Middle East crisis live: Netanyahu says war will take ‘some time’; US ’non-emergency’ staff to leave Bahrain, Jordan and Iraq

Thank you for tuning into our live coverage of the war in Iran and its regional ramifications. Here is a quick recap of what has happened today:

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  Donald Trump has attempted to counter a simmering anti-Israel backlash in Congress and among his own Maga supporters by denying suggestions that he had been forced into attacking Iran because Israel had already decided to do so. Asked whether Israel had pushed him into launching military action, Trump told reporters: “No. I might have forced their hand.”

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  The US military has claimed that the first 24 hours of the operation in Iran was nearly double the scale of the first day of the “shock-and-awe” strikes on Iraq in 2003. American forces have struck nearly 2,000 targets so far in Iran “as part of the largest firepower buildup in the region in a generation,” Admiral Brad Cooper of US Central Command has said.

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  The US military has destroyed 17 Iranian ships, including a submarine, and struck nearly 2,000 targets in Iran, the commander of the US Central Command said on Tuesday.

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  Global oil and gas prices have spiked as the US-Israeli war on Iran has halted energy exports from the Middle East, with Tehran attacking ships and energy facilities, closing navigation in the Gulf and forcing production stoppages from Qatar to Iraq.

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  The conflict has caused turbulence on global markets. In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 continued to fall on Wednesday, and was down about 1.7% during early trading. In Seoul, the Kospi – which dropped 7.2% on Tuesday – fell by a further 3.1% at the open. But Wall Street looks set to open flat in New York, according to pre-market trading data.

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  The US navy could begin escorting oil tankers through the strait of Hormuz if necessary, president Donald Trump said on Tuesday, in one of the administration’s most aggressive steps yet to attempt to contain soaring energy prices sparked by the war.

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  The Iranian Red Crescent Society said at least 787 people had been killed since the conflict began. The worst mass casualty event of the US-Israeli military assault so far has been the direct strike on a girls’ elementary school in Minab on Saturday, which killed up to 168 people. You get a sense of the devastation through our visual guide, here.

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  At least 30,000 people have been displaced in Lebanon, according to the United Nations, following heavy Israeli airstrikes in the country.

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  Israel said it has launched a ‘broad wave’ of strikes on Iran that were targeting launch sites, defense systems, and additional Iranian infrastructure.

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  Trump also said he was upset with British prime minister Keir Starmer, who has not joined the US-Israeli attack on Iran but did let US forces use UK bases. “I’m not happy with the UK,” the US president said. “It’s taken three, four days for us to work out where we can land,” Trump said. Referring to Starmer, he added: “This is not Winston Churchill that we’re dealing with.”

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  Canadian prime minister Mark Carney called on Wednesday for the rapid de-escalation of the conflict unleashed by US-Israeli strikes on Iran, urging all parties to respect the international rules of engagement.

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The UAE’s foreign ministry said it has been exposed to over 1,000 attacks from Iran since it launched retaliatory strikes in the region in response to US-Israeli strikes.

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It added it did not allow its territory to be used in any attack on Iran and it has not taken any decision to change its defensive stance towards the attacks, Reuters reports.

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Authorities have put out a limited fire in the vicinity of the US consulate in Dubai due to a drone strike and no injuries were reported, Dubai’s media office said.

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Smoke was seen rising from an area near the consulate, two witnesses told Reuters.

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Donald Trump has said the US Navy will begin escorting tankers through the strait of Hormuz as soon as possible “if necessary”.

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In a post on Truth Social, the US president also said he had ordered the United States Development Finance Corporation to provide insurance and guarantees for the financial security of all maritime trade, including oil tankers, traveling through the Gulf region.

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Iran closed the strait of Hormuz, one of the world’s most critical shipping routes, last night, and threatened to attack any ship that tries to pass through, causing oil prices to soar.

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Sustained disruption of shipping traffic in the strait, through which roughly 15% of the world’s oil and 20% of its liquefied natural gas passes, poses significant risk to the global economy.

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in Paris

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The French president Emmanuel Macron said in a televised address to the nation that he has ordered the French aircraft carrier, the Charles de Gaulle, its air assets and its frigate escort to set sail for the Mediterranean.

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He said France has defence agreements with Qatar, Kuwait and the UAE and must show solidarity, but he said any action by France was “strictly defensive”.

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France must support its allies in the region and show it was a partner to be trusted, Macron said, adding that French anti-air systems and air radars had been deployed and would continue to be so.

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France would also send defence systems to Cyprus and a frigate which would arrive off the coast of Cyprus tonight, the president said.

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The UK’s Ministry of Defence said earlier that British F-35 jets had shot down hostile drones over Jordan, Iraq and Qatar.

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UK forces are “actively defending partners across the region as part of co-ordinated defensive action”, the MoD said in a statement on its website

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It said this was the first time an RAF F-35 has destroyed a target on operations.

