Trump threatens Iran with 20 times more ‘death, fire and fury’: As it happened

10 March 2026

Iran’s Armed Forces and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps are fully ready and “awaiting” the US fleet in the Strait of Hormuz, IRGC spokesperson Ali Mohammad Naeini has said, claiming that the end to the conflict will be decided on Iran’s terms.

“The armed forces of the Republic of Iran are awaiting the US naval fleet in the Strait of Hormuz region and are waiting for the aircraft carrier Gerald Ford,” Naeini said in an apparent rebuke to US President Trump. “He has claimed the presence of commercial and military ships in the region and their easy passage through the Strait of Hormuz; while American ships, vessels, and all fighter jets have fled the region and are stationed at a distance of more than 1,000 kilometers to avoid Iran’s powerful missiles and drones.”

South Korea has sought to reassure the public that the potential redeployment of US missile-defense assets, the Patriot and THAAD systems, from the peninsula to the Middle East will not weaken deterrence against Pyongyang.

“Depending on how the situation unfolds, USFK [US Forces Korea] may dispatch some air defense systems abroad in accordance with its own military needs,” President Lee Jae Myung said during a cabinet meeting on Tuesday, according to Yonhap. “While we have expressed opposition, the reality is that we cannot fully push through our position.”

Lee added that Seoul expects US forces stationed in the country to continue contributing to stability and peace on the Korean Peninsula. Tehran has argued that US bases make host nations less secure and turn them into priority targets in the event of a conflict.

The IRGC has claimed that the 33rd wave of its retaliatory Operation True Promise 4, launched in recent hours, involved a salvo of at least ten solid-fuel Kheibar Shekan medium-range ballistic missiles equipped with one-ton warheads. According to Press TV, the targets included Tel Aviv, the US Navy’s Fifth Fleet base in Bahrain and other American military installations in the region. Despite Tehran’s claims of successful strikes, there was no confirmation of impacts, with both Israel and the Gulf states strictly censoring the reporting.

The US Central Command has published another video allegedly showing recent strikes against several unspecified Iranian targets at unknown locations and times. “The Iranian regime can try to hide their missile launchers, but US forces won’t stop looking. When we find them, we’re taking them out,” CENTCOM said in a post on X.

Vice President J.D. Vance and Secretary of War Pete Hegseth have attended the dignified transfer ceremony for the seventh American soldier killed in the US-Israeli war on Iran. US Army Sgt. Benjamin Pennington, 26, died on Sunday from injuries sustained in a March 1 strike on Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia. His flag-draped casket was brought by a C-17 aircraft to Dover Air Force Base in Delaware on Monday evening, according to videos from the ceremony.

President Trump has threatened Tehran with “death, fire and fury,” calling the alleged US restraint so far a “gift” to China and other “nations that heavily use the Hormuz Strait.”

“If Iran does anything that stops the flow of Oil within the Strait of Hormuz, they will be hit by the United States of America TWENTY TIMES HARDER than they have been hit thus far,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social. 

“Additionally, we will take out easily destroyable targets that will make it virtually impossible for Iran to ever be built back as a Nation again — Death, Fire, and Fury will reign upon them — But I hope, and pray, that it does not happen!”

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has told his Iranian counterpart Masoud Pezeshkian that the violation of his nation’s airspace “cannot be excused for any reason whatsoever” and that “Türkiye will continue to take all necessary measures against this,” according to Ankara.

The Turkish National Defense Ministry said on Monday that another missile allegedly fired by Iran was neutralized by NATO air defenses in the country’s airspace, following a similar incident last week.

“The Islamic Republic of Iran is ready to form a joint team to investigate the claims of countries and hostile regimes against Iran, in order to clear up the misunderstanding regarding the alleged missile attacks by Iran on Turkey, so that the relations between the two friendly and brotherly countries are not always affected by news propaganda,” Pezeshkian told Erdogan, according to Tehran’s readout of Monday’s phone call.

09 March 2026

Tehran’s regional neighbors should not act surprised when the US military assets located on their territories and used in attacks on Iran come under retaliatory strikes, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has said.

“Thank you CENTCOM for admitting that you are using our neighbors’ territory to deploy HIMARS systems against our people, apparently including a desalination plant. Nobody should complain if our powerful missiles destroy these systems wherever they are in retribution,” Araghchi wrote in a post on X.

At least one person has been killed and several others injured after a suspected Iranian missile hit a residential building in Manama, Bahrain, according to the country’s Interior Ministry.

Asked whether the US will accept any responsibility for the deadly strike on an Iranian girls’ school that left over 160 people dead, President Trump said he hasn’t seen any proof of American involvement and attempted to shift the blame onto Tehran.

“I will say that the Tomahawk, which is one of the most powerful weapons around, it’s used by, you know, it’s sold and used by other countries… And whether it’s Iran, who also has some Tomahawks – they wish they had more. But whether it’s Iran or somebody else, the fact that a Tomahawk is very generic, it’s sold to other countries, but that’s being investigated right now,” Trump said.

US officials have confirmed the use of Tomahawk missiles – which have a range of up to 1,600 km – in strikes on Iran. Videos verified by a number of news agencies show what appears to be a Tomahawk missile impacting near the school in Minab, southern Iran, on February 28. The US is the only party involved in the conflict that possesses these weapons.

President Trump has described his phone conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin earlier in the day as “a very good call,” during which the leaders discussed both the Iran war and the “never-ending fight” in Ukraine.

President Trump has said that he expects the US-Israeli war with Iran to be over “very soon,” but not this week.

“We’re achieving major strides towards completing our military objectives, and some people can say they’re pretty well complete. We’ve wiped every single force in Iran out, very completely,” Trump told a press conference in Doral, Florida. “We’re ahead of our initial timeline by a lot,” he added.

President Trump told a press conference that the US has struck more than 5,000 targets across Iran, but has “left some of the most important targets for later,” including “electricity production and many other things.”

“So we’re not looking to do that if we don’t have to,” he said. “But they’re the kind of things that are very easy to hit, but very devastating if they are hit. We are waiting to see what happens before we hit them.”

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has promised full freedom of passage through the Strait of Hormuz to any Arab or European country that expels the ambassadors of Israel and the United States from their territory, according to the Iranian Students’ News Agency (ISNA).

The Israeli Home Front Command has instructed residents to seek shelter from retaliatory strikes less than an hour after the IDF launched the latest attack on Iran.

“A short while ago, the IDF identified missiles launched from Iran toward the territory of the State of Israel. Defensive systems are operating to intercept the threat,” the military said.

President Donald Trump has stated that the US could do “a lot” and is even “thinking about taking over” the Strait of Hormuz if Iran continues to block the critical waterway for global oil shipments.

“If they do anything bad, that would be the end of Iran and you’d never hear the name again,” Trump told CBS News in a phone interview.

Despite the president’s assertion that “the war is very complete, pretty much,” commercial shipping through the Strait of Hormuz – which carries roughly a fifth of the world’s oil – has effectively ground to a halt since the war began ten days ago.

Israel has begun yet another “broad wave of strikes” against Iran, the IDF has announced.

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps will no longer use missiles with warheads lighter than one ton, IRGC the Aerospace Force chief Seyed Majid Moosavi has said.

Iran is always ready for regional de-escalation, provided that the airspace, waters and territory of its neighbors are not used to attack it, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said in a phone call with his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

US President Donald Trump called his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin to discuss the latest international developments, Kremlin aide Yury Ushakov has said.

The “business-like, open and constructive” phone conversation focused on the Iran conflict, and the trilateral peace talks on ending the hostilities in Ukraine, he said.

Putin shared his thoughts on the conflict in Iran and discussed his recent conversations with the leaders of Gulf states and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, Ushakov said. The two leaders had a very “substantive” call, which lasted around an hour, he added.

RAF Typhoon jets have intercepted two Iranian drones heading for Jordan and Bahrain, the UK Defense Ministry has said. The UK has also begun to conduct “defensive” flights around the UAE, it added in a statement.

The IRGC has claimed to have destroyed a satellite communication center located south of Tel Aviv.

“This center was the communications infrastructure for the satellite control network of the aggressor Zionist regime’s fighter jets,” it said in a statement cited by the Fars news network.

Iranian missiles are beginning to overwhelm Israeli and US air defenses, both in sheer speed, and in light of having degraded Washington’s regional capabilities to detect launches early, former US Marine Corps intelligence officer and RT contributor Scott Ritter said on the ‘Sanchez Effect.’

“First of all… we’re talking about a ballistic missile defense architecture that wasn’t designed to do what it’s doing,” he said, arguing that the Israeli Iron Dome and Arrow 3 systems and Washington’s Patriot, THAAD and Aegis air defenses were never envisioned to work together.

“None of these systems were designed to intercept missiles coming in at the speeds that the Iranian missiles are coming in,” he added.

Additionally, Iran has struck radars and satellite communications relays to further degrade the capability of this combined Israeli and US air defense architecture to coordinate and sense Iranian missiles, he said.

The trilateral Russia-US-Ukraine peace talks will definitely take place at a later date, a source has told RT.

According to Vladimir Zelensky, the next round of trilateral Russia-US-Ukraine talks has been postponed given that Washington’s attention currently focused on the situation around Iran.

Writing on X, the Ukrainian leader said the meeting initially scheduled for this week had been delayed “at the proposal of the American side.”

Trump would back the killing of Iran’s new Supreme Leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, if he does not cede to Washington’s demands, the Wall Street Journal has claimed, citing current and former US officials.

Washington has lost two more MQ-9 Reaper drones during its attacks on Iran, bringing the total to 11, CBS News has reported, citing two US officials.

The heavy UAVs are used for reconnaissance and precision strikes, but are easy to shoot down with modern defenses, having been designed for counter-terrorism operations in places with little to no air defense, the outlet has noted.

Each one is estimated to cost around $30-34 million dollars.

Trump has said that Iran made a “mistake” in naming Mojtaba Khamenei its new supreme leader, after his father Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed in US-Israeli strikes just over a week ago.

“I think they made a big mistake,” Trump he told NBC News. “I don’t know if it’s going to last. I think they made a mistake.”

Israeli forces have struck three Hezbollah launchers within an hour after they fired missiles at Israel, the IDF has claimed.

Lindsey Graham has condemned Saudi Arabia for not joining the US and Israeli attack on Iran.

“Why should America do a defense agreement with a country like the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia that is unwilling to join a fight of mutual interest?” he wrote on X.

“If you are not willing to use your military now, when are you willing to use it?” the hawkish senator said. “Hopefully this changes soon. If not, consequences will follow.”

Iran’s early retaliatory strikes focused on US military bases located in the countries of nearby Gulf states.

Officials from two of Washington’s regional allies have said that nations are “disappointed” in the way the US has handled the war, focusing on defending its own troops and Israel, and essentially leaving Gulf nations to fend for themselves, according to PBS News.

Iran is taking out “critical nodes” in the US military capabilities in the region, such as the massive early warning AN/FPS-132 radar in Qatar, which Tehran struck last week, former Pentagon senior security policy analyst Michael Maloof has told RT.

“It is a major loss in terms of eyes and ears. And again, it gives early warning,” he said, stressing that the equipment is “very, very hard to replace and very expensive.”

Iran likely would not be able to successfully land direct attacks on every US military base and deployment in the region, Maloof said.

“But if you hit critical nodes, which would be the eyes and ears, the electronics, particularly the radar systems, that would cripple the capabilities and abilities of the United States to carry on successfully,” the former Pentagon analyst stated.

Trump has said that he is “not happy” with Mojtaba Khamenei being chosen as the new Iranian supreme leader, according to Fox News.

The surging gas prices and the rises in cost of living are entirely the fault of “Israel and its dupes in Washington,” Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has said.

“Iran does not want to harm ordinary Americans who overwhelmingly voted to end involvement in costly foreign wars,” he said.

Putin is holding a Kremlin meeting to discuss the issue of soaring oil and gas prices, against the backdrop of the US and Israeli conflict against Iran.

With the Strait of Hormuz effectively closed, completely replacing Middle Eastern supplies of crude is unrealistic, he said.

Russian energy companies, which have “always been known for their reliability,” need to take advantage of the situation and use the increased revenue to pay off accrued bank debts, he added.

Paris will send two more frigates to reinforce the EU’s naval mission in the Red Sea, French President Emmanuel Macron has said.

The warships will help escort container ships and tankers to help reopen the Strait of Hormuz, he said.

Brussels launched its ‘Operation Aspides’ in the Red Sea in 2024 to prevent attacks by Yemen’s Houthis, who had announced that they would strike vessels they see as Israeli-affiliated, out of solidarity with the Palestinians of Gaza.

According to Macron, Paris will also position its flagship aircraft carrier, the Charles de Gaulle, as well as a total of eight frigates in the Mediterranean and Red seas.

The United Arab Emirates “will not partake in any attacks” on Iran, the UAE ambassador to the UN in Geneva, Jamal Al Musharakh, has said, according to AFP.

“We’ve been very clear before and leading up to the current events we are witnessing in the region that as the UAE we will not partake in any attacks against Iran from our territory, and that we will not be involved in such a conflict,” he reportedly said.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has expressed concern over a potential knock-on effect from the Iran conflict on Germany’s economy, which has already been suffering from high energy prices in recent years.

