The West Asia war entered a third week as the United States and Israel traded fire with Iran, with attacks on military, diplomatic and increasing attack on Gulf energy sites.
Triggered by the February 28 US-Israeli strikes, the conflict has spread across the region, roiling energy markets and pushing up oil prices as Tehran blockades the Strait of Hormuz, while Israel has intensified attacks on Lebanon with a ground invasion targeting Hezbollah.
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The Trump administration is reportedly considering occupying or blockading Iran’s Kharg Island to pressure Tehran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
Kuwait’s Mina Al-Ahmadi oil refinery was hit by Iranian drones, causing fires at several units; Gulf countries continue to report missile and drone strikes.
Ali Mohammad Naeini, IRGC spokesperson, was killed in an overnight Israeli airstrike.
Israeli airstrikes targeted Tehran during Nowruz, the Persian New Year.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres said there are “reasonable grounds” to believe both sides may have committed war crimes.
Iran warned the UK that allowing US military use of British bases would be considered “participation in aggression.”
Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel “acted alone” in striking South Pars gas field, without confirming if Trump was informed.
Iran's military warns 'parks, recreational areas and tourist destinations' worldwide won't be safe for enemies
Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE denounced the Iranian attacks. Arab League Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul Gheit called them a “dangerous escalation.”
But Iran showed no signs of backing down. Saudi Arabia said its SAMREF refinery in the Red Sea port city of Yanbu was hit. Saudi Arabia had begun pumping large volumes of oil west toward the Red Sea to avoid the Strait of Hormuz.
Qatar, a key source of natural gas for world markets, said extensive damage was caused by Iranian missiles hitting the Ras Laffan liquefied natural gas facility, where production had already been halted after earlier attacks. Damage to the facility could delay Qatar's ability to get supplies to the market even after the war ends.
Two oil refineries in Kuwait and gas operations in Abu Dhabi also were targeted by Iran, local authorities said.
Iran vowed to hit hard if its energy facilities were attacked again.
"ZERO restraint if our infrastructures are struck again," Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said in a post on X.
The military's Khatam Al-Anbiya operational command vowed the "complete destruction" of Gulf energy infrastructure if the Israeli attack was repeated, according to a statement carried by Fars news agency.
US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Thursday said there is no "time frame" for ending the US-Israeli war against Iran and added that US President Donald Trump will be the one to decide when to stop.
"We wouldn't want to set a definitive time frame," Hegseth told a news conference, adding that "we're very much on track."
"It will be at the president's choosing, ultimately, where we say, 'Hey, we've achieved what we need to'," he added.
Hegseth also addressed a report that the Pentagon has requested more than $200 billion in additional funding from Congress to pay for the conflict, which was launched by the US and Israel three weeks ago.
The money will have to be approved by Congress.
"As far as $200 billion, I think that number could move. Obviously it takes money to kill bad guys," Hegseth said. "We're going back to Congress and folks there to ensure that we're properly funded for what's been done, for what we may have to do in the future," he said.
Israeli media reported that an oil refinery in the northern port city of Haifa was hit on Thursday, after the military warned of incoming missiles launched from Iran.
Israel's Kan 11 public broadcaster aired images on television showing a thick plume of dark smoke rising from the area of the refinery. In a post on X, Kan reported that there were no concerns that hazardous materials had leaked.
The spokesperson for the environmental protection ministry said its director general and emergency response units from the Haifa district were on their way to a scene "following a report regarding the fall of interceptor debris in the Haifa region and a suspected incident involving hazardous materials."
US President Donald Trump said Thursday he had told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu not to strike any more Iranian gas fields, seeking to distance himself from an attack by a key ally that has shaken world energy markets.
Trump insisted on social media overnight that he "knew nothing" about Wednesday's strike by Israel on the South Pars gas field in Iran, which retaliated to the attack by hitting Qatari energy sites.
Asked in the Oval Office whether he had talked to Netanyahu about attacking Iranian gas fields, Trump replied: "I did. I told him, don't do that, and he won't do that.
