Closing summary
Thank you for tuning into our live coverage of the war in Iran and its regional ramifications. Here is a quick recap of what has happened so far today:
Donald Trump claimed the US and Israel had “decimated” the Iranian regime, but offered only a vague description of what he meant by his demand for an unconditional surrender. “It’s where they cry uncle, or when they can’t fight any long longer and there’s nobody around to cry uncle — that could happen too,” the US president said aboard Air Force One.
Trump left open the possibility of deploying American troops on the ground. The US president addressed reporters hours after travelling to Dover air force base in Delaware to attend the so-called dignified transfer of six US service members killed in the opening days of his war against Iran.
Iran can fight a war of this size and scale for “at least” another six months, a Revolutionary Guards official has claimed. The defiant statement was carried by the semi-official Fars news agency, which has links to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
Iranian president Masoud Pezeshkian previously apologised to neighbouring countries attacked by Iran. He also said Iran’s interim leadership council had approved that no attacks or missile strikes would be carried out against such countries unless an attack against Iran originated from them.
Vast plumes of smoke and fire have been seen rising over the Tehran skyline overnight. The Israeli military said it struck “several fuel storage complexes” across the city.
At least four people were killed after an Israeli strike on an apartment in the Ramada hotel building in central Beirut, Lebanon’s health ministry said. Ten people were injured. Israel said it conducted a “precise strike” on what it called “key commanders” in the IGRC’s Quds Force foreign operations arm.
The US-Israel war on Iran “should never have happened”, China’s foreign minister said on Sunday. “The world cannot return to the law of the jungle,” Wang Yi told a press conference in Beijing, calling for an end to military operations.
In a post on social media, Trump renewed his criticism of the UK’s lack of immediate support for US-Israeli strikes on Iran, and claimed Downing Street was now “giving serious thought” to sending two aircraft carriers to the region. “That’s OK, Prime Minister Starmer, we don’t need them any longer – But we will remember,” the US president wrote.
A fire at Kuwait International Airport has been brought under control, the Gulf nation has said, hours after drone strikes on its fuel storage tanks.
Earlier Kuwait described the attack as “a direct targeting of vital infrastructure”, as its national oil company also announced a “precautionary” cut to its crude production.
Saudi Arabia has meanwhile reported intercepting and destroying a batch of drones, and Qatar said Iran had fired 10 ballistic missilies and two cruise missiles on Saturday, adding that most had been intercepted, as Tehran pressed ahead with retaliatory attacks across the region
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Iran claims it can continue 'intense war' for six months
Iran can fight a war of this size and scale for “at least” another six months, a Revolutionary Guards official has claimed.
In a statement carried by the semi-official Fars news agency, which has links to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), Guards spokesperson Ali Mohammad Naini said: “The Armed Forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran are capable of continuing at least a 6-month intense war at the current pace of operations.”
The remarks, reported by AFP, amount to a starkly different assessment to that put forward in recent days by Donald Trump, who has repeatedly claimed the operation launched by US and Israel over Iran has been very successful.
“We’re winning the war by a lot,” the US president said this weekend. “We decimated their whole evil empire.”
The IRGC is one of the most feared and powerful organisations in Iran, my colleague Jonathan Yerushalmy has previously reported. Its influence stretches beyond military and intelligence to politics, education and the economy.
The US-Israel war on Iran “should never have happened”, Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi said on Sunday.
Speaking at a press conference in Beijing, the senior official called for an end to military operations, and urged all parties to return to the negotiating table as soon as possible.
“A strong fist does not mean strong reason,” he said. “The world cannot return to the law of the jungle.”
Wang is taking questions at the National People’s Congress (NPC), China’s annual parliamentary gathering, which began on Thursday.
With Reuters and AFP
Updated
Air raid sirens sounded across northern Israel early on Sunday, warning of missiles from Iran.
An Israeli military statement said the country’s air defences responded to “missiles launched from Iran toward the territory of the State of Israel”, the AFP news agency reported.
There were no reports of damage or casualties. Israeli media said several missiles were launched, with most intercepted.
Alerts are said to have been activated across much of northern Israel, including the port city of Haifa, with the army’s Home Front Command ordering residents to go into shelters or safe rooms. The alerts were later lifted.
Lebanon: Israeli strike on Beirut hotel kills four
At least four people have been killed after an Israeli strike on central Beirut, Lebanon’s health ministry said. Ten people were injured.
The strike – which hit an apartment in the Ramada hotel building early on Sunday – is the first to hit the heart of the Lebanese capital since hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah resumed last week.
In a statement, Israel said it conducted a “precise strike” in Beirut, aimed at what it called “key commanders” in the Iranian Revolutionary Guards’ Quds Force foreign operations arm.
The Israeli military did not name the commanders, but accused them of planning “terror attacks against the State of Israel and its civilians” in a statement.
An AFP photographer at the seafront hotel saw one room on the fourth floor with shattered glass and charred walls, the news agency reported, while security forces cordoned off the site.
The hotel was housing displaced people fleeing the war in southern Lebanon and Beirut’s southern suburbs, according to Reuters. The news agency reports that some were seen leaving the building for fear of further air strikes.
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Saudi Arabia’s defence ministry says it intercepted a drone attack in Riyadh, the kingdom’s capital.
In a statement posted on X, the ministry said an attempt to target the city’s diplomatic quarter had been thwarted. No material damage or civilian injuries resulted from shooting down the drone, it added.
The ministry also intercepted six drones east of Riyadh, it said.
Donald Trump on Saturday offered only a vague description of what he meant by his demand for an unconditional surrender by Iran’s current regime, while leaving open the possibility of deploying American troops on the ground but ruling out asking Kurdish forces to mount an invasion.
“I said unconditional. It’s where they cry uncle or when they can’t fight any long longer and there’s nobody around to cry uncle — that could happen too,” Trump said when pressed by the Guardian aboard Air Force One.
The lack of specifics in Trump’s response made it difficult to ascertain his political endgame for the conflict, an issue that has dogged the White House as it faces scrutiny about what the president wants from Iran and how he would play a role in selecting its next leader.
Trump has been more consistent with his military objectives and has said for days he could send US troops. Still, he caveated using ground troops to secure the enriched uranium, believed to be stored at Iran’s nuclear sites the US bombed last year, as a possibility for later in the conflict.
Earlier, after attending the so-called dignified transfer of six US service members killed in the opening days of his war against Iran, Trump told reporters the moment had not made him think twice about continuing.
“No, we’re winning the war by a lot. We decimated their whole evil empire. It will continue I’m sure for a little while but I’m very proud of the people,” Trump said. Later, he added deaths were “a part of war”.
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Pictures: Fire and smoke rise over Tehran after fresh strikes
Plumes of smoke and fire have been seen rising over the Tehran skyline overnight. The IDF has said it struck “several fuel storage complexes” across the city.
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Flames have been seen rising above an oil storage facility in Tehran after Israel’s military said it conducted strikes on “several fuel storage complexes”.
Video from the Associated Press news agency showed the horizon glowing against the night sky above Iranian capital.
It appeared to be the first time a civil industrial facility has been targeted in the war, the AP reported. State media blamed “an attack from the US and the Zionist regime” at the facility, which supplies Tehran and provinces to the north.
The Israel Defense Forces claimed on X that the Iranian regime would use the sites it struck in Tehran to “distribute fuel to multiple military entities in Iran”.
Updated
Kuwait’s international airport has been targeted in a drone attack, the Gulf nation’s defence ministry says, as Iran continued its strikes across the Middle East.
“The fuel tanks of Kuwait International Airport were attacked by drones in a direct targeting of vital infrastructure,” an official defence ministry spokesman said on X.
In a further statement, Kuwaiti military added: “Kuwaiti Air Defenses are currently responding to hostile missile and drone threats.”
Updated
Summary of the day so far
Donald Trump, speaking in Florida to leaders of Latin American countries at his golf resort in Miami, said US strikes on Iran have significantly damaged the country’s military capabilities, claiming American forces have destroyed 42 Iranian navy ships in three days.
Lebanon’s official National News Agency, citing figures from the country’s health ministry, reported that 41 people were killed in Israeli strikes in the eastern Bekaa valley. The Israeli military again warned people south of the Litani river in southern Lebanon to leave, saying the Israeli military is operating with “great force” in the area.
Trump wore a Trump-branded golf cap during the ritual dignified transfer of remains at Dover air force base in Delaware on Saturday, as the commander-in-chief paid his respects to six army reserve soldiers killed in Kuwait in an Iranian strike.