“We know that this could potentially have a ripple effect, including on the German economy,” he said, according to Die Zeit.

“We are doing everything we can to increase our energy independence,” he said, adding that this cannot be accomplished in just a few days.

The IRGC has said it fired ballistic missiles at a number of US and Israeli military sites in the Middle East.

The munitions struck five US bases, including the Fifth Fleet’s HQ in Bahrain, and Israeli facilities in Tel Aviv and Haifa, it claimed in a statement cited by Fars news agency.

The IRGC Navy has also conducted drone and missile strikes on the US Al-Udairi helicopter base in Kuwait, it added.

At least 700 people have been injured by Iranian strikes in Israel in the ten days since the US and Israel attacked Iran, RT’s Charlotte Dubenskij reported from Yehuda in central Israel.

The damage in some of the latest salvos appeared to be from debris falling from what the IDF said was a cluster warhead, she said.

US CENTCOM has denied that a Patriot missile hit a neighborhood in Bahrain.

“What really happened: An Iranian drone struck a residential neighborhood, injuring 32 civilians in Bahrain,” it claimed in a brief post on X.

The Bahraini Foreign Ministry has not directly referred to the incident, but accused Iran of striking a number of houses in Sitra, the neighborhood reportedly shown in the video.

An interceptor missile from a Patriot air defense system malfunctioned and impacted in Bahrain, according to footage circulating on social media which purports to show the incident.

The missile in the video does not gain altitude, instead arcing down before it explodes off-screen with a flash.

Iranian media have shared a clip of a crowd with national flags chanting ‘Allahu Akbar’ in Isfahan in defiance of US-Israeli strikes that had just hit a local government building.

The Qatari Defense Ministry said that the country’s air defenses had intercepted all of the 17 ballistic missiles and six drones launched by Iran on Monday so far, with no reports of casualties.

A building housing the Russian cultural center in the southern Lebanese city of Nabatieh has been destroyed in an Israeli airstrike, according to the head of the organization.

Asaad Diya, founder and director of the Russian House cultural center, told RIA Novosti that the building had been “completely destroyed” in Sunday’s strike, adding that it had been empty since the start of the war.

Russia is proposing a UN Security Council resolution urging members to express “deep concern” over the current military escalation in the Middle East, as well as to mourn the loss of life throughout the hostilities, according to a draft seen by RT.

It also urges all parties to immediately stop their military activities, condemn in the strongest terms all attacks against civilians, and return to negotiations.

The election of Mojtaba Khamenei as Iran’s supreme leader is the country’s internal issue, the Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman has said, calling it “a decision by the Iranian side based on its constitution.”

Turkish air defenses have intercepted an Iranian ballistic missile, with some of the debris falling near the city of Gaziantep, not far from the Syrian border, the Defense Ministry has said, adding that there were no injuries.

Ankara “attaches great importance to good neighborly relations” but will not hesitate to take the “necessary steps” to neutralize threats directed at the country’s territory and airspace, the statement added.

Media reports suggest that US-Israeli strikes hit an Iranian ship at Bandar Abbas port in the Strait of Hormuz.

An Iranian source has told RT that “Americans should brace for surprises,” adding that the US already failed to prevent the de-facto closure of the Strait of Hormuz.

“Oil prices have driven them crazy,” the source said, adding that Trump is solely responsible for turning “‘America First’ into ‘Israel First.’”

The Israeli military has begun “a wide-scale wave of strikes” on unspecified targets in Tehran, Isfahan, and southern Iran, the IDF has said.

Israeli media have shared what they described as two Iranian cluster munitions hits in the central part of the country, adding that the bombardment killed one and injured two others.

RT’s Ali Rida shows the aftermath of a suspected Israeli strike on a Beirut suburb, with an entire building lying in ruins.

The IDF has announced a “targeted and limited” raid in southern Lebanon, which it said is aimed at locating and striking terrorist infrastructure belonging to Hezbollah. The incursion comes after two IDF soldiers were reported dead in a Hezbollah attack.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has congratulated Iran’s newly appointed supreme leader, Mojtaba Hosseini Khamenei, expressing Moscow’s continued support for Tehran.

In a message published by the Kremlin, Putin said he was confident the new leader would “continue the work of his father with honor” and unite the Iranian people amid what he described as “armed aggression” against the country. He also reaffirmed that Russia “was and will remain a reliable partner” of the Islamic Republic.

The US officials have been dismayed by Israeli strikes on Iranian oil and fuel depots amid fears that such action could push crude prices even higher, Axios has reported, citing sources.

“We don't think it was a good idea”, a senior US official told the outlet. Meanwhile, an Israeli official described the US message to Israel as “WTF”.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrey Sybiha has claimed that Moscow and Tehran are working together and pose a shared threat to Europe, the US, and the Gulf.

“The war against the Iranian regime and Ukraine’s defense against Russian aggression are two theaters of one war,” he wrote on X. “The same deadly buzz of Shaheds over Ukraine and the Gulf reminds us that developments in Europe and the Middle East are not isolated from each other.”

Kiev has repeatedly alleged that Russian Geran 2 drones used against Ukrainian military infrastructure are in fact Iranian-made Shaheds. Both Moscow and Tehran deny this, with Iran dismissing the claims as “anti-Iranian propaganda” aimed at securing more Western military aid for Kiev.

Azerbaijani officials claimed on Thursday that drones from the direction of Iran struck the terminal building of Nakhchivan International Airport.

Azerbaijan closed its border crossings with Iran following the incident, but reports say they reopened on Monday after Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian spoke with his Azerbaijani counterpart, Ilham Aliyev, assuring him that Iran was not involved and was investigating the incident.

Baghaei has also responded to reports of Iranian munitions fired toward Türkiye, Cyprus, and Azerbaijan over the past week, saying “no offensives were initiated from Iranian territory” against these countries.

He suggested that some reported attacks could have been staged, adding, “we have warned repeatedly that the enemy may stage certain attacks to drive a wedge between us and other countries.”

Baghaei has stressed that Iran remains “adamant to maintain good and friendly relations” with regional countries, despite having targeted US bases they host over the past few days. He insisted Iran retains the “right to defense” if other territories are used to attack it.

“Our act of defense cannot be interpreted as an act of hostility towards any of these countries,” he said.

The US has “torpedoed” diplomatic talks that were under way prior to its attacks on Iran, Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei has said.

“They waged a war while we were fully engaged in diplomatic discourse,” Baghaei stated at a press conference. “Therefore we are … defending our country.” 

He also accused the US of seeking control over Iran’s oil resources.

“Their design is clear, their enterprise is quite obvious – they aim at partitioning our country to take illegal possession of our oil riches,” he said. “Their objective is to violate our sovereignty, defeat our people and undermine our humanity.”

Saudi Arabia’s Defense Ministry said its forces had intercepted a drone targeting the Shaybah oil field, one of the world’s largest and a key pillar of the kingdom’s energy infrastructure.

RT correspondent Steve Sweeney reports an Israeli strike in Beirut’s southern suburbs that he says hit a branch of the bank Al-Qard Al-Hassan, which the IDF considers a legitimate military target due to its allegedly being Hezbollah’s primary financial arm.

The Israeli Air Force has carried out multiple waves of strikes in Beirut’s Dahiyeh district, reportedly targeting Hezbollah command centers and underground storages of weapons.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei has said that by “deliberately” targeting fuel depots, the “aggressors are releasing hazardous materials and toxic substances into the air, poisoning civilians, devastating the environment, and endangering lives on a massive scale.”

“These attacks on fuel storage facilities amount to nothing less than intentional chemical warfare against the Iranian citizens,” Baghaei wrote on X.

The US-Israeli strikes on oil facilities near Tehran, a megacity of 10 million, have reportedly produced a “black rain” of toxic oil and soot over the Iranian capital. Local officials said the particulate matter is coating buildings, streets, and water sources.

Images and videos posted online show thick black smog hanging over the city, while residents report difficulty breathing.

Iran’s Red Crescent Society warned that the rain could be “highly dangerous and acidic,” posing risks of “chemical burns to the skin and serious lung damage” for residents in Tehran and surrounding areas.

At least 1,255 people have been killed and 12,000 injured in Iran in the past nine days of US-Israeli strikes, Ali Jafarian, Iran’s deputy health minister, has told Al Jazeera.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has called out Trump for blaming Iran for the attack on a school in Minab that killed 168 children last week.

“It is funny. It is our school. These are our students, our girls, and they are attacked by an American fighter, a jet fighter, and they have been killed,” he told NBC’s ‘Meet the Press’.

“We were negotiating with the United States. And in the middle of negotiations, in the middle of diplomacy, they decided to attack us, and they have attacked so many places, including schools and hospitals. And there is all evidence that this school is attacked by an American, you know, jet fighter.”

Bahrain’s Bapco Energies has declared force majeure on operations, state media reports, after an Iranian drone reportedly struck the Bapco oil refinery in Sitra, the country’s main refinery and a critical energy facility.

Unverified footage circulating online shows a massive plume of smoke rising from the refinery site.

Russian presidential envoy Kirill Dmitriev has warned that oil prices could soar to “$150+” or even “$200+” if the conflict continues.

“The oil issue is no longer just about the Strait of Hormuz. As oil and gas infrastructure is attacked in the Middle East and production is constrained, the energy crisis will unfortunately be much deeper and longer than most expect,” he wrote on X.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi says Trump’s demands to influence the selection of the next supreme leader will fail, stressing that the decision belongs solely to the Iranian people.

“We allow nobody to interfere in our domestic affairs. This is up to the Iranian people to elect their new leader… It is the business of the Iranian people and nobody else’s business,” he said in an exclusive interview with NBC’s ‘Meet the Press’ on Sunday.

Republican Senator Lindsey Graham has told Fox News that the US will control nearly a third of the world’s oil and make record profits if it topples the Iranian government.

“When this regime goes down, we’re going to have a new Middle East, we are going to make a ton of money. Nobody will threaten the Strait of Hormuz again.”

He added that the US will install a “friendly” government in Tehran.

Iranian military spokesman Ebrahim Zolfaghari has warned that unless the US and Israel stop the military campaign against Iran, oil prices will surge past $200 per barrel.

“If you can tolerate oil prices above $200 per barrel, continue this game,” he said in a video address.

Trump earlier downplayed the impact of the war on global trade, writing on Truth Social:

“Short term oil prices, which will drop rapidly when the destruction of the Iran nuclear threat is over, is a very small price to pay for U.S.A., and World, Safety and Peace. ONLY FOOLS WOULD THINK DIFFERENTLY!”

US CENTCOM says American military deaths since the start of the Iran conflict have reached eight. In a post on X, it said a US National Guard member died on March 6 in Kuwait following a “health-related incident” during a medical emergency; the exact cause of death remains unclear.

The command previously reported that six Army Reserve soldiers were killed in an Iranian drone strike at Port Shuaiba, Kuwait, and one soldier died on March 8 from injuries sustained during an Iranian attack on a base in Saudi Arabia.

Oil prices spiked to nearly $120 per barrel before easing slightly on Monday. Brent crude surged to $119.50 per barrel but later traded at $112.98; West Texas Intermediate hit $119.48 before falling back to $110.17.

In response to the US-Israeli airstrikes, Iran has closed the Strait of Hormuz and struck tankers attempting to transit the waterway, which carries a fifth of the world’s oil supply. Iraq, the UAE, and Kuwait have cut output after running out of storage space.

The IDF has also claimed that it detected missiles heading from Iran toward Israel “a short time ago.”

“Defense systems are operating to intercept the threat. In the past few minutes, the Home Front Command has sent advance instructions directly to mobile phones in the relevant areas,” the military said in a statement on X.

The Israeli army says it has completed another wave of strikes on military infrastructure across Iran. It added that the attacks targeted an Iranian rocket engine production facility and several long-range ballistic missile launch sites, as well as the headquarters of a regional corps, the Internal Security Forces command center in Isfahan, and the IRGC’s police headquarters.

Donald Trump has insisted that US forces have significantly degraded Tehran’s naval and missile capabilities.

“We have sunk all Iranian ships and destroyed most missile launch platforms, with only 20% remaining,” he said in an interview with Fox News on Sunday. “We dealt Iran an extremely severe blow, something no other country has done.”

Trump also insisted that Tehran “was planning to take control of the Middle East.”

The State Department previously ordered the departure of non-essential personnel from Qatar, Jordan, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, and Iraq, as well as from US consulates in Lahore and Karachi, Pakistan.

The US Embassy in Kuwait has also scaled back operations, with a State Department spokesperson saying the move was made “for security and operational considerations to protect the safety of personnel.”

The US State Department has ordered non-emergency diplomats and government personnel, along with their family members, to leave Saudi Arabia, citing security risks. Emergency staff will remain in place.

Washington previously authorized the voluntary departure of non-essential personnel and their families from the country.

A US-Israeli strike has hit a nuclear-related facility in central Iran, causing “significant damage,” the authorities have said. Iran’s ISNA news agency reported that the attack targeted a gamma irradiation sterilization center in Isfahan Province.

