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Explosions sounded in Tehran on Wednesday as Iran’s war with the US and Israel entered a fifth day following earlier strikes on an Iranian nuclear site and retaliatory strikes by the Islamic Republic across the Gulf region
The US has sunk an Iranian warship, killing at least 87 according to Sri Lankan Navy
An Iranian cleric has said the country is “close” to choosing its next supreme leader
The Iranian ambassador has been summoned by the UK Government
NATO defence systems intercept a ballistic missile launched from Iran toward Turkey’s airspace
Trump said Iran’s air force and navy had been “knocked out“
IDF says Israeli F-35 fighter jet shot down manned Iranian warplane in Tehran
Five days into a war that Trump suggested could last a month or longer, at least 1,045 people have died in Iran, according to Iran’s Foundation of Martyrs and Veterans Affairs
Four of the six US service members killed during the conflict with Iran have been named
The UK and France are sending warships to Cyprus to bolster its anti-drone capabilities
Trump said he was “not happy” with the UK over Iran and said Starmer was “not Winston Churchill”
The UK government charters a repatriation flight from Oman on Wednesday evening, with a second planned
Iran’s internet has been offline for over 100 hours, according to monitoring group NetBlocks.
An American submarine has sunk an Iranian warship in international waters, the US defence secretary has said.
Pete Hegseth confirmed that an American submarine had torpedoed an Iranian warship that “thought it was safe in international waters”.
Sri Lanka’s Foreign Minister Vijitha Herath told parliament that its navy received information that the IRIS Dena, with 180 people on board, was in distress and sinking.
Navy spokesman Commander Buddhika Sampath said by the time rescue ships reached the location, there was no sign of the ship in distress and “there were only some oil patches and life rafts. We found people floating on the water.”
He said the 32 people were rescued and admitted to a hospital in Galle, a town on Sri Lanka’s southern coast. The bodies recovered were also being brought to land, he said.
The Sri Lankan navy added it has recovered 87 bodies off the coast from where the warship sunk.
US-Israel strikes on Iran continued into a fifth day, with the Israeli military beginning a “broad wave” of strikes on Tehran and other major cities on Wednesday. The IDF said it was targeting the Iranian leadership and security forces.
Airstrikes have also reported in the Iranian cities of Urmiah, Isfahan and Kermanshah. Overnight, the IDF had targeted what it described as command centres used by Iran’s feared internal security forces and the Basij militia.
There appears to be little appetite for de-escalation despite killing the Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei in the initial attack on Saturday. Hegseth confirmed that US operations in Iran were in their “very early” days. “Four days in, we have only just begun to fight,” he said.
Blasts could be heard in the Iranian capital, Tehran, on Wednesday morning as the IDF carried out what is the tenth series of strikes since the war began on Saturday.
More than 1,000 people have been killed in Iran since the war began, according to the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency.
In the first wave of strikes on Saturday, Iranian state media reported that a US-Israel strike killed more than 100 people at a girls’ elementary school in southern Iran.
“We, of course, never targeted civilian targets, but we’re taking a look at investigating that,” he added.
Earlier, the IDF claimed an Israeli F-35 fighter jet shot down a manned Iranian warplane in Tehran on Wednesday, in what it described as the “first shootdown in history of a manned fighter aircraft by an F-35 ‘Adir’ fighter jet, it said in a statement.
Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine, speak during a press briefing at the Pentagon, Credit: AP
Iran continued retaliatory firing missiles and drone strikes against its Gulf neighbours and Israel. Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard said it targeted Irbil in Iraq, two military bases in Kuwait, and two US warships.
The guard said via Iranian state television that it is prepared for the “complete destruction of the region’s military and economic infrastructure.”
“The continued mischief and deception by the United States in the region will come at the cost of the complete destruction of the region’s military and economic infrastructure,” it said.
It alleges, without offering evidence, that the US military was using “civilian facilities … as cover.”
Communication with the country has been difficult, with internet monitoring group NetBlocks saying Iran has been offline now for 100 hours.
This is the second such blackout this year imposed by Iranian authorities. The first was for nationwide protests in January.
NetBlocks says metrics show internet connectivity at 1% of normal levels.
During the previous shutdown in Iran, NetBlocks estimated that it cost the country over $37 million (£28 million).
NATO defence systems have intercepted a ballistic missile launched from Iran as it headed toward Turkey’s airspace, the Turkish defence ministry said.
A ministry statement said the missile was detected after crossing the Iraqi and Syrian airspace and was intercepted by NATO units stationed in the eastern Mediterranean.
Israeli tanks maneuver near the Israel-Lebanon border, in northern Israel, March 4, 2026. Credit: AP
Debris from the missile fell into a district of Hatay province, near the border with Syria. There were no casualties.
Israel said its air defences had been activated to intercept Iranian missiles targeting Israel, with explosions heard around Jerusalem.
Iranian state television has said the mourning ceremony for the late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has been postponed, and will be held later after intense strikes targeted Tehran. A top cleric said it was “close” to choosing the next leader.
The ceremony was set to take place on Wednesday evening at the Grand Mosalla of Tehran.
His son, Mojtaba Khamenei, is being considered as a possible candidate to replace his late father as Supreme Leader.
Israel’s defence minister has said whoever is chosen to be Iran’s next Supreme Leader will be a “target of elimination”. On Tuesday, the building where Iranian clerics will meet to select a new Supreme Leader in the holy city of Qom was reportedly hit.
An electricity utility worker inspects the ruins of a police facility struck during the US-Israeli military campaign in Tehran, Iran. Credit: AP
The war in Iran began on Saturday and quickly spread across the Middle East, with Iran striking targets in the Gulf states, including Dubai and Abu Dhabi.
