Israeli media report that Iranian missiles have struck Israel’s Ben Gurion airport as Tehran continues missile and drone attacks in retaliation for the US-Israeli war.
In Doha, residents reported hearing another barrage of loud explosions, believed to be interceptions of drones launched from Iran targeting the al-Udeid airbase.
The US and Israel claim their campaign is crippling Iran’s military, as they have killed at least 1,332 people in Iran since Saturday.
Israeli attacks struck the capital, Tehran, overnight, including residential areas and the vicinity of Tehran University, as the Israeli army announced a “new stage” in the war. The remarks came as the US defence secretary said that “firepower over Iran and over Tehran is about to surge dramatically.”
Israeli jets also bombed towns in southern and eastern Lebanon, including Douris in the Bekaa Valley, and carried out strikes on the southern suburbs of Beirut.
People have been forced to flee the southern suburbs of Beirut as Israel strikes the Lebanese capital. The death toll continues to rise. More than 120 in Lebanon and, a dozen in Israel and 6 US troops have been killed.
19:15 Iranian government spokeswoman Fatemeh Mohajerani said Friday that 390 residential units, 528 commercial centres and 13 medical sites had been struck since the start of the US-Israeli war, Mehr news agency reported.
Iranian media aired videos said to show residential areas in the western city of Ilam and the capital Tehran that had been hit.
The death toll in Iran has reached at least 1,332, according to the Iranian Red Crescent Society. Children account for roughly 30 percent of those killed by the US and Israeli attacks, Mohajerani said.
19:00 Planet Labs PBC, a leading provider of high-resolution images taken from space, said it would hold back for 96 hours images of Gulf states targeted by Iranian drone attacks.
The satellite images produced by the California-based company are normally available almost immediately to its clients, including media, companies, researchers, and "potential enemies of the United States."
Planet said in a message to clients that the "temporary" move was part of its "commitment to responsible data practices and the safety of personnel on the ground" since the eruption of the war on Iran.
Images of Iran were not included in the order.
"All new imagery collected over the Gulf States and adjacent conflict zones (not including Iran) will be subject to a mandatory 96-hour delay before it is made available in our archive," Planet said.
"This measure is intended to prevent adversarial actors from endangering the safety of allied and NATO-partner personnel and civilians there," it claimed.
"As the conflict evolves, the area impacted may change."
Planet had earlier imposed a 30-day delay on images taken during the Israeli genocidal war on the Palestinian territory of Gaza.
18:49 A fire broke out at the Fujairah Oil Industry Zone in the United Arab Emirates after falling debris from an intercepted drone ignited flames in the area, according to state media.
The Emirates News Agency (WAM) said the blaze was caused by fragments that fell after air defence systems successfully intercepted the drone. In a brief post on social media, the agency added that the fire had been brought under control.
The Fujairah Oil Industry Zone lies alongside the Port of Fujairah on the UAE’s eastern coast and hosts the Middle East’s largest commercial storage capacity for refined oil products, according to its official website.
18:36 The United Nations rights chief called for answers after a deadly strike on an Iranian elementary school, as a New York Times investigation concluded the United States was most likely responsible.
18:32 France has sent a helicopter carrier to the Mediterranean in response to the war, the French military told AFP.
"An amphibious helicopter carrier has been deployed in the Mediterranean to reinforce the presence of the French armed forces in the context of the Middle East crisis," a spokeswoman said, after France decided to deploy its flagship aircraft carrier and a frigate earlier in the week.
A similar ship was sent off the shore of Lebanon as a precautionary measure to help with repatriations if needed during the 2024 Israeli war on Lebanon.
18:25 Aid agency the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) said that 300,000 people in Lebanon had been forced to flee after Israel launched a wave of evacuation orders and airstrikes.
The aid agency also questioned the legality of the mass-evacuation orders Israel had issued there.
The orders cover hundreds of villages in South Lebanon, as well as villages in the Bekaa region and the southern suburbs of Beirut, constituting a large area of Lebanese territory.