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RAF F-35B jets shot down drones over Jordan – the first time an RAF F-35 has destroyed a target on operations – supported by Typhoon jets and a Voyager tanker aircraft. A British counter-drone unit neutralised drones in Iraqi airspace heading towards Coalition forces, whilst an RAF Typhoon operating with the joint UK-Qatar 12 Squadron shot down an Iranian one-way attack drone directed at Qatar using an air-to-air missile on Monday.

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The Israeli military said that it has struck a compound in Iran that it said aimed to develop “necessary capabilities” for nuclear weapons, without providing any evidence for the assertion.

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I’ll bring you more on this as we get it.

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The US military has hit more than 1,700 targets in Iran since it began its operations in the country on Saturday, according to an update from the US Central Command.

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The targets hit include missile sites, navy ships, submarines and control centres, it said.

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Centcom added that the US used aircraft – including multiple fighter jets – as well as missile systems and ships to carry out the attacks.

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Centcom is prioritising “locations that pose an imminent threat”, it said.

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The Israeli military said it has killed the commander of Iran’s Quds Force in Lebanon, Daoud Ali Zadeh, in a strike on Tehran.

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The Quds force is the unit of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in charge of foreign operations.

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Iran has not yet commented on the IDF claim.

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  Donald Trump has claimed Iran was going to attack before he did, walking back his secretary of state Marco Rubio’s assertion that Israel triggered the war. “I think they were going to attack first, and I didn’t want that to happen. So, if anything, I might have forced Israel’s hand,” Trump told reporters as he met German chancellor Friedrich Merz at the White House.

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  Trump said that the US and Israel are hitting Iran “where it is much more appropriate” adding, “everything has been knocked out”. This comes after the worst mass casualty of the strikes so far, which was on a girls’ elementary school in southern Iran. The devastating attack killed at least 168 people (our visual guide is here). Iran, Trump said, “have no navy, it’s been knocked out, they have no air force, it’s been knocked out, they have no air detection, that’s been knocked out … Just about everything has been knocked out.”

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  Trump also said he was upset with British prime minister Keir Starmer, who has not joined the US-Israeli attack on Iran but did let US forces use UK bases. “I’m not happy with the UK,” the US president said. “It’s taken three, four days for us to work out where we can land,” Trump said. Referring to Starmer, he added: “This is not Winston Churchill that we’re dealing with.”

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  It came as Trump said the United States would cut off all trade with Spain after the country refused to let the US military use its bases for missions linked to strikes on Iran. “Spain has been terrible,” Trump told reporters, adding that he had told Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to “cut off all dealings” with Spain. “We’re going to cut off all trade with Spain. We don’t want anything to do with Spain,” he added.

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  The Iranian Red Crescent Society said at least 787 people had been killed since the conflict began. The worst mass casualty event of the US-Israeli military assault so far has been the direct strike on a girls’ elementary school in Minab on Saturday, which killed up to 168 people. You get a sense of the devastation through our visual guide, here.

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  Israel launched further strikes in Tehran and Beirut, saying it was targeting Iranian military sites and the Iran-backed group Hezbollah, as its troops intensify their incursion into Lebanon. Israeli airstrikes have killed at least 52 people and displaced at least 30,000 in Lebanon.

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  Israel also struck the building of Iran’s assembly of experts, which is responsible for electing Iran’s next supreme leader. Iranian news agencies confirmed that attack and said there were no casualties (the building wasn’t in use at the time).

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  Iran continues to retaliate by striking US targets and allies, prompting the US to close embassies in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Lebanon and warn Americans to leave more than a dozen countries in the region (many are scrambling to do so, and we have a story on that here).

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US president Donald Trump on Tuesday said he was upset with British prime minister Keir Starmer, who has not joined the US-Israeli attack on Iran but did let US forces use UK bases.

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“I’m not happy with the UK,” Trump said as he met German chancellor Friedrich Merz at the White House.

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“It’s taken three, four days for us to work out where we can land,” Trump said. Referring to Starmer, he added: “This is not Winston Churchill that we’re dealing with.”

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It came as Trump said the United States would cut off all trade with Spain after the European country refused to let the US military use its bases for missions linked to strikes on Iran.

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“Spain has been terrible,” Trump told reporters, adding that he had told Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to “cut off all dealings” with Spain.

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“We’re going to cut off all trade with Spain. We don’t want anything to do with Spain,” he added.

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Trump speaks to the media during a meeting with German chancellor Friedrich Merz in the Oval Office.”,”caption”:”Donald Trump speaks to the media during a meeting with German chancellor Friedrich Merz in the Oval Office.”,”credit”:”Photograph: Mark Schiefelbein/AP”}}],”attributes”:{“pinned”:false,”keyEvent”:true,”summary”:false},”blockCreatedOn”:1772558253000,”blockCreatedOnDisplay”:”12.17 EST”,”blockLastUpdated”:1772561323000,”blockLastUpdatedDisplay”:”13.08 EST”,”blockFirstPublished”:1772558300000,”blockFirstPublishedDisplay”:”12.18 EST”,”blockFirstPublishedDisplayNoTimezone”:”12.18″,”title”:”Trump says he is ‘not happy’ with UK and ‘cuts off’ all trade with Spain over Iran”,”contributors”:[],”primaryDateLine”:”Tue 3 Mar 2026 21.41 EST”,”secondaryDateLine”:”First published on Mon 2 Mar 2026 23.52 EST”},{“id”:”69a714ff8f08551fed590b71″,”elements”:[{“_type”:”model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement”,”html”:”

US president Donald Trump has claimed that Iran was going to attack before he did, walking back top diplomat Marco Rubio’s assertion that Israel triggered the war.

