What you need to know
Good morning and welcome to our continuing live coverage of the conflict in the Middle East.
Here’s what happened overnight.
- The United States has been found responsible for a deadly strike on an Iranian school, according to a preliminary military investigation, The New York Times reports. Asked about the report on Thursday morning AEDT, US President Donald Trump said: “I don’t know about it.”
- The 32 member countries of the International Energy Agency have agreed to the record release of 400 million barrels of oil from emergency reserves to offset the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz and the impact on energy markets.
- Three ships in the strait have been attacked, including a Thai cargo ship which caught fire. An Iranian naval commander said the vessels “ignored the warnings” and “got caught”.
- An Iranian official confirmed to Reuters news agency that new supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, has been “lightly injured”. Israel believes he was wounded at the start of the war.
- The Israeli military said it had begun another wave of extensive attacks on both Iran and Beirut, where it claims to be focusing on Hezbollah targets.
- Iran’s sports minister said that “under no circumstances” could the nation’s soccer team compete in the 2026 FIFA World Cup, co-hosted by the US, Mexico and Canada later this year.
- Two Iranian drones struck near Dubai International Airport, wounding four people, officials said. Commercial flights are continuing.
Over 600 killed, 750,000 displaced in Lebanon
The death toll in Lebanon continues to rise as Israeli strikes targeting Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah bombard Beirut.
The Lebanese health ministry says the death toll from Israeli strikes has reached 634. An additional 1536 people have been injured.
More than 750,000 people have been displaced in Lebanon since the beginning of the conflict, the UN’s refugee agency says.
Iranian president says Iran ‘committed to peace’
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian says he has spoken to the leaders of Russia and Pakistan and has reiterated “Iran’s commitment to peace in the region”.
In a post on X this morning, Pezeshkian said the only way to end the war is “recognising Iran’s legitimate rights, payment of reparations, and firm [international] guarantees against future aggression”.
There is no indication so far about when the war between the US-Israel and Iran might end.
Russia’s support for Iran has sparked fears that the US could face the force of the Russian military if Trump decides to send ground troops into Iran.
Trump says US ‘could do a lot worse’ to Iran
President Donald Trump has said the US “could do a lot worse” to Iran and was “not finished yet”.
Asked as he left the White House what more the US needed to do “militarily” for the operation against Iran to end, Trump said: “More of the same and we’ll see how that all comes out.”
“Right now, they’ve lost their navy, they’ve lost their air force, they have no anti-aircraft apparatus at all. They have no radar, their leaders are gone, and we could do a lot worse,” he said.
Trump said the US was “leaving certain things”.
“We could take them out by this afternoon, in fact, within an hour. They literally would never be able to build that country back.”
What you need to know
Good morning and welcome to our continuing live coverage of the conflict in the Middle East.
Here’s what happened overnight.
- The United States has been found responsible for a deadly strike on an Iranian school, according to a preliminary military investigation, The New York Times reports. Asked about the report on Thursday morning AEDT, US President Donald Trump said: “I don’t know about it.”
- The 32 member countries of the International Energy Agency have agreed to the record release of 400 million barrels of oil from emergency reserves to offset the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz and the impact on energy markets.
- Three ships in the strait have been attacked, including a Thai cargo ship which caught fire. An Iranian naval commander said the vessels “ignored the warnings” and “got caught”.
- An Iranian official confirmed to Reuters news agency that new supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, has been “lightly injured”. Israel believes he was wounded at the start of the war.
- The Israeli military said it had begun another wave of extensive attacks on both Iran and Beirut, where it claims to be focusing on Hezbollah targets.
- Iran’s sports minister said that “under no circumstances” could the nation’s soccer team compete in the 2026 FIFA World Cup, co-hosted by the US, Mexico and Canada later this year.
- Two Iranian drones struck near Dubai International Airport, wounding four people, officials said. Commercial flights are continuing.
