2.20am
US tech firm withholding Iran images at government request
An American technology company will indefinitely withhold satellite images of Iran and the region of conflict in the Middle East, on the request of the US government.
The California-based Planet Labs announced the decision in an email to customers on Saturday, saying it was complying with the administration’s request.
The firm had previously put a 14-day delay on satellite images of the conflict zone in the Middle East in order to prevent adversaries using it to attack the US and its allies.
Planet Labs said in its email to customers that it would switch to a “managed distribution of images” deemed not to pose a risk to safety.
Its worldwide satellite images are often used by researchers and journalists to get a fuller picture of events in areas which are difficult to reach or restricted.
In a statement to The New York Times, Planet Labs said the US government request was made for “safety and operational security reasons”.
1.59am
Kuwait’s government complex targeted
Kuwait’s finance ministry said that an Iranian drone attack had targeted the country’s ministries complex on Saturday evening.
The complex in Kuwait City includes the finance ministry, industry and commerce, and the justice ministry.
There were no injuries but significant material damage, with emergency teams working on the incident.
Government employees will work remotely on Sunday, said the statement.
1.45am
Prestigious Tehran university damaged in strikes
A research centre at the prestigious Shahid Beheshti University in southern Tehran was damaged by strikes on Friday.
The laser and plasma research centre was targeted during the attacks. The university has for years been sanctioned by the European Union, the UK, Australia and Canada for its involvement in nuclear weapons development.
Last year, the university president Mahmoud Reza Aghamiri said that Iran “has the capability to build a nuclear bomb”.
After the strikes on Friday, Iran’s minister of science, research and technology stood in the wreckage at the university and gave a statement to reporters.
“The enemy with no roots in history, culture and civilization is acting worse than [humans living] in the stone age and attacks a scientific center,” said Hossein Simaee Sarraf on Saturday.
1.20am
Iranian commander’s niece ‘enjoyed lavish lifestyle in LA’
The US state department has released a statement after claiming to have arrested the family members of a dead Iranian commander.
The suspected niece and grand niece of Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) major general Qasem Soleimani were placed in the custody of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement and have had their green cards revoked.
Hamideh Soleimani Afshar and her daughter Soleimani Afshar were residing in Los Angeles.
“While living in the United States, [Soleimani Afshar] promoted Iranian regime propaganda, celebrated attacks against American soldiers and military facilities in the Middle East, praised the new Iranian Supreme Leader, denounced America as the ‘Great Satan’ and voiced her unflinching support for the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, a designated terror organisation,” read the statement.
“Afshar Soleimani pushed this propaganda for Iran’s terrorist regime while enjoying a lavish lifestyle in Los Angeles, as attested to by her frequent posting on her recently deleted Instagram account.”
Afshar’s husband has also been barred from entering the United States.
“The Trump administration will not allow our country to become a home for foreign nationals who support anti-American terrorist regimes,” it said.
Two of Soleimani’s daughters have denied that the women are relatives, according to Iranian state media.
1.00am
Israeli strike ‘shuts down Iranian power base’
The Israeli strike on one of Iran’s largest petrochemical complexes has effectively shut down all of its production, according to Iranian state media.
It targeted the Bandar Imam Petrochemical Complex in the city of Mahshahr.
The attack destroyed two facilities, Fajr 1 and Fajr 2, which provide basic services, including gas, power and water, to the rest of the complex.
The Israeli Defence Forces said that it had struck a complex “responsible for the production of chemical materials used for weapons” and that the sites were “central to producing materials for explosives, ballistic missiles and additional weaponry”.
Two senior officials told the New York Times that the complex’s total shutdown was a huge blow to Iran’s already struggling economy and that it could take two years to rebuild.
12.35am
April 5
Archbishop of York to call Iran war ‘pointless’ in Easter address
The Archbishop of York has called for an end to the fighting in the Middle East, calling it a “literally pointless conflict”.
Stephen Cottrell will deliver his plea for “peace between warring nations” to a congregation at York Minster on Easter Sunday.
“We thirst for peace between the warring nations of the world and on this Easter morning cry out for an end to the literally pointless conflict consuming the Middle East at the moment,” he is expected to say.
“We thirst for justice in a world where norms of international law are eroded and ignored, where basic human rights are denied.”
Cottrell will deliver his sermon as the war enters its sixth week.
12.10am
April 4
Fire erupts in Kuwait
A fire has broken out at an oil sector complex in Kuwait after a drone attack, said a state news agency.
The Kuwait Petroleum Corporation said a fire erupted in the Shuwaikh oil sector complex in the early hours of Sunday morning.
Emergency services were dealing with the fire, with no injuries reported.
11.39pm
April 4
Iran responds to Trump: The gates of hell will open for you
Iran’s central military command rejected Trump’s 48-hour threat on Saturday, with General Ali Abdollahi Aliabadi describing the threat as a “helpless, nervous, unbalanced and stupid action”.
Echoing Trump’s own language, he warned that “the gates of hell will open for you”.
11.25pm
April 4
Syria: Lebanon crossing is not used by Hezbollah
Syria has temporarily closed its border crossing into Lebanon, after the Israeli military issued an evacuation order on Saturday night.
