U.S. President Donald Trump said Thursday he should have a role in choosing Iran’s next supreme leader, raising questions about whether Washington and Israel seek regime change or policy concessions as the conflict has appeared increasingly open-ended.
Tehran has warned of the destruction of the Middle East’s military and economic infrastructure, and the war has rattled financial markets.
Stocks sank on Wall Street Thursday after the price of oil spiked to its highest level since the summer of 2024 because of the war with Iran.
The war has killed at least 1,230 people in Iran, more than 70 in Lebanon and around a dozen in Israel, according to officials in those countries.
Here is the latest:
Iranian leadership council meets, state TV says
Iranian state television reported Friday that a leadership council in the country met and discussed how to hold a meeting of the country’s Assembly of Experts, which will select the nation’s new supreme leader.
The leadership council includes President Masoud Pezeshkian, judiciary chief Gholam Hossein Mohseni Ejehi and cleric Ayatollah Ali Reza Arafi.
The statement provided no timeline on the selection of the supreme leader, nor information on whether the Assembly of Experts would meet in person or remotely for the vote.
Buildings associated with the Assembly of Experts, an 88-member clerical panel, have been attacked during the Israeli-U.S. airstrike campaign.
Warnings on social media use sent to Dubai residents
Residents of Dubai have been receiving mass text messages warning them about their social media activity.
A message attributed to Dubai police said that “photographing or sharing security or critical sites, or reposting unreliable information, may result in legal action and compromise national security and stability.”
There was no elaboration in the message.
It comes as Bahrain issued a similar, but sterner warning as the Iran war rages on across the Mideast.
The United Arab Emirates is a federation of seven autocratic sheikhdoms home to Dubai and Abu Dhabi.
The UAE, while socially liberal in many regards compared with its Middle Eastern neighbors, has strict laws governing expression and bans political parties and labor unions.
Satellite image provider imposes 96-hour delay on some imagery
Satellite image provider Planet Labs PBC said Friday it will put a 96-hour delay on some of its satellite images from the Middle East to “to prevent adversarial actors from using recent data.”
The San Francisco-based firm issued the notice to its subscribers, saying this applies to Gulf Arab states, Iraq, Kuwait and “adjacent conflict zones.”
“This measure is intended to prevent adversarial actors from using recent data for immediate Battle Damage Assessment and is rooted in our commitment to ensuring the safety of allied and NATO-partner personnel and civilians on the ground,” Planet Labs said.
“As the conflict evolves, the area impacted may change.”
Planet Labs did the same for imagery in Israel and other areas after the Israel-Hamas war began in 2023.
It said images of Iran “will remain unchanged and continue to publish immediately, for the time being.”
Japan says a second Japanese person detained in Iran
A second Japanese national has been detained in Iran, Japan’s Foreign Ministry said Friday, and Tokyo has requested the early release of both people.
The ministry confirmed the second person had been detained before the Feb. 28 military strikes on Iran by the United States and Israel.
The ministry said the detainee is safe and in good health but gave no other details such as the timing of the detention, or whether it is related to the detention of a Japanese journalist that was disclosed last month.
Saudi Arabia says it intercepted a cruise missile
Saudi Arabia’s Defense Ministry said Friday morning that it intercepted a cruise missile over the city of Kharj.
Witnesses describe intense airstrikes in eastern Tehran
In eastern Tehran, witnesses described the Israeli airstrikes as particularly intense, shaking homes in the area.
Intense Israeli strikes on Beirut’s southern suburbs
Israel carried out at least 11 airstrikes, some intense and causing fires near a gas station, late Thursday into Friday targeting the southern suburbs of Beirut.
The Israeli army had issued a warning Thursday evening urging residents in the densely populated areas to evacuate.
No casualties have been immediately reported from the strikes.
Explosions heard around Iran city near border with Iraq, witnesses say
Witnesses reported explosions early Friday morning around the Iranian city of Kermanshah, near the border with Iraq.
The area around Kermanshah has been repeatedly targeted in airstrikes as it is home to multiple missile bases and has radar equipment there.