"You know, we're independent. We get along great. It's coordinated, but on occasion, he'll do something, and if I don't like it...and so we're not doing that anymore."
Trump's comments come despite the fact that US sources said on Wednesday that Washington was aware of the attack, although it had not participated in it.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday that any Iranian attempt to close the Strait of Hormuz would fail.
"The death cult in Iran is trying to blackmail the world by closing a key international maritime route, the Strait of Hormuz. It won't work," Netanyahu said at a televised press conference.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday denied what he called "fake news" that Israel had dragged US President Donald Trump into war with Iran.
"Does anyone really think that someone can tell President Trump what to do?" Netanyahu told journalist at a press conference.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday that Israel had acted unilaterally in striking Iran's massive South Pars gas field.
"Israel acted alone against the Asaluyeh gas compound... President Trump asked us to hold off on future attacks and we're holding out," Netanyahu said at a televised press conference.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday that Iran had been stripped of its ability to enrich uranium or manufacture ballistic missiles.
"We are taking action to destroy the industries that make it possible to build missiles. Iran no longer has the capacity to enrich uranium and manufacture ballistic missiles," Netanyahu said at a televised press conference.
"We are winning and Iran is being decimated."
Israel has killed one senior Iranian leader after another in airstrikes as it seeks to topple the Islamic Republic. But its past experience of targeting senior militants shows the strategy has limits and can sometimes backfire.
Israel killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah. The group still fires rockets. It took out Hamas’ top brass. The group still controls half of Gaza and has not laid down its arms.
While such killings may provide tangible achievements that leaders can brand as victories — especially in wars with no clear endgame — they rarely address the underlying grievances that propel conflicts, says Jon Alterman, chair of Global Security and Geostrategy at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claimed on Thursday that he was "seeing cracks" in the Iranian leadership, with the country's new supreme leader yet to make a public appearance.
"I'm not sure who's running Iran right now. Mojtaba the replacement ayatollah has not shown his face. What we see is that there is a lot of tensions inside the people who are edging for the top," Netanyahu said in a televised press conference.
"We're seeing cracks, and we're trying to propagate them as fast as we can, not only in the top command, we're seeing cracks in the field."
Iran launched multiple rounds of missiles towards Israel late Thursday, after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared the Islamic republic has been "decimated" by war.
AFP reporters heard several loud blasts over Jerusalem as air raid sirens rang out across the city during one of the earlier attacks.
In a press conference on Thursday evening, Netanyahu said Israel and the United States were "winning" the war that began when the allies launched strikes on Iran.
"We are taking action to destroy the industries that make it possible to build missiles. Iran no longer has the capacity to enrich uranium and manufacture ballistic missiles," the veteran Israeli leader said.
"We are winning and Iran is being decimated."
The Israeli military said it launched a wave of strike on Tehran early Friday, following Iranian missile fire at Israel overnight.
A military statement said Israeli forced had "begun a wave of strikes targeting infrastructure of the Iranian terror regime across Tehran", without elaborating.
French President Emmanuel Macron said his country planned to talk with permanent members of the UN Security Council about establishing a UN framework -- once the ongoing exchange of fire had ended -- to secure navigation in the Strait of Hormuz.
"We have initiated an exploratory process, and we will see in the coming days whether it stands a chance of succeeding," he told reporters in Brussels following a European summit.
Israel pledged to refrain from more strikes on a key Iranian gas field after Iran intensified attacks on oil and natural gas facilities around the Gulf, raising the stakes in a war that has sent shock waves through energy markets and the global economy.
Global fuel supplies were already under pressure because of Iran’s stranglehold on the Strait of Hormuz, a strategic waterway through which a fifth of the world’s oil is transported.
The Islamic Republic’s retaliation for Israel's attack on its South Pars gas field sent fuel prices soaring even higher and risked drawing Iran’s Arab neighbors directly into the conflict.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said late Thursday that, at the request of President Donald Trump, Israel will hold off on any further attacks on the offshore gas field.