G7 will not lift sanctions against Russia: Macron
The current situation in the Middle East, caused by the US-Israeli war with Iran and its consequences on the oil market, does not justify lifting sanctions against Russia, G7 leaders agreed on Wednesday (Thursday morning AEDT), according to French President Emmanuel Macron.
Macron added that the decision by the International Energy Agency (IEA) to release 400 million barrels of oil – the largest such move in its history – would represent 14.5 million barrels in France.
Reuters
‘I don’t know about it,’ says Trump on school strike report
US President Donald Trump has been asked about The New York Times report that a preliminary military investigation has found the US was responsible for a deadly Tomahawk missile strike on an Iranian school.
Trump spoke to reporters before boarding Marine One on Wednesday Washington time (Thursday morning AEDT).
Asked in response to the Times report whether he took responsibility as commander-in-chief for the strike, Trump replied: “I don’t know about it.”
Iran cannot compete in FIFA World Cup, says sports minister
Iran’s sports minister said there is no way that the nation’s soccer team will compete in this summer’s FIFA World Cup in North America.
Ahmad Donyamali addressed the situation in the wake of combined US and Israeli attacks against his Middle East nation in an interview with state television.
“Considering that this corrupt regime has assassinated our leader, under no circumstances can we participate in the World Cup. Our children are not safe, and, fundamentally, such conditions for participation do not exist,” he said, per CBS Sports. “Given the malicious actions they have carried out against Iran, they have forced two wars on us over eight or nine months and have killed and martyred thousands of our people. Therefore, we certainly cannot have such a presence.”
Earlier, FIFA president Gianni Infantino said he had met with US President Donald Trump ahead of the 2026 World Cup, which will be co-hosted by the US, Mexico and Canada from June 11 to July 19.
“President Trump reiterated that the Iranian team is, of course, welcome to compete in the tournament in the United States,” Infantino said in a post on social media.
“We all need an event like the FIFA World Cup to bring people together now more than ever, and I sincerely thank the president of the United States for his support, as it shows once again that football unites the world.”
Reuters
US responsible for strike on Iranian school, NYT reports
The United States has been found responsible for a deadly Tomahawk missile strike on an Iranian elementary school, The New York Times reports.
US officials and others familiar with the preliminary findings of an ongoing military investigation told the newspaper the February 28 strike on the school was a targeting mistake by the US military.
US military strikes Iran ‘nearly every hour’
The US military has wiped out Iran’s Soleimani class warships after near-hourly strikes on the regime, said Admiral Brad Cooper, who leads the US military’s Central Command and is overseeing Operation Epic Fury.
“Just yesterday (Tuesday), we had strike waves nearly every hour from different locations and directions going into Iran,” Cooper said in an update on Wednesday (Thursday morning AEDT).
“We took out the last of four Soleimani class warships. That’s an entire class of Iranian ships now out of the fight.”
He said more than 5500 targets, including more than 60 ships, had been struck in Iran since the conflict began, adding that US forces “continue delivering devastating combat power against the Iranian regime”.
There are 50,000 US service members deployed around the Middle East.
Innocent lives at risk at civilian ports, US Central Command warns
The US Central Command (CENTCOM) has warned the lives of innocent people are at risk by the Iranian regime’s use of civilian ports along the oil transit route the Strait of Hormuz.
It issued the following warning message on Wednesday (2am Thursday AEDT):
US forces urge civilians in Iran to immediately avoid all port facilities where Iranian naval forces are operating. Iranian dockworkers, administrative personnel, and commercial vessel crews should avoid Iranian naval vessels and military equipment.
The Iranian regime is using civilian ports along the Strait of Hormuz to conduct military operations that threaten international shipping. This dangerous action risks the lives of innocent people. Civilian ports used for military purposes lose protected status and become legitimate military targets under international law.
CENTCOM said Iranian naval forces had positioned military vessels and equipment within civilian ports serving commercial maritime traffic.
It said the US military “cannot guarantee civilian safety in or near facilities used by the Iranian regime for military purposes”, but American forces “will continue taking every feasible precaution to minimise harm to civilians”.
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: www.smh.com.au