US Central Command shows footage of Iranian drone carrier on fire
The U.S. military said early Friday that an Iranian drone carrier was attacked and set ablaze.
The message from the U.S. military’s Central Command showed black-and-white footage of the carrier ablaze after multiple strikes hit it.
The Iranian military did not immediately acknowledge the attack. Tehran has not been offering details on its materiel losses in the war so far.
The drone carrier, named the IRIS Shahid Bagheri, is a converted container ship.
Iran inaugurated the vessel in February 2025.
The vessel has a 180-meter-long (590-foot-long) runway for drones, and it can travel up to 22,000 nautical miles without needing to refuel in ports, reports said at the time.
The attack comes as the Central Command said “U.S. forces aren’t holding back on the mission to sink the entire Iranian navy.”
Israel’s military says it has begun ‘broad-scale wave’ of strikes on Tehran
Israel’s military said early Friday morning it had begun “a broad-scale wave of strikes” on Tehran, Iran’s capital.
Hezbollah issues 1st evacuation warning to northern Israeli towns
Hezbollah urged Israelis to evacuate northern settlements for the first time.
The militant group mirrored near-constant Israeli warnings issued since 2023 for areas in Beirut, southern and eastern Lebanon.
In a post in Hebrew, Hezbollah warned residents within 5 km (about 3 miles) of the border to leave, citing Israel’s “aggression against Lebanese sovereignty and civilians” and promising a response.
Qatar Defense Ministry reports intercepting drone attack
Qatar’s Defense Ministry reported early Friday it intercepted a drone attack targeting Al Udeid Air Basse, which hosts the forward headquarters of the U.S. military’s Central Command.
Iranian state TV reports airstrikes targeting Tehran
Iranian state television reported airstrikes early Friday morning targeting Iran’s capital, Tehran.
Kuwait says it is responding to missile and drone attacks
The Kuwaiti army said early Friday that its air defenses are responding to hostile missile and drone attacks that have breached Kuwaiti airspace.
Trump administration permits India to buy Russian oil for 30 days
The U.S. Treasury Department on Thursday has authorized the sale of Russian oil to India for a period of 30 days, an effort meant to relieve price pressures caused by the ongoing conflict with Iran.
The Treasury Department said that crude oil and petroleum products from Russia that are already on ships can be unloaded in India from March 5 to April 4.
U.S. futures contracts for crude oil climbed above $80 in Thursday afternoon trading as the war has made it difficult to ship oil through the Strait of Hormuz.
Trump indicated on Thursday that the Treasury Department would make efforts to relieve price pressures, but it was unclear if he was referring to the temporary lifting of a ban on Russian oil tied to that country’s ongoing war in Ukraine.
Israel launches overnight strikes on Beirut, southern and eastern Lebanon
Israel carried out a series of airstrikes late Thursday into Friday targeting the southern suburbs of Beirut, as well as areas in southern and eastern Lebanon. The Israeli army on Thursday night warned residents in these densely populated areas to evacuate.
Traffic in Beirut ground to a halt as panicked residents fled or sought shelter. Many were forced to remain on the roads, including along Beirut’s seaside promenade, sleeping in the cold on thin mattresses.
No casualties have been immediately reported from the strikes.
3 Australian personnel were aboard US submarine that sank Iranian warship
Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says three Australian personnel were aboard a U.S. submarine that sank an Iranian warship.
Albanese commented on Friday after newspapers reported on Thursday that two Australians were aboard the submarine as part of the trilateral U.S., Australian and British AUKUS training program.
The sub torpedoed the Iranian frigate IRIS Dena in the Indian Ocean, killing at least 87 people.
“I can confirm that there were three Australian persons on board that vessel. I can confirm also, though, that no Australian personnel have participated in any offensive action against Iran,” Albanese told Sky News television.
The Australian government maintained it was not warned that the United States and Israel planned to attack Iran last weekend.
Iranian strikes hit Bahrain
Bahrain’s Interior Ministry said on Friday that Iranian attacks targeted two hotels and a residential building in Manama, causing material damage but no casualties.
