Middle East crisis live: Israeli military tells hundreds of thousands to flee Beirut

Lebanon’s Ministry of Public Health said 102 people have been killed and 638 wounded in Israeli strikes into the country that began Monday, the state-run Lebanese National News Agency reports.

On Thursday, the Israeli military said the Israeli Navy killed Wasim Attallah Ali, a Hamas commander, in the area of Tripoli.

The Guardian have not been able to independently verify this, or the figures from the Ministry of Public Health.

A Pakistani businessman accused of plotting to kill Donald Trump told a federal jury on Wednesday that he was coerced into the scheme by Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps, which he said had threatened his family to secure his participation.

On Wednesday, defense secretary Pete Hegseth said that the person who led a plot to assassinate Trump had been killed in the airstrikes on Iran.

The plot dates back to 2024, when federal prosecutors under the Biden administration charged 51-year-old Iranian national Farhad Shakeri and two New York men with running a murder-for-hire operation on behalf of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps. The aim, the department of justice said at the time, was revenge for Trump’s killing of Iranian general Qasem Soleimani in 2020.

Read more here:

The Israeli military has issued an evacuation order for all of the southern suburbs of Beirut, in an area called the Dahiyeh which it says is a Hezbollah stronghold.

There’s no definitive figure on how big the population is here but some estimates put it between 300,000 to 700,000. It is believed to be the first time the Israeli military has ordered large swathes of the Lebanese capital to flee, when before they would force people out of specific buildings that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) would then strike.

The IDF’s Arabic-language spokesperson, Avichay Adraee, said the latest order covers four major neighbourhoods in the southern suburbs of Beirut – Bourj el-Barajneh, Hadath, Haret Hreik and Shiyyah.

“Save your lives and evacuate your homes immediately,” he said in a message posted on social media.

“Beware, heading south is prohibited. Any southward movement could endanger your lives.

“We will inform you of the safe time to return to your homes.”

Ilham Aliyev, the president of Azerbaijan, called a security meeting on Thursday regarding the alleged drone strike in the Nakhchivan region and delivered a speech stating that “any hostile force will feel the full might of our ‘Iron Fist’”.

The Iranian armed forces have denied launching drones into Azerbaijani territory. Nonetheless, Aliyev said Azerbaijan “strongly condemns this heinous terrorist act” and that his government has summoned Iran’s ambassador to the foreign ministry in Baku.

“Those responsible must be brought to justice without delay,” he said. “The Iranian side must provide an official explanation to Azerbaijan, issue an apology, and ensure that the perpetrators are held criminally accountable.”

Aliyev said Azerbaijan’s armed forces “have been placed at the highest level of combat readiness and are prepared to carry out any required operations”.

“We will not tolerate this unprovoked act of terror and aggression against Azerbaijan,” Aliyev said.

In the US, Senate Republicans voted down on Wednesday a war powers resolution that would have required Donald Trump to seek congressional approval before continuing the war with Iran.

The vote broke down along party lines, with John Fetterman of Pennsylvania as the sole Democrat to vote against the measure. On Wednesday, prior to the vote, Fetterman went on CNN News Central to voice his support of the US-Israeli strikes on Iran and say that this was a situation of “country over party”.

“What I’m trying to establish is that every single senator in the Congress says we should never allow Iran to acquire a nuclear weapon. That now has made that possible after that. And now they’ve eliminated this leadership,” Fetterman said. “Now, do you really want those things? Does it really matter? Were you really serious about that? Because if you were, why can’t we just acknowledge – I’m not with all of it – but this was a great development for the region.”

Anchor Kate Bolduan asked Fetterman if he thought the US and Israel were aligned in their war goals, specifically in regards to comments made by Israeli defence minister Israel Katz that “any leader appointed by the Iranian terror regime” would become “an unequivocal target for elimination”.

