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<\/p>\nIntense Israeli airstrikes have pounded the capitals of Iran and Lebanon as the US apparently struck an Iranian drone carrier at sea in its unrelenting campaign against the Islamic Republic\u2019s fleet of warships.<\/p>\n
Iran launched new retaliatory attacks in the Middle East at the end of a full week of bombardment, which US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth warned was \u201cabout to surge dramatically”.<\/p>\n
Israel\u2019s military said Friday morning it had begun \u201ca broad-scale wave of strikes\u201d on Tehran, Iran\u2019s capital. Witnesses described the Israeli airstrikes as particularly intense, shaking homes in the area. Others reported explosions around the Iranian city of Kermanshah in an area that is home to multiple missile bases.<\/p>\n
The Israeli military said strikes have already destroyed most of Iran\u2019s air defenses and missile launchers.<\/p>\n
American leaders still hope an uprising against the regime will strike the final blow, but not yet.\u00a0 (Source: 1News)<\/p>\n
The war has escalated to affect countries across the Middle East and beyond. Early Friday, Iran fired missile and drone attacks into Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain, all countries that host US forces. There were no immediate reports of casualties.<\/p>\n
In Lebanon, where the war has rekindled fighting between Israel and Iran-allied Hezbollah militants, Israel launched a series of airstrikes late Thursday into Friday in the southern suburbs of Beirut and other areas. Motorists jammed roads trying to flee or seek shelter.<\/p>\n
The US and Israel have battered Iran with nationwide strikes, targeting their military capabilities, leadership and nuclear programme.<\/p>\n
In addition to Israel, Iran\u2019s attacks have targeted their Arab neighbors, disrupted oil supplies and snarled global air travel. The war has killed at least 1,230 people in Iran, more than 120 in Lebanon and around a dozen in Israel, according to officials in those countries. Six US troops have been killed.<\/p>\n
US says it struck an Iranian drone carrier<\/p>\n
The US military said early Friday that it struck an Iranian drone carrier, setting it ablaze.<\/p>\n
The US military\u2019s Central Command released black-and-white footage of the burning carrier. The Iranian military did not immediately acknowledge the attack.<\/p>\n
The drone carrier, the IRIS Shahid Bagheri, is a converted container ship with a 180-meter-long (yard) runway for drones. The vessel can travel up to 22,000 nautical miles without needing to refuel in ports, reports said at the time of its 2025 inauguration.<\/p>\n
Admiral Brad Cooper, head of US Central Command, described the carrier as \u201croughly the size of a World War II aircraft carrier.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd as we speak, it\u2019s on fire,\u201d Cooper told reporters.<\/p>\n
Earlier in the week, an American submarine sank an Iranian frigate off the coast of Sri Lanka as it was returning from an exercise hosted by the Indian navy that the US also joined. The sinking killed at least 87 sailors.<\/p>\n
Under cover of darkness Friday morning, B-2 stealth bombers dropped dozens of 2,000 pound \u201cpenetrator\u201d bombs on deeply buried ballistic missile launchers inside Iran, Cooper said.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Admiral Brad Cooper (Source: Associated Press)<\/p>\n
\u201cWe’ve also struck Iran’s equivalent of Space Command, which degrades their ability to threaten Americans,\u201d Cooper said.<\/p>\n
Speaking alongside Cooper, Hegseth gave few details when he promised an upcoming surge.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s more fighter squadrons, it\u2019s more capabilities, it\u2019s more defensive capabilities,\u201d Hegseth said. \u201cAnd it\u2019s more bomber pulses more frequently.\u201d<\/p>\n
Iran targets country’s hosting US forces<\/p>\n
Qatar\u2019s Defense Ministry reported early Friday it intercepted a drone attack targeting Al Udeid Air Base, which hosts the forward headquarters of the US Central Command.<\/p>\n
Saudi Arabia intercepted and destroyed three ballistic missiles fired early Friday toward Prince Sultan Air Base south of Riyadh, which hosts US forces, said a spokesperson for Saudi Arabia\u2019s Ministry of Defense.<\/p>\n
Air raid sirens sounded in Bahrain, where the Interior Ministry said Iranian strikes targeted two hotels and a residential building. It said there were no casualties. In Kuwait, where the six US soldiers were killed Sunday, the Kuwaiti army said its air defenses were activated when missile and drone attacks breached Kuwait\u2019s airspace.<\/p>\n