It added that the number of people who might be displaced could potentially exceed one million.
"Israel's evacuation orders demanding civilians leave multiple areas of Lebanon raise serious concerns under international humanitarian law, which prohibits the forcible transfer of civilian populations," the NRC said.
"These orders do not appear to have military justification and provide no guarantee of safe passage or support for those fleeing and compound the suffering of hundreds of thousands of families."
The organisation insisted that civilians be protected, including those who choose to remain or are not able to relocate.
18:17 Saudi Arabia's defence ministry said it had intercepted and destroyed a cruise missile near the central Al-Kharj area.
"A cruise missile was intercepted and destroyed east of Al-Kharj governorate," the ministry said in a post on X.
18:16 Egypt’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Badr Abdelatty, reaffirmed Cairo’s full solidarity with Bahrain during a phone call with his Bahraini counterpart Abdullatif bin Rashid Al Zayani, stressing the need to halt ongoing attacks and prevent further military escalation in the region.
18:00 The Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) has said that its drone and missile units destroyed US THAAD and FPS132 radars stationed in different countries in the region.
17:59 German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said the Middle East war must not lead to the collapse of the Iranian state, warning of the impact this would have on migration to Europe.
"An endless war is not in our interest. The same applies to a collapse of Iranian statehood or proxy conflicts fought on Iranian soil," he said in a statement.
"Such scenarios could have far-reaching consequences for Europe, including for security, energy supply and migration."
17:55 Tehran resident tells of living through airstrikes.
“The psychological pressure is real. The sound of explosions and the uncertainty about what might happen next make it hard to sleep,” the 29-year-old told The Associated Press.
“At the same time, people are trying to keep hope alive and believe that this difficult time will eventually pass,” he said.
He and his family are among many residents choosing to remain in the city, although others had left for safer locations, he said in text messages.
17:48 Egypt’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Badr Abdelatty, received a phone call from Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam to discuss the repercussions of ongoing Israeli attacks and the widening regional military escalation, with Cairo reaffirming its full solidarity with Lebanon.
17:24 Hezbollah says it has fired rockets at two targets in northern Israel in response to Israeli attacks across Lebanon.
In two statements, the group said its fighters targeted Malkia and Ramot Naftali with rocket barrages today.
17:16 Iran’s Revolutionary Guard says it has targeted American forces at two military bases in the Gulf.
It said the attacks targeted Al Dhafra Air Base in the United Arab Emirates and Ali Al Salem Air Base in Kuwait, both of which host US military personnel.
"Al-Dhafra air base, belonging to American terrorists in the region, was targeted using drones and precision missiles," the Guards said in a statement broadcast on state TV.
New strikes were reported near a US base in Kuwait. Cluster munitions were used early this morning in Kuwait, with another wave of attacks about an hour ago, a source told Drop Site.
Earlier, Kuwait's defence ministry said 67 Kuwaiti army personnel had been injured in the conflict, the highest number by far of any Gulf military.
17:11 Iran’s Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi spoke by phone with his Azerbaijani counterpart, Jeyhun Bayramov, amid rising tensions following explosions in the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic.
During the call, Araghchi denied that any projectiles had been launched from Iranian territory toward the autonomous republic. He said Iran’s armed forces are conducting thorough investigations into the explosions to determine the cause and ensure border security.
Araghchi suggested that the Israeli regime could have played a role in the incident, framing it as part of a broader campaign aimed at diverting attention and undermining Iran’s relations with its neighbours. He cited similar incidents in recent days as evidence of a pattern of provocations.
17:05 The United Nations raised concerns over the Israeli airstrikes in Lebanon that have prompted mass evacuations and displaced nearly 100,000 people.
“Lebanon is becoming a key flashpoint,” Volker Turk, the high commissioner for human rights for the United Nations, told reporters in Geneva.
“I call for an immediate cessation of hostilities.”