“Yeah just keep killing them until they’re gone,” Fetterman said. “I mean, absolutely. I’ve read that they’re (Israel is) going to target who they (Iran) ever elect to be their next leader and kill them. Absolutely. I fully support it. So, that’s what’s entirely appropriate.”

When Bolduan pushed further on the issue, asking Fetterman who should decide the leader of Iran“if you think the United State should take part in taking out every next leader going forward” if the leader doesn’t meet the right measure, he responded by saing he “absolutely” supports killing the leadership of Iran.

“Hey, I’m sorry, I absolutely support killing, you know, the leadership of the Iranian. Absolutely. I absolutely support that,” Fetterman said. “I think that’s entirely appropriate until hopefully they’ll pick someone that realizes that they need to live and coexist in peace in the region and stop trying to destroy Israel and to stabilize the region.”

The US House of Representatives is set to vote on a similar measure later today. For more, follow along with our live coverage here.

Azerbaijan vowed to respond after a drone attack on an airport in its territory, which the Baku government said came from the direction of Iran.

Iran denied involvement and has blamed the attack on Israel, but the Azerbaijani defence ministry placed the blame squarely on Iran.

“The Islamic Republic of Iran bears the entire responsibility for the incident,” the ministry said in a statement.

It added: “These acts of aggression will not remain unanswered.”

The ministry said it would “prepare necessary retaliatory measures” without specifying what they would be. It added that it would investigate the types of drones that were used in the attack in the Nakhchivan exclave close to the border with Iran, which injured four people.

Iran’s deputy foreign minister Kazem Gharibabadi denied Tehran had targeted Nakhchivan, telling the Azerbaijani outlet AnewZ that his country is “not targeting neighbouring countries”.

The newswires have uploaded images from a video appearing to show the damage at Nakhchivan airport after what Azerbaijani officials said was a drone attack carried out by Iran. Iran has denied involvement and blamed Israel.

Azerbaijan said one drone fell on the terminal building of the Nakhchivan airport, which is about six miles across the border from Iran, and another drone landed close to a school building in a nearby village.

The AP news agency has issued this photograph which it says shows damage to a school in Julfa, about 20 miles south of the airport and less than two miles from the Iranian border at the Aras river.

The Iranian armed forces denied launching a drone attack on Azerbaijan, following reports that two drones flying from the direction of Iran fell near the airport in the Azerbaijani exclave of Nakhchivan.

“The Islamic republic of Iran … denies its armed forces launched a drone toward the Republic of Azerbaijan,” the general staff of the armed forces said in a statement carried by Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency.

Blaming the attack on Israel, it said: “Such actions by the Zionist regime to disrupt relations between Muslim countries through various means are well documented.”

The Iranian warship that was sunk by a US submarine was on its way home after taking part in naval exercises hosted by India, officials in New Delhi have said.

The Iris Dena sank in international waters off the coast of Sri Lanka yesterday after a US torpedo attack, killing more than 80 people. Scores of people are still missing while 32 people were rescued by Sri Lankan authorities.

India’s defence ministry said the Iranian warship had participated in the International Fleet Review – a ceremonial event designed to showcase the maritime capabilities of the Indian navy and international partners – and the multilateral naval exercise Milan 2026 in the port of Visakhapatnam from 15 February to 25 February. The ministry said 74 countries had joined the events.

A second Iranian ship has been reported in waters close to Sri Lanka today and has sought emergency permission to dock. Sources told the Guardian the ship was a logistical pipe-laying vessel, which is not categorised as a warship. It may be as close as 10 nautical miles from the western coast of Sri Lanka, putting it within the country’s sovereign waters.

You can ready more on this story here:

Over in Cyprus, British defence minister John Healey has just wrapped up talks with his Cypriot counterpart.

Emphasizing the two countries’ long- standing friendship, Healey said talks had focused on “how the UK is further reinforcing our air defences to support our shared security,” following Sunday’s drone attack on the RAF Akrotiri airbase.