In a post on Truth Social, the US president renewed his criticism of the UK’s lack of immediate support for US-Israeli strikes on Iran, and claimed Downing Street was now “giving serious thought” to sending two aircraft carriers to the region. “That’s OK, Prime Minister Starmer, we don’t need them any longer – But we will remember,” he wrote. “We don’t need people that join Wars after we’ve already won!”
Speaking to reporters on Air Force One, on his way back to Florida from Dover air force base in Delaware, Trump was asked whether he expects to return there for more dignified transfer ceremonies for US troops killed in the war with Iran he launched last Saturday. “Oh yeah, I’m sure,” he replied. “I hate to do them, but it’s a part of war, isn’t it?”
When asked whether the US bombed a girls’ elementary school in Iran, killing more than 175 people, many of them children, Trump claimed that detailed forensic reporting that indicates the US was responsible is wrong. “No, in my opinion, based on what I’ve seen, that was done by Iran,” Trump said without offering any evidence for his claim.
Trump also didn’t rule out deploying US troops to secure Iran’s enriched uranium. When asked about whether he would deploy ground troops in Iran, the president said “possibly” but that there would “have to be a very good reason”. He was then asked whether he might send ground troops into Iran to secure its nuclear facilities. “We wouldn’t do it now. Maybe we’d do it later on,” he replied.
Since the start of US and Israeli airstrikes, more than 6,000 civilian structures across Iran have sustained damage, according to a social media statement from Pir Hossein Kolivand, president of the Iranian Red Crescent.
The president of the UAE, Mohamed bin Zayed al-Nahyan, gave his first public comments since Iran launched retaliatory strikes at the Gulf nation. “The UAE has thick skin and bitter flesh – we are no easy prey,” he said.
Iran’s foreign minister warned in a statement that Trump had misinterpreted the statement by Iran’s president, Masoud Pezeshkian, in which he apologized to neighboring Gulf states and promised to stop strikes against them, unless an attack against Iran originated from those countries. He said Netanyahu ‘managed to dupe’ Trump ‘into fighting Israel’s wars’
Updated
The US Central Command denied on Saturday that any US service members had been taken hostage or captured by Iran.
In a post on X, Iranian security chief Ali Larijani said: “It has been reported to me that several American soldiers have been taken prisoner. But the Americans claim that they have been killed in action. Despite their futile efforts, the truth is not something they can hide for too long.”
US navy captain Tim Hawkins, a spokesperson for the US Central Command, told Reuters: “The Iranian regime is doing everything it can to peddle lies and deceive. This is yet another clear example.”
Updated
Human Rights Watch said today in a statement that the deadly strike on an Iranian girls’ school that killed scores of children in southern Iran must be investigated as a war crime.
The strike occurred the morning of 28 February, amid a wave of hundreds of strikes launched across Iran by US and Israeli forces. While the Iranian government has attributed the attack to the US-Israeli coalition, neither nation has claimed responsibility.
“A prompt and thorough investigation is needed into this attack, including if those responsible should have known that a school was there and that it would be full of children and their teachers before midday,” said Sophia Jones, open-source researcher with the Digital Investigations Lab at Human Rights Watch. “Those responsible for an unlawful attack should be held to account, including prosecutions of anyone responsible for war crimes.”
The Shajareh Tayyebeh primary school was located in Minab, Hormozgan province, situated on the interior boundary of an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) naval forces compound. Despite this proximity, Human Rights Watch noted that evidence reviewed indicates the school was walled off from the military site and maintained a separate street entrance.
Earlier today, Trump accused Iran of being behind the deadly school explosion despite evidence suggesting it was likely a US airstrike.
Updated
When asked about earlier reports of the US attacking a freshwater desalination plant on Qeshm Island, Trump gave an evasive answer, immediately saying that Iran “are among the most evil people ever on Earth”.
He added: “I know nothing about a desalinization plant, other than to say, if they’re complaining about a desalinization plant, we complain about the fact that they shouldn’t be chopping babies’ heads off.”
US special envoy Steve Witkoff also said the Tehran leadership did not seem “very amenable” during negotiations before the US launched strikes.
“They told me and Jared, we’re not going to give you diplomatically what you couldn’t take militarily,” said Witkoff, referring to fellow negotiator and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner. “So you know, I think they’re going to need a change of attitude.”
Updated
Trump doesn't rule out deploying US troops to secure Iran's enriched uranium
Asked by a reporter on Air Force One about whether he would deploy ground troops in Iran, Donald Trump said “possibly” but that there would “have to be very good reason”.
The president was then asked whether he might send ground troops into Iran to secure its nuclear facilities. “We wouldn’t do it now. Maybe we’d do it later on,” Trump replied.
Updated
Without evidence, Trump claims that bombing of Iranian girls' elementary school 'was done by Iran'
Asked on Air Force One whether the United States bombed a girls’ elementary school in Iran, killing more than 175 people, many of them children, Donald Trump claimed that detailed forensic reporting that indicates the US was responsible is wrong.
“No, in my opinion, based on what I’ve seen, that was done by Iran,” the president said without offering any evidence for his claim.
“Is that true, Mr Hegseth?” the same reporter then asked the defense secretary, who was standing behind the president.
As the president turned to look at him, the defense secretary did not agree.
“We’re certainly investigating,” Hegseth said. “But the only side that targets civilians is Iran.”
“We think it was done by Iran,” Trump added, “because they’re very inaccurate, as you know, with their munitions. They have no accuracy whatsoever. It was done by Iran.”
The president’s claim is not supported by logic, since the school was adjacent to an Iranian military base the US targeted from the air, and is contradicted by evidence gathered in independent investigations by journalists at the New York Times, CNN and the Associated Press.
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Trump says he expects more US troops to die in Iran war
Speaking to reporters on Air Force One, on his way back to Florida from Dover air force base in Delaware, Donald Trump was asked whether he expects to return there for more dignified transfer ceremonies for US troops killed in the war with Iran he launched last Saturday.
“Oh yeah, I’m sure,” the president replied. “I hate to do them, but it’s a part of war, isn’t it?”
Trump then asked the reporter who asked him about the prospect of more American lives being lost: “Who are you with?”
When the reporter replied: “the Washington Post”, Trump asked him whether he would agree that death is part of war.
“It’s part of war,” the president repeated, “it’s a sad part of war, it’s the bad part of war.”
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Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc) said it is actively managing offshore output levels to address storage requirements amid the US-Israeli war on Iran, while its onshore operations are continuing, according to Reuters.
“This approach preserves operational flexibility and will enable the company to resume normal operations without prolonged delay,” Adnoc said in a statement.
The war has blocked shipments through the Strait of Hormuz, the crucial waterway responsible for roughly 20% of global oil and LNG supply. Analysts have predicted the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia will soon have to cut output as their oil storage fills up.
Adnoc said its operations are continuing, and that it is using export capacity that bypasses the strait as well as international storage facilities to ensure supply continuity to global markets.
Saudi state oil giant Aramco is temporarily diverting some crude shipments to the Red Sea port of Yanbu to ensure supply continuity for customers unable to access the Gulf, Saudi state media said on Saturday. Reuters reported on Friday that its shipments from the Red Sea are increasing but the volumes are far from enough to offset the drop from the crisis-hit strait.
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Donald Trump said on Saturday that Britain was giving serious thought to sending two aircraft carriers to the Middle East but that he does not need them because “we’ve already won”.
“The United Kingdom, our once Great Ally, maybe the Greatest of them all, is finally giving serious thought to sending two aircraft carriers to the Middle East,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform. “That’s OK, Prime Minister Starmer, we don’t need them any longer – But we will remember. We don’t need people that join Wars after we’ve already won!”
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Trump wears golf cap during transfer of remains of Iran war dead
Donald Trump wore a Trump-branded golf cap during the ritual dignified transfer of remains at Dover air force base in Delaware on Saturday, as the commander-in-chief paid his respects to six army reserve soldiers killed in Kuwait in an Iranian strike.
The white cap, with gold USA letters on the front, appeared to be the same one the president wore last Saturday when he announced the start of the war in a video message recorded from his Florida beach club, Mar-a-Lago. The cap, which is embroidered with the numbers 45 and 47 on the side, in honor of Trump’s terms in office, is available from the Trump Store for $55.
C-Span video and photographs of the event show that Trump saluted as the remains of the six army reserve soldiers were transferred in flag-draped cases without removing his cap.
