Iranian missile attacks: Iran launched a fresh wave of missiles at Israel early Thursday, sending millions into bomb shelters.
Israeli response: Israel began a new wave of strikes in Tehran and targeted Hezbollah in Beirut; a Hamas official was reportedly killed in a drone strike.
US political stance: Republican senators blocked a motion requiring congressional approval for US military action, keeping the air campaign ongoing.
Turkey drawn in: NATO intercepted an Iranian ballistic missile aimed at Turkey, though Iran denied targeting Turkish territory.
Iranian naval losses: A US submarine sank an Iranian warship off Sri Lanka on Wednesday, killing at least 80 sailors.
Regional escalation: Iran targeted Kurdish groups in Iraq and warned “separatist groups” against taking action.
Leadership developments: Mojtaba Khamenei, son of Iran’s slain supreme leader, emerged as a frontrunner for succession.
Global energy impact: Strait of Hormuz shipping remains paralyzed; oil prices rose; US Navy plans to escort tankers once feasible.
Citizen repatriation: Governments arranged repatriation flights for stranded citizens
Funeral uncertainty: Funeral for slain Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei postponed indefinitely, no new date announced.
Iran's military said on Thursday that it had launched a drone attack against a US military site in Kuwait.
"Drone units of the armed force's navy targeted a site of the US forces Camp Udairi in Kuwait using combat drones," the army said in a statement broadcast by state TV.
Camp Buehring, formerly known as Udairi, is a major US military facility in northwestern Kuwait.
A security official with Iraq’s navy said an oil tanker flying the Bahamas flag was hit by an explosion on Thursday while docked near Khor al-Zubair port in southern Iraq. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to comment publicly.
The official said a small, unidentified boat approached the tanker at 01:20 am local time, shortly before an explosion was heard near the vessel’s left side. The cause of the explosion and the extent of the damage were not immediately clear.
Also Thursday, Iraq’s state-run Iraqi News Agency reported that an attempt to launch missiles from an area in Basra province in southern Iraq “intended to target a neighboring country,” was thwarted and that security forces seized a mobile launch platform carrying two missiles that were ready to be fired.
Iran's armed forces on Thursday denied having launched a drone attack on Azerbaijan after Baku said at least two Iranian drones hit the country, wounding two people.
"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, according to state TV, which also blamed Israel.
"Such actions by the Zionist regime, aimed at disrupting relations between Muslim countries in various ways, are not unprecedented."
Iran's Revolutionary Guards said on Thursday they had targeted Israel's Ben Gurion airport and an air force base in the area.
"The heavy Khorramshahr-4 missiles carrying one-tonne warheads were launched at dawn today ... toward the heart of Tel Aviv, Ben Gurion airport and the base of the Israeli air force's 27th squadron located at the airport," the Guards said in a statement carried by Tasnim news agency.
The death toll in Iran from the ongoing war with the United States and Israel has reached at least 1,230 people, an Iranian government agency said Thursday.
The Iran's Foundation of Martyrs and Veterans Affairs offered the toll.
Iran accused Israel and the United States on Thursday of deliberately targeting civilian areas during their war on the Islamic republic, which began six days ago.
"Our people are being brutally slaughtered as the aggressors deliberately target civilian areas and any location they believe will inflict the maximum possible suffering and loss of life," said foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei in a post on X.
Falling debris from an intercepted drone injured six people in the Emirati capital Abu Dhabi on Thursday, the UAE's media office said.
"Authorities in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi responded to an incident involving falling debris at two locations in the ICAD 2 area, following the successful interception of a drone by air defences. The incident resulted in six minor to moderate injuries to Pakistani and Nepalese nationals," Abu Dhabi media office said in a statement.
Iran's army said it had carried out drone strikes in Israel on Thursday including a radar site.
The strikes hit "targets in Tel Aviv as well as Meron radar base" in Israel's north, the army said as quoted by state TV.
France has allowed US aircraft on some of its bases in the Middle East during the conflict opposing the United States and Israel with Iran, the French military said Thursday.
"As part of our relations with the United States, the presence of their aircraft has been temporarily authorised on our bases" in the region, a spokeswoman for the military general staff told AFP.
"These aircraft contribute to the protection of our partners in the Gulf."
Iran has not requested military aid from its ally Russia since Israel and the United States began striking the country last week, the Kremlin said Thursday.
