Iran War Enters Its 12th Day
BBC News
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Three commercial ships have been damaged by "unknown projectiles" in the Strait of Hormuz, with at least one catching fire
23 crew members on board one ship are being rescued – pictures show smoke billowing from the vessel
Earlier, the US military said it "eliminated" 16 Iranian mine-laying ships in the area, after President Trump warned Iran not to "put out any mines" there
Iran continues its strikes across the region, including in Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Kuwait
Four people were injured when two drones fell near Dubai airport – air traffic has not been affected. As our correspondent reports, it's the second drone attack in the area in recent days
Israel launches renewed attacks on Iran and Lebanon – with our correspondent reporting a strike on an apartment building in central Beirut
Earlier, Iran's police chief said any Iranians thinking of protesting against the government would be dealt with "in the same way we deal with the enemy"
Edited by Ben Hatton and Emily McGarvey, with Barbara Plett Usher in Doha, Lina Sinjab and Alice Cuddy in Lebanon, Nick Beake in Dubai, and Hugo Bachega in Iraq
Alice Cuddy
Reporting from southern Lebanon
I’m at the scene of an Israeli strike in southern Lebanon, where firefighters are still working to put out a major fire after an explosion.
It comes as the Lebanese health ministry has announced that 570 people have been killed in Lebanon since strikes began on 2 March.
Officials here in Nabatieh el-Faouqa tell me the strike happened at about 09:00 local time (07:00 GMT).
There are no deaths or injuries, with most people from the local community having fled the area following evacuation orders for villages nearby. But officials here said this specific area was not covered by the orders.
A four-storey building was hit, with shops on the ground floor, they say. A supermarket sign can be seen beyond the smoke.
Hussein Fakih, the regional head of civil defence here in Nabatieh, tells me he is currently dealing with "30 to 40 missions a day", including putting out fires and rescuing people trapped under rubble.
Since I’ve been here, I’ve heard the bang of what rescuers say was a drone strike nearby.
One local resident who works as a rescuer, so hasn’t left the area, tells me he "heard the war planes" before the explosion this morning. He adds that he is not afraid even though he believes "things will get worse" here. He says he supports Hezbollah in its war with Israel.
Israel says its air strikes are targeting Hezbollah infrastructure in Lebanon.
Israel has announced it has begun a "wide-scale wave" of strikes against Iran while simultaneously launching attacks against Beirut.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) says it is targeting infrastructure belonging to Hezbollah and the Iranian regime.
Thailand's navy says it is providing urgent assistance after a Thai-flagged cargo ship was attacked while sailing through the Strait of Hormuz.
In a statement, the Royal Thai Navy says 23 Thai crew members were aboard.
Oman's navy has rescued 20 crew members and is "in the process of rescuing" the remaining three, the Thai authorities say.
The Thai navy says officials received an initial report of the incident at approximately 11:00, but does not specify the time zone. It says the ship was attacked after departing from Khalifa Port, United Arab Emirates, several hours earlier.
The cause of the attack is still under investigation, the statement says.
UK Maritime Trade Operations says it has received reports of 13 ships being attacked in the Middle East since the start of the conflict.
It says there have also been four reports of suspicious activity, bringing the total number of incidents affecting ships operating in and around the Arabian Gulf, Strait of Hormuz and Gulf of Oman to 17.
The update comes after reports of three commercial vessels being hit by "unknown projectiles" in the area in separate incidents this morning, with the crew of one ship forced to evacuate after the vessel was struck north of Oman.
Qatar's defence ministry says it has intercepted a "missile attack".
It follows reports that several booms have been heard in Doha.
Earlier this morning our correspondent in Doha reported that incoming fire in Qatar had been intercepted after Iran said it had launched its 35th wave of operations.
Ghoncheh Habibiazad
Senior reporter, BBC Persian
A spokesperson of Khatam al-Anbiya, Iran’s top joint military command, has threatened that Iran will target Israeli and US banks in the region in retaliation for what he says is the targeting of a bank in Iran.
Ebrahim Zolfaghari warns that "people in the region should not be within a one-kilometre radius of banks", reports Iran's state news agency IRNA.