The Iranian National Center for Nuclear Safety Systems says no radiological release or elevated radiation levels have been detected in the area.

Several drones have been intercepted near Baghdad International Airport, according to footage verified by Al Jazeera. The drones were reportedly targeting Victoria Base, a compound housing US personnel.

The interceptions occurred during a series of overnight attacks in the Iraqi capital. Earlier reports said additional drones were shot down over Baghdad’s Al I’alam district, resulting in at least one woman being wounded.

An Iranian drone reportedly struck a BAPCO oil refinery in Bahrain.

Fox News anchor Brian Kilmeade, who often interviews Donald Trump, said the US president told him he is “not happy” with Mojtaba Khamenei’s selection as Iran’s new supreme leader.

Trump previously dismissed Khamenei as “a lightweight” and “unacceptable,” arguing that he should instead be involved in the selection process.

Russian presidential investment envoy Kirill Dmitriev has said that oil prices could climb to $200 a barrel if the war drags on.

Researcher Trevor Ball said the Iranian elementary girls’ school destroyed in a strike on February 28 was hit by a US-made Tomahawk cruise missile, which Iran does not have.

President Donald Trump refused to accept US responsibility for the deaths of more than 160 students and staff, suggesting that the school in Minab was hit by a faulty Iranian missile. Investigations by several leading Western media outlets, however, indicate that the US was likely behind the attack.

A US-made Patriot air defense system reportedly malfunctioned while attempting to intercept an Iranian missile in Bahrain.

An Emirati official denied reports to The Jerusalem Post that the UAE participated in a strike on an Iranian desalination facility on Sunday.

The Emirati Foreign Ministry said the Gulf nation “does not seek to be drawn into any conflict or escalation but affirms its full right to take all necessary measures to protect its sovereignty, national security, and territorial integrity.”

A video reportedly shows the aftermath of Iranian missile strikes in Tel Aviv.

Influential Iraqi-based Shiite cleric Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani has issued a fatwa emphasizing “the collective duty” of Muslims to defend Iran.

08 March 2026

Iran has launched a new missile barrage at northern Israel, with impacts reported in Tel Aviv.

Crude oil prices have surged past $100 per barrel as the Strait of Hormuz, a critical shipping route, remains closed, forcing Iraq, Kuwait, and the UAE to cut production after running out of storage capacity.

In a post on Truth Social, US President Donald Trump argued that the “short-term” surge in prices was “a very small price to pay for USA, and World, Safety and Peace.”

Iranians have hit the streets to celebrate the selection of Mojtaba Khamenei, the son of the slain Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, to succeed his father as Iran’s supreme leader.

A US soldier has died from wounds sustained during an Iranian attack on an American base in Saudi Arabia, US Central Command has said.

It is the seventh American troop death since the US and Israel began their attacks on Iran on February 28.

Israeli army spokesman Effie Defrin has vowed to continue carrying out strikes against IRGC members and suggested US-Israeli operations could continue “for a long time.”

Defrin characterized Israel’s early morning strike on a hotel in Beirut, which resulted in four fatalities, as a targeted operation against the IRGC that hit them “precisely in their hideouts.” The location is surrounded by numerous other hotels, which are now overcrowded with displaced individuals who have fled their homes in various parts of Lebanon due to the conflict.

It is still unclear whether the four people killed were IRGC members or displaced people.

French President Emmanuel Macron has urged his Iranian counterpart Masoud Pezeshkian to cease retaliatory strikes “against countries in the region.”

“Iran must also guarantee freedom of navigation by putting an end to the de facto closure of the Strait of Hormuz,” Macron said in an X post.

The French leader also said the safety and repatriation of Cecile Kohler and Jacques Paris, a formerly imprisoned French couple currently staying on the grounds of the French Embassy, is an “absolute priority.”

Sixty-five schools and 32 medical facilities, hospitals, and pharmacies have been targeted in the US-Israeli war against Tehran, Pirhoussein Koulivand, head of Iran’s Red Crescent Society, has said.

They are among the almost 10,000 civilian sites that the Red Crescent said earlier have been damaged in the country. The announcement came after the Israeli military said it struck more than 3,400 targets in Iran.

US Navy Captain Tim Hawkins, a CENTCOM spokesman, denied targeting civilians in a comment to The Associated Press, and accused Iran of doing so.

A Khamenei “will continue” as Iran’s leader, Sky News has claimed, citing “a member of the Assembly [of Experts],” which is charged with choosing his successor.

Amongst the late leader’s eight children, his son Mojtaba is one of those believed to be in the running.

The information from Sky News follows earlier reports suggesting a new supreme leader had already been selected, but RT is still awaiting official confirmation.

104 crew members were killed and 32 others injured in a US attack on the Iranian warship Iris Dena last week, the semi-official Fars News Agency has reported.

US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Wednesday that a US submarine sank an Iranian warship in international waters.

The injured crew members were taken to a hospital in Sri Lanka for treatment after the authorities there launched a rescue mission, according to the agency.

The UK Ministry of Defence has said it engaged an attack drone fired from Iran toward Iraq last night.

People are gathering in Tehran to mourn the late Ali Khamenei and protest against US-Israeli attacks against the country.

According to Tasnim footage, large crowds in the capital are waving flags and holding portraits of Khamenei.

The official funeral of the supreme leader hasn’t taken place yet, mostly due to the continuing attacks by US and Israel.

Half a million people have been displaced in a week of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah, the Lebanese authorities have said, as cited by Al Jazeera.

The actual number is likely higher, the report said. Lebanon’s count of 517,000 refers to those who registered on the government’s online portal.

Over the past week, Israel has called on residents in dozens of villages across southern Lebanon and the entirety of Beirut’s southern suburbs to evacuate as the fighting intensifies. More than 290 people have been killed over the past week.

US Energy Secretary Chris Wright has said Israeli strikes in Iran have targeted “local fuel depots,” not energy infrastructure. He also claimed that Washington has no plans to strike Iran’s oil or natural gas industry.

Earlier today the Iranian Red Crescent warned of possible acid rain after the US struck oil storage facilities in the city. It added the explosions could release toxic hydrocarbons, sulfur, and nitrogen oxides that could make rainfall highly acidic and dangerous.

The US-Israeli war against Iran, Tehran's retaliatory strikes and the current situation in the Strait of Hormuz could trigger multiple simultaneous crises, Iraq’s foreign minister has cautioned.

Fuad Hussein told his Arab League counterparts during their meeting today that the waterway’s closure has a “direct impact on the interests of Iraq, the region, and the world.”

Other repercussions could include “crises in energy supplies and prices, widespread armed chaos in the region, and mass displacement or migration,” he warned.

As we reported earlier, Iraq’s oil production from its main fields has plummeted by about 70% in recent days as it remains unable to export crude through the Strait.

Trump has once again threatened Iran, claiming that the country's next supreme leader “is not going to last long” if Tehran does not get his approval first to replace the slain Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

”He’s going to have to get approval from us,” Trump told ABC News. “If he doesn’t get approval from us, he’s not going to last long.”

Trump's comments came as the Iranian clerical body responsible for choosing the successor to Khamenei was reported to have voted and would soon announce a name.

An Iranian military source told RT that Tehran is preparing to “surprise” US President Donald Trump with several major developments on Monday.
The source said Trump’s threats to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and intensify strikes on Tehran appear aimed at stabilizing markets and preventing oil prices from surging.
Iran is also expected to expand defensive measures, the source said, warning that the coming days could become more difficult for both the US and Israel.

RT reporter Charlotte Dubenskij has captured a Boeing KC-135 Stratotanker on video flying over Tel Aviv. The KC-135 is the primary aerial refueling aircraft of the US Air Force.

The IDF said Iran launched a new barrage of missiles toward Israel on Sunday afternoon, prompting the activation of air defense systems. Sirens sounded across central areas, including Tel Aviv and parts of Jerusalem. RT’s Charlotte Dubenskij reported from a bomb shelter in Tel Aviv.

The US Central Command issued a safety warning to civilians in Iran on Sunday, accusing the country of endangering innocent people.
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Facilities used for military purposes have no protected status under international law and constitute legitimate targets, the statement said. CENTCOM added that while the US military takes steps to minimize civilian harm, it cannot guarantee safety near sites the Iranian government uses for military operations, including places where drones and ballistic missiles are launched.

RT’s Steve Sweeney reports from southern Lebanon as Israeli forces expand operations in the south and east of the country, where air and ground strikes took the lives of dozens of people over the weekend.

RT Tehran bureau chief Hami Hamedi filmed the aftermath of US-Israeli strikes on the Shahran oil depot, where at least one storage tank was still burning as thick smoke billowed into the sky.

The footage shows gutted vehicles scattered across the site, while a dense layer of pollution hangs just five to six meters above ground, darkening the air around the facility.
Strikes on fuel depots in Tehran have triggered large fires and thick smoke clouds over the capital.

Iran is levying 60% of its missile and drone strikes against US bases and “strategic interests” in the region, with the remaining 40% aimed at Israeli targets, Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) spokesperson Ali Mohammad Naeini has said.

Iran will increase the intensity of its attacks starting this evening, Fars news agency reported on Sunday, adding that IRGC drone operations will rise by about 20%, while the use of super-heavy strategic missiles will double.

Several members of Iran’s Assembly of Experts, the body responsible for selecting the country’s next supreme leader, have said they have reached a decision but did not disclose the chosen candidate.
“The most suitable candidate, approved by the majority of the Assembly of Experts, has been determined,” member Mohsen Heydari said on Sunday, according to Iran’s ISNA news agency.
Israel has warned it would target any figure selected to replace Ali Khamenei, who was killed in joint US–Israeli strikes on the first day of the war with Iran.

Iranian authorities have urged Tehran residents to stay indoors as heavy pollution spreads over the city following recent strikes.

Similar environmental fallout has occurred in past conflicts. During the 1991 Gulf War, more than 600 burning oil wells in Kuwait released around 24,000 metric tons of sulfur dioxide a day, triggering acid rain and soot clouds that spread nearly 1,900 km, reaching countries as far away as Turkey, Bulgaria, Romania, Afghanistan and Pakistan.

The first week of the war with Iran has cost Washington about $6 billion, The New York Times has reported, citing figures provided by US officials to Congress.
The Trump administration is reportedly expected to soon request additional funding to continue the operation. According to preliminary Pentagon estimates, the campaign could cost up to $1 billion per day; the White House expects it to last four to six weeks.

RT video footage shows damage in residential areas of Tel Aviv following recent strikes, with debris scattered across the scene and a car left abandoned on a grassy area nearby.

A United Arab Emirates official has denied a report by Israeli mainstream outlet Ynet that the country carried out a strike on a desalination facility in Iran.

“The UAE would not strike civilian infrastructure and would instead target military sites,” the official said, according to the Jerusalem Post.

Iran’s Red Crescent chief has called on the International Criminal Court (ICC) to investigate what he described as US-Israeli attacks on civilian targets in the country, saying preliminary data indicate that more than 6,600 civilian structures, including 68 schools, have been damaged in recent strikes.

Black smoke covered the sky over Tehran after US struck oil storage facilities in the city. 

The Iranian Red Crescent has warned of possible acid rain, saying the explosions could release toxic hydrocarbons, sulfur, and nitrogen oxides that could make rainfall highly acidic and dangerous.

The Israeli military claims to have destroyed all Iranian Air Force F-14A Tomcat fighter jets at the 8th Tactical Fighter Base in Isfahan, in central Iran.

RT’s Hami Hamedi has captured on video the severe air pollution caused by last night’s attacks on oil depots in Tehran. Toxic particles and soot that are now falling over the city and its residents along with the rain.

US-Israeli airstrikes have damaged 9,669 civilian sites in Iran, according to the Iranian Red Crescent. Of these, 7,943 are residential homes and 1,617 are commercial properties, as well as some medical and educational facilities, data shows.

RT correspondent Caleb Maupin reports from a gas station in Brooklyn, New York, as rising fuel prices are hitting American consumers as tensions escalate in the Middle East.

A short clip allegedly captured by US soldiers appears to show an Iranian drone attack a radar tower at an American military base. The location hasn’t been confirmed, but it is believed to be Ali Al Salem Air Base in Kuwait.

“Less than a week after the United States and Israel launched their war against Iran, Operation Roaring Lion appears more wasteful in its use of offensive munitions than the 2025 campaign,” the Israeli newspaper Haaretz has indicated. According to the IDF’s spokesperson, as of Tuesday Israel “had launched approximately 4,000 munitions – roughly the same number” used during the Iran-Israel war in June 2025.

Ebrahim Zolfaghari, spokesman for the command headquarters of the Iranian Armed Forces, has announced that “given the destruction of enemy radar systems during previous waves, destroying targets has become much easier, and (…) all missiles fired hit the designated targets.”

Bahrain’s Ministry of Interior has accused Iran of attacking “civilian targets” in the Gulf nation and causing “material damage to a water desalination plant” following Tehran’s drone strike.

Donald Trump has doubted media reports that Russia is providing Iran with intelligence. “I hope they are not,” the US president told reporters aboard Air Force one.

