Qatar’s prime minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, has said he felt “betrayed” by Iran.
The miscalculation by the Iranians to attack Gulf countries had “destroyed everything”, he told Sky News.
“Just an hour after the start of the war, Qatar and other Gulf countries have been attacked. We made clear that we were not going to take part in any wars against our neighbours.”
He added: “We continue to seek de-escalation. They are our neighbours — it’s our destiny.”
We don’t want long-range missiles, Iran says
Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, has repeated his claim that Iranian missiles could not reach the US or Europe.
He told NBC News that although Iran had the capacity to produce longer-range missiles it had “intentionally limited ourselves to 200km of range.”
He said: “We don’t want to be felt as a threat by anybody else in the world. We have not started any plan to increase the range of our missiles beyond what it is now.”
Khamenei’s son confirmed as supreme leader
Iran’s Assembly of Experts has confirmed that Mojtaba Khamenei will replace his father, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, as the country’s new supreme leader, state media reported.
Protest in London in support of airstrikes
Supporters of the US and Israeli attacks on Iran outside the Iranian Embassy in London
CLARA MARGOTIN/PA
About 200 demonstrators gathered outside the Iranian embassy in London on Sunday to show support for US and Israeli strikes on Iran.
They waved pre-1979 Iranian flags bearing a lion and sun, alongside US and Israeli flags and portraits of President Trump and Binyamin Netanyahu with the words “We Trust You”. Several held images of Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed in air strikes last Saturday.
Parisa Ashkboos, 47, and her mother, Zari, 67, travelled from Leicester. “We want the world to hear us and see we are with the war,” she said. She described the Iranian regime as “terrorist” and praised Israel and the US as “our saviours”.
Police dispersed the protesters at about 5.30pm.
Son of British prisoner feels abandoned by UK
The son of a British woman imprisoned in Iran with her husband on spying charges will speak in Washington about what he describes as a profound sense of abandonment by the UK government.
Lindsay and Craig Foreman, both 53, were arrested in January last year during a round-the-world motorcycle trip and sentenced to ten years in Tehran’s Evin prison.
Her son, Joe Bennett, will address the US Capitol on Thursday. He wrote in The Sunday Times that an explosion blew out the windows of the prison wing where Lindsay is held while he was on the phone to her.
Bennett criticised the Foreign Office’s response, describing it as “standard travel advice for tourists” to carry out a risk assessment and take shelter. “That is hardly illuminating or reassuring when your parents are trapped in a prison in the middle of a war zone,” he said.
“My parents are not spies. They are innocent tourists who have been taken hostage. Pretending otherwise does not make the problem go away.”
Russia calls for diplomacy to end strikes
The Russian foreign minister, Sergey Lavrov, called for an end to all attacks on Iran and its Gulf neighbours in a call with his counterpart from the United Arab Emirates. He said renewed diplomacy was needed to ensure long-term regional security.
“Attention 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,” the foreign ministry said.
Trump will not pick the leader, Iran insists
Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, has insisted that no foreign power will have a say in who succeeds Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as supreme leader.
President Trump has said he wants to pick the next ruler, but Araghchi dismissed the idea outright.
He told NBC News that Iran “allow[s] nobody to interfere in our domestic affairs”.
He said: “This is up to the Iranian people to elect their new leader. They have already elected the Assembly of Experts and the assembly will do their job. It’s only the business of the Iranian people and nobody else’s business.”
Iranian missile command centre ‘destroyed’
Lieutenant Colonel Effie Defrin, spokesman for the Israel Defence Forces, has claimed it destroyed the air force headquarters of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards in central Tehran.
The headquarters building was used to co-ordinate the operations of the Revolutionary Guards air force and its ballistic missile and drone array, the IDF said.
Stay indoors, US tells Iranians as strikes continue
Iranians were advised to stay at home in a “safety warning” from US Central Command seen as an indication that airstrikes would target residential areas.
“The Iranian regime is using heavily populated civilian areas to conduct military operations, including launching one-way attack drones and ballistic missiles,” Centcom, based in Tampa, Florida, said.
“US forces strongly urge civilians in Iran to stay at home. The Iranian regime is knowingly endangering innocent lives.”
Centcom added: “The US military takes every feasible precaution to minimise harm to civilians but cannot guarantee civilian safety in or near facilities used by the Iranian regime for military purposes. Unlike the Iranian regime, US forces do not target or intentionally risk the safety of civilians.”
On Saturday President Trump blamed Iran for the alleged bombing of a school in Minab in southern Iran that killed 175 people, most of them schoolgirls.
Macron urges Iranian president to cease strikes
President Macron of France spoke to his US and Iranian counterparts on Sunday before a trip to Cyprus aimed at reinforcing security during the US-Israeli war with Iran.
Macron, the first Western leader to speak to President Pezeshkian since the outbreak of the conflict, said on X that he “stressed the need for Iran to immediately cease its strikes against countries in the region”.
He also urged Iran to guarantee freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz. He gave no details of his conversation with President Trump.
A seventh member of the US armed forces has died during the operation against Iran.
The US Central Command said the soldier was wounded at the scene of an attack on a US base in Saudi Arabia on March 1 and succumbed to their injuries overnight.
The identity of the US soldier will be withheld until 24 hours after the next of kin have been notified.
Iran ‘will strike back without delay’
The speaker of the Iranian parliament, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, has told state media after the attack on an oil depot: “If they attack Iran’s infrastructure, we will hit their infrastructure in return without delay.”
He also said Tehran was not seeking a ceasefire.