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun said a proposed framework to halt fighting between Israel and Iran-backed militant Hezbollah was "still on the table", as he hosted French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot on Thursday.
Lebanon was pulled into the regional war on March 2, when Hezbollah fired rockets toward neighbouring Israel in response to the killing of its ally Iran's supreme leader in Israeli-US attacks.
Israel responded with heavy airstrikes across Lebanon and ground incursions in the border area, which combined have left more than 1,000 people dead.
Meeting Barrot on Thursday, Aoun stressed "the necessity of a ceasefire, and to provide the necessary guarantees for its success by the parties concerned", according to a presidency statement.
Crude prices fell more than two percent Friday after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Iran was being "decimated" and that the war would end earlier than many feared.
Traders also welcomed US President Donald Trump's remarks that Israeli forces would not target any more of Tehran's energy infrastructure, after strikes on a key gas field Wednesday sparked warnings of retaliation against installations across the Gulf.
Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Defence has announced that it intercepted and downed five more drones over the Eastern Province, which is considered the economic hub of the country and location of key oilfields.
Bahrain’s Ministry of Interior said the fire at a company warehouse broke out due to falling shrapnel resulting from “Iranian aggression”.
Civil defence workers have the fire under control “without any injuries”, the ministry said.
Israel pounded Tehran with airstrikes Friday as Iranians marked Nowruz, or the Persian New Year. Activists reported hearing strikes around Iran’s capital.
Emirati and Kuwaiti air defences were responding to missile fire early Friday, authorities in the Gulf states said, while Saudi Arabia intercepted drone attacks.
Elsewhere in the Gulf, Bahrain's interior ministry said that shrapnel from an "Iranian aggression" caused a fire at a warehouse, which was brought under control and resulted in no injuries. The ministry earlier said air raid sirens were activated.
In Kuwait, an army statement said air defences were "responding to hostile missile and drone threats", while the UAE state media reported "incoming missile and drone threats from Iran".
Saudi Arabia's defence ministry said that within less than two hours, its forces had "intercepted and destroyed" 10 drones in the country's east and another in the north.
Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Defence said four more drones have been intercepted and destroyed in the country’s east, as the country continues to defend against a stream of unmanned aerial vehicles that have targeted the country over the past several hours.
The UN's maritime body called for the creation of a safe shipping "corridor" in the Gulf to evacuate stranded vessels and seafarers, after an emergency meeting that also condemned Iran.
Following two days of urgent talks in London, the International Maritime Organization (IMO) said the "safe maritime corridor" should be established as "a provisional and urgent measure".
Six Western allies, including Britain, France, Germany and Japan, earlier stated they were ready "to contribute to appropriate efforts to ensure safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz".
Paris, Rome and Berlin later stressed any initiative would take place only after a ceasefire was reached.
China will be in a stronger position to extract concessions from Donald Trump when the US president finally visits Beijing after becoming entangled in his Middle East war, analysts say.
Trump had been due in the Chinese capital at the end of this month for talks with President Xi Jinping, but has delayed his trip by several weeks to deal with the fallout from the war.
With Trump struggling to define how the intervention will end and traditional allies reluctant to back him, the US leader may come to China needing a diplomatic win.
Kuwait said Friday its Mina Al-Ahmadi oil refinery again came under attack by Iranian drones, which sparked a fire at several of its units.
The refinery had been hit Thursday, sparking fires.
Kuwait said firefighters on Friday were trying to control the blazes and there were no immediate injuries from the attack.
The Iranian attack came as Kuwait marked Eid al-Fitr, the celebration marking the end of the holy Muslim fasting month of Ramadan.
The attack Friday comes as Iran increasingly targets energy sites in Gulf Arab states after Israel on Wednesday bombed Iran’s massive South Pars offshore natural gas field in the Persian Gulf.
The UAE said Friday it disrupted what it called “a terrorist network funded and operated by Lebanon’s Hezbollah and Iran.”
It arrested five men accused of laundering money, alleging they were "operating within the country under a fictitious commercial cover” that sought to carry out schemes that would threaten the country’s financial stability.
