Here's the latest
• First purported message: A public message attributed to new Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei was read on Iranian state media today, though he has still not been seen in public since his appointment.
• Oil shock: The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has threatened to set the region’s oil and gas infrastructure “on fire” if Iranian energy sites are attacked. Khamenei’s purported statement called for the vital Strait of Hormuz to remain closed as a “tool of pressure,” as the global oil market faces historic levels of disruption.
• Tehran defiant: Iran’s top security official said the country won’t relent until Donald Trump is “sorry,” rejecting the US president’s claims of a speedy victory.
• In Lebanon: Fresh strikes hit Beirut’s suburbs Thursday after Israel’s defense minister instructed the military to prepare for expanding operations against the Iranian-backed paramilitary group Hezbollah. Hundreds have been killed and hundreds of thousands displaced in Lebanon.
Israel unleashes fresh strikes on Beirut. Catch up on what you should know
As the war in the Middle East rages on, Iran believes that it can tolerate the pain of a longer war better than the United States and its allies, according to Richard Haass, president emeritus of the Council on Foreign Relations.
Here’s what else you should know:
More strikes: Israel says it is now expanding operations targeting the Iranian-backed paramilitary group Hezbollah in Lebanon, with fresh strikes in Beirut’s suburbs. And Hezbollah fired rockets that damaged homes in central Israel overnight Wednesday into Thursday.
Rising death and injury toll: Six French soldiers were wounded in a drone attack targeting a base hosting Kurdish forces and international coalition troops in northern Iraq, according to the governor of Erbil. Also, two academics were killed by an Israeli airstrike at a university south of Lebanon’s capital Beirut, Lebanese officials said Thursday. And according to Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), a state-affiliated paramilitary umbrella group that includes several Iranian-backed factions, US airstrikes targeting its headquarters in multiple Iraqi provinces have killed at least 27 fighters and wounded dozens of others since March 1.
Threat from Iran: Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) warned today that it will set the region’s oil and gas “on fire” if Iran energy infrastructure and ports are attacked.
Israel warns Khamenei: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday that Iran’s new supreme leader, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, “cannot show his face in public.” The warning comes hours after Tehran released what was purportedly his first public statement.
Strait of Hormuz: Iran will not close the Strait of Hormuz, the Iranian ambassador to the UN said Thursday, hours after supreme leader Khamenei purportedly said the waterway will remain closed as a “tool of pressure”.
Downed aircraft: A US KC-135 Stratotanker, a refueling aircraft, went down in western Iraq on Thursday, the US military said, though the incident was “not due to hostile fire or friendly fire.” The statement did not specify whether any US service members were hurt or killed.
US refueling aircraft lost over western Iraq, US military says
A US KC-135 Stratotanker, a refueling aircraft, went down in western Iraq on Thursday, the US military said, though the incident was “not due to hostile fire or friendly fire.” The statement did not specify whether any US service members were hurt or killed.
“The incident occurred in friendly airspace during Operation Epic Fury, and rescue efforts are ongoing,” a release from US Central Command said, using the operation name the Pentagon has given to US operations against Iran. “Two aircraft were involved in the incident. One of the aircraft went down in western Iraq, and the second landed safely. This was not due to hostile fire or friendly fire.”
At least five crew members were aboard the tanker that went down, a US official told CNN.
The second aircraft that landed safely was also a KC-135, the official said.
The release said more information would become available as “the situation develops” and asked for patience as more details were gathered “to provide clarity for the families of service members.”
A KC-135 flight crew typically includes three to four service members, according to the Air Force: a pilot, co-pilot, and boom operator, which is the person who refuels other aircraft mid-air from the KC-135. Some missions require navigators in the crew as well, an Air Force fact sheet said.
Last week, three F-15E Strike Eagle fighter jets were shot down over Kuwait in a mistaken friendly fire incident; all six crew members ejected safely.
This post has been updated with additional details.
Six French soldiers injured in drone attack on coalition base in Iraq, Erbil governor says
Six French soldiers were wounded in a drone attack targeting a base hosting Kurdish forces and international coalition troops in northern Iraq, according to the governor of Erbil.
Omed Khoshnaw, governor of Erbil, said the attack struck a base used by the Peshmerga that also houses members of the international coalition forces.
Khoshnaw said at least six soldiers from France were wounded in the drone strike.
CNN has reached out to the French defense ministry for comment.