The presence of UK sovereign base areas - a remnant of British colonial rule - has long been a bone of contention among both Greek and Turkish Cypriots. The drone strike, which caused marginal damage to the military installation’s landing strip, has brought that disgruntlement out into the open at an official level as never before.

For the first time the island’s political and diplomatic elite has expressed consternation over the dangers posed by the facilities, saying Britain has not done enough to protect the installations and surrounding areas where locals live.

The UK, unlike Europe, is perceived to have dragged its feet in deciding to deploy military support.

“There’s a sense of there being too little too late,” one senior official told The Guardian this morning. “There’s been a lot of talking at the highest level and the defense minister’s visit is part of that. But now we’ve gone beyond words. Now is a time for serious cooperation regarding the bases. Now is the time for action.”

Bahrain air defences have destroyed 75 missiles and 123 drones since the start of the conflict, the Bahrain Defence Force said on Thursday.

The general command urged residents to stay home and not go out unless absolutely necessary.

The EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas has said Iran is exporting the war to as many countries as possible to cause chaos, ahead of talks with Gulf countries.

Kallas is hosting a virtual meeting with EU foreign ministers and Gulf counterparts to discuss the ongoing turmoil in the Middle East. She said she expected a common statement from the EU and Gulf Cooperation Council: “We want stability in the region, we want that this war does not go any further and we want the respect of international law.”

“Iran is exporting the war, trying to expand it to as many countries as they can to sow chaos. And we are calling for stability and seeing what we can do together.”

Without being drawn on specifics she said EU countries would discuss support for the Gulf. She stressed Ukraine could also help Gulf countries develop drone interceptors.

“In the Middle East, we see actually the same drones that are attacking Kyiv every day, now attacking also the Middle East,” she said in a reference to Iran’s Shahed drones that have been supplied to Russia to attack Ukraine.

The EU is concerned that the Middle East conflict will deplete Ukraine’s efforts to defend itself against Russia, as a result of rising oil prices that help Moscow fund its war effort and tighter supplies of drone interceptor technology.

“When it comes to drones and drone interceptor drones then Ukraine has really been able to produce a lot and can also share this knowledge with the Gulf countries to boost this production,” Kallas said. “So of course we are looking into this but I am worried that just the capabilities are limited and that’s why it will have an impact also on different wars.”

Six people were injured by falling debris in Abu Dhabi after air defences intercepted a drone, according to the Abu Dhabi media office.

The individuals injured were Pakistani and Nepalese nationals, the media office said. Their injuries were considered minor to moderate.

The conflict in the Middle East has continued to escalate, with Israel announcing it had launched more strikes against Tehran and in Lebanon.

Iran has continued to fire retaliatory strikes against Israel and US targets in the region, prompting major airlines to cancel flights that has left thousands of people stranded.

If you’re living or working in the region and have been impacted by the US-Israel conflict with Iran, we would like to hear from you.

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Air defences were working to intercept a missile attack targeting Qatar on Thursday, according to the state-run Qatar News Agency.

The ministry of interior called on residents to stay indoors and away from windows and open areas, stating that the security threat level was high.

In retaliation for the US-Israeli missile attacks, Iran has launched what amounts to all-out economic warfare. Should the conflict continue even for another week, its impacts will start to be felt around the world as the third price surge since the pandemic washes through global markets.

For Britain, a further turn of the screw on living standards arrives just as political instability mounts at home, with the Labour and Conservative parties facing existential challenges to their left and right.

Keir Starmer’s half-cocked response to war reflects a deeper, strategic problem for the UK: an economy built over decades for a globalised world cannot fit into a world where globalisation is falling apart.

You can read James Meadway’s analysis here:

An Iranian drone is said to have struck an Azerbaijani airport near the two countries’ shared border, marking the first time a state in the Caucasus has been targeted by Iran since the start of the US-Israel war against Tehran.

Azerbaijan’s foreign ministry said the drone hit the terminal building at an airport in Nakhchivan, an Azerbaijani exclave bordering Iran, damaging part of the complex and injuring two civilians.

