Middle East war live: Iran warns it will target economic, banking interests in region

Israeli strike on east Lebanon town kills seven

An Israeli air strike killed seven people and wounded 18 others in an east Lebanon town, said the Lebanese health ministry.

“The Israeli enemy’s air strikes this morning on the Bekaa resulted in the following toll in Tamnin al-Tahta: seven martyrs and 18 wounded,” the ministry said.

State media reported that the raid targeted “a building … inhabited by a Syrian family”.

Iran’s joint military command says banks, financial institutions now a target in Mideast

A joint Iranian military command has said banks and financial institutions are now a target in the Middle East.

The Khatam al-Anbiya Headquarters issued a statement identifying the targets.

It came after Iranian media reported staff at a bank in Tehran had been killed in Israeli-American airstrikes.

The threat would put at risk particularly Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates, which is home to many international financial institutions, as well as Saudi Arabia and the island kingdom of Bahrain.

Ukraine sends drone experts to Gulf, viewing an ‘opportunity’

Ukraine has sent drone expert teams to several Gulf countries to help in their fight against Iran’s drones. The Ukrainian military has experience downing Iranian Shahed drones and the government “sees this as an opportunity”, explains FRANCE 24’s Gulliver Cragg, reporting from Kyiv.

With the war against Russia still raging, Ukraine can position itself as a “high-tech arms producer that can bring in huge amounts of money”, notes Cragg.

Iranian drones hit near Dubai International Airport, wounding four people

Two Iranian drones hit near Dubai International Airport, wounding four people though flights continue, authorities said.

The attack caused “minor injuries to two Ghanaian nationals and one Bangladeshi national, and moderate injuries to one Indian national”, said the Dubai Media Office, which issued a statement on behalf of the city-state’s government.

It said air traffic was operating as normal.

Dubai International Airport, home to the long-haul carrier Emirates, is the world’s busiest for international travel. Authorities have been trying build up its flight schedule though the airport has been targeted in the war.

Iran’s new supreme leader ‘safe and sound’ despite war injury reports, president’s son says

Iran’s new supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei is “safe and sound” despite reports of an injury during the war with Israel and the US, said the son of the Iranian president.

“I heard news that Mr Mojtaba Khamenei had been injured. I have asked some friends who had connections. They told me that, thank God, he is safe and sound,” said Yousef Pezeshkian, who is also a government adviser, in a post on his Telegram channel.

Iranian state TV had called Khamenei a “wounded veteran of the Ramadan war” but never specified his injury.

The new supreme leader is the son and successor of the Islamic republic’s longtime ruler Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed when the US and Israel launched strikes on Iran on February 28. The initial strikes killed Khamenei’s father, mother, wife and a child, said Iranian authorities.

Khamenei, 56, is a discreet figure who has rarely appeared in public or spoken at official events and has yet to address the nation or issue a written statement since he was declared supreme leader on Sunday.

France to provide 60 tons of humanitarian aid for Lebanon

France will ​provide 60 metric ​tons of humanitarian aid for Lebanon, said French ​Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot.

“What we have decided ⁠is to triple the volume ​of aid that will ‌arrive this week. This aid will ‌reach … 60 tons of humanitarian aid for the Lebanese, including sanitation kits, hygiene ​kits, mattresses, ​lamps, and also ​a mobile medical post,” Barrot ​said in an interview with French radio TF1.

Tehran’s residents endure heavy bombardments as Red Cross appeals for funds

Iranians say they have endured some of the heaviest strikes over the past 24 hours since the US and Israel launched strikes across the country.

More than 1,300 people have been killed in the war, according to Iranian authorities, and the Red Cross has launched an emergency appeal for more than $50 million as humanitarian needs in Iran are growing sharply due to the conflict.

Sri Lanka court orders 84 Iranian sailors’ bodies be handed to Iran embassy, local media says

A Sri ​Lankan court ​has ordered that the bodies of 84 sailors ​killed ‌in an ⁠attack on an Iranian ‌warship off the island ⁠nation’s coast last week be handed over ​to the embassy ‌of Iran, according to local media.

The ‌warship, IRIS Dena, ​was hit by a torpedo from a US submarine ​in the Indian ​Ocean while ​it was returning from ​a naval exercise organised by India.

Sri Lanka and India are providing sanctuary to 434 sailors from three Iranian naval vessels targeted or threatened by the US, presenting a diplomatic conundrum as the war spills into the Indian Ocean.

The two South Asian nations have not taken sides in the Middle East war and have justified their decision to host the Iranian sailors on humanitarian grounds.