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“I think they were going to attack first, and I didn’t want that to happen. So, if anything, I might have forced Israel’s hand,” Trump told reporters as he met German chancellor Friedrich Merz at the White House.

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Trump said that the US and Israel are hitting Iran “where it is much more appropriate”. However, this comes after the worst mass casualty of the strikes so far was on a girls’ elementary school in southern Iran. The attack killed at least 168 people.

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“We’re hitting them very hard,” Trump said today. “They no longer have air protection. They no longer have any detection facilities at all left. And so they’re going to they’re going to be in for a lot of hurt. These are bad people.”

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President Donald Trump and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz meet in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., March 3, 2026.”,”caption”:”U.S. President Donald Trump and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz meet in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., March 3, 2026.”,”credit”:”Photograph: Jonathan Ernst/Reuters”}}],”attributes”:{“pinned”:false,”keyEvent”:true,”summary”:false},”blockCreatedOn”:1772557567000,”blockCreatedOnDisplay”:”12.06 EST”,”blockLastUpdated”:1772561589000,”blockLastUpdatedDisplay”:”13.13 EST”,”blockFirstPublished”:1772557656000,”blockFirstPublishedDisplay”:”12.07 EST”,”blockFirstPublishedDisplayNoTimezone”:”12.07″,”title”:”Trump insists Israel did not force US hand and repeats claim Iran was going to attack first”,”contributors”:[],”primaryDateLine”:”Tue 3 Mar 2026 21.41 EST”,”secondaryDateLine”:”First published on Mon 2 Mar 2026 23.52 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Israel’s military struck the building housing Iran’s Assembly of Experts in the city of Qom while they were meeting, according to an Israeli media report.

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Kan News, an Israeli news network, said the building was hit in an attempt to disrupt the 88 members from choosing a new supreme leader.

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“We wanted to prevent them from picking a new supreme leader,” an Israeli official said.

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Iranian news agencies reported that the building was “flattened” by the strike but said it was not in use at the time.

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The Israeli Defense Forces announced on Tuesday afternoon that it has begun a large-scale wave of strikes on Tehran.

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Earlier Tuesday, the IDF had announced that it was conducting simultaneous strikes on Beirut as well as Tehran.

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Tens of thousands of people are stranded across the Middle East and awaiting evacuation as the Iran war spreads throughout the region.

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Major airlines have cancelled flights to and from the region and airspace across the Gulf is closed. Some of those who are stuck have been forced to seek shelter amid airstrikes , while others are stuck on cruise ships that currently cannot sail through the Strait of Hormuz, AP reports.

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The US State Department urged all US citizens to leave more than a dozen Middle Eastern countries over the safety risk with the ongoing escalations that have dragged the region into significant chaos.

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In Israel, the US ambassador told Americans there that the best way to leave is through Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula.

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In Italy, the government has assisted with flights to Milan and Rome in the wake of mounting criticism against defence minister Guido Crosetto. The minister sparked a political controversy at home after being stuck in Dubai with his family during the initial phase of the US-Israeli attack on Iran.

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Meanwhile, an estimated 30,000 German tourists remained on cruise ships, in hotels or at closed airports in the Middle East, and the first plane from Dubai to Frankfurt, Germany, was expected to land Tuesday afternoon.

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France is also trying to organise the return of thousands of French people, the country’s foreign affairs minister said Tuesday. An estimated 200,000 French people live in the region affected by the conflict, and authorities believe roughly 25,000 French citizens are currently visiting the area.

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The evacuation of Spaniards is already under way by land and air, and the country expects a first group of 175 citizens to land in Madrid from Abu Dhabi on Tuesday afternoon, Spanish foreign minister Jose Manuel Albares told reporters.

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South Korea confirmed it had evacuated 23 nationals from Iran, while the UK’s foreign secretary Yvette Cooper said 130,000 British nationals have registered their presence in the Middle East.

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A British government charter flight is to take off from Muscat, the capital of Oman, “in the coming days” she also told the Commons.

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John Healey, the British defence secretary, is considering sending Royal Navy destroyer HMS Duncan to Cyprus to help defend the Akrotiri RAF airbase from any future drone attacks.

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Though a final decision has not been made, multiple sources said a deployment of the warship, currently in Portsmouth, was under discussion as a way to better protect the base in Cyprus.

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HMS Duncan is specialised in counter drone operations and last month was engaged on a test exercise off the coast of Wales facing swarms of drones, before hosting a family day on Friday.