Turk said that he was particularly concerned about Israel’s “blanket, massive displacement orders” for Beirut’s southern suburbs, orders that are impacting “hundreds of thousands of people” and raising “serious concern under international humanitarian law and in particular when it comes to issues around forced transfer”.
17:00 The Lebanese health ministry said 217 people have been killed in Israeli attacks since Monday.
A further 798 people have been injured, the ministry said.
The Israeli occupation army has carried out more strikes on Beirut’s southern Dahiyeh suburb, as well as towns in southern Lebanon.
The Lebanese prime minister, Nawaf Salam, has warned that a “humanitarian disaster is looming”, as tens of thousands of people were forced from their homes by Israeli attacks and displacement orders and made to seek shelter in other parts of the capital.
16:40 US stocks are falling sharply after getting a whiff of a worst-case scenario for financial markets: a weakening economy combined with high inflation.
The S&P 500 lost 1.4% today after a report showed U.S. employers cut more jobs last month than they created and after oil prices jumped to their highest level in nearly two years because of the Iran war. Benchmark U.S. crude surged 6.8% to $86.57 per barrel while Brent crude, the international standard, gained 4.7% to $89.44 per barrel.
Gas prices in the U.S. also rose another seven cents, to an average of $3.32 per gallon, AAA said Friday. That amounts to an 11.4% rise in prices at the pump in the past week.
16:38 Sri Lanka denounced the toll of Middle East fighting as it gave refuge to more than 250 Iranian sailors two days after a deadly torpedo strike on another of Iran's ships.
The crew from the second ship were brought ashore on Thursday and was being accommodated at a military camp near the capital, Colombo. Their ship, IRIS Bushehr, was under Sri Lankan control.
The vessel reported engine trouble and sought port entry after another Iranian vessel, IRIS Dena, was hit by a US torpedo off Sri Lanka's southern coast on Wednesday.
Washington said it had carried out that attack, which killed at least 84 Iranian sailors and left 64 more missing. Sri Lanka rescued 32 injured survivors.
16:34 Iranian state television reported a fresh drone strike on a ship in the strategic Strait of Hormuz, resulting in a fire, on the seventh day of the war with the US and Israel.
The television channel did not specify the type of vessel or its provenance. Earlier, an Iran military spokesman said a US oil tanker was "on fire" after having been targeted by Iranian forces.
16:30 Israeli police warned residents about the threat of cluster bombs fired by Iran, after saying at least one such munition had hit the country in Tehran's barrages.
AFP footage from Thursday evening showed a swarm of flaming projectiles falling in the darkened sky over central Israel, and a military expert identified them as a part of a cluster bomb.
Due to military censorship rules in place in Israel since the start of its war with Iran, impact sites are closed to the public, including journalists.
Photos show Israel after Iran retaliated with missiles, by AP
16:00 Donald Trump appeared to rule out negotiations with Iran to end the war in the Middle East, saying in a social media post that there will be no deal absent “unconditional surrender” from Tehran.
“After that, and the selection of a GREAT & ACCEPTABLE Leader(s), we, and many of our wonderful and very brave allies and partners, will work tirelessly to bring Iran back from the brink of destruction, making it economically bigger, better, and stronger than ever before,” Trump said.
He has said multiple times that whoever takes over leadership of Iran must be to the US’s liking.
The Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister was quick to respond, saying, "Trump can't even appoint the mayor of New York, yet he wants to decide who will lead Iran."
15:30 Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said it had launched a new wave of attacks targeting US bases in Gulf countries as well as sites including Ben Gurion Airport, Haifa and Tel Aviv, describing the strikes as retaliation for victims of the Minab school attack that killed 165 students.
In statements reported by Al Jazeera, the Guard said the attacks formed part of the 22nd wave of its operations and involved what it described as “new-generation missiles.”
The IRGC said it used the Khorramshahr-4 ballistic missile, which it said carries a two-tonne warhead, as part of its expansion and escalation of attacks.
Separately, a spokesman for Iran’s Khatam Al-Anbiya military headquarters said Iranian forces had targeted a US oil tanker near the coast of Kuwait, claiming the vessel was on fire.
