Key events<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n 21m ago<\/p>\n Summary of the day so far<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n 24m ago<\/p>\n Trump says oil price spike ‘a small price to pay’<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n 47m ago<\/p>\n Iran war drives oil price above $100 a barrel for first time since 2022<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n 2h ago<\/p>\n Iran names new supreme leader<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n 4h ago<\/p>\n Seventh US military service member killed in action<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n 6h ago<\/p>\n Donald Trump says Iran’s new leader ‘is not going to last long’ if Iran does not get his approval first<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n 7h ago<\/p>\n IDF launches ‘extensive strikes’ in Iran<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n 9h ago<\/p>\n US-Israeli strikes on Iranian energy infrastructure marks ‘dangerous new phase’ of war, spokesperson says<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n 9h ago<\/p>\n Summary of the day so far…<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n 10h ago<\/p>\n UAE acting in self-defence ‘against brutal and unjustified Iranian aggression’, foreign ministry says<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n 10h ago<\/p>\n Israel say two soldiers killed in southern Lebanon<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n 10h ago<\/p>\n Iran ‘reckless’ to attack Gulf states, says Arab League chief<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n 11h ago<\/p>\n Iranian Red Crescent Society warns public to avoid toxic acid rain after Israel struck oil storage depots<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n 11h ago<\/p>\n Nearly 400 people killed in Israeli airstrikes on Lebanon, health ministry says<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n 11h ago<\/p>\n Iran\u2019s new supreme leader has been selected, says deciding body<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n 12h ago<\/p>\n US-Israeli attacks on Iran violated international law, Swiss defence minister says<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n 12h ago<\/p>\n US-Israeli airstrikes on Iran have killed 200 children, health ministry says<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n 13h ago<\/p>\n UK government’s job is not to be ‘outsourcing our foreign policy’, foreign secretary says<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n 14h ago<\/p>\n Iran’s president says his country will ‘not bow easily to bullying’<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n 15h ago<\/p>\n Huge fire engulfs tower in Kuwait after drone strikes<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n 15h ago<\/p>\n Summary<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n 16h ago<\/p>\n Israel warns it will pursue Iran\u2019s next supreme leader<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n 16h ago<\/p>\n China\u2019s foreign minister says Iran war \u2018should never have happened\u2019<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n 17h ago<\/p>\n Majority consensus reached on Iran’s next supreme leader: Reports<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n 17h ago<\/p>\n US and Israel strikes damage five oil sites around Tehran, says Iran official<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n 18h ago<\/p>\n Iran ‘will be forced to respond’ if attacked from neighbouring country, says president<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n 18h ago<\/p>\n Israel launches fresh strikes across Iran<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n 18h ago<\/p>\n Iran launches fresh strikes launched across the Gulf<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n 19h ago<\/p>\n Kuwait cuts crude oil production amid renewed attacks<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n 19h ago<\/p>\n Israel renews its assault on southern Lebanon<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n 19h ago<\/p>\n Opening Summary<\/p>\n <\/a>Show key events only<\/p>\n Please turn on JavaScript to use this feature<\/p>\n Hezbollah claims it has downed an Israeli helicopter in Lebanon<\/a>, a news report says.<\/p>\n The AFP agency quoted an official from the Iran-backed militant group as saying on Monday that it had downed the copter in eastern Lebanon amid the renewed fighting between Hezbollah and Israel<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cAn Israeli helicopter was downed in the mountains east of Baalbek,\u201d the official was quoted as saying, speaking on condition of anonymity.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a019.24 EDT<\/p>\n Karim Sadjadpour, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, notes on social media<\/a> that while Mojtaba Khamenei has been named Iran\u2019s new supreme leader, succeeding his late father, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the father of the 1979 revolution, Ayatollah Khomeini, denounced hereditary succession before he died in 1989.