Dissenting voices in Israel
Support for the war against Iran is high in Israel, but there are dissenting voices (Marc Bennetts writes).
This weekend about 50 people attended an anti-war protest on Tel Aviv’s Habima Square. It was broken up by police, who made one arrest. Protesters held up signs saying “No to War!” and “Stop Arming Israel!”
An opinion poll released on Wednesday by the Israel Democracy Institute found that 81 per cent of Israelis backed the war.
However, Uri Weltmann, a senior member of the Jewish-Arab movement Standing Together, accused Binyamin Netanyahu, the prime minister, of lying over the threat posed by Iran’s nuclear project.
Weltmann was also sceptical about American and Israeli statements on seeking democratic change in Iran. He said Netanyahu “couldn’t care less about the wellbeing of Iranian women and men who want freedom. As usual, it is the peoples of the region — Iranians, Israelis, Palestinians and others — who pay the price for the cynical decisions of our politicians.”
Five IRGC commanders ‘killed at Beirut hotel’
The Israeli military said it had killed five commanders in the elite Quds Force of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards in a strike on a hotel in Beirut.
“Overnight the Israeli navy, directed by precise IDF intelligence, conducted a precise strike in Beirut, Lebanon, targeting five commanders from the IRGC’s Lebanon Corps and Palestine Corps while they were meeting at a hotel in Beirut,” the military said.
In a separate statement Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir, chief of the general staff, said: “There is no safe place for the Iranian axis of evil anywhere in the Middle East: not in Beirut and not anywhere else.”
‘It will shape our future for years’
Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir, the Israel Defence Forces chief, warned that the war could last “much longer”.
He told commanders during a situational assessment: “Israel has already been in a state of prolonged emergency for two years. Right now we mainly need perseverance and patience.
“It will take much longer, and you must be prepared for that. But it will shape our future for years.”
Is this the beginning of the worst gas crisis the world has seen?
There are many important places in the world, many crucial pieces of infrastructure and, as we have learnt this past week, many critical chokepoints, but few are quite as important as the Ras Laffan complex, at the very nape of Qatar (Ed Conway writes).
Most folks haven’t heard of Ras Laffan, let alone visited it, but like it or not, our lives are bound up with this place. For this is the gateway to the single biggest store of energy anywhere in the world. It sits on the edge of the North Field, a vast underground reservoir of gas, smack bang in the middle of the Gulf.
No other single gas field, or for that matter oilfield or coalmine or uranium mine, accounts for quite so much of the world’s useful energy (in other words, after you adjust for losses when burning it). The North Field is in a league of its own, as is Ras Laffan, which processes most of the gas coming out of it.
• Read in full: It could cripple economies, send prices soaring and halt oil supplies
Tugboat hit in Strait of Hormuz
A tugboat is reported to have been hit by “unknown projectiles” in the Strait of Hormuz, according to the UK Maritime Trade Operations centre.
The incident is said to have taken place six nautical miles north of Oman.
The organisation said “authorities are investigating” and advised all vessels to “transit with caution and report any suspicious activity”.
Analysis: Mojtaba Khamenei’s credentials to be the next supreme leader
When Ayatollah Ali Khamenei succeeded Ayatollah Khomeini as Iran’s supreme leader, the rules of accession had to be fudged to get round his inadequate clerical credentials for the role (Catherine Philp writes).
His second son, Mojtaba, is less qualified still in theological matters. With the regime on the ropes, however, he meets two other criteria: continuity with his father’s rule, and deep connections with the security establishment on which the regime now relies to survive.
Earning spurs as a young man in the Iran-Iraq war, he progressed to control of the Basij, the volunteer militia under the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps during the violent suppression of the Green Movement protests of 2009. He graduated to become chief of staff in his father’s office.
His wife and a son were reported to have been killed in the strikes that eliminated his father. Last week, President Trump called him a “lightweight” and said he was an unacceptable choice to lead Iran.
Lindsey Graham, a Trump loyalist senator, said the war in Iran showed that America was “clearing out the bad guys”.
He told Fox News: “We’re marching through the world … Cuba is next.”
Cuba has been under an embargo by the United States for more than 60 years.
Starmer speaks with UAE president
Sir Keir Starmer spoke with the president of the United Arab Emirates, Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed al-Nahyan, about evacuating British citizens and supporting defensive operations against Iranian strikes.
A Downing Street spokesperson said the conversation on Sunday began with Starmer “condemning the indiscriminate attacks by Iran across the whole region”.
The prime minister told him that “the UK government was working closely with commercial airlines and the UAE to increase capacity on routes back to the UK to assist those who wished to leave,” the spokesperson said.
Starmer added that “British counter-drone advisers had also been working closely with UAE military specialists to support defensive operations in the region”.
Oil sites could be targeted, warns Iran
Iran’s military has warned it would target oil sites in the region if Israel continued to strike energy infrastructure in the Islamic republic.
Ebrahim Zolfaghari, a spokesman for Iran’s central military command, told state TV: “The governments of Islamic countries are expected to warn the criminal America and the savage Zionist regime of such cowardly, inhumane actions as soon as possible.
“Otherwise, similar measures will be taken in the region, and if you can tolerate oil at more than $200 per barrel, continue this game.”
Munitions seen at RAF base
Heavy munitions were unloaded from trucks at RAF Fairford this afternoon, hours after two US aircraft landed at the base.
PETER MACDIARMID FOR THE TIMES
A pair of Boeing C-17 Globemaster transport planes landed at Fairford in Gloucestershire at about noon. US military assets involved in the campaign against Iran have been allowed to use British bases after Sir Keir Starmer granted co-operation on “defensive” operations last Sunday.
