Live updates: Turkey says NATO shot down Iran missile as attacks in Tehran and Lebanon intensify

QatarEnergy, the Gulf nation’s state oil company that handles its entire oil and gas business, said on Wednesday it would declare Force Majeure, a measure that exempts a company from its contractual obligations when it is affected by circumstances beyond its control.

“Following QatarEnergy’s announcement to halt production of liquefied natural gas (LNG) and associated products, QatarEnergy has declared force majeure to its affected buyers,” the state-owned company said in a statement shared on social media, adding that it “values ​​its relationships with all its stakeholders and will continue to communicate the latest available information.”

Qatar’s economy relies heavily on its natural gas resources, and the shutdown of its LNG production will be a severe blow not only domestically, but will also have a potential impact on global markets.

Production was halted over the weekend as Iran began attacking Gulf states and their energy infrastructure, in response to intense attacks launched on Saturday by the United States and Israel.

NATO defenses on Wednesday intercepted a ballistic missile launched by Iran heading toward Turkish airspace, Turkey’s Defense Ministry said.

Turkey is a member of the NATO transatlantic alliance, and the launch was Iran’s first apparent attempt to attack any of the alliance’s members since the war began on Saturday.

The missile was detected after crossing Iraqi and Syrian airspace, the Defense Ministry said in a statement. NATO air and missile defense assets in the eastern Mediterranean attacked and neutralized the weapon.

“It has been determined that the artillery that fell in the Dörtyol district of Hatay province belonged to an air defense munition that intercepted the threat in the air. There were no casualties or injuries in the incident,” the Defense Ministry said.

He warned “all parties to refrain from actions that would further extend the conflict in the region” and said he would continue to consult with NATO and other allies.

Turkey’s Foreign Ministry said Minister Hakan Fidan held a call with his Iranian counterpart, Abbas Araghchi, in which he said any steps that could lead to the conflict spreading should be avoided.

The Israel Defense Forces issued another urgent warning to the country’s population on Wednesday, saying it had “identified that missiles were recently launched from Iran towards the territory of the State of Israel.”

Repeating warnings issued many times since Israel and the United States launched their attacks on Iran on Saturday, the IDF urged anyone who received alerts from the country’s Home Front Command to “show responsibility and act in accordance with guidelines” and head to bomb shelters.

At least 12 people have been killed in Israel amid Iran’s retaliatory missile and drone strikes since Saturday, including 10 civilians directly hit by fire, an elderly person who died trying to reach a shelter and another person who suffered a heart attack during an air raid scare.

The United Hatzalah volunteer emergency medical service said no injuries were reported immediately after the latest wave of missiles launched by Iran, but it was still assessing reports of impacts in the center of the country.

The US State Department has ordered non-emergency government employees and their families to leave Qatar “due to the threat of armed conflict.” The U.S. Embassy in Qatar said Tuesday that a shelter-in-place order was in effect for emergency personnel remaining in the country, and advised other Americans in Qatar to also shelter in place until further notice.

“If it is safe to do so, Americans should leave Qatar now,” the alert added.

Departing by air is not possible due to the closure of Qatari airspace, and the US embassy did not mention any help it was providing to Americans in finding transportation to leave the country.

He noted that a land border crossing into Saudi Arabia was open, but that “the United States government cannot guarantee your safety if you decide to depart using this option.”

Israel’s military asked thousands of people in southern Lebanon to immediately evacuate their homes on Wednesday and head north to avoid an expanding Israeli military operation against the Iran-backed Hezbollah group.

Expanding a order issued on Tuesday For more than 80 communities to be evacuated, Israeli military spokesman Avichay Adraee warned Wednesday in a post on

Israel has for days attacked suspected Hezbollah sites in southern Lebanon and the capital, Beirut, and on Tuesday the army announced that troops were being sent across the border into Lebanon.

Sri Lanka’s navy has recovered “some bodies” of Iranian sailors from an Iranian navy frigate that sank off the island’s southern coast, after what crew members reported as an explosion, a spokesman said Wednesday.

“We have found some bodies in the area where the ship had sunk,” local navy spokesman Buddhika Sampath told reporters in Colombo, adding that the search for others was continuing.

Sri Lanka’s Foreign Minister Vijitha Herath told parliament earlier Wednesday that 180 people were aboard the IRIS Dena, which sank after issuing a distress message following an apparent explosion.

The United States and Israel have attacked the Iranian navy in recent days, mainly in Iran’s coastal waters. If the Dena were attacked by either country, about 1,000 miles from Iran in the Indian Ocean, it would represent one of the most distant attacks on Iran’s naval assets since the war began.

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Israeli officials told reporters Wednesday that intelligence indicated Iran could have enriched uranium to 90%, or weapons grade, within two weeks if it had decided to do so, before the United States and Israel launched attacks over the weekend.

They said, however, that Iran’s weapons group was “still far from producing a classic nuclear bomb.”

In terms of risk management, officials said there was a clear decision that they had to act when they did. Iran’s nuclear capability was not completely eliminated and “they still maintained certain capabilities,” according to Israel.