Dignified transfer of 6 US soldiers killed in action to be held Saturday at Dover Air Force Base
The dignified transfer of the six U.S. soldiers killed during the ongoing conflict in the Middle East will be held Saturday at Dover Air Force Base, according to an Iowa congressman.
The ritual is a transfer of remains of U.S. troops killed during their military service and is one of the most solemn acts for any president. The White House has said Trump will attend.
“This Saturday, I will attend the dignified transfer at Dover Air Force Base to honor the brave Americans who were killed in action and stand with their families during this solemn moment,” Rep. Zach Nunn, R-Iowa, said in a statement Thursday.
It was part of a statement in which he confirmed that a separate political event featuring Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth would be postponed.
Two of the six killed were from Iowa.
Three missiles fired toward base hosting U.S. forces intercepted
The spokesperson of Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Defense said on Friday that three ballistic missiles fired toward Prince Sultan Air Base, a key Saudi Air Force base which hosts U.S. forces, located south of Riyadh, were intercepted and destroyed.
Air raid sirens sounded in Bahrain
Air raid sirens sounded across Bahrain early Friday, with residents urged to seek shelter.
Kuwait’s Defense Ministry reports dozens injured as Iran strikes Gulf states
Kuwait’s Defense Ministry said Friday that 67 members of the Kuwaiti army have so far been injured since Iran launched strikes across Gulf countries hosting U.S. military bases.
Defense ministry spokesperson Col. Saud Al‑Atwan said the injured soldiers are receiving medical care and all are in stable condition, while two cases remain under medical observation.
Kuwait’s air defenses have intercepted multiple Iranian aerial targets, though falling debris caused casualties on the ground.
An 11‑year‑old girl died and several relatives were injured after debris from intercepted aerial targets struck a residential home earlier this week. On Sunday, six U.S. soldiers were killed in a drone strike on a military facility in Kuwait.
Speaker Johnson says ‘we are not at war,’ and claims the ‘mission is nearly accomplished’
Republican Rep. Mike Johnson spoke briefly after the House joined the Senate in rejecting a war powers resolution to halt the Trump administration's attacks on Iran.
Johnson said the U.S. is conducting a “limited operation” over Iran, that’s “limited in scope and duration.”
“We are not at war. We have no intention of being at war,” said the House speaker, a close ally of Trump. “That mission is nearly accomplished.”
The speaker contradicted the president’s own portrayal of the joint U.S.-Israel air bombing campaign as a war.
Canada’s top general says allies are in talks about possibly helping Persian Gulf States defend themselves
Defense chief Gen. Jennie Carignan says a meeting is set for Friday to discuss such a proposal among allied militaries, and the Canadian Armed Forces would present a recommendation to the Canadian government.
She did not specify what type of support this might involve but said Canada is not taking part in the U.S. bombing of Iran and confirmed the discussions are not about participating in Operation Epic Fury.
Hegseth says firepower over Tehran ‘about to surge dramatically’
Neither Hegseth nor Cooper provided any details as to what precisely that meant.
“When we say more to come, it’s more fighter squadrons, it’s more capabilities, it’s more defensive capabilities,” he said. “And it’s more bomber pulses more frequently.”
Also Thursday, Israel’s top military general said that country had “additional surprises ahead,” also without elaborating.
First US charter evacuation flight from Mideast lands outside of Washington
The first U.S. charter evacuation flight carrying Americans stranded in the Middle East after the start of the Iran war has landed in the United States, a State Department official said.
The flight landed Thursday afternoon at Dulles International Airport, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly.
The office could not say how many Americans were on the plane and would not say where in the Middle East it had departed from.
— Matthew Lee
Top US commander in Middle East says strikes on Iranian navy have ‘intensified’
Adm. Brad Cooper, head of U.S. Central Command, said Thursday that U.S. forces had to date sunk more than 30 of Iran’s ships, including “an Iranian drone carrier ship roughly the size of a World War II aircraft carrier.”
“And as we speak, it’s on fire,” Cooper said.
In February, Cooper for the first time joined indirect U.S.-Iran talks in Oman, appearing in his dress uniform as a reminder of the American buildup of military might in the region.
