This blog is closing now but we’re continuing our live coverage of the US-Israel war on Iran in a new live blog here, including a recap of the latest key developments. Thanks for reading.
More here on those latest strikes: the Israeli military said it launched them on “regime targets” in Tehran early on Saturday, after reporting several rounds of Iranian missile fire at Israel.
The Israel Defence Forces said on Saturday it was “striking Iranian terror regime targets in Tehran” after an earlier air raid targeted the Iran-backed militia Hezbollah in Lebanon’s capital, Beirut.
There were no immediate details on the outcome of the strikes, Agence France-Presse reports.
The military earlier said it had “identified missiles launched from Iran toward the territory of the state of Israel” at least three times within six hours.
Air raid sirens sounded across large parts of Israel, according to the military’s home front command, and there were no reports of casualties.
The Israeli military said earlier that recent strikes on Tehran had targeted ballistic missile sites.
The IDF will continue to deepen the degradation of the Iranian regime’s fire array.
Tehran has come under near daily bombardment since the joint US-Israeli attack that started the war on 28 February.
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Israel launches fresh attacks on Tehran
The Israeli military says it is striking Iranian regime targets in Tehran.
That move came after its strikes on Beirut earlier on Saturday, the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) said on social media.
A while before the Tehran strikes the military said it had identified missiles fired from Iran towards Israel and that its defence systems were operating the intercept them.
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Iran ready to let Japanese ships through strait of Hormuz - report
Iran is ready to facilitate letting Japanese vessels pass through the strait of Hormuz, Japan’s Kyodo News is reporting Iran’s foreign minister as saying.
It quoted Abbas Araghchi as saying negotiations with Japan on the issue were ongoing.
He also said in the interview of Friday that “we have not closed the strait – it is open”, while stressing that Tehran is seeking “not a ceasefire, but a complete, comprehensive and lasting end to the war”, Kyodo reported.
It quoted Araghchi as saying Iran had not closed the strait of Hormuz but had imposed restrictions on vessels belonging to countries involved in attacks against Iran, while offering assistance to others in the vital waterway amid heightened security concerns.
Araghchi said Iran was prepared to ensure safe passage for countries such as Japan if they coordinated with Tehran, the report said.
Japan relies on the Middle East for more than 90% of its crude oil imports, most of which travel through the strait, it said.
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Iran fired missiles at US-UK military base Diego Garcia but neither hit – report
Iran fired two intermediate-range ballistic missiles at Diego Garcia but neither of them hit the joint US-UK military base in the Indian Ocean, the Wall Street Journal is reporting, citing multiple US officials.
However, the move marked a significant attempt by Iran to reach far beyond the Middle East and threaten US interests, the report said.
CNN is also reporting Iran’s missile launches targeting Diego Garcia, citing a US official, and calling it a crucial overseas US military staging post for operations far from home as well as a key airfield for the US military’s heavy bomber fleet.
The WSJ said one of the missiles failed in flight, and a US warship fired an SM-3 interceptor at the other, according to two of the people. It couldn’t be determined if an interception was made, according to one of the officials.
Iran’s targeting of Diego Garcia, about 4,000km from Iran, implies its missiles have a greater range than Tehran has previously acknowledged, the WSJ continued. Foreign minister Abbas Araghchi said last month that Iran had deliberately limited the range of its missiles to 2,000km.
Reuters is saying the White House, the British embassy in Washington and the UK Ministry of Defence did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
As the Guardian reported in March, Trump said he was “very disappointed” in British prime minister Keir Starmer over the UK government’s deal to hand sovereignty of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius as a means to preserve the status of the UK-US airbase on Diego Garcia, which is part of the Indian Ocean archipelago.
The Chagos deal, which Trump initially supported before changing his mind, was a “very woke thing”, the US president said.
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Several Nato members and other US-allied nations have pledged to join “appropriate efforts to ensure safe passage” through the strait of Hormuz.
But the joint statement from the leaders of more than a dozen nations – including the UK, France, Germany, Japan, Canada, South Korea, Sweden and Bahrain – did not provide details on how they would do this.
That followed a recent bashing by Donald Trump, who called alliance members “cowards” for not wanting “to help open” the strait of Hormuz, as you can read in our latest summary of Trump administration news amid the Iran war.
The Nato allies’ pledges comes as the US is reportedly preparing to send three more warships and thousands more troops to the Middle East.
But at the same time, as mentioned, Trump said was considering “winding down” the US war on Iran. As for a ceasefire? The president said no thanks, telling reporters on Friday:
Look, we can have dialogue but I don’t want to do a ceasefire. You don’t do a ceasefire when you’re literally obliterating the other side.
The full Trump news summary is here:
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Israel attacking Hezbollah targets in Beirut, says military
The Israeli military says it is now attacking Hezbollah targets in Beirut.
It made the announcement in a short post on social media, after warning residents in the Lebanese capital’s southern suburbs hours earlier to evacuate immediately.
In that warning, the Israeli military’s Arabic-language spokesperson listed seven neighbourhoods in the southern area, which is a stronghold of the Iran-backed Lebanese militant group.
Avichay Adraee said in the post:
The Defense Army continues its operations and strikes against military infrastructure belonging to the terrorist Hezbollah in various parts of the suburbs with increasing force.
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One killed and two wounded in Israeli strike on south Lebanon house – state media
Lebanese state media is saying the death of one person and the wounding of two others came after an Israeli airstrike hit a house in a southern town early on Saturday.
“Israeli fighter jets launched a heavy strike at dawn on a house in the town of Ghandouriyeh ... resulting in one martyr and two wounded people who were pulled from under the rubble,” said Lebanon’s official National News Agency, cited by Agence France-Presse.
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Israeli strikes have killed one person and wounded two in south Lebanon, state media is being quoted as saying.
We’ll have more on this soon.
Saudi Arabia has intercepted and destroyed 10 drones in its eastern region, the defence ministry is saying on social media.
The ministry said a while earlier that it had intercepted six drones in the east.
In the previous couple of hours the United Arab Emirates’ defence ministry said it was responding to missile and drone attacks from Iran.
Kuwait’s army also said it was also “confronting hostile missile and drone attacks”.
This is Adam Fulton picking up our live coverage - keep with us for the latest updates
US lifts sanctions on Iranian oil at sea
The US treasury has authorised the purchase of some Iranian oil that is already at sea, exempting buyers from its own sanctions.
The sanctions licence permits the purchase of oil from Iran if it was loaded on to a vessel by 12.01am ET (5.01am GMT) on Friday. The exemption runs until 19 April.
The licence aims to stem the surge in oil prices caused by the US-Israeli war on Iran.
The move had been telegraphed earlier this week by US treasury secretary Scott Bessent, who told Fox Business Network’s Mornings With Maria: “In the coming days, we may un-sanction the Iranian oil that’s on the water. It’s about 140m barrels.”
“That’s about 10 days to two weeks of supply that the Iranians had been pushing out that would have all gone to China,” he added.
In essence, we will be using the Iranian barrels against the Iranians to keep the price down for the next 10 to 14 days as we continue this campaign.
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United Airlines chief executive, Scott Kirby, has said the airline will cancel about 5% of this year’s planned flights in the short term, as the escalating war in the Middle East causes jet fuel prices to soar.
“If prices stayed at this level, it would mean an extra $11bn in annual expense just for jet fuel,” Kirby said in a message to employees, according to Reuters.
The airline’s current plan is to restore its full flight schedule this fall, Kirby added.
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Missiles have been launched from Iran towards Israel, the IDF has said in the past few minutes.
