Israel has reported several missile attacks, with air raid sirens activated in key cities like Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. Meanwhile, Iranian state media claimed that additional attacks have targeted American military bases.
Over the last day, the Israeli military announced that it carried out strikes on 80 targets in Lebanon associated with Hezbollah, a militant group supported by Iran. Furthermore, Israel launched a series of attacks on Iran, focusing on long-range ballistic missile sites and other strategic locations.
Iran’s Foreign Minister, Abbas Araghchi, has accused the U.S. Navy of committing “an atrocity at sea” following the sinking of the Iranian frigate IRIS Dena in the Indian Ocean, which resulted in the death of at least 87 Iranian sailors.
Araghchi issued a stark warning on social media, stating, “Mark my words: The US will come to bitterly regret the precedent it has set.”
Ayatollah Abdollah Javadi Amoli, one of Iran’s prominent clerics, made a rare public call for violence on state television, urging for the shedding of Israeli and “Trump’s blood.”
In his statement, Ayatollah Amoli declared, “Fight the oppressive America, his blood is on my shoulders,” marking an unusual appeal for aggression from a high-ranking figure in Shiite Islam.
The US and Israel launched the war on Saturday, targeting Iran’s leadership and killing Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, as well as hitting its missile arsenal and nuclear facilities. Leaders have suggested toppling the government is a goal, but the exact aims and timelines have repeatedly shifted, signalling an open-ended conflict.
The war has killed more than 1000 people in Iran, more than 70 in Lebanon and about a dozen in Israel, according to officials in those countries. It has disrupted the supply of the world’s oil and gas, snarled international shipping and stranded hundreds of thousands of travelers in the Middle East.
Threats expanding across the Middle East
A drone crashed on Thursday near the airport in Nakhchivan, an Azerbaijan exclave bordering the north of Iran that is separated from the rest of the country by Armenia. Another drone fell near a school and two civilians were injured, Azerbaijan’s Foreign Ministry said.
Iran has not acknowledged targeting Azerbaijan, but its attacks since the start of the war have spread erratically and involved regional countries and beyond.
Qatar evacuated residents near the US Embassy in Doha as a temporary precaution Thursday and later reported a missile attack on the city. Saudi Arabia said it destroyed a drone in its province bordering Jordan.
A tanker apparently came under attack off the coast of Kuwait early on Thursday, expanding the area where commercial shipping was in danger, according to the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations Centre run by the British military. It said there was an explosion but did not offer a cause. Iran in the past has attacked ships by attaching limpet mines to them.
Prior attacks since fighting began on Saturday have happened in the Gulf of Oman and the Strait of Hormuz, which connects it to the Persian Gulf and through which about a fifth of the world’s oil is shipped.
US stocks rebounded on Wednesday after oil prices stopped spiking and reports gave encouraging updates on the American economy. But oil prices resumed their ascent early on Thursday and Brent crude, the international standard, is now up some 15 per cent from the start of the conflict as Iranian attacks have disrupted traffic through the strait.
Iranian warship sunk on way home from multinational exercises
The Iranian ship sunk by the US Navy was on its way back from participating in a February exercise hosted by the Indian navy. The US Navy also participated in the same exercise with a P-8A Poseidon aircraft, which is employed for anti-submarine and anti-surface warfare as well as surveillance and reconnaissance.
Sri Lankan authorities said 32 crew members were rescued, while its navy recovered 87 bodies.
Araghchi said it had been carrying “almost 130” crew.
US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth confirmed on Wednesday that an American submarine had sunk the ship with a torpedo.
Israel says it hits more Hezbollah targets in Lebanon
US and Israeli military officials say launches from Iran have declined as their attacks have taken out ballistic missiles, launchers and drones. Israel’s Homefront Command announced it was easing restrictions that closed workplaces nationwide, which could reopen on Thursday if there is a shelter nearby. Schools would remain closed.
Still, explosions sounded early on Thursday in Israel, which said its defensive systems were moving to intercept at least three waves of Iranian missiles.
At least 1045 people have been killed in Iran, the country’s Foundation of Martyrs and Veterans Affairs said on Wednesday. Eleven people have died in Israel. Six US troops have been killed, including a major whose identity was released on Wednesday.
Among the 80 targets in Lebanon that the Israel military said it hit over the past 24 hours were “several command centers” used by Hezbollah in Beirut. It showed video footage of a building being hit, but provided no further details.
Another eight people were killed in Lebanon, including two in a building struck by the Israeli military in the Beddawi refugee camp in the coastal city of Tripoli on Thursday and three on a coastal highway, authorities said. The Israeli military did not immediately say who it targeted in the strikes.
In two near-simultaneous Israeli drone strikes in Beirut’s southern suburbs late Wednesday, two vehicles were hit, killing three people and wounding six, the health ministry said. The Israeli military said it targeted a Hezbollah member, adding that further details would follow.
