Live updates: Israel attacks Iran and Lebanon

Despite continued US-Israeli attacks on its launch capabilities and claims from Washington and Tel Aviv that its offensive capabilities are rapidly being reduced, Iran was still firing missiles and dozens of drones at US allies in the Persian Gulf on Friday.

Sirens reportedly sounded in Kuwait City hours after the Iranian military claimed to be unleashing “a large volume of army attack drones” against “US positions” in Kuwait.

The United Arab Emirates, for its part, said it had “detected and intercepted 9 ballistic missiles. In addition, 112 drones were detected, of which 109 were intercepted, while 3 fell within the territory of the UAE.”

“Since the start of the Iranian attacks, 205 ballistic missiles have been tracked, 190 destroyed, 13 falling into the sea and 2 impacting within the territory of the UAE. Meanwhile, 1,184 Iranian drones were detected, 1,110 intercepted and 74 fell on UAE soil. Eight cruise missiles were also detected and destroyed,” the UAE Ministry of Defense said in its statement, shared on social media.

The United Arab Emirates said earlier this week that Iranian strikes had killed three people in the country, Pakistani, Nepali and Bangladeshi nationals, and left at least 112 people with minor injuries as of Friday.

The Ministry of Defense “emphasized that it remains fully prepared and ready to respond to any threat, protect national security and sovereignty, and ensure the security and stability of the country.”

Two regional officials told News themezone’ Margaret Brennan on Thursday that U.S. allies in the Persian Gulf were is running dangerously low on interceptors to shoot down Iranian weapons.

The Israeli military said on Friday it had destroyed Iran’s supreme leader’s military bunker in the heart of Tehran, with strikes involving dozens of Israeli warplanes.

Former Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed in the initial wave of US-Israeli attacks on February 28, “before he could use the bunker,” the Israel Defense Forces statement said, but added that the underground complex remained “one of the most important military command centers of the Iranian leadership.”

“Targeting the bunker further degrades the regime’s command and control capabilities,” the IDF said, adding that “approximately 50 Israeli Air Force fighter jets guided by precise IDF intelligence” carried out the early morning mission to destroy the complex.

“It spanned several streets in the heart of Tehran and contained numerous entrances and meeting rooms for high-ranking members of the Iranian terrorist regime,” the Israeli military said, sharing a video it said showed the operation from various angles.

The United Nations on Friday demanded swift investigations into fatal Israeli attacks across Lebanon to determine whether they violate international law.

“The devastating impact of this renewed conflict is already before our eyes, and civilians are paying a painfully high price,” UN human rights office spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani told reporters in Geneva. “We urge the parties to step back from the brink of a major escalation of this conflict in Lebanon.”

His comments came as fresh Israeli attacks hit Lebanon, where Prime Minister Nawaf Salam warned that “a humanitarian disaster is looming” due to mass displacement.

Shamdasani warned that “Israel’s ground military incursions into southern Lebanon, general population displacement orders in the southern suburbs of Beirut, the Bekaa region and the entire area south of the Litani River, and its continued airstrikes in different parts of the country, are bringing more misery and suffering to an already tired civilian population.”

“These warnings and travel orders issued for southern Lebanon reportedly affected more than 100 towns and villages, home to tens of thousands of people, and risk affecting many more,” he said.

“Furthermore, on Thursday, the Israeli military urged the complete evacuation of almost the entire southern suburb of Beirut, creating fear and panic among residents, as well as in the Bekaa region of eastern Lebanon.”

Shamdasani warned that in total, “hundreds of thousands of people have been affected by these Israeli displacement orders,” warning that they risked constituting “prohibited forced displacement” under international law.

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Iran fired another salvo of missiles at Israel on Friday, the Israeli military said, after announcing a new wave of attacks against the Iranian regime in Tehran.

The Israel Defense Forces said in its latest alert (of which there were many thousands during the nearly week-long war) that it had detected missiles “recently launched from Iran toward the territory of the State of Israel,” adding that defense systems were “working to intercept the threat.”

He urged people to heed warnings sent from the Israeli Home Front Command directly to people’s mobile phones “in relevant areas.”