“Defensive systems are operating to intercept the threat,” it said in a statement on Telegram.
It urged residents to follow instructions issued by Israel’s Home Front Command, which “has sent a precautionary directive directly to mobile phones in the relevant area”.
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More countries sign joint statement on strait of Hormuz by European nations and other
Several more countries on Friday joined leading European nations, Japan and Canada in signing a joint statement saying they were ready to join appropriate efforts to ensure safe passage through the strait of Hormuz and would take steps to stabilise energy markets (though they do not specify what this means in practice).
This is the full text of the statement from Britain, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Japan, Canada, Republic of Korea, New Zealand, Denmark, Latvia, Slovenia, Estonia, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Czech Republic, Romania, Bahrain and Lithuania:
We condemn in the strongest terms recent attacks by Iran on unarmed commercial vessels in the Gulf, attacks on civilian infrastructure including oil and gas installations, and the de facto closure of the Strait of Hormuz by Iranian forces.
We express our deep concern about the escalating conflict. We call on Iran to cease immediately its threats, laying of mines, drone and missile attacks and other attempts to block the Strait to commercial shipping, and to comply with UN Security Council Resolution 2817.
Freedom of navigation is a fundamental principle of international law, including under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.The effects of Iran’s actions will be felt by people in all parts of the world, especially the most vulnerable.
Consistent with UNSC Resolution 2817, we emphasise that such interference with international shipping and the disruption of global energy supply chains constitute a threat to international peace and security.
In this regard, we call for an immediate comprehensive moratorium on attacks on civilian infrastructure, including oil and gas installations.
We express our readiness to contribute to appropriate efforts to ensure safe passage through the Strait. We welcome the commitment of nations who are engaging in preparatory planning.
We welcome the International Energy Agency decision to authorise a coordinated release of strategic petroleum reserves.
We will take other steps to stabilise energy markets, including working with certain producing nations to increase output.
We will also work to provide support for the most affected nations, including through the United Nations and the IFIs (International Financial Institutions).
Maritime security and freedom of navigation benefit all countries.We call on all states to respect international law and uphold the fundamental principles of international prosperity and security.
Moments ago Saudi Arabia’s defence ministry said in an update that it had intercepted and destroyed six drones in the country’s eastern region.
In the last couple of hours, the UAE defence ministry said it was responding to missile and drone attacks from Iran, while Kuwait’s army said it was also “confronting hostile missile and drone attacks”.
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Israeli military issues new 'evacuation order' for Beirut’s southern suburbs
In a post on X a short while ago, the IDF’s Arabic-language spokesperson, Avichay Adraee, called on residents of Beirut’s southern suburbs to “evacuate immediately”, saying the Israeli military will target what it described as infrastructure belonging to Hezbollah.
He specified that the neighbourhoods of Haret Hreik, Ghobeiry, Laylaki, Hadath, Burj al-Barajneh, Tahwitat al-Ghadir and Chiyah are under threat of attack.
Israel has repeatedly launched deadly strikes on Beirut’s densely populated southern suburbs since its renewed offensive of Lebanon that began on 2 March – killing over 1,000 people, including at least 118 children, wounding over 2,500 others, and displacing over a million.
Trump considering 'winding down' Iran war and leaving other countries to 'police' strait of Hormuz
Donald Trump has said the US is “getting very close to meeting our objectives” and is considering “winding down” its war on Iran .
He repeated his claim that the US doesn’t use the strait of Hormuz, and so other nations who do will have to “guard and police” it. This is after US-Israeli attacks on Iran prompted Tehran to target vessels in one the world’s most vital shipping lanes.
The US will help “if asked” but that “shouldn’t be necessary”, he said in a post on Truth Social, saying it would be “an easy Military Operation” for those countries.
We are getting very close to meeting our objectives as we consider winding down our great Military efforts in the Middle East with respect to the Terrorist Regime of Iran.
The Hormuz Strait will have to be guarded and policed, as necessary, by other Nations who use it — The United States does not! If asked, we will help these Countries in their Hormuz efforts, but it shouldn’t be necessary once Iran’s threat is eradicated. Importantly, it will be an easy Military Operation for them.
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The day so far
Donald Trump continued to make his disappointment with the British government known, saying the UK “should have acted a lot faster” in allowing the US military to use its bases in the Middle East. “I was a little surprised at the UK, to be honest with you. They should have acted a lot faster,” he told reporters as he departed the White House.
Earlier, Downing Street approved US use of its bases “for the collective self-defence of the region”, including “defensive operations” degrading Iranian missile sites targeting ships in the strait of Hormuz. Britain had previously only allowed US forces to use its bases for operations to prevent Iran firing missiles that put British interests or lives at risk. Downing Street maintained that the UK will still not be directly involved in the strikes and insisted that “the principles behind the UK’s approach to the conflict remain the same”.
Iran’s foreign minister Abbas Araghchi said the British prime minsiter Keir Starmer “is putting British lives in danger by allowing UK bases to be used for aggression against Iran”. “Iran will exercise its right to self-defense,” he added.It followed the UK’s foreign secretary Yvette Cooper saying she warned Araghchi in a phone call on Thursday “against targeting UK bases, territory or interests directly”. Iran’s foreign ministry had earlier said the US use of British military bases for attacks would amount to the UK’s “participation in aggression”.
Araghchi also accused the Trump administration of being “detached from reality” as it continues to insist that it is winning the war against Iran. Comparing Washington’s rhetoric to that of the US government during the Vietnam war, he said: “US government says one thing, reality says another.”
Donald Trump also ruled out a ceasefire with Iran, after claiming the war was “militarily won”. “You don’t do a ceasefire when you’re literally obliterating the other side,” he said. He also said the US was “roaming free” in Iran, adding, “they’re finished” militarily.
Asked if he thinks Israel will be ready to end the war when he’s ready, Trump said: “I think so, yeah.” The relationship is “a very good one”, he said, adding that, “more of less, we want similar things. We want victory, both of us, and that’s what we’ve got.” It comes amid increasing evidence that the US and Israel aren’t aligned on their war aims and how to proceed with their operation against Tehran.
Trump also reiterated his criticism of Nato – whose members he earlier branded “cowards” – adding that “a lot of help” would be needed to secure the strait of Hormuz and that “it would be nice” if countries that use the strait, like China and Japan, would “get involved” in reopening the vital waterway.
From restaurant closures in the Philippines and petrol rationing in Sri Lanka, to Asian food production crises due to fertiliser shortages, my colleagues explore how the effects of the US-Israeli war on Iran are reverberating around the world.
Trump says UK should have 'acted a lot faster' over military base use
Asked about the UK government’s decision to allow the US military to use UK bases in the Middle East to strike targets in defensive operations, Trump continued to make his disappointment known:
Well, it’s been a very late response.
A surprise, because the relationship is so good, but this has never happened before.
They were really pretty much our first ally all over the world, first ally, and they didn’t want us to use the island, the so-called island, which for some reason they gave up rights to it.
I was a little surprised at the UK, to be honest with you. They should have acted a lot faster.
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'I don't want to do a ceasefire', Trump says
Asked about the end of the war, Trump said:
Look we can have dialogue but I don’t want to do a ceasefire. You don’t do a ceasefire when you’re literally obliterating the other side.
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Trump says 'it would be nice' if China and Japan would help secure strait of Hormuz
Asked about reopening the strait of Hormuz to allow crucial oil and gas shipments, Trump reiterated his criticism of Nato saying they “haven’t had the courage to do so”, before adding:
We don’t use [the strait]. At a certain point, it will open itself.
He added that “a lot of help” would be needed to secure the strait and that “it would be nice” if countries that use the strait, like China and Japan, would “get involved”.