Hegseth says timeline on Iran is ‘ours and ours alone to control’
Speaking at U.S. Central Command, which oversees the Middle East, Hegseth said the U.S. is solely controlling the timeline of activities in Iran and will do so “as long as it takes to ensure the United States of America achieves” its objectives.
“We set the tempo,” he said. “We set the timeline led by the commander on the ground.”
Talking about U.S. weapons stockpiles, Hegseth said “our munitions are full up and our will is ironclad.”
“We have only just begun to fight and fight decisively,” he said.
On Wednesday, Hegseth said the war could go as long as eight weeks, the longest timeline given by the Trump administration thus far.
Trump suggests a deal may be imminent with Cuba but that he’s focusing on Iran in the meantime
Referring to a co-owner of Inter Miami being originally from Cuba, Trump said, “You’re gonna go back: and added, “That’s going to be a great day, right?”
Without providing details, Trump added, “We’re going to celebrate that separately. I just want to wait a couple of weeks. I want him to wait a couple of weeks. But we’ll be together again soon, I suspect, celebrating what’s going on in Cuba.”
He added of the island’s communist government, “They want to make a deal so badly. You have no idea.”
Then, referring to Marco Rubio, the president said the secretary of state wants to work on Cuba but is cautious to do so amid the war in Iran.
“Your next one’s is going to be — we want to do that special — Cuba,” Trump said. “He’s waiting. But he says, “Let’s get this one finished first.’ We could do them all at the same time. But bad things happen. If you watch countries over the years, you do them all too fast, bad things happen.”
Iranian ambassador to Egypt tells AP: ‘This is a war in all fields’
Asked why Iran is targeting U.S. bases but also tankers, strategic energy facilities and civilians in Doha, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Israel, Iranian ambassador to Egypt, Mojtaba Ferdousi Pour, said Iran’s stated position has been consistent.
“We have declared repeatedly that if there are bases on the borders of the Islamic Republic of Iran belonging to the United States, and they will benefit from these bases, they will be targeted,” he said, from the Iranian Embassy in Egypt’s capital, Cairo, adding that the war extends beyond military engagement.
“It’s a comprehensive war. It’s cyber warfare. It’s an economic war. It’s a political and security war. … This is a war in all fields.”
Iran has not requested talks with the US to end the war, official tells AP
Iran has not requested talks with the United States to bring an end to the widening war, Iran’s ambassador to Egypt told AP Thursday, denying comments by Trump that the country “wants to talk.”
“That’s not true,” the ambassador, Mojtaba Ferdousi Pour, said. “I think that’s a very weak and inaccurate statement, and it’s not credible.”
He said a lack of trust makes any such engagement impossible after talks for a possible nuclear deal twice failed and ended with the war.
“There will be no trust in Trump,” he said.
Trump urges Iranian diplomats around globe to ‘seek asylum’
Trump said Thursday that Iranian diplomats who sought immunity could “help us shape a new and better Iran with great potential.”
He also urged the Iranian people to “help take back your country,” saying the U.S. would provide them with “immunity.”
“So you’ll be perfectly safe with total immunity, or you’ll face absolutely guaranteed death,” Trump said, of the war and ongoing dangers under the current Iranian regime. “And I don’t want to see that.”
House rejects war powers resolution to halt attacks on Iran
The House narrowly rejected a war powers resolution Thursday to halt the Trump administration’s attacks on Iran, an early sign of unease in Congress over the rapidly widening conflict that is reordering U.S. priorities at home and abroad.
It’s the second vote in as many days, after the Senate defeated a similar measure along party lines. Lawmakers are confronting the sudden reality of representing wary Americans in wartime and all that entails — with lives lost, dollars spent and alliances tested by a president’s unilateral decision to go to war with Iran.
While the tally in the House, 212-219, was expected to be tight, the outcome provided a clarifying snapshot of political support for, and opposition to, the U.S.-Israel military operation and Trump’s rationale for bypassing Congress, which alone has the power to declare war.