After three American B-1 Lancer bombers arrived at Fairford yesterday, the Ministry of Defence confirmed: “The United States has started using British bases for specific defensive operations to prevent Iran firing missiles into the region, which is putting British lives at risk.”
Thousands registered as displaced in Lebanon
Lebanon’s social affairs minister has said that more than half a million people had been registered as displaced since Israeli attacks began earlier this week.
In a press briefing, Haneen Sayed said that the total number of people who registered their names on a website affiliated with the ministry reached 517,000, including 117,228 people in government shelters.
Next supreme leader ‘will continue Khamenei name’
“Khamenei’s name as Iran’s leader will continue,” a member of the organisation which chooses a new leader for the Islamic regime has announced, hinting that the next ruler would be the son of the assassinated leader.
Mojtaba Khamenei
ROUZBEH FOULADI/ZUMA WIRE/ALAMY
Hosseinali Eshkevari, a member of the Assembly of Experts, has confirmed that a new leader has been selected. “The vote has been cast and will be announced soon,” he said.
The frontrunner to succeed Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is his 56-year-old son, Mojtaba. Israel has threatened to target any new Iranian leader.
• Read in full: Who is Mojtaba Khamenei?
More than 100 killed in US submarine attack
At least 104 people were killed and 32 were injured in the US submarine attack on an Iranian frigate off the coast of Sri Lanka last week, Iran’s Fars news agency has reported.
Pete Hegseth, the US secretary of war, said that the Iris Dena was sunk by a torpedo and died a “quiet death”.
Ultra-wealthy rush to flee Gulf on £190k private jets
As hundreds of thousands of tourists in the Middle East wait anxiously for news of scant repatriation flights, a smaller group of ultra-wealthy people have sought a more exclusive way out: private jets.
In four days last week, SHY Aviation fielded some 200 requests for 700 people in the Middle East to charter its planes, which carry up to 12 passengers. Overall, the company estimates, some 30,000 people have tried to evacuate the area by private jets hired through SHY or its rivals.
Fees for such flights have soared to three times their usual rate, driven by increased demand for limited aircraft, added risk insurance and the need to pay crew more for flying through a war zone.
• Read in full: Boom in demand pushes up prices of private jets
Iranian drone shot down by British aircraft
British aircraft shot down an Iranian kamikaze drone on Saturday night as part of a routine “defensive sortie”, the government said.
The Ministry of Defence said: “UK forces successfully engaged a one-way attack drone fired from Iran towards Iraq last night. The engagement occurred as RAF Typhoons and F-35 jets continued to conduct defensive sorties across the region.
“A Merlin helicopter is due to arrive in theatre, further strengthening our ability to detect aerial threats. The aircraft can fly up to a mile in height, giving advance warning of incoming drones or missiles.”
Two killed by ‘projectile’ in Saudi Arabia
An Indian and a Bangladeshi have died and 12 people have been injured after a “projectile” fell on a residential location in the Saudi city of al-Kharj.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said earlier that they had targeted radar systems in locations including al-Kharj.
Call off the King’s US trip, Davey insists
Sir Ed Davey, the leader of the Liberal Democrats, has called for the King’s state visit to the United States to be cancelled.
He said: “Given Trump’s illegal war that is devastating the Middle East and pushing up energy bills, Keir Starmer should advise the King to call off April’s state visit to the US. A state visit should not be given to someone who repeatedly insults and damages our country.”
War popular with Maga base, Trump says
ROBERTO SCHMIDT/GETTY IMAGES
President Trump has also insisted that the war was very popular with his Maga base. “It’s more popular than ever,” he told ABC. “It’s a very Maga thing what we’re doing. A very, very Maga thing.”
Polling suggests Republican voters are more likely than other Americans to back the attacks on Iran:
• Read more: JD Vance vowed no more wars. Do people in his hometown feel betrayed?
Next supreme leader ‘must get’ Trump’s approval
The US president has told ABC News that Iran’s next leader “is not going to last long” if Tehran did not get his approval first.
“If he doesn’t get approval from us he’s not going to last long,” he said. “We want to make sure that we don’t have to go back every ten years, when you don’t have a president like me that’s not going to do it [use military force against Iran].”
Trump said he could approve a new leader with ties to the old leadership. “I would, in order to choose a good leader I would,” he said. “There are numerous people that could qualify.”
On Saturday, President Trump accused Sir Keir Starmer of joining the Iran war after the United States had “already won”. He dismissed the prospect of a Royal Navy aircraft carrier being sent to the Middle East, and sullied the strong relationship between the two countries.
He wrote on Truth Social: “The United Kingdom, our once Great Ally, maybe the Greatest of them all, is finally giving serious thought to sending two aircraft carriers to the Middle East.
“That’s OK, Prime Minister Starmer, we don’t need them any longer — But we will remember. We don’t need people that join Wars after we’ve already won!”
HMS Prince of Wales, the second of Britain’s two Queen Elizabeth-class aircraft carriers, is being prepared and could set sail for the Gulf within five days.
Starmer and Trump discuss war in phone call
The prime minister with President Trump in February last year
SIMON DAWSON/NO 10 DOWNING STREET
Sir Keir Starmer spoke to President Trump this afternoon, No 10 announced, less than 24 hours after the US president criticised Britain’s contribution to the war in Iran.
The prime minister’s office said: “The leaders began by discussing the latest situation in the Middle East and the military co-operation between the UK and US through the use of RAF bases in support of the collective self-defence of partners in the region.