The Israeli Defense Forces said it was targeting the border due to Hezbollah’s use of it for smuggling weapons. It warned civilians that remaining in the area would put them in danger.
However the Syrian Authority for Border Crossings and Customs insisted it was “designated exclusively for civilian passage”.
It continued: “It is not used for any military purposes, there is no presence of any armed groups or militias, and it is not permitted to be used for any activity outside civilian and legal frameworks.”
11.05pm
April 4
Trump shares footage of ‘massive Tehran strike’
Trump shared a video of apparent airstrikes on Iran this evening, describing it as a “massive strike in Tehran”.
He wrote on Truth Social: “Many of Iran’s Military Leaders, who have led them poorly and unwisely, are terminated, along with much else, with this massive strike in Tehran! President DONALD J. TRUMP.”
Footage shared by Trump showed what looked like a large explosion@realDonaldTrump
10.55pm
April 4
Iran war gives Netanyahu more time and a new story
Back in October 2023, in the first days after Hamas’s surprise attack, it seemed almost impossible that Binyamin Netanyahu would still be Israel’s prime minister two and a half years later.
As ministers gathered for an emergency security cabinet meeting on the afternoon of October 7, one of Netanyahu’s closest political allies, finance minister Bezalel Smotrich, told him: “Within 48 hours they will ask us to resign — and they will be right to do so.”
Israel had just experienced the worst disaster in its history, the government and the IDF had failed, and Netanyahu, who had spent more than a decade shaping the country’s policy on Hamas, bore the brunt of the responsibility. He appeared politically finished.
But he wasn’t.
10.28pm
April 4
Israel warns of strike near Syria-Lebanon border crossing
The Israeli military said today that it would strike an area near the main crossing between Syria and Lebanon, urging residents to evacuate immediately as it continued its attacks across Lebanon.
Israel has carried out strikes across Lebanon and launched a ground invasion in the south since March 2 when Hezbollah entered the war in the Middle East on the side of its backer, Iran.
“Due to Hezbollah’s use of the Masnaa crossing for military purposes and smuggling of combat equipment, the [Israeli army] intends to carry out strikes on the crossing in the near future,” the military’s Arabic language spokesman, Avichay Adraee, said.
“For your safety, we urge everyone near the crossing and anyone in the area marked in red on the map to evacuate immediately,” he wrote on X, sharing the marked map.
A Lebanese security source at the Masnaa border crossing told AFP they were “currently evacuating the crossing following the Israeli threat”.
10.15pm
April 4
Dead Iranian general’s family denies US arrest of relatives
Iran has responded to claims by the US that it arrested two relatives of a dead Iranian commander.
The state department said today it had arrested the niece and grandniece of Qasem Soleimani, the general who was assassinated in 2020 on the order of President Trump. “The Trump administration will not allow our country to become a home for foreign nationals who support anti-American terrorist regimes,” Marco Rubio, the secretary of state, said.
Iranian media quoted Zeinab Soleimani, Soleimani’s daughter, who told the Fars news agency “the people arrested in the United States have no connection to the family”. Another daughter, Narjes Soleimani, who is a member of Tehran’s Islamic City Council, told Iranian state TV: “To this day, no member of the family nor any relative of Martyr Soleimani has resided in the United States.”
10.06pm
April 4
Prediction platform bans bets on US crew member rescue
Polymarket, one of the world’s largest prediction platforms, said that it would no longer allow users to place bets on whether US forces would find the missing crew member whose aircraft was shot down in Iran.
There had been a market which put odds on the service member’s rescue. Yesterday, Polymarket said the market did not meet its “integrity standards” and it would investigate how it slipped through its “internal safeguards.”
9.52pm
April 4
Aides brief Trump on legality of strikes on civilians
Top White House aides briefed President Trump on the legal basis of striking civilian targets in Iran, the Wall Street Journal reports.
The group, which included the defence secretary Pete Hegseth, privately made the case to Trump that Iranian energy facilities and bridges are legitimate military targets because their destruction could lead to a significant hit in the country’s missile and nuclear capabilities.
On Thursday the US struck a bridge connecting Tehran to the city of Karaj, which US officials said could transport military material. At least 13 people were killed.
The rationale has been questioned by legal experts and human rights groups, though the Trump administration insists destroying these plants is a legitimate element of war.
9.25pm
April 4
Houthis claim new missile strike on Israel
The Houthis said they launched another missile attack against Israel today.
Based in Yemen, the Iran-backed militant group entered the conflict on March 28, firing a barrage of rockets towards Israel.
The Israel Defence Forces earlier said they were intercepting a missile launch from Yemen.
9.08pm
April 4
Lindsey Graham: US will press on even if Iran finds airman
Lindsey GrahamANDREW THOMAS/CNP/SPLASHNEWS
President Trump has renewed his threats to Iran but remained silent over the fate of an American airman whose fighter jet was shot down on Friday.
Both the US and Iran are engaged in a race to find the American airman who remained unaccounted for after his aircraft was shot down on Friday. His pilot was rescued but, as of Saturday evening, there had been no updates from US officials regarding the status of the second crew member, who is believed to be a weapons systems officer.
Senator Lindsey Graham, a vocal Republican supporter of the war and long-time advocate of military action against Iran, told The Sunday Times on Saturday morning that if the airman was captured by the Iranians, it would not change the American calculus.