It published images of five prisoners on its state-run WAM news agency, without identifying them.
Amid escalating conflict in West Asia, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has asked airlines to avoid certain airspaces in the Gulf region and ensure contingency plans as part of safety risk assessments, according to sources.
Meanwhile, Union Civil Aviation Minister Ram Mohan Naidu on Wednesday informed that the government is making continuous efforts and engagements to smooth travel towards the West Asia region. Speaking to reporters, Naidu asserted that West Asia is a "prime route" to travel to Europe and West Asia, adding government's dialogues with airlines, so that they have smooth operations.
Israel’s military said Friday it struck sites in Syria in response to attacks against the Druze.
The army said it struck infrastructure belonging to Syria in response to attacks on Druze population in Sweida in southern Syria.
Syria’s state-run SANA news agency did not immediately acknowledge the attack, which marks the first Israeli attack on Syria as its war with the United States targeting Iran continues.
Israel has a significant Druze population. Israel previously has intervened in defense of the Druze in Syria, launching dozens of airstrikes on convoys of government fighters and even striking the Syrian Defense Ministry headquarters in central Damascus.
Kuwait Petroleum Corporation has said that it is battling a fire at a unit of the Mina Al Ahmadi Refinery after it was hit by drone attacks earlier on Friday. It added that parts of the refinery were shut down as a precautionary measure.
“No injuries have been reported, and emergency teams are actively working to contain the situation
Qatar's energy minister said attacks on the country's energy installations would slash its export capacity of liquefied natural gas (LNG) by 17 percent, and take three to five years to repair.
"We will be compelled to declare force majeure for up to five years on some long-term LNG contracts," Saad Sherida Al-Kaabi said in a statement.
Israel carried out strikes on towns in southern Lebanon, causing multiple injuries, state media reported on Friday.
"Israeli enemy fighter jets struck at dawn, targeting the towns of Bafliyeh and Hanine in the Tyre and Bint Jbeil districts," the official National News Agency (NNA) reported, adding that Israeli forces had hit five other towns in the south of the country.
The Israeli military said it detected the launch of missiles from Iran a short while ago and air defence systems are operating to “intercept the threat”.
“Enter protected spaces upon receiving the alert and remain in them until a new announcement. Exit from the protected space will be permitted only after receiving an explicit directive,” the military said.
UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer said that he understands the strain rising costs are placing on families, as the conflict in the Middle East threatens to drive prices higher.
Starmer said his government is working to protect household budgets and ease costs, warning a prolonged conflict would raise living expenses further and that a negotiated settlement with Iran is the best solution.
The spokesman for Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard insisted Friday that Tehran was still building missiles, seeking to counter a claim by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that it no longer could.
Gen. Ali Mohammad Naeini made the comments in a report quoted by Iran’s state-run IRAN newspaper.
Referencing how Iranian schools consider a 20 as a perfect score, the general said: “Our missile industry score is 20 and there is no concern in this regard because we are producing missiles even during war conditions, which is amazing, and there is no particular problem in stockpiling.”
He also said the war would go on.
“These people expect the war to continue until the enemy is completely exhausted,” the general said of the Iranian public. “This war must end when the shadow of war is lifted from the country.”
Iran’s new Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei called Friday for the enemies of his nation to have their “security” taken away, in his latest message to the public.
Khamenei made the remarks in a statement issued on his behalf and sent to President Masoud Pezeshkian, after Israel killed Intelligence Minister Esmail Khatib.
Khamenei hasn’t been seen since he was named as supreme leader, succeeding his father, the 86-year-old Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed in an Israeli airstrike on the first day of the war on Feb. 28.
American and Israeli officials have suggested that Mojtaba Khamenei was hurt in the war.
Iran's Revolutionary Guards said on Friday that the Islamic republic has continued to produce missiles despite the war with Israel and the United States.