"In this case, there have been no requests from the Iranian side," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters, including AFP, in a daily briefing call.
Azerbaijan on Thursday summoned the Iranian envoy after two people were wounded in drone hits on an airport and near a school.
The ministry said it had summoned Iranian envoy in Baku to express "strong protest" over the attack, which "contradicts the norms and principles of international law and contributes to rising tensions in the region.
"Azerbaijan reserves the right to take appropriate retaliatory measures," it added.
Qatar's defence ministry said on Thursday its military was working to intercept an incoming missile attack as loud blasts reverberated across Doha and smoke was seen over the city.
"The Ministry of Defence of State of Qatar announces that State of Qatar has been subjected to a missile attack," it said in a statement. "Air Defence systems are intercepting the missile attack," it added.
The attacks around midday involved at least two drones that crossed from Iran into Azerbaijan's exclave of Nakhichevan, which borders Iran and is separated from mainland Azerbaijan by Armenia, said a foreign ministry statement.
"One drone fell on the terminal building of Nakhichevan Airport, while another drone fell near a school building in the village of Shekerabad," the ministry said, damaging the airport and wounding two civilians.
Another round of explosions were heard over the Qatari capital Doha on Thursday, AFP journalists reported.
Doha has been targeted by waves of Iranian drones and missiles since Iran launched a sprawling retaliation campaign across the Gulf in the wake of the US and Israeli attacks against Iran.
A drone launched from Iranian territory struck an airport building in Azerbaijan's exclave of Nakhichevan Thursday and exploded, Azerbaijani media reported.
Two drones crossed from Iran Thursday before one of them crashed into Nakhichevan's airport, the Azerbaijani news outlet Report said, without providing further details.
Video published on social media appeared to show smoke rising from the airport.
Iran's internet is "around 1 percent of ordinary levels" with a communication blackout sparked by the war with Israel and the United States entering a fifth day, monitor Netblocks said on Thursday.
"Iran's internet blackout has now exceeded 120 hours with connectivity still flatlining around 1 percent of ordinary levels," Netblocks said in a message posted on social media platform X.
"Meanwhile, an increasingly Orwellian environment is emerging as telcos threaten users who try to connect to the global internet with legal action."
Italy will send air defence assistance to Gulf countries hit by Iranian strikes in retaliation for US-Israeli attacks, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said Thursday, says an AFP report.
"Italy, like the UK, France and Germany, intends to send aid to the Gulf countries. We are clearly talking about defence, air defence, not just because they are friendly nations but because there are tens of thousands of Italians in that area and around 2,000 soldiers that we must protect," she told RTL 102.5 radio..
"And the Gulf is vital for supplies."
Iranian state television said Iran had struck a US oil tanker in the Gulf with a missile on Thursday, the latest Iranian attack on the energy industry in the region, reported AFP.
The ship "was hit by a missile in the north of the Persian Gulf" and "is currently on fire", Iran's Revolutionary Guards said in a statement reported by state television.
The incident, which has not been independently confirmed, came as the Guards said they had "full control" of the Strait of Hormuz, which connects the Gulf to the Indian Ocean and is a vital oil and gas transit route.
Israel's Defence Minister Israel Katz said his US counterpart Pete Hegseth assured him of Washington's firm backing for their joint military campaign against Iran and urged him to continue the operation "to the end".
"The Secretary of Defence said: 'Keep going to the end -- we are with you,'" Katz said, referring to an overnight conversation between the two, according to a statement issued by the Israeli minister's office on Thursday.
Iranian state television aired a message Thursday from an ayatollah in Iran calling for the “shedding” of blood from Israelis and US President Donald Trump.
The message came from Ayatollah Abdollah Javadi Amoli and represented one of the few clerical statements coming from Iran as it faces a combined airstrike campaign from Israel and the United States.
“We are now on the verge of a great test and we must be careful to fully preserve this unity, to fully preserve this alliance,” he said in the statement.
He called for “the shedding of Zionist blood, the shedding of Trump's blood.”
“The Imam of the time says, Fight the oppressive America, his blood is on my shoulders,'” the ayatollah added.
Iran’s Energy Minister Abbas Aliabadi said US-Israeli attacks have damaged water and electricity supply infrastructure in several parts of the country, reported Al Jazeera citing state broadcaster IRIB.