Two Kuwaiti border security personnel have been killed on duty, the country’s interior ministry has reported. The authorities haven’t disclosed exact circumstances.

US President Donald Trump said he does not want armed Kurdish groups to join the war against Iran, following reports suggesting that the CIA was working with Kurdish forces in Iraq.

“I don’t want the Kurds to go into Iran… They’re willing to go in, but I’ve told them I don’t want them to go in,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One.

“The war is complicated enough as it is… We don’t want to see the Kurds get hurt or killed,” he added.

A high-rise headquarters of Kuwait’s pension fund in Kuwait City has been hit by a drone, according to Bloomberg. The outlet cited local media as saying that UAVs also struck fuel depots at an airport.

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said it had carried out a new wave of strikes against US military sites in the region, including Camp Arifjan and Ali Al Salem Air Base in Kuwait.

US President Donald Trump attended a dignified transfer for six Americans killed in an Iranian drone attack in Kuwait. The six service members are the only confirmed US casualties in the war with Iran so far.

The ceremony at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware was also attended by Vice President J.D. Vance and Secretary of War Pete Hegseth.

A loud explosion was heard near the US Embassy in Oslo, Norway, around 1 a.m. Sunday, police said. No injuries were reported.

Police said they are investigating the cause of the blast.

A video reportedly shows the aftermath of an Israeli strike on Iran’s oil facilities.

At least two people were killed in a strike on the Ramada Hotel in central Beirut, Reuters reported Sunday, citing a security source. Lebanese media outlets blamed Israel for the attack.

That same night, an Iranian drone reportedly struck the Hyatt Hotel in Bahrain.

07 March 2026

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) spokesman, Brigadier General Effie Defrin, said that Israel has carried out more than 3,400 strikes in Iran since February 28, dropping around 7,500 munitions. Defrin said the IDF had disabled more than 150 Iranian air defense systems.

He added that Israel had carried out 600 strikes against Hezbollah-linked targets in Lebanon over the past four days.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has apologized to the countries affected by Iran’s retaliatory strikes against US military sites.

“I must apologize on my own behalf and on behalf of Iran to the neighbouring countries that were attacked by Iran,” Pezeshkian said in a televised address.

The president reiterated on X that Iran views US bases as legitimate targets. “We have not attacked our friendly and neighboring countries. Instead, we have targeted US military bases, facilities, and installations in the region,” he wrote.

Americans thought Iran would be like Venezuela, but instead they got stuck and created chaos in the Middle East, Iranian top security official Ali Larijani has told Mehr News.

Some American soldiers have been captured in certain countries in the region, he also claimed, adding that there were more than “5-6 American soldiers killed.”

Israeli police officers clashed with and arrested protesters during an anti-war protest in Tel Aviv today, according to media reports.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has spoken with the president of the Iraqi Kurdistan Regional Government, Nechirvan Barzani, to discuss the latest developments in the region.

According to a statement from the Turkish presidency, the two leaders discussed the trajectory of the escalating conflicts in the Middle East. Erdogan added that Ankara was closely monitoring movements by “organisations and affiliated groups.”

The call comes amid reports in some media that some Kurdish armed groups in the area may be coordinating with US forces in relation to the conflict with Iran.

Israeli media have reported that the IDF attacked “oil reserves in Tehran.”

While the reporting claims the Tehran refinery was targeted, Iranian Mehr news has denied it, claiming an oil depot near the refinery was struck.

A Pakistani man was killed in Dubai when debris from an aerial interceptor fell on his vehicle in the Barsha area, the authorities have said.

Dubai’s media office also said that authorities had dealt with an incident involving debris falling “onto the facade of one of the towers in the Dubai Marina area, as a result of a successful aerial interception, and no injuries resulted from the incident.”

Iranian missiles have targeted northern Israel, Jerusalem, and Tel Aviv.

The IRGC’s public relations department has announced it carried out a combined drone and missile operation against US and Israeli targets.

Families of Iranian embassy staff in Lebanon, as well as other Iranian citizens, have left the country due to the security situation, the Iranian Foreign Ministry has announced.

Israel issued a threat against Iranians still in the Lebanese capital earlier this week.

Khamenei’s son Mojtaba has “survived [an] assassination attempt” by Israel, but was “injured,” Israeli channel 12 has claimed.

“Despite initial reports of serious damage to the compound where he was staying, the current assessment in Jerusalem is that he managed to survive the attack, although his exact condition remains under heavy surveillance by the regime in Tehran,” the channel said.

The attack on an Iranian primary school should be investigated as a war crime, according to a new report from Human Rights Watch.

“The laws of war prohibit attacks if the anticipated harm to civilians and civilian objects is disproportionate compared to the expected military gain from the attack,” the report says.

The attack on the Shajareh Tayyebeh Primary School killed more than 170 people, including many students, according to Iranian officials. NBC News sources earlier claimed that the US investigation is moving increasingly closer to concluding that a US munition hit the structure.

The UK Ministry of Defense has said the US is using British bases “to prevent Iran firing missiles into the region, which is putting British lives at risk.”

According to the ministry, British jets are continuing air operations over Jordan, Qatar and Cyrpus “in defence of British interests and allies,” with additional resources, including a Merlin helicopter, on the way.

The situation in Iran is “horrific” due to US-Israeli strikes that hit residential houses, Mojtaba Khaledi, the spokesman for the Iranian Red Crescent Society, has told the head of RT’s bureau in Tehran, Hami Hamedi.

“Some houses are completely destroyed. We also find just body parts. They will need forensic analysis to identify. These are the stories that we are witnessing,” he said.

US State Department releases a security alert for Iraq: “Americans choosing not to depart should be prepared to shelter in place in a secure location for extended periods.”

No countries in the Middle East will enjoy peace as long as US bases remain in the region, Iranian Parliament Speaker Ghalibaf has said.

Bahrain’s ministry of interior says Iran’s latest attack caused “a fire and material damage to a house and several surrounding buildings in Manama”, the capital city.

Iran’s Foreign Ministry has said in a statement that responding to the US and Israel’s “brutal military aggression” is an exercise of the country’s inherent right to self-defense.

It also stressed that Tehran remains committed to maintaining “friendly relations” with its neighbors based on mutual respect. It emphasized that Iran’s operations against US military bases and facilities in the Gulf “should under no circumstances be perceived as enmity or hostility towards the countries of the region.”

Iran’s president earlier apologized to the countries of the region and said Iran respected their sovereignty.

An Iranian armed forces spokesperson has stated that Tehran “will continue the war as long as the Americans are present in the region.”

Meanwhile, the IRGC has said it has carried out the 26th wave of its military campaign.

UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan has said that the nation has entered a “time of war” in his first public comments since the conflict began.

Speaking to those injured in strikes, he said that the UAE has “thick skin and bitter flesh – we are no easy prey.”

Iran’s new supreme leader is slated to be selected within the next 24 hours, Fars News has said, citing sources in the Assembly of Experts.

The Assembly of Experts for the Leadership is an 88-member body of Islamic jurists, elected by direct popular vote every eight years. According to Iran's constitution, the Assembly’s mandate is to appoint, monitor, and dismiss (if appropriate) the supreme leader.

Iranian doctors have gathered in Tehran to protest against US-Israeli strikes targeting civilians. 

“We ask the international community, all freedom-seeking people of the world, all those who call themselves human […] to condemn these attacks. We ask our neighbors not to allow them to attack us from their bases. We are neighbors; we have lived together peacefully for centuries,” Dr. Hoseini told the press.

Israel has claimed to be targeting military infrastructure that belongs to the IRGC.

Its air force positions were allegedly “responsible for the aerial situational assessment” and defending Iran’s airspace.

The IDF also reportedly “struck air defense systems, command centers, logistic storage facilities, and additional structures belonging to the terror regime that were located adjacent to the situation room.”

No comment has been made by the IRGC as of yet.

Kuwait announced today that it has reduced crude oil production following “ongoing aggression” by Iran against the country.

The Kuwait Petroleum Corporation stated that threats to the safe passage of ships through the Strait of Hormuz had influenced its decision.

Normally jammed with oil tankers and cargo ships, the strait has been nearly emptied by the war, with traffic dropping around 90% last week due to ongoing US strikes and Iranian threats.

Washington aims to take Iran’s vast oil reserves “out of the hands of terrorists,” National Energy Dominance Council Executive Director Jarrod Agen said in an interview with Fox News.

“What we want to do is get such massive oil reserves in Iran out of the hands of terrorists,” Agen said, adding that in the long run the US would no longer have to “worry about issues in the Strait of Hormuz.”

Iraq's Kurdish government, which rules a semiautonomous region in the north of the country, prides itself on talking to both the US-Israeli side and Iran.

“The Kurds must not be the tip of the spear in this conflict,” a senior Iraqi Kurdish government official told Axios.

US media have earlier reported that Washington was arming Kurdish forces as potential ground troops. An American official also told Fox News on Wednesday that “thousands of Iraqi Kurdish fighters” had allegedly launched an assault inside Iran.

”We have trust issues from the past, and we don't want to get involved. Who is going to defend us if the Iranian regime ends up surviving this?” the government official told Axios, commenting on the reports.

The US has attacked the desalination used to provide drinkable water, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has claimed on X. The “blatant and desperate crime” on Qeshm Island has impacted 30 villages, he added.

Dani Gafari, a spokesperson for the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) in Beirut, told RT the mission had recorded multiple violations of UN Security Council Resolution 1701, which ended the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah war.

“These include rocket launches from southern Lebanon towards Israel, Israeli artillery shelling and air strikes on Lebanese territory,” he said, adding that UNIFIL had also recorded Israeli troops entering Lebanese territory.

Britain is preparing an aircraft carrier for possible deployment to the Middle East, according to media reports.

Sky News reported that the UK has halved the notice period to mobilise the HMS Prince of Wales, meaning the vessel could be ready for deployment within five days if required.

Here is footage from RT reporter Steve Sweeney, filmed on his way to Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley, where Israel attempted an airborne incursion that Hezbollah’s elite Radwan unit said it repelled. The attack reportedly left 29 people dead.

Iran’s Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters, the country’s military command center, said the armed forces would continue targeting US and Israeli bases across the region, warning that if “hostile actions continue,” their military bases and interests “on land, at sea and in the air” would become Iran’s “primary targets.”

The statement followed a televised address by President Masoud Pezeshkian on Saturday in which he apologized to neighboring Gulf states and said Iranian forces would stop striking them unless attacks on Iran originated from their territory. “We have no intention of invading neighboring countries,” he said.

The US Central Command says American forces have struck over 3,000 targets in the first week of Operation Epic Fury.

US President Donald Trump said he would increase pressure on Iran after President Masoud Pezeshkian issued an apology to Middle Eastern countries over previous attacks.

Trump said the Islamic Republic was suffering a “crushing defeat,” adding that it was happening “for the first time in thousands of years.”

At least 6,668 civilian sites have been struck in the US-Israeli attacks since the start of the war against Iran in late February, Fars news has reported, citing the Iranian Red Crescent Society. The report has indicated the following sites:

• 5,535 residential units

• 1,041 commercial units

• 14 medical centers

• 65 schools

• 13 centers affiliated with the Iranian Red Crescent Society

Dubai International Airport has “partially resumed operations.”

“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,” the airport has announced on X.

Tehran has decided to stop attacking targets in neighboring states, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said in a televised speech. Pezeshkian also apologized to the countries of the region and expressed the Islamic Republic’s respect for their sovereignty.

Dubai International Airport has suspended operations, the emirate has reported. Local authorities are following the approved safety protocols, the Dubai media office has confirmed.

The southern suburbs of Beirut have been evacuated due to Israeli strikes, the local governor, Marwan Abboud, has told RT.

“We decided to open a temporary accommodation center here at the stadium. It can accommodate 10,000 people,” he said.

Eight more people have been killed in US-Israeli strikes on the Iranian city of Isfahan, the Islamic Republic’s state media have reported. In the Iranian counties of Isfahan, Lenjan, and Borkhar, 80 homes are said to have sustained heavy damage from the attack.

China may “provide Iran with financial assistance, spare parts and missile components, three people familiar with the matter said,” CNN has reported, citing three unnamed sources.

“China is more cautious in its support. It wants the war to end because it endangers their energy supply,” one of them said. Beijing hasn’t yet responded to the report, or detailed its overall involvement in the conflict.

Iran has attacked a building where a group of Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) officers were staying in Bahrain, the organization’s secretary-general, Jassim al-Budaiwi, has told Sky News Arabia.

Israel has detected new missile launches towards Tel Aviv, according to the IDF. They reportedly targeted both the center and the south of the Jewish State overnight.

Two ballistic missiles have been intercepted and destroyed by Saudi Arabia, the country’s defense ministry has reported. The missiles targeted the Prince Sultan Air Base, it has said.

A third US aircraft carrier, USS George H.W. Bush, will soon be deployed to the Middle East, Fox News has reported.

The US Navy said on Friday that the George H.W. Bush Carrier Strike Group had recently completed the pre-deployment trials required for major combat operations.