The president was joined at the ceremony by the first lady, Melania Trump, and officials including the vice-president, JD Vance; the second lady, Usha Vance; the defense secretary, Pete Hegseth; the chair of the joint chiefs of staff, Gen Dan Caine; the White House chief of staff, Susie Wiles; and Steve Witkoff, Trump’s special envoy who led the failed talks with Iran over its nuclear program before the joint US-Israeli attack.
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Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel will continue to strike Iran “with all our might” on Saturday.
In a recorded statement, the Israeli prime minister claimed Israel and the US had gained “almost complete control” over the skies of Iran and that they still had “many more targets and surprises prepared”.
“We will destabilize the regime and enable change,” he said. Israel had announced a new wave of strikes on Tehran shortly before this statement.
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Ali Larijani, the secretary of the supreme national security council of Iran, said that the US is “stuck in the quagmire of its own miscalculations” because of Donald Trump, whom he says has already failed to reach his goals.
“I think the most important problem the Americans have is that they do not understand the context of west Asia, especially Iran,” said Larijani in a pre-recorded interview on state TV. “Their perception was that it would be like Venezuela – they would strike, take control and it would be over – but now they are trapped.”
Larijani said countries across the region are aware that the US cannot secure their security anymore following days of strikes. He added that Tehran has no issue with the other regional countries.
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Since the start of US and Israeli airstrikes, more than 6,000 civilian structures across Iran have sustained damage, according to a social media statement from Pir Hossein Kolivand, president of the Iranian Red Crescent.
The destruction spans several sectors of civilian infrastructure, including:
5,535 residential units
1,041 commercial buildings
65 schools
14 medical centers
13 Red Crescent facilities
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The Turkish foreign minister, Hakan Fidan, said he had spoken to the US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, who said a scheme for Iranian Kurdish forces based in northern Iraq to attack Iran was “not their intention”.
Speaking at a news conference in Istanbul, Fidan said Rubio’s comments came in a recent phone call. Instead, the minister accused Israel of using Kurdish groups as “a proxy” in the region.
Strategies that “aim to create ethnic rivalry or an ethnic conflict in Iran would be something we oppose because it would be the most dangerous scenario”, Fidan said. He said that Turkey had been talking to Kurdish leaders to prevent such a “historic mistake”.
He added that Turkey had been involved in “intense diplomatic traffic” to produce a “formula to end this war”.
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The surprise offer by the president of Iran, Masoud Pezeshkian, to not attack countries in the neighbourhood so long as their airspace and US bases within their territories are not used to attack Iran has provoked a storm inside the country as the military appeared to contradict him, if not outright overrule him.
There were also calls for a new supreme leader to be installed as quickly as possible, as a means of marginalising the president. Attacks on facilities in Bahrain and elsewhere have continued, and there were unconfirmed reports that Bahrain had become the first Gulf country to fire back at Iran.
Abbas Araghchi, the Iranian foreign minister, seemed focused on the likelihood of escalation, rather than de-escalation.
“The US had committed a blatant and desperate crime by attacking a freshwater desalination plant on Qeshm Island. Water supply in 30 villages has been impacted. Attacking Iran’s infrastructure is a dangerous move with grave consequences. The US set this precedent, not Iran.”
There are as many as 400 water desalination plants across the Gulf, and if they come to be viewed as legitimate targets, a drinking water crisis of unimaginable proportions could face the region within days.
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One person was killed in Dubai after debris from a missile that was shot down fell on to a car in the al-Barsha neighborhood, according to the Dubai Media Office.
The victim was a Pakistani driver, according to the statement. No further identifying information was given.
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A military aircraft carrying the remains of US service members killed in the Middle East has touched down at Dover air force base in Delaware. Donald Trump and senior administration officials are in attendance for the transfer ceremony.
These ceremonies, marking the return of fallen service members to US soil, are traditionally held at Dover, which serves as the military’s primary mortuary facility.
Joining the president at the ceremony are JD and Usha Vance, Melania Trump, Pete Hegseth and various cabinet officials.
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Turkish foreign minister Hakan Fidan warned Iran on Saturday against firing any more missiles towards Turkey, after Nato air defences destroyed a missile heading into Turkish airspace several days ago.
Speaking at a press conference in Istanbul, Fidan said Turkey opposed all scenarios aiming to create ethnicity-based civil war in Iran, adding that such scenarios could lead to immigrant waves.
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Pakistan’s deputy prime minister and foreign minister Ishaq Dar has spoken with his Iranian counterpart, Abbas Araghchi, about the evolving situation in the region.
In a post on social media, Dar said “the two leaders exchanged views on recent developments and agreed to remain in touch”.
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Iran's foreign minister says Netanyahu 'managed to dupe' Trump 'into fighting Israel’s wars'
Iran’s foreign minister warned in a statement posted on social media that Donald Trump had misinterpreted the statement by Iran’s president, Masoud Pezeshkian, in which he apologized to neighboring Gulf states and promised to stop strikes against them, unless an attack against Iran originated from those countries.
Trump claimed in a belligerent social media post that Pezeshkian’s apology meant that Iran had “surrendered to its Middle East neighbors” and promised that “Iran will be hit very hard”.
In his new statement, posted on X, the Iranian foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, also called the joint US-Israeli attack on Iran “a war of choice pursued by a small cabal of ‘Israel Firsters’”, echoing the concerns of some Trump supporters who believe that the US offensive is motivated primarily by Israel’s foreign policy objectives.
Here is his complete statement:
President Pezeshkian’s openness to de-escalation within our region-provided that our neighbors’ airspace, territory, and waters are not used to attack the Iranian People-was almost immediately killed by President Trump’s misinterpretation of our capabilities, determination and intent. If Mr Trump seeks escalation, it is precisely what our Powerful Armed Forces have long been prepared for, and what he will get.
Responsibility for any intensification of Iran’s exercise of self-defense will lie squarely with the US Administration.
Mr Trump’s week-long misadventure has already cost the US military $100 Billion, in addition to the lives of young soldiers. When markets reopen, that cost will balloon and directly be transferred to ordinary Americans at pumping stations.
Mr Trump’s own National Intelligence Council, representing input from the 18 intelligence agencies of the US, determined that war on Iran is destined to fail.
I also warned Mr Trump’s envoys that war will not improve their bargaining position. Were these warnings conveyed?
The American People voted to end involvement in costly quagmires in the Middle East. Instead, they have ended up with an Administration that Netanyahu, after decades of failed attempts, finally managed to dupe into fighting Israel’s wars.
This is a war of choice pursued by a small cabal of ‘Israel Firsters’, and ‘Israel First’ always means ‘America Last’.
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The attacks on freshwater desalination plants in the Gulf region have posed a threat to further escalate the war, potentially setting a precedent of destroying civilian water supplies.
Seyed Abbas Araghchi, the foreign minister of Iran, said in an X post: “The US committed a blatant and desperate crime by attacking a freshwater desalination plant on Qeshm Island. Water supply in 30 villages has been impacted. Attacking Iran’s infrastructure is a dangerous move with grave consequences. The US set this precedent, not Iran.”
An Iranian news analyst, Trita Parsi, replied by writing: “The US has struck Iranian desalination plants. If Iran responds in kind by striking desalination plants in GCC, the situation for Iran’s Arab neighbours will be devastating. It appears the Iranian FM is hinting at that in his last sentence here.
Kaveh Madani, director of the UN University Institute for Water, Environment and Health, said in a social media post: “The reported strike on a desalination plant on Qeshm Island is deeply worrying. Millions depend on desalination across the Middle East.” He added that “damage to water infrastructure, whether intentional or accidental, sets a dangerous precedent and risks depriving civilians of drinking water”.
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US government reviews of the war in Iran show that the Trump administration may be ill-equipped for a regime-change war, according to reports.
The Washington Post reported on Saturday morning that a classified intelligence review found that the war in Iran is unlikely to oust the Iranian establishment, despite the Trump administration’s desire to continue its attacks.
At the same time, Democrats are warning that the airstrikes on Iran are diminishing US stockpiles of certain weapons, a point of concern that came up during a closed-door briefing earlier this week between Trump administration officials and members of Congress.
Despite ongoing negotiations, the US and Israel began bombing Iran last week, during a campaign that assassinated Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and other senior Iranian leaders. Iran has engaged in retaliatory strikes, targeting Israel, US installations in the region and several Middle Eastern countries hosting US bases.
Since the strikes began, the Trump administration has claimed that Iran has attempted to negotiate a ceasefire, despite multiple reports showing the contrary.
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Donald Trump plans to attend the dignified transfer for the six US soldiers killed in the Middle East. On Saturday afternoon, Trump will join their mourning families at Delaware’s Dover air force base as the soldiers’ remains return to the US.
