Iran launches missiles toward Israel
Iran launched missiles toward Israel, according to Israel’s military on Wednesday.
“Defence systems are operating to intercept the threat,”the military stated in a post on X, urging the public to follow directives sent to mobile phones in the affected area.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards claimed responsibility for targeting a satellite communications centre in Haifa, military bases in Israel, and US targets elsewhere in the region, 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 declared on their website Sepah News.
Drone strikes US diplomatic facility in Iraq - reports
A drone struck a major US diplomatic facility in Iraq on Tuesday, reportedly in retaliation by pro-Tehran militias over the US-Israeli war on Iran, the Washington Post reported citing an unidentified security official and an internal US State Department alert.
The strike hit the diplomatic support centre, a logistical hub for US diplomats near Baghdad airport and Iraqi military bases. It was unclear whether there were any injuries. Five other drones were intercepted.
The State Department issued an internal alert indicating a drone struck near a guard tower, ordering individuals at the facility to
“duck and cover,”according to the Post.
The attack was likely carried out by the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, an umbrella group of Iran-backed armed factions, the security official said.
US destroys 16 Iranian mine-laying vessels near strait of Hormuz, military says
US Central Command announced on X that it
“eliminated” 16 Iranian mine-laying vessels near the strait of Hormuz on Tuesday.
Earlier, Donald Trump stated that the US had hit and
“completely destroyed” 10 inactive mine-laying vessels, warning that more would follow.
His comments came shortly after he said there had been
“no reports”of Iran placing mines in the strait but warned that if Iran had placed mines in the crucial waterway, they must be moved
“IMMEDIATELY”or Iran would face military consequences
“at a level never seen before”.
US officials have indicated that Iran may be preparing to deploy naval mines in the strait to further disrupt the crucial shipping lane. In recent days, a few dozen mines have been laid.
Protesters will be treated as 'enemies' - Iran's police chief
Iran’s police chief Ahmad-Reza Radan warned Iranians on state TV that anyone who takes to the streets
“at the enemy’s request” will be “confronted as an enemy, not a protester”.
“We will do to them what we do to enemies. We will treat them the way we treat enemies.
All of our men have their fingers on the trigger and are ready to defend their revolution, to support their people and their homeland.”
Radan stated that security forces are stationed in the streets
“day and night”.
Both Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu have called on Iranians to take to the streets and overthrow their regime in recent weeks.
Iran has responded with a brutal crackdown on protesters involved in a wave of anti-establishment demonstrations since late December. The US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency reported confirming the killing of at least 7,000 people, including children and individuals not involved in the protests, during that period.
Welcome summary
Hello and welcome to our continuing live coverage of the US-Israeli war on Iran.
Here are the main developments:
Iran’s police chief Ahmad-Reza Radan has warned Iranians on state TV that anyone who takes to the streets
“at the enemy’s request” will be “confronted as an enemy, not a protester”.Radan said security forces are stationed in the streets
“day and night”.
Lebanese health authorities reported that Israel’s raids on the southern town of Qana, in the Tyre district, on Wednesday have killed five people and wounded five others.
The Israeli military announced it had begun an
“additional wave”of strikes on targets in Tehran. This followed earlier statements by the IDF that it had struck key command centres of the Iranian armed forces in Tehran and Tabriz.
Iran’s UN ambassador accused the US and Israel of deliberately targeting civilians, stating that nearly 10,000 civilian sites have been hit in the country, including about 8,000 residential homes. The death toll has reached more than 1,300 people. Amir Saeid Iravani described the attacks as
“horrific crimes”that struck
“populated residential areas” and “critical civilian infrastructure”.
Donald Trump said the US has hit and
“completely destroyed” 10 inactive mine-laying vessels, warning that more would follow.US Central Command added that it
“eliminated” 16 Iranian mine-laying vessels near the strait of Hormuz.These updates came shortly after the US president initially stated there had been
“no reports”of Iran placing mines in the strait but warned that if it had, they must be moved
“IMMEDIATELY”or Iran would face military consequences
“at a level never seen before”.US officials have indicated that Iran may be preparing to deploy naval mines in the strait to further disrupt the crucial shipping lane. In recent days, a few dozen mines have been laid.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed that the US Navy has not escorted an oil tanker through the strait of Hormuz, after US Energy Secretary Chris Wright said it had happened in a swiftly deleted X post. Leavitt also said the US military is
“drawing up additional options”to keep the strait open.
Leavitt further stated that the US and Israel’s war will not end until Iran’s
“complete and unconditional surrender”and when Trump decides his objectives have been met and determines that Iran does not pose a direct threat. She told reporters that the US military is
“making tremendous strides towards achieving our military objectives”,and is now moving to
“dismantle Iran’s missile production infrastructure”.
Meanwhile, the Trump administration is reportedly considering deploying special forces into Iran to secure its stockpile of highly enriched uranium (HEU), which experts say could be used to make at least 10 nuclear warheads. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told Congress that
“people are going to have to go and get it”.
The United States has asked Israel to halt strikes on Iran’s energy infrastructure, marking the first time the US has reined in its ally since the war began 11 days ago. This follows an Israeli bombing of fuel storage facilities that blanketed Tehran — a city of some 10 million people — in smoke over the weekend, raising urgent health warnings for ordinary Iranians.
Israel is set to expand its defence budget by almost 40 billion shekels (US$13bn) to fund the war in Iran, according to a finance ministry official who wished to remain anonymous, Bloomberg reports. The defence budget will be expanded by 28 billion shekels, with an additional 10 billion set aside as reserves for possible military needs, the official said.
A total of seven members of the Iranian women’s football team have now been granted humanitarian visas in Australia, Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke confirmed. An additional seven members of the Iranian team departed Sydney on a flight to Malaysia on Tuesday night, with one player and one support member remaining, Burke said during a press conference on Wednesday morning.
Russia denied sharing intelligence with Iran on US assets in the Middle East, Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff said. This follows reports that Moscow was providing Tehran with targeting information that included locations and movements of US warships and aircraft in the region.
“Yesterday on the call with the president, the Russians said that they have not been sharing,”Witkoff said when asked if Washington believed Moscow had shared intelligence about US military assets with Tehran.
“We can take them at their word. But they did say that. And yesterday morning, independently, Jared [Kushner] and I had a call with [Kremlin aide Yuri] Ushakov who reiterated the same.”
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi dismissed repeated claims from the Trump administration that Iran was planning a preemptive or preventive strike against the US or its military forces as
“a sheer and utter lie”.He added,
“The sole purpose of that lie is to justify Operation Epic Mistake, a misadventure engineered by Israel and paid for by ordinary Americans.”Araghchi made the statement in a post on X, riffing on the US’s name for the military operation, Operation Epic Fury.
Approximately 140 US service members have been wounded since the start of the US-Israeli war on Iran, according to the Pentagon, eight of them severely.