"The enemy has given us the freedom to target economic centres and banks" belonging to the US and Israel, says Zolfaghari.
Iran's state TV news channel has also reported that a building of state-owned Sepah Bank in Tehran has been targeted.
On Tuesday, Iranian outlets had reported that there were some disruptions to services of Sepah and another state-owned bank, Melli.
Oman's state news agency reports the country has shot down a drone and another has fallen into the sea, citing a security source.
The Oman News Agency reports that authorities downed the drone "without any human or material losses being recorded".
It government of Oman repeats it condemnation of operations targeting operations, it says.
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) says its air defence systems across the country are responding to further missile and drone attacks from Iran.
The defence ministry says sounds heard are a result of air defence system interceptions.
It comes after authorities announced earlier this morning that four civilians had been injured after two Iranian drones fell in the vicinity of Dubai International Airport.
G7 energy ministers say they have given "in principle" support for the use of "strategic reserves" of energy due to the conflict's impact on oil and gas supplies.
A communique released by France says energy ministers of the Group of Seven, a group of nations that also includes the UK, Germany and the US, held a virtual meeting along with a representative of the International Energy Agency (IEA) ahead of a meeting of the IEA's governing body later.
The statement says: "In principle, we support the implementation of proactive measures to address the situation, including the use of strategic reserves.
"G7 members will carefully consider the recommendations issued during these discussions. We agreed to stand ready to take all necessary measures in coordination with IEA members."
If reserves are released it would be the first time since 2022 following Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
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Seven people have been killed and 23 injured following strikes in the Bekaa Valley in eastern Lebanon, the state-run National News Agency reports, citing the health ministry.
It reports that the seven deaths and 18 of the injuries occurred in the village of Temnine Et Tahta, 45km (28 miles) east of Beirut, with a further five injured in an attack on the nearby village of Ali al-Nahri.
In the last couple of hours, the IDF has issued a warning to six villages in southern Lebanon telling people to evacuate their homes immediately.
The military's Arabic spokesperson Avichay Adraee says "Hezbollah activities are forcing the IDF to act against them" and tells people in the six affected areas to move north of the Litani River.
Donald Trump has said Iran is "welcome" to play in the upcoming World Cup in North America, despite the war in the Middle East, according to Fifa president Gianni Infantino.
In a post on Instagram, the Fifa chief says he had a meeting with the US President to discuss preparations for the competition later this year, which the Iranian team has qualified for.
Infantino says: "During the discussions, President Trump reiterated that the Iranian team is, of course, welcome to compete in the tournament in the United States."
Iran's participation has been in doubt since the start of the conflict – read more.
Bahrain's national airline, Gulf Air, says in an update that its flights "remains temporarily suspended as closure of Bahrain airspace continues".
It says services will resume once Bahrain's civil aviation authority confirms "the safe reopening of the affected airspace".
The civil aviation authority says in its own update that it has transferred aircraft from Bahrain International Airport to other airports in the region, local media reports. 
Nick Beake
Europe Correspondent reporting from Dubai
This is the second time in five days that an Iranian drone has managed to reach the main international airport here in Dubai.
Officials earlier said two drones “fell in the vicinity” of the airport this morning – without giving exact details of where the impact was. The UAE government has since said on social media that the drones were downed. We don’t know how the four wounded people sustained their injuries.
Dubai International is the world’s busiest airport for international passenger traffic.
Officials quickly resumed operations this morning. Airlines have been trying to clear a big back log after thousands of flights were cancelled.
On Saturday, footage emerged of a strike near a terminal building – see the clip below. No one was injured then.
Dubai, as well as the UAE, is trying hard to promote a sense of security and safety after being dragged into the middle of this conflict – one that the US and Israel started with Iran.
Those messages of reassurance have been promoted and amplified by an active online community, particularly of expats of various nationalists including Brits.
This attempted attack at such a significant location is a reminder the threat is real and Iran continues to lash out at its neighbours.