Trump said at an event in Miami before his trip to Delaware that the fallen service members were heroes “coming home in a different manner than they thought they’d be coming home”, according to the Associated Press. He said it was “a very sad situation” and he pledged to keep American war deaths “to a minimum”.
Those killed in action were Sgt first class Nicole Amor, 39, of White Bear Lake, Minnesota; Capt Cody Khork, 35, of Winter Haven, Florida; Chief warrant officer 3 Robert Marzan, 54, of Sacramento, California; Maj Jeffrey O’Brien, 45, of Indianola, Iowa; Sgt first class Noah Tietjens, 42, of Bellevue, Nebraska; and Sgt Declan Coady, 20, of West Des Moines, lowa, who was posthumously promoted from specialist.
The six members of the army reserve, who were killed by a drone strike at a command center in Kuwait, were all from the 103rd sustainment command based in Des Moines, Iowa, which provides food, fuel, water, ammunition, transport equipment and supplies. They died just one day after the US and Israel launched its military campaign against Iran.
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Iran’s parliament speaker said Saturday that the attack on a freshwater desalination plant on Qeshm Island was carried out with support from one of the airbases in a southern neighboring country.
He did not name the country. “The crime will receive a proportionate response,” he said.
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In a brief statement published on social media, Qatar’s ministry of defense announced it had intercepted incoming missile fire. This statement follows a week of Iranian strikes targeting oil refineries and US military installations across several Gulf states, including Qatar.
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Over in Cyprus, hundreds have taken to the streets of Nicosia, the capital, to protest against the presence of British military bases on the Mediterranean island.
Chanting “Out with the bases of death!” and “Ay oh, British bases got to go!”, demonstrators marched to the presidential palace to protest against installations that were established as part of a negotiated independence deal for the former colony in 1960.
“They are a danger to our security and should never have been here in the first place,” said Mathaios Stavrinides, holding a giant banner proclaiming: “Cyprus is not your launchpad.”
“At the time [of their establishment] we had no negotiating power. The treaty was signed under duress. In return for independence we were forced to sign off around 3% of our land for the British to have their military bases. Since then, they have been used in countless bombing campaigns across the region and now because of our proximity when they’re targeted they immediately put the [Republic of Cyprus] in danger. We want them closed.”
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UAE is 'no easy prey', says president in first public comments since Iran strikes
Reuters news agency has reported remarks by the president of the UAE, Mohamed bin Zayed al-Nahyan, in his first public comments since Iran launched retaliatory strikes at the Gulf nation.
“The UAE has thick skin and bitter flesh – we are no easy prey,” he said.
“We will carry out our duty towards our country, our people, and our residents who are also part of our family.”
Trump said he intends to keep US deaths in the Iran war “to a minimum”, as he prepares to attend the “dignified transfer” of the six US troops killed during the conflict.
He will join grieving families at Dover air force base in Delaware later today for the dignified transfer, a ritual in honour of US troops killed during their military service.
The six American service members were killed in an unmanned aircraft system attack in the Shuaiba port in Kuwait on Sunday.
In a further update, the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) said the US has begun to use British bases “for specific defensive operations to prevent Iran firing missiles into the region”, which it says is “putting British lives at risk”.
The MoD added that a Merlin helicopter is also on its way to the region, where it will be “providing additional airborne surveillance and further reinforcing our defensive capabilities”.
The UAE defence minstry reported new missile and drone attacks as Iran continued retaliatory attacks across the Gulf.
In a message on social media, the ministry said:
The UAE’s air defenses are currently dealing with missile and drone threats from Iran. The ministry of defence confirms that the sounds heard in various parts of the country are the result of air defence systems intercepting ballistic missiles and fighter jets intercepting drones and other aerial vehicles.
Israel strikes eastern Lebanon, killing dozens, after raid to recover IDF pilot’s remains fails
An Israeli operation in eastern Lebanon to locate the remains of a famous IDF pilot ended in failure overnight, when the commandos were caught in a gunfight with Hezbollah and local residents, leading Israeli jets to pummel the area with airstrikes that killed dozens of people.
The fighting left three Lebanese soldiers and 41 residents of the Bekaa valley dead, according to the Lebanese army and ministry of health. No injuries were reported among the Israeli soldiers.
Two Israeli helicopters landed outside the towns of Nabi Chit and Khraibeh along the Syrian-Lebanese border in the eastern Bekaa valley at 10pm on Friday night, dropping off Israeli soldiers, according to the Lebanese army. The Israeli soldiers headed to a cemetery in Nabi Chit, and began to dig up a grave, where they suspected the remains of Ron Arad, an Israeli pilot who went missing in Lebanon in 1986, were held.
The Lebanese army detected the incursion and launched flares over the Israeli helicopters, a Lebanese army statement said, leading to a gun battle between Israeli forces, local residents and Hezbollah fighters.
Read the full report here:
In further remarks delivered at a summit of Latin American leaders in Miami, Trump said on a scale of one to 10, the progress of the US military campaign against Iran was a 15.
He said the US miliary action is “going to be something, a service that we’re really providing, not for the Middle East, but for the world”.
Of the Iranian regime, he said: “These were sick people, very sick people.”
Updated
The Israeli military said it targeted 16 Iranian aircraft at Tehran’s Mehrabad aiport, saying they belonged to the IRGC’s Quds Force responsible for overseas operations.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said the airport was “a central hub for arming and funding the regime’s terrorist proxies in the Middle East”.
“The air force destroyed 16 aircraft of the Quds Force unit that transferred weaponry to the terrorist organisation Hezbollah,” the IDF said in a social media post.
“Also targeted were several Iranian fighter jets that posed a threat to Israeli air force aircraft operating in Iranian airspace.”
In an earlier statement, the Israeli military said more than 80 fighter jets struck “key Iranian regime military infrastructure” in Tehran and central Iran.
Trump: US strikes destroyed 42 Iranian navy ships
US President Donald Trump is now speaking in Florida to leaders of Latin American countries at his golf resort in Miami.
He said US strikes on Iran have significantly damaged the country’s military capabilities, claiming American forces have destroyed 42 Iranian navy ships in three days.
He presented the miliary campaign against Iran as a major success. Looking at his defence secretary Pete Hegseth, he said: “Pete, you are fantastic. You’re doing a great job. I’m proud of you.”
A total of 9,000 British nationals have returned from the United Arab Emirates, and the UK is considering chartering a further plane from Dubai if demand exists to fly British nationals home. A flight from Doha carrying 260 British nationals is under way and the UK has chartered a plane from Muscat Oman this afternoon to take British nationals home
The need for a UK government chartered flight out of Dubai will depend on the number of commercial flights that are available. The airport was temporarily closed following attacks on Saturday morning.
Pezeshkian reiterates Iran ‘not attacking friendly neighbours'
Iranian president Masoud Pezeshkian has released new statement in a series of social media posts, where he reiterated that Tehran has “not attacked our friendly and neighbouring countries, but rather targeted American military bases, installations, and facilities in the region”.
It follows an earlier pre-recorded message in which he apologised to neighbouring Gulf states and said Iran’s interim leadership council had approved stopping attacks or missile strikes against them, unless an attack against Iran originated from those countries.
In the social media posts, he said:
The Islamic Republic of Iran has always emphasised the preservation and continuation of friendly relations with the governments of the region based on good neighbourliness and mutual respect for national sovereignty and territorial integrity. This does not negate Iran’s inherent right to defend itself against military aggression by the United States and the Zionist regime.
We stand and resist to the death to defend our country.
He continued:
We have not attacked our friendly and neighbouring countries, but rather targeted American military bases, installations, and facilities in the region.
Updated
UK aircraft carrier HMS Prince of Wales on advanced preparedness, says MoD
The UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) said HMS Prince of Wales, one of Britain’s two flagship aircraft carriers, has been placed on advanced preparedness ahead of possible deployment to the Middle East.
A spokesperson said:
We have been bolstering our UK military presence in the Middle East since January, and we have already deployed capabilities to protect British people and our allies in the region, including Typhoons, F-35 jets, air defence systems and an extra 400 personnel into Cyprus.
Since the strikes began, we’ve had British jets in the sky shooting down drones and have sent additional assets to the region to further reinforce our air defences, including more Typhoons and Wildcat helicopters with drone busting missiles.
HMS Prince of Wales has always been on very high readiness and we are increasing the preparedness of the carrier, reducing the time it would take to set sail for any deployment.
The AFP news agency reported that Turkey is considering the possibility of sending F-16 fighter jets to breakaway northern Cyprus as a security measure.