President Trump on Tuesday defended his decision to launch war with Iran, saying there would have been a nuclear war without the intervention and that Iran “would have wiped out a lot of countries.”

Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff said Monday that Iranian officials claimed during recent negotiations to have enough enriched uranium to make 11 nuclear bombs, before the United States and Israel launched their attack.

Witkoff told News that Iran negotiators had told him before the attacks that the country had about 460 kilograms of 60% enriched uranium, echoing UN IAEA nuclear watchdog reportsbut added that it could have been enriched to weapons level within a week to 10 days.

Iran insisted until the war began that it would not seek to build a nuclear weapon, and the head of the IAEA said 10 days before the attacks began that the agency had seen no evidence that Iran was working to develop such a capability.

Iran is now preparing for three or four weeks of war and is preserving its weapons arsenals, Israeli officials said, adding that “Israel did not drag the United States into the war.”

The UK’s Maritime Trade Operations Center said it received a report on Wednesday that another commercial vessel had been hit by a projectile seven nautical miles east of Fujairah, on the coast of the United Arab Emirates.

The shell caused damage to the vessel’s steel skin, but no fire or water ingress was reported and all crew members were reported safe.

The UKMTO said the incident was being investigated and that “vessels are advised to transit with caution and report any suspicious activity”.

Fujairah lies just south of the Strait of Hormuz, a vital sea route for transporting global oil supplies that has been virtually closed since the US-Israel war with Iran began on Saturday.

The Iranian military has vowed to attack any ship attempting to cross the strait and several commercial vessels, including the Stena Imperative, with an American flaghave been affected in recent days.

An 11-year-old girl who was injured by shrapnel in a residential area of ​​Kuwait has died from her injuries, the country’s Health Ministry said Wednesday.

Attempts were made to resuscitate the girl and she was taken to hospital, but she succumbed to her injuries. Four of her relatives, including the girl’s mother, were hospitalized and underwent medical evaluation.

Kuwait, along with other Persian Gulf nations, has been hit by repeated Iranian missile and drone attacks as Tehran seeks to retaliate for the US-Israeli attack by attacking perceived US allies.

The only American casualties in the war so far have been six American soldiers dead in an Iranian attack that hit a military facility in Kuwait on Saturday.

Iran’s official state news agency Fars said on Wednesday that Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s three-day state funeral, which was scheduled to begin later in the day, was postponed until further notice.

“D. Due to the expected unprecedented attendance of mourners, the farewell ceremony of the martyred Imam of the Ummah has been postponed and the time will be announced soon,” Fars said, sharing a video of a presenter making the announcement on state television.

The announcement came shortly after Israel announced a new and “intensified” wave of attacks against the Iranian regime’s security infrastructure in Tehran.

Iran’s 88-member Assembly of Experts is close to electing a new supreme leader to replace Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, a member of the assembly told Iranian state television on Wednesday, according to the Reuters news agency.

“The supreme leader will be identified as soon as possible, we are close to a conclusion, however the situation in the country is a war situation,” Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami told state television.

The New York Times says his son Mojtaba Khamenei is emerging as a possible successor.

The Iran-backed Houthi rebel movement, which controls much of Yemen, was still mulling over whether to engage directly in the war between its benefactors in Tehran and the United States and Israel.

On Sunday, the leader of the Houthis, a well-armed force that has long enjoyed weapons and financial support from Iran’s theocratic rulers, gave a speech in which he expressed solidarity with Iran and declared a “general mobilization” of the group’s armed forces, but offered no hint of any immediate plans to intervene in the war.

The group’s leaders are likely torn between their loyalty to Iran and the potential consequences of entering into a conflict with two of the world’s most powerful militaries.

Hizam al-Assad, a member of the Houthi political bureau, a powerful figure within the group, told Qatari broadcaster Al Jazeera on Tuesday night that the decision to join the fighting remained “subject to evaluations by the supreme leadership and the competent authorities who monitor developments on the ground and respond in accordance with their responsibilities.”

“If US and Israeli aggression expands and reaches levels that threaten security and stability throughout the broader region, then all scenarios will be on the table,” he said.

The largest US military base in the Middle East, Al-Udeid Air Base in Qatar, was hit by an Iranian ballistic missile, Qatari officials said Wednesday.

No victims were reported.

Qatar was attacked by two ballistic missiles fired from Iran, the country’s Defense Ministry said, but one was successfully intercepted.

The President of the Spanish Government, Pedro Sánchez, responded on Wednesday to President Trump’s criticism of Madrid’s refusal to allow US planes to use Spanish bases to attack Iran.

“The position of the government of Spain can be summarized in four words: no to war,” he said in a televised speech, a day after Trump threatened to cut off all trade with Spain.

“We will not be complicit in something harmful to the world and contrary to our values ​​and interests, simply for fear of reprisals,” Sánchez said.

“This is how the great disasters of humanity begin… You cannot play Russian roulette with the fate of millions,” Sánchez said, according to the Reuters news agency.

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Israel’s military said on Wednesday that one of its fighter jets had shot down an Iranian one over the Iranian capital as Israel intensified attacks on Tehran.