"Our missile industry deserves a perfect score... and there is no concern in this regard, because even under wartime conditions we continue missile production," Guards spokesman Ali Mohammad Naini said, quoted by the Fars news agency.
On Thursday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that "Iran no longer has the capacity to enrich uranium and manufacture ballistic missiles".
The Israeli army says it struck Syrian infrastructure – a command centre and weapons- in military compounds in the south of the country.
The army said the attacks were in response to what it called attacks on Druze civilians by Syrian authorities in the As-Suwayda area on Thursday.
Syria’s state-run SANA news agency and the Syrian government have not yet acknowledged the Israeli assault.
Sri Lanka refused permission to the United States to station two of its warplanes at a civilian airport in the island's south in early March, President Anura Kumara Dissanayake said on Friday.
The request was turned down to maintain Sri Lanka's neutrality and ensure its territory was not used for any military purpose that could help or hinder either side, he told parliament.
Iran's Revolutionary Guards said on Friday that US-Israeli strikes had killed their spokesman Ali Mohammad Naini.
Naini "was martyred in the criminal cowardly terrorist attack by the American-Zionist side at dawn", the Guards said in a statement on their Sepah News website.
The United States and Israel struck 16 Iranian cargo vessels in port towns on the Gulf on Friday, reported AFP citing local media, saying the ships were burnt.
"Following the American–Zionist air attack, at least 16 cargo vessels belonging to citizens of the towns of Bandar Lengeh and Bandar Kong were completely burnt in the fire," a local offical from the southern Hormozgan province said, quoted by the Tasnim news agency.
Israel's military said Friday it was launching strikes in Iran's Noor region on the shores of the Caspian Sea, as it kept up its bombing campaign after almost three weeks of war.
"The IDF has begun striking targets belonging to the Iranian terror regime," the army said in a statement.
The fresh strikes come after Israel's military said Thursday its jets had hit several Iranian naval vessels in the Caspian Sea.
Iran's military threatened on Friday to hunt down officials and army commanders from the United States and Israel even while they were vacationing or visiting entertainment centres.
"We are watching your cowardly officials and commanders, pilots and wicked soldiers," armed forces spokesman Abolfazl Shekarchi said, quoted by state TV.
"From now on, based on the information we have on you, the promenades, resorts and tourist and entertainment centres in the world will not be safe for you either."
The NATO mission in Iraq has temporarily withdrawn from the country, two Iraqi security officials told AFP on Friday, citing the impact of the war in the Middle East.
"There is no disagreement" with the Iraqi government, one official told AFP on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the subject. "It's a temporary withdrawal. They are worried because of the situation," he added. Another official said "the entire NATO mission has withdrawn", except for a small number of personnel.
The NATO mission is headquartered in an Iraqi military base in Baghdad's Green Zone near the US embassy, which since the start of the war has been targeted multiple times.
Abu Dhabi police said on Friday that 109 people of various nationalities were arrested for filming sites and incidents and sharing misleading information on social media during the ongoing US-Israel-Iran conflict. Authorities said such posts risk inciting public opinion and spreading rumors.
The UAE attorney-general has also ordered the arrests of 35 people for publishing footage glorifying a hostile state or its leaders. Similar measures have been reported in Qatar, where over 300 people were arrested for sharing “misleading information,” and in Bahrain and Kuwait, as Gulf countries tighten controls amid escalating attacks on civilian and energy infrastructure.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez announced an 80-measure, €5 billion ($5.8 billion) package to cushion the economic impact of the Middle East conflict. Measures include a drastic cut in energy taxes, with VAT on gas and fuel reduced to lower pump prices by up to 30 euro cents per litre, electricity taxes cut by 60%, and VAT on electricity reduced to 10% from 21%.
The plan also includes direct subsidies of €0.20 per litre for transport operators, farmers, ranchers, and fishermen, along with aid for fertiliser purchases. Sanchez added a decree introducing a temporary nationwide rent freeze, pending parliamentary approval with coalition partners.
“Extraordinary situations require extraordinary responses,” Sanchez said, acknowledging that the measures would mitigate but not prevent the economic impact of the conflict on Spanish households and key sectors. The package takes effect Saturday following publication in the official gazette.