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Trump says US 'roaming free' in Iran and says 'I think so' when asked if Israel would end war when US does
Donald Trump has been speaking to reporters outside the White House before he departs for his Mar-a-Lago residence in Palm Beach, Florida, for the weekend.
Asked if he thinks Israel will be ready to end the war when he’s ready, he said: “I think so, yeah.”
The relationship is “a very good one”, he said, adding that, “more of less, we want similar things. We want victory, both of us, and that’s what we’ve got.”
Asked if he has a plan for Kharg Island, he said:
I may have a plan, I may not, but how would I ever say that to a reporter … It is certainly a place that people are talking about.
Asked what he meant when he said the war was militarily won in Iran, he said the US was “roaming free” in Iran and “they’re finished” militarily.
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Iranian foreign minister says UK prime minister's base decision 'putting British lives in danger'
More from Abbas Araghchi, who also said today that the UK prime minsiter Keir Starmer “is putting British lives in danger” by allowing the US to use British bases in its war on Iran.
“Vast majority of the British People do not want any part in the Israel-U.S. war of choice on Iran,” the Iranian foreign minister wrote on X. “Ignoring his own People, Mr. Starmer is putting British lives in danger by allowing UK bases to be used for aggression against Iran. Iran will exercise its right to self-defense.”
As I reported earlier, this follows the UK’s foreign secretary Yvette Cooper saying she warned Araghchi in a phone call on Thursday “against targeting UK bases, territory or interests directly”.
It came after Iran’s foreign ministry said the US use of British military bases for attacks would amount to the UK’s “participation in aggression”.
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US government is 'detached from reality', says Iranian foreign minister
Iran’s foreign minister Abbas Araghchi earlier accused the Trump administration of being “detached from reality” as it continues to insist that it is winning the war against Iran.
In a thread on X on Friday, Araghchi said:
Americans haven’t forgotten how, even as hundreds of U.S. soldiers were dying in Vietnam, and the outcome was already clear, General William Westmoreland was flown home to reassure everyone that the war was going well — that the U.S. was ‘winning’.
The media haven’t forgotten either; those briefings full of fantasy from the frontlines became infamous as the ‘Five O’Clock Follies.’ Fast forward to today: same script, different stage; [US defence secretary Pete] Hegseth steps up, and the message is still detached from reality.
U.S. government says one thing, reality says another. Right as U.S. authorities claim Iran’s air defences r gone, an F-35 gets hit. As they declare Iran’s navy finished, USS Gerald Ford turns back, and USS Abraham Lincoln drifts farther away Different decade, same “we’re winning”.
As my colleague Richard Luscombe reported this morning, the father of a US military member killed in the war has contradicted Hegseth’s claim that bereaved families urged him to “finish” the job in the Middle East. “I can’t speak for the other families. When he spoke to me, that was not something we talked about,” he told NBC News.
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Fuel rations and cash handouts: Iran war energy shock hits Asia – podcast
Across south-east Asia, governments are scrambling to find ways to conserve energy and shield the public from soaring costs, as the war in the Middle East causes huge disruption in the global oil market.
In Thailand, news anchors have been ditching their jackets after orders to reduce air conditioning use, while government workers in the Philippines are operating on a four-day week.
Asia relies heavily on imported energy, much of which passes through the strait of Hormuz, and officials have warned further measures could be considered if the energy crisis worsens.
In today’s episode of The Latest podcast, Lucy Hough speaks to the Guardian’s south-east Asia correspondent, Rebecca Ratcliffe about how the US-Israeli war on Iran’s energy shock is hitting Asia.
Pro-war Israeli and US figures created an 'echo chamber' around Trump, 'isolating' him and pushing for war, says Kent
Joe Kent, Donald Trump’s former US national counterterrorism center director has accused Israeli leaders and pro-war allies in the US of pressing Trump for months to strike Iran, despite the lack of firm evidence that Tehran posed an imminent threat.
Kent, who resigned earlier this week over the war, told the Megyn Kelly Show on Friday that Israeli and US figures created an “echo chamber” around Trump, shutting out sceptical voices from the discussion, and ultimately, convincing him to go to war.
I saw the bubble being created around President Trump. The president was isolated, and so he was just hearing that echo chamber.
Kent quit dramatically as Trump’s counterterrorism chief this week stating he could not “in good conscience” support the US-Israeli war on Iran as Tehran posed “no imminent threat” to the United States. He said the US had been pressured into the war by “Israel and its powerful American lobby”, alleging that high-ranking Israeli officials and members of the media had conducted a “misinformation campaign” to deceive Trump.
Speaking on Friday, Kent compared the lead-up to this operation to the more thorough preparations that took place ahead of Trump’s decision to attack Iran’s nuclear strikes last June, which he said had only occurred after a robust back-and-forth within the administration.
This second time around, Kent claimed that Benjamin Netanyahu and his advisers, with the help of pro-war allies of Trump such as GOP senator Lindsey Graham, successfully urged the US president to act before his administration could properly consider all the possible repercussions.
Whatever argument they used, the effect was that President Trump was then led to believe that if he took action now, this whole thing would be quick and easy.
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Donald Trump says 'we want to talk to Iran but we have nobody to talk to'
In brief comments at the White House earlier, Donald Trump once again suggested that “we want to talk to Iran” but there is “nobody to talk to”.
After his usual roll call of Iranian assets the US military has destroyed – its navy, its air force, its radar – Trump said once again that Iran’s leaders are “all gone”.
Now nobody wants to be a leader over there anymore. We are wanting to talk to them but we have nobody to talk to.
We like it that way.
The US president has repeatedly bragged about the decimation of Iran’s senior leadership, and has suggested that Mojtaba Khamenei may not be physically able to lead the country after he was injured in the strikes that killed his father on 28 February at the start of the war. On several occasions, he has even gone as far as speculating that Khamenei could be dead.
A reminder that several statements have been issued in Khamenei’s name since he was named supreme leader earlier this month (including a written one today), but he has not been seen and reports have swirled about the extent of his injuries.
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Saudi Arabia has destroyed six drones over its eastern territory, its defence ministry said in a series of posts on X over the last few hours.
UK agrees to allow US to use British bases for strikes on Iranian sites targeting strait of Hormuz
The UK has approved US use of its bases “for the collective self-defence of the region”, including “defensive operations” degrading Iranian missile sites targeting ships in the strait of Hormuz.
The UK will still not be directly involved in the strikes and Downing Street said “the principles behind the UK’s approach to the conflict remain the same”.
Britain had previously allowed US forces to use its bases for operations to prevent Iran firing missiles that put British interests or lives at risk.
A Downing Street spokesperson said that ministers agreed on Friday that bases could now be used for “US defensive operations” to target “capabilities being used to attack ships in the strait of Hormuz”.
They add that “ministers underlined the need for urgent de-escalation and a swift resolution to the war”.
They agreed that Iran’s reckless strikes, including on Red Ensign vessels and those of our close allies and Gulf partners, risked pushing the region further into crisis and worsening the economic impact being felt in the UK and around the world.
Earlier, the UK’s foreign secretary Yvette Cooper said she had warned her Iranian counterpart Abbas Araghchi in a phone call on Thursday “against targeting UK bases, territory or interests directly”.
It came after Iran’s foreign ministry said the US use of British military bases for attacks would amount to the UK’s “participation in aggression”.
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The United States is deploying additional Marines to the Middle East, US media reported on Friday, possibly signaling a coming ground operation three weeks into the US-Israeli campaign against Iran.