“The prime minister also shared his heartfelt condolences with President Trump and the American people following the deaths of six US soldiers. They looked forward to speaking again soon.”
Several hurt in Iran strikes on Israel
At least six people were injured in Israel by Iranian missile attacks after a series of blasts were heard across Tel Aviv.
The injuries were mainly caused by shrapnel. One man was hurt in the neck and was receiving urgent treatment, a spokesperson for Tel Aviv’s Ichilov hospital said. Another person was in a serious condition, emergency services said.
On one street in the city, a car was thrown into a small crater by a blast. Elsewhere, windows were shattered. “A piece of one of the missiles fell near my flat,” said Hannah, a local resident.
The attack came after an Israeli military spokesman said that Iran’s ability to strike Israel and other countries had “dropped dramatically”. The United States has also claimed to have severely damaged Iran’s ability to launch missiles at its foes.
However, Iran’s Revolutionary Guard said that its strikes had so far been carried out using older missiles. “It is expected that in the coming days, a new style of attacks will be on the agenda, utilising advanced and less-used long-range missiles,” a spokesman said.
Iraq slashes oil production by 70 per cent
Iraqi oil production from its main southern oil fields has fallen by 70 per cent to just 1.3 million barrels per day as the country is unable to export oil via the Strait of Hormuz due to the conflict in the region, industry sources said.
Production from the fields stood at about 4.3 million barrels per day before the war.
• Read in full: Oil price shocks have history of derailing world economy
Refugee camp ‘hit by Israeli strikes’
Israel struck the Palestinian refugee camp of Ain al-Hilweh in Sidon, southern Lebanon, on Sunday, Lebanese state media reported.
The National News Agency said “enemy warplanes launched two raids”.
Sidon is the third largest city in Lebanon, about 40 kilometres south of Beirut
US started the war, Iran foreign minister tells NBC
Abbas Araghchi also said that Iranian missiles could not reach the United States, as he defended strikes that had hit Gulf neighbours.
He told NBC: “It is Americans who started this war against us, attacking us, and we are defending ourselves. So it is obvious that our missiles cannot reach the US soil.
“What we can do is to attack American bases and American installations around us, which are unfortunately in the soil of our, you know, neighbour countries.”
‘We will never surrender’
Iran’s foreign minister has dismissed calls for a ceasefire in the Middle East conflict, saying “we will resist as long as necessary”.
Speaking to NBC’s Meet the Press, Abbas Araghchi said that a ceasefire was “not going to happen”. He added: “There must be a permanent end to the war, and until we reach that point I think we need to continue fighting for the security of our people.”
Araghchi reaffirmed that Iran would not agree to Trump’s demand for an unconditional surrender, adding: “We will never surrender. We will resist as long as necessary. We will defend ourselves, our land, our people and our dignity. Our dignity is not negotiable.”
Russian tech found in drone that hit RAF base in Cyprus
The kamikaze drone that struck a British airbase in Cyprus was equipped with Russian military hardware.
The drone hit RAF Akrotiri on Sunday March 1. It contained a Russian-made Kometa-B navigation system, a piece of hardware first seen in drones intercepted by Ukrainian air defences in December.
British military intelligence has now sent the recovered components to a laboratory in the UK for further investigation. It is believed the attack was launched by Hezbollah militants in Lebanon.
• Read in full: First evidence of Kremlin equipment in the war is be revealed
Stay at home, US tells Iranians
US Central Command issued a safety warning to Iranian civilians as the American and Israeli bombing campaign continues.
The warning claimed Iran was using civilian areas to conduct its military operations “including launching one-way attack drones and ballistic missiles”
“Iran’s terrorist regime blatantly disregards the safety of innocent people,” read the warning on X. “This dangerous decision risks the lives of all civilians in Iran since locations used for military purposes lose protected status and could become legitimate military targets under international law. US forces strongly urge civilians in Iran to stay at home.”
More than 1,200 people have been killed in the US-Israeli bombing raids, Tehran has said.
Spaniards condemn violence against women and war
Thousands of people across Spain denounced violence against women and the war in the Middle East sparked by US and Israeli strikes.
Demonstrations marking International Women’s Day took place in Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia, Seville, Granada, Bilbao and San Sebastian, among other cities.
A march in Madrid on Sunday
THOMAS COEX/AFP/GETTY IMAGES
Yolanda Diaz, second vice-president, told the press at the rally in Madrid: “It is within our power to stop the war, to stop the barbarity and to win rights. We proclaim ourselves in defence of peace, in defence of the Iranian people, in defence of Iranian women.”
Pedro Sánchez, the prime minister, has drawn the ire of the US administration after he refused the use of Spain’s military bases for strikes against Iran, which he called an “extraordinary mistake”.
President Trump lashed out at Sánchez’s government, threatening to sever all trade with the EU and Nato member, which he called “a loser”.
Drone experts from Kyiv sent to Middle East
President Zelensky of Ukraine said that Kyiv’s drone experts would be “on site” in the Middle East “next week”, as he sought US air defence missiles in exchange for drone expertise.
“They will look at the situation and help,” Zelensky told a press conference, when asked how the Ukrainians would be able to help the United States and the Gulf states to repel Iranian drones.
Drone interception causes death in Dubai
A driver was killed in Dubai on Saturday night when debris from a drone interception fell on his vehicle.
Video showed the aftermath of the incident. It was confirmed that the male victim was a Pakistani citizen, the second to have died in Dubai since the start of the Iran conflict.
