The United States embassy in Iraq has issued a fresh security alert, warning of escalating attacks by Iran-aligned armed groups across the country.
The embassy said the groups have carried out “widespread” attacks targeting US citizens and interests.
It urged US nationals to leave Iraq immediately and warned them not to approach the embassy in Baghdad or the consulate in Erbil due to the continued threat from missiles, drones and rockets.
Officials advised those departing to travel overland via Jordan, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia or Turkey, as Iraqi airspace remains closed.
Israeli media report that a senior commander in Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Navy has been killed.
Channel 12 said the commander was killed in Bandar Abbas and had been responsible for efforts to close the Strait of Hormuz. Channel 14 also reported that the commander of the Revolutionary Guard Navy had been “eliminated”.
There has been no immediate confirmation from Iranian officials regarding the claims.
A top Iraqi Kurdish commander has told Middle East Eye his forces have no plans to invade Iran but that he is exasperated by Iranian attacks on their bases.
Sirwan Barzani, a Peshmerga major-general and millionaire businessman, said that since the US-Israeli war on Iran began on 28 February, the Kurdistan region of Iraq has faced around 430 drone and missile attacks.
Sirwan, who is responsible for holding the Kurdish frontline against the Islamic State (IS) militant group in northern Iraq, met with MEE on Tuesday, the same day that Iranian ballistic missiles killed six Kurdish Peshmerga soldiers and injured 30.
The telecoms magnate, who is the cousin of the president of the Iraqi Kurdistan region, Nechirvan Barzani, and nephew of its former president Masoud Barzani, referred to the strike as a terrorist attack.
“What's the reason why they attack the Peshmerga bases every day? What's the reason behind that? We did not do anything against them,” Sirwan said, referring to Iran. “We are neighbours. We have trade relations. We have historical relations.”
Read more: Iraqi Kurdish commander says there are no plans to invade Iran
A crude oil tanker with 27 Turkish crew on board was hit by a drone in the Black Sea, Istanbul's Transport Minister Abdulkadir Uraloglu said.
The vessel, which is reportedly owned by Turkish firm Besiktas and carries the flag of Sierra Leonne, had left a Russian port with around one million barrels of crude oil.
According to Anadolu Agency, there were no reports of casualties.
Israel has removed Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi and parliamentary speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf off its hit-list at the request of Pakistan, an official from the country told Reuters on Thursday.
"The Israelis had their ... coordinates and wanted to take them out, we told the U.S. if they are also eliminated then there is no one else to talk to, hence the U.S. asked the Israelis to back off," the official said.