Trump says ‘further action to reduce pressure on oil is imminent’
Trump, speaking from the East Room of the White House, said Thursday that “further action to reduce pressure on oil is imminent.”
“The oil seems to have pretty much stabilized. We had it very low, but I had to take this little detour,” he said.
Trump earlier this week said on social media that he ordered the U.S. development finance arm to provide political risk insurance for tankers carrying oil and other goods through the Persian Gulf.
Political risk insurance is a type of coverage intended to protect firms against financial losses caused by unstable political conditions, government actions, or violence.
Trump says Iran’s navy ‘is gone’
At an event with players from MLS champion Inter Miami, Trump said of Iran: “Their navy is gone” and that the U.S. had wiped out “24 ships in three days.”
He added that the country’s anti-aircraft weapons and airplanes “are gone.”
Trump gave the brief update on the war at the top of the event and didn’t provide details, making it difficult to immediately check the accuracy.
“They have no air force they have no air defense,” the president said.
Trump also suggested that Iranian leaders are now ready to make a deal and end the fighting but said: “We want to fight now more than they do.”
Death toll in Lebanon rises to 123
The number of people killed in Lebanon since a resurgence in hostilities between Israel and the Hezbollah militant group Monday has risen to 123, with 683 people wounded, the Lebanese health ministry said Thursday.
It was not clear how many of the casualties were civilians. The health ministry had earlier said that seven children were killed.
Meanwhile, Israel struck Beirut’s southern suburbs Thursday evening after issuing an evacuation notice earlier, urging residents to “save your lives and evacuate your homes immediately,” prompting a mass exodus as people scrambled to find shelter.
Two hospitals in the area also evacuated patients and staff ahead of the anticipated bombardment.
Bahrain’s UN envoy urges international condemnation of Iran for jeopardizing free navigation
Ambassador Jamal Alrowaiei told the U.N. Security Council that Iran’s actions “are threatening the freedom of navigation” and critical energy infrastructure.
Alrowaiei, the Arab representative on the U.N.’s most powerful body, said Iran has targeted “critical infrastructure” in Bahrain and the region. And he echoed the regional Gulf Cooperation Council’s strong condemnation of Iran’s “unjustified” aggression and demand for an immediate halt to its attacks.
“Any attempt to jeopardize navigation in the Strait of Hormuz will lead to an increase in energy prices … and negatively affect international economies,” he warned at the U.S.-called meeting on “Energy, Critical Minerals, and Security.”
Bahrain urges international cooperation “to protect critical corridors and strategic infrastructure” and stresses its support for international law and the sovereignty of nations, Alrowaiei said.
Israel military says Iran has launched missiles toward the country
The report came late Thursday night. Israel military said its defense systems were working to intercept them.
Israel warns citizens of dangers traveling abroad during the war
Israel on Thursday warned its citizens traveling abroad that the ongoing hostilities could make them targets of attacks or otherwise endanger them. The country’s Government Press Office said in a statement that “several attempts to carry out terrorist attacks against Israelis have been thwarted and disrupted.”
It urged Israelis to conceal Jewish identifiers, avoid traveling through the United Arab Emirates, refrain from sharing personal information on social media and remain vigilant or avoid visiting Jewish sites.
The warning cited recent violence in Canada and Texas, where authorities are investigating whether motive of a gunman who opened fire at a bar in Austin was Iran-related.
Iran has in the past staged “ asymmetric attacks ” targeting Jews and Israelis, including in Europe and South America, and such responses were feared before the war broke out.
Israel says 40% of Iran’s missile launchers are still intact, but promises more ‘surprises’
Israel’s top general on Thursday said the country’s military had degraded most of Iran’s air defenses and specifically hit sites used to launch missiles toward Israel.
Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir, the army’s chief of the General Staff, said Israel’s air force had destroyed 80% of Iran’s air defenses and 60% of its missile launchers but noted “the threat has not yet been removed. Every missile is lethal and poses a danger.”
“We are now moving to the next phase of the operation. In this phase, we will further dismantle the regime and its military capabilities. We have additional surprises ahead that I do not intend to disclose,” Zamir said.