The reports came as Axios said president Donald Trump’s administration is mulling seizing Iran’s strategic Kharg Island to pressure the Islamic republic to reopen the Strait of Hormuz – a mission that could fall to US Marines.
The Wall Street Journal said Washington is deploying between 2,200 and 2,500 Marines from the California-based USS Boxer Amphibious Ready Group and 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit.
CNN meanwhile said thousands of Marines and sailors were expected to deploy to the Middle East. Both publications cited anonymous US officials.
The UK conducted defensive air patrols over Jordan, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain last night, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) confirmed in an operational update.
Typhoon and F-35 aircraft, supported by Voyager air-to-air refuelling, carried out the patrols.
The UK has more jets flying in the region than at any time in the last 15 years, while British pilots have now exceeded 700 flying hours, the MoD said.
There are 500 UK personnel supporting air defence activities across the UK’s bases in Cyprus and the UK sent a small number of additional planners to US Centcom to help with planning and option development for ways to improve security in the strait of Hormuz, it added.
The day so far
Emergency services are responding to reports of an impact in Jerusalem’s Old City, following Iran’s latest ballistic missile strike.
The Trump administration is reportedly considering occupying or blockading Iran’s Kharg Island to pressure Iran into reopening the strait of Hormuz.
US president Donald Trump has lashed out at Nato again, condemning alliance members for not wanting “to help open” the strait of Hormuz.
Germany, Britain, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Japan and Canada pledged on Thursday to join “appropriate efforts to ensure safe passage” through the strait of Hormuz. But the joint statement did not provide details on how they would do this.
Iran’s supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei on Friday said the enemies of the Islamic republic were being defeated in the war against the US and Israel in a written message for the Persian New Year, Nowruz.
Spanish prime minister Pedro Sánchez has announced a decree introducing a temporary freeze on rents nationwide in response to the US-Israeli war on Iran, a measure that still requires parliamentary approval.
Kuwait said its Mina Al-Ahmadi oil refinery came under attack by Iranian drones, which sparked a fire at several of its units. Gulf countries have continued reporting incoming missile or drone attacks.
Nato’s mission in Iraq has been fully relocated to Europe, the alliance said, with the last personnel from the non-combat force of several hundred departing the country on Friday.
The International Energy Agency chief Fatih Birol warned in an interview with the Financial Times on Friday that it could take up to six months to restore oil and gas flows from the Gulf, saying the world is facing what could be the most severe energy crisis in history.
A spokesperson for the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corp (IRGC), Ali Mohammad Naeini, was killed in what Israel called an overnight airstrike.
A 26-year-old Israeli reservist from Jerusalem has been charged with spying for Iran, according to Police Superintendent Shirat Peretz of the police’s Unit for International Crime Investigations.
Israel has continued attacking the Iranian capital of Tehran with airstrikes, as Iranians mark Nowruz, the Persian New Year.
The UN secretary general, António Guterres, said there were “reasonable grounds” to believe both sides in the US-Israeli war on Iran may have committed war crimes.
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The boom reverberated so loudly over Dubai marina that the windows of the surrounding skyscrapers and exclusive hotels gave a loud, disconcerting rattle.
“That sounded close, do you think a missile has hit something?” said a young man to his friend as they sipped coffees. Moments earlier, all mobile phones in the vicinity had sounded off with a shrill alarm, the new normal for those living in the Gulf, warning of missile and drone strikes in the area. Customers barely looked up.
Another alert came moments later. The United Arab Emirates air defence systems and fighter jets had successfully intercepted “ballistic missiles … drones and loitering munitions” and all was safe in Dubai – for now. Footage from the previous night captured these systems in action, shooting down a drone in a fiery ball over Dubai’s convention centre, debris raining down like fireworks.
For 20 days, since the US and Israel began their bombing of Iran, the Gulf states have faced a relentless barrage of thousands of Iranian drones and missiles fired at their airports, hotels, ports, military bases, financial districts, datacentres and apartment blocks. Though it has represented an unfathomable attack on their sovereignty, security and economy – in Dubai, shattering an economically crucial illusion of safety and glamour – Gulf countries have so far only responded defensively, spending billions on interceptors that have managed to shoot down about 90% of Iran’s ballistics.
Footage shows fire in Saudi Arabia’s Yanbu refinery and Kuwait’s Mina Abdullah refinery
The overarching priority among the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) – the political grouping of the Gulf countries – has been to avoid getting dragged into a war that is not theirs and they had tried furiously to stop.
But the past few days have been marked by growing fear that the Middle East war is entering a new, even more dangerous frontier; one that poses an existential threat to the Gulf countries – and pressure is mounting for them to retaliate. After Israel attacked Iran’s South Pars gasfield, the first targeted attacks on its fossil fuel production since the war began, the Iranian regime vowed to show “zero restraint” in hitting back at energy infrastructure in the Gulf, its closest and easiest target.
Khamenei said that Iranians had dealt a “dizzying blow” to the country’s enemies during the war with Israel and the United States.
By showing unity and resolve, Iranians had “dealt him (the enemy) a dizzying blow so that he now starts uttering contradictory words and nonsense,” Khamenei said in a written message for Persian New Year.
He also said Iran and allied forces in the region were “in no way” behind attacks on Oman and Turkey during the war, instead blaming “deception by the Zionist enemy” in reference to Israel.
Iran's Khamenei says enemy 'defeated' in written Nowruz message
Iran’s supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei on Friday said the enemies of the Islamic republic were being defeated in the war against the US and Israel in a written message for the Persian New Year, Nowruz.
“At the moment, due to the particular unity that has been created between you our compatriots – despite all the differences in religious, intellectual, cultural and political origins – the enemy has been defeated,” said Khamenei, who is yet to appear in public after being named to succeed his father Ali Khamenei who was killed in an airstrike at the a start of the war.
Nato’s mission in Iraq has been fully relocated to Europe, the alliance said, with the last personnel from the non-combat force of several hundred departing the country on Friday.
“Nato Mission Iraq has adjusted its posture, safely relocating all its personnel from the Middle East to Europe,” said a statement from the alliance’s European command.
Footage captures the moment fragments from an Iranian ballistic missile fell into Jerusalem’s Old City, after the projectile was intercepted, according to the Israel Defense Forces.
The debris caused damage to a parking area in the Jewish Quarter, roughly 400 metres from the Western Wall and the al-Aqsa mosque compound on the Temple Mount.
Israeli police and military forces have sealed off the impact site, preventing journalists from accessing the area.
You can keep up with all the latest developments in Europe in this live blog.
Poland evacuates troops from Iraq amid 'worsening security situation'
Poland has just announced it evacuated its troops from Iraq amid “worsening security situation in the Middle East region.”
The country’s defence minister, Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz, said that “most personnel is already in Poland or en route, with some in Jordan.”
“This allows us to maintain the continuity of [the deployment] in the region,” he said.
He said the decision to evacuate from Iraq was made in coordination with Nato allies. Poland had troops in Iraq between 2003 and 2011, and then again from 2016.
Spain to propose temporary rent price freezes due to war in Iran, Spanish PM says
Spanish prime minister Pedro Sánchez has announced a decree introducing a temporary freeze on rents nationwide in response to the US-Israeli war on Iran, a measure that still requires parliamentary approval.
As my colleague Sam Jones notes, Sánchez said the government will negotiate with other parties to try to get the housing decree approved in Congress in the coming weeks.
“We don’t support this war, but we will be the EU country with the best social and economic protections as we face it,” the Spanish prime minister, who has explicitly condemned the US and Israel’s “unilateral military action” against Iran, said.
