From 1h ago
What we know so far...
A joint statement from Gulf states and the US strongly condemned Iran’s “indiscriminate and reckless missile and drone attacks” across the region, which they warned threaten regional stability.
It said attacks have taken place in Bahrain, Iraq (including the Kurdistan Region of Iraq), Jordan, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and the UAE.
A major new front in the war, started by Israel and the US on Saturday, opened on Monday when Hezbollah launched missiles and drones toward Israel in retaliation for the killing of Iran’s supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, over the weekend.
Israeli airstrikes on Beirut and southern Lebanon on Monday have killed at least 31 people and injured 149, according to Lebanon’s health ministry.
The Iranian Red Crescent Society said at least 555 people have been killed in Iran by Israel-US attacks across 131 cities since Saturday.
The US’s allies in the Gulf states came under renewed attack from Iranian missiles and drones. There were loud blasts in Dubai and Samha in the UAE, and in Doha, the capital of Qatar. Saudi Arabia shut its biggest refinery after drone strikes caused a fire there.
Kuwait air defences mistakenly shot down three US F15 fighter jets flying in Iran-related operations, the US Central Command (Centcom) said earlier today. All six aircrew ejected safely, have been safely recovered and are in stable condition.
In Cyprus, two drones heading for a UK base were intercepted, after an earlier attack last night.
The mass evacuation of cities across the Middle East may be necessary if civil nuclear power stations are attacked leading to radiological release, Rafael Grossi, the director general of the IAEA UN nuclear inspectorate, warned.
Grossi said there was no indication that any of Iran’s nuclear installations have been damaged or hit after the recent US and Israeli strikes.
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Iran’s security chief on Monday said the Islamic republic would defend itself no matter the costs, on the third day of war with the United States and Israel.
“We will fiercely defend ourselves and our six thousand years old civilization regardless of the costs and will make the enemies sorry for their miscalculation,” Ali Larijani, the powerful head of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, wrote in English in an X post.
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Turkey on Monday said it has cancelled flights to key Middle Eastern capitals for safety reasons because of the war between Iran and the United States and Israel.
“Flights to Iran, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, and Jordan have been cancelled until March 6, while all scheduled flights to Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, and the United Arab Emirates have been cancelled until March 3,” Transport Minister Abdulkadir Uraloglu said on X.
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Strong explosions shook the west of the Iranian capital on Monday around 4:15 local time (12.45 GMT), according to AFP journalists.
At least two explosions, each accompanied by two to three detonations, were heard by AFP journalists in Tehran, though the target of the blasts was unclear.
Iranian media outlets Shargh, Ham Mihan and Etemad confirmed the explosions.
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Pentagon to brief media this morning on Trump's Iran strikes
US defense secretary Pete Hegseth and general Dan Caine, chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, are planning to hold a press conference on Monday morning about the military operation against Iran.
The Pentagon announced the 8am EST media briefing on social media Sunday night.
On Tuesday, Hegseth and Caine will join US secretary of state Marco Rubio and CIA director John Ratcliffe in briefing the full membership of Congress on the strikes, the White House said.
Rubio also was slated to brief Hill leadership on Monday.
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The Israeli military said it killed Hezbollah’s intelligence chief, Hussein Makled, overnight. The IDF also said earlier it killed Sayed Yahya Hamidi, who it said was Iran’s deputy minister of intelligence for ‘Israel affairs’, and Jalal Pour Hossein, who it claimed was the head of the espionage division (at the ministry of intelligence). We have not been able to independently verify these claims.
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Updated at 08.03 EST
Iran’s president, Masoud Pezeshkian, has appointed Revolutionary Guards general Majid Ebnelreza as acting defence minister after his predecessor was killed in Israeli-US airstrikes.
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Fourth US service member 'killed in action' - Centcom
We have another statement in from the US Central Command (Centcom). It says a fourth American service member has died in action (it was previously announced that three US service members had been killed as part of the US war against Iran).
The full Centcom statement reads:
double quotation markAs of 7:30 am ET, March 2, four U.S. service members have been killed in action.
The fourth service member, who was seriously wounded during Iran’s initial attacks, eventually succumbed to their injuries.
Major combat operations continue and our response effort is ongoing. The identities of the fallen are being withheld until 24 hours after next of kin notification.
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Updated at 07.49 EST
QatarEnergy halts liquefied natural gas production after attacks
QatarEnergy, the state-owned energy company, has halted liquefied natural gas (LNG) production after attacks on its facilities in Ras Laffan and Mesaieed.