He said repair work is underway to restore services and ensure uninterrupted service delivery. Aliabadi also urged citizens to use water and electricity cautiously as restoration efforts continue.
Australia has deployed two military aircraft to the Middle East as part of contigency planning, two officials told AFP on Thursday.
Countries have rushed to evacuate their citizens from the Middle East this week after US-Israeli strikes on Iran that killed its supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and sparked a regional war.
Officials told AFP that Australia had deployed a heavy transport aircraft and a fuel transport aircraft to the Middle East as part of plans to get its citizens out.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese also told parliament on Thursday that "military assets" had been deployed to the Middle East, though he did not give further details.
"I thank those Australians going into a dangerous situation in order to help their fellow Australians," he said.
New Zealand also ordered two military aircraft to the Middle East on Thursday in preparation for evacuations of its citizens from the region.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has accused the United States of committing an “atrocity at sea” after the Iranian naval frigate Dena was sunk in international waters. In a post on X, Araghchi said the vessel — which he described as a guest of the Indian Navy and carrying nearly 130 sailors — was struck without warning about 2,000 miles (3,219 km) away from Iran’s shores.
Warning of consequences, the Iranian minister said the US had set a dangerous precedent and would “bitterly regret” the attack. The remarks come amid rapidly escalating tensions in the region as the conflict continues to widen.
The U.S. has perpetrated an atrocity at sea, 2,000 miles away from Iran's shores.
— Seyed Abbas Araghchi (@araghchi) March 5, 2026
Frigate Dena, a guest of India's Navy carrying almost 130 sailors, was struck in international waters without warning.
Mark my words: The U.S. will come to bitterly regret precedent it has set. pic.twitter.com/cxYiI9BLUk
Lebanese state media said an Israeli strike killed a Hamas official on Thursday, the first reported targeted killing of a member of the Palestinian militant group since US-Israeli strikes on Iran triggered regional war.
Wassim Atallah al-Ali and his wife were killed when an "enemy drone targeted their home" in Beddawi, a Palestinian refugee camp near Tripoli, in a pre-dawn strike, the National News Agency (NNA) reported, describing the man as a senior Hamas official.
Australia's Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said Thursday that "military assets" had been deployed to the Middle East as a contingency plan.
"I thank those Australians going into a dangerous situation in order to help their fellow Australians," Albanese told Australia's parliament.
The Australian leader did not give further details about the nature of the assets. Local outlet SBS News reported they were planes.
Iran said Thursday it had targeted headquarters of Kurdish forces in Iraqi Kurdistan, according to Iranian state media, following strikes on Kurdish regions in both Iran and Iraq.
"We targeted the headquarters of Kurdish groups opposed to the revolution in Iraqi Kurdistan with three missiles," Iran's official IRNA news agency posted on Telegram, quoting a military statement.
China has told its largest oil refiners to suspend exports of diesel and gasoline, Bloomberg News reported Thursday, as the war in the Middle East increasingly risks an energy supply crunch.
China is a net importer of oil and is one of several major Asian economies that depend on the vital Strait of Hormuz, where traffic is currently blocked, for energy.
The Middle East was the source of 57 percent of China's direct seaborne crude imports in 2025, according to analytics firm Kpler.
Officials from China's top economic planner, the National Development and Reform Commission, met with refinery representatives "and verbally called for a temporary suspension of refined product shipments that would begin immediately", Bloomberg said Thursday, citing people familiar with the matter.
"The refiners were asked to stop signing new contracts and to negotiate the cancellation of already-agreed shipments," the report said.
PetroChina, Sinopec, CNOOC, Sinochem Group and private refiner Zhejiang Petrochemical regularly obtain fuel export quotas from the government, Bloomberg said.
Iranian state television said there was a new wave of attacks Thursday morning targeting Israel and U.S. military bases in the region, reported AFP.
Mark Carney on Thursday said he could not rule out Canada’s military participation in the escalating Middle East conflict, though he stressed that such a scenario remained “hypothetical.”
Speaking alongside Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese in Canberra, Carney said Canada would “stand by our allies” and would always defend its citizens if circumstances demanded action. His remarks come amid rising tensions after a massive strike by the United States and Israel on Iran that reportedly killed Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.