Spain’s government has approved a €5bn ($5.8bn; £4.3bn) aid package to help cushion the economic toll the war is having on households, including tax reductions on energy.
According to Bloomberg, Madrid is looking to increase natural gas imports from Algeria via a pipeline, amid mounting concerns across Europe about securing oil and gas supplies during the war.
Here is a picture taken in Jerusalem following Iran’s latest ballistic missile attack:
Emergency services are responding to reports of an impact in Jerusalem’s Old City, following Iran’s latest ballistic missile strike.
Footage from the scene shows visible damage, though medics say there have been no reports of casualties.
The blast appears to have struck a parking area in the Jewish Quarter, approximately 350 metres from the Temple Mount, known to Muslims as Haram al-Sharif.
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US to deploy of thousands of additional troops to the Middle East, officials tell Reuters
The US military is deploying thousands of additional marines and sailors to the Middle East, three American officials have told the Reuters news agency.
One of the officials said that the USS Boxer, along with the Marie Expeditionary Unit aboard, were leaving the US about three weeks ahead of schedule. It is not clear what the mission is.
As we mentioned in a previous post, the US president, Donald Trump, is reportedly mulling sending troops to secure Kharg Island, in a possible bid to starve Iran of its oil revenue and force it to surrender. This operation, if it were to happen, would be extremely dangerous for America, with its troops left very exposed to attack on the island.
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The IDF said in a post on X about twenty minutes ago that it had identified missiles being launched from Iran and said its defence systems were working to intercept them.
Loud blasts reportedly heard in Jerusalem after Iran missile warning
The Agence France-Presse (AFP) news agency is reporting that loud blasts have been heard in Jerusalem after an Iran missile warning. We will give you more details as soon as we have them…
Germany, Britain, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Japan and Canada pledged on Thursday to join “appropriate efforts to ensure safe passage” through the strait of Hormuz. But the joint statement did not provide details on how they would do this.
Trump calls Nato members 'cowards' for not helping secure the strait of Hormuz
US President Donald Trump has lashed out at Nato again, condemning alliance members for not wanting “to help open” the strait of Hormuz.
Iran has effectively closed the strait with periodic attacks on oil tankers and other shipping.
About a fifth of seaborne crude oil traffic passed through the strait before the US-Israeli war on Iran, and a huge fall in exports has helped push prices above $100 a barrel.
Trump has criticised Nato members for failing to offer warships to help patrol the strategic waterway. In the social media post, he said:
Without the U.S.A., NATO IS A PAPER TIGER! They didn’t want to join the fight to stop a Nuclear Powered Iran. Now that fight is Militarily WON, with very little danger for them, they complain about the high oil prices they are forced to pay, but don’t want to help open the Strait of Hormuz, a simple military maneuver that is the single reason for the high oil prices. So easy for them to do, with so little risk. COWARDS, and we will REMEMBER!
Trump has said some countries are willing to help escort ships through the strait, but hasn’t named them.
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At least two people were injured after a missile struck in central Israel on Friday, Magen David Adom, Israel’s emergency medical response team, said.
The two, who are about 70 years old, were in “mild condition” with suspected blast injuries, it said.
Here are some of the latest images coming through to us on the newswires:
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You can read a summary of the UK government’s legal position on Iran here.
In an earlier post, we mentioned that Iran’s foreign minister warned the UK it sees its choice to let the US use British bases as “participation in aggression”.
We can now bring you a response from Keir Starmer’s official spokesperson, who said:
So our position is very clear. We didn’t participate in the initial strikes, and we’re not getting drawn into the wider war.
We have authorised the US to use our bases for a specific defensive and limited purpose in response to Iran’s continued and outrageous aggression, and we’ve always said that this is the best way to eliminate the urgent threat and restore a path to diplomacy.
Much to Donald Trump’s ire, Starmer did not authorise the US to use British bases for initial offensive attacks against Iran. However, the UK’s prime minister subsequently gave permission for them to be used for “defensive” action.
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The Iranian military has reportedly threatened American and Israeli military personnel and officials. In a post on Telegram, the Fars news agency, which is close to the Iranian security services, quoted a senior spokesperson for Iran’s armed forces as saying:
“We are keeping an eye on your cowardly officials and commanders, your wicked pilots and soldiers.”
“From now on, based on the information we have from you, the world’s tourist attractions, resorts, and entertainment centers will not be safe for you either,” the spokesperson was quoted as having said.
According to a report in Axios, the Trump administration is considering occupying or blockading Iran’s Kharg Island to pressure Iran into reopening the strait of Hormuz.
The report, which we have not yet been able to independently verify, cited four sources who all spoke under the condition of anonymity.
“He wants Hormuz open. If he has to take Kharg Island to make it happen, that’s going to happen. If he decides to have a coastal invasion, that’s going to happen. But that decision hasn’t been made,” a senior administration official told Axios.
Here is a map of where Kharg Island is in context of the wider region:
A 26-year-old Israeli reservist from Jerusalem has been charged with spying for Iran, according to Police Superintendent Shirat Peretz of the police’s Unit for International Crime Investigations.
The suspect, identified by authorities as Raz Cohen, is accused of passing sensitive information relating to Israel’s Iron Dome defence system, along with other classified material, to Iranian handlers with whom he was in contact. In exchange, investigators allege, he received around $1,000 in cryptocurrency.
Court documents suggest that the alleged activities took place several months before the outbreak of the current war, the Times of Israel has reported.
Under Israeli law, assisting the enemy during wartime carries a maximum sentence of life imprisonment, or, in exceptional cases, the death penalty – a punishment that has been used only rarely.
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The International Energy Agency chief Fatih Birol warned in an interview with the Financial Times on Friday that it could take up to six months to restore oil and gas flows from the Gulf, saying the world is facing what could be the most severe energy crisis in history.
“It will be six months for some [sites] to be operational, others much longer,” he told FT.
Birol said politicians and markets were underestimating the scale of the disruption, with around one-fifth of global oil and gas supplies effectively stranded in the region, the report added.
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Summary of the day so far...
The Trump administration is reportedly considering occupying or blockading Iran’s Kharg Island to pressure Iran into reopening the strait of Hormuz.
Kuwait said its Mina Al-Ahmadi oil refinery came under attack by Iranian drones, which sparked a fire at several of its units. Gulf countries have continued reporting incoming missile or drone attacks.
A spokesperson for the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corp (IRGC), Ali Mohammad Naeini, was killed in what Israel called an overnight airstrike.
Israel has continued attacking the Iranian capital of Tehran with airstrikes, as Iranians mark Nowruz, the Persian New Year.
The UN secretary general, António Guterres, said there were “reasonable grounds” to believe both sides in the US-Israeli war on Iran may have committed war crimes.
Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, warned his British counterpart, Yvette Cooper, that the UK allowing the US to use British military bases would be treated as “participation in aggression”, insisting on his country’s right to self-defence.
Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said that Israel “acted alone” in striking Iran’s South Pars gasfield on Wednesday, though he didn’t address whether or not he had told the US president, Donald Trump, about the attack beforehand.
Gulf countries have continued to report drone attacks targeting their nations. The UAE’s defence ministry said it intercepted four ballistic missiles and 26 drones coming from Iran, while Saudi Arabia’s defence ministry said it intercepted and destroyed drones over its eastern region this morning.
The Bahrain Defence Force said in a social media post this morning that it has intercepted and destroyed 141 missiles and 242 drones from Iran since the start of the US-Israeli war on 28 February.
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The IDF has said Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) spokesperson, Ali Mohammad Naeini, has been killed, confirming earlier reports in Iranian media (see post at 08.27 for more details). The Israeli military said in a post on X that he was killed in an overnight airstrike.