8.38pm
April 4
Netanyahu: We will continue to crush the terror regime
Damaged buildings after Israeli-US airstrikes in TehranMajid Saeedi/Getty Images
Binyamin Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister, vowed to continue strikes on Iran in a video statement this evening.
He said recent attacks, which hit petrochemical and steel production facilities, were intended to target the regime’s “cash machine for funding the war of terror against us”.
“I promised you that we would continue to strike the terror regime in Tehran, and that is exactly what we are doing,” Netanyahu said.
He also wrote on X: “Continuing to crush the terror regime. Have a good week!”
8.23pm
April 4
Five killed in Israeli strike on petrochemical plant, Iran says
Iranian state media is reporting that five people have been killed in strikes on a petrochemical plant, and that a further 170 are being treated for injuries.
Israel claimed the facility produced a “critical component” for the Iranian ballistic missiles programme.
The strikes on the facility in Mahshahr, southwestern Iran occurred earlier today, according to the Israeli military.
8.07pm
April 4
Israeli strikes kill two girls in Lebanon
First responders pull an injured man from the rubble after an Israeli airstrike in Nabatieh, LebanonChris McGrath/Getty Images
Israeli strikes on Lebanon have killed at least two girls and wounded 40 people today, according to the Lebanese health ministry.
The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) also issued an evacuation warning for Lebanon’s largest border crossing with Syria tonight, indicating that further strikes are imminent.
Attacks by the IDF have intensified over recent weeks, since having launched a ground invasion on March 2.
The death toll in Lebanon is about 1,300, according to authorities.
8.00pm
April 4
Israel strikes 140 ‘terrorist targets’
The Israeli military has struck more than 140 “terrorist infrastructure targets” in Lebanon over the weekend, it said today.
The Israeli military has stepped up its attack on southern Lebanon, targeting Hezbollah weapons storage facilities, training camps, rocket launch sites and its special forces command centres in Beirut.
More than 1,300 people have died in Lebanon so far, according to Lebanese authorities.
7.46pm
April 4
Iran hits US targets in Kuwait
Iran has launched a new wave of drone strikes on US assets in Kuwait, its military said in a statement. The Iranian military said it was targeting missile and combat drone detection and surveillance radars, as well as helicopter units.
America has a significant military presence in Kuwait and is a key base for armoured vehicles, troops and a launch for artillery strikes.
There has also been an escalation in Iranian attacks on Kuwaiti infrastructure, including strikes on Friday that damaged a power and water desalination plant and an oil refinery.
7.27pm
April 4
Two arrested outside RAF base
A demonstrator being arrested during a protest outside RAF Lakenheath PA
Two people were arrested during an anti-war demonstration outside RAF Lakenheath in Suffolk this afternoon.
Suffolk police said the suspects were detained on suspicion of obstructing a public highway. Demonstrators are holding a six-day “peace camp” in protest against the Iran conflict until April 6.
There have been reports that the US fighter jet shot down over Iran yesterday had taken off from Lakenheath.
7.22pm
April 4
Missing crew member may not have survived, retired general says
The missing crew member of the US jet shot down over Iran yesterday has almost certainly sustained injuries and may not have survived at all, a retired US Air Force general has said.
Brigadier General Houston Cantwell, who flew combat missions during his career, told Times Radio that the physical toll of ejecting from a downed war plane was severe. “A missile just blew up within 10 to 15 feet of your body,” he said. “You never know what the status of the pilot is going to be.”
Cantwell said the ejecting pilot would have likely experienced several traumas: shrapnel from the missile strike, the ejection itself — which can subject the body to more than 20G of force — followed by wind blast and a parachute landing in hostile terrain.
“It’s very difficult to survive all of those things unscathed and then to find yourself, again, unscathed on the ground [and] able to move around,” he said. “That’s the first thing, is what physical condition is he in? If he’s in good mental and physical condition, then obviously try to find a good hole up spot to stay low and keep a low profile.
“And obviously we hope this is not the case but there’s a possibility he may not have survived.”
7.12pm
April 4
Iran’s plan B to get its oil out
Jask sits on the Gulf of Oman, 95 miles east of the Strait of HormuzAFP
Iran is increasing activity at a “forgotten” oil port after threats that the US could invade its main export facility on Kharg Island.
Jask port, which has been largely inactive for years, has shipped millions of barrels of oil since the start of the war, according to an analysis of satellite imagery. The volume of oil stored at its terminal has also increased.
Jask, which is 95 miles east of the Strait of Hormuz, offers a plan B, experts say — especially if President Trump acts on his threats to seize Kharg Island, through which Iran exports 90 per cent of its oil.
6.37pm
April 4
Israeli protesters gather in Tel Aviv
Israeli protesters calling for an end to the war in Tel Aviv todayMaya Levin/AP
Hundreds of Israelis gathered in central Tel Aviv today to protest the war with Iran.
Demonstrators assembled in Habima Square where they waved anti-war banners and chanted slogans against Binyamin Netanyahu, the prime minister.
“Police are trying to silence our voice,” Alon-Lee Green, the co-director of the Israeli-Palestinian grassroots group Standing Together, told AFP. “We are here to demand an end to the war in Iran, the war in Lebanon, and the war in Gaza which is still going on, as well as an end to the pogroms in the West Bank.”