Switzerland on Friday announced it will not authorise exports of war materiel to the United States during the ongoing Middle East conflict, citing its long-standing policy of military neutrality.
The Swiss government said existing licences will be regularly reviewed by an interdepartmental expert group from the foreign, defence, and economy ministries to ensure compatibility with neutrality. Switzerland has not issued war materiel licences to Israel or Iran for years, and no new licences have been granted to the US since the conflict began on February 28.
“The export of war materiel to countries involved in the international armed conflict with Iran cannot be authorised for the duration of the conflict,” the government said, adding that existing US licences “have been determined to be of no relevance to the war at present and can therefore continue to be used.”
Swiss neutrality, recognised internationally since 1815, remains a cornerstone of the country’s foreign policy.
US Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller said Friday he is concerned about inflation due to the prolonged closure of the Strait of Hormuz amid the US-Israel conflict with Iran. Waller, who had previously supported interest rate cuts, said rising oil prices and a protracted conflict have made inflation a bigger concern. He backed the Fed’s recent decision to hold rates steady but said he is not currently in favour of rate hikes.
Seafarers stranded in the Gulf are rationing food and water as Iran’s blockade continues amid the US-Israel-Iran conflict, reported AFP. Indian sailors aboard a small refueling vessel off Iraq, said they are boiling water for drinking as supplies run low.
Another vessel near Qatar’s Ras Laffan LNG plant, hit by an Iranian strike, has 95 crew members on board. The captain warned that food and water are being rationed to stretch supplies if ports remain closed.
Jacqueline Smith of the International Transport Workers’ Federation urged governments of flag states to coordinate repatriation, while the UN’s International Maritime Organization called for a safe shipping corridor.
Around 20,000 seafarers remain stranded on roughly 3,200 vessels west of the Strait of Hormuz, with at least eight seafarers or dock workers killed since February 28. Pereira said the situation has caused panic, adding, “We just want to leave and go home. I won’t be coming to sea again after what I’ve seen now.”
President Donald Trump on Friday branded the United States' NATO allies "cowards" for not heeding his demand for military assistance against Iran to control the Hormuz Strait shipping route.
"COWARDS, and we will REMEMBER!" he posted on his Truth Social platform.
US allies "don't want to help open the Strait of Hormuz, a simple military maneuver that is the single reason for the high oil prices. So easy for them to do, with so little risk," he posted.
Smoke was seen rising from an impact site near the walls of Jerusalem's Old City on Friday, Israeli television showed, after AFP journalists heard loud blasts following a warning of Iranian missiles
Israeli media showed footage of a crater in a road that appeared to be close to the Jewish and Armenian quarters of the historic Old City.
Israeli police said they were "conducting searches to locate the impact sites of weapons and munitions or interception fragments within the Jerusalem District."
Lebanon’s Hezbollah group says it fired salvos of rockets and drones that struck Israeli military positions and towns and villages including Kiryat Shemona, Hanita, Avivim, Ramot Naftali and Shlomi.
The Iran-backed group’s statement Friday also said that its fighters attacked a group of Israeli soldiers inside the Lebanese town of Khiam, the scene of intense fighting over the past days.
Britain's Foreign Minister Yvette Cooper warned her Iranian counterpart in a phone call "against targeting UK bases, territory or interests directly", a foreign office statement said on Friday.
The statement was response to one issued by Iran's foreign ministry in which it said Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told Cooper in the call on Thursday that any US use of British bases would be seen as "participation in aggression" against the Islamic republic.
Cooper told Araghchi "the defensive UK operations in the region were a response to the Iranian aggression against Gulf partners", the UK foreign office said, adding: "She made clear that the UK wants to see a swift resolution to this conflict."
The news comes just days after the US military redirected another group of amphibious assault ships carrying Marines from the Pacific to West Asia.