In a satement shared on social media, it added:
double quotation markQatarEnergy values its relationships with all of its stakeholders and will continue to communicate the latest available information.
LNG is gas that has been chilled, loaded on to ships and sent overseas to be burned. Qatar is among the world’s top LNG exporters.
The QatarEnergy statement came after the Qatari government said an energy facility belonging to the company was attacked by two Iranian drones on Monday, with authorities still assessing the damage.
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Updated at 07.40 EST
EU officials are meeting today to discuss Iran and the wider regional conflict. “The stability of the region is of the utmost importance: The only lasting solution is a diplomatic one,” Ursula von der Leyen, the European Commission president, told reporters this morning. You can keep up with all the latest developments in our Europe live blog.
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Updated at 07.34 EST
What we know so far...
A joint statement from Gulf states and the US strongly condemned Iran’s “indiscriminate and reckless missile and drone attacks” across the region, which they warned threaten regional stability.
It said attacks have taken place in Bahrain, Iraq (including the Kurdistan Region of Iraq), Jordan, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and the UAE.
A major new front in the war, started by Israel and the US on Saturday, opened on Monday when Hezbollah launched missiles and drones toward Israel in retaliation for the killing of Iran’s supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, over the weekend.
Israeli airstrikes on Beirut and southern Lebanon on Monday have killed at least 31 people and injured 149, according to Lebanon’s health ministry.
The Iranian Red Crescent Society said at least 555 people have been killed in Iran by Israel-US attacks across 131 cities since Saturday.
The US’s allies in the Gulf states came under renewed attack from Iranian missiles and drones. There were loud blasts in Dubai and Samha in the UAE, and in Doha, the capital of Qatar. Saudi Arabia shut its biggest refinery after drone strikes caused a fire there.
Kuwait air defences mistakenly shot down three US F15 fighter jets flying in Iran-related operations, the US Central Command (Centcom) said earlier today. All six aircrew ejected safely, have been safely recovered and are in stable condition.
In Cyprus, two drones heading for a UK base were intercepted, after an earlier attack last night.
The mass evacuation of cities across the Middle East may be necessary if civil nuclear power stations are attacked leading to radiological release, Rafael Grossi, the director general of the IAEA UN nuclear inspectorate, warned.
Grossi said there was no indication that any of Iran’s nuclear installations have been damaged or hit after the recent US and Israeli strikes.
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Two drones heading towards RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus intercepted, spokesperson says
Two unmanned drones heading towards RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus were “succesfully intercepted”, Cyprus government spokesperson Konstantinos Letymbiotis has said.
This comes after an Iranian drone was reported to have crashed into the UK military base last night. The incident is not thought to have caused any casualties and only limited damage. You can read more here.
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Updated at 07.07 EST
The Guardian’s Caribbean correspondent, Natricia Duncan, and Kejan Haynes have filed this report:
On Saturday, the Caribbean woke up to the news of the US-Israeli attack on Iran. This was just hours after leaders had wrapped-up an extraordinary regional summit, attended by Marco Rubio and one that exposed strong divisions over US policies.
Dominated by concerns about the Trump administration’s military interventions in the region – with deadly strikes against suspected drug boats, an attack on Venezuela and an oil blockade on Cuba – the meeting ended with a commitment to send humanitarian aid to Cuba.
On Iran, governments emphasised de-escalation and negotiations as tensions intensified over the weekend. But there were notable differences in tone and positioning.
Trinidad and Tobago, a strong US ally, whose prime minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar has consistently showered Trump and Rubio with praise, expressed its “support for the continued actions of the United States of America aimed at preventing oppressive regimes from acquiring nuclear weapons capabilities that would jeopardize international peace and security”.
Guyana adopted a firmer tone, condemning what it described as an “unprovoked attack by Iran” on Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Kuwait.
While the Barbados government expressed concern “that military action affecting a number of other countries in the region has the potential to undermine international peace and security,”, adding that it joined UN secretary general António Guterres in condemning the military escalation and calling on member states to “respect their commitments under international law”.
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Updated at 07.05 EST
Helena Smith
More now from Cyprus, the EU state closest to the conflict, where authorities have opened emergency shelters following Iran’s combat drone strike against RAF Akrotiri.
The island’s interior ministry said civil defense forces had also been seconded to inform citizens of steps to be taken in the event of an attack.