The vast majority of Iran’s missiles and drones aimed at Israel are intercepted, but at least 10 people have been killed by weapons that have escaped the country’s air defenses so far, and three others have been killed in related incidents, according to data compiled by the independent think tank Israel Institute for National Security Studies.

Ongoing attacks between the United States and Israel have killed more than 1,200 people in Iran over the past seven days, according to the Islamic Republic’s Ministry of Health.

Israeli officials told reporters Friday that President Trump and Prime Minister Netanyahu have been speaking daily during the war.

The officials said joint operations against Iran have so far gone as planned, and cracks have appeared in the Iranian regime, but added that it “may take time” to achieve the objectives.

By: Michal Ben-Gal

Qatar’s Foreign Ministry on Friday condemned “in the strongest terms” an Iranian attack that it said hit buildings in the small neighboring kingdom of Bahrain that housed Qatari naval forces.

The statement said Qatari troops were participating in the regional Gulf Cooperation Council’s Unified Military Command, calling the Iranian attack a “dangerous escalation” and “a flagrant act of aggression and a flagrant violation of the sovereignty of the Kingdom of Bahrain and a direct threat to its security and stability and the security of the region.”

The Qatari ministry said all its staff at the scene of the attack were safe and that there were no injuries.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian claimed in a brief social media post on Friday that some unnamed countries had “begun mediation efforts” as the US-Israel war against his nation continued apace.

“Let us be clear: we are committed to lasting peace in the region, but we do not hesitate to defend the dignity and sovereignty of our nation. Mediation must target those who underestimated the Iranian people and ignited this conflict,” Pezeshkian said.

Pezeshkian, long considered a relatively moderate member of Iran’s government, did not provide further details, and the country’s military commanders have issued statements in recent days suggesting there is no interest in a negotiated end to the war.

President Trump told NBC News on Thursday that the goal of the joint US-Israeli war against Iran was to “come in and clean out” the country’s theocratic leadership. He added, however, that he had some ideas about who within Iran might make a “good leader” and that the United States was taking unspecified steps to keep those individuals alive during the war.

Several Gulf nations were directly involved in brokering indirect negotiations between the United States and Iran, which were abruptly interrupted when the United States and Israel launched their attack on February 28.

News themezone has sought comment from officials in Doha, Qatar, who was a key intermediary in those talks, along with contacts in Tehran and Muscat, Oman’s capital, on Pezeshkian’s claim of new “mediation efforts.”

The Iranian military claimed on Friday that it was releasing “a large volume of army attack drones” that it said were “attacking US positions” in Kuwait.

“In the past few hours, various types of Ground Force attack drones have carried out concentrated attacks on US bases in Kuwait,” the military said in a social media post, adding that “strikes will continue in the coming hours.”

There were no immediate reports of drones arriving in Kuwait, but the small US ally in the Gulf has been repeatedly attacked by Iranian drones and missiles since the war began almost a week ago, including the drone attack on the first day of the conflict that killed six American soldiers in a military installation.

Four men were arrested Friday in the U.K. capital on suspicion of spying for Iran, according to London’s Metropolitan Police. Counter-terrorism officers detained the men, one Iranian and three dual British-Iranian nationals, in the early hours of Friday morning in the northern suburbs of Barnet and Watford, the force said.

The investigation focused on “alleged surveillance of locations and individuals linked to the Jewish community” in London, according to a news release.

“Today’s arrests are part of an investigation by the long duration and part of our ongoing work to disrupt malign activity where we suspect it,” said Commander Helen Flanagan, the Met’s counter-terrorism chief.

The men were 55, 52, 40 and 22 years old, according to the police statement. Six other people were arrested on suspicion of assisting alleged criminals, and another was arrested for allegedly assaulting a police officer.

Sam Vinograd, former DHS undersecretary for counterterrorism and threat protection, told News themezone this week that Iran represents a “multidimensional threat” to the American homelandwith a “large group of actors they turn to to inflict harm”, including proxies (like-minded regional terrorist organizations) along with state actors.

Iran has developed what she called “surrogate networks here in the United States: common criminals who actually hire and pay money to do things like murder.” murders and murders.”

Explosions were reported in Tehran and Beirut on Friday after Israel’s military announced a new “wave of attacks” in both cities, intensifying its war against both the Iranian regime and Hezbollah, one of its most powerful groups. regional representative groupsin Lebanon.