<\/p>\n Khomeini wrote:<\/p>\n double quotation markIslam proclaims monarchy and hereditary succession wrong and invalid. When Islam first appeared in Iran, the Byzantine Empire, Egypt, and the Yemen, the entire institution of monarchy was abolished.<\/p>\n Monarchy and hereditary succession represent the same sinister, evil system of government that prompted the Lord of the Martyrs10 (peace be upon him) to rise up in revolt and seek martyrdom in an effort to prevent its establishment. He revolted in repudiation of the hereditary succession of Yazid, 11 to refuse it his recognition. Islam, then, does not recognize monarchy and hereditary succession; they have no place in Islam.<\/p>\n Share<\/a>Summary of the day so far<\/p>\n Iran has named Mojtaba Khamenei as the country\u2019s new supreme leader following the killing of his father Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in US-Israeli strikes, the state-run media announced. He was selected by Iran\u2019s Assembly of Experts, an 88-member body of elected senior clerics tasked with choosing the supreme leader.<\/p>\n Donald Trump warned that Iran\u2019s new leader \u201cis not going to last long\u201d if the Iranians do not get his approval first for the theocratic posting. \u201cHe\u2019s going to have to get approval from us,\u201d the president told ABC News. \u201cIf he doesn\u2019t get approval from us he\u2019s not going to last long. We want to make sure that we don\u2019t have to go back every 10 years, when you don\u2019t have a president like me that\u2019s not going to do it.\u201d<\/p>\n Another US military service member has died from wounds sustained during Iran\u2019s initial counter-attack a week ago, bringing the number of US troops killed in action so far in the war with Iran to seven, the US military said on Sunday.<\/p>\n Lebanon\u2019s health ministry said the amount of people killed from Israeli airstrikes in the past week had increased to 394, including many women and children.<\/p>\n The Iranian army said on \u200bSunday that at \u200cleast 104 people were killed and 32 \u200bwere wounded \u200bin an attack by \u2060the US on \u200ban Iranian warship \u200boff Sri Lanka\u2019s coast last week.<\/p>\n The IDF began \u201cextensive strikes\u201d against the \u201cinfrastructure\u201d of the Iranian regime in Tehran and across other areas in Iran. Despite Israel saying it is striking military or \u201cterror\u201d targets in its war on Iran, many civilians have been killed in its attacks.<\/p>\n Overnight strikes by the US and Israel hit five oil sites around Tehran, according to an Iran official. The official said that the five facilities \u201cwere damaged\u201d but the \u201cfire was brought under control\u201d.<\/p>\n Iran\u2019s foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said the US-Israeli aerial bombardment of Iranian energy infrastructure sites marked a \u201cdangerous new phase\u201d of the conflict and amounted to a war crime.<\/p>\n The Iran war has driven the price of crude oil above $100 per barrel for the first time since 2022.<\/p>\n Share<\/a>Trump says oil price spike ‘a small price to pay’<\/p>\n President Donald Trump brushed aside concerns<\/a> about the surging price of oil caused by the US-Israeli airstrikes on Iran, even as the price of crude topped $100 per barrel for the first time since 2022.<\/p>\n \u201cShort term oil prices, which will drop rapidly when the destruction of the Iran<\/a> nuclear threat is over, is a very small price to pay for U.S.A., and World, Safety and Peace,\u201d Trump wrote, adding in all caps that \u201conly fools would think differently.\u201d<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a019.20 EDT<\/p>\n Below, see the announcement of Mojtaba Khamanei as the new leader of Iran<\/a> that played today on state television. The video was posted by Iranian-British BBC reporter Shayan Sardarizadeh, whose Verify unit specializes in fact-checking and video verification.<\/p>\n This is the moment Iran’s state TV announced that Mojtaba Khamenei, the 56-year-old second son of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, had been selected as the third supreme leader of the Islamic Republic by the clerical body known as the Assembly of Experts. pic.twitter.com\/tEm9w8WYQo<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Shayan Sardarizadeh (@Shayan86) March 8, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n Share<\/a>Iran war drives oil price above $100 a barrel for first time since 2022<\/p>\n Jillian Ambrose<\/p>\n Global oil prices have breached the $100 (\u00a374) a barrel mark for the first time since 2022 as escalating military aggression in the Middle East continues to wipe 20m barrels of oil from the market each day.<\/p>\n Brent crude, the international benchmark, climbed 12.2% to $104.05 a barrel as the new week\u2019s trading began in the Asia Pacific markets, the first time that market prices have soared above this key psychological threshold since Russia\u2019s invasion of Ukraine.<\/p>\n Prices rose after a weekend of escalating conflict in the Middle East<\/a>, during which Kuwait\u2019s national oil company announced a \u201cprecautionary\u201d cut to its crude oil production.