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From Saturday: Moment of drone strike close to Dubai Airport
Mitch Labiak
Business reporter
Relative calm would be the best way of describing stock and commodity markets as Europe wakes up this morning.
The main stock market indexes of the largest firms listed in Asia rose, with Japan’s Nikkei 225 closing up 1.43% and South Korea’s Kospi ending the day 1.4% higher, though Hong Kong’s Hang Seng finished flat.
Meanwhile, oil prices are hovering around $89 (£66) a barrel after a rollercoaster period yesterday. A quickly deleted tweet from the Trump administration about the US Navy safely escorting a ship through a key Iranian waterway – which the White House later said had not happened – sent the price tumbling and then shooting up again.
Finally, London’s FTSE 100 dropped 0.67% in early trading after gains yesterday while the French and German equivalents were also down.
All Europe and Asia’s main indexes remain below where they were before the war began while oil remains much higher, but there are tentative signs of steadiness in the markets for now.
Petrol prices in the UK rose earlier this week when oil prices surged – this picture was taken at the Winchester services on Monday
Hugo Bachega
Middle East correspondent, reporting from northern Iraq
A drone struck a major US diplomatic facility in Baghdad on Tuesday, without causing any injuries, in what is believed to be an attack carried out by Iranian-supported militias in Iraq.
The drone hit the Baghdad Diplomatic Support Center, a sprawling logistical hub for US diplomats next to the Baghdad airport, impacting near a guard tower, according to an internal US alert quoted by the Washington Post and Reuters.
According to the Washington Post, a total of six drones had been launched toward the compound and that five were shot down.
It said the attack was likely carried out by militias operating under the umbrella of the Islamic Resistance in Iraq (IRI), a coalition of armed groups supported by Iran that have stepped up their attacks since the US and Israel launched their war against Iran.
In northern Iraq, at least three drones were intercepted on the outskirts of Erbil in the semi-autonomous Kurdistan region, without reports of casualties.
A US military base is located near Erbil’s airport and the city has been a key target of Iran’s retaliatory strikes and pro-Iranian militias.
This picture from Monday shows smoke and flames rising following a drone attack on the UAE consulate in Erbil
As we reported earlier, the US Central Command released footage overnight of what it says are several Iranian naval vessels being destroyed by US attacks, including 16 "mine-layers". You can now watch that below:
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Video released by US shows strikes on Iranian vessels near Strait of Hormuz
Mojtaba Khamenei – pictured here in 2024 – has not appeared publicly since his appointment as supreme leader
Iran's new Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei is "safe" amid reports that he had been injured, according to the son of Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian.
Yousef Pezeshkian writes on Telegram that he had "heard reports" that the supreme leader had been injured.
"I asked several friends who had relevant contacts, and they said that: by the grace of God, he is safe and there is no problem," he says.
We previously reported that Khamenei has not issued any statements or appeared in public since his appointment.Nick Beake
Reporting from Dubai
As we just reported, authorities in the UAE say two drones fell "in the vicinity" of Dubai International Airport a short time ago.
They say four people were injured: an Indian national received “moderate” injuries, two Ghanaian nationals and one Bangladeshi national suffered “minor” injuries.
Officials say air traffic is operating as normal.
Earlier, a passenger at the airport told us that flyers had been told to move away from glass windows and take shelter in a more protected area.
On Saturday, a drone landed near a terminal building.
Four people have been injured after two drones "fell in the vicinity" of Dubai International Airport, says the Dubai Media Office.
It says an Indian national sustained "moderate injuries" while two Ghanaian nationals and one Bangladeshi national suffered "minor injuries".
It adds that air traffic is operating as normal.
A third cargo vessel has been hit by an "unknown projectile", the UK Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) has reported.
It was reported at 02:05 GMT that the vessel had been hit 93km (50 nautical miles) north-west of Dubai, with the crew reported "safe and well" and with no environmental impact.
The UKTMO earlier reported on Wednesday that a ship has been hit off the UAE coast and another ship was being evacuated after an attack north of Oman.
This map from the UKMTO shows the latest reported attack marked by the yellow marker on the left. The two earlier reported attacks are also marked
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