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No major Navy warships are currently in or have been sent to the Middle East, even though the conflict is now in its fourth day, while concerns have been raised about the ease of which Akrotiri’s air defences were breached.

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One drone, thought by Cypriot authorities to have been flown from Hezbollah controlled territory in Lebanon, crashed on to the runway at around midnight yesterday and two other drones were intercepted thereafter.

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It would take several days for the HMS Duncan to reach Cyprus from Portsmouth as it travels at about 30 knots (34.5mph).

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This is a cross-post from our live coverage on UK politics. For more, click here.

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Thank you for following along with our live coverage so far today.

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n
• n

  The fighting continued in Lebanon, with Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, and Israel Katz, the Israeli defence minister, approving a military ground incursion into the southern part of the country and the Israeli military issuing new evacuation orders for dozens of locations in Lebanon. On Tuesday morning, the Israeli air force said it was attacking Tehran and Beirut simultaneously with “extensive strikes” against the Iranian regime and Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed militant group in Lebanon that said it launched drones at northern Israel. Israeli airstrikes have killed 52 people and displaced at least 30,000 in Lebanon.

n

• n

  Israeli and US warplanes launched a fresh wave of strikes across Iran, where the Iranian Red Crescent Society said at least 787 people had been killed since the conflict began.

n

• n

  The International Atomic Energy Agency on Tuesday confirmed that the entrance buildings of Iran’s Natanz Fuel Enrichment Plant sustained some damage in the recent strikes.

n

• n

  Casualties and destruction were reported across at least nine countries, with the United Arab Emirates recording a total of 186 missiles and 812 drones sent toward the country since the start of the conflict and two ports in Oman targeted in drone strikes today.

n

• n

  The US embassy in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia was hit by a drone strike, causing a fire to break out. The strike came as the state department urged that all US citizens leave more than a dozen Middle Eastern countries due to risks related to ongoing escalations that have pushed the region into chaos. The 14 countries included in the warning were Bahrain, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Israel and the Palestinian territories, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, the United Arab Emirates and Yemen.

n

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The United Arab Emirates and its air defences have dealt with 186 missiles launched toward the country since the start of the US-Israeli conflict with Iran, the UAE Ministry of Defence said Tuesday.

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Brigadier General Abdul Nasser Mohammed Al-Humaidi, a defence spokesperson, said only one missile fell on the country’s territories – the UAE’s air defences were able to intercept 172 missiles while 13 fell into the sea.

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Air defences also detected 812 Iranian drones flown at the UAE, 57 of which fell within the country’s territory.

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In addition to the 755 remaining drones that air defences were able to intercept, the UAE also detected and destroyed eight cruise missiles.

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In total, three people were killed in the UAE since the start of the conflict, the spokesman said. There have been 68 cases of minor injuries as well as some minor to moderate damage to civilian facitilies.

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Two drones were shot down on Tuesday above the Dhofar governorate in southern Oman with a third falling near the vicinity of Salalah port, according to state-run media Oman News Agency.

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There were no casualties or damages.

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QatarEnergy, the state-owned energy company, announced Tuesday that it was going to halt production on some downstream products including urea, polymers, methanol and aluminum.

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The company previously announced that it had halted production of liquefied natural gas (LNG) after attacks on facilities in Ras Laffan and Mesaieed. QatarEnergy is one of the biggest producers of LNG in the world.

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QatarEnergy to stop downstream production

Further to the decision by QatarEnergy to stop production of liquefied natural gas (LNG) and associated products, QatarEnergy is stopping the production of some downstream products in the State of Qatar, including urea, polymers,…

— QatarEnergy (@qatarenergy) March 3, 2026

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Gas and oil prices have risen worldwide amid the turmoil in the Middle East, with a halt on shipping in the strait of Hormuz and attacks on refineries throughout the region threatening supplies.

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Iran’s women’s football team declined to sing their national anthem ahead of their opening match of the Asian Cup in Australia on Monday, their first fixture since the war in the Middle East began.

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Every member of the team stood silently, facing straight ahead, during the anthem prior to kick-off in their Group A match against South Korea, who went on to win 3-0 at the Gold Coast Stadium in Queensland. Iran’s head coach, Marziyeh Jafari, and her players declined to comment on either the war or the death of their long-serving leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, when asked by the media.

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With the conflict in the Middle East spreading to Lebanon – the Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah launched missiles and drones toward Israel in retaliation for the killing of Iran’s supreme leader and the Israeli military responded with heavy airstrikes and a ground incursion – at least 30,000 people have been displaced, according to the United Nations.

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AFP reports that Babar Baloch, spokesman for the UN refugee agency, said that “conservartive estimates” suggest that nearly 30,000 people were hosted and registered at shelters, with many more forced to sleep in their cars on the side of roads.

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On Tuesday, Israeli defence minister Israel Katz said that he and Benjamin Netanyahu approved for the IDF to advance and seize additional areas in Lebanon in order to prevent any more rockets launched at Israeli border settlements.

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The International Atomic Energy Agency has confirmed that the entrance buildings of Iran’s Natanz Fuel Enrichment Plant sustained some damage in the recent strikes.