What are the risks to the US if it tries to occupy or widen its attacks on Kharg Island?
Destroying Kharg or damaging the export site “runs the risk of causing an economy-shaping increase in oil price that would not drop rapidly”, argues Lynette Nusbacher, a former British army intelligence officer. Israel did not attack it in last summer’s 12-day war, and its complex infrastructure could take years to repair.
There is also a longer-term political argument. “Kharg Island is sufficiently important to the Iranian economy that destroying its facilities would abandon any pretence of fighting a war to create a brighter future for Iran,” Nusbacher argues, because it would deny a successor regime vital oil income.
An effort to seize the island, given its size, would be likely to require a sizeable and sustained operation, greater than a typical special forces incursion. Though a US seizure would in theory give the White House leverage over Tehran, Neil Quilliam, with the Chatham House thinktank, argued it was very likely that such an effort would be self-defeating.
“If the US were to seize it, then you are separating the Iranian oil industry. Iran would have production but couldn’t export, while the US wouldn’t be able to produce. That would set markets in a tailspin; that’s a real standoff,” the analyst said.
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The Pentagon has deployed the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit, a rapid-response force of about 2,200 Marines, to the Middle East, according to the Wall Street Journal, with Trump mulling sending troops to secure the island, in a possible bid to starve Iran of its oil revenue and force it to surrender.
Military officials have not said what missions the marines being sent to the Middle East would be assigned to carry out.
Trump considering plans to occupy or blockade Iran's Kharg Island - report
According to a report in Axios, the Trump administration is considering occupying or blockading Iran’s Kharg Island to pressure Iran into reopening the strait of Hormuz. The report, which we have not yet been able to independently verify, cited four sources who all spoke under the condition of anonymity.
“He wants Hormuz open. If he has to take Kharg Island to make it happen, that’s going to happen. If he decides to have a coastal invasion, that’s going to happen. But that decision hasn’t been made,” a senior administration official told Axios.
“We’ve always had boots on the ground in conflicts under every president, including Trump. I know this is a fixation in the media, and I get the politics, but the president is going to do what’s right,” a second senior official said. No decision has been made yet, the official said.
Kharg, a five-mile-long coral island in the Persian Gulf about 16 miles from the mainland, is a key processing hub for Iran, through which 90% of the country’s oil exports typically flow. The island had been largely left untouched by the US-Israeli attacks during the first two weeks of the war.
But the US bombed the island’s military installations last week, although it left the oil export facilities untouched. The US president, Donald Trump, warned he would reconsider the decision not to target oil facilities if Iran or other countries “do anything to interfere” with the safe passage of ships through the strait of Hormuz.
The vital waterway has effectively been blocked since Iran began attacking ships in response to US and Israeli attacks, resulting in a huge jump in oil prices.
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Hundreds of Muslims gathered outside the walls of the Old City in occupied East Jerusalem for Eid al-Fitr prayers on Friday after al-Aqsa mosque was closed by Israeli authorities:
Iran tells UK that providing military bases for the US is considered 'participation in aggression'
Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, warned his British counterpart, Yvette Cooper, that the UK allowing the US to use British military bases would be treated as “participation in aggression” as he insisted on his country’s right to self-defence.
“These actions will definitely be considered as participation in aggression and will be recorded in the history of relations between the two countries. At the same time, we reserve our inherent right to defend the country’s sovereignty and independence,” Araghchi said, according to a statement posted on his official Telegram channel.
The Iranian foreign minister said the US and Israel started the war while diplomatic negotiations were under way and condemned the “biased” response from Britain and other European countries towards what he described as “blatant aggression” in breach of international law.
He also pointed to the 28 February bombing of an Iranian girls’ school in Minab, in southern Iran, in which more than 165 people, mostly children, were killed, describing the attack as “cowardly”.
The US president, Donald Trump, has suggested Iran was to blame for the deadly strike, without offering evidence. But as my colleague Hugo Lowell reports in this story, an ongoing Pentagon investigation into the strike has found that the missile in question was a Tomahawk fired by the US military. We are yet to hear from the UK government about the phone call with Araghchi but will bring you a summary if we do.
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Both sides in US-Israeli war on Iran may have committed war crimes, UN chief suggests
In an interview with Politico, the UN secretary general, António Guterres, said there were “reasonable grounds” to believe both sides in the US-Israeli war on Iran may have committed war crimes.
Guterres said: “If there are attacks either on Iran or from Iran on energy infrastructure, I think that there are reasonable grounds to think that they might constitute a war crime.”
Earlier this week Israel’s attack on Iran’s massive South Pars gasfield – which it shares with Qatar – triggered Iranian retaliatory strikes on Qatar’s Ras Laffan gas complex, in a major escalation of the conflict.
“I don’t see any difference. It doesn’t matter who targets civilians. It is totally unacceptable,” he added.
On Thursday, the Lebanese health ministry said that 1,001 people, including 118 children, had been killed by Israeli attacks on Lebanon since 2 March. The Israeli assault began after the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah launched rockets into northern Israel in response to the killing of the former Iranian supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, in joint US-Israeli airstrikes.
Iran’s ambassador to the UN told the UN security council last week that US-Israeli strikes on Iran have killed more than 1,348 civilians. Thirteen US servicemen have died in the war and 16 civilians have reportedly been killed in Israel and the occupied West Bank.
Iran has launched thousands of drones and missiles against Gulf countries, claiming they are targeting American assets but have also killed civilians. As of 16 March, the attacks resulted in at least 11 civilian deaths, according to Human Rights Watch. Speaking to Politico Europe’s EU Confidential podcast, Guterres added:
I am convinced that Israel, as a strategy, wants to achieve a total destruction of the military capacity of Iran and regime change. And I believe Iran has a strategy, which is to resist for as much time as possible and to cause as much harm as possible. So the key to solve the problem is that the US decides to claim that they have done their job.
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IRGC spokesperson killed in US-Israeli airstrikes, Iranian media reports
A spokesperson for the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corp (IRGC), Ali Mohammad Naeini, has been killed in US-Israeli airstrikes, Iranian media has been reporting, including the Tasnim news agency.
Before his death, Naeini issued a statement insisting Tehran was still able to build missiles despite the attacks coming from Israel and the US. We have not yet been able to independently verify this information.
Targeted Israeli/US-Israeli attacks have already killed the former supreme leader Ali Khamenei, the security chief Ali Larijani, head of the paramilitary Basij force, Gholamreza Soleimani, and the intelligence minister, Esmail Khatib, among others.
Updated
China’s foreign ministry spokesperson, Lin Jian, has urged all sides involved in the US-Israeli war on Iran to ensure a stable and unimpeded oil supply. He did not name any countries in his comments to the media.
The comments come after the US indicated it may soon remove sanctions on Iranian oil in order to make more oil available to global buyers and reduce oil prices, which have surged since the start of the war as Iran has closed the strait of Hormuz to shipping and attacked tankers.
The move could free up 140m barrels of Iranian oil for global use, the US treasury secretary Scott Bessent claimed. “In essence, we will be using the Iranian barrels against the Iranians to keep the price down for the next 10 or 14 days, as we continue this campaign,” he said on Fox Business.
The treasury recently took a similar step to temporarily allow the sale of sanctioned Russian oil stranded on tankers, which Bessent said added around 130m barrels to global supplies.
If proceeded with, the move would be a significant reversal of longstanding American policy towards Iran. Experts say it could have a limited effect on prices and could actually help Iran fund its war effort against the US.