On Sunday morning, Shehbaz Sharif, the prime minister of Pakistan, said in a statement: “I am deeply saddened by the tragic death of two Pakistani nationals in UAE caused by missile debris.
“Our diplomatic missions in the UAE are in close contact with the Dubai authorities to provide all necessary assistance and to facilitate the repatriation process. Our hearts go out to the bereaved family in this hour of grief.”
Two Israeli soldiers killed in Lebanon
Israel’s military has confirmed that two of its soldiers have been killed in combat in southern Lebanon, the first Israeli troops to have died since fighting resumed with Hezbollah last week.
“Master Sergeant Maher Khatar, aged 38, from Majdal Shams, a soldier from the Combat Engineering Corps in the 91st division, fell during combat in southern Lebanon,” a military statement said, adding that a second soldier was killed in the same incident.
Israel began a ground invasion on Friday in what the military said was a defensive operation to prevent militants from firing rockets across the border. Lebanese civilians were ordered north of the Litani river. A 2024 ceasefire agreement marked the area between the Litani and the border with Israel as a demilitarised zone.
Thousands of Israelis injured in Iran strikes
Almost 2,000 people have been injured and taken to hospital in Israel since the start of its strikes against Iran, health officials said.
At least six people were injured on Sunday by shrapnel in central Israel, according to United Hatzalah, a volunteer medical services organisation. It also said that a building had collapsed at an undisclosed location and a search operation continued.
However, many of the injuries were sustained while people were rushing to bomb shelters, the Israeli health ministry said. More than 120 remain in hospital. Others have been treated for stress and anxiety.
Traffic accidents are also said to be on the rise as Israelis scramble to reach shelters. Most of the serious injuries came as Iranian missiles hit Tel Aviv and Beit Shemesh in the early days of the war. At least ten civilians have died as a result of Iranian attacks since the start of the war.
Kuwait fire put out after drone strike
The fire at a government building in Kuwait has been extinguished, according to the Ministry of Information.
Video showed flames engulfing the tower, the headquarters of the public institution for social security, after a drone strike early on Sunday morning.
“Firefighting teams have managed to combat the fire … contain it, and prevent its spread,” the ministry said in a social media post on social media.
Iranian attacks ‘cannot be justified’
The Arab League’s secretary-general has said that Iranian attacks on several member states were “reckless”, urging Tehran to reverse what he called a “massive strategic mistake”.
Addressing an emergency video conference of Arab foreign ministers in Cairo, Ahmed Aboul Gheit said the strikes “cannot be justified under any pretext or excuse”, and repaid peace efforts by Gulf countries with “treacherous rockets and drone strikes”.
Christina Lamb: Some Iranians say one thing’s worse than bombs — no bombs
“The roar was so loud it sounded like a dragon,” said Ana, a writer in northern Tehran, after a particularly intensive wave of bombings in the early hours of Friday woke her at 2am and set her windows rattling.
Saturday morning was the noisiest yet, as 80 Israeli fighter jets pounded the city and bombed the domestic airport in western Tehran, leaving planes burning on the runway. Windows shattered in the vast nearby Ekbatan apartment complex as residents cowered in the underground car park. “North, east, central, south and northwest Tehran — there’s not one single neighbourhood that has not experienced airstrikes,” said Ana. “Everyone’s stressed all the time. If you have high blood pressure already like me, you are taking pills like crazy.”
For the people of Tehran, the boom of explosions, roar of fighter jets and columns of thick smoke filling the skies have become their nightly reality, as US and Israeli attacks move into their second week of striking targets aimed at dismantling the repressive clerical regime.
• Read in full: Some civilians say the US and Israel must finish the job
Demonstrations expected at Israeli and Iranian embassies
Protesters are expected to gather near the Israeli and Iranian embassies in central London this afternoon.
One demonstration, “the lion guard of Iran”, will march from Whitehall to the Israeli embassy near Kensington Palace.
The second, an “anti-Iranian government assembly”, will take place outside the Iranian embassy in Knightsbridge.
The Metropolitan police said that conditions had been placed on both events, with orders to disperse by 5.30pm.
Iran ‘randomly targeting civilian infrastructure’
Bahrain’s interior ministry has said that an Iranian drone attack damaged a water desalination plant, and accused Tehran of “randomly” targeting civilian infrastructure.
It said: “The Iranian aggression randomly bombs civilian targets and causes material damage to a water desalination plant following an attack by a drone.”
Earlier, Abbas Araghchi, Iran’s foreign minister, said that a US airstrike damaged an Iranian desalination plant on Qeshm Island, in the south of the country, warning that in doing so “the US set this precedent, not Iran”.
The attacks have increase fears that such infrastructure, critical for drinking water supplies in the parched deserts of the Gulf, could become targets in the war.
Pope prays ‘the weapons fall silent’
The Pope has prayed that the “roar of bombs” in the Middle East cease, as the war trigged by US-Israeli air strikes on Iran extended into its ninth day.
He said at the end of the Angelus prayer: “We raise our humble prayer to the Lord, that the roar of the bombs may cease, the weapons may fall silent and a space for dialogue may open in which the voices of the peoples may be heard.”
Rescue workers killed in Israeli strikes on Lebanon
Israeli strikes on Lebanon have now killed 394 people in the past week, including 83 children and 42 women, the country’s health minister said on Sunday.
Rakan Nassereddine also said at a press conference that nine rescue workers were among the dead, condemning attacks on medical teams and ambulances.