According to USNI News, the aircraft carriers USS Gerald R. Ford and USS Abraham Lincoln are operating in the Red Sea and the northern Indian Ocean, respectively.

An analysis of satellite images by CNN suggests that earlier this week Iran destroyed a US AN/TPY-2 radar at Muwaffaq Salti Air Base in Jordan that was used for a THAAD missile battery.

The images also suggest that radars were damaged or destroyed near Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia, and in Sader and Ruwais, both in the UAE.

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps announced that it targeted US bases in Jordan, Kuwait, Bahrain, and the UAE as part of its 23rd wave of retaliatory strikes.

• The Qatari Defense Ministry said the country’s air defenses intercepted nine drones, while one drone fell in an uninhabited area.

• The Saudi Defense Ministry said a missile was intercepted in the central Al-Kharj region.

• The Kuwaiti Defense Ministry said 14 missiles and 12 drones were intercepted in different parts of the kingdom.

Heavy gunfire has been reported in the Beqaa Valley in northeastern Lebanon.

According to local media, Israel attempted to land commandos from helicopters. Israel had earlier issued an evacuation warning for the area and conducted strikes in Al-Nabi Shayth.

NBC News cited four unnamed officials as saying that US President Donald Trump had expressed “serious interest” in deploying American troops on the ground in Iran while discussing the country’s future with aides and Republican politicians.

The president has publicly ruled out boots on the ground in Iran. White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt rejected NBC’s report, saying it came from people outside Trump’s team who were “clearly not read into these discussions.” She added, however, that Trump “wisely keeps all options open.”

Iranian media reported explosions at Tehran’s Mehrabad International Airport.

Press TV said a large fire was caused by the US‑Israeli strikes.

RT breaks down the military capabilities of the US, Israel, and Iran and delves into the role of American aid in Israel’s air power and missile defense.

06 March 2026

Iranian media posted a video of a strike near a boys’ school in Iran’s western city of Qazvin.

The footage shows the blast wave shattering windows and sending students and staff fleeing.

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer said four additional Typhoon fighter jets were being sent to Qatar. He added that two Wildcat helicopters armed with anti-drone missiles would arrive at a UK air base in Cyprus.

At least four sailors were killed and three injured in an attack on a ship in the Strait of Hormuz on Friday, International Maritime Organization Secretary General Arsenio Dominguez told UN News.

Dominguez added that 20,000 sailors remain stranded aboard some 3,000 vessels unable to pass through the strait due to the US-Israeli war on Iran.

White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt clarified President Donald Trump’s demand for an “unconditional surrender” of Iran.

“Iran will essentially be in a place of unconditional surrender … whether they say it themselves or not,” she told journalists, adding that the US would stop the strikes if Trump “determines that Iran no longer poses a threat to the United States of America.”

UK Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch has urged Prime Minister Keir Starmer to authorize the Royal Air Force to strike Iranian missile sites.

British planes have been helping shoot down missiles and drones after an Iranian UAV hit a UK air base in Cyprus.

“If you have someone with a gun shooting, stopping the bullets is not enough, you need to go after the weapon,” Badenoch told BBC Breakfast.

At least 1,332 Iranian civilians were killed and thousands more were injured during the US and Israeli strikes, Iran’s envoy to the UN Amir-Saeid Iravani said.

Speaking to reporters on Friday, Iravani accused the US and Israel of deliberately targeting civilian infrastructure, including schools, healthcare centers, residential buildings, and mosques.

A spokesperson for the Iranian military has said that Tehran has not closed the Strait of Hormuz, attributing the decrease in traffic to the danger posed by the ongoing war.

“We will target any ship belonging to the Zionist entity [Israel] and America if it attempts to cross the Strait of Hormuz,” he clarified.

The US aircraft carrier Gerald Ford has now moved from the Eastern Mediterranean, where it was recently based, to the Red Sea, transiting the Suez Canal.

The carrier has played a central part in two of Trump’s recent military campaigns: the abduction of Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro at the start of the year, and now the war on Iran.

Vladimir Putin has expressed his deepest condolences over the assassination of Ali Khamenei and his family members during a phone call with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian.

“Russia’s principled position is that there’s a need for an immediate cessation of hostilities […] and a swift return to the path of political and diplomatic resolution,” the statement published on the Kremlin website says.

Putin also noted that he is in constant contact with the leaders of the countries that are members of the Gulf Cooperation Council.

Saudi Arabia is trying to engage with Iran to help contain the war in the Middle East, Bloomberg News reported on Friday, citing European officials.

The US is ⁠well on its ⁠way toward controlling Iranian airspace, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt has said, adding that the operation against Iran could last up to two months.

“What I will tell you is what President Trump has already laid out, which is that the achievable objectives of Operation Epic Fury, we expect to last about four to six weeks, and we are well on our way to achieving those objectives,” she stated.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt has said that US forces are “well on track to control Iranian airspace.”

Three days ago, Leavitt promised that the US would have “complete and total dominance over Iranian airspace in the coming hour.”

Seven days into the US-Israeli war on Iran, the Trump administration’s messaging has been chaotic at times. Trump, Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and Secretary of War Pete Hegseth have all offered conflicting rationale, timelines, and end goals for the conflict, which Trump now says will continue until Iran gives its “unconditional surrender.”

Meanwhile, the president has broken ties with Tucker Carlson, once one of his most reliable supporters and informal advisers, while media leaks paint a picture of an administration where tension between the highest officials has boiled over into heated arguments.

RT looked at the growing divide within Trump’s MAGA coalition, over a war whose consequences will shape the next presidential election in the US.

Russia “deeply mourns all the victims, the spiritual leader, and their family members, for all the schoolgirls, and other innocent people, these martyrs, they will forever remain in our hearts,” Russian Minister of Energy Sergey Tsivilev has said.

Russia’s economic activity with Iran “will not be stopped,” he added, despite the efforts of “the enemies of the Iranian people.”

The Israeli military has claimed that it hit Hezbollah command centers in its latest wave of airstrikes on the Beirut suburb of Dahiyeh.

Hardline Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, however, has described Israel’s bombing of the Lebanese capital as more indiscriminate and based in revenge. “Dahiyeh will look like Khan Younis,” he said in a video on Thursday, referring to the Palestinian city razed by Israeli bombing during the war in Gaza.

“You wanted to bring hell on us, you brought hell on yourselves,” he said, presumably addressing the hundreds of thousands of people who call Dahiyeh home.

Trump has hinted once again that he could target Cuba next, in a phone interview with CNN.

”Cuba is gonna fall pretty soon, by the way, unrelated, but Cuba is gonna fall too. They want to make a deal so badly,” he claimed, adding that he might send Marco Rubio, who is of Cuban descent, to his homeland to “see how that works out.”

Trump didn't elaborate on whether he actually sees Rubio as a potential leader for Cuba, just like he has refused to point to his favourite option to lead Iran.

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has alleged that the American warplanes that struck an elementary school in Minab took off from the Al-Dhafra Air Base in Abu Dhabi. The IRGC said that it launched retaliatory strikes against the base on Saturday, and again on Friday.

The latest attack destroyed the base’s radar installations, MQ-9 drone hangars, and a U-2 spy plane, the IRGC claimed.

With authorities in the UAE threatening fines and jail time for those posting videos of Iranian attacks, RT could not immediately find footage of the most recent strike. Thick smoke can be seen rising from Al-Dhafra in this video shot on Saturday, however.

Beirut’s skyline is obscured by thick black smoke as night falls, following a day of heavy bombardment by the Israeli military. RT’s Steve Sweeney is on the ground in the Lebanese capital, where Israel has ordered hundreds of thousands of people to leave the southern suburb of Dahiyeh.

People are still gathering all across Iran to mourn the late Ali Khamenei and protest againt US-Israeli strikes.

The death toll in Iran from the attacks has risen to 1,332, Iran’s semiofficial Tasnim news agency has reported.

The deadliest single incident occurred in the city of Minab in southeastern Iran, where a strike on an elementary girls’ school killed 168 children.

Iranian Tasnim is witnessing crowds in Tehran, Nahavand, Qom and other cities. 

India gave refuge to 183 Iranian sailors whose ship, the IRIS Lavan, sent out a distress call and docked at the port of Kochi on Saturday, shortly after the US and Israel began striking Iran, a government official has told Al Jazeera.

The announcement comes two days after an American submarine torpedoed another Iranian warship, the IRIS Dena, off the coast of Sri Lanka. The vessel had been participating in naval exercises with India before it was hit. More than 80 sailors died in the attack, while 32 were rescued.

Iran has launched another barrage of missiles toward central Israel, the IDF has announced. This time around, the missiles reached Israeli airspace less than five minutes after sirens sounded, instead of the usual eight minutes.

This suggests that Iran’s repeated attacks on US radar equipment in the region is hampering Israel’s ability to detect launches.

Approximately 300,000 people have been displaced by the Israeli strikes in Lebanon, according to the Norwegian Refugee Council.

If implemented, the latest evacuation orders from Israel could produce a humanitarian crisis “unlike anything we have seen in over two years,” Maureen Philippon, country director for NRC in Lebanon, said in a press release.

The moment Iran fires Khorramshahr-4, Kheibar and Fatah missiles, in another wave of retaliatory strikes.

Satellite imaging firm Planet Labs will no longer immediately release images from the Gulf, to “prevent adversarial actors endangering the safety of allied and NATO-partner personnel” in the region, the company said in a statement.

From now on, the images will only be released after “a mandatory 96-hour delay,” the company added.

During the first week of the conflict, Planet Labs’ footage revealed that Iranian drones and missiles dealt extensive damage to US bases in Bahrain, Kuwait, and Qatar.

CENTCOM chief Brad Cooper has accused Iran of firing seven attack drones at residential neighborhoods in Bahrain on Thursday evening.

In a statement published on social media, Cooper accused Iran of “deliberately” targeting civilians across the Middle East.

The elementary school where at least 168 Iranian children were killed in a strike was located in an area being targeted by the American military, two US officials have confirmed, according to NBC News.

“The administration officials acknowledged to lawmakers that the US was operating in that section of Iran and did not offer a likely alternative theory to the idea that the strike could have been the US.”

US Central Command has said an investigation into the strike in the southern city of Minab is ongoing.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters Monday that US forces “would not deliberately target a school.”

Trump has said he will accept a nondemocratic leader of Iran so long as they are amicable to the US and Israel.

”Do a great job. Treat the United States and Israel well, and treat the other countries in the Middle East – they’re all our partners,” Trump said, listing the top priorities for his preferred candidate in a phone interview with CNN.

”I don’t mind religious leaders. I deal with a lot of religious leaders, and they are fantastic,” he added.

Germany has pulled additional Bundeswehr troops out of the Middle East, a military spokesman told Reuters on Friday, as the US-Israeli war on Iran that has convulsed the region continues.

Soldiers deployed with the UNIFIL mission in Lebanon are being withdrawn due to the security situation. The Bundeswehr has already sharply reduced its presence in Erbil in northern Iraq.

German troops stationed in Bahrain had already returned home, and preparations for withdrawals from Kuwait were underway, according to German media. Soldiers and staff from the German embassy in Baghdad were being relocated to Jordan.

White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett has told CNBC and Bloomberg that the US military is considering ways to get ships moving again through the strait, but did not provide more details on timing or approach.

Israeli attacks in Lebanon have killed a total of 217 people and wounded 798 since Monday, Lebanon’s Health Ministry has said.

Lionel Messi has been criticized on social media for meeting Trump and applauding his latest briefing on the Iran war at a White House event honoring the Argentinian superstar.

Brent crude futures hit $90 per barrel for the first time in almost two years as the US and Israel continue to attack Iran, unleashing war in the Middle East.

The global benchmark added as much as 5.7%, while West Texas Intermediate topped $85 for the first time since April 2024. Futures are up more than a fifth this week.

The Wall Street Journal earlier reported that Kuwait has begun cutting production at some oil fields after running out of places to store crude.

Citigroup Inc. also estimates that the crude oil market is losing 7 million to 11 million barrels per day of supply due to the disruption in the Strait of Hormuz.

Trump has taken to social media to demand “UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER!” from Iran before any deal can be secured.

In a post on Truth Social, the US president went on to call for new Iranian leaders he deems “acceptable,” after which he said the US and its allies would work to help Iran recover.

The RT team in Iran has witnessed preparations for Ali Khamenei's funeral at the Imam Khomeini Prayer Grounds.

The funeral has yet to be held as the US and Israel continue their bombing of Iranian cities.

Due to stringent restrictions, no other media were allowed to film the inside of Tehran’s Mosalla and preparations.

The UAE’s Defence Ministry has said it has intercepted nine ballistic missiles and 109 drones today, with three other drones falling on Emirati territory.

This brings the total number of intercepted Iranian ballistic missiles in the UAE during the conflict to 190 and the total number of intercepted drones to 1,110, according to the ministry.

Basra International Airport has been targeted by a drone, an Iraqi security source told Al Jazeera.

It was unclear who was responsible for launching the drone or if there were any casualties or damage at the facility.

RT Lebanon bureau head Steve Sweeney has witnessed one of the latest Israeli strikes on Beirut. 