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Sri Lanka, which has strong economic and diplomatic ties with both Iran and the US, refused to allow the US to station two of its warplanes at an airport in the island’s south in early March, the country’s president, Anura Kumara Dissanayake, told parliament earlier today.
“They wanted to bring two warplanes armed with eight anti-ship missiles from a base in Djibouti to the Mattala International Airport from March 4 to 8 and we said ’no’,” Dissanayake was quoted by the AFP news agency as having said.
Sri Lanka, an island nation in the Indian Ocean more than 2,000 miles from the Persian Gulf, has had a policy of non-alignment since it became independent in 1948.
But the country found itself in the diplomatic crossfire of the US-Israeli war on Iran after an American submarine strike sank an Iranian warship off the south coast of Sri Lanka in early March, killing at least 87 Iranian sailors.
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Interim summary
Hello and welcome to our live coverage of events in the Middle East.
If you are just joining us, here is a quick recap of the latest developments:
Israel pounded Tehran with airstrikes on Friday as Iranians marked Nowruz, or the Persian New Year. Activists reported hearing strikes around Iran’s capital. The attacks occurred a day after Israel pledged to refrain from more strikes on a key Iranian gas field and Iran intensified attacks on oil and natural gas facilities around the Gulf.
Benjamin Netanyahu denied that Donald Trump was “dragged” into the war by Israel, as he tried to pour cold water on suggestions that Israel influenced the US’s decision to attack Iran and amid growing signs that the US and Israel are not aligned on their war aims. “Does anyone really think that someone can tell President Trump what to do,” the Israeli prime minister said, adding: “I misled no one.”
Netanyahu also stated that Israel “acted alone” in striking Iran’s South Pars gasfield, though he didn’t address whether or not he had told Trump about the attack beforehand. “President Trump asked us to hold off on future attacks, and we’re holding out,” he added. Trump has distanced himself from Israel’s attack on the world’s largest gasfield (which he claimed on Wednesday that Washington “knew nothing” about), and confirmed today that he told Netanyahu to stop attacking Iran’s energy facilities.
Netanyahu also claimed that Iran has “no ability to enrich uranium at the moment and no capability of manufacturing ballistic missiles”. He said that the war would take “as long as is necessary”, adding: “We will crush them entirely, all those capabilities.”
The spokesman for Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard insisted Friday that Tehran was still building missiles, seeking to counter a claim by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that it no longer could.
Kuwait’s state oil firm KPC said its Mina Al-Ahmadi refinery was hit by multiple drone attacks early on Friday, causing a fire in some units, with no initial casualties reported, the state news agency said.
Iranian attacks on Ras Laffan Industrial City in Qatar have reduced the country’s liquefied natural gas (LNG) export capacity by 17%, according to QatarEnergy, the state-run energy giant. The “extensive damage” could reduce its annual revenues by $20bn and take “up to five years” to repair, Saad al-Kaabi, the Qatari energy minister and CEO of QatarEnergy, said in a statement.
US Central Command said that it has destroyed the Iranian regime’s surface-to-surface missile plant in Karaj. The plant was used to “assemble ballistic missiles that threatened Americans, neighboring countries, and commercial shipping,” Centcom said.
France will double its humanitarian aid to Lebanon to the value of €17m ($19.7m), foreign minister Jean-Noel Barrot said, as Lebanon grapples with Israel’s latest military assault. Israeli strikes on Beirut and its ground invasion of southern Lebanon have killed over 1,000 people, including 118 children, and wounded more than 2,500 since Israel’s renewed offensive on 2 March. More than one million – roughly one in five – of the population have been displaced.
An Iranian missile attack hit Israel’s oil refineries in the northern port city of Haifa but did not cause “significant damage“, Israel’s energy ministry said. Energy minister Eli Cohen said power was briefly disrupted, with electricity restored to most of those who were affected, Reuters reported.
Petrol prices have surged in some regions, including in Vietnam where the cost of fuel was up 20% on Friday amid fears of oil and gas shortages caused by the war.
This post was amended on 22 March 2026. An earlier version referred to “Tel Aviv’s renewed offensive”: Israel’s seat of government is in Jerusalem.
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Iran’s Revolutionary Guard says Tehran still building missiles
The spokesman for Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard insisted Friday that Tehran was still building missiles, seeking to counter a claim by Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu that it no longer could.
Gen. Ali Mohammad Naeini made the comments in a report quoted by Iran’s state-run IRAN newspaper.
Referencing how Iranian schools consider a 20 as a perfect score, the general said:
Our missile industry score is 20 and there is no concern in this regard because we are producing missiles even during war conditions, which is amazing, and there is no particular problem in stockpiling.”
He also said the war would go on.
“These people expect the war to continue until the enemy is completely exhausted,” the general said of the Iranian public. “This war must end when the shadow of war is lifted from the country.”
The leaders of some Pacific countries have appealed for help with oil supplies while others urge against “panic buying” as the import-reliant nations grapple with fears over possible fuel shortages and escalating costs caused by war in the Middle East.
Oil prices have surged to nearly $110 a barrel after strikes against energy infrastructure in Iran and the Gulf states.
Read more about the impacts here:
Asian shares were mixed on Friday following Wall Street losses, and oil prices pared earlier gains on the intensifying Iran war, falling back to about $107 a barrel. US futures were higher.
Oil prices had a rollercoaster day on Thursday with the Brent crude, the international standard, briefly surging to about $119 per barrel as attacks by Iran on oil and gas facilities around the Gulf escalated after Israel’s attack of Iran’s key natural gas field.
In early Friday trading, Brent crude fell 1.6% to $106.90 a barrel, following Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s remarks that he would hold off on further attacks on Iran’s gas field at the request of US President Donald Trump. Benchmark US crude was down 2% to $93.63 a barrel.
The cost of petrol was up by more than 20% in Vietnam on Friday after the government announced an overnight hike amid fears of oil and gas shortages caused by the Middle East war.
South-east Asian countries have borne the brunt of surging diesel prices after strikes against energy infrastructure in Iran and the Gulf states.
Just before midnight Thursday, the Vietnamese government announced an increase in the price of 95-octane gasoline by 20% from the weekend to 30,690 Vietnamese dong ($1.20) per litre, while diesel was up by nearly 34% to 33,420 dong.
More than 3,000 people are believed to have been killed across Iran so far, and the Pentagon says more than 15,000 targets in the country have been hit in the first two weeks. A girls’ school in the south-eastern Iranian city of Minab lies in rubble, with about 175 children and teachers killed in a strike that the US is believed to have carried out. The strait of Hormuz, the narrow sea passage turned chokepoint for the Gulf’s oil and the world, is, in effect, closed.
And the bill, according to analysts at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, is growing by roughly half a billion dollars every day.
Read this clever interactive piece on the cost of Operation Epic Fury.
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Kuwait’s Mina Al-Ahmadi refinery hit by multiple drone attacks
Kuwait’s state oil firm KPC said its Mina Al-Ahmadi refinery was hit by multiple drone attacks early on Friday, causing a fire in some units, with no initial casualties reported, the state news agency said.
Firefighters responded immediately, with several units shut down as a precaution to ensure workers’ safety.
“The Mina Al-Ahmadi refinery... was subjected early today to several hostile drone attacks, causing fires in some of its units,” the official Kuwait News Agency said, adding that “several refinery units were shut down”.
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Some analysts believe that China will be in a stronger position to extract concessions from Donald Trump when the US president finally visits Beijing after becoming entangled in his Middle East war.
Trump had been due in the Chinese capital at the end of this month for talks with president Xi Jinping, but has delayed his trip by several weeks to deal with the fallout from the war.