Protesters held the rally despite restrictions on mass gatherings imposed since the start of the war.
Israeli police take cover in an underground parking used as a bomb shelter after warning sirens while intervening during a protest at Habima Square in Tel Aviv todayIlia YEFIMOVICH/Getty Images
6.05pm
April 4
Israeli soldier killed in Lebanon
The Israeli military said a soldier had been killed today during fighting in southern Lebanon, where its forces are engaged in clashes with Iran-backed Hezbollah militants.
“Sergeant First Class Guy Ludar, aged 21, […] fell during combat in southern Lebanon,” an Israel Defence Forces spokesperson said.
The latest fatality brings the number of Israeli soldiers killed in south Lebanon to 11 since the army began ground operations against Hezbollah last month.
5.40pm
April 4
Tehran grants Iraq free passage through Strait
A protest in Basra, Iraq, against US and Israeli actions in the regionMohammed Aty/Reuters
Iranian military officials have said Iraq is to be exempt from any restrictions on transit through the Strait of Hormuz, Iranian media reported today.
The announcement, made by Iran’s main military command, Khatam al-Anbiya, signals preferential treatment for Baghdad as Tehran tightens control over the strategic waterway.
Iran is also permitting Indian and Chinese ships transporting oil exports to travel through the Strait of Hormuz.
5.06pm
April 4
IDF intercepts Iranian barrage over Jerusalem
Several blasts have been reported over Jerusalem after the Israeli military warned it had detected missiles inbound from Iran.
The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) said the missiles had been “engaged by air defences”. Israeli Channel 12 reported that shrapnel had fallen onto the city as a result of the interceptions.
One Iranian rocket, the IDF added, had been intentionally allowed to hit an open area “according to protocol”. It did not say where the missile had landed.
“The results of the interception are still under review,” an IDF spokesperson said. No injuries have been reported so far. It is the seventh ballistic missile salvo fired by Iran on Israel today, local media reported.
4.38pm
April 4
US agents arrest assassinated Iranian commander’s relatives
US federal agents have arrested the niece and grandniece of Qasem Soleimani, the Iranian general who was assassinated in 2020 on the order of President Trump.
Marco Rubio, the secretary of state, said he had revoked the green cards of Hamideh Soleimani Afshar and her daughter earlier this week.
“They are now in ICE custody, pending removal from the United States,” he wrote on X. “The Trump administration will not allow our country to become a home for foreign nationals who support anti-American terrorist regimes.”
Soleimani, who led the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps’s foreign operations, was killed in a US drone strike while he was visiting Baghdad, Iraq.
4.15pm
April 4
US president’s shifting deadlines for Iran
Trump initially issued a 48-hour ultimatum for Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz on March 21.
He then postponed his threatened strikes on Iranian energy facilities after claiming the US and Tehran had “productive conversations”.
On March 27 Trump said the pause would last ten days, effectively setting the deadline for April 6. The president’s latest threat is framed as a reminder of that date.
3.50pm
April 4
Trump gives Iran 48 hours before ‘all hell will rain down’
President Trump has warned that Iran has 48 hours to “make a deal” or reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
In his latest Truth Social post, he wrote: “Remember when I gave Iran ten days to MAKE A DEAL or OPEN UP THE HORMUZ STRAIT. Time is running out — 48 hours before all Hell will reign [sic] down on them. Glory be to GOD! President DONALD J. TRUMP.”
3.33pm
April 4
Iran claims it downed US F-15 with ‘new’ air defence system
Iran used a new air defence system to target a US fighter jet yesterday, the country’s top joint military command has said.
A US F-15E Strike Eagle fighter jet was shot down as it flew over the southwest of Iran, prompting a frantic effort to locate its two-strong crew. One of the crew members was rescued but another remains missing.
Ebrahim Zolfaghari, the Iranian military spokesman, said the downing of the jet was a “humiliation” for the US and Israel and credited new “domestically-produced” air defence systems, according to Iran’s state-affiliated IRNA news agency.
He added that the new, unspecified air systems were being rolled out across Iran and would help the regime to “achieve full control of our country’s skies”.
3.12pm
April 4
Trump boasts about US jobs figures
President Trump claimed he was “getting rid of a nuclear Iran” as he boasted about the latest US jobs figures.
In a Truth Social post, Trump highlighted yesterday’s statistics showing 178,000 new jobs. He also claimed there had been a 55 per cent drop in the trade deficit, which he said was “the biggest drop in history”.
Trump added: “THANK YOU MR TARIFF! All of this and, simultanesouly, getting rid of a Nuclear Iran. MAGA!!!”
2.58pm
April 4
Russia evacuates 198 staff from Iran nuclear plant
Evacuations are under way at Iran’s Bushehr nuclear power plant after an airstrike close to the facility.
Russia’s state nuclear company, Rosatom, which is constructing new power units at the site as part of an agreement it has with Tehran, evacuated 198 of its staff on Saturday, according to Russian news agencies.
Saturday’s evacuations had been planned before the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said in a post on X that one of the plant’s physical protection staff had been killed by a projectile fragment. The IAEA also said that a building at the plant had been affected by shockwaves and fragments.