“An Israeli Air Force F-35I ‘Adir’ fighter jet recently shot down an Iranian Air Force YAK-130 fighter jet over the skies of Tehran. This is the first-ever shootdown of a fighter jet manned by an F-35 ‘Adir’ fighter jet,” the Israel Defense Forces said in a statement shared on social media.

The “Adir” is the Israeli variant of the American-made F-35 II Lightning, heavily customized by the Israeli military.

The Israeli military announced Wednesday morning the beginning of a new “broad wave of attacks against the infrastructure of the Iranian terrorist regime in Tehran.”

Israel Defense Forces spokesman Avichay Adraee previously said the Israeli strikes targeted dozens of military sites across Iran’s capital, including the headquarters of the notorious Basij paramilitary force linked to Iran’s Revolutionary Guard. He said missile launchers and defense systems were also being attacked, along with supply and logistics facilities “affiliated with the regime’s ground forces.”

Adraee said the IDF would “intensify its attacks” against the Iranian regime’s infrastructure.

Iran’s semi-official student news agency ISNA reported strong explosions in eastern Tehran on Wednesday.

Israeli military spokesman Avichay Adraee on Wednesday warned residents of Beirut, Lebanon’s capital, to evacuate an area near a specific building that he said was affiliated with the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah.

“Urgent alert for those present in the southern suburbs of Beirut, especially in the Haret Hreik neighborhood,” Adraee said in a social media post, sharing a map with a building highlighted in red. He said anyone in or within 300 meters (about 300 yards) of the building should “evacuate these buildings immediately and stay away from them.”

Israel has attacked suspected Hezbollah sites in Beirut and throughout southern Lebanon for days, and on Tuesday the IDF warned people in at least 80 cities, towns and villages in southern Lebanon to evacuate and not return, announcing that troops had been sent across the border into the neighboring country “to create an additional layer of protection for our cities.”

A video from the News news agency showed that an airstrike had hit Hezbollah’s former stronghold in the southern suburbs of Beirut, after a series of deadly attacks that killed at least 11 people, according to local authorities.

Iran will hold a three-day state funeral for Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed on Saturday in the first wave of US-Israeli attacks, Iran’s official IRNA news agency said on Wednesday.

“The faithful will be able to pay a last tribute to the body of the nation’s martyred guide by visiting the great mosque of Imam Khomeni” in Tehran, IRNA said, citing a statement from the country’s Islamic Development Coordination Council.

Khamenei will be buried in his hometown of Mashhad in northeastern Iran. Arrangements for the funeral procession to Mashhad will be announced when they are finalized, state media added, according to the Reuters news agency.

The three-day funeral was to begin Wednesday night.

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At least 1,097 civilians have been killed in Iran since the United States and Israel launched their attacks on Saturday, triggering the ongoing war, the US-based Human Rights Activist News Agency said on Wednesday.

“According to data aggregated since the outbreak of conflict on February 28, the total number of reported civilian deaths has reached 1,097, including 181 children under the age of ten,” the organization stated. “Another 880 reported deaths are currently being reviewed for verification and classification. The number of injured civilians reported since February 28 has reached 5,402, including 100 children.”

News themezone producer in Tehran, Seyed Bathei, said unconfirmed reports of thousands of deaths were circulating within the country as early as Sunday.

The U.S. military again declined Tuesday to respond to News themezone’ request for information about reports that dozens of the youngest victims of the war in Iran were killed in an attack that hit a girls’ elementary school in the southern city of Minab.

Israeli military spokesman Nadav Shoshani told News themezone that the IDF had “found no connection with our operations” when asked about the alleged school strike.

When asked by News themezone’ Matt Gutman if she was saying the claim of a school attack was Iranian misinformation, Shoshani said she was suggesting “caution in using information provided by a regime that massacres its own people.”

The New York Times reported, citing unnamed Iranian officials, that former Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s son, Mojtaba Khamenei, had emerged as a favorite to replace his father, with a decision from the country’s Assembly of Experts expected as soon as Wednesday morning.

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz has warned that any new supreme leader who continues Iran’s “plan to destroy Israel, threaten the United States” and “suppress the Iranian people” will be “an unequivocal target for elimination.”

On Tuesday, Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency issued a similar warning with a social media post, in Iran’s main Farsi language, that it does not “matter who is chosen today; their destiny has been decreed. Only the Iranian nation will choose its future leader.” The message was accompanied by a graphic showing high-ranking Iranian clerics toppled like dominoes.

The Reuters news agency on Wednesday cited two Iranian sources who said Mojtaba Khamenei survived the most recent round of attacks on Tehran.

The head of content at Elon Musk’s

“Today we are reviewing our revenue sharing policies for creators to maintain the authenticity of content on Timeline and prevent program manipulation. In times of war, it is essential that people have access to authentic information on the ground. With today’s artificial intelligence technologies, it is trivial to create content that can mislead people,” said X product manager Nikita Bier in a post on the platform.

“Starting now, users who post AI-generated videos of armed conflict, without adding a disclosure that they were made with AI, will be suspended from Creator Revenue Sharing for 90 days. Subsequent violations will result in a permanent suspension from the program.”