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However, there was no additional impact detected at the nuclear facility itself, nor were any radiological consequences expected, said the IAEA, which made its assessment based on the latest available satellite imagery.

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The underground nuclear facility had been “severely damaged” in the June strikes, the IAEA said.

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Based on the latest available satellite imagery, IAEA can now confirm some recent damage to entrance buildings of Iran’s underground Natanz Fuel Enrichment Plant (FEP). No radiological consequence expected and no additional impact detected at FEP itself, which was severely… pic.twitter.com/7CS7BRZo1s

— IAEA – International Atomic Energy Agency ⚛️ (@iaeaorg) March 3, 2026

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The Iranian Red Crescent has updated the total death toll in the US-Israeli war on Iran to 787, a more than 40% increase from the humanitarian relief organisation’s earlier numbers.

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However, in its latest update, the Norway-based human rights group Hengaw said the death toll on day three had reached at least 1,500, including 200 civilians and 1,300 members of the Iranian forces.

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There have been at 1,039 recordeed attacks on 504 locations, according to the Iranian Red Crescent.

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Anthony Albanese has discussed the situation facing stranded Australians in the Middle East with, Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the president of the United Arab Emirates.

About 24,000 Australians are in the UAE, many stranded due to global flights disruptions caused by bombings by the Iranian regime, in retaliation to weekend strikes by the US and Israel.

n The two leaders were able to exchange views on the current situation in the Middle East, and Albanese thanked the president for support for Australians stranded by the conflict.

n The pair also discussed the importance of the resumption of commercial flights as soon as possible.

n Albanese also spoke with his New Zealand counterpart Christopher Luxon on Tuesday.
n They exchanged views on the the Middle East and discussed the consular challenges brought about by the conflict.

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The Port of Duqm in Oman was targeted by several drones, one of which struck a fuel tank, according to the country’s state news agency.

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There were no casualities.

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Israel has hit back at the Spanish government’s refusal to give the US permission to use jointly operated military bases on its territory to attack Iran, accusing the Spanish prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, of being on the wrong side of history.

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Sánchez has explicitly condemned the US and Israel’s “unilateral military action” against Iran, warning that it is contributing to “a more hostile and uncertain international order”. The rebukes have been reinforced by his government’s refusal to allow the US to use bases in Rota and Morón for the continuing strikes against Iran.

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In a post on X on Monday evening, Israel’s foreign minister, Gideon Sa’ar, accused Sánchez – a staunch critic of Israel’s prosecution of the war in Gaza – of pandering to terrorists and oppressive regimes.

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“First, Hamas thanked Sánchez,” wrote Sa’ar. “Then the Houthis thanked Sánchez. Now Iran thanks him. Is that being on the “right side” of history?”.

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Sa’ar also retweeted criticism of Sánchez from the US Republican senator Lindsey Graham, who wrote: “The current government in Spain is becoming the gold standard of pathetically weak European leadership that has lost its moral way, apparently reluctant to condemn the terrorist regime in Iran and have nothing but criticism for the United States.”

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On Saturday, Sánchez said Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu’s offensive was making the world less stable and called for a lasting political solution to the conflict.

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He returned to the theme in a speech in Barcelona on Sunday. “Today, more than ever, it’s vital to remember that you can be against a hateful regime – as Spanish society is as a whole when it comes to the Iranian regime – and, at the same time, against an unjustified and dangerous military intervention that is outside international law,” he said.

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Donald Trump said the relationship between the US and UK is “not like it used to be” and that Keir Starmer “has not been helpful” in the US and Israeli war on Iran.

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In his second interview with a British newspaper in two days, Trump told The Sun: “It’s very sad to see that the relationship is obviously not what it was”.

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“I never thought I’d see that. I never thought I’d see that from the UK.”

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In an address to the Commons on Monday, Starmer said the UK will not join the US and Israel in offensive strikes but will focus on “defensive actions” – a drone hit the RAF Akrotiri base in Cyprus on Sunday and two more drones were shot down heading in that direction on Monday. On Sunday night, Starmer announced that the UK would allow the US to use British bases in its operations in Iran.

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Trump told The Sun that the prime minister “has got his own difficulties” and that the UK was not “such a recognisable country”, specifically calling out London and its mayor Sadiq Khan. “London is a very different place, with a terrible Mayor. You have a terrible Mayor there, some terrible people,” Trump said.

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The Israeli military has deployed additional soldiers to southern Lebanon as part of the Israeli Defense Forces’ efforts to provide additional security for the residents of northern Israel, the IDF said on Telegram.

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According to Reuters, military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Nadav Shoshani told an online briefing of reporters that troopers are “only at the borderline area in a defensive manner to prevent attacks against civilians and very strategic important points”.

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The AFP reports that Israeli defence minister Israel Katz said Tuesday he has instructed the military to take control of more positions in Lebanon following an attack from Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed militant group.

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“Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and I have authorized the Israel Defense Forces to advance and take control of additional strategic positions in Lebanon in order to prevent attacks on Israeli border communities,” Katz said in a statement.

