Good afternoon, we are nearing a week since the current escalation in the Middle East began, when Israel and the US attacked Iran with a barrage of missiles.
Here are some things we’ve learned across today:
- The death toll continues to rise. At least 1230 people in Iran, more than 200 in Lebanon and about a dozen in Israel have been killed, according to officials in those countries. Six US troops have been killed, all in the first 48 hours after the initial strikes on Iran.
- At least three people died in Israeli strikes on Lebanon today, early Saturday local time, while
Hezbollah fighters clashed with an Israeli force that landed on the along the border with Syria. Israel did not acknowledge the fighting, and its military did not respond to requests for comment.
- Less than five minutes after giving the all clear on the second missile launch identified as from Iran, the military said another salvo was targeting the country. It was the third time that happened overnight.
- Sirens sounded for a second time Saturday morning in the island kingdom of Bahrain.
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Saudi Arabia faced repeated drone attacks early Saturday targeting the area around its capital, Riyadh, and a major oil field. The Saudi Defence Ministry said it intercepted all the drones it detected coming into the kingdom so far. It comes as Saudi Arabia’s defence minister and Pakistan’s army chief met today to discuss “ways to stop these attacks” from Iran.
- Russia has provided Iran with information that could help Tehran strike American warships, aircraft and other assets in the region, according to two officials familiar with US intelligence on the matter. It’s the first indication that Moscow has sought to get involved in the war.
- US President Donald Trump has appeared to rule out negotiations with Iran in a social media post calling for its “unconditional surrender.” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt later added that “unconditional surrender” could come even if Iran isn’t in a position to say so for itself. Trump told media outlets on Thursday that he wants to be involved in picking Iran’s next leader.
- The US military said that it struck an Iranian drone carrier, setting it ablaze. Its Central Command released black-and-white footage of the burning carrier. The Iranian military did not immediately acknowledge the attack.
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Writing for the Qatar-funded news network Al Jazeera, Sultan al-Khulaifi of the Centre for Conflict and Humanitarian Studies said Gulf Arab states “watched with dread” as the US and Israel launched the war with Iran and they had “invested enormous diplomatic capital in preventing precisely this moment.That Iran’s response has been to turn its missiles on these same neighbours is not only a strategic miscalculation of historic proportions, but is also a profound moral and legal failure that risks poisoning relations for generations to come,” he wrote.
With AP
Washington: The US State Department said it has made a determination approving a possible foreign military sale to Israel of munitions and munitions support for $US151.8 million ($216 million) without congressional review.
Israel has requested to buy 12,000 BLU-110A/B general purpose, 1000-pound bomb bodies, the State Department said in a statement.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio determined that an emergency existed that required the immediate sale to Israel. The announcement comes during the US and Israel’s war against Iran.
Reuters
After Emirates flights from Dubai landed in Sydney and Melbourne on Thursday and Friday, respectively, the UAE-based airline foresees a restoration of its full network.
The airline said that by Saturday, it anticipates having 106 return daily flights operating to 83 destinations, or almost 60 per cent of its network operating through its hub in Dubai.
“Following the partial re-opening of regional airspace, Emirates is operating a reduced flight schedule while working to restore full network operations,” a spokesperson for the airline said.
“The airline anticipates a return to 100 per cent of its network within the coming days, subject to airspace availability and the fulfilment of all operational requirements.”
The airspace in Persian Gulf has become crowded with drones and missiles – as well as interceptors designed to bring down those projectiles before hitting their targets. This has created a higher-risk environment for commercial flight.
On Friday, Emirates carried approximately 30,000 passengers out of Dubai, it said. On Saturday, Emirates will add additional capacity across India, with up to 22 daily flights, serving all nine of its Indian gateways, the airline said.
On his Truth Social platform, US President Donald Trump said he and first lady Melania Trump would travel to Delaware on Saturday “to pay our Highest Respect to our Great Warriors, who are returning home for the last time”.
The White House had said previously that Trump would attend the dignified transfer of the six U.S. soldiers killed during the conflict in the Middle East.
The ritual is a transfer of remains of troops killed during their military service and is one of the most solemn acts for any president.
AP
A third Iranian naval vessel in the Indian Ocean is docked in India, local media reports.
The Press Trust of India, citing unnamed “government sources”, said the IRIS Lavan has been docked in Kochi since March 4. It said the ship “developed urgent technical issues and was granted emergency docking approval” March 1 – after the start of the war.
The Lavan’s 183 crew members are “being accommodated at Indian naval facilities on humanitarian grounds”, PTI reported.
The Lavan is a 2500-ton Hengam-class landing ship.
The US sank the Iranian warship IRIS Dena off Sri Lanka’s coast Wednesday.
The IRIS Bushehr sought assistance from Sri Lanka, and its more than 200 sailors were being brought to that island nation.
AP
Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency said local gunmen tried to repel the force on the edge of the town of Nabi Chit. NNA also said Israeli warplanes were flying over the area.
Hezbollah’s Al-Manar TV reported that Israeli forces tried to land three times in Nabi Chit and the third attempt occurred after midnight Friday. It was said to have been met inside the town by Hezbollah and local fighters who clashed with it.
There was no immediate word on casualties.
The Israeli military did not immediately respond to an AP request for confirmation.
Nabi Chit is a stronghold of the Hezbollah militant group.
Hours earlier the Israeli military issued a warning to people in Nabi Chit and several nearby villages to evacuate. It was followed by a series of airstrikes.