15:20 US Energy Secretary Chris Wright said in an interview with Fox News that the US Navy will begin escorting ships through the Strait of Hormuz once military assets in the region can shift their focus away from Iran’s retaliatory strikes on neighbouring countries.
Wright said naval escorts would begin “as quickly as we can,” but acknowledged the US must first suppress Iran’s ability to retaliate. “As soon as it’s reasonable to do it, we’ll escort ships through the straits and get the energy moving again,” he said.
The comments come as the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln has left the region, with Iranian media saying drones were launched toward the vessel, reducing the number of US carriers operating near the Gulf.
Carrier strike groups typically provide the air cover used to secure shipping lanes through chokepoints such as the Strait of Hormuz.
Wright also sought to downplay the impact of rising gas prices, saying Americans should see them fall within weeks rather than months.
15:15 Qatar expects Gulf energy exporters to suspend shipments within days if the Iran war continues, the country’s energy minister Saad al-Kaabi told the Financial Times.
“Everybody who has not called for force majeure we expect will do so in the next few days if this continues. All exporters in the Gulf region will have to call a force majeure,” Kaabi said.
He warned the war could send oil prices soaring and disrupt the global economy.
“If this war continues for a few weeks, GDP growth around the world will be impacted,” he said.
“Everybody's energy price is going to go higher. There will be shortages of some products, and there will be a chain reaction of factories that cannot supply.”
He said crude prices could reach $150 a barrel within two to three weeks if ships and tankers cannot pass through the Strait of Hormuz, the world’s most vital oil export route.
Qatar halted liquefied natural gas production on Monday as Iran continued to strike Gulf countries.
The country supplies about 20 percent of global LNG, making it central to both Asian and European gas markets.
Kaabi said even if the war ended immediately, it would take Qatar “weeks to months” to return to normal deliveries and warned the conflict could delay the company’s North Field expansion project, which had been scheduled to begin production in mid-2026.
15:10 A US stealth pilot who took off from Israel's Ovda Air Base didn't turn off his transmitter on the way to attack Iran and was detected over Saudi Arabia, as reported by KAN correspondent, citing Flightradar24.
This comes after Iran’s ambassador to Saudi Arabia thanked Riyadh for pledging not to allow its territory or airspace to be used in attacks during the US-Israeli war on Iran.
15:00 Italy's Eni has begun evacuating all foreign personnel from Iraq's Zubair oilfield in Basra amid Iranian retaliatory strikes in the region, Reuters reported, citing three Iraqi oil sources.
The evacuation of foreign staff will not affect production operations at the field, the sources added.
14:54 Iranian air defence forces shot down an advanced American MQ-9 Reaper drone near the western city of Qasr-e Shirin, Iran's Press TV reported.
The US-made drone costs roughly $30 million, while Iran often deploys far cheaper Shahed-series attack drones costing tens of thousands of dollars.
The development comes as the Trump administration plans to meet executives from major US defence contractors at the White House on Friday to discuss accelerating weapons production, as the Pentagon works to replenish stockpiles depleted by strikes on Iran and other recent military operations, sources told Reuters.
The US president is hosting defence industry executives to push them to expedite supplies of more American-made weapons. Invited companies include Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, RTX Corporation, Boeing, Honeywell and L3Harris Technologies.
14:53 Worshippers gathered for the first Friday prayers in Tehran since the start of the war.
Online footage shared by Iranian media showed crowds of men and women dressed in black, some carrying Iranian flags, streaming to an open space outside the Grand Mosque of Imam Khomeini in the capital.
In the background of one video, a man speaking through a loudspeaker mourned the late supreme leader.
"We bear witness that he was the embodiment of piety and guardianship in our time," he said as some worshippers seated on prayer rugs wept.