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The Guardian’s Emma Graham-Harrison and Seham Tentash report that with the war in Iran, Israel has closed all border crossings into Gaza indefinitely, imposing a siege that has already pushed up food prices and threatens to plunge 2 million people into a new hunger crisis.

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After more than two years of war, and with Israeli forces in control of about 60% of the territory, almost all of Gaza’s food must be brought in.

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Humanitarian groups feeding much of the population say the supplies they had on Saturday, when the war began, will only last a few more days.

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“If [the borders] stay closed, World Central Kitchen will run out of food this week,” said the organisation’s founder and chief, José Andrés, in a post on social media.

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“We are cooking 1m hot meals every day. We need food deliveries every single day.”

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Read more here:

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In case you’re just joining us, here’s a snapshot of the key developments as the US-Israel war on Iran dramatically expands across the Middle East.

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  Israeli and US warplanes launched a fresh wave of strikes across Iran, where the Iranian Red Crescent Society said more than 500 people had been killed since the conflict began.

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  The Israeli air force said on Tuesday morning it was attacking Tehran and Beirut simultaneously with “extensive strikes” against the Iranian regime and Hezbollah.

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  The Israeli military issued new evacuation orders for dozens of locations in Lebanon earlier on Tuesday.

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  Hezbollah said it had launched drones at northern Israel.

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  Iranian attacks were reported on oil infrastructure and other targets across a 2,000km swathe of the region.

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  Casualties and destruction were reported across at least nine countries.

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  Iran’s Revolutionary Guards claimed it attacked a US air base in Bahrain, “destroying the base’s main command headquarters”, without providing evidence.

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  Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the US and Israel’s war against Iran may take “some time” but not years.

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  US president Donald Trump repeated his calls for Iranians to rise up and overthrow their leaders, and said the air campaign could last weeks.

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  The US embassy in the Saudi capital of Riyadh was hit by a drone strike, causing a fire to break out.

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  The state department urged that all US citizens leave more than a dozen Middle Eastern countries due to risks related to ongoing escalations.

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  There was confusion over the status of navigation in the strait of Hormuz after Iran’s Revolutionary Guards threatened to “burn any ship” seeking to navigate the waterway – a vital route for oil and gas – while US Central Command reportedly later said the strait was not closed.

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  US secretary of state Marco Rubio claimed the US attacked Iran after learning that ally Israel was going to strike, which would have meant retaliation against US forces. He also said the US military’s “hardest hits” on Iran were yet to come.

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The US state department has reportedly ordered the departure of non-emergency government personnel and family members from Qatar and Kuwait.

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The move came after the department said earlier on Tuesday it had ordered non-emergency personnel and their families to leave Bahrain and Jordan.

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It also announced it had ordered staff in Iraq to leave a day earlier, amid Iran’s retaliation over US-Israeli strikes.

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The department said in a post on X before the latest order that it had updated travel advisories for Bahrain and Jordan “to reflect the ordered departure of non-emergency US government personnel and family members of government personnel”.

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In an updated travel advisory on Iraq, the department said it had on Monday “ordered non-emergency US government employees to leave Iraq due to security concerns”.

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The US state department said on Tuesday it had ordered non-emergency personnel and their families to leave Bahrain and Jordan, as well as announcing it had ordered staff in Iraq to leave a day earlier, as Iran retaliates to US-Israeli strikes.

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The department said in a post on X that it had updated travel advisories for Bahrain and Jordan “to reflect the ordered departure of non-emergency US government personnel and family members of government personnel”.

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In an updated Iraq travel advisory, the department said it had on Monday “ordered non-emergency US government employees to leave Iraq due to security concerns”, Agence France-Presse reports.

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Iran’s Revolutionary Guards have targeted a US air base in Bahrain, the Islamic republic’s elite force said in a statement carried on Tuesday by the official Irna news agency.

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“The IRGC announced that … its naval forces carried out a large-scale drone and missile attack at dawn on the US air base in the Sheikh Isa area of Bahrain,” Irna posted on Telegram, using the acronym for Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

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Agence France-Press reports the force as saying in its statement that 20 drones and three missiles were launched, “destroying the base’s main command headquarters”, without providing evidence.

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US Central Command has just claimed on social media that US forces have destroyed the Iranian Revolutionary Guards’ command facilities as well as Iranian missile and drone launch sites and more.

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Centcom said in a post on X including military images:

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U.S. forces have destroyed Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps command and control facilities, Iranian air defense capabilities, missile and drone launch sites, and military airfields during sustained operations. We will continue to take decisive action against imminent threats posed by the Iranian regime.

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Hello and welcome to our continuing live coverage of the US-Israel war on Iran and the widening Middle East crisis.

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Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said the US and Israel’s war against Iran may take “some time” but it will not take years.

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The US and Israeli air war against Iran began with attacks across the country on Saturday, killing supreme leader Ali Khamenei, and prompting Iranian retaliation against Arab nations hosting US bases across the Middle East.