Lebanese media report more than 15 Israeli airstrikes hitting the southern suburbs of Beirut in the latest wave.

In addition to these attacks, the Israeli military has also continued to pound southern Lebanon today.

Israel’s military has issued an evacuation warning for residents of the Shokouhiyeh industrial area of Qom, Iran.

In a post on its Farsi-language X account, the Israeli military shared a map of the area with a zone outlined in red, saying it would operate there “in the coming hours.”

“You are requested to immediately leave the designated area shown on the map,” the military said, warning that “remaining in this area puts your lives at risk.”

Iranian worshipers, many holding portraits of the late assassinated Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, have gathered across Iran for the first Friday prayers since the US-Israeli strikes began seven days ago.

People chanted anti-US and anti-Israeli slogans as they gathered for midday prayers, undeterred by the ferocious ongoing bombing campaign.

Footage shared by Iranian media showed crowds of men and women dressed in black streaming to mosques all across the country.

People are also waving flags in a sign of support for the Iranian government amid the ongoing strikes.

The Iranian Defense Ministry has said the country’s armed forces have secured their strategic reserves and are prepared for a prolonged conflict.

Iran’s offensive and defense operations will continue until “Israeli and American enemies” are defeated, Deputy Defense Minister for Strategic Planning Reza Talaei-Nik has told ISNA, warning that the adversary’s efforts will ultimately prove futile.

The Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps has said its “new-generation missiles struck American bases in Gulf countries” and Israeli sites, including “Ben Gurion Airport, Haifa and Tel Aviv.”

No confirmation has been made by the Israeli authorities as of yet.

Some countries have begun mediation efforts, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has said. He stressed that Tehran is committed to lasting peace in the region and is only defending itself.

“Mediation should address those who underestimated the Iranian people and ignited this conflict,” Pezeshkian wrote on X.

Israel’s military has claimed that it destroyed an “underground bunker” in Tehran that had been built for the late supreme leader, Ali Khamenei.

“A short while ago, approximately 50 Israeli Air Force fighter jets guided by precise IDF intelligence struck Ali Khamenei’s underground bunker in Tehran,” the IDF said in a statement on Friday.

The military claimed that senior government officials continued using the facility after Khamenei’s killing.

Five people have been killed and seven injured in Israeli attacks on the southern city of Sidon, according to Lebanon’s Health Ministry.

Volunteer student groups are seen clearing debris and assisting relief efforts at sites in Tehran reportedly hit by US-Israeli missile strikes, according to images circulating on Iranian media.

“We could be looking at global depression if it keeps up”

“We could be looking at global depression if it keeps up”

US entry into the war with Iran risks severe economic and geopolitical blowback, army infantry veteran and author Tyler Nixon has warned, arguing that Washington has “blundered into this war” despite having “so little in it for the United States, so much to lose.” 

Speaking to RT, Nixon said the conflict could trigger serious consequences for the global economy. “Energy is the lifeblood to the global economy. Who knows how far this could take it? We could be looking at global depression if it keeps up,” he said, warning that escalating tensions could spark a chain reaction of new conflicts.

Questioning Washington’s long-term strategy, he added: “What is the end game here? The complete destruction of the entire nation of Iran, complete chaos in that entire region? Because that’s the only thing I could see happening.”

The war is costing about $891.4 million per day, CNN reported, citing estimates from the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), which analysed Pentagon data on the targets struck and assets used in the operation.

CSIS said costs could decline as the United States shifts to “less expensive munitions” and as the number of Iranian drones and missiles launched decreases. “However, future costs will depend mostly on the intensity of operations and the effectiveness of Iranian retaliation,” the think tank added.

Air operations are estimated to cost about $30 million per day, while naval operations run around $15 million daily. Ground operations are expected to cost roughly $1.6 million a day.

The president of Sri Lanka, which took in 200 sailors after the US sunk an Iranian warship, urged restraint and the protection of civilians.

“No civilian should die in wars,” President Anura Kumara Dissanayake said, calling on all sides to demonstrate a firm commitment to peace. “Sri Lanka stands ready to support every step toward ending hostilities.”

RT’s Tehran bureau chief, Hami Hamedi, is reporting from the Iranian capital on the seventh day of the war, saying that since early morning around 4 AM the sound of American and Israeli fighter jets flying at very low altitude over Tehran could be heard.

Visibility in the more distant parts of the city was severely reduced. Multiple large explosions were reported across Tehran, with six or seven apparent precision strikes believed to have been carried out by US and Israeli forces.

Meanwhile, discussions about potential major political changes in Iran are continuing. In the coming days, it may become clearer who could emerge as the country’s next leader.

A total of 52 French ships are currently blocked in the Arabian Gulf, with another eight in the Red Sea, France’s Transport Minister Philippe Tabarot has said, as Paris seeks support to build a coalition to secure shipping in the region.

“There are around fifty ships - 52 to be precise - in the Persian Gulf and eight in the Red Sea,” Tabarot told French broadcaster CNews/Europe 1. “We are also in constant contact with the crews, as there are French sailors on board a number of these vessels.”

Japan will coordinate with overseas authorities and is prepared to take action against market volatility stemming from the Middle East conflict, Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama said on Friday, issuing a fresh warning against sharp declines in the yen.

Bank of Japan Deputy Governor Ryozo Himino, meanwhile, said the central bank will remain vigilant about movements in the yen, as they could affect underlying inflation and shape public expectations about future price trends.

Iran “not an easy nut to crack”

Iran “not an easy nut to crack”

Economist and former International Monetary Fund executive director Paulo Nogueira Batista Jr. has said the US-Israeli war on Iran could prove far more costly and difficult than Washington anticipates, arguing that Iran’s size, population, and military preparedness make it “not an easy nut to crack.” 

He said Tehran has already shown it can “strike back very strongly,” warning that US-aligned Gulf states hosting American bases have become targets for retaliation following attacks launched from their territory.

Asian stock markets saw a mixed day on Friday, as investors remained cautious amid the escalating Middle East conflict and volatile oil prices, though a slight pullback in crude provided some support to equities. Tokyo led regional gains, with Japan’s Nikkei 225 rising 0.6% to 55,620.84, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng jumped 1.6% to 25,732.75 and China’s Shanghai Composite added 0.4% to 4,124.19.

Elsewhere in the region, South Korea’s Kospi edged up less than 0.1% to 5,584.87, while Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 fell 1% to 8,851. Other markets were weaker, with Taiwan’s Taiex down about 0.2% and India’s Sensex losing roughly 0.8% by the close. Despite the mixed session, Asian equities remain under pressure for the week as rising energy costs and geopolitical uncertainty continue to weigh on investor sentiment.

Overnight in the US, all three major indexes closed lower, with the sell-off led by industrial names such as Boeing and Caterpillar, which are seen as particularly vulnerable if global economic growth slows. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1.61%, while the S&P 500 slipped 0.56%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite edged down 0.26%.

Oil prices briefly pushed above the $80-per-barrel mark during US trading on Thursday before easing slightly on Friday. Brent crude futures were last down about 0.3% at $85.14 per barrel, while US West Texas Intermediate which posted its largest single-day gain since May 2020 a day earlier fell 0.53% to $80.58.

Analysts have warned that any prolonged disruption to oil flows could tighten fuel markets in Asia and add to global inflationary pressures.

South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Hyun said on Friday that Washington and Seoul are discussing the potential shifting of US Patriot missile defense systems based in South Korea to support the war against Iran.

Footage released by Iran’s IRNA shows the immediate aftermath of a large US-Israeli attack on Ziba-Shahr township in the southern city of Shiraz.

Ebrahim Zolfaghari, spokesman for the Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters, also said drones struck US positions in Iraqi Kurdistan, including targets in Erbil. He claimed that drones from the IRGC Navy targeted the USS Abraham Lincoln after it approached within about 340 km of Iran’s maritime borders, adding that the carrier group “left the area” and moved more than 1,000 km away. Iranian air defenses also shot down an F-15E fighter jet and four Hermes 900 and MQ-9 reconnaissance-combat drones over western and southern Iran, he said.

According to Zolfaghari, Iranian forces have launched “more than 2,000 drones and over 600 missiles” against US and Israeli targets so far, warning that “the intensity and scope of the attacks will increase” in the coming days.

Iran has launched a new wave of retaliatory strikes against Israeli and US-linked targets, a senior military spokesman said on Thursday, outlining drone and missile attacks across the region.

In a video statement, Ebrahim Zolfaghari, spokesman for the Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters, said Iranian forces have launched kamikaze drones at Israel’s Ramat David Airbase and the Meron radar site, while naval drones targeted a camp hosting “American terrorist forces” in Kuwait. He added that the IRGC Aerospace Force fired Khorramshahr ballistic missiles toward Ben Gurion Airport during the nineteenth wave of “Operation True Promise 4.”

Israeli authorities have cancelled Friday prayers at the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem, closing the site to worshippers and visitors of all faiths amid the escalating conflict with Iran.

Officials said the decision was taken for security reasons as the war widens, with the closure affecting major religious sites in the Old City, including the Temple Mount area.

Trump has dismissed the possibility of a US ground invasion of Iran, calling it a “waste of time” in an interview with NBC.

Speaking about the ongoing conflict, Trump argued that Tehran had already suffered devastating losses, saying “it’s a waste of time” to consider sending ground troops because “Iran has lost everything.”

“No plans for a wave of refugees” to the United States, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth said on Thursday, adding that there are “a lot of countries” in the Middle East capable of hosting displaced people amid the conflict with Iran.

Iran’s Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters has warned that its attacks against enemy targets will intensify in the coming days.

The command said Iranian forces had targeted several sites, including the Ramat David Airbase and the Mount Meron radar station in Israel. The statement added that Iranian naval drones struck what it described as US positions at the Al-Adairi camp in Kuwait, while the army’s ground forces carried out a drone attack on US troops stationed in Erbil, Iraq.

The US Central Command has released video it says shows strikes on Iran’s drone carrier, IRIS Shahid Bagheri. The footage captures two explosions hitting a large vessel at sea.

US President Donald Trump has said he is unconcerned about rising US gasoline prices linked to the war with Iran, telling Reuters any increase would be temporary. “I don’t have any concern about it,” Trump said on Thursday, adding that prices would “drop very rapidly when this is over,” and that “if they rise, they rise.”

US gasoline prices have climbed about 27 cents per gallon, roughly 7%, in recent days amid the widening conflict. Trump said he is not considering releasing oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve and insisted the Strait of Hormuz would remain open, claiming Iran’s navy is at the “bottom of the sea.” 

Iranian officials have meanwhile warned that ships transiting the waterway could be targeted, raising fears of disruption in the corridor that carries roughly a fifth of the world’s oil supplies.

Iraq’s First Lady Shanaz Ibrahim Ahmed has warned the US against treating Kurdish forces as proxies in the conflict with Iran, saying the Kurdish people should not be drawn into another regional war. The remarks came as reports circulate that Washington is seeking to recruit Kurdish groups for operations against the Iranian military.

Speaking on the 35th anniversary of the 1991 Kurdish uprising against former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, Ahmed said Kurds remember how they were left without support during the revolt. “Leave the Kurds alone. We are not guns for hire,” she said, recalling that when the uprising was crushed, “no one came to our defense.”

RT Lebanon bureau chief Steve Sweeney reports that there are “scenes of panic and chaos” in Beirut’s southern Dahieh suburb as residents flee after Israel issued an evacuation order.

Dahieh, a Hezbollah stronghold, has been targeted by the Israeli army after the militant group fired rockets at Israel to show support for Iran.

Security camera footage shows the moment of an airstrike in Dahieh.

New barrages were reported across the Middle East in recent hours:

• Bahrain’s Interior Ministry said Iranian strikes damaged a hotel and two residential buildings in Manama.

• A large blaze was reported at the Ali Al Salem Air Base in Kuwait. The kingdom’s Defense Ministry said 67 Kuwaiti soldiers have been injured since the conflict broke out.

• The Saudi Defense Ministry said three ballistic missiles were intercepted en route to Prince Sultan Air Base in Al-Kharj.

• New impacts were reported near Israel’s Ben Gurion Airport.

• Production was halted at the Sarsang oilfield in Iraqi Kurdistan following a drone attack, according to Reuters.

05 March 2026

A video posted on social media shows an impact in southern Beirut.

More strikes were reported in southern Lebanon. Local health officials said at least 105 people have been killed by Israeli strikes. 

The “precision strike” on a girls’ elementary school in Minab, southern Iran, that killed at least 175 people was most likely carried out by the US, the visual investigation by the New York Times suggests.

According to the NYT, the attack on February 28 occurred at the same time the US was conducting strikes against a nearby naval base operated by the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps. 

The strike on the school was widely condemned by human rights groups and the UN.

In an interview with NBC News, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said that Russia and China are “supporting us politically and otherwise.” He said the history of military cooperation between Russia and Iran “is not a secret,” and that it will continue.

Asked whether Russia has been “actively helping” Iran during the current war with the US and Israel, Araghchi replied, “They have always helped us.” When pressed further, the diplomat said he would not provide details of Iran’s cooperation with other countries during the conflict.