One US official confirmed that the USS Boxer and two other amphibious assault ships, along with roughly 2,500 Marines of the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit, are bound for West Asia from their home port of San Diego. Two other US officials confirmed that the ships were deploying, without saying where they were headed. All three officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive military operations.
Last week, US officials also confirmed that the Japan-based USS Tripoli and the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit have been ordered to West Asia, shifting them from exercises in the vicinity of Taiwan.
Earlier this week, the USS Tripoli and another amphibious assault ship, the USS New Orleans, were spotted sailing west of Malaysia on publicly available satellite imagery.
The pair of Marine Expeditionary Units will add about 5,000 Marines and thousands of sailors to the region where the US is engaged in a war with Iran. The US military says it has about 50,000 troops in the region.
AFP journalists reported hearing several blasts in Tehran on Friday, as the war with Israel and the United States continued.
The blasts, which came with Iranians celebrating Nowruz, the Persian new year, came from the eastern and northern parts of the capital, the journalists said.
Iran's supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei on Friday said the enemies of the Islamic republic were being defeated in the war against the US and Israel in a written message for the Persian New Year, Nowruz.
"At the moment, due to the particular unity that has been created between you our compatriots -- despite all the differences in religious, intellectual, cultural and political origins -- the enemy has been defeated," said Khamenei, who is yet to appear in public after being named to succeed his father Ali Khamenei who was killed in an airstrike at the a start of the war.
NATO has pulled its security advisory mission out of Iraq and relocated several hundred personnel involved in the effort to Europe. The move came after a series of attacks from Iran on other troops at British, French and Italian bases in northern Iraq.
NATO’s top commander, Gen. Alexus Grynkewich, confirmed that the last troops left on Friday. He thanked the government of Iraq and allies who helped to safely relocate them, as well as the troops involved, calling them “true professionals.”
The non-combat mission was launched in 2018 to advise Iraq’s national security chief, ministries of defense and interior, and police on how to develop and build effective institutions and forces. It has worked mostly around Baghdad.
The mission will now be run from NATO’s headquarters in Naples, Italy.
Defense Ministry spokesman Col. Saud al-Atwan said that the country’s air defenses also shot down 15 of 25 more drones fired into Kuwait.
Two of the drones exploded in an oil refinery, igniting a fire that was later extinguished, and there were no casualties, Al-Atwan said.
Al-Atwan said eight other drones exploded in open areas without causing any danger. He said the missile and the drones were fired into Kuwait over the past 24 hours.
The images are providing a glimpse of the toll of the Iran war, with ships ablaze in an Iranian port and destroyed buildings at an American base.
Information about the damage being done across the Middle East, particularly when it’s inside military bases, has been scarce. These images come from Planet Labs PBC. The San Francisco-based firm is releasing them with two-week delays.
Some show ships ablaze on March 2 in a major Iranian military port in Bandar Abbas, along the Strait of Hormuz. US Central Command says it has sunk or damaged more than 100 Iranian vessels so far.
More images, from March 6, show damage to buildings at the Parchin military base outside Iran’s capital. Israel’s military said its Parchin strikes hit “infrastructure used for the production of essential components for the development of various weapons.”
The site has been linked to Iran’s ballistic missile program as well.
One after another, Israel has taken out Iran’s top leaders.
First it was Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, killed in the opening shots of the war. Then fell Ali Larijani, the secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, who was considered one of the most powerful figures in the country, has also been killed.
As have a raft of other top-ranking military and political leaders.
Here is a look at those killed in the war
A British naval expert says it’s “fanciful” to try to reopen the Strait of Hormuz while fighting still rages.
Trump has criticized other countries for failing to send naval ships to unblock the key oil route, which has been effectively shut by Iran.
But Retired Royal Navy Commodore Steve Prest said on Friday that “the idea that you could force the strait, even with significant warships and firepower, against a determined enemy… is fanciful.”
Prest, an associate fellow at defense think-tank RUSI, said it’s necessary to degrade Iran’s ability to use missiles, drones, attack craft and mines “to bring the risks down to a tolerable level, even before you start sending warships through the strait.”