Alexey Likhachev, the Rosatom chief, said developments near the facility were unfolding in line with the worst-case scenario. Specifics were not provided.
Rosatom said it had informed President Putin on the situation surrounding the plant, according to the TASS news agency.
2.43pm
April 4
Hegseth removes dissenting voices
The purge of the US military’s top generals began within weeks of Pete Hegseth’s arrival at the Pentagon.
The decision on Thursday to remove General Randy George, the army’s chief of staff, at a critical time in the Iran war marks a new chapter in his campaign to oust dissenting voices.
George’s departure a year before he was due to retire means that six of the eight members of the joint chiefs of staff, the committee of top generals that advises the president, have left since President Trump returned to the White House.
2.08pm
April 4
Israel blows up Iranian truck ‘used to launch missiles’
Israel’s airforce has released a video of a strike on a truck it claims was being used to launch ballistic missiles. The truck was targeted in the Tabriz area of northwestern Iran.
1.55pm
April 4
Nobel peace prize winner fought for prisoners in Iran. Now she is one
Narges MohammadiNARGES MOHAMMADI FOUNDATION/AFP/GETTY IMAGES
The last time Narges Mohammadi was seen in public was in December, when she was standing on the roof of a car in Mashhad in northeastern Iran, scattering daffodils into a crowd.
The Nobel peace laureate had been attending a memorial service for Khosrow Alikordi, a prominent rights lawyer who had been found dead in his office. His death was declared a suicide by the Iranian authorities but his friends and colleagues, including Mohammadi, had their doubts.
“Narges wanted to hold the regime accountable,” Mohammadi’s husband, Taghi Rahmani, said. “She believed it should be investigated.”
1.37pm
April 4
Iran claims to have destroyed American ‘Chinook’
IRIB
The Iranian state broadcaster has shared pictures of an American “Chinook” helicopter it claims was damaged during a drone strike.
“An Iranian drone strike destroyed an American CH-47 ‘Chinook’ in Kuwait yesterday,” the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting posted on X on Saturday.
1.30pm
April 4
What has US-Israeli operation achieved so far?
As the sun went down and a “chill was setting on the tarmac” in an undisclosed Middle Eastern country, Pete Hegseth, the US secretary of war, asked a junior airwoman what she needed to fight Iran.
“She simply looked up at me with a sly smile on her face and said, ‘more bombs, sir, and bigger bombs’,” he recounted in a Pentagon news conference on Tuesday.
Hegseth, an army National Guard veteran, said the message from troops fighting in Operation Epic Fury was: “Get us even more bombs. Bigger bombs, more targets. Let us finish this.”
But almost five weeks after the US and Israel launched their attack, the war appears far from finished. Binyamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, suggested in an interview with Newsmax this week that the operation was merely “beyond the halfway point”.
1.13pm
April 4
Capture of US officer ‘would change the game’
Iran capturing the missing American officer would “change the game”, a former White House chief of intelligence has said.
Marc Gustafson, a national security official who served under Barack Obama, Donald Trump and Joe Biden, told Times Radio on Saturday that Iran claiming an American hostage would make it “a lot more difficult” for Trump to pull out of the war.
Iranian officials are offering rewards of about $66,000 (£50,000) to citizens who help capture the missing officer, according to state media reports.
Gustafson said: “I think it does change the game … it makes it a lot harder to pull away, declare victory and take an off-ramp, which some people expected President Trump to do in the next couple of weeks.”
12.53pm
April 4
Three hurt in strike on BP-operated oilfield in Iraq
Two drones hit a BP-operated Iraqi oilfield in the southern city of Basra, injuring three workers, sources have told Reuters.
The attack took place shortly after another drone strike on facilities west of Basra that belong to foreign oil companies, according to the energy and security sources.
The aftermath of the drone strike west of Basra
The drone strikes had no impact on operations in this part of Iraq’s giant Rumaila oilfield, as they targeted an equipment storage facility, said two Iraqi engineers working at the field.
Foreign staff were evacuated following an earlier drone strike on the oilfield, sources told Reuters last month.
12.30pm
April 4
Israel urges Tyre residents to evacuate
The aftermath of a strike in Maarakeh, near the city of Tyre, on SaturdayKawnat HAJU/AFP/ Getty Images
Israel issued an urgent evacuation warning on Saturday to residents of the southern Lebanese city of Tyre as it prepares to strike Hezbollah targets.
“Urgent warning to the residents of the city of Tyre … Hezbollah’s terrorist activity compels the IDF to operate against it with determination,” the military’s Arabic-language spokesman, Colonel Avichay Adraee, said on X.
“For your safety, we call on you to evacuate your homes immediately, according to the area shown on the map, and move north of the Zahrani River,” he said, adding that the area extended to the Burj al-Shamali refugee camp.
12.15pm
April 4
Iran criticises strike near nuclear plant
Iran’s foreign minister has criticised Israel and the US for a strike near the country’s Bushehr nuclear plant.
In a post on X, Abbas Araghchi said: “Remember the Western outrage about hostilities near Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in Ukraine? Israel-US have bombed our Bushehr plant four times now. Radioactive fallout will end life in GCC [Gulf Co-operation Council] capitals, not Tehran.”