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President Donald Trump initially projected the war to last four to five weeks, but added it could go on longer, and has since sought to justify a broad, open-ended war on Iran.

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Netanyahu rejected the idea of the conflict lasting years, like previous wars in the region. “I said it could be quick and decisive. It may take some time, but it’s not going to take years. It’s not an endless war,” Netanyahu said on Fox News’ Hannity program.

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On Tuesday morning, the Israeli military issued new evacuation orders for dozens of locations in Lebanon, including a warning for residents in two southern Beirut neighbourhoods to stay away from several buildings ahead of imminent military action.

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Meanwhile, Hezbollah said it had launched drones at northern Israel.

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Here are the other big developments:

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  The US embassy in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia was hit by a drone strike, causing a fire to break out. A loud blast was heard and flames seen at the embassy early on Tuesday morning, reports said. Black smoke was seen rising over Riyadh’s diplomatic quarter, which houses foreign missions.

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  The state department has urged that all US citizens leave more than a dozen Middle Eastern countries due to risks related to ongoing escalations that have pushed the region into chaos. The 14 countries included in the warning were Bahrain, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Israel and the Palestinian territories, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, the United Arab Emirates and Yemen.

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  There was confusion over the status of navigation in the strait of Hormuz after a general in Iran’s Revolutionary Guards threatened to “burn any ship” seeking to navigate the waterway, a vital route for oil and gas shipments. However, US Central Command said the strait was not closed, according to Fox News.

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  The United States attacked Iran after learning that ally Israel was going to strike, which would have meant retaliation against US forces, secretary of state Marco Rubio said. “We knew that if we didn’t preemptively go after them before they launched those attacks, we would suffer higher casualties,” Rubio told reporters. The justification for the attack differs from justifications given by Donald Trump and defence secretary Pete Hegseth.

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  Rubio also said the “hardest hits” are yet to come from the US military. “The next phase will be even more punishing on Iran than it is right now,” he told reporters.

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  Trump signalled that US strikes on Iran could go much longer than originally predicted. The president laid out what he said were four key objectives for hitting Iran: “First, we’re destroying Iran’s missile capabilities … Second, we’re annihilating their navy … Third, we’re ensuring that the world’s No 1 sponsor of terror can never obtain a nuclear weapon. Finally we are ensuring the Iranian regime can’t continue to arm, fund and direct terrorist armies outside of their borders.”

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This live blog has now closed. You follow our continuing coverage of crisis in the Middle East here.

Closing summary

Thank you for tuning into our live coverage of the war in Iran and its regional ramifications. Here is a quick recap of what has happened today:

• Donald Trump has attempted to counter a simmering anti-Israel backlash in Congress and among his own Maga supporters by denying suggestions that he had been forced into attacking Iran because Israel had already decided to do so. Asked whether Israel had pushed him into launching military action, Trump told reporters: “No. I might have forced their hand.”

• The US military has claimed that the first 24 hours of the operation in Iran was nearly double the scale of the first day of the “shock-and-awe” strikes on Iraq in 2003. American forces have struck nearly 2,000 targets so far in Iran “as part of the largest firepower buildup in the region in a generation,” Admiral Brad Cooper of US Central Command has said.

• The US military has destroyed 17 Iranian ships, including a submarine, and struck nearly 2,000 targets in Iran, the commander of the US Central Command said on Tuesday.

• Global oil and gas prices have spiked as the US-Israeli war on Iran has halted energy exports from the Middle East, with Tehran attacking ships and energy facilities, closing navigation in the Gulf and forcing production stoppages from Qatar to Iraq.

• The conflict has caused turbulence on global markets. In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 continued to fall on Wednesday, and was down about 1.7% during early trading. In Seoul, the Kospi – which dropped 7.2% on Tuesday – fell by a further 3.1% at the open. But Wall Street looks set to open flat in New York, according to pre-market trading data.

• The US navy could begin escorting oil tankers through the strait of Hormuz if necessary, president Donald Trump said on Tuesday, in one of the administration’s most aggressive steps yet to attempt to contain soaring energy prices sparked by the war.

• The Iranian Red Crescent Society said at least 787 people had been killed since the conflict began. The worst mass casualty event of the US-Israeli military assault so far has been the direct strike on a girls’ elementary school in Minab on Saturday, which killed up to 168 people. You get a sense of the devastation through our visual guide, here.

• At least 30,000 people have been displaced in Lebanon, according to the United Nations, following heavy Israeli airstrikes in the country.

• Israel said it has launched a ‘broad wave’ of strikes on Iran that were targeting launch sites, defense systems, and additional Iranian infrastructure.

• Trump also said he was upset with British prime minister Keir Starmer, who has not joined the US-Israeli attack on Iran but did let US forces use UK bases. “I’m not happy with the UK,” the US president said. “It’s taken three, four days for us to work out where we can land,” Trump said. Referring to Starmer, he added: “This is not Winston Churchill that we’re dealing with.”

• Canadian prime minister Mark Carney called on Wednesday for the rapid de-escalation of the conflict unleashed by US-Israeli strikes on Iran, urging all parties to respect the international rules of engagement.