A second drone fell near a school in a nearby village. Baku said it reserved the right to take retaliatory measures.

Azerbaijan, an oil-rich authoritarian state that has adopted a neutral stance in the Middle East conflict, has recently developed closer ties with Israel and the Trump administration while gradually moving away from Moscow, the traditional power broker in the Caucasus.

The country hosts no US military bases, suggesting Iran may be expanding its strikes beyond targets directly linked to American forces.

Baku’s growing military cooperation with Israel has caused friction with Tehran, though the two neighbours have largely maintained pragmatic relations. Both countries are majority Shia Muslim, and Iran is home to millions of ethnic Azeris – estimates range from about 15 to more than 20 million – many living in the north-western provinces bordering Azerbaijan.

The first repatriation flight from Oman to bring home stranded citizens had been rescheduled due to “operational issues”, including delays in getting passengers on board, a minister said.

The UK government had chartered a flight last night from Muscat to London for British nationals and their spouses or partners and children, but the Foreign Office said this morning that the flight was not able to depart due to technical issues.

The flight was now expected to depart later today.

When asked why the flight did not leave as planned, Home Office minister Alex Norris told BBC Breakfast: “Well, there are operational reasons that can happen in circumstances where these things are being stood up quickly. I know that’s stressful for those people – that’s why there’s support on the ground.

“We made sure we got them hotel rooms for the night as well and we are facilitating and rebooking today’s flight.

“We hope that they do, and there’s multiple flights after it as well.”

During his media round this morning he told Sky News that there were also delays in getting passengers on board as part of the operational challenges.

British Airways, which is currently unable to fly from Dubai, Doha, Abu Dhabi, Bahrain, Amman and Tel Aviv, said it would run flights from Muscat on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, and that they were fully booked.

Nechirvan Barzani, president of the Kurdistan region of Iraq, has issued a statement commemorating the 35th anniversary of the 1991 Kurdish uprising, but in it he has also seemingly hinted at the current conflict unfolding in the Middle East.

In a statement posted on social media, he said:

In this commemoration, we reiterate that the Kurdistan region, as always, must remain a key factor in peace and stability and must not become part of any conflict or military escalation that harms the lives and security of our fellow citizens. Protecting the territorial integrity of the Kurdistan region and our constitutional achievements can only be achieved through the unity, cohesion, and shared national responsibility of all political forces and components in Kurdistan.

May this commemoration inspire us to overcome challenges, deepen our culture of coexistence and tolerance. Loyalty to the blood of the martyrs means standing together, hand in hand; let us work to preserve stability and build a better future for the generations to come.

His statement follows reports that the Iranian military targeted the headquarters of Iranian Kurdish forces in northern Iraq, as Tehran stepped up attacks on Kurdish regions in both Iran and Iraq.

Kurdish officials told the AP news agency that Kurdish Iranian dissident groups based in northern Iraq were preparing for a potential cross-border military operation in Iran, and the US has asked Iraqi Kurds to support them.

You can read more on this story here:

Reuters news agency has reported that missiles and drones flying from the direction of Iran fell near the airport in the Azerbaijani exclave of Nakhchivan, according to a source close to the government.

Nakhchivan airport is located about six miles from the border with Iran.

We will bring you more updates as we get them.

John Healey flew into Cyprus on Wednesday night to calm the diplomatic fallout over a drone that evaded detection and hit an RAF base, prompting fury from local ministers.

UK officials believe a drone that hit an RAF base in Cyprus evaded detection by flying low and slow when it was launched by pro-Iranian militia in Lebanon or western Iraq.

But an investigation has been unable to establish conclusively where the Shahed-type drone was launched from. The attack occurred during the Iranian retaliatory bombardment over the weekend after the US and Israel launched a wave of strikes on Iran, killing the country’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

The defence secretary’s visit comes amid a backlash in Cyprus over the drone attack on RAF Akrotiri, which has led to the evacuation of families living on the bases and a bolstering of its defences.