Carney reiterated that the US-Israeli attack was “inconsistent with international law”, while maintaining that Canada supports efforts to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons. He described the situation as a sign of the “failure of the international order” and again called for immediate de-escalation in the region. (Read full story)
Qatar said Thursday it was evacuating residents living near the US embassy in the capital Doha, after Iranian strikes hit the Gulf country in retaliation for US-Israeli attacks.
AFP journalists heard loud explosions reverberating in Doha on Tuesday as Iran struck targets across the region.
The same day, an Iranian ballistic missile hit a US military base at Al-Udeid, 40 kilometres (25 miles) southwest of Doha, Qatar's defence ministry said.
Qatar said earlier it had thwarted attacks on Hamad International Airport.
"The relevant authorities are evacuating residents living in the vicinity of the US Embassy as a temporary precautionary measure," Qatar's interior ministry posted on X.
"Suitable accommodation has been provided for them as part of necessary preventive measures," it added.
The ministry earlier urged citizens to "remain inside homes and buildings" and "avoid going out except when necessary".
A tanker was hit by a "large explosion" in waters off Kuwait, causing an oil spill, British maritime security agency UKMTO said Thursday, as the US-Iran-Israel war paralysed Gulf shipping.
Kuwait's interior ministry said the blast happened "outside Kuwaiti territorial waters", at least 60 kilometres (37 miles) from Mubarak Al-Kabeer Port.
Turkish officials said NATO air defence systems shot down a ballistic missile fired from Iran toward Turkish airspace via Iraq and Syria.
The defence ministry said it had been "engaged and neutralised by NATO air-and-missile defence assets deployed in the eastern Mediterranean".
It did not specify the missile's intended target. Iran has been hitting sites across the region in retaliation after the United States and Israel launched strikes against it on Saturday.
A Turkish official, speaking to AFP on condition of anonymity, said the missile had been "aimed at a base in Greek Cyprus but veered off course".
No casualties were reported.
The United Arab Emirates "strongly condemned" the missile launch as a "serious escalation", the foreign ministry said in a statement.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Turkey was "taking all the necessary precautions" in consultation with its NATO allies and was issuing "warnings in the clearest terms to prevent similar incidents from happening again".
Iran launched a round of missiles at Israel on Thursday, the Israeli military and Tehran's state media said, triggering alerts in several areas including Tel Aviv, with no immediate reports of casualties.
After a lull of more than seven hours, Israel's military said it had "identified missiles launched from Iran toward the territory of the State of Israel".
"Defensive systems are operating to intercept the threat," it added.
Iran's state broadcaster IRIB also reported the launches.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson has accused the European Union of “hypocrisy and a blatant double standard” after comments by the bloc’s foreign policy chief about Tehran’s actions in the region.
In a post on X, Esmaeil Baqaei criticised EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas, saying the bloc had “lost its moral and political compass” by failing to condemn attacks against Iran.
Baqaei said Iran was “under attack by brutal aggressors” and had the right under international law to defend itself.
His comments came after Kallas wrote on X that Iran was “sowing chaos” in the region and “indiscriminately attacking its neighbours”.
She added that while a democratic Iran would pose less of a threat to the region, “no one can predict which direction Iran will take”.
A group of nearly 30 United Nations special rapporteurs and experts have condemned the US and Israel’s “unprovoked attacks” against Iran, emphasising that “we cannot pick and choose when international law applies”.
The targeting of civilians, educational institutions and medical facilities constitutes a “grave violation of international humanitarian law and human rights law”, the experts wrote, adding that the conflict now threatens to destabilise the Middle East as a whole.
They also expressed concern over Israel’s ongoing strikes in Lebanon and rejected the narrative – pushed by the administration of US President Donald Trump – that conflict with Iran could lead to a self-determined shift in Iranian governance.
“Unlawful military intervention must not be seen as the solution to the grievances of the Iranian people, nor would any future nuclear deal that does not address these wider grievances be mistaken for one,” the experts wrote. “Calls by the US and Israel for Iranians to seize control of their own government are reckless and put countless civilian lives at risk.”
The army had earlier issued a threat forcing residents of the neighbourhood to displace, saying they would imminently strike a building there.
This is the third Israeli army strike on the Haret Hreik neighbourhood in the southern suburbs of Beirut in the past 24 hours.
Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency has denied reports from Fox News and other outlets that Kurdish fighters are entering Iran.