One local official in the village of Akrotiri told the Guardian that residents were “panicked by the blast of sirens and fearful of what might happen” in the wake of the British prime minister’s decision to allow the UK’s military installations to be used by the US against Iran’s missile cache.
As part of authorities activating the civil defense plan trained wardens will be relegated to neighbourhoods.
An emergency reception centre has been set up in Limassol, the nearest town to Akrotiri, to accommodate citizens, many of whom are choosing to leave villages in the affected area.
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Updated at 06.55 EST
Lisa O’Carroll
A vessel in the Port of Bahrain has been hit by two “unknown projectiles,” the UK maritime security watchdog has reported.
The UK Maritime Trade Operations Centre (UKTMO), which provides mariners, shipping companies the regional authorities with verified and corroborated security information, issued an alert this morning.
“UKMTO received a report of an incident in the Port of Bahrain. The Company Security Officer reported that the vessel had been struck by two unknown projectiles causing a fire.
“The fire has been extinguished and the vessel remains in port. All members of the ships crew are safe and have evacuated the vessel.” It said authorities were investigating.
“Vessels are to remain cautious and report any suspicious activity to UKMTO,” it added. A huge fire at the port, home to the US Navy’s central command and fifth fleet, was reported on Sunday.
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Updated at 07.08 EST
US says three jets 'went down' over Kuwait 'due to an apparent friendly fire incident'
Kuwait air defences mistakenly shot down three US F15 fighter jets flying in Iran-related operations, the US Central Command (Centcom) said. All six aircrew ejected safely, have been safely recovered and are in stable condition, it said in a statement which you can read in full here.
“During active combat-that included attacks from Iranian aircraft, ballistic missiles, and drones – the U.S. Air Force fighter jets were mistakenly shot down by Kuwaiti air defenses,” Centcom said, saying the three jets “went down over Kuwait due to an apparent friendly fire incident”.
Centcom added that the circumstances surrounding the incident remain under investigation and that additional information would be released as it becomes available.
We reported in an earlier post that several American warplanes had crashed in Kuwait this morning but the cause was unclear.
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Iran's 'reckless' attacks threaten regional stability, US and allied Gulf states say
We can now bring you a joint statement from the US and six allied Gulf states – Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates – condemning Iran’s “indiscriminate and reckless attacks” across the region, which they say “targeted sovereign territories, endangered civilians, and inflicted damage on civilian infrastructure”. The statement goes on:
double quotation markIran’s actions represent a dangerous escalation that violates the sovereignty of multiple states and threatens regional stability.
Targeting civilians and non-combatant states is reckless behavior that undermines stability.
We stand united in defense of our citizens, our sovereignty, and our territories, and we reaffirm our right to self-defense in the face of these attacks, while underscoring our commitment to regional security and commending the effective cooperation in air and missile defense that prevented greater loss of life and destruction.
The statement says attacks occurred in Bahrain, Iraq (including the Kurdistan Region of Iraq), Jordan, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
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We have a picture showing the moment an apparent fighter jet falls from the sky in Kuwait and someone parachuting to safety (see earlier post for more details).
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Saudi Arabia halts some operations at Ras Tanura refinery after reported attack
Saudi Arabia’s energy ministry has said some operations at its Ras Tanura refinery had been halted on Monday, after an attack that caused a fire at the complex.
The ministry was quoted as having said the refinery sustained “minor damage from falling debris” due to the interception of “two drones in the refinery’s vicinity”.
“Some operational units at the refinery were shut down as a precautionary measure, without any impact on the supply of petroleum products to local markets,” an official source at the ministry said in a statement published by the Saudi Press Agency.
The Ras Tanura complex houses one of the Middle East’s largest refineries with a capacity of 550,000 barrels per day (see earlier post for more details).
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Iran’s nuclear programme has been among the reasons Israel and the US have given for the attacks, alleging Iran was getting too close to being able to eventually make an atom bomb.
Iran has a stockpile of uranium enriched to 60%, close to weapons grade, but has expressed willingness to down-blend the purity to 20% or below.
Iran says it is not pursuing weapons and that its programme is intended for peaceful, civilian purposes.
“An Iranian regime armed with long-range missiles and nuclear weapons would be a dire threat to every American,” Donald Trump said as he tried to justify his attacks, despite the fact that there is no credible evidence Iran was trying to build a nuclear weapon.
“We cannot allow a nation that raises terrorist armies to possess such weapons that would allow them to extort the world to their evil will. Not going to happen,” the US president said.
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