The US and Israel have not yet confirmed that they were involved in the attack.
“Attacks on our petrochemicals also convey real objectives,” Araghchi added.
12.03pm
April 4
US rescue force ‘looking for a needle in a haystack’
American rescue helicopters searching for a missing airman may be “effectively looking for a needle in a haystack”, a former head of the British Army said on Saturday.
Lord Dannatt, who served as chief of the general staff from 2006 to 2009, told Times Radio: “I think what’s a little worrying or very worrying is that whereas one was picked up almost straight away … it would appear that the other one — if he is still alive, and of course one has no guarantee of that — could well be stranded out there.”
The fact they had not yet been detected by the rescue mission could suggest their transmitter equipment was issuing no signal and therefore helicopters were “effectively looking for a needle in a haystack”, Dannatt said.
11.53am
April 4
How Iran prepares traps for aircraft
Iran will have wargamed seducing aircraft into vulnerable areas before the downing of the US jet, a former air vice-marshal has said.
Sean Bell told Times Radio: “Iran is not stupid. Iran has wargamed this and they will have set SAM traps — surface-to-air missile traps — where they will seduce aircraft into an area, maybe turning on radars, maybe putting lucrative targets on the ground.
“Iran’s never going to shoot down the whole of the United States airforce but they only have to get lucky once and I think what’s happened with the F-15,” Bell said.
He warned that the extraction team looking for the missing weapons system officer will be “all the more vulnerable” as they’re having to fly low for visibility during the search.
11.40am
April 4
Iran ‘allows essential goods through Hormuz’
Iran has authorised the passage of vessels carrying essential goods to its ports through the Strait of Hormuz, according to a letter cited by Iran’s Tasnim news agency on Saturday.
The letter indicates that ships heading to Iranian ports, including those in the Gulf of Oman at present, must co-ordinate with authorities and comply with established protocols to transit the strait, Tasnim said.
Iran has effectively shut the Strait of Hormuz, which normally carries about a fifth of the world’s total oil trade, in retaliation for the US-Israeli attacks that began on February 28.
11.36am
April 4
Blast at pro-Israel centre in Netherlands
Police officers at the Israel Centre in Nijkerk PERSBUREAU DE BREIJ/ANP/AFP/Getty Images
Police are investigating an explosion at a pro-Israel centre in the Netherlands late on Good Friday that caused minimal damage and no injuries.
A police spokeswoman told AFP on Saturday that no one was inside the site run by Christians for Israel, a non-profit in the central city of Nijkerk, when an explosive device detonated outside its gate late on Friday.
“Investigations revealed that a person dressed in black placed the explosive device,” the police added in a statement, appealing for witnesses to come forward.
Christians for Israel said it was “shocked” by what it described as part of “a worrying pattern” of incidents targeting Jewish and pro-Israel sites in the Netherlands and neighbouring Belgium.
The incident follows an attack on ambulances run by Jewish volunteers in London last week.
11.32am
April 4
Trump weighs broader cabinet shake-up
President Trump is considering a broader cabinet shake-up after the removal of Pam Bondi as attorney-general this week, as he grows increasingly frustrated with the political fallout from the war with Iran, five people familiar with internal White House discussions said.
Any potential reshuffling could serve as a reset for the White House as it confronts a politically challenging stretch: The five-week-old war has driven up gas prices, dragged down Trump’s approval ratings and intensified anxiety about the consequences for Republicans heading into November’s midterm elections.
Some allies said his televised speech to the nation on Wednesday — which one senior White House official described as an attempt to project a sense of control and confidence about the direction of the war — fell flat, adding to the sense that changes in messaging or personnel were needed. “A shake-up to show action is not a bad thing, is it?” another White House official told Reuters.
11.25am
April 4
IDF strikes ‘injure 11’ in Tyre
Israeli airstrikes on buildings near a hospital in the coastal Lebanese city of Tyre have injured 11 people, the health ministry said on Saturday.
The director of the Lebanese Italian Hospital told the state-run National News Agency that it would “remain open to provide the necessary medical care” despite damage to the hospital.
Strikes destroyed two buildings nearby, according to AFP. The hospital’s windows were shattered and ceilings collapsed as a result of the strikes, the facility’s management said.
Israel has been carrying out strikes across Lebanon and launched a ground invasion in the south after the Iranian-proxy Hezbollah entered the war on March 2.
11.12am
April 4
Iran claims oil exports from Kharg Island have risen despite war
Iran’s oil exports from the key hub of Kharg Island have increased even as the war with the US and Israel rages, Iranian media reported on Saturday.
“Following the visits carried out and meetings held on Kharg island, I must say that in recent days not only have oil exports not decreased, but they have increased,” the ISNA news agency quoted Moussa Ahmadi, the head of the Iranian parliament’s energy commission, as saying.
President Trump recently threatened to destroy the island if Iran does not “immediately” reopen the Strait of Hormuz and a deal to end the war is not reached soon.
In recent days Iranian officials have suggested that the US may be planning a ground attack on Kharg Island after the USS Tripoli, an amphibious assault ship carrying about 3,500 Marines and sailors, arrived in the Middle East last week.