Citing three of its own reporters in the border provinces of Ilam, Kermanshah, and West Azerbaijan, Tasnim said that the reports were false and there was “no news” of militants crossing Iran’s borders.
The media officer for the alliance of Iranian Kurdish parties also said that its forces were not launching ground operations.
Earlier, the Associated Press news agency reported that US officials asked Iraqi Kurds to help them in a cross-border military operation in Iran, and that troops were on “standby”.
Esmaeil Baghaei, the spokesperson of Iran’s foreign ministry, has described US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth as a war criminal, quoting some of his public comments.
“‘Flying over Tehran, flying over Iran, flying over their capital…Iranians looking up only seeing U.S.-Israeli air power. Death & destruction from the sky all day long,'” Baghaei wrote, referencing Hegseth’s statements.
“This is a confession of War Crime and Crime against Humanity. Only a NAZI mentality can unleash, in cold blood, death & destruction on another nation just to ‘satisfy the desires’ of his boss.”
The U.S. Secretary of War Crimes:
— Esmaeil Baqaei (@IRIMFA_SPOX) March 4, 2026
“Flying over Tehran, flying over Iran, flying over their capital…Iranians looking up only seeing U.S.-Israeli air power. Death & destruction from the sky all day long.”
This is a confession of War Crime and Crime against Humanity.
Only a NAZI…
Iran would target Israel’s Dimona nuclear facility if the United States and Israel attempt to pursue regime change in the Islamic Republic, an Iranian military official said.
The semi-official ISNA news agency reported that the official warned Iran could strike the nuclear site in southern Israel if such efforts were made.
The US Senate has rejected a resolution that would have required congressional approval for military action against Iran.
Republican senators blocked the measure in a 47–53 vote that largely fell along party lines.
The proposal sought to curb President Donald Trump’s military authority by directing the removal of US forces from Iran unless their deployment was authorised by Congress.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has praised Spain’s refusal to help the United States in its war against Iran.
“Spain’s responsible conduct in opposing the Zionist-American coalition’s flagrant human rights violations and military aggression against countries, including Iran, shows that ethics and awakened consciences still exist in the West,” the Iranian leader said. “I commend Spanish officials for their stances.”
Trump has criticised Spain’s refusal to allow the US to use its bases, while Spanish PM Pedro Sanchez has hit back, saying that Madrid refused to “play Russian roulette with the lives of millions”.
The US president then threatened to break all trade ties with Spain, and earlier on Wednesday, the White House claimed that Spain had buckled and agreed to cooperate with Trump’s demands.
But the Spanish government has since rejected that claim, insisting that its position regarding the war in Iran had not changed.
US officials asked Iraqi Kurds to help them in a cross-border military operation in Iran, Kurdish officials have told The Associated Press news agency.
Khalil Nadiri, an official with the Kurdistan Freedom Party in northern Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdish region, told The AP that some Kurdish forces had moved to areas near the Iranian border in Sulaymaniyah province, where they were on “standby”.
Nadiri said Kurdish opposition group leaders were contacted by US officials for a potential operation, but did not provide more details.
A second Kurdish official with Komala, another Kurdish Iranian group, told the outlet on condition of anonymity that its forces were ready to cross the border within a week and were “waiting for the grounds to be suitable”.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry has accused the United States and Israel of striking dozens of civilian sites during attacks across the country.
Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baqaei said in a post on X that locations hit included hospitals, schools, residential areas and markets in several Iranian cities.
Among the sites listed were residential areas in Tehran’s Niloufar Square, hospitals in Tehran and Ahvaz, the Tehran Grand Bazaar, the historic Golestan Palace complex south of the capital and an elementary school in Minab.
Baqaei also said residential areas in Maragheh in northwestern Iran and a sports hall in Lamerd in Fars province were struck, claiming civilians were killed in both incidents.
In total, the Iranian official listed 33 sites and facilities that he said had been targeted in the attacks.
Araghchi’s phone call with Bafel Talabani, the head of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan of Iraq, on Wednesday came after US President Trump had spoken with Talabani.
In a statement on Tuesday, the PUK said Trump “offered an opportunity to better understand US objectives and to discuss joint support for building a strong partnership between the United States and Iraq”.
According to Axios and CNN, Trump’s call with Talabani is part of a broader effort by the US to mobilise Kurdish groups to lead an uprising against the Iranian government from the country’s west.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has warned of “terrorist movements” at the border with Iraq, in a phone call with Bafel Talabani, the head of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan of Iraq, the Iranian ministry said.
