proposals.

Apple, South Korea’s Samsung, Google, China’s Xiaomi and MAIT, the Indian industry group that represents the firms, did not respond to requests for comment.

Indian government requirements have irked technology firms before. Last month, it revoked an order mandating a state-run cyber safety app on phones amid concerns over surveillance. But the government brushed aside lobbying last year and required rigorous testing for security cameras over fears of Chinese spying.

Xiaomi and Samsung, whose phones use Google’s Android operating system, hold 19% and 15%, respectively, of India’s market share, while Apple holds 5%, according to Counterpoint Research.

Among the most sensitive requirements in the new Indian Telecom Security Assurance Requirements is access to source code – the underlying programming instructions that make phones work. This would be analysed and possibly tested at designated Indian labs, the documents show.

The Indian proposals also require companies to make software changes to allow pre-installed apps to be uninstalled and to block apps from using cameras and microphones in the background to “avoid malicious usage”.

“Industry raised concerns that globally security requirements have not been mandated by any country,” said a December IT ministry document detailing meetings that officials held with Apple, Samsung, Google and Xiaomi.

The security standards, drafted in 2023, are in the spotlight now as the government is considering imposing them legally. IT ministry and tech executives are due to meet on Tuesday for more discussions, sources said.

Companies say source code review, analysis ‘not possible’

Smartphone makers closely guard their source code. Apple declined China’s request for source code between 2014 and 2016, and US law enforcement has also tried and failed to get it.

India’s proposals for “vulnerability analysis” and “source code review” would require smartphone makers to perform a “complete security assessment”, after which test labs in India could check their claims through source code review and analysis.

“This is not possible … due to secrecy and privacy,” MAIT said in a confidential document drafted in response to the government proposal, and seen by Reuters. “Major countries in the EU, North America, Australia and Africa do not mandate these requirements.”

MAIT asked the ministry last week to drop the proposal, a source with direct knowledge said.

The Indian proposals would mandate automatic and periodic malware scanning on phones. Device makers would also have to inform the National Centre for Communication Security about major software updates and security patches before releasing them to users, and the centre would have the right to test them.

MAIT’s document says regular malware scanning significantly drains a phone’s battery, and seeking government approval for software updates is “impractical” as they need to be issued promptly.

India also wants the phone’s logs – digital records of its system activity – to be stored for at least 12 months on the device.

“There is not enough room on the device to store 1-year log events,” MAIT said in the document.

Donald Trump has ordered special forces commanders to prepare plans for an invasion of Greenland, but the proposal is facing resistance from senior military figures, The Mail on Sunday understands.Sources said policy hawks around the US President, led by political adviser Stephen Miller, feel emboldened by the reported success of the operation to detain Venezuela’s leader, Nicolás Maduro. They are said to want swift action to secure the island before Russia or China takes steps of its own.

British diplomats believe Trump is also driven by a wish to divert voters’ attention from the state of the US economy ahead of the mid-term elections later this year, after which he could lose control of Congress to the Democrats.

Such a move would place him in direct conflict with Sir Keir Starmer and would, in effect, bring about the collapse of Nato.

Sources divulged that the president asked the Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) to prepare an invasion plan. The proposal has met opposition from the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who argue that it would be unlawful and would not receive congressional backing.

One source said efforts had been made to divert Trump’s attention towards less contentious options, including intercepting Russian “ghost ships” — a covert fleet of vessels used by Moscow to bypass Western sanctions — or considering military action against Iran.

Diplomats have conducted war games around what they describe as an “escalatory scenario”, in which Trump uses force or political pressure to break Greenland’s ties with Denmark.

One diplomatic cable terms a worst-case outcome that results in “the destruction of Nato from within”.

It adds that some European officials suspect this is the underlying objective of the hardline Maga faction around Trump. Since Congress would not permit a US withdrawal from Nato, the occupation of Greenland could compel European states to abandon the alliance.

“If Trump wants to end Nato, this may be the most convenient route,” the cable says.

Under a ‘compromise scenario’, Denmark would grant the United States full military access to Greenland while denying access to Russia and China.