“Our approach is that every life is as precious as our own,” Sri Lanka’s President Anura Kumara Dissanayake said in a statement.

Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar told parliament this week that New Delhi believed “this was the right thing to do and the Iranian foreign minister has expressed his country’s thanks for this humane gesture”.

Qatar intercepts missile attack, defence ministry says

Qatar’s armed forces have intercepted a missile attack, the kingdom’s defence ministry said after several loud explosions were heard across Doha.

Iran women footballers evacuate from safe house in Australia

Iranian women footballers claiming asylum in Australia evacuated from their safe house on Wednesday after one team member changed her mind and revealed their location to the Iranian embassy, Canberra said.

Seven members of Iran’s visiting women’s football delegation had sought sanctuary in Australia after they were branded “traitors” at home for refusing to sing the national anthem. 

But one member of the group had second thoughts after speaking to other players who had turned down asylum in favour of returning to Iran, Australian Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke said. 

The woman exposed the location of the other aslyum seekers when she contacted Iran’s embassy in Australia. 

“As a result of that it meant the Iranian embassy now knew the location of where everybody was,” Burke said. “I immediately gave them instructions for people to be moved and that has been dealt with immediately.” 

Israeli strike hits central Beirut

An Israeli strike has hit an apartment in central Beirut, state media reports.

Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency (NNA) said that “the enemy targeted an apartment in the Aisha Bakkar area” in central Beirut, a densely populated neighbourhood close to one of the city’s biggest shopping malls.

 AFPTV’s live broadcast showed the sound of an airstrike followed by a fireball erupting in an apartment within a multi-story residential building in Beirut.

An AFP correspondent saw destroyed walls in a building’s seventh and eighth floors with damaged cars nearby and security forces present at the scene.

Container ship hit by unidentified projectile off UAE coast

A container ship was hit off the coast of the United Arab Emirates by an unidentified projectile, a British maritime security agency reported on Wednesday, as Iran carries out a retaliation campaign in the Gulf in response to US-Israeli strikes.

“The Master of a container vessel has reported that the vessel has sustained damage from a suspected but unknown projectile,” the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) said, adding that the extent of the damage was unknown but all crew members were safe.

The incident took place 25 nautical miles (29 miles) northwest of the emirate of Ras Al Khaimah, the agency said.

Vessel damaged by suspected projectile near UAE coast

The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) said on Wednesday that it had received a report of an incident 25 nautical miles (46 km) northwest of Ras Al Khaimah in the United Arab Emirates, with the master of a vessel reporting it sustained damage from a suspected but unknown projectile.

The damage was currently unknown but under investigation, and all crew members were safe, UKMTO added.

Iran’s Guards claim to have targeted a US base in Kuwait

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said on Wednesday that at least two missiles targeted a United States base in Kuwait, according to Iranian news agencies Fars and Mehr.

“The American base in Arifjan was hit by the firing of two missiles by the IRGC Ground Force missile unit,” the Guards said, Fars and Mehr reported, referring to Camp Arifjan located south of Kuwait City.

Kuwaiti authorities have not yet commented on the reports.

North Korea backs Iran’s new supreme leader, criticises US and Israel

“We respect the rights and choice of the Iranian people to elect their supreme leader,” Pyongyang’s unnamed Foreign Ministry spokesperson was quoted as saying by the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

The official said the United States and Israel are “destroying the regional peace and security foundations and escalating instability worldwide”.

The spokesperson accused Washington and Israel of violating Iran’s “political system and territorial integrity” and attempting to “overthrow its social system”.

Such actions “deserve worldwide criticism and rejection as they can never be tolerated”, the official added.

Iran targets Israeli and US bases

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said they targeted a satellite communications centre in Haifa, along with military bases in Israel and US targets elsewhere in the Middle East, including Iraqi Kurdistan and the US Fifth Fleet naval base in Bahrain.

“We will continue our sustained attacks with purpose and power, and in this war, we contemplate nothing but the enemy’s complete surrender,” the Guards said on their website, Sepah News.

Israel detects multiple missile salvoes from Iran as air defences activated

Israel’s military said on Wednesday that it had detected multiple salvoes of missiles heading towards the country from Iran and had activated air defences, as it pressed a “wave” of strikes against Iran and Lebanon.

“A short while ago, the IDF identified missiles launched from Iran toward the territory of the State of Israel. Defensive systems are operating to intercept the threat,” the military said on its official Telegram account.

AFP journalists heard air raid sirens sounding in Jerusalem and the sound of explosions in the distance.