His decision last month to join Israel in strikes on Iran has plunged the Middle East into violence, pushed energy prices to years-long highs and seeded fears of global supply shortages due to Iran’s effective closure of the strait of Hormuz.
With Trump struggling to define how the intervention will end and traditional allies reluctant to back him, the US leader may come to China needing a diplomatic win, analysts told Agence France-Presse.
A show of US force that was meant to intimidate Beijing has instead served to puncture the illusion of US omnipotence,” said Ali Wyne, a senior adviser focusing on US-China ties at the International Crisis Group thinktank.
Some more images of people preparing for Nowruz, or Persian New Year, in Tehran.
Israel pounds Tehran with airstrikes on Friday
Israel pounded Tehran with airstrikes on Friday as Iranians marked Nowruz, or the Persian New Year, and Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu denied he ‘dragged’ Trump into the war with Iran.
Activists reported hearing strikes around Iran’s capital. The attacks occurred a day after Israel pledged to refrain from more strikes on a key Iranian gas field and Iran intensified attacks on oil and natural gas facilities around the Gulf.
The strikes come as questions mount about how aligned the US and Israel are in their war aims, with Netanyahu saying that Israel had acted alone in the bombing of Iran’s South Pars gas field. He also confirmed that Trump had asked Israel to hold off on such attacks.
Iran is being “decimated” and no longer had the capacity to enrich uranium or make ballistic missiles, but a revolution in the country would require a “ground component,” he said, without elaborating.
The Israeli premier also rejected the notion that he had dragged Trump into the conflict, implying that he was the junior partner in the joint assault on Iran.
“Does anyone really think that someone can tell President Trump what to do?” Netanyahu told reporters, at a press conference.
“He didn’t need any convincing,” he added.
“I don’t think any two leaders have been as coordinated as President Trump and I. He’s the leader. I’m, you know, his ally.”
Updated
As other Asian economies race to conserve energy amid a shortage sparked by the war, China has huge reserves of oil and gas, as well as alternative energy sources like wind and solar.
The Guardian’s Callum Jones look’s at how Xi Jinping has been preparing for a crisis like this for years.
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South Korea, the world’s third biggest importer of liquified natural gas (LNG) has played down the impact of Iranian strikes on Qatari energy facilities.
QatarEnergy, the state-run energy giant, estimated earlier that Iran’s strikes on Ras Laffan Industrial City have reduced the country’s LNG export capacity by 17%, and warned it could take up to five years to repair “extensive” damage.
“Given that the share of imports from Qatar is relatively low (at around 14% in 2026) and alternative supply sources are available, there are no issues regarding gas supply and demand,” South Korea’s industry ministry said in a statement. “However, as uncertainty has been growing, we plan to closely monitor supply, demand, and price trends and respond accordingly.”
Only China and Japan import more LNG from overseas than South Korea.
One of Iran’s top football players has been expelled from the national team for a perceived act of disloyalty to the government, according to Iranian media.
Sardar Azmoun is said to have upset authorities this week by posting a picture on social media of a meeting with Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, ruler of Dubai.
A report on the Fars News Agency, which has links to Iran’s hardline Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, cited “an informed source within the national team” as saying that Azmoun, 31, had been expelled from the squad.
The country’s women’s football team returned to Iran earlier this week. While seven members of the delegation had sought asylum in Australia last week, five later changed their minds, including captain Zahra Ghanbari.
Updated
Israel launches fresh wave of strikes on Tehran
Israel says it has launched more strikes on the Iranian capital.
In a brief statement on X, the Israel Defense Forces said: “The IDF has now begun a wave of strikes targeting infrastructure of the Iranian terror regime in the heart of Tehran.”
Activists reported hearing strikes across the city, the AP reports.
UAE, Kuwait authorities say responding to missile attacks
Emirati and Kuwaiti air defences were responding to missile attacks early on Friday, Kuwait’s army and the UAE’s interior ministry said in separate statements.
Elsewhere in the Gulf, Bahrain’s interior ministry said air raid sirens were activated, and Saudi Arabia’s defence ministry said it had intercepted a drone in the country’s east.
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Welcome summary
Hello and welcome to our continuing live coverage of the US-Israel war on Iran and the effect the conflict is having on the region, the world and the global economy.
Benjamin Netanyahu has hinted at a possible “ground component” to the US-Israel warn on Iran – while Donald Trump suggested the US had no plans to put boots on the ground.
“You don’t want to replace one ayatollah with another,” the Israeli prime minister said on Thursday, adding that the Iranian regime was unlikely to be overthrown using air strikes alone.
It is “often said” that you can’t “do revolutions from the air”, Netanyahu told a press conference. “There has to be a ground component as well. There are many possibilities for this ground component and I take the liberty of not sharing [those] with you.”
Trump, meanwhile, claimed he had no plans for the US to engage in such an operation. “I’m not putting troops anywhere,” he told a reporter, when asked about using ground troops. But he added: “If I were, I certainly wouldn’t tell you.”
The president also confirmed that the Pentagon has asked Congress to approve a further $200bn to fund the war.
Some 65% of Americans believe Trump will order troops into a large-scale ground war in Iran, according to a new Reuters/Ipsos poll, but just 7% support that idea.
In other developments:
Benjamin Netanyahu denied that Donald Trump was “dragged” into the war by Israel, as he tried to pour cold water on suggestions that Israel influenced the US’s decision to attack Iran and amid growing signs that the US and Israel are not aligned on their war aims. “Does anyone really think that someone can tell President Trump what to do,” the Israeli prime minister said, adding: “I misled no one.”
Netanyahu also stated that Israel “acted alone” in striking Iran’s South Pars gasfield, though he didn’t address whether or not he had told Trump about the attack beforehand. “President Trump asked us to hold off on future attacks, and we’re holding out,” he added. Trump has distanced himself from Israel’s attack on the world’s largest gasfield (which he claimed on Wednesday that Washington “knew nothing” about), and confirmed today that he told Netanyahu to stop attacking Iran’s energy facilities.
Netanyahu also claimed that Iran has “no ability to enrich uranium at the moment and no capability of manufacturing ballistic missiles”. He said that the war would take “as long as is necessary”, adding: “We will crush them entirely, all those capabilities.”
Iranian attacks on Ras Laffan Industrial City in Qatar have reduced the country’s liquefied natural gas (LNG) export capacity by 17%, according to QatarEnergy, the state-run energy giant. The “extensive damage” could reduce its annual revenues by $20bn and take “up to five years” to repair, Saad al-Kaabi, the Qatari energy minister and CEO of QatarEnergy, said in a statement.
US Central Command said that it has destroyed the Iranian regime’s surface-to-surface missile plant in Karaj. The plant was used to “assemble ballistic missiles that threatened Americans, neighboring countries, and commercial shipping,” Centcom said.
France will double its humanitarian aid to Lebanon to the value of €17m ($19.7m), foreign minister Jean-Noel Barrot said, as Lebanon grapples with Israel’s latest military assault. Israeli strikes on Beirut and its ground invasion of southern Lebanon have killed over 1,000 people, including 118 children, and wounded more than 2,500 since Israel’s renewed offensive on 2 March. More than one million – roughly one in five – of the population have been displaced.
An Iranian missile attack hit Israel’s oil refineries in the northern port city of Haifa but did not cause “significant damage“, Israel’s energy ministry said. Energy minister Eli Cohen said power was briefly disrupted, with electricity restored to most of those who were affected, Reuters reported.
This post was amended on 22 March 2026. An earlier version referred to “Tel Aviv’s renewed offensive”: Israel’s seat of government is in Jerusalem.
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