UAE death toll rises to four
The death toll in the UAE has increased to four, the Emirati defence ministry has said. The four people who have been killed were from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nepal.
The ministry added that “since the start of the brazen Iranian aggression”, Tehran has fired 238 ballistic missiles, two of which “fell on the country’s territory”.
More than 1,420 drones have been fired and 80 of these evaded detection.
‘We will get everyone home’
The minister for the Middle East said that about 27,000 British citizens had been evacuated from the Gulf, and called the operation to bring them home a “huge consular crisis”.
Hamish Falconer told Times Radio that the government believed there were about 300,000 people in the region. More than 150,000 have registered their presence with the UK government, and roughly 15,000 have requested assistance.
Falconer said more charter and commerical flights would continue from Gulf states, adding: “We will get everybody home safely. It’s just a question of time.”
Oslo embassy attack ‘linked to security situation’
An attack on the US embassy in Oslo may have been deliberate and “linked to the current security situation”, Norwegian police said.
The explosion happened in the early hours of Sunday. Police received reports of a “loud bang” around 1am.
Local media reported minor damage to an entrance of the embassy and people nearby said the street was blanketed in thick smoke following the blasts. No one was injured and, so far, there are no suspects.
Police have increased security measures near the embassy and said they would add protection for Iranians and Jewish people in the country.
200 children killed in strikes, Iran says
More than 1,200 people have been killed in the US-Israeli bombing raids, Tehran said.
Among the dead were 200 children under 12 years of age, said Hossein Kermanpour, a government official, in a post on X. Another 10,000 people had been injured, he added.
Kermanpour claimed that nine hospitals had been bombed out of service, and 25 damaged.
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Enable cookiesAllow cookies onceMacron to visit Cyprus ‘in solidarity’
President Macron will visit Cyprus on Monday to show “solidarity” with a European ally under attack, the Élysée Palace has said.
The French leader will meet President Christodoulides of Cyprus and Kyriakos Mitsotakis, the Greek prime minister, during his visit. He will discuss plans to “strengthen security around Cyprus and in the eastern Mediterranean”.
A suspected Iranian drone hit the island’s British airbase RAF Akrotiri last Sunday. France sent an aircraft carrier group to the Mediterranean two days later, but the Royal Navy is still preparing its destroyer HMS Dragon to protect the island.
John Healey, the defence secretary, visited RAF Akrotiri on Thursday and Wildcat helicopters equipped with anti-drone weapons have arrived, but Cypriot officials have publicly voiced their disappointment about the British response.
Constantinos Kombos, the foreign minister, said on Friday: “There are questions. There are issues. There are concerns.”
Scottish first minister considers banning US military flights
The Scottish first minister has said he would “explore” banning US military flights that are taking part in strikes on the Middle East from Prestwick Airport.
John Swinney told the BBC’s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg there had to be a “very, very constrained use” of UK bases in the conflict.
Asked if he was allowing the Scottish government-owned airport to be used by the US military, Swinney said: “We’re seeking clarity from the United Kingdom government about the purpose of American flights that are coming in and out of Prestwick, but we don’t have the ability to scrutinise those flights.”
He said, when asked if he would ban American military flights going through the airport to be part of launching strikes: “Well, that’s something that I would explore, yes, but I need the information to enable me to take that decision.”
‘Dereliction of duty’ not to send UK warships
Chris Philp, the shadow foreign secretary, accused the UK government of a “dereliction of duty” by not moving warships to Cyprus or the Middle East sooner.
Speaking on Sky News’s Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips, Philp said: “The problem is, those ships (HMS Dragon and HMS Prince of Wales) as we speak, are nowhere near Cyprus. They’re nowhere near the Gulf.
“They’re tied up at the docks in Portsmouth because Keir Starmer and the Labour government showed no foresight whatsoever, even though they knew three or four weeks ago that America planned this action against Iran, they did not move those ships into the region,” he added. “That is a dereliction of duty, frankly.”
The HMS Prince of Wales aircraft carrier, which is being readied for possible deployment
CHRIS GORMAN/BIG LADDER/GETTY IMAGES
Who is Iran’s new supreme leader?
Iran said a new supreme leader had been chosen — but did not reveal the name of the successor to Ali Khamenei. The body tasked with selecting a new head said it reached a decision on Sunday.
“The most suitable candidate, approved by the majority of the Assembly of Experts, has been determined,” said Mohsen Heydari, a member of the selection body who represents Khuzestan province, according to Iran’s ISNA news agency.
Another member, Mohammad Mehdi Mirbagheri, confirmed in a video carried by Iran’s Fars news agency that “a firm opinion reflecting the majority view has been reached”.
Speculation has centred on Mojtaba Khamenei being the most likely candidate to succeed his slain father.
Mojtaba Khamenei, the son of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, pictured in 2019
GETTY IMAGES
UK ‘shouldn’t simply agree’ with Trump
Sir Keir Starmer was “right to stand up for Britain and Britain’s interests”, Yvette Cooper said in response to critcisim from Donald Trump.
The foreign secretary told the BBC’s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg: “It’s for the US president to decide what he thinks is in the US national interest, and that’s for him to do.
“But it is our job as the UK government to decide what’s in the UK national interest, and that doesn’t mean simply agreeing with other countries or outsourcing our foreign policy to other countries.”
Cooper added the UK needs to “take decisions ourselves”.
Don’t film war ‘incidents’, Qatar urges public
Qatari authorities have issued safety guidelines which warn that filming “incident sites” or sharing or circulating such content is banned.