Russia and Iran signed a comprehensive strategic partnership agreement in January 2025.

Konstantin Kosachev, deputy speaker of Russia’s Council of the Federation, condemned the killing of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and other senior Iranian officials as “an utterly barbaric, criminal act.”

“It was completely unjustifiable,” Kosachev said. “At this difficult moment, we are unequivocally on the Iranian side,” he added.

Kosachev urged all sides to show restraint. He said that although Iran “had the right to retaliate,” its retaliatory strikes “do not always achieve their intended goals.”

Speaking about Iran on Thursday evening, President Donald Trump said the US “will ensure that whoever leads the country next, Iran will not threaten America or its neighbors.” 

Trump reiterated that the US “had really no choice” but to attack Iran. “They were going to hit us if we didn’t hit them,” he said.

The US Central Command denied on X the “baseless” claims that an American fighter jet was shot down over Basra in southern Iraq on Thursday. 

The Iranian military said it shot down several aircraft, but none of the claims were confirmed.

The US lost three F-15s during a friendly fire incident in Kuwait over the weekend. All of the pilots survived.

An image of the Khorramshahr ballistic missile was posted to the X account of Ali Khamenei. The caption reads, “The Khorramshahrs are on the way.”

Khamenei was killed during the first wave of US-Israeli strikes on Saturday.

Apparent cluster munitions were seen in the skies over Tel Aviv.

Other reports suggested it may have been debris from an intercepted projectile.

New impacts were reported in Israel and Ramallah in the West Bank.

China is in talks with Iran to allow crude oil and Qatari liquefied natural gas vessels safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz as the US-Israeli strikes intensify, Reuters has said citing three diplomatic sources.

Oman’s capital Muscat is emerging as a leading airport for repatriation flights from the Middle East, at a time when the airspace of Qatar, Bahrain and the UAE is closed, according to Flightradar24.

In a post on X on Thursday, it noted that 30 percent of all flights taking off or landing in Muscat were private jets.

A drone attack struck an oilfield operated by a US firm in Dohuk in Iraq’s Kurdistan region on Thursday, causing a fire, security sources has told Reuters.

Russia expresses its deepest condolences on tragic passing of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and his family, Russia’s Deputy FM Rudenko has said after meeting Iran’s envoy in Moscow.

Khamenei’s death is a "result of treacherous, cowardly blow inflicted during American/Israeli aggression," he added. 

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi has warned the conflict could affect traffic through the Suez Canal, a major source of foreign currency for Egypt, as shipping companies reroute vessels away from the region.

“The current crisis might have some repercussions on prices,” he said, warning that traders accused of price gouging could face military courts.

Although Egypt has not been directly involved in the US and Israeli war on Iran, the conflict has disrupted trade routes and heightened economic pressures across the Middle East.

Oil prices were already at near multi-month highs on Thursday as attacks on tankers and the escalating conflict in the area disrupted shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, one of the world’s most critical energy chokepoints.

British PM Starmer has defended the decision not to join US-Israeli attacks on Iran, saying the best solution to is “a negotiated settlement with Iran, where they give up their nuclear ambitions,” Anadolu reports.

The Guardian previously reported that the US cut the UK out of the official loop on the airstrikes. It came alongside Starmer’s decision to refuse permission for the US to use British military bases for the operation.

Since the beginning of the escalation, Trump has attacked Starmer for his refusal to let America use the military sites, calling the PM “no Churchill.”

The US State Department has suspended all operations at the US embassy in Kuwait, citing the “safety of Americans” in the country.

Iran killed six US troops in a missile attack on an American base in Kuwait on Sunday, and attacked at least three other US facilities in Kuwait with drones and missiles. On Thursday, a large explosion caused significant damage to an oil tanker 60 kilometers off the coast of Kuwait.

Iran is “an exporter of war” seeking to “drag as many countries into this war as possible,” EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said on Thursday.

More than 1,200 people have been killed in Iran since the US and Israel began pounding the country with airstrikes on Saturday. Among the dead are over 160 schoolchildren killed in a strike on an elementary school in Minab. Israeli attacks in southern Lebanon have also killed at least 72 people.

At least 12 people in Israel and another 6 US military personnel have been killed by retaliatory Iranian strikes on Israel and US bases in the region.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has expressed his gratitude to the “proud and honourable” Kurdish people who have “stood by Iran.”

In a post on X, he shared condolences to those who lost their loved ones in the US-Israeli strikes. He added, however, as “guardians of security,” Iran's armed forces “are duty-bound to decisively confront any separatist activities.”

Earlier, US President Donald Trump told Reuters that he supports Kurdish forces launching an offensive against Iran, as Iranian Kurdish militias and US officials have reportedly discussed potential future military operations. Later in the day, media reports suggested that the Iranian military launched strikes on some Kurdish territories. These reports, however, are unconfirmed.

Iran is “waiting” for an American ground invasion, and is “confident that we can confront them,” Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has told NBC News.

“That would be a big disaster for them. We were ready for this war even more than the previous war,” he told anchor Tom Llamas. “We have prepared ourselves to confront any scenario, any eventuality, any possibility.”

US President Donald Trump has refused to rule out putting boots on the ground in Iran, despite concerns that a ground invasion would result in unacceptable American casualties.

Yemen’s Ansar Allah movement, better known as the Houthis, have affirmed their “support for the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Muslim Iranian people.”

“Regarding the military escalation and military action, our fingers are on the trigger at any moment that the developments require it,” Commander Abdulmalik Badreddine Al-Houthi said in a statement.

Moscow has been closely monitoring Iran's peaceful nuclear program through the IAEA, and Washington's claims that Tehran was enriching uranium are simply not true, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has told RT in the latest episode of Sanchez Effect.

She also drew parallels between the Minsk talks, which masked plans to militarize Ukraine, and the negotiations with Tehran. Moscow wanted to trust the US, she said, but it is actions that Russia believes, not words.

It is “not yet” the time for diplomacy with Iran, Israel’s envoy to the UN, Danny Danon, has said.

“We need to continue to hammer, to dismantle the capabilities, and then to use diplomacy,” he said at UN headquarters in New York.

After the death of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran has rejected talks with either Washington or West Jerusalem.

NATO countries have increased their ballistic missile defense posture, the bloc's military headquarters said on Thursday, citing the “threat” from Iran.

The statement comes as Türkiye claimed NATO defense systems intercepted an Iranian missile. ⁠Iran’s ⁠Armed Forces have denied firing ⁠any missile towards Turkish territory.

RT’s Tehran bureau is still up and running, despite days of repeated US-Israeli strikes in the surrounding area. Here, bureau chief Hami Hamedi shows Iranian Government Information Council chief Elias Hazrat the extent of the damage.

A five-storey building next to our bureau was completely flattened, with fatalities reported.

Ali Larijani, the secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, has addressed reports suggesting that the US may be open to a limited ground invasion. He asserted that Iran is fully prepared to respond.

”The valiant sons of Imam Khomeini and Imam Khamenei are waiting for you, ready to disgrace those corrupt American officials by killing and capturing thousands,” he wrote in a post on X.

Ukraine has sent an unknown number of “Ukrainian specialists” to the Middle East at the request of the US, Vladimir Zelensky has announced on X. According to Zelensky, these specialists will help American forces counter the threat posed by Iranian ‘Shahed’ drones.

Zelensky has been attempting to insert Ukrainian anti-drone teams into the conflict since it started on Saturday.

Air defense systems have been seen firing in Dubai, amid reports of incoming Iranian drones. Unverified social media footage – recorded in defiance of a government ban – shows multiple interceptor missiles above the city.

Iran’s targets in the UAE have included an American air base in Abu Dhabi, a port in Dubai, and two Amazon data centers.

“People are loving what’s happening” in Iran, US President Donald Trump has told Politico. In a phone interview with the outlet, Trump claimed that the US has “unlimited supply of weapons” to keep waging war, that he will “work with the people and the regime” to choose a new leader in Iran, and that rising energy costs won’t harm Republicans’ chances in this year’s midterm elections.

Meanwhile, multiple media outlets have claimed that US forces in the Middle East are rapidly running out of munitions, while Tehran has said that it will not enter negotiations with Washington.

An Iranian missile has struck an oil refinery in Bahrain, sparking a fire at one of Bapco Energies’ units, Al Jazeera has reported.

Bahrain’s National Communication Center said the blaze has been fully contained.

Officials said there were no reported injuries and refinery operations were continuing, with an assessment of the damage underway.

The refinery is run by Bahrain’s Bapco state oil company and is located on the east coast of Sitra, south of the capital, Manama.

“Plan A for a clean rapid military victory failed,” Iran’s top diplomat, Abbas Araghchi, has told Trump.

“Your Plan B will be [an] even bigger failure,” he warned.

Danny ⁠Danon, Israel’s ⁠ambassador to the ⁠United Nations, has said Israel and the US must dismantle more of Iran’s capabilities before turning to diplomacy.

Meanwhile, the head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees has warned that Israeli strikes and threats of incursion in Lebanon are forcing more people to flee their homes.

“Yet again, spiraling violence across the region is forcing thousands to flee their homes in southern Lebanon,” Philippe Lazzarini, commissioner-general of UNRWA, said. UNRWA has opened emergency shelters for those who are displaced, he added.

Sri Lanka has evacuated 208 crew members from an Iranian navy vessel a day after a US submarine struck and sank an Iranian frigate.

Sri Lankan President Anura Kumara Dissanayake said that the country’s navy will also board and sail the second vessel to the northeastern port of Trincomalee for safekeeping amid fears that it could be a target for attack.

US President Donald Trump told Axios in an interview Thursday that he needs to be personally involved in selecting Iran's next leader, just as he was in Venezuela.

He also noted that Mojtaba Khamenei, the son of the assassinated supreme leader Ali Khamenei, is widely seen as the most likely successor, but said he would not accept that outcome.

“Khamenei’s son is a lightweight,” Trump said. “I have to be involved in the appointment.”

Iran did not target Nakhchivan in Azerbaijan, Tehran's envoy to Russia, Kazem Jalali, has said in an RT exclusive.

He called it a “provocation” by Israel and “psychological warfare.”

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev previously called the strike a “terrorist act,” blaming Tehran and demanding an apology.

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun has asked his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron, to intervene and stop Israel’s threatened mass bombing of Dahieyh, in the southern part of Beirut.

Earlier, Israel issued forced displacement orders for the entirety of the southern suburbs, home to hundreds of thousands of people.

A statement from the Lebanese presidency says Aoun also asked Macron “to work to stop the fighting as quickly as possible.”

Israeli army artillery and tanks are heading north, RT’s Charlotte Dubenskij has reported from Jerusalem.

Israel previously warned that Beirut’s southern suburbs, known as Dahiyeh, “will look like Khan Younis,” after the military instructed its tens of thousands of residents to leave immediately or risk being attacked.

The evacuation order caused panic among the Lebanese citizens. 

Contracts for US benchmark West Texas Intermediate crude have soared more than 5% to $78.88 per barrel in trading, the highest level since January last year, as attacks on tankers and the escalating conflict in the Middle East disrupt shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, one of the world’s most critical energy chokepoints.

International benchmark Brent North Sea crude jumped 3.6% to $84.34 per barrel.

More than 3,600 civilian sites have been damaged in the US-Israeli war on Iran, according to figures released by the Iranian Red Crescent on X.

The head of the Iranian Red Crescent reportedly said 3,090 homes, 528 commercial centers, 13 medical facilities and nine Red Crescent facilities have been attacked so far.

The official said several major medical facilities had been damaged, including Khatam Hospital, Gandhi Hospital and several rehabilitation clinics.

Azerbaijan has closed part of its southern airspace near the Iranian border for 12 hours after reporting that Iranian drones had entered its airspace.

The move comes after Azerbaijan said drones coming from Iran had crossed the border and struck parts of the country’s Nakhchivan exclave, damaging infrastructure and injuring civilians.

Iran has denied responsibility for the incident.

US CENTCOM has released a video of the destruction of Iranian Air Force hangars.

The World Health Organization chief has said that it has verified 13 attacks on health infrastructure in Iran amid US-Israeli strikes, killing four health care workers and injuring 25 others.

“WHO has verified 13 attacks on health care in Iran and one in Lebanon,” World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a press conference, without attributing blame.

Dr. Hanan Balkhy added at the same briefing that four ambulances in Iran were also affected and that hospitals and other health sites suffered minor damage due to strikes nearby. One of these hospitals in the capital Tehran was evacuated as a result.

Iran's ambassador to the UN Geneva alleged that ten facilities had been hit by military strikes in a letter to Tedros earlier this week.

Israel plans to attack ballistic missile sites in Iran, reportedly buried deep underground, two sources familiar with the country’s military campaign have told Reuters.

The joint air assault with the US against Iran is nearing the end of its first week after opening salvos killed the country's leader Ali Khamenei and set off a regional war which has seen Iranian attacks on Israel, the Gulf and Iraq, as well as Israeli strikes on Lebanon.

An RT team has visited the Azadi Stadium in Tehran, destroyed in US-Israeli strikes.