Read the full report here:

Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency has reported that a US oil tanker in the northern Persian Gulf was hit by a missile launched by Iranian forces.

“The tanker was struck this morning in the northern Persian Gulf by forces of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and is currently on fire,” the news agency reported.

There was no immediate comment from the US. The IRGC previously said it maintains full control of the Strait of Hormuz and has effectively closed it to oil and gas exports. Trump said on Tuesday that he is prepared to deploy the US navy to escort tankers through the narrow passage of water, where about a fifth of the world’s oil is shipped through.

Sri Lanka is trying to “safeguard lives” on another Iranian ship off its coast, the country’s cabinet spokesperson said.

The ship was in the economic zone beyond Sri Lanka’s territorial waters, Nalinda Jayatissa added.

“We are doing our utmost to safeguard lives,” he said, according to Reuters news agency.

His remarks come a day after the deadly US torpedo attack on an Iranian warship off the south coast of Sri Lanka which killed more than 80 people. Rescuers continued their search for survivors with more than 60 people believed missing. Thirty-two people were rescued from the Iris Dena by Sri Lankan authorities about 25 miles south of the southern port of Galle.

Israel’s defence minister, Israel Katz, said the US defence secretary, Pete Hegseth, told him to “continue to the end, we are with you”, according to a statement by his office.

Katz expressed his condolences over the deaths of US soldiers in the Iran conflict, and thanked Hegseth and US president Donald Trump for their “great support for Israel”.

“The cooperation between president Trump and prime minister [Benjamin] Netanyahu against Iran is changing regional and global history,” the statement from the Israeli defence minister’s office said, according to the Times of Israel.

In case you’re just joining us, here’s an overview of the latest news in the US-Israel war with Iran as the conflict entered its sixth day on Thursday and continues to expand across the Middle East and beyond.

• Iran launched a wave of missiles at Israel early on Thursday, sending millions of residents into bomb shelters, just hours after moves to halt the US air assault were blocked in Washington.

• The Israeli military said it was beginning a new widespread wave of attacks in Tehran. Israel also said it carried out strikes on Beirut targeting Hezbollah on Thursday while Lebanese state media reported an Israeli drone strike killed a Hamas official.

• Republican senators in Washington voted against a motion aimed at stopping the US air campaign and requiring that military action be authorised by Congress.

• Nato air defences destroyed an Iranian ballistic missile fired towards Turkey – the first time Turkey has been drawn into the conflict. But Iran armed forces later denied firing any missile towards Turkey’s territory and said it respected the country’s sovereignty.

• A US submarine sank an Iranian warship off Sri Lanka on Wednesday, killing at least 80 people.

• Iran said it had targeted Kurdish groups in Iraq and warned “separatist groups” against action in the widening war.

• Mojtaba Khamenei, the son of Iran’s slain supreme leader, emerged as a frontrunner to succeed him, suggesting Tehran was not about to buckle to pressure from the US and Israel’s military campaign that has killed hundreds and convulsed global markets.

• The war continued to paralyse shipping through the strait of Hormuz, choking off vital Middle East oil and gas flows, with oil prices rising on Thursday. The US navy would escort oil tankers through the strait of Hormuz “as soon as it can” but was focused on the conflict for now, US energy secretary Chris Wright said on Fox News.

• Repatriation flights departed the Middle East on Wednesday as governments rushed to bring home tens of thousands of citizens stranded by the war. A British flight to repatriate UK nationals did not take off as scheduled from Oman and was rescheduled for later on Thursday, Sky News reported.

• Plans were in doubt for a funeral for Iran’s slain supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, killed by Israeli forces on Saturday. The body had been expected to lie in state in a Tehran mosque from Wednesday evening but Iran said three days of farewell ceremonies had been indefinitely postponed and no funeral date had been announced.
  With news agencies

Israel has said it carried out strikes on Beirut targeting Hezbollah on Thursday while Lebanese state media reported an Israeli drone strike killed a Hamas official.

Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency (NNA) reported several strikes early in the day, including two in the Hezbollah stronghold of south Beirut, where smoke was seen rising.

Israel’s military, which earlier told residents to leave the suburbs where the strikes were reported, said its forces hit several “command centres” of the Iran-backed militant group in the city. There were no immediate reports of casualties, an Agence France-Presse report said.

The NNA said a pre-dawn Israeli drone strike hit an apartment in Beddawi, a Palestinian refugee camp near Tripoli, killing senior Hamas official Wassim Atallah al-Ali and his wife.

This is the first reported targeted killing of a Hamas official since the regional war began on Saturday.

The report noted that Ali’s brother, also a Hamas official from Beddawi, was killed in an Israeli airstrike during the war triggered by Hamas’s 2023 attack on Israel.

Iran says it has targeted Kurdish groups in Iraq and warned “separatist groups” against action in the widening war.

Tehran said on Thursday it had hit Iraq-based Kurdish groups “opposed to the revolution”, as reports said the US was looking to arm Kurdish militias to infiltrate Iran.

The strikes – which killed a member from an exiled Iranian Kurdish group, according to a representative – came after a warning from Iranian officials.

“Separatist groups should not think that a breeze has blown and try to take action,” said the secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, Ali Larijani, quoted by the AFP news agency.

We will not tolerate them in any way.

The Israeli military has reportedly said it is beginning a new widespread wave of attacks in Tehran.

We’ll bring you more on this soon.

The US-Israel war with Iran could disrupt supplies of key semiconductor manufacturing materials, a South Korean ruling party lawmaker said on Thursday.

South Korea’s chip industry – which supplies around two-thirds of global memory chips – was also concerned that a prolonged conflict in Iran would lead to higher energy costs and prices, Kim Young-bae said after meeting executives from companies such as Samsung Electronics and trade groups.

“Officials raised a possibility that semiconductor production could be disrupted if some of these key materials cannot be sourced from the Middle East,” he said at a press briefing cited by Reuters. He added that South Korean firms sourced some key chip-making materials such as helium from the Middle East.

Helium is essential for heat management during semiconductor production and it has no viable alternatives currently. It is only produced in a handful of countries, with Qatar and the US among the leading players in the industry.

The caution comes as chipmakers grapple with severe supply bottlenecks due to surging chip demand from AI data centre operators that has tightened supplies to many other industries including smartphones, laptops and automobiles.

South Korean chipmaker SK Hynix said it had sufficient helium inventory and did not expect disruption to its procurement. Samsung declined to comment.

A UK warship due to be sent to Cyprus amid the US-Israeli war with Iran will not set sail from Britain until next week, western officials have been cited by the AFP news agency as saying.

Prime minister Keir Starmer announced on Tuesday that he was deploying HMS Dragon – a Type 45 defence destroyer – to aid Britain’s “defensive operations” in the region. He also said he was sending two Wildcat helicopters with counter-drone capabilities.

The announcement came after several drone attacks from Iran targeted UK allies in the Middle East and after the UK Royal Air Force base Akrotiri was struck overnight from Sunday to Monday.

Opposition legislators have accused the government of being too slow to deploy additional resources after the war started on Saturday, with no British warship in the region.

HMS Dragon was being resupplied with ammunition and would sail next week, the officials told reporters in London on Wednesday.

“We’ve had to change weapon systems on it, finish welding, get it up and running, and get it sailing as fast as possible,” defence minister Al Carns told Sky News.

Its voyage to the eastern Mediterranean is expected to take several days.

A US government charter flight was bringing Americans to the US from the Middle East and additional flights were being arranged for locations across the region, the US State Department has said.

The agency on Wednesday provided no details on the number of passengers aboard the flight, the countries they were leaving or the departure and arrival times of the flight, Reuters is reporting.