The Ministry of Interior in Qatar called on people to remain “calm and composed” and not share unverified information during what it described as “the current circumstances”.
It also called for people to not gather in incident sites to allow emergency services easy access. Under one guideline, titled “legal responsibility,” the ministry said: “Refrain from filming incident sites or sharing and circulating their content. This is both an ethical and legal responsibility.”
Acid rain warning in Tehran
“Highly acidic” rain is falling in Tehran after huge US and Israeli airstrikes on Iran’s energy facilities, with health officials warning residents to stay indoors.
The Iranian Red Crescent said the oil depot explosions released into the air “significant quantities of toxic hydrocarbon compounds, sulphur, and nitrogen oxides”.
“In the event of precipitation, the resulting rain is extremely dangerous and highly acidic,” it added in a statement, warning of skin burns and severe lung damage.
Iran’s environmental authorities urged Iranians to remain indoors to avoid respiratory problems and other health consequences. Images showed Tehran covered in a thick black blanket of dark smoke.
Iran ready for ‘six-month war’, IRGC claims
Iran is ready for a “full-scale, six-month intense war”, according to Iran’s Revolutionary Guards.
Mohammad Naeini, a spokesman for the group, said on Telegram that Iran had “vast missile stockpiles and there is no cause for concern”.
“The powerful forces of the Islamic Republic are fully prepared for at least a six-month, full-scale, intense war at their current pace,” he added.
Cooper denies UK ‘dithering’ over Iran war
Yvette Cooper refused to confirm whether the UK’s aircraft carrier HMS Prince of Wales would be deployed to assist in the crisis in the Middle East, as she denied that the UK was “dithering” in the conflict.
Asked on Sky News’s Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips whether the aircraft carrier would “end up in theatre”, Cooper said: “I’m not going to get into the operational decisions on that.”
She said she would “strongly disagree” with suggestions the UK was seen as “dithering” by President Trump and the Gulf States. “I’ve spoken to many of our Gulf partners, we have had many discussions over the course of the last ten days, and detailed discussions as well, and know how closely we are working in partnership.”
Preparations to deploy HMS Prince of Wales are being stepped up, but no decisions have yet been taken.
Starmer ‘calm’ after Trump rebuke, says Cooper
Yvette Cooper, the foreign secretary, said Sir Keir Starmer would not turn to “rhetoric or hyperbole” and would focus on “calm, steady decision-making” after President Trump again hit out at the UK over its reluctance to support the US attack on Iran.
She said people needed to “focus on the substance and not social media posts” after the president wrote on Truth Social that the UK was too late to offer support.
Cooper said “sometimes we will disagree” as both countries act in their national interest. “We disagreed on the initial strikes that took place, and whether the UK should provide the basing support for them, but that is a legitimate thing for the UK prime minister to do,” she told Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips on Sky News.
‘The oil shock tsunami is just beginning’
A senior Russian official, who is the head of the country’s sovereign wealth fund, has warned an “oil shock tsunami is beginning”.
Kirill Dmitriev, who is also closely involved in Russia-Ukraine negotiations, posted the comment on X in regards to the global oil price.
There are widespread fears that the war in Iran will lead to a huge hike in global energy prices and kickstart new inflationary pressures worldwide.
Just over a week after the US and Israel began airstrikes, major energy producing countries have announced cutbacks in production and the Strait of Hormuz, where some 20 per cent of the world’s oil and liquid natural gas is transported through, is effectively closed. Last week, the US government temporarily eased sanctions to allow India to buy Russian oil.
Tehran fuel supply disrupted by US-Israeli strikes
Fuel distribution in the Iranian capital has been “temporarily interrupted” after the overnight US and Israeli strikes on oil depots in and around the city, officials in Tehran have said.
“Due to damage to the fuel supply network, distribution has been temporarily interrupted,” said Mohammad Sadegh Motamedian, Tehran’s governor, as quoted by the official IRNA news agency. “The problem is being resolved.”
Five oil facilities close to Tehran were struck, killing four people, state TV reported on Sunday.
“Last night, four oil depots and a petroleum products transport centre in Tehran and the Alborz were attacked by enemy aircraft,” the CEO of the National Iranian Oil Products Distribution Company, Keramat Veyskarami, told state TV.
Evacuation flight arrives in Dublin
A flight was chartered by the Irish government to transport about 300 Irish citizens, including children and people with medical needs, from Oman.
Family members wait for their loved ones to arrive at Dublin airport
PA
The flight touched down in Dublin in the early hours of Sunday
PA
Iran strikes are legal, Herzog says after UK criticism
This is a “moment of truth” for European nations, including the UK, which have been threatened by Iran, the President of Israel has said, adding it was “mind-boggling” that an Iranian attack drone had crashed into RAF Akrotiri’s runway in Cyprus.
Isaac Herzog, speaking to Adam Boulton on Times Radio, said he disagreed with the British government’s suggestion that the initial attack may have been against international law.
However he declined to directly criticise Sir Keir Starmer’s approach. He said Israeli strikes has been conducted “exactly according to international law” but added: “I don’t want to go into the debate in Britain about the policies.”
“All I’m saying is that attacking a British base in British soil, by the way, Akrotiri is British soil, is mind boggling and quite shocking,” he said.
Israel ‘will target next supreme leader’
The Israeli military warned it would continue pursuing every successor of Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed in US and Israeli strikes on Iran.
In a post on X in Farsi, the Israeli military also warned it would pursue every person who seeks to appoint a successor for Khamenei, referring to the clerical body charged with choosing the Islamic Republic’s supreme leader.