The number of casualties and amount of damage in the strikes is not yet known, according to RT sources.

More than 1,200 people have been killed in Iran since the campaign began, including civilians, according to monitoring groups.

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has demanded an apology from Iran after a drone injured two people in its autonomous exclave of Nakhchivan, saying those responsible must be held accountable.

In a post on the presidential website, Aliyev said he had convened a meeting over the incident, in which he said Nakhchivan International Airport, its terminal building, a school, and other areas were “subjected to cowardly fire.”

“The territory of the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic was subjected to fire by the Iranian state with unmanned aerial vehicles. The targets of the fire were civilian objects.” 

“The Azerbaijani state strongly condemns this ugly terrorist act, and those who committed it must be immediately held accountable,” the statement added.

Azerbaijan also summoned Iran’s ambassador to the Foreign Ministry in Baku following the incident, which Tehran denies it carried out.

Lebanese Minister of Information Paul Morcos cited Prime Minister Nawaf Salam in telling authorities to do “whatever is necessary” to prevent any military or security activity by IRGC members in the country ahead of deporting them.

Speaking after a cabinet session at the Grand Serail, Morcos said Salam also rejected accusations that the government is aligning itself with Israeli demands or implementing “Israeli decisions”.

RT Lebanon bureau chief Steve Sweeney went to the Baalbek-Beirut highway, where a car was struck by an Israeli drone around 9 AM this morning.

This strike came just hours after another two vehicles were struck in the Lebanese capital, Beirut, on the airport highway, expanding the drone war between Hezbollah and Israel.

France ⁠has ⁠authorized the temporary presence of US ⁠aircraft at “certain bases” ⁠in the country, an official with the French joint defense staff has said.

”Considering the context, France demanded that the concerned resources must ⁠not participate in ⁠any way in operations conducted by the United ⁠States in Iran ⁠and strictly ⁠for the support of the defense of our partners ‌in the region,” the official ‌has told Al Jazeera.

The Israeli army has order Lebanese citizens of the southern communities of Burj al-Barajneh, Hadath, Harika and Shiya to evacuate their homes.

Iran's ambassador to Indonesia, Mohammad Boroujerdi, has said that Tehran has no intention of attacking Türkiye after reports that a missile had landed on Turkish territory.

Speaking to RT’s correspondent in Jakarta, the ambassador said Tehran believes some actors are trying to create tensions between Iran and its neighbors. He also described Türkiye as a friendly country.

“We did not attack them. We are not going to attack them. They are Iran’s friends,” he said.

Türkiye’s Ministry of National Defense said on Wednesday that a ⁠ballistic missile fired from ⁠Iran towards Turkish airspace after ⁠passing over Syria and Iraq ⁠had been destroyed ⁠by NATO air and missile defense systems over ‌the eastern Mediterranean.

RT Lebanon bureau chief Steve Sweeney went to the Dar Al Amal Hospital in Baalbek, where people injured in recent Israeli strikes are receiving treatment.

One family member of a wounded child says several relatives had also been injured in the strikes, and one of her brothers remains missing following the attack. The family told reporters that the injured girl is eight years old, while her missing brother is around eleven.

Speaking outside the hospital, a family member said two children were taken to the hospital and that relatives are still searching for the missing boy. The family described the situation as extremely difficult, stressing that they are civilians with no connection to any political or military group.

The Lebanese Ministry of Health has reported that the death toll from early Monday until Wednesday evening has risen to 72, with 437 others injured.

Rashid Al-Mohanadi, a non-resident fellow at the Middle East Council on Global Affairs, has said Gulf states are “in shock” after being drawn into the conflict between Iran and the US and Israel. “This is not our war, but unfortunately we were dragged into this war,” he told RT.

Al-Mohanadi also warned of major global energy repercussions after Qatar halted LNG exports, saying Doha had issued a force majeure on shipments. “This is huge because Qatar is the biggest LNG exporter in the world,” he said, adding that gas prices in Europe had already surged. “The reverberations of this on the global energy market will be extremely significant.”

Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has mocked NATO, accused Washington of starting a major war in the Middle East and sarcastically suggested US President Donald Trump should receive a Nobel Peace Prize, in a post on social media.

The death toll in Iran from US and Israeli strikes since Saturday has risen to 1,230, Iran’s Tasnim news agency reported.

Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi has responded to reports that drones struck Nakhchivan International Airport in Azerbaijan, saying Tehran does not target neighboring countries and that the incident must be investigated.

Speaking to AnewZ, Gharibabadi said Iran’s strikes are aimed only at countries hosting the military bases of its enemies.

Six Pakistani and Nepali nationals have been injured after debris from intercepted drones fell in an industrial zone in Abu Dhabi, the emirate’s government media office said on X.

The governor of Qasr-e Shirin in western Iran has denied reports circulating online about armed groups entering the country, calling the claims false. The official said no cases of infiltration or illegal movement by militant groups or bandits have been recorded in that section of the border.

He added that rumors on social media about anti-government elements crossing into Iran from the western border have no factual basis and appear aimed at creating public concern, according to Iranian media.

The comments come as CNN reported this week that the CIA is working on arming Kurdish forces hostile to the Iranian government to support the US-Israeli regime-change war against Tehran.

Brian McGinnis, a former US marine and Green Party Senate candidate who interrupted a congressional hearing to protest the war with Iran, has been arrested and hospitalized following a scuffle with police and Senator Tim Sheehy on Capitol Hill.

During the hearing, he shouted that Americans should not be sent to fight Israel’s wars. Authorities have charged McGinnis with multiple offenses, including assaulting police officers and resisting arrest. Video from the incident appears to show his right arm snapping during the struggle as officers attempted to remove him, while Capitol police said three officers were also injured in the altercation.

A crude oil tanker was damaged by a blast while anchored near Iraq’s Khor al-Zubair port, with the vessel’s hull likely breached, according to its operator, Sonangol Marine Services. The Bahamas-flagged tanker Sonangol Namibe was reportedly approached by an unidentified small boat, shortly before a loud explosion was heard.

The crew later reported that a ballast tank was taking on water, indicating a possible hull breach, though the ship remained stable and afloat. The cause of the explosion has not been specified.

Italy, Spain, France, and the Netherlands will send naval assets to Cyprus in the coming days to help protect the island, Italian Defense Minister Guido Crosetto has said.

Spain’s Defense Ministry said it would deploy a frigate, while Greece and France have also pledged to send military assets following a drone attack earlier this week on the British RAF Akrotiri base on the island.

“Iran’s attack on Nakhchivan will not go unanswered,” Azerbaijan’s Defense Ministry has said, warning that Baku is preparing an appropriate response after drones struck the exclave.

The incident occurred early on Thursday, when drones flying from the direction of Iran hit the Nakhchivan International Airport, damaging the terminal building, while another drone crashed near a school in a nearby village. Two civilians were injured in the attack, Azerbaijani officials said.

Video filmed by Ruptly shows the aftermath near the airport, with damage to the building and debris at the site.

George Galloway, leader of the Workers’ Party of Britain and a former UK MP, has dismissed US accusations that Iran was negotiating in bad faith, calling the claim “absurd.” 

In an interview with RT, he noted that Washington had scheduled another round of talks in Vienna just days before hostilities began, and that Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi had been preparing for negotiations. “For the United States to condemn anyone for negotiating in bad faith is perfectly ridiculous,” Galloway said. He added that the rationale for the war keeps shifting, with officials citing democracy, human rights, or nuclear weapons. He called the latest claim – that Iran tried to assassinate US President Donald Trump – “the most ridiculous one of all.” 

Earlier Trump claimed without evidence that Tehran was behind attempts on his life during the 2024 US presidential election campaign.

Qatar’s Defense Ministry has said its air defense systems are intercepting a missile attack, as multiple explosions were reportedly heard in the skies over Doha.

A video filmed by RT shows the aftermath of a strike on a site linked to the Al Qard Al Hassan financial network, in Baalbek, a city in eastern Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley near the Syrian border. The footage shows a heavily damaged building reduced to rubble, with collapsed concrete slabs and debris scattered across the site.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said that one of the goals of the US and Israeli operation against Iran is to drive a wedge between Tehran and countries in the region.

“I have no doubt – and I want to return to this again – that one of the objectives was to create a split between the countries of the region, between the Persian Gulf states – Iran and its Arab neighbors,” Lavrov stated.

He added that “there had been a positive process of normalization in recent years” between Iran and its Arab neighbors.

The Israeli military has released a video purportedly showing an Israeli Air Force “Adir” (F-35i) fighter jet shooting down an Iranian Yak-130 aircraft over Tehran, claiming it marks the first time an F-35i has downed a crewed aircraft in air-to-air combat.

Azerbaijan has said that two drones struck Nakhchivan, with one hitting the local airport and the other falling near a school in the village of Shekerabad.

According to the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry, two civilians were injured and the terminal building was damaged. Baku condemned what it described as drone strikes launched from Iranian territory and demanded that Tehran “clarify the situation as soon as possible.”

Azerbaijan warned that it reserves the right to take “appropriate retaliatory measures,” and called on Iran to prevent similar incidents in the future.

Missiles and drones reportedly flying from the direction of Iran have fallen near the main airport in the Nakhchivan exclave of Azerbaijan, which is located between the Islamic Republic and Armenia.

Footage published by Azerbaijan’s APA news agency appears to show the moment a drone crashed and exploded in the area.

Israel has intensified its strikes in Lebanon, which the IDF says are targeting Hezbollah positions, and six people have been killed in attacks on villages in the country’s south, the state-run National News Agency has reported. Two children and their parents died as a result of a strike on a village near Kfar Tebnit, while a separate attack in the Nabatieh area killed a village mayor and his wife, according to the report.

Italy plans to send air defense assistance to the Gulf countries amid Iranian strikes, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said on Thursday, adding that Rome would join the United Kingdom, France and Germany in providing support.

Speaking to RTL 102.5 radio, Meloni said the aid would focus “specifically in the field of defense and in particular air defense,” adding the move was aimed at protecting tens of thousands of Italians living in the region and around 2,000 Italian troops deployed there.

“Even the leftist-liberal UK’s The Economist is now on board with a $100-a-barrel oil price,” Kirill Dmitriev, a Russian presidential envoy and head of the country’s sovereign wealth fund, wrote on X, citing the magazine’s warning that brief disruptions could push Brent oil toward $100, while months of conflict could drive prices even higher.

Brent crude was trading around $83-84 per barrel on Thursday, while US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) hovered near $76-77, both rising several percent on the day as traders price in the risk of supply disruptions across the region and potential threats to shipments through the Strait of Hormuz.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei has backed US Senator Bernie Sanders’ claim that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu dominates American foreign policy, writing on X that the senator’s assessment was “sadly true.”

US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth told Israel to “keep going until the end – we’re with you” during talks late Wednesday evening with Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz, according to a statement from Israel’s Defense Ministry. He did not elaborate on what exactly that “end” might be.

Iran has not sent or received any messages from the US since the start of the conflict, Deputy Foreign Minister Majid Takht-Ravanchi has said in an interview with MSNBC, dismissing speculation about back-channel contacts between the two sides.

Takht-Ravanchi said Tehran is focused solely on defending itself, adding that the war had been “imposed” on Iran and rejecting claims it could be ended quickly.

“They thought they could end the war in a few days, but they were gravely mistaken,” he said. The diplomat accused the US and Israel of targeting civilians, including school children, as well as hospitals and relief forces, and insisted Iran’s actions constitute “legitimate defense.”

RT journalist Ali Rida has evacuated along with local residents in Beirut as Israeli strikes intensified, reporting that “another evacuation order” had been issued and that “everyone is driving away from the area.”

Israeli President Isaac Herzog has insisted that his country didn’t push the United States into the war with Iran, saying in a CBS News interview that “Israel does not dictate to President Trump anything, and Israel does not drag America into a war, God forbid.”

Herzog claimed the decision for the US to join the strikes was made independently by Trump, calling it a result of Washington’s own “clear considerations and professional decision-making process.” He also stressed that Israel was not asking for American troops, adding: “I’m not calling on any boots on the ground. I’m not asking any American or anyone else.” 

Trump and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, meanwhile, offered differing explanations for the US entry into the Iran war, with Trump saying he acted because Tehran was preparing to strike first, while Rubio said Washington moved pre-emptively ahead of expected Iranian retaliation to Israeli action.

“Two main narratives have emerged among people in Tehran during the first six days of the war,” Hami Hamedi, RT’s Iran bureau chief, said, explaining that some residents are demanding stronger retaliation against the United States and Israel, including continued missile strikes, while a larger group appears exhausted by the conflict and wants it to end so life can return to normal. Despite these differences, he said both sides share one position – they strongly oppose “the disintegration of Iran” and reject any form of separatism.

RT crew captures the aftermath of a strike on an Iranian intelligence building near Hemmat Highway in Tehran, filmed on the way to the Broujerdi residential complex. Smoke and damage are visible at the site.

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney has condemned the US and Israel for failing to consult Ottawa before the bombing of Iran.

He said the current conflict reflects “the failure of the international order,” stressing that “the United States and Israel have acted without engaging the UN or consulting with allies, including Canada.”