US Navy Adm. Brad Cooper, the head of US Central Command, described the American strikes in the opening hours of the campaign as “nearly double the scale” of the initial attacks during the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq.
The conflict continues across the Middle East, with the American embassy in Saudi Arabia and the US Consulate in the United Arab Emirates coming under drone attacks on Tuesday.
The US has urged non-emergency government personnel to evacuate the kingdom.
The repercussions threaten to be felt beyond the region, with rising oil prices and flight delays.
Rising oil prices
The far-reaching conflict is causing severe disruption in the global flow of crude oil, as the Strait of Hormuz, a major shipping route through which a fifth of global oil and gas supplies pass, was caught in the middle of the conflict.
Iran controls the entire northern side of the Strait, effectively allowing it to wield the Strait as a geopolitical chokepoint.
While the strait is officially open, trade has dropped by 80 per cent since Saturday.
Iran has carried out attacks on passing ships and vowed to continue to do so, forcing many shipping companies to suspend operations in the area.
US president Donald Trump floated the idea of escorting oil tankers through the Strait of Hormuz with the US Navy.
The Strait of Hormuz is vital for the world’s oil and gas trade. Credit: iStock
Lebanon
At least six people were killed in strikes on towns near Beirut overnight, according to Lebanon’s Health Ministry. The towns of Aramoun and Saadiyat, just south of Beirut’s international airport, were struck, with a further eight people injured.
A hotel in the Beirut suburb of Hazmieh was also hit.
The strikes came without warning, with the Israeli military not immediately disclosing the targets.
The death toll has risen to five, following a strike on a residential complex in Baalbeck, according to the state-run National News Agency. A further 15 others were injured, and three remain missing, it reported.
Oman
The UK government has announced it has chartered a repatriation flight from Oman on Wednesday for UK nationals seeking to leave the Middle East.
The foreign office said the flight will depart Muscat at 7 pm and is available for British nationals, their partners and children under 18 with a valid travel document.
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United Arab Emirates (UAE) & Saudi Arabia
The US State Department said Wednesday it had authorised non-emergency government personnel to evacuate the kingdom after the American Embassy in Saudi Arabia and the US Consulate in the United Arab Emirates came under drone attacks on Tuesday.
Bahrain
Bahrain’s military has said it has destroyed 74 Iranian missiles and 95 drones since the start of the conflict.
In a statement released on Wednesday, the military’s General Command urged people to stay indoors and avoid approaching or filming any damaged sites.
Four US Service Members killed during the conflict with Iran named
Four US service members killed in a deadly Iranian drone strike in Kuwait have been named.
They were named as: Captain Cody A. Khork, 35, of Winter Haven, Florida; Sergeant Noah L Tietjens, 42, of Bellevue, Nebraska; Sergeant Nicole M. Amor, 39, of White Bear Lake, Minnesota, and Specialist Declan J. Coady, 20, of West Des Moines, Iowa.
The Pentagon said they were all killed by a drone that struck where they were working in Port Shuabia, Kuwait, on Sunday.
Two other soldiers who were killed in the strike have not been publicly identified.
Capt. Cody Khork, Sgt. 1st Class Nicole Amor, Sgt. 1st Class Noah Tietjens and Sgt. Declan Coady. Credit: US Army via CNN Newsource
On Tuesday, US President Donald Trump repeated earlier criticisms of the UK government’s stance towards the conflict in Iran,
Speaking alongside German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, Trump said he is “not happy” with the UK and with Starmer, and that saying it is “not Winston Churchill that we’re dealing with”.
Trump repeated earlier criticisms of the UK government’s stance towards the conflict in Iran, saying Starmer is “not Winston Churchill”. Credit: AP
His comments came as the UK announced it would send helicopters and an air defence destroyer to Cyprus in response to the growing conflict in the Middle East.
Starmer confirmed the UK would be deploying HMS Dragon, one of the Royal Navy’s six Type 45 air defence destroyers, after RAF Akrotiri on Cyprus was hit by a drone. But it has been reported that the boat may not sail until next week. The Ministry of Defence has not commented on the timing of Dragon’s departure, but has not denied the report.
France said it would send its only aircraft carrier and a contingent of warships to bolster its anti-drone defences in the region.
In the UK, Foreign Office Minister Chris Elmore told the commons, the Iranian Ambassador Seyed Ali Mousavi has been summoned by the UK Government.
Middle East minister Hamish Falconer said he had summoned the ambassador to “condemn Iran’s role in attempting to draw the region into a wide conflict”.
He added that the government were working “intensively” to repatriate British nationals who had been stranded.
British nationals abroad
Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper said on Monday that 130,000 British nationals have registered their presence in the region. She previously said a total of around 300,000 British citizens are in Gulf countries targeted by Iran.
British nationals are being advised to follow the instructions of local authorities and monitor the Foreign Office’s travel advice, which officials expect to change rapidly.
Previously safe havens in the Middle East, such as Dubai, have seen incoming fire and hundreds of thousands of airline passengers are stranded around the globe.
UK officials are understood to be working on plans for the potential evacuation of more than 100,000 Britons from the Middle East.
Speaking at Prime Minister’s Questions on Wednesday, Starmer said that more than 1,000 British Nationals arrived back in the UK from the UAE on commercial flights on Tuesday.
NATO defense systems have intercepted a ballistic missile launched from Iran as it headed toward Turkey’s airspace.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said two further government-chartered flights will take off from Oman “in the coming days”.
British Airways announced it will operate two more flights between the capital Muscat and London Heathrow, on Friday and Saturday.
The first Government rescue flight and British Airways commercial flight from Muscat depart on Wednesday night.
All three British Airways flights are fully booked.
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