Muslims take part in Friday noon prayers at the compound of the Mosalla mosque in Tehran on March 6, 2026. AFP
Women hold posters of slain leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei during Friday noon prayers at the compound of the Mosalla mosque in Tehran on March 6, 2026. AFP
14:50 Japan is considering releasing its national oil reserves amid the ongoing Iran war, Reuters reported, citing Japanese state media.
The country depends on the Middle East for about 95 percent of its oil supplies, with roughly 70 percent transported through the Strait of Hormuz, which is effectively closed.
Tokyo holds emergency national reserves equivalent to around 146 days of consumption, in addition to private-sector stockpiles and joint reserves held with oil-producing countries.
14:31 Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian praised residents of western Kordestan province for supporting the country during this “critical juncture” amid the US-Israeli war on Iran, and urged authorities to act decisively against separatist militants.
In a post on X, Pezeshkian thanked the “proud and honourable people of Kurdistan” for standing with Iran and said authorities and armed forces must deal firmly with any separatist movement. He also expressed condolences to the “families of the martyrs” killed in US-Israeli strikes.
Iranian parliament speaker Mohammad-Baqer Qalibaf warned both Washington and separatist groups against escalating the conflict.
“The US wants to gamble all its assets for defending the criminal Israeli regime. Anyone sane does not enter this deathtrap,” he wrote on X.
“If insignificant separatists go to such lengths and put their foot wrong, they will once again be sent to the dustbin of history.”
The statements come as reports circulated that the US was considering arming Kurdish separatists to weaken Iran.
Sources told Reuters that some Iranian Kurdish groups in northern Iraq had discussed with US officials whether and how to target Iranian security forces in western Iran, with two sources saying the forces were in talks with the United States about possible CIA help to provide weapons.
14:30 Several explosions were heard in the Bahraini capital Manama on Friday, an AFP correspondent said, with authorities sounding sirens as Iran pressed its retaliation campaign in the Gulf.
"The siren has been sounded. Citizens and residents are urged to remain calm and head to the nearest safe place," the interior ministry said in a statement on X.
14:29 The International Energy Agency director says the war on Iran has halted exports of Iranian gas to largely Asian markets, a stoppage that, if drawn out, will likely lead to a bidding war between Europe and Asia and energy prices will soar.
“If the crisis continues this way, the Asian buyers and the European buyers will need to compete for the LNG, which will get scarcer and scarcer.”
IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol said during a news conference in Brussels.
“So this will be the challenge for European countries if the crisis continues in the next days or weeks to come.”
14:26 Iranian media said that explosions had rocked the key port city of Bandar Abbas on its Gulf coast amid US and Israeli strikes on Iran.
"Several explosions were heard in the city of Bandar Abbas," the Etemad online website reported. Other media, including Shargh daily, carried similar reports.
14:20 Israel’s army has issued a warning that people should flee an industrial area of Qom, the Shiite seminary city south of Iran’s capital, Tehran.
Meanwhile, witnesses reported by AP say intense airstrikes hit Tehran in the afternoon, while Iran has launched a new salvo of missiles targeting Israel.
14:18 The United Nations refugee agency declared the crisis in the Middle East a major humanitarian emergency and insisted all fleeing civilians should be granted safe passage.
UNHCR said the Middle East crisis had already caused large numbers of people to flee their homes.
"UNHCR has declared the escalating crisis in the Middle East as a major humanitarian emergency requiring an immediate response across the region," Ayaki Ito, the agency's emergency chief and its cross-regional refugee coordinator, told a press briefing in Geneva.
"The recent escalation of hostility and attacks in the Middle East has triggered significant population movements, while clashes along the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan have also forced many thousands of families to flee," he said.
The affected regions already host nearly 25 million people as refugees, internally displaced people, or refugees who have recently returned from abroad, Ito said.
He said the UNHCR was trying to get life-saving assistance into affected countries across the region.
Ito said it was imperative that all civilians who need to move, or cross borders, "find safety and safe passage".
14:07 An Israeli strike in the southern coastal city of Sidon in Lebanon killed five people and wounded seven others, Lebanon’s health ministry says.
