Thousands of defiant Iranians take to streets while leaders openly taunt Trump as he deploys 5,000 Marines into Hormuz tinderbox: Live updates

By JAMIE BULLEN, LIVE COVERAGE EDITOR and SHANNON MCGUIGAN, NEWS REPORTER and SABRINA PENTY, FOREIGN NEWS REPORTER and OLIVIA CHRISTIE, NEWS REPORTER

Updated: 18:04 EDT, 13 March 2026

Thousands of defiant Iranians have taken to the streets of Tehran to pledge allegiance to their Supreme Leader as the country’s highest-ranking officials openly taunted Donald Trump over the war.

Iranian president Masoud Pezeshkian and security chief Ali Larijani were among the leaders who marched alongside demonstrators at today’s Quds rally in the heart of the capital as Israeli missiles rained down.

During a live interview on Iranian state television, Larijani said Trump ‘doesn’t understand that the Iranian people are a brave nation, a strong nation, a determined nation. The more he presses, the stronger the nation’s determination will become.’

Earlier he deployed 5,000 US marines to the Strait of Hormuz amid fears America is set to put troops on the ground as the world’s oil supply is strangled.

Secretary of War Pete Hegseth approved a request by US Central Command for the deployment of a Marine expeditionary unit, typically including several warships and 5,000 troops, three officials said. 

Meanwhile Italy has pulled its troops from Iraq the day after one of its military bases was attacked by drones. No Italian troops were injured in the attack on Camp Singara in Erbil where a restaurant and two vehicles were destroyed.

And the US military confirmed all six crew members were killed after a refueling plane crashed in Iraq. Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said the service members were ‘American heroes’ during a Pentagon press briefing.

Follow the latest updates on the US-Israel war with Iran

Italy pulls troops out of Iraq after base attack

Italy has withdrawn its troops from Iraq following a drone attack at Camp Singara on Thursday.

Italian troops have gradually been leaving the Middle East but an attack in Iraqi Kurdistan has made the exit more urgent with Iraq increasingly becoming a flashpoint in the conflict.

More than 300 troops have been stationed in Iraq but around 100 have now returned to Rome, the Wall Street Journal is reporting

Italy has also pulled back smaller military units from Kuwait, Qatar and Bahrain.

No Italian troops were injured in the attack on Camp Singara where a restaurant and two vehicles were destroyed.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has previously said she has no intention for Italy to join the war in Iran.

Iranian security chief taunts Trump in live interview as airstrikes hit Tehran

Iran’s security chief Ali Larijani has taunted Donald Trump in a live interview in Tehran as Israeli airstrikes rain down on the Iranian capital.

Larijani has joined thousands of demonstrators at a Quds Day rally in the city despite fresh Israeli attacks launched earlier today.

While being interviewed, Larijani says Israeli attacks during the demonstrations show Israel’s weakness and confusion.

‘These attacks are out of fear, out of desperation. One who is strong wouldn’t bomb demonstrations at all. It’s clear that it has failed,’ Larijani said.

Striking a defiant tone, he said Donald Trump ‘doesn’t understand that the Iranian people are a brave nation, a strong nation, a determined nation. The more he presses, the stronger the nation’s determination will become.’

Yesterday, Larijani said Trump would be ‘sorry’ for his ‘grave miscalculation’ after the President declared the US had won the war.

Evacuation orders issued in Qatar

Evacuation orders have been put in place across some parts of Qatar by the country’s interior ministry.

The nature of the threat has not been specified but it comes shortly after Iran announced it had launched a fresh wave of strikes.

Israeli shells hit UN forces base in southern Lebanon, state media says

Israeli shells hit a United Nations peacekeeping base in southern Lebanon on Friday, state media reported, as Israel and Hezbollah fought their latest war.

‘Israeli shells fell inside the headquarters of UNIFIL forces’ Nepalese battalion, in the town of Mays al-Jabal,’ Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency reported, referring to the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon.

UNIFIL and the Israeli military did not immediately comment on the incident.

Israel says Lebanon university strike killed Hezbollah figure

Israel has said its strike this week on a campus of Lebanon’s public university killed a Hezbollah leader with expertise in making weapons.

Lebanese state media said on Thursday that two academics were killed in the strike, including a professor it named as Mortada Srour.