<\/p>\n The oil price returned to triple digits after the highest weekly gains since the Covid-19 pandemic six years ago, and included a $10 increase in the price of US crude on Friday alone.<\/p>\n Iran has largely halted oil and gas exports through strait of Hormuz<\/p>\n \u201cThe grace period given by the market to the Trump administration expired at the end of last week,\u201d according to Clayton Seigle, a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n A US National Guard soldier tied in Kuwait on March 6, according to a statement from US Central Command<\/a>. The soldier, whose name was not disclosed, died in a \u201chealth-related incident\u201d that occurred \u201cduring a medical emergency.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe exact cause of death is under review,\u201d the statement says.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n As our colleague Lorenzo Tondo reports<\/a>, Donald Trump told ABC News<\/a> on Sunday that Iran\u2019s next supreme leader is \u201cnot going to last long\u201d if Tehran didn\u2019t \u201cget approval from us\u201d.<\/p>\n The US president said in an interview with Axios laste week, \u201cKhamenei\u2019s son is a lightweight\u201d, calling Mojtaba Khamenei, \u201cunacceptable to me\u201d.<\/p>\n Mojtaba Khamenei, the second son of Iran’s late supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, visited Hezbollah’s office in Tehran, in October 2024. Photograph: Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader\/Reuters<\/p>\n Earlier on Sunday, the Israeli military said in a post on X<\/a> in Farsi that it would continue pursuing every successor of Ali Khamenei and that it would pursue every person who sought to appoint a successor for him.<\/p>\n Analysts have suggested Mojtaba Khamenei\u2019s appointment is a symbolic move designed to make the regime still appear strong and determined not to bow to western pressure.<\/p>\n The 56-year-old cleric has never held elected office nor formally occupied a senior position within Iran\u2019s government. He has spent much of his life at the centre of power in Iran<\/a> while remaining largely out of public view.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a018.11 EDT<\/p>\n For many analysts, Mojtaba Khamenei\u2019s appointment is a symbolic move designed to make the regime still appear strong and determined not to bow to western pressure.<\/p>\n The 56-year-old cleric has never held elected office nor formally occupied a senior position within Iran\u2019s government. He has spent much of his life at the centre of power in Iran<\/a> while remaining largely out of public view.<\/p>\n Born in 1969 in the north-eastern city of Mashhad, Khamenei was raised within the political and clerical world that emerged after the 1979 revolution. As a young man he studied theology in the seminaries of Qom and reportedly took part in the final stages of the Iran-Iraq war.<\/p>\n Unlike many figures in Iran\u2019s leadership, Khamenei never pursued elected office or a prominent government role. Instead, he gradually became an influential presence inside his father\u2019s office, where he was widely seen as part of a small circle managing political access to the supreme leader.<\/p>\n Over the years he cultivated close relationships with conservative clerics and elements of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), a connection analysts say strengthened his standing within the system.<\/p>\n Read more:<\/p>\n Share<\/a>Iran names new supreme leader<\/p>\n Iran has named Mojtaba Khamenei as the country\u2019s new supreme leader following the killing of his father Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in US-Israeli strikes, the state-run media announced early Monday.<\/p>\n He was selected by Iran\u2019s Assembly of Experts, an 88-member body of elected senior clerics tasked with choosing the supreme leader.<\/p>\n Mojtaba, a mid-ranking cleric with close ties to the powerful Revolutionary Guards, had long been viewed by elements of Iran\u2019s ruling establishment as a potential successor to his father, who was killed after the US and Israel launched strikes on Iran on 28 February.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov and his counterpart from the United Arab Emirates called on Sunday for an end to all attacks on both Iran<\/a> and Gulf states and said renewed diplomacy was needed to ensure long-term regional security, Reuters reported.<\/p>\n \u201cAttention focused on the necessity of stopping attacks that lead to casualties among the civilian population and cause damage to civilian infrastructure both in the Arab countries of the … Gulf and in Iran,\u201d the ministry said of Lavrov\u2019s telephone conversation with Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed.<\/p>\n The UAE has maintained good relations with both Russia and Ukraine during their four-year-old war and acted as an intermediary in holding talks and arranging exchanges of prisoners of war.<\/p>\n![\"Robert](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/1773012309_745_Robert_Mackey.png\")
Robert Mackey<\/p>\n![\"Lorenzo](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Lorenzo_Tondo.jpg\")
Lorenzo Tondo<\/p>\n