As of Thursday evening, 123 people had been killed in Lebanon and 683 wounded since the beginning of the US-Israeli war on Iran.
14:00 Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad-Baqer Qalibaf says the US aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln has left the battlefield and retreated.
"The navy that was supposed to defend the security and stability of America's allies can't even defend itself against a few drones and takes to its heels in flight!" he said.
"America's allies and media need to investigate this matter so as not to tie their own security and that of American soldiers to the lies of Trump and Netanyahu."
He warned both Washington and separatist groups against escalating the conflict.
“The US wants to gamble all its assets for defending the criminal Israeli regime. Anyone sane does not enter this deathtrap,” he wrote on X.
“If insignificant separatists go to such lengths and put their foot wrong, they will once again be sent to the dustbin of history.”
The statements come as reports circulated that the US was considering arming Kurdish separatists against Iran.
Sources told Reuters that some Iranian Kurdish groups in northern Iraq had discussed with US officials whether and how to target Iranian security forces in western Iran, with two sources saying the forces were in talks with the United States about possible CIA help to provide weapons.
13:41 The British ambassador to Bahrain says the UK would be part of "defending" Bahrain by having Royal Air Force fighter jets flying over the island kingdom as it faces attacks from Iran.
Alastair Long announced this in an Instagram post.
"Today, I’m delighted to tell people that the UK will be flying RAF jets above Bahrain as a contribution to the defence of Bahrain, one of our closest allies in the whole world," Long said.
However, David Lammy, Britain’s deputy prime minister, suggested this morning that the UK could take part in strikes on Iranian targets.
Royal Air Force jets could legally strike Iranian missile sites being used to attack British interests in the Middle East, Lammy said in a BBC interview.
Details have earlier emerged from a top-secret national security meeting revealing deep divisions within the UK cabinet over allowing the United States to use British bases for strikes against Iran.
UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer reportedly proposed granting permission to launch attacks on Iranian targets, but at least four ministers opposed the plan.
Despite the opposition, approval was given on Sunday to use the bases, including RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire and Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean.
Protests have erupted in Cyprus, where chants of “British bases out” rang out in Limassol following a suspected Iranian-made drone strike on RAF Akrotiri, two days after the US-Israeli war on Iran began.
Demonstrators are calling for the removal of UK military facilities from the island.
13:33 Some countries have begun mediation efforts to address the escalating war in the region, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said.
In a post on X, he said Tehran remained committed to lasting peace, but emphasized that the country would not hesitate to defend its dignity and sovereignty.
He added that any "mediation should address those who underestimated the Iranian people and ignited this conflict."
13:32 Qatar said it intercepted a drone attack targeting Al Udeid Air Base, which hosts the forward headquarters of the US Army Central Command.
Saudi Arabia intercepted and destroyed three ballistic missiles fired early toward Prince Sultan Air Base south of Riyadh, which also hosts US forces, said a spokesperson for Saudi Arabia's Defence Ministry.
Air raid sirens sounded in Bahrain, where the Interior Ministry claimed Iranian strikes targeted two hotels and a residential building. It said there were no casualties. In Kuwait, where six US soldiers were killed Sunday, the army said air defences were activated when missile and drone attacks breached its airspace.
The unified military command of the Gulf Cooperation Council was one of the facilities attacked in Bahrain, according to Qatar, which has troops assigned there. Qatar called the assault “a direct threat to its security and stability and the security of the region.”
13:31 The US army said that it struck an Iranian drone carrier, setting it ablaze.
The Central Command released black-and-white footage of the alleged burning carrier. The Iranian military did not immediately acknowledge the attack.
The drone carrier, the IRIS Shahid Bagheri, is a converted container ship with a 180-meter-long (yard) runway for drones. The vessel can travel up to 22,000 nautical miles without needing to refuel in ports, reports said at the time of its 2025 inauguration.
13:24 Air China, China Southern and a few other Chinese carriers are resuming direct flights to Saudi Arabia, Oman and the United Arab Emirates.