A Turkish defence ministry source told the news agency that “phased planning is being carried out to ensure the security” of the Turkish republic of northern Cyprus, a territory which is only recognised by Ankara.
“The deployment of F-16 aircraft to the island is among the options being considered,” the source said.
It comes after an attack last weekend on the UK’s RAF Akrotiri base in Cyprus, suspected to have been launched by Hezbollah in Lebanon. The strike caused minimal damage and did not result in casualties.
Updated
Western officials were seeking to interpret Iranian president Masoud Pezeshkian’s offer and on what authority he was speaking, but said it was best to be cautious in suggesting Iran was looking for an off ramp.
One official said: “We do not know definitely what is driving the Iranian president’s remarks. It is one data point and it is no more than that. We can infer that Iranian capability is degraded. There is no reason to doubt the briefing from centcom of a reduced number of attacks recently.”
The official said the Iranian offer to states in the region was implicitly conditional, but added it was not clear if this meant attacks could stop if countries did not allow US bases to be used to attack Iran or whether the very presence of a US base was sufficient reason to attack.
Kuwait says it has implemented a precautionary reduction in crude oil production and refining following the ongoing attacks by Iran against Kuwait and “Iranian threats to safe passage of ships through the Strait of Hormuz.”
Kuwait Petroleum Corporation, the state oil company, said the move was part of its “risk management and business continuity strategy”.
In the UK, Labour has accused Kemi Badenoch of scoring “cheap political points” after the Conservative party leader said Keir Starmer was “too scared” to join strikes on Iran.
Al Carns, the defence minister, said “serious politics” was required in response to Badenoch’s speech at the party’s spring conference where she criticised the prime minister’s stance on the US-Israel strikes on Iran a week ago.
Badenoch said: “At a time when Britain needs strong and decisive leadership, we have a prime minister who is too afraid of making the wrong decision, too afraid to make any decision at all.
“Last week’s byelection has spooked the Labour party. They watched the Greens campaigning on sectarian voting lines. A tactic Labour used for many years is now being turned against them. And now Keir Starmer is too scared to make foreign interventions for fear of upsetting a tiny section of that electorate.”
In response, Carns, a former Royal Marine, said: “Trying to score cheap political points off the back of a serious security situation is deeply irresponsible. This situation is above politics and requires calm collective decision making – not hyperbole and soundbites.”
Turkey is considering the deployment of F-16 aircraft to Cyprus, a Turkish defence ministry source has told Reuters.
The person said such a move was one of the steps being considered amid the phased planning underway to ensure the security of the breakaway Turkish Cypriot state in the north of the island, as conflict spreads in the region.
For many US veterans of post-9/11 wars, the strikes on Iran bring troubling echoes of the 2003 invasion of Iraq. My colleague Aaron Glantz has spoken to some of them:
Nearly two decades after his second tour, Nathan Wendland is still troubled by his experiences in Iraq.
Like 700,000 other Iraq and Afghanistan veterans, the 46-year-old former US army staff sergeant receives compensation for post-traumatic stress disorder. Last January, Wendland checked himself into a psychiatric emergency room because he was worried he would kill himself. He was on the mend, but then Donald Trump ordered a sustained campaign of airstrikes on Iran. All those memories came flooding back.
“This war brings triggers into the news cycle every hour,” the navy veteran said. “I cannot focus on my daily life.
“We’ve put young men and women and support staff in bases all over the world at risk for no reason.”
VanDiver said the irony was that many veterans voted for Trump specifically because he promised to keep the US out of wars. “Too many of our generation and friends died fighting these illegal wars that he said he wasn’t going to get us back into,” he said.
Updated
Reuters is reporting that the Iranian revolutionary guards say they hit a Marshall Islands-flagged tanker in the strait of Hormuz.
The statement first came via Iranian state media. We’ll bring you more when we get it…
Meanwhile, in London, anti-war protesters are marching towards the US embassy:
Lebanese militant group Hezbollah has told residents of a northern Israeli city close to the border with Lebanon to evacuate and head south.
A statement read:
Warning. All residents of Kiryat Shmona are asked to evacuate immediately. Head south.
Iran’s targeting of commercial datacentres in the UAE and Bahrain signals a new frontier in asymmetric warfare. The Guardian’s chief reporter has this report:
It is believed to be a first: the deliberate targeting of a commercial datacentre by the armed forces of a country at war.
At 4.30am on Sunday morning, an Iranian Shahed 136 drone struck an Amazon Web Services datacentre in the United Arab Emirates, setting off a devastating fire and forcing a shutdown of the power supply. Further damage was inflicted as attempts were made to suppress the flames with water.
Soon after, a second data centre owned by the US tech company was hit. Then a third was said to be in trouble, this time in Bahrain, after an Iranian suicide drone turned to fireball on striking land nearby.
Iranian state TV has claimed that Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps launched the attack “to identify the role of these centres in supporting the enemy’s military and intelligence activities”.
The network built by Jeff Bezos’s company could withstand one of its regional centres being taken out of action but not a second, let alone a third of their huge warehouses of technology. The coordinated strike had an immediate impact.
Millions of people in Dubai and Abu Dhabi woke up on Monday unable to pay for a taxi, order a food delivery, or check their bank balance on their mobile apps.
Whether there was a military impact is unclear – but the strikes swiftly brought the war directly into the lives of 11 million people in the UAE, nine out of 10 of whom are foreign nationals.
Pictures: aftermath of deadly Israeli raid in Lebanon’s Nabi Chit
Israeli military orders people in southern Lebanon to leave
The IDF’s Arabic-language spokesperson, Avichay Adraee, has again warned people south of the Litani river in southern Lebanon to leave, saying the Israeli military is operating with “great force” in the area.
He said:
Strikes are ongoing as the IDF is operating with great force in the region. Therefore, for your safety, we reiterate our call for you to evacuate your homes immediately and move to the north of the Litani river.
Anyone who is near Hezbollah operatives, installations, or weapons is putting their life at risk.
On Wednesday, the Israeli army issued its largest order yet for the immediate evacuation of the southern suburbs of Beirut,
41 people killed in Israeli strikes in eastern Lebanon, health ministry says
Lebanon’s official National News Agency, citing figures from the country’s health ministry, reported that 41 people were killed in Israeli strikes in the eastern Bekaa valley.
“The series of raids launched by the Israeli enemy on the town of Nabi Chit and surrounding towns in the Baalbek district resulted in a total of 41 citizens killed and 40 others wounded,” the ministry said in a statement.
Updated
Lebanon will pay ‘heavy price’ if Hezbollah attacks continue, says Israeli official
Israel’s defence minister Israel Katz warned Lebanon that it will pay a “heavy price” if Hezbollah continues to attack his country.
In a statement broadcast on Israeli television, and reported by the Times of Israel, Katz said Israel will not allow attacks on its troops or communities from Lebanese territory, saying that residents will not be evacuated.
In a message to Lebanese president Joseph Aoun, he said that if “the choice becomes protecting our civilians and the safety of our soldiers or Lebanon, we will choose to defend our civilians and our soldiers, and the government of Lebanon and Lebanon will pay a very heavy price”.
Moments earlier, Hezbollah ordered residents of Kiryat Shmona, a northern Israeli city near the border with Lebanon, to evacuate and head south.
It did not say what action, if any, it planned to take.
Katz has repeatedly urged Israelis in the north to remain in their homes, saying the military will protect them.
Updated
Summary of developments so far
The Iranian president, Masoud Pezeshkian, apologised to neighbouring countries that were attacked by Iran. He said Iran’s interim leadership council had approved stopping attacks or missile strikes against neighbouring countries unless an attack against Iran originated from those countries.
US president Donald Trump vowed Iran “will be hit very hard” today. He said the US would target “areas and groups of people that were not considered for targeting up until this moment in time’, without elaborating.
Trump said Iran has “surrendered to its Middle East neighbours, and promised that it will not shoot at them any more”. He argued this was only made possible “because of the relentless US and Israeli attack”.
Pezeshkian said a demand by the US for an unconditional surrender is a “dream that they should to take to their grave”. Trump said that only Iran’s “unconditional surrender” would bring an end to the offensive launched a week ago.
Dubai airport has partially resumed services after reports of a nearby explosion. Emirates had initially announced that it would suspend flights to and from the airport but later said it was resuming operations today. News agencies on the ground reported several blasts were heard and the alert sounded.
Lebanese media reported that at least 26 people were killed, including three Lebanese soldiers, during an overnight clash with Israeli forces in the eastern Bekaa valley. Hezbollah said it was involved in the fighting in the town of Nabi Chit, where Israeli commando unit was reportedly deployed to the area by helicopter and confronted by local residents and armed fighters.