AP
Washington: A US submarine’s deadly attack on an Iranian warship does not appear to have violated international or American military law, though it’s not yet clear whether the sub took sufficient measures to rescue nearly three dozen survivors, legal experts said.
Legal questions are swirling about the underpinnings for the entire US-Israeli military operation against Iran, and the aftermath of the torpedo attack on the IRIS Dena in the Indian Ocean, the experts said.
Eighty-seven people died and 32 Iranian sailors were rescued after the sub torpedoed the Dena in international waters near Sri Lanka.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Friday confirmed three Australians were aboard the nuclear-powered submarine, but played no active role in sinking the frigate.
While the attacks on Iran overall are “a clear violation of the UN charter,” the Dena was “a clear military target”, said Marko Milanovic, professor of international law at the University of Reading in Britain.
“Targeting a military vessel is not a war crime,” he said.
The vessel had just participated in naval exercises hosted by India and was heading into international waters on its way home, the Indian government said.
But neither its location far from the war zone nor its presence for the joint naval exercises affects the legality of the strike, said Rachel VanLandingham, a professor at Southwestern Law School and a retired lieutenant colonel in the US Air Force who served as a judge advocate general.
“It doesn’t matter that it wasn’t firing at the time,” she said of the Iranian ship. “It matters that it can be used to fire at American military assets.”
But what transpired after the torpedo struck the ship could raise concerns.
“The attack may not violate the law of war, but that’s only the start of the analysis,” said Brian Finucane, who served in the State Department’s Office of the Legal Adviser for a decade. “What happens after the attack is another matter.”
International humanitarian law says the US should have taken “all possible measures” to help search for and collect anyone who was wounded or shipwrecked.
US naval forces have the same obligation under the Pentagon’s rules as laid out in the Defence Department Law of War Manual. But the manual notes that “practical limitations”, including the cramped quarters of a submarine, could require it to alert other ships, airplanes or nearby authorities of the location of possible survivors.
Bringing people inside a submarine – one of the most closely guarded platforms in the US Navy – also poses issues.
A US official confirmed that following the strike, the US contacted Sri Lankan authorities to provide them with the ship’s location for search and rescue efforts. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss matters that were not authorised for release.
Sri Lanka’s foreign minister, Vijitha Herath, said Sri Lanka’s navy received a distress signal from the stricken ship, and sent ships and planes on a rescue mission.
But by the time Sri Lanka’s navy reached the location, there was no sign of the ship, “only some oil patches and life rafts”, navy spokesman Commander Buddhika Sampath said. “We found people floating on the water.”
Finucane said that without more information, “it’s hard to evaluate whether there were possible measures they could have taken. But at a minimum, they should be explaining this.”
AP
Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said in an interview with CBS’ 60 Minutes that the US is “tracking everything” and factoring it into battle plans, when asked about reports that intelligence shows Russia is providing Iran with information that could help it strike American assets in the Middle East.
“The American people can rest assured their commander-in-chief is well aware of who’s talking to who,” Hegseth said. “And anything that shouldn’t be happening, whether it’s in public or back-channeled, is being confronted and confronted strongly.”
Hegseth also downplayed the possibility that Russia’s assistance could be putting Americans in harms way.
“We’re putting the other guys in danger, and that’s our job. So we’re not concerned about that,” he said. “But the only ones that need to be worried right now are Iranians that think they’re gonna live.”
AP
Iran will not compete at the Milano Cortina Winter Paralympics after its only athlete was forced to withdraw hours before the opening ceremony.
The International Paralympic Committee (IPC) issued a statement explaining that two-time Paralympian Aboulfazl Khatibi could not safely travel to Italy amid the escalating conflict in the Middle East. Khatibi was set to compete in para cross-country skiing.
“Since the conflict began … the IPC and [the] Milano Cortina 2026 Organising Committee have been working tirelessly behind the scenes with [Iran] and [its] national ski federation to find alternative routes for the safe passage of the Iran delegation to the Games,” the committee’s president, Andrew Parsons, said.
“However, with the conflict ongoing across the Middle East, the risk to human life is too high.”
Iran’s flag was removed from the opening ceremony, held in Verona on Saturday morning (AEDT).
A Pakistani man was convicted in federal court in New York over a 2024 plot to kill US politicians, including Donald Trump.
Federal prosecutors had accused Asif Merchant, 47, of being an “operative” of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps who was dispatched by the regime to the US in April 2024 to hire hitmen to kill American politicians. He was arrested in Texas in July of that year.
Merchant told jurors that during a meeting in Iran with his handler, he was given the names of three potential targets: Trump, Joe Biden, who was president at the time, and Nikki Haley. Merchant was convicted of attempted terrorism and a murder-for-hire charge.
The government presented evidence that after arriving in the US, Merchant attempted to hire hitmen to kill a US politician at a political rally. They also presented testimony from a New York man who worked as an FBI informant and secretly made video and audio recordings of his meetings with Merchant.
Merchant testified in his own defence at the trial, insisting he only participated and went forward with the plot to protect his family in Iran. “I thought there would come a point in time when I would have been arrested and then I would tell the entire plan to the government,” he said.
Avi Moskowitz, one of his lawyers, told jurors in closing arguments that Merchant wanted to fail and was just pretending to go forward with the assassination plot. “He had no choice but to play this out” to protect his family in Iran, Moskowitz said.
The attempted terrorism charge carries a maximum sentence of life in prison. A sentencing date wasn’t immediately set.
Bloomberg
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