Air China resumed a flight from Beijing to Riyadh on Thursday, state media reported.
China is also helping citizens evacuate from the region, saying it received a plane carrying 300 passengers from Dubai on Wednesday.
“We once again remind that the situation in the Middle East remains complex and severe, with considerable uncertainty,” Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Mao Ning said about the evacuations and flights.
13:12 The Lebanese resistance movement Hezbollah has warned residents of settlements in northern Israel near the Lebanon border to immediately evacuate areas within 5 kilometres of the frontier.
In a statement in Hebrew, Hezbollah said: “Warning to the residents of the northern settlements: You are required to evacuate all settlements located within 5 km of the border line.”
“The aggression of your army against Lebanese sovereignty and civilians, the destruction of civilian infrastructure, and the campaign of displacement it is carrying out will not go unanswered. Head south,” it added.
The warning comes as the death toll from Israeli strikes on Lebanon has risen to 123, with another 683 wounded, following a new wave of attacks targeting Beirut’s southern suburbs, according to the Lebanese health ministry.
Smoke rises from the site of an Israeli airstrike in Beirut’s southern suburbs on March 6, 2026. AFP
13:10 Iranian state television said that a leadership council had met to discuss how to convene the country’s Assembly of Experts, which will select Iran’s next supreme leader, the Associated Press reported.
The leadership council includes President Masoud Pezeshkian, judiciary chief Gholam Hossein Mohseni Ejehi and cleric Ayatollah Ali Reza Arafi.
The statement gave no timeline for the selection of the new supreme leader and did not specify whether the assembly would meet in person or remotely for the vote.
The assembly has been meeting virtually after its compound in the city of Qom was hit by Israeli strikes.
Donald Trump has claimed he must “be involved in the appointment” of Iran’s next leader, as he did in Venezuela, and dismissed the idea of the assassinated ayatollah’s son, Mojtaba Khamenei, who has been widely tipped to succeed his father, as “unacceptable”.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi later told NBC it was “the business of the Iranian people” to decide who will succeed the former supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
The former supreme leader was assassinated at the start of the US-Israeli war on Iran that began on Saturday.
13:03 Iran’s ambassador and permanent representative to the United Nations reiterated Tehran’s right to legitimate self-defence until the "unprovoked US-Israeli aggression ends."
"In response to the aggression, the Islamic Republic keeps exerting its inherent and legitimate right to self-defence under Article 51 of the UN Charter," Amir-Saeid Iravani said in a letter sent to the UN chief and other officials.
"In this regard, Iran will take all measures to protect its sovereignty, territorial integrity, people and national interests."
Iravani urged the UN chief and members of the Security Council to condemn the US-Israeli aggression and take collective action to end the “bloody war” against the Iranian people, warning that it posed a serious threat to regional and international peace and security.
13:00 The Islamic Resistance in Iraq says it has conducted 27 separate operations against US bases across Iraq and the broader region within 24 hours, Iran's Press TV reported. The Islamic Resistance in Iraq is an umbrella name used by several Iran-aligned Iraqi armed groups that oppose the US military presence in the region.
The group said the wave of attacks involved dozens of missiles and long-range drones.
The group described the operations as a direct response to the “presence of occupation forces in West Asia.”
The most recent strikes occurred at dawn on Thursday, when the group reportedly used an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) to hit a “vital target” in Jordan, Press TV reported.
Shortly afterwards, the group claimed a separate drone strike against a similar target in Duhok in the Kurdistan region of northern Iraq.
12:52 Iraqi Kurdish authorities said that oil production at an oil field operated by US firm HKN Energy has been halted following an attack.
A security source told AFP the attack was carried out with two drones yesterday.
The natural resources ministry in the northern Kurdistan region said in a statement that an "outlaw group in Iraq launched a terrorist attack on the HKN oil field in the Sarsang area" in Dohuk province, damaging the field and "halting production".
12:47 The United Nations rights chief called for cool heads to prevail in the Middle East and urged the warring sides to pull back and "give peace a chance".