To restore shipping, “you have to come to a ceasefire. The fighting has to stop and then you can create the necessary conditions of security,” he said.
The United States could "take out" Iran's Kharg island whenever it wanted, the White House said Friday, after a report that President Donald Trump's administration was considering plans to occupy or blockade the oil hub.
Asked about the Axios report, White House Principal Deputy Deputy Press Secretary Anna Kelly said in a statement to AFP: "The United States Military can take out Kharg Island at any time if the President gives the order."
Lebanon’s Health Ministry said Friday that 20 deaths were reported over the past 24 hours, and that 57 more people were wounded raising the total injured to 2,641.
Israel renewed its offensive in Lebanon after Iran-backed Hezbollah fired rockets into northern Israel, two days after the US and Israeli attacks on Iran triggered the widening war. Israel has since ordered evacuations from large parts of Lebanon, displacing more than 1 million people.
The UN refugee agency said last week that more than 3.2 million people inside Iran have been displaced as US and Israeli airstrikes target Tehran and other major cities.
And on Thursday, the UN migration agency said more than 80,000 people had fled to neighboring countries, mostly Afghanistan.
Hours after Israel killed the top commander of Iran’s Basij this week, it struck again — this time at the rank and file of the feared force that helped crush widespread protests this year. A drone blasted one of the Basij’s many temporary roadblocks erected around the capital, Tehran.
Israel and the US say they aim to break the Islamic Republic’s tools of domestic control in their campaign of bombardment, now nearly three weeks old.
Since the war began, monitors estimate that up to a third of strikes have targeted the top echelons and major bases of the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard and its Basij volunteers, who are tasked with enforcing loyalty to Iran’s theocratic rulers.
But the Basij, police and Revolutionary Guard have maintained their grip, and there has been no sign yet of Iranians heeding US and Israeli calls to rise up, as many seek refuge from the airstrikes and uncertainty.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu defended accusations on Friday that he had intended to offend Christians when he said the previous day that Jesus had "no advantage" over Genghis Khan.
"More fake news about my attitude towards Christians, who are protected and flourish in Israel. Let me be clear: I did not denigrate Jesus Christ at my news conference," Netanyahu wrote in English on X.
"To the contrary, I cited the great American historian Will Durant. A fervent admirer of Jesus Christ, Durant stated that morality by itself is not enough to ensure survival," he added.
On Thursday, Netanyahu said during a televised meeting with the foreign press that "history proves that, unfortunately and unhappily, Jesus Christ has no advantage over Genghis Khan because if you are strong enough, ruthless enough, powerful enough, evil will overcome good."
His remarks sparked a wave of criticism on social media, particularly from Christians angered by the comparison between Jesus -- whom they regard as God incarnate and the "Prince of Peace" -- and Genghis Khan, founder of the 13th‑century Mongol Empire whose armies ravaged Asia from China to the Mediterranean.
Munther Isaac, a Palestinian Lutheran pastor from Bethlehem, believed to be the birthplace of Jesus, said on X that Netanyahu's statement was "offensive on multiple levels."
"It not only compares Jesus to Genghis Khan," he wrote, "but also suggests that the way of Jesus is naive, while a ruthless, 'might makes right' approach... is what ultimately allows good to overcome evil."
"Netanyahu, and his Christian Zionist supporters, are making a mockery of the ethics of Jesus," he added.
Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer says that a potential $200 billion price tag for the Iran war “will never happen” if it is sent to Congress and it is a “preposterous and dangerous risk.”
Schumer said in a Senate floor speech Friday that “even a fraction of $200 billion is unacceptable for a war without a plan, without an endgame, and without the support of the American people.”
He called on President Donald Trump to end the war. “So much could be done with that money instead of a war that Donald Trump has chosen to wage without even a vote in Congress,” Schumer said.
The Pentagon has sent a $200 billion request to the White House, but the White House has not yet sent an official request to Congress. Once there is an official request, Republicans would need some Democratic support to pass it in the Senate.