Israel’s military said Srour was ’employed as a chemistry lecturer at the Lebanese University in Beirut’.

It also described him as ‘a leading figure and an expert in the field of weapons manufacturing within (Hezbollah).’

The targeted campus is located on the edge of Beirut’s southern suburbs, an area under Hezbollah’s sway, and was spared in the last war between the pro-Iran militant group and Israel.

JD Vance speaks about Iran war in speech in North Carolina

US Vice President JD Vance spoke about the Iran war during a speech on Friday on the economy.

He was asked about what advice he’s given President Donald Trump on the war.

Vance refused to share details of his private conversations about the Middle East conflict with Trump, saying ‘it’s important for the president of the United States to talk to his advisers without’.

Man who attacked Michigan synagogue lost relatives in Israeli airstrike in Lebanon, official says

A man with a rifle who crashed into a large Michigan synagogue had lost four family members in an Israeli airstrike in his native Lebanon last week, an official has said.

Ayman Mohamad Ghazali, 41, came to the United States in 2011 on an immediate relative visa as the spouse of a US citizen and was granted citizenship in 2016, according to the Department of Homeland Security.

On March 5, four people were killed in the eastern Lebanon town of Mashgharah.

A local official has since said that Ghazali’s two brothers and a niece and nephew were killed in the airstrike as they were having their fast-breaking meal for Ramadan.

The official said that Kassim and Ibrahim Ghazali were killed, along with Ibrahim Ghazali’s children, Ali and Fatima.

Ibrahim Ghazali’s wife was seriously wounded and remains in the hospital, the official said.

They said that Kassim Ghazali was a well-known soccer coach and personal trainer while Ibrahim was a school bus driver in the village.

The official said that Ayman Ghazali’s father was in the U.S. and returned to Lebanon recently.

Israel launches another wave of strikes on Tehran

Israel has launched another wave of ‘extensive’ strikes on the Iranian capital Tehran.

Earlier today at least one person was killed by an explosion near a pro-government rally in the city, Iran’s official IRNA news agency reported.

Breaking:Michigan synagogue terrorist who smashed car into temple then opened fire is pictured for first time after neighbors praised him

The terrorist who smashed a truck filled with explosives into a Michigan synagogue and then opened fire has been pictured for the first time.

Ayman Mohamad Ghazali, 41, was killed by security on Thursday after he attacked the Temple Israel synagogue in the Detroit suburb of West Bloomfield.

Ghazali, a naturalized US citizen born in Lebanon, has been praised by neighbors in the Dearborn Heights community as being ‘one of the kindest people you can ever meet.’

F1 races in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia cancelled or postponed, sources say

Formula One races in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia will be cancelled or rescheduled as war engulfs the region, a source with knowledge of the matter has said.

‘The F1 in Saudi and Bahrain won’t happen at their scheduled time,’ the source said.

Formula One will announce soon that the races ‘have been cancelled or postponed to a later date’, the source added.

Bahrain is currently scheduled for April 10-12 and Saudi a week later. However, the Gulf has been battered by two weeks of Iranian drone and missile attacks.

Tiny Bahrain, a short hop over the Gulf sea from Iran, has been targeted with frequent attacks that have hit buildings and a refinery, as well as its large US base.

Saudi Arabia has also weathered scores of strikes, some of them targeting the oil infrastructure that is crucial for the world’s biggest exporter of crude.

Keeping out of Middle East war is ‘Turkey’s top priority’

Keeping out of the Middle East war is Turkey’s top priority, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said.

He vowed not to be drawn in by ‘provocations’ after NATO intercepted a third missile fired from Iran.

‘We are acting very cautiously against plots, traps and provocations that seek to drag our country into war,’ Erdogan said, pledging an ‘appropriate and measured’ response.

‘Keeping our country out of this fire pit is our top priority.’

By Alesia Fiddler

A holidaymaker has been forced to miss her breast cancer treatment after her return flight was cancelled due to the conflict in the Middle East.

Andrea Pendrey and her partner had set off to the Maldives for a break before she started her treatment.

But the couple haven’t been able to fly home due to the missiles raining down across the Middle East – and have been forced to foot was is expected to be a £12,000 bill themselves.

Read the full story below:

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Thousands of defiant Iranians take to streets while leaders openly taunt Trump as he deploys 5,000 Marines into Hormuz tinderbox: Live updates