The crisis sparked in the Middle East a week ago by the barrage of US and Israeli strikes on Iran "has been spreading like wildfire", Volker Turk told reporters in Geneva.
"The world urgently needs to see steps to contain and extinguish this blaze," he said, lamenting that "instead, we are only seeing more inflammatory, bellicose rhetoric, more bombings, more destruction, killings, and escalation that fuels it further."
"I urge the states involved to take immediate steps to de-escalate, to give peace a chance. And on other states to call clearly on those involved to pull back," he said.
"Cool heads must prevail if we are to prevent further terror and devastation for civilians."
Turk voiced particular concern about the situation in Lebanon, which he said was "becoming a key flashpoint."
"I am extremely concerned and worried about the latest developments following Hezbollah's attacks on Israel and Israel's heavy counter-strikes, as well as its extensive displacement orders that have already forced hundreds of thousands of people to flee their homes," he said.
"I call for an immediate cessation of hostilities."
The UN rights chief lamented that "confusion has also been sown around international law," and that "some have openly derided the fundamental values of our common humanity."
"Given the magnitude of this crisis, I call on heads of state and government around the world unequivocally to commit to defending international human rights law, international humanitarian law and the UN Charter itself," he said.
"We cannot afford for more powder kegs to ignite."
12:39 The World Health Organization’s eastern Mediterranean chief, Hanan Balkhy, said that after the “temporary pause,” they are resuming as airspace reopens.
The WHO said earlier that operations were on hold because of insecurity, airspace closures and restrictions of the Strait of Hormuz.
Balkhy said that more than 50 emergency supply requests regarding 25 countries, meant to benefit more than 1.5 million people, had been hit by the enforced pause. Those included shipments destined for Lebanon, Gaza, Yemen and Somalia.
She said, “What we’ll be doing over the next few days is to identify now the urgent shipments that need to go out quicker than others.”
12:37 US Secretary of State Marco Rubio spoke by phone with Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdel Aati.
Secretary Rubio thanked Minister Abdel Aati for Egypt’s support in assisting American citizens to return safely home via Egypt, amid the Us-Israeli war on Iran.
12:33 An air strike that hit the Shajarah Tayyebeh elementary school in southern Iran on 28 February, the first day of the war, appears to have been a US military operation, according to an investigation by The New York Times, with US military investigators saying American forces were likely responsible for the attack that killed at least 170 children and staff.
The strike is the deadliest known episode of civilian casualties since the United States and Israel launched their joint war against Iran.
Iranian health officials and state media say at least 175 people, many of them children, primarily girls aged seven to 12, were killed when the school was hit during the morning workweek.
Evidence assembled by The New York Times, including satellite imagery from Planet Labs, indicates the school building was severely damaged by a precision strike that occurred alongside attacks on a nearby naval facility linked to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
Satellite images show several buildings inside the base destroyed, with impact points at the centre of their roofs, a pattern analysts say is consistent with guided munitions.
Wes J. Bryant, a former US Air Force targeting expert, reviewed the imagery and told the newspaper that the buildings, including the school, appeared to have been struck with “picture-perfect” precision. He said the most likely explanation was “target misidentification,” meaning the forces may have struck the site without realising it housed civilians.
12:30 Iranian state television announced a new missile attack, including firing off its larger Khorramshahr-4 missiles.
12:00 The Israeli occupation army says it’s conducting new strikes on Beirut.
Israeli attacks also hit the Iranian capital, Tehran, overnight as the Israeli army announced a “new stage” in its war against Iran, with US and Israeli officials hinting at escalating strikes.
Israeli army chief of staff Eyal Zamir said Tel Aviv had completed the initial stage of the “surprise opening blow” and was “now moving to the next phase of the campaign” with further surprises ahead. His remarks followed an announcement by US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth that “firepower over Iran and over Tehran is about to surge dramatically.”
Smoke billows from the site of overnight Israeli airstrikes in the southern suburbs of Beirut on March 6, 2026. AFP
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