Araghchi emphasised the necessity to boost cooperation.
Senate Democrats are trying to underscore the gravity of the moment as they cast votes on legislation that would halt President Donald Trump from carrying out further attacks on Iran.
They have filled the Senate chamber and are sitting at their desks as the vote gets underway.
During typical votes, senators stop into the chamber to cast their vote, then leave.
Senate Democrats stood when their names were called to say yay or nay, while the Republican side of the chamber was mostly empty.
Republicans have already signaled they will oppose the measure.
More than 6,400 South Africans have registered on a system opened for citizens to advise the government of their location, the Foreign Ministry said in a statement Wednesday.
The ministry said it was urging its citizens to depart on the limited number of commercial flights that have resumed.
The Israeli military said its Home Front Command had eased some war-related restrictions effective midday Thursday, allowing limited activity and permitting public gatherings of up to 50 people.
"As part of the changes, all areas of the country will transition from an essential activity level to a limited activity level," the military announced, soon after it had said the number of missiles fired by Iran towards Israel had declined.
The military said schools and other educational institutions would remain closed.
White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt has spelled out what she says were the offers made by Trump’s negotiators to Iran, before the US decided to attack the country.
She claimed that the US had engaged in “good faith negotiations” with Iran — and that Tehran had not. That assertion is belied by revelations by Oman’s foreign minister, who was mediating the talks, and according to whom the US attacks on Iran came at a time when Tehran had agreed to unprecedented concessions relating to its nuclear programme.
According to Leavitt, Iran rejected all of the US proposals, which she summarised as:
US negotiators offered to lift crippling sanctions on Iran
They offered that the US would provide nuclear fuel to Iran for peaceful purposes
They proposed a joint civil nuclear programme, with American investment
In return, Iran would need to permanently dismantle its enrichment infrastructure.
“They refused to say yes to peace,” Leavitt said. “And now they are reaping the consequences of that.”
President Donald Trump said Wednesday the United States and Israel were in a strong position in their war with Iran, vowing that they would "continue forward" against the Islamic republic.
"We're in a very strong position now, and their leadership is just rapidly going. Everybody that seems to want to be a leader, they end up dead," Trump told a gathering of tech bosses at the White House.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Wednesday that attacks on NATO ally Turkey's sovereignty were "unacceptable" after the alliance shot down an Iranian missile, which a Turkish official said had veered off course.
In a call with Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, Rubio said "that attacks on Turkey's sovereign territory were unacceptable and pledged full support from the United States," State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott said.
The Israeli military announced it had launched a new wave of strikes in Tehran on Wednesday, saying they were targeting military infrastructure belonging to the "Iranian regime".
"The IDF has begun an additional wave of strikes targeting military infrastructure belonging to the Iranian regime across Tehran," the military said in a statement.
The Senate is headed toward a vote on Wednesday on President Donald Trump’s decision to embark on a war against Iran.
The legislation, known as a war powers resolution, gives lawmakers an opportunity to demand congressional approval before any further attacks are carried out.
The Senate resolution and a similar bill being voted on in the House later this week face unlikely paths through the Republican-controlled Congress, and would almost certainly be vetoed by Trump even if they were to pass.
Nonetheless, the votes marked a weighty moment for lawmakers. Their decisions on the five-day-old war – which Trump entered without congressional approval – could determine the fates of U.S. military members, countless other lives and the future of the region.
“Today every senator – every single one – will pick a side,” said Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer during a floor speech.
“Do you stand with the American people who are exhausted with forever wars in the Middle East, or stand with Donald Trump and Pete Hegseth as they bumble us headfirst into another war?”
The Israeli military said Wednesday that its strikes on Iran's missile launchers had led to a daily decline in the number of missiles the Islamic republic was firing at Israel.
"We've neutralised around 300 ballistic missile launchers. We believe our operations against those missile launchers and against those stockpiles are an integral part of the fact that we're seeing the amounts of missiles fired every day diminish," military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Nadav Shoshani told journalists.
Hezbollah will confront "Israeli-American aggression" and will not surrender, the head of the Iran-backed Lebanese group Naim Qassem said Wednesday night in remarks broadcast on his party's TV channel.