11.06am
April 4
Meloni meets Saudi crown prince
Giorgia Meloni and Mohammed bin Salman in Jeddah on FridaySaudi Press Agency/Reuters
Giorgia Meloni has discussed the defensive military assistance Italy is providing against Iranian retaliatory attacks with the Saudi Crown Prince, Mohammed bin Salman.
A brief statement from the Italian prime minister’s office on Saturday did not specify the type of assistance.
It also said the two discussed diplomatic efforts to end the war, the importance of opening the Strait of Hormuz and “more broadly how to promote a regional framework that can break free from the current cycle of conflict”.
Meloni will continue her Gulf tour with visits to Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.
10.54am
April 4
No spike in radiation at Iran nuclear plant
A satellite image of the Bushehr nuclear power plant in December last yearPlanet Labs PBC/AP
No increase in radiation levels have been reported after a projectile struck close to the premises of the Bushehr nuclear power plant in Iran, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAE) reported on Saturday.
The IAEA said in a post on X that one of the site’s physical protection staff members was killed by a projectile fragment and a building on site was affected by shockwaves and fragments.
The IAEA’s director-general, Rafael Mariano Grossi, expressed “deep concern” and reiterated his call for “maximum military restraint to avoid risk of a nuclear accident”.
Production was unaffected and the strike did not damage main parts of the plant, Iran’s Tasnim news agency said earlier on Saturday.
10.38am
April 4
Iran internet blackout enters 36th day
Iran has been subject to an internet blackout affecting most users for 36 days straight, according to the internet monitoring group NetBlocks.
NetBlocks has said that “the measure remains in place, entering day 36 after 840 hours, isolating the general public as authorities explore ways to give chosen users access via a tiered whitelisting system”.
The BBC reports that some officials, pro-establishment users and journalists have unrestricted access, while others are paying large sums to get online.
Some Iranians are managing to connect using Starlink — the satellite internet owned by Elon Musk through his company SpaceX — and other methods, at a high cost. In Iran, owning or using Starlink terminals is punishable by up to two years in prison.
10.34am
April 4
Iraq closes border crossing with Iran after strikes
Iraq has closed its southern Shalamcheh border crossing with Iran after airstrikes on the Iranian side killed an Iraqi citizen, security sources told Reuters on Saturday. The sources gave no further details on the incident.
Earlier, a fire broke out early on Saturday at storage facilities belonging to foreign oil companies west of Iraq’s Basra after a drone strike, security sources told the agency.
10.08am
April 4
Crew member ‘would be a very powerful bargaining chip’ for Iran
Capturing the missing American crew member would be a “huge prize” for Iran, a former deputy director of the US secretary of state’s policy planning staff has said.
Laurel Rapp, now the director of the US and North America programme at Chatham House, described the search to find the missing crew member from the downed jet as “a critical mission” to prevent Iran from gaining a “very powerful bargaining chip”.
She told the BBC’s Today programme that if they were captured, and images were released, it would “be incredibly shifting from an American viewpoint”.
10.07am
April 4
Indonesia denounces blast that injured three peacekeepers
The Indonesian government has condemned an explosion that injured three of its peacekeepers in Lebanon, within days of three other blue helmets from the southeast Asian nation being killed.
The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) said three peacekeepers were injured, two seriously, in a blast that occurred inside a UN facility near El Adeisse on Friday afternoon.
The UN Information Centre in Jakarta said the “origin of the explosion” was unknown but identified the injured soldiers as Indonesian.
“Repeated attacks or incidents of this kind are unacceptable,” the Indonesian foreign ministry said in a statement on Saturday.
9.45am
April 4
‘One killed by projectile near Iran nuclear plant’
A projectile struck near the Bushehr nuclear power plant perimeter, killing one person, according to Iranian state media.
The incident did not manage main parts of the plant and Iran’s Tasnim news agency said that production was unaffected by the impact.
Separately, the Bandar Imam petrochemical complex in Iran’s southwestern Khuzestan province was targeted by air attacks, with some sections sustaining minor damage, the nation’s Mehr news agency reported.
9.33am
April 4
EU finance ministers call for tax on energy firms’ windfall profits
Five European Union finance ministers are calling for a tax on windfall profits of energy companies in reaction to rising fuel prices due to the Iran war, according to a letter from the ministers to the EU Commission seen by Reuters on Saturday.
The finance ministers of Germany, Italy, Spain, Portugal and Austria made the joint call in a letter dated Friday, saying such a measure would be a signal that “we stand united and are able to take action”.
“It would also send a clear message that those who profit from the consequences of the war must do their part to ease the burden on the general public,” they wrote.
Oil and gas prices have spiked since the US-Israeli strikes on Iran began on February 28, creating a price shock similar to the energy crisis Europe went through after Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022.
9.17am
April 4
Downed US jet prompts fears of hostage crisis
It was the photo of an ejector seat discovered in the Iranian desert that confirmed to the world something had gone very wrong (George Grylls writes). The parachute had been deployed, but the seat was empty. That meant at least one American survivor was deep behind enemy lines.
Judging by the images of the dusty crash site, there was probably another American unaccounted for since the aircraft was operated by a two-person crew.