An Israeli military official said the attacks targeted “the infrastructure of the terrorist regime” in Tehran, while in Lebanon’s capital they said there were “several waves of attacks” in Beirut’s Dahieh neighborhood against Hezbollah targets, following “extensive calls for the civilian population in the area to evacuate in order to reduce civilian casualties.”

The military official said more than 500 targets were hit in Lebanon, “including high-ranking Hezbollah terrorists,” rocket launchers and command and weapons storage facilities.

Israel claims to have achieved “almost complete air superiority” over Iran, as ongoing joint strikes with the United States enter their seventh day. Israel says those strikes have destroyed more than 80% of Iran’s air defense systems.

“We are destroying more of Iran’s missiles and drone capabilities every hour,” President Trump said Thursday, calling Iranian forces “tough” but greatly weakened.

Still, Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Aragchi says the fighting is far from over and insists Tehran is “not calling for a ceasefire.”

As Iranian drones and missiles continue to target US allies across the Gulf, sirens sounded again on Friday across Kuwait City, where operations at the US embassy were suspended the day before.

President Trump has said the goal of war against Iran is to “go in and clean out” the country’s theocratic leadership. In a phone interview with NBC News, Trump also said he has some ideas about who would be a “good leader” there.

“We want to go in and clean everything up,” he said. “We don’t want someone rebuilding over a 10-year period.”

The president added that the U.S. was taking steps to try to ensure that the people he has in mind survive the war, without offering any details.

Mr. Trump previously said that he “would have to be involved” in naming Iran’s next leader, calling the son of the late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has been mentioned as a possible successor, is an “unacceptable” and “light” choice.

Speaking at the Pentagon on Monday, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the US operation was “laser focused: destroy Iranian missile production, destroy their navy and other security infrastructure, and they will never have nuclear weapons.”

He rejected criticism of the operation as the start of another “endless war” in the Middle East and insisted that it was “not a so-called war of regime change.”

“But the regime did change, and the world is better for it today,” Hegseth said.

NATO has “increased its alliance-wide ballistic missile defense posture” following the missile interception which was launched towards Türkiye on Wednesday, an alliance spokesman said.

“This immediate action was taken by the commander of NATO Air Command, who further recommended that NATO’s ballistic missile defense posture be maintained at this elevated level until the threat of Iran’s continued indiscriminate attacks across the region subsides,” the spokesperson said, adding that “the adjustment gives the Supreme Allied Commander Europe exactly what he needs to defend the alliance based on the current threat, and he will defend it!”

“As the world witnessed yesterday, NATO perfectly executed its ballistic missile defense procedures. In less than 10 minutes, NATO service members identified a threat to Allies, a ballistic missile, confirmed its trajectory, alerted land and sea-based missile defense systems, and launched an interceptor to defeat the threat and protect our territory and its people,” the statement continued. “That’s real strength!”

Turkey is a NATO ally and the missile attack raised questions about whether the alliance would invoke Article V of the NATO charter, which states that an attack on one member should be considered an attack on all.

Saudi Arabia’s Defense Ministry reported early Friday that it intercepted three Iranian drones east of its capital, Riyadh.

On Monday, the US embassy in Riyadh was the target of an Iranian drone attack that caused a small fire and minor damage, the Defense Ministry said. No injuries were reported.

According to Israel’s private Institute for National Security Studies, Saudi Arabia has been the target of 14 missiles and five drones since the war began.

Qatari officials announced Friday morning local time that their military stopped an Iranian drone targeting the Al Udeid air base in Doha.

Qatar’s Defense Ministry said in a statement that its defense forces “successfully intercepted a drone attack” targeting Al Udeid, which It is the largest base in the US. in the Middle East with between 8,000 and 10,000 American soldiers.

Qatar’s Defense Ministry reported Thursday that the country was attacked by 14 ballistic missiles and four drones from Iran. All but one of the missiles were intercepted and the remaining missile landed in ocean waters.

The U.S. Embassy in Qatar announced Wednesday that the State Department had ordered all non-emergency government employees and their families to leave Qatar. The embassy said there was a shelter-in-place order for all remaining emergency personnel.

“To the extent possible, stay inside your residence, hotel or other structure and stay away from windows,” the embassy said.