Middle East crisis live: US says nearly 2,000 targets hit in Iran war; Trump says navy may escort tankers through Strait of Hormuz

The UK foreign office has said that British nationals, their partners and children under 18 are eligible to travel on a chartered flight from Muscat on Wednesday, as long as they have a valid travel document.

The foreign office said priority will be given to the most vulnerable and they will contact British nationals in Oman. Anyone who registered their presence in the United Arab Emirates and are now in Oman is asked to register for a place on a flight.

They asked people not to travel to Muscat International Airport in Oman unless they are contacted by officials.

Around 130,000 Britons have registered their presence in the Middle East with the Foreign Office amid evacuation planning.

Israeli strikes on two towns south of Beirut have killed six people and wounded eight, Lebanon’s health ministry has announced.

In a statement, the ministry said that “the Israeli enemy’s attacks on the areas of Aramoun and Saadiyat” killed six people and wounded eight others “in a preliminary toll”.

Aramoun and Saadiyat are both towns outside Hezbollah’s traditional strongholds, according to the AFP news agency.

The regional war sparked by the US and Israel’s attack on Iran spread into Lebanon on Monday after Hezbollah – who have long been aligned with Tehran – launched drones and rockets at Israel.

Israeli strikes have killed more than 50 people in Lebanon, according to the government, while the United Nations said that more than 30,000 people have been displaced.

Hello and welcome to our live coverage of the Middle East crisis as it enters day five.

The US military has claimed that the number of strikes carried out on Saturday in the first 24 hours of its war on Iran was nearly double that of the “shock-and-awe” strikes on Iraq in 2003, and that nearly 2,000 targets had been hit so far in Iran.

Admiral Brad Cooper of US Central Command did not give a figure for the number of strikes carried out in the first 24 hours of the war, or stipulate whether he was including the Israeli strikes.

He said the attacks were carried out “as part of the largest firepower buildup in the region in a generation”.

Cooper also said the US was also sinking “all of the Iranian navy” and had already destroyed 17 Iranian ships. “For decades the Iranian regime has harassed international shipping. Today there is not a single Iranian ship underway in the Arabian gulf, Strait of Hormuz or Gulf of Oman.”

The US navy could begin escorting oil tankers through the strait of Hormuz if necessary, President Donald Trump said on Tuesday, in one of the administration’s most aggressive steps yet to attempt to contain soaring energy prices sparked by the war.

Here is a summary of other recent developments:

• Donald Trump has attempted to counter a simmering anti-Israel backlash in Congress and among his own Maga supporters by denying suggestions that he had been forced into attacking Iran because Israel had already decided to do so. Asked whether Israel had pushed him into launching military action, Trump told reporters: “No. I might have forced their hand.”

• The Iranian Red Crescent Society said at least 787 people had been killed since the conflict began. The worst mass casualty event of the US-Israeli military assault so far has been the direct strike on a girls’ elementary school in Minab on Saturday, which killed up to 168 people. You get a sense of the devastation through our visual guide, here.

• Israel said it has launched a ‘broad wave’ of strikes on Iran that were targeting launch sites, defense systems, and additional Iranian infrastructure.

• Global oil and gas prices have spiked as the US-Israeli war on Iran has halted energy exports from the Middle East, with Tehran attacking ships and energy facilities, closing navigation in the Gulf and forcing production stoppages from Qatar to Iraq.

• The conflict has caused turbulence on global markets. In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 continued to fall on Wednesday, and was down about 1.7% during early trading. In Seoul, the Kospi – which dropped 7.2% on Tuesday – fell by a further 3.1% at the open. But Wall Street looks set to open flat in New York, according to pre-market trading data.

• At least 30,000 people have been displaced in Lebanon, according to the United Nations, following heavy Israeli airstrikes in the country.

• Trump also said he was upset with British prime minister Keir Starmer, who has not joined the US-Israeli attack on Iran but did let US forces use UK bases. “I’m not happy with the UK,” the US president said. “It’s taken three, four days for us to work out where we can land,” Trump said. Referring to Starmer, he added: “This is not Winston Churchill that we’re dealing with.”

• Canadian prime minister Mark Carney called on Wednesday for the rapid de-escalation of the conflict unleashed by US-Israeli strikes on Iran, urging all parties to respect the international rules of engagement.

We will bring you latest as soon as we get it.