Qatar, which hosts a major US military base and has been targeted by multiple Iranian strikes since the outbreak of the war, reported after midnight Wednesday that it had dismantled two spy cells linked to Iran’s Revolutionary Guards.

Ten suspects were arrested who “admitted during the investigation their links to the Revolutionary Guards and having been instructed to conduct espionage and sabotage activities,” the nation’s official press agency said.

Jonathan Yerushalmy

The US military has claimed that the first 24 hours of the operation in Iran was nearly double the scale of the first day of the “shock-and-awe” strikes on Iraq in 2003.

American forces have struck nearly 2,000 targets so far in Iran “as part of the largest firepower buildup in the region in a generation,” Admiral Brad Cooper of US Central Command has said.

“We have severely degraded Iran’s air defenses and destroyed hundreds of Iran’s ballistic missiles, launchers and drones,” Cooper said, adding that the US will “continue with 24/7 strikes into Iran.”

In March 2003, the US hit Iraq with more than 1000 strikes as it began the invasion that would eventually topple the government of Saddam Hussein. The “shock and awe” bombing campaign flattened the regime’s infrastructure in and around Baghdad and laid the groundwork for the military’s ground assault.

The Trump administration plans to meet with executives from the biggest US defence contractors at the White House on Friday to discuss accelerating weapons production, as the Pentagon works to replenish supplies after strikes on Iran and several other recent military efforts, five people familiar with the plan told Reuters.

Companies including Lockheed Martin and Raytheon parent RTX, along with other key suppliers, have been invited to attend the meeting, the people said, speaking on condition of anonymity because the discussions are private.

The meeting underscores the urgency felt in Washington to shore up weapons stocks after the Iran operation drew heavily on munitions.

At least 30,000 people have been displaced in Lebanon, according to the United Nations, following heavy Israeli airstrikes in the country. Thousands of Syrians have crossed the border to their home country, many of whom had fled to Lebanon during the civil war

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Callum Jones

Global markets look set for another turbulent day.

In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 continued to fall on Wednesday, and was down about 1.7% during early trading. In Seoul, the Kospi – which dropped 7.2% on Tuesday – fell by a further 3.1% at the open.

But Wall Street looks set to open flat in New York, according to pre-market trading data.

With all eyes still on the Strait of Hormuz – one of the most important arteries for global trade, which has been in effect closed by Iran – oil prices will also be in focus later after Donald Trump suggested the US could begin escorting tankers.

Donald Trump has attempted to counter a simmering anti-Israel backlash in Congress and among his own Maga supporters by denying suggestions that he had been bounced into attacking Iran because Israel had already decided to do so.

Amid growing criticism among opponents and allies alike, Trump rebuffed claims that he had struck Iran only because Israel had forced his hand, a suspicion fuelled by comments made by Marco Rubio, the secretary of state.

Asked whether Israel had pushed him into launching military action, Trump told reporters: “No. I might have forced their hand.”

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The Central Intelligence Agency’s station at the US embassy in Saudi Arabia was hit on Monday by a suspected Iranian drone, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters on Tuesday.

There is no indication the station was the target, the source said. The CIA declined to comment.

The attack came amid ongoing strikes in the Middle East following Saturday’s US and Israeli attacks on Iran.

The embassy, which is located in the Saudi capital of Riyadh, is among the US sites that have been hit so far in the conflict. Saudi Arabia’s defense ministry said the embassy was hit by two drones, which resulted in a limited fire and some material damage.

The US military has destroyed 17 Iranian ships, including a submarine, and struck nearly 2,000 targets in Iran, the commander of the US Central Command said on Tuesday.

“Today, there is not a single Iranian ship underway in the Arabian Gulf, Strait of Hormuz, or Gulf of Oman,” U.S. Central Command’s Brad Cooper said in a video posted to X.

Canadian prime minister Mark Carney called on Wednesday for the rapid de-escalation of the conflict unleashed by US-Israeli strikes on Iran, urging all parties to respect the international rules of engagement.

Speaking in Sydney, Carney said the war in the Middle East represented “another example of the failure of the international order”.

“Canada calls for a rapid de-escalation of hostilities and is prepared to assist in achieving this goal,” he said.

“Canada reaffirms that international law binds all belligerents,” he said.

The Pentagon has released the names of four of the six service members who have been killed in the Iran war, saying they died in a drone strike in Kuwait.

All four Army Reserve soldiers were killed Sunday when a drone hit a command centre in Port Shuaiba, Kuwait. That was just a day after the US and Israel launched its military campaign against Iran, which has launched retaliatory strikes.

The soldiers, assigned from the 103rd Sustainment Command in Des Moines, lowa, were:

• Capt. Cody A. Khork, 35, of Winter Haven, Florida

• Sgt. 1st Class Noah L. Tietjens, 42, of Bellevue, Nebraska

• Sgt. 1st Class Nicole M. Amor, 39, of White Bear Lake, Minnesota

• Spc. Declan J. Coady, 20, of West Des Moines, lowa.