The Israeli military said its special forces carried out a raid in Lebanon to locate the remains of Lt Col Ron Arad, a navigator on an Israeli jet whose plane went down in southern Lebanon in 1986. The operation was unsuccesful, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said, adding that there had been no Israeli casualties.
Iran and Lebanon continued to come under heavy Israeli strikes. The Israeli military said more than 80 fighter jets struck “key Iranian regime military infrastructure” in Tehran and central Iran today. Israeli warplanes also hammered Beirut after ordering an unprecedented evacuation of the city’s southern suburbs.
Trump: 'Today Iran will be hit very hard'
US president Donald Trump said Iran “will be hit very hard” today as he responded to the Iranian president’s apology to neighbouring countries.
In a post on Truth Social, he said Iran had “surrendered to its Middle East neighbours, and promised that it will not shoot at them any more”, and argued this was only made possible “because of the relentless U.S. and Israeli attack”.
He wrote:
Iran, which is being beat to HELL, has apologized and surrendered to its Middle East neighbors, and promised that it will not shoot at them anymore. This promise was only made because of the relentless U.S. and Israeli attack. They were looking to take over and rule the Middle East. It is the first time that Iran has ever lost, in thousands of years, to surrounding Middle Eastern Countries. They have said, “Thank you President Trump.” I have said, “You’re welcome!” Iran is no longer the “Bully of the Middle East,” they are, instead, “THE LOSER OF THE MIDDLE EAST,” and will be for many decades until they surrender or, more likely, completely collapse! Today Iran will be hit very hard! Under serious consideration for complete destruction and certain death, because of Iran’s bad behavior, are areas and groups of people that were not considered for targeting up until this moment in time. Thank you for your attention to this matter!
As reported earlier, the Iranian president, Masoud Pezeshkian, said in a pre-recorded message that Iran’s interim leadership council had approved stopping attacks on neighbouring countries, unless an attack on Iran originated from those countries.
Pictures: Explosion near Dubai airport
We have some pictures from the newswires of the explosions reported near Dubai airport today, forcing the suspension of flights.
Emirates airline announced on social media this morning that it had suspended flights to and from Dubai, but it has since deleted that post and said it has resumed operations. This was followed by a statement by Dubai airport confirming it has partially resumed services. Neither statements mentioned any attacks but said they were monitoring the situation to ensure safety for passengers and staff.
The Associated Press news agency reported that passengers at the airport, the world’s busiest for international travel, were ushered down into train tunnels as several blasts were heard and the alert sounded.
Earlier, the UAE government said operations at Dubai’s main airport had been suspended after the aerial interception of an object near the airport, the AFP news agency reported.
Iran army says it respects neighbours' sovereignty but will target US-Israel bases in response to attacks
The Iranian armed forces said it “respect the interests and national sovereignty of neighbouring countries” and has not carried out attacks against them, according to state media.
It follows a statement from the Iranian president, Masoud Pezeshkian, apologising to neighbouring countries “that were attacked by Iran”. He said Iran’s interim leadership council had approved stopping attacks or missile strikes against neighbouring countries unless an attack against Iran originated from there.
In a statement carried by Iran’s semi-official Mehr news agency, the Khatam-al Anbiya central headquarters, which coordinates the army and IRGC, said Iran’s armed forces “reiterated that they respect the interests and national sovereignty of neighbouring states and have not taken any hostile action against them”.
It added: “However, the headquarters added that in continuation of previous offensive actions, all military bases and interests belonging to the United States and the “Zionist regime” on land, at sea, and in space across the region will be considered primary targets of powerful strikes by the armed forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran.”
Updated
IDF: Forces carried out raid in Lebanon to locate remains of Israeli soldier Ron Arad
The Israeli military said its special forces carried out a raid in Lebanon to locate the remains of Lt Col Ron Arad, a navigator on an Israeli jet whose plane went down in southern Lebanon during a bombing raid in 1986.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) does not say where the raid took place, but Lebanese media reported earlier of a clash between armed fighters and Israeli troops in the town of Nabi Chit in the eastern Bekaa valley.
No findings relating to Arad were discovered during the operation, the IDF said, adding that there had been no Israeli casualties.
In a statement posted on X, the IDF said:
As part of the IDF’s activities in Lebanon, IDF special forces operated overnight in an attempt to locate evidence related to missing navigator Ron Arad. There were no casualties among our forces.
No evidence related to him was found at the search site.
The IDF will continue to operate tirelessly, day and night, with a deep commitment to bringing all our sons, the fallen and the missing, home to Israel.
Updated
IRGC says it targeted al-Dhafra airbase in UAE in 'massive strike' - report
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said its navy launched a “massive strike” on al-Dhafra airbase in the UAE, according to Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency.
It claimed that a US satellite communication centre, early warning radars and fire control radars were targeted in the strike this morning.
The UAE has not commented on the report.
Hezbollah and Israeli troops clash on the ground in Lebanon’s Bekaa valley - report
Lebanon’s official National News Agency reported that at least 26 people were killed, including three Lebanese soldiers, during an overnight clash with Israeli forces in the town of Nabi Chit in the eastern Bekaa valley.
The news agency said an Israeli commando unit was spotted being deployed to the area by helicopter and confronted by local residents and armed fighters in Nabi Chit. A clash ensued with heavy gunfire and Israeli airstrikes, the agency reported.
Hezbollah commented earlier today that its fighters were involved, after they “observed the infiltration of four Israeli enemy army helicopters from the Syrian direction”.
After landing, advancing troops “were engaged by a group” of Hezbollah fighters as they reached the Nabi Chit cemetery, the group said.
The Israeli military said it had targeted Hezbollah sites in southern Lebanon and the Bekaa valley overnight, but it did not comment on reports of a helicopter landing or ground operation in Nabi Chit.
Pictures: Tehran and Beirut come under continued heavy Israeli strikes
Analysis: how should we interpret Pezeshkian's statement?
The announcement by Iran’s president Masoud Pezeshkian that Iran will no longer attack Gulf and neighbouring states if they are not attacking Iran appears on the surface a significant change in tactics, reflecting the overpowering diplomatic pressure Iran was under to change course, or risk uniting the whole of the Arab world against Iran. It would be an admission that Iran’s current military strategy is heading for diplomatic disaster.
But the precise implications of his announcement remains open to interpretation. An Iranian armed forces spokesperson seemed to qualify its meaning heavily by saying:
Strikes against the US and Israeli assets will continue. So far, we have targeted every base that was the origin of aggression against Iran and we remain committed to this matter. Countries that have not provided space and facilities to the United States and the Zionist regime have not been our target so far and will not be targeted in the future.
If the armed forces believe countries simply providing land, in terms of bases, remain legitimate targets, then effectively nothing has changed since there are US bases in almost every Gulf State. What Pezeshkian seemed to imply is that these countries will not be attacked if the US bases and airspace are not being used to attack Iran, an altogether different proposition.
Whether this reflects an internal disagreement, a reinterpretation of the decision taken by Pezeshkian and other members of Iran’s temporary executive council or simply a more hardline way of explaining the political leadership’s decision, time will tell. It is a test of where power lies in Iran in wartime.
But it was significant too that Pezeshkian chose to apologise and to argue Iran wanted to be on the right side of international law. Many lawyers claimed Iran’s attacks on US bases in the region could be justified as acts of self-defence, but the wider attacks on Gulf infrastructure and oil installations could not.
If Pezeshkian’s promise is translated into reality then Iran hopes the path to reunite the region and the focus can shift back to what it regards as the injustice of the US attacks in the midst of diplomacy.
The pressure to relent has been coming from all the Gulf states, but notably countries that have tried to be close to Iran, including Oman, Turkey and Qatar. Some of the phone conversations have been said to be seething.
Updated
Houthi official says Iran-backed militia ready to join war - report
The New York Times has reported a Houthi official as saying the Iran-backed milita in Yemen is ready to join the war.
“The expansion of the conflict to include other countries, including Yemen, is only a matter of time, and our hands are on the trigger,” Mohammed al-Bukhaiti, a member of the Houthi movement’s political bureau, told the newspaper.
“Ultimately, the United States will be the biggest loser in this trajectory.”
Senior Tory MP defends Badenoch after 'hanging around' comment
In the UK, a senior Conservative MP has defended party leader Kemi Badenoch after she was criticised for suggesting the British military had been “just hanging around” in the Middle East as the Iran crises deepens.