Since US and Israeli forces launched initial strikes on Iran on Saturday, more than 17,500 Americans have safely returned to the US from the Middle East, including about 8,500 on Tuesday, the state department said. Many more had left the Middle East to other countries in Europe and Asia since Saturday, the department said.

On Monday the state department urged Americans across 14 countries in the Middle East to immediately depart the region using “available commercial transportation”. But many US citizens face challenges due to global air travel disruptions caused by the war.

The situation prompted sharp criticism from some US lawmakers, who accused the state department of inadequate planning and late warnings.

The department responded by saying it was “facilitating charter flights” from the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Jordan for US citizens in need of such assistance.

Hello and welcome to our continuing live coverage of the US-Israeli war on Iran.

Canadian prime minister Mark Carney said on Thursday that he couldn’t rule out his country’s military participation in the escalating war in the Middle East.

“One can never categorically rule out participation,” he said alongside his Australian counterpart Anthony Albanese in Canberra. “We will stand by our allies,” added Carney, who had said the US-Israeli strikes on Iran were “inconsistent with international law”.

Iran launched a fresh round of missiles at Israel early on Thursday, according to the Israeli military and Tehran’s state media, as the war entered its sixth day. The launches triggered alerts in several areas including Tel Aviv. There were no immediate reports of casualties.

Here are the other main developments:

• An airstrike hit the Hezbollah stronghold of south Beirut early on Thursday, after Israel had issued a warning to residents. Elsewhere, three people were killed in a pair of Israeli strikes on vehicles along Beirut’s airport highway, Lebanon’s health ministry said. Israel has urged people to leave the section of Lebanon south of the Litani river – an area of hundreds of square kilometres – as the army was “compelled to take military action”.

• A US submarine torpedoed and sank an Iranian warship off the coast of Sri Lanka as the effects of the war in the Middle East spread to yet another country. The IRIS Dena frigate had been on a friendly visit to India when it was hit. Eighty-seven bodies had been collected, a Sri Lankan navy official said.

• Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said Israel and the US had made “historic gains” in their war against Iran. A spokesperson for the prime minister also claimed the attack was needed as Iran was using “new underground bunkers” to rebuild its atomic bomb program.

• Donald Trump hailed the US performance in the war, saying Iran’s leaders were rapidly being killed, and vowed to push on. “We’re doing well on the war front, to put it mildly. Somebody said on a scale of 10, where would you rate it? I said about a 15.”

• A ballistic missile launched from Iran and heading towards Turkish airspace via Iraq and Syria was destroyed by Nato air defense systems, Turkish officials said.

• US defence secretary Pete Hegseth offered few details and was evasive when asked about the deadly strike on a girls’ school in Iran, saying only that the US was “investigating” the incident. Iranian officials say the attack on Saturday killed at least 165 students

• Intense waves of airstrikes have hit dozens of military positions, frontier posts and police stations along northern parts of Iran’s border with Iraq in what appears to be preparation by US and Israel for a new front in their war. A US official said the US was ready to provide air support if Kurdish peshmerga fighters crossed the border from northern Iraq.

• A tanker at anchor off Kuwait reported seeing a large explosion on its port side and was taking on water, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations said. The master observed a small craft leaving the area after the explosion, which occurred 30 nautical miles (56 km) south-east of Kuwait’s Mubarak Al Kabeer port in the Gulf, it said.

• Spain doubled down on its opposition to Washington’s use of its bases against Iran after Trump’s threats of trade reprisals. The White House said Madrid had now agreed to cooperate, but Spanish foreign minister Jose Manuel Albares said its stance on “bases, on the war in the Middle East, on the bombardment of Iran, has not changed at all”.

• Governments around the world are rushing to organise the return of their citizens from the Middle East and air traffic seems to be picking up slightly as travel across the region remains heavily disrupted by the crisis.

• The Omani navy rescued 24 crew members of a container ship struck by missiles in the strait of Hormuz.
  
  Stay with us for the latest news.