"We are facing aggression... our choice is to confront it until the ultimate sacrifice, and we will not surrender," the Hezbollah leader declared in his first speech since the beginning of the US-Israeli attack on Iran.
Spain’s government has refuted that it will cooperate with the US military attack on Iran, contradicting the White House.
Earlier today, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Spain agreed to cooperate with US military operations in the region after Trump threatened to cut off trade with Madrid.
That statement came after Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares prohibited the US from using bases in southern Spain in any strikes not covered by the UN charter.
Speaking at Cadena SER radio, Albares denied claims made Leavitt.
“The Spanish government’s position regarding the war in the Middle East and the bombings in Iran, regarding the use of our bases, has not changed by a single comma,” said Albares.
The US Senate is expected to meet and vote on a resolution brought by Democrat Tim Kaine and Republican Rand Paul seeking to curb President Donald Trump’s ability to wage war on Iran.
Republicans have a majority in the Senate, as they do in the House of Representatives.
“Among Republicans, there is pretty much ironclad support for the administration launching these attacks on Iran, save for Rand Paul,” Al Jazeera’s Heidi Zhou-Castro reported from Capitol Hill, adding that given the numbers, the resolution was unlikely to find enough traction in Congress to pass.
“But we did hear some pretty strong words from Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer earlier in the day,” Zhou-Castro said. “He fears that eventually, Trump might order boots on the ground in Iran.”
French President Emmanuel Macron has said he had spoken with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Lebanese President Joseph Aoun and Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam and discussed the situation in Lebanon, urging them to deescalate.
In a post on social media platform X, Macron said Hezbollah’s strategy of escalation constitutes a major error that puts the entire region in danger
Je me suis entretenu ce jour avec le Premier ministre israélien Benjamin Netanyahou, ainsi qu'avec le Président de la République libanaise Joseph Aoun et le Premier ministre Nawaf Salam, pour évoquer la situation au Liban, qui est très préoccupante.
— Emmanuel Macron (@EmmanuelMacron) March 4, 2026
J'ai réaffirmé la nécessité…
Asked if Trump thinks that Americans support the Israel-U.S. war in Iran – even though Trump hasn’t given a national address to personally make the case -- Leavitt said, “I think he does.”
“This was a rogue terrorist regime that has been threatening the United States, our allies and our people for 47 years,” she said. “And the American people are smart enough to know that, and they’re smart enough to listen to the president himself — not just over the past year, in the second term, but during his first term as president.”
Recent polling shows that, prior to the U.S.-Israel strikes that started last weekend, 61% of Americans said Iran was an “enemy” of the U.S., but only about 3 in 10 Americans said they had “a great deal” or “quite a bit” of trust in Trump.
President Donald Trump is "actively considering" a US role in Iran after the American-Israeli operation against the country concludes, the White House said Wednesday.
"I think it's something the president is actively considering and discussing with his advisors and his national security team," Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said of any post-war US role.
The United Nations says an estimated 100,000 people fled Tehran in the first two days of the US and Israeli strikes on Iran over the weekend.
“In Iran, an estimated 100,000 people left Tehran in the first two days following the attacks,” UNHCR, the UN refugee agency, said in a situation report.
A top cleric on Wednesday said Iran is close to choosing its next supreme leader.
The comments of Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami, a member of the Assembly of Experts -- the body charged with picking a new leader, were aired on state television.
"The options have become clear," he said. Other top officials have also indicated a decision may be close.
The death toll in Iran from the ongoing war with the United States and Israel has reached at least 1,045 people, an Iranian government agency said Wednesday.
The Iran's Foundation of Martyrs and Veterans Affairs offered the toll, saying it represented the number of bodies so far identified and prepared for burial.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Spain has agreed to cooperate with the US military a day after Trump suggested imposing a trade embargo on Madrid over its refusal to allow US aircraft to use jointly operated naval and air bases in southern Spain.
"With respect to Spain, I think they heard the president's message yesterday loud and clear. And it's my understanding over the past several hours they've agreed to cooperate with the U.S. military," Leavitt said.
Trump plans to attend the dignified transfer at Dover Air Force Base of U.S. troops killed in the Middle East conflict, the White House said Wednesday, one of the most solemn duties undertaken by the commander in chief.
The Pentagon is working to schedule the transfer. The U.S. has said six soldiers were killed.
“These heroes represent the very best among us,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Wednesday.