The warning comes as the clerical body is set to meet to choose Iran’s next supreme leader.
Dubai evacuation flight planned for next week
The UK government will charter a commercial flight out of the United Arab Emirates to help British nationals wanting to leave following the attacks across the region.
The flight will leave Dubai early next week for British citizens who need to return home and there will be a charge for the flight.
A specialised rapid deployment team is in the UAE to provide on-the-ground support to British nationals taking this flight and the British embassy in the UAE said embassies in Abu Dhabi and Dubai “have staff working around the clock to make sure there is up to date information for British nationals in the UAE”.
Special forces ‘could seize Iran’s nuclear stockpile’
The United States and Israel are considering sending special forces into Iran to seize its nuclear stockpile, it has been reported.
According to Axios, the two nations discussed securing Iran’s stockpile of highly enriched uranium at a later stage of the war.
Axios cited four sources with knowledge of the discussions. Reuters said it could not immediately verify the report.
Iran war ‘should never have happened’, says China
China’s top diplomat Wang Yi said on Sunday that the war in the Middle East should “never have happened”, ahead of a highly anticipated summit this month between leaders President Xi and President Trump.
He added: “A strong fist does not mean strong reason. The world cannot return to the law of the jungle”.
Trump seeking to repeat Venezuela, says Larijani
Iran’s security chief Ali Larijani accused the Trump administration of seeking to replicate a scenario similar to Venezuela where it ousted leader Nicolas Maduro.
“Their perception was that it would be like Venezuela — they would strike, take control and it would be over — but now they are trapped,” he said in a pre-recorded interview broadcast on state TV on Saturday.
Iran’s hardline judiciary chief Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei also warned Middle East neighbours which are “openly and covertly at the disposal of the enemy” that “the heavy attacks on these targets will continue”.
Tehran oil depots hit by US-Israeli strikes
An Iranian official said that overnight US-Israeli air strikes damaged several Tehran oil facilities. Videos captured by witnesses in the city captured the aftermath of the depots being hit, in which flames and smoke can be seen engulfing the surrounding cityscape.
The reported targeting of Iran’s oil infrastructure will deepen global markets’ concerns about crude production and exports from the Gulf region, where shipping transport has been effectively halted.
The fire at Aqdasieh oil depot in Tehran
REUTERS
Smoke rises after strikes on oil depots in Tehran on Sunday
REUTERS
Explosion at US embassy in Oslo
The US embassy in Oslo was hit by an explosion in the early hours of Sunday but no one was injured, police in the Norwegian capital said, adding the cause was not immediately known.
Police commander Michael Dellemyr told TV2 police would “not comment on anything related to the type of damage, what it is that has exploded and similar details, beyond the fact that there has been an explosion” because “it is very early in the investigation”. He later told TV2 that police “have an idea of the cause”, adding: “It appears to us that this is an act carried out by someone.”
US embassies have been placed on high alert in the Middle East over American military operations in Iran and several have faced attacks as Tehran hits back at industrial and diplomatic targets. But Dellemyr said there was no indication as yet that the incident at the embassy in Oslo was connected to the conflict.
The police cordon outside the US embassy in Oslo on Sunday
REUTERS
Israeli strikes on Beirut leave four dead
At least four people were killed when an Israeli strike hit an apartment in the Ramada hotel building in central Beirut early on Sunday, with Israel saying it targeted Iranian commanders operating in the Lebanese capital.
The attack marked the first Israeli strike to hit the heart of Beirut since Israel-Hezbollah hostilities resumed last week. The Israeli military has also issued an evacuation order to four villages in southern Lebanon, raising fears of further strikes.
A police car passes by the damaged Ramada Plaza hotel building in the aftermath of an Israeli strike
REUTERS
Bilal was staying with his children at the Ramada Plaza hotel building during an Israeli strike
REUTERS
The scene of an Israeli airstrike on the Rweiss neighbourhood in Beirut
AFP
Iran closer to choosing new supreme leader
Iran is expected to choose a new leader today, to replace the nation’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed in Israel-US strikes.
A member of Iran’s assembly of experts, Mohammad Mirbagheri, told Iranian state TV that a majority consensus on who is to succeed the ayatollah has been reached.
Mirbagheri added some obstacles regarding the process still needed to be resolved.
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed during the initial US-Israeli strikes on Iran
HOSSEIN FATEMI/MIDDLE EAST IMAGES/AFP/GETTY IMAGES
Kuwait City tower in flames
A huge fire engulfed a tower in Kuwait city amid Iranian strikes, as the Kuwaiti army said it was dealing “with a wave of hostile drones”.
Kuwait said a fire at fuel storage tanks at Kuwait international airport has been brought under control. The nation’s millitary said the tanks belonging to the airport were targeted in a drone attack.
The Kuwaiti army had earlier said it was dealing with a drone attack and that some shrapnel had caused damage civillian buildings.
The Kuwaiti army confirmed an Iranian drone attack had damaged some civilian buildings
REUTERS
Starmer’s help is too late, says Trump
On Saturday night President Trump again publicly criticised Sir Keir Starmer, as he said that the US does not need British help to win the war on Iran.
In a post on Truth Social, Trump responded to reports that the UK was preparing to send an aircraft carrier to the Middle East.
The US president wrote: “The United Kingdom, our once Great Ally, maybe the Greatest of them all, is finally giving serious thought to sending two aircraft carriers to the Middle East.
“That’s OK, Prime Minister Starmer, we don’t need them any longer — But we will remember. We don’t need people that join Wars after we’ve already won!”