Just after dawn local time, Tehran claimed its air defences had shot down an F-35 Lightning, thought to be the most sophisticated fighter jet in the world. Due to the “massive explosion”, the pilot was unlikely to have survived, a spokesman for Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said.
8.58am
April 4
Senegal limits government travel as Iran war hits finances
Senegal’s government has suspended all non-essential foreign travel by ministers and top officials, warning of “extremely difficult” times ahead as the Iran war drives global oil prices higher, straining the nation’s budget.
The war and Iran’s effective closure of the vital Strait of Hormuz have roiled global energy markets, sending the price of benchmark Brent crude soaring and pushing governments around the world to take steps to mitigate the negative impacts.
Addressing a youth event in the coastal town of Mbour on Friday evening, Senegal’s prime minister, Ousmane Sonko, pointed to oil trading at about $115 a barrel, nearly twice the $62 per barrel assumed in Senegal’s budget projections.
“No minister in my government will leave the country unless it is for an essential mission related to the work we are currently undertaking,” he said, announcing that he had already cancelled his own planned trips to Niger, Spain and France.
8.41am
April 4
Iran executes two ‘political prisoners’
Iran has executed two men who were convicted of belonging to the People’s Mojahedin Organisation of Iran (PMOI), an exile group, and of carrying out armed attacks, domestic media reported.
The Iranian judiciary’s Mizan news agency said Abul-Hassan Montazer and Vahid Bani-Amirian were convicted of “being members of a terrorist group”.
This brings the total number of PMOI members executed since the start of the war to six, after four were executed earlier this week.
In a statement on Saturday’s executions, the PMOI said Iran was “trying to hide its weakness by executing political prisoners, especially PMOI members and supporters”.
8.29am
April 4
US ex-pilot on surviving being shot down
As American forces race against time and Iran’s military to locate a missing fighter jet crew shot down Friday, a retired Air Force general told AFP what it takes to hide and survive if parachuted into enemy territory.
Houston Cantwell, a retired brigadier general, said: “The best intelligence you’re going to get is as you’re floating to the ground. Your best view of where you may want to go or where you may want to avoid is while you’re coming down in your parachute. Look around, because once you’re on the ground, you can’t see very far.”
Cantwell, who is now at the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies, added: “Try to avoid enemy capture, as long as you can and if I were in a desert environment, I’d want to try to find some water.”
8.26am
April 4
Israeli tank ‘kills man in Syria’
An Israeli tank fired on a car in the province of Quneitra in southern Syria on Saturday, killing a young man, the state-run Sana news agency reported, without giving further details.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based war monitor, cited witnesses that said the man was a civilian “and that the attack occurred while he was driving his car on a public road connecting villages near the border strip”. There was no immediate statement from the Israeli military.
After the ousting of the former Syrian president Bashar al-Assad by Islamist-led rebels in December 2024, Israeli forces seized control of a UN-patrolled buffer zone in southern Syria. Israel initially described this as a temporary move to protect its borders.
The Syrian government claims Israel is violating a 1974 disengagement agreement between the two countries and has called for it to withdraw its forces.
8.19am
April 4
UN to vote on Strait of Hormuz ‘next week’
The United Nations security council has postponed a vote on a Bahrain resolution that would allow countries to use “all defensive means necessary” to clear transit through the Strait of Hormuz, which remains effectively closed by Iran.
A vote for the resolution was initially scheduled for Friday, before it was moved to the weekend. Reuters now reports that the decision will be made sometime next week.
8.12am
April 4
Iranian media offers reward for capture of US pilot
Video appears to shows Iranians searching for downed US crew members
Iranian state media has offered a reward to anyone who hunted down and captured a downed US pilot, who had ejected over southwestern Iran.
An anchor on the Iranian channel said: “If you capture the enemy pilot or pilots alive and hand them over to the police, you will receive a precious prize.”
The channel is in Kohkilouyeh and Boyer-Ahmad province, an intensely rural and mountainous region that spans more than 5,900 square miles.
An on-screen crawl earlier urged the public to “shoot them if you see them”, referring to social media footage circulating of what appeared to be US aircraft in the area.
8.10am
April 4
One of two US crew members rescued
Footage appears to show a US aircraft and two helicopters conducting a rescue operation in Iran
A C-130J Super Hercules, modified for clandestine infiltration and resupply of US special forces, was filmed refuelling two Black Hawk helicopters in western Iran, more than 100 miles from the border with Iraq.
It was clear that the race was on to find the two American crew members, the pilot and a weapons systems officer.
One of the missing US crew of the F-15E fighter jet downed in Iran was rescued by American special forces, according to reports.
The pilot was recovered after the US aircraft crashed in Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad province, CBS said. Israeli media also reported that one crew member has been rescued.
For now, the whereabouts of the other crew member, a weapons systems officer, remain unknown.
8.09am
April 4
US fighter jet shot down on Friday
Just after dawn local time on Friday, Tehran claimed its air defences had shot down a US fighter jet. Due to the “massive explosion”, the pilot was unlikely to have survived, a spokesman for Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said.
As the sun rose over the rugged landscape of western Iran, further study of the wreckage suggested the plane was an F-15E Strike Eagle. The rear stabiliser had been ripped off and the plane bore the markings of the US Air Force’s 494th Fighter Squadron, based at RAF Lakenheath in Suffolk.