“I don’t think she has anything to apologise for at all,” Andrew Mitchell, a Conservative MP and former deputy foreign secretary, told Times Radio.
He said Badenoch had been making the point that ministers were too slow to offer support to allies.
Badenoch made the remark on BBC Breakfast yesterday, when she was asked whether she supported firing on Iranian missile launch sites. She responded: “What else are our jets doing, just hanging around there?”
Defence secretary John Healey called on her to apologise, saying it “insults the men and women of our armed forces”.
Mitchell said: “I think she was making a point that … British ministers were slow off the mark, and should have been much quicker to support the countries in the region with whom we have very deep and close relationships.”
Updated
Dubai airport 'partially' resumes operations
Following a statement from Emirates that it will resume operations, Dubai airport said it was partially resuming services.
“We have partially resumed operations from today, 7 March, with some flights operating out of DXB and DWC,” it posted on social media, referring to Dubai’s main airport and Al Maktoum airport south-west of the city (which is also known as Dubai World Central).
“Please do not travel to the airport unless you have been contacted by your airline that your flight is confirmed, as schedules continue to change.”
Updated
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) announced it has begun “a broad wave of attacks” against what it described as infrastructure belonging to the Iranian regime in Tehran and the central Iranian city of Isfahan.
Earlier, the IDF said more than 80 air force fighter jets struck “key Iranian regime military infrastructure” in Tehran and central Iran overnight.
Iranian naval ship docked at Indian port, says Delhi official
India’s foreign minister, Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, said his country has allowed an Iranian naval ship to dock at one of its ports.
Days after a US submarine torpedoed an Iranian warship, the Iris Dena, in the Indian ocean off the coast of Sri Lanka, Jaishankar said another Iranian vessel requested to dock in India after reporting experiencing problems.
Indian news website NDTV reported his comments at the geopolitics conference in New Delhi today, in which he outlined the sequence of events. He said:
We got a message from the Iranian side that one of the ships, which presumably was closest to our borders at that point of time, wanted to come into our port. They were reporting that they were having problems. On the 1 March, we said you can come in and it took them a few days to sail in and then they docked in Kochi. There were a lot of young cadets. When the ships had set out and when they came here, the situation was totally different.
They were coming in for a fleet review, and then they got in a way caught on the wrong side of events.
He added that the ship, the Iris Lavan, had participated in the International Fleet Review – a ceremonial event designed to showcase the maritime capabilities of the Indian navy and international partners – and the multilateral naval exercise Milan 2026 in mid to late February.
“We approached the situation from the point of view of humanity, other than whatever the legal issues were and I think we did the right thing,’ Jaishankar said.
A third Iranian ship, the Iris Bushehr, which is also believed to have taken part in the fleet review, was granted permission to dock in Sri Lanka, where authorities took custody of the vessel.
Updated
Saudi and Pakistani officials discuss Iranian attacks
Saudi Arabia’s defence minister, Prince Khalid bin Salman, met with Pakistan’s army chief Gen Syed Asim Munir in Saudi Arabia to discuss Iranian drone and missile attacks and the “joint measures needed to halt them”.
Both countries signed a mutual defence pact last year, which officials said at the time stipulated that “any aggression against either country shall be considered an aggression against both”.
In a statement posted on X, the Pakistani armed forces said:
Both sides expressed hope and desire that brotherly country Iran would manifest prudence and sagacity to avoid any miscalculation and strengthen the hands of friendly countries seeking peaceful settlement of the crisis.
Updated
Emirates says it will resume operations
Emirates said it will resume operations after announcing it was temporarily suspending flights to and from Dubai just moments earlier.
In a new statement, the airline said:
Emirates will resume operations. Passengers who have confirmed bookings for this afternoon’s flights may proceed to the airport. This includes customers transiting in Dubai, if their connecting flight is also operating.
Emirates continues to monitor the situation, and we will develop our operational schedule accordingly.
The AFP news agency reported that the announcements came after the aerial interception of an object near the airport, with a witness saying they heard a loud explosion followed by a cloud of smoke.
Interim summary
If you’re just joining us, here’s where things stand as the US-Israeli war on Iran intensifies as it moves into its second week.
The Israeli military said more than 80 air force fighter jets struck “key Iranian regime military infrastructure” in Tehran and central Iran on Saturday, after saying it was moving to a new phase of its offensive. Israeli warplanes also hammered Beirut after ordering an unprecedented evacuation of the city’s southern suburbs.
Gulf countries said they intercepted more ballistic missiles and drones on Saturday as Iran launched another wave of retaliatory strikes. The United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia all reported fresh attacks.
Donald Trump said that only Tehran’s “unconditional surrender” would stop the war. Iranian president Masoud Pezeshkian later said the US demand was a “dream that they should to take to their grave”. He also apologised for Iran’s attacks on regional countries, insisting Tehran would halt them and suggesting they were caused by miscommunication.
The US state department approved the sale of $151.8m worth of munitions to Israel on Friday.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said it had targeted “separatist groups” in Iraq’s Kurdistan region.
Arab League foreign ministers will hold an emergency meeting on Sunday to discuss Iranian attacks on several of the group’s members, a news report said.
Clashes erupted as Israeli forces attempted a landing operation along the Lebanon-Syria border, with Hezbollah saying its fighters were involved, Lebanese official media reported on Saturday.
Mehrabad airport in Tehran had been struck early on Saturday, Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency reported.
Explosions were heard in Israel on Friday as its defences activated to shoot down incoming Iranian fire.
Trump said he must have a say in selecting Iran’s new supreme leader. Iran’s UN ambassador later said the new leadership would be chosen “without any foreign interference”.
Russia has been sharing intelligence with Iran about US targets in the region, according to news reports. In response US defence secretary Pete Hegseth said the US was “not concerned” and was “tracking everything” and factoring it into battle plans.
Oil prices hit their highest prices in years with the critical shipping lane of the strait of Hormuz effectively closed down.
With news agencies
Updated
Arab League to meet over Iranian attacks
The foreign ministers of the Arab League will hold an emergency meeting on Sunday to discuss Iranian attacks on several of the group’s members, says a news report citing the bloc’s assistant secretary general.
The meeting – to be held via videoconference – was requested by Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Oman, Jordan and Egypt, Hossam Zaki told Agence France-Presse.
The report came shortly before the Iranian president Masoud Pezeshkian was quoted as saying he apologises to neighbouring countries.
The huge US-Israeli air campaign launched against Iran a week ago on Saturday 28 February has prompted Iranian retaliation with strikes against Israel and Gulf countries.
Arab League secretary general Ahmed Aboul Gheit has condemned the Iranian attacks, saying they are “fully reprehensible” and “not only a blatant violation of international law and the UN charter, but also an assault on the principles of good neighbourliness”.
He added that the attacks “create an unprecedented state of hostility between Iran and its Arab neighbours”.
Iranian president says unconditional surrender a 'dream'
Iran’s president has said a demand by the US for an unconditional surrender is a “dream that they should to take to their grave”.
Masoud Pezeshkian made the statement in a prerecorded address aired by state television on Saturday.
He also apologised for Iran’s attacks on regional countries – as just reported – insisting that Tehran would halt them and suggesting they were caused by miscommunication in the ranks.
The comments, cited by the Associated Press, came as intense Iranian fire targeted the Gulf Arab states early on Saturday while Israel and the US kept up their airstrikes targeting Iran.
There were repeated attacks on Saturday morning on Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
Donald Trump earlier said that only Iran’s “unconditional surrender” would bring an end to the offensive launched a week ago.
Updated
Iranian president apologises to neighbouring countries
The Iranian president, Masoud Pezeshkian, has just been quoted as saying he apologises to neighbouring countries.
“I apologise … to the neighbouring countries that were attacked by Iran,” Pezeshkian said, in a speech broadcast by state TV and reported by AFP.
He also said Iran’s interim leadership council had approved that no attacks or missile strikes would be carried out against neighbouring countries unless an attack against Iran originated from those countries, Reuters is reporting.
The comments come after Iran has targeted Gulf countries hosting US forces with waves of retaliatory missile and drone strikes since the US-Israeli attacks began last Saturday.
Updated
Emirates suspends all flights to and from Dubai
Emirates has just said it is suspending all flights to and from Dubai until further notice.
The airline also said in the post on X:
Please do not go to the airport. Emirates will share updates when available.
Updated
Iran targets 'separatist groups' in Iraq’s Kurdistan
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards say they have targeted “separatist groups” in Iraq’s Kurdistan region.