\u2018You can\u2019t do anything about it, the only thing you can really do is be prepared,\u201d says Kate Sykes.\u00a0 (Source: 1News)<\/p>\n
Cooper said Iranian attacks had now hit a dozen countries, who would be welcome to play a more active role in the conflict.<\/p>\n
\u201cThose 12 countries are none too happy and I look forward to working with all the partners who are willing to join us,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Trump again urges Iranians to ‘take back’ their country<\/p>\n
In brief remarks at the White House, US President Donald Trump again urged the Iranian people to \u201chelp take back your country.\u201d This time he promised the US would grant them \u201cimmunity\u201d amid the war and ongoing dangers under the current Iranian regime.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo you\u2019ll be perfectly safe with total immunity,\u201d Trump said, without giving any details about what that meant. \u201cOr you\u2019ll face absolutely guaranteed death.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cooper and Hegseth cautioned Iranians not to take to the streets while the conflict is still raging, however.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt’s common sense, don’t go out and protest while bombs are dropping\u201d Hegseth said.<\/p>\n
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<\/p>\n
Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth listens as President Donald Trump speaks during a Cabinet meeting at the White House, Tuesday, Dec. 2, 2025, (Source: Associated Press)<\/p>\n
\u201cThe best thing for them to do now is just to lay low,\u201d Cooper added.<\/p>\n
In an interview with the news website Axios, Trump said he should be involved in choosing Iran’s new supreme leader to replace Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed in the opening strikes of the war. Trump spoke dismissively of Khamenei’s son, Mojtaba Khamenei, being a front-runner to replace his father, calling him \u201ca lightweight.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe want someone that will bring harmony and peace to Iran,\u201d Trump said.<\/p>\n
Iranian officials meet to discuss new leadership<\/p>\n
Iranian state television reported Friday that a leadership council had started discussing how to convene the country\u2019s Assembly of Experts, which will select the new supreme leader.<\/p>\n
The leadership council includes President Masoud Pezeshkian, judiciary chief Gholam Hossein Mohseni Ejehi and cleric Ayatollah Ali Reza Arafi.<\/p>\n
The statement provided no timeline on the selection of the supreme leader, nor information on whether the Assembly of Experts would meet in person or remotely for the vote.<\/p>\n
Buildings associated with the Assembly of Experts, a 88-member clerical panel, have been attacked during the Israeli-US airstrike campaign.<\/p>\n
Israel hits Lebanon with multiple airstrikes around Beirut<\/p>\n
Israel carried out at least 11 airstrikes late Thursday and early Friday, targeting the southern suburbs of Beirut. Fires broke out near a gas station.<\/p>\n
The Israeli army issued a warning Thursday evening, urging residents to \u201csave your lives and evacuate your homes immediately”. Two hospitals evacuated patients and staff. No casualties were immediately reported.<\/p>\n
The Lebanese health ministry said the death toll has risen to 123 since the resurgence of hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah, which struck Israel in the opening days of the war.<\/p>\n
A spokesperson for the UN peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon, Tilak Pokharel, said Thursday that peacekeepers had seen and heard clashes, including ground combat, in southern Lebanon as more Israeli forces have moved across the border.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Intense Israeli airstrikes have pounded the capitals of Iran and Lebanon as the US apparently struck an Iranian…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":315686,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[42,5107,43,64,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-315685","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-middle-east","tag-news","tag-north-america","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/315685","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=315685"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/315685\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/315686"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=315685"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=315685"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=315685"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}