“Three locations of separatist groups in the Iraqi region [of Kurdistan] were hit … this morning,” the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said on Saturday in a statement carried by Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency.
The statement also said:
If separatist groups in the region [of Kurdistan] make any move against Iran’s territorial integrity, we will crush them.
Updated
Israel says 80 jets hit Iranian military sites
The Israeli military has just said more than 80 air force fighter jets have struck “key Iranian regime military infrastructure” in Tehran and central Iran.
It said the targets included the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ Imam Hossein military university in the Iranian capital, which it said was “used for IRGC officer training and assembly compound”.
The Israel Defense Forces also said in the post on X that it targeted ballistic missile storage facilities and underground missile command infrastructure, as well as launch sites in western and central Iran that it claimed were aimed at Israel.
The post continued:
These strikes degrade the Iranian regime’s ability to fire at Israeli civilians.
⭕️Over 80 IAF fighter jets struck key Iranian regime military infrastructure in Tehran and central Iran.
— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) March 7, 2026
Targets included:
• IRGC Imam Hossein military university—used for IRGC officer training and assembly compound
• Ballistic missile storage facilities
• Underground… pic.twitter.com/n9oz3mjxF1
The Israeli military said earlier on Saturday it had launched fresh “broad-scale” strikes on targets in Tehran.
Updated
Saudi Arabia warns Iran against 'miscalculation’
The Saudi defence minister, Prince Khalid bin Salman, urged Iran on Saturday to “avoid miscalculation” after missile and drone launches at the kingdom.
Saudi Arabia’s defence ministry said earlier in the day it had blocked repeated missile launches at an airbase housing US military personnel and drone attacks at a major oilfield.
The kingdom reported at least two drone attacks this week targeting its Ras Tanura oil refinery.
Prince Khalid posted on X on Saturday after meeting Pakistan’s military chief:
We stressed that such actions undermine regional security and stability and expressed hope that the Iranian side will exercise wisdom and avoid miscalculation.
The defence ministry said earlier on X that a ballistic missile launched towards the Prince Sultan airbase south-east of Riyadh was intercepted.
It said a little before that there had been an attempted attack on the Shaybah oilfield and it had intercepted six drones in the Empty Quarter desert.
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There are many unintended consequences of the US-Israel war on Iran – among the latest is that families and supporters of Americans detained in Iran say their loved ones face new dangers.
Those risks include becoming unintended casualties of the US-Israeli bombardment or victims of retaliation from Iran’s repressive regime.
“For Americans imprisoned in Iran, this is about as terrifying a moment as it gets,” said Siamak Namazi, an Iranian American who was detained for nearly eight years before being released as part of a deal with the US in 2023.
What these families are facing now is days of war with no clear end in sight.
The US government would not confirm how many Americans are being held in Iran, but the James W Foley Legacy Foundation, a hostage advocacy organisation, said there were six and that they faced “unprecedented danger” because of the conflict.
New images are emerging from across the Middle East this morning, with some showing damage to residential areas in the Iranian capital of Tehran, air raids in Lebanon, protests against the war in Yemen, and a growing number of displaced people as they seek refuge from the escalating war.
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Oil prices surge as war rages
Crude oil prices have jumped on mounting fears about oil supply disruption during the Middle East war.
The international benchmark oil contract, Brent North Sea crude, surged to $92.69 per barrel on Friday, up 8.5% for the day and nearly 30% for the week after Donald Trump said that only the “unconditional surrender” of Iran would end the Middle East war.
The main US contract, West Texas Intermediate, soared more than 12% to over $90 per barrel, topping off the biggest weekly gain on record, AFP is reporting.
Maritime traffic has all but dried up through the strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the world’s crude oil and liquefied natural gas supplies run.
Hezbollah says clash with Israel on Lebanon-Syria border
Clashes erupted as Israeli forces attempted a landing operation along the Lebanon-Syria border, with Hezbollah saying its fighters were involved, Lebanese official media reported on Saturday.
The state-run National News Agency (NNA), citing the Lebanese health ministry, said Israeli strikes on Nabi Sheet killed at least three people and wounded 16 others.
There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military.
If confirmed, the latest reported raid would be the deepest Israeli forces have reached inside Lebanon since special unit troops apprehended Hezbollah operative Imad Amhaz from the northern city of Batroun in November 2024, reports Agence France-Presse.
The NNA said clashes were taking place “on the eastern mountain range along the Lebanese-Syrian border ... to repel Israeli landing attempts”.
It gave the location as Nabi Sheet, in the eastern Baalbek district where Hezbollah holds sway.
The Iran-backed militant group said in a statement that its forces had “observed the infiltration of four Israeli enemy army helicopters from the Syrian direction”.
After landing, advancing troops “were engaged by a group” of Hezbollah fighters as they reached the Nabi Sheet cemetery, Hezbollah said, noting the use of light and medium weapons.
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Blasts heard in Dubai and Manama
Explosions have been heard in Dubai and Manama on Saturday.
Two blasts were heard in Dubai and one in Manama, Bahrain’s capital, where a warning siren sounded, AFP has just reported.
Bahrain’s interior ministry posted on X:
Citizens and residents are urged to remain calm and head to the nearest safe place.
The blasts came as Iran has continued its retaliatory strikes against Gulf countries that host US forces.
Dubai authorities earlier reportedly said that a “minor incident” that resulted from the fall of debris after an interception had been contained.
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Blast in Jerusalem after missile alert – report
An explosion was heard in Jerusalem on Saturday after air raid sirens warned of an incoming Iranian missile attack, AFP is reporting.
The Israeli military said earlier that air defences were “operating to intercept the threat”, before giving the all-clear.
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A blast has been reported in Jerusalem after an Iranian missile alert.
We’ll bring you more on this as it comes to hand.
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US approves $151m arms sale to Israel
The US state department has approved the sale of $151.8m worth of munitions to Israel on Friday amid the escalating Middle East war.
The sale of 12,000 requested 1,000-pound (470km) bomb bodies was approved by the state department’s bureau of political-military affairs, according to a press release on Friday.
“The proposed sale will improve Israel’s capability to meet current and future threats, strengthen its homeland defense, and serve as a deterrent to regional threats,” the bureau said in a statement cited by the AFP news agency.
Opening summary
Hello and welcome to our live coverage of the US-Israel war on Iran as the conflict continues to expand as it enters its second week.
Donald Trump has declared that he would only accept Tehran’s “unconditional surrender” and Israel has traded fresh attacks with Iran and Lebanon.
The US president’s comments on social media on Friday came hours after Iran’s president announced that unnamed countries had begun mediation efforts, briefly raising the possibility, however faint, of a diplomatic resolution.
If you are just catching up on the latest, here is a summary of what you need to know.
US defence secretary Pete Hegseth said US firepower was “about to surge dramatically” against Iran, while the Israeli military said it was moving to a new phase of its offensive.
Explosions could be heard in Israel on Friday as its defences activated to shoot down incoming Iranian fire.
The United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia all reported fresh drone and missile attacks.
Israel expanded the war in Lebanon, pounding Beirut on Friday after ordering an unprecedented evacuation of the city’s southern suburbs.
Israel launched a new wave of attacks on Iran, saying 50 of its warplanes had hit a bunker still being used by Iran’s leadership beneath slain supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s destroyed Tehran compound.
Mehrabad airport in Tehran had been struck early on Saturday, Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency reported.
Russia has been sharing intelligence with Iran about US targets in the region, according to news reports. In response US defence secretary Pete Hegseth said the US was “not concerned” and was “tracking everything” and factoring it into battle plans.
The US military said it struck more than 3,000 targets during the first week of the Iran war. The Israeli military claimed to have destroyed 80% of Iran’s air-defence systems and disabled more than 60% of its missile launchers.
European and US stock indexes tumbled on Friday amid concerns Trump’s demand for Iran’s surrender could complicate any quick end to the conflict.
Oil prices hit their highest prices in years with the critical shipping lane of the strait of Hormuz effectively closed down.
Trump said he must have a say in selecting Iran’s new supreme leader. Iran’s UN ambassador Amir Saeid Iravani later said the new leadership would be chosen “without any foreign interference”.
At least 1,332 people have been killed in Iran since the US-Israel first launched strikes on 28 February, Iravani said, citing the Iranian Red Crescent Society.
The Lebanese health ministry has reported 123 people killed and 683 wounded after Israeli attacks. About 300,000 people have been displaced in Lebanon in the past four days, according to the Norwegian Refugee Council.
Iranian attacks have killed 11 people in Israel since the war started, and at least six US service members have been killed.
With news agencies
Updated