The base is near Makhmour, southwest of Erbil, where coalition forces operate alongside Kurdish security forces as part of ongoing efforts against extremist groups such as ISIS.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack, and officials did not provide further details about the condition of the wounded soldiers.
However, in a statement issued after the attack, an Iran-backed militia in Iraq, Ashab al-Kahf, threatened to target French interests in Iraq and the wider region.
“From tonight, all French interests in Iraq and the region will be under fire and targeted,” the group said, without directly claiming responsibility for this incident.
CNN has not independently verified the authenticity of the statement. Iraqi officials did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
CNN reports from damaged Israeli home after Hezbollah strikes
Hezbollah fired rockets that damaged homes in central Israel overnight Wednesday into Thursday. Israel says it is now expanding operations targeting the Iranian-backed paramilitary group in Lebanon, with fresh strikes in Beirut’s suburbs.
CNN’s Jeremy Diamond reports from a damaged Israeli home:
Rockets fired overnight by Hezbollah reached central Israel, damaging homes like this one in the village of Haniel. CNN's Jeremy Diamond visited the site of the strike where a large crater is visible. In response Israel continues to target Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon, where hundreds have been killed and hundreds of thousands displaced in renewed fighting.
Lebanese hospital worries about how it'll function if conflict goes on
Southern Lebanon’s Al-Najda Al-Chaabia hospital is treating people injured in Israel’s repeated strikes, but officials wonder how much longer they can sustain operations.
The hospital is in Nabatiyeh, southern Lebanon, where Israel says it is striking facilities belonging to Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah.
“I was lying on the sofa, and suddenly a missile came, shaking the building and the house,” recalls Intissar Yassine. “It hit on our neighbours. The glass, stones and everything fell,” she told Reuters in a video.
Hospital Director Mona Abou Zeid said the hospital is receiving more injured civilians now than during the 2024 Israel-Hezbollah war.
She said that while the hospital is prepared, its suplies are not indefinite.
Abou Zeid said the hospital is trying to buy food supplies from the southern coastal city of Sidon.
“But (if) bridges were hit, roads were closed, we will be besieged.”
Iran won’t close Strait of Hormuz, UN envoy says
Iran will not close the Strait of Hormuz, the Iranian ambassador to the UN said Thursday, hours after the new supreme leader purportedly said the waterway will remain closed as a “tool of pressure”.
“We are not going to close the Strait of Hormuz, but it is our inherent right to preserve the peace and security in this waterway,” Amir Saeid Iravani told reporters at the UN.
He insisted that Iran remains committed to freedom of navigation, and blamed the US for the current situation in the strait.
“The current situation in the region, including in the Strait of Hormuz, is not the result of Iran’s lawful exercise of its right of self-defense. Rather, it is the direct consequence of the destabilizing actions of the United States in launching aggression against Iran and undermining regional security,” he added.
Iran's new supreme leader “cannot show his face in public,” Netanyahu says
Iran’s new supreme leader, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, “cannot show his face in public,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday, hours after Tehran released what was purportedly his first public statement.
“We have killed the previous dictator and the new dictator Mojtaba who is the puppet of the IRGC (Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps), cannot show his face in public,” Netanyahu told a press briefing Thursday.
Khamenei has not been seen in public since Iran announced on Sunday that he would be taking over as supreme leader following the death of his father Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed in what Iranian officials described as joint US-Israeli strikes in Tehran.
On Thursday, Iranian state media released what was purportedly Mojtaba Khamenei’s first public message, but he did not appear on video or release an audio statement. Rumors that Mojtaba has been injured in the US and Israel’s bombardment campaign have swirled for days.
Asked about the fate of Mojtaba Khamenei, Netanyahu refused to disclose whether Israel had any plans to attack him but said: “I wouldn’t put out a life insurance policy on any of the leaders of this terrorist regime, and I’m not going to give you an exact report of what we’re planning and what we’re going to do.”
The Israeli prime minister said the military had “severely hit” Iran and its proxies and significantly diminished their capabilities but added that Israel was “committed to completing this task.” Netanyahu also said Israel had struck Iranian nuclear scientists, as it did last year.
One of those proxies is the militant group Hezbollah that Israel says it has been targeting in its strikes on Lebanon. Israel is also weighing a ground operation into southern Lebanon.
Asked whether Israel planned to take any territory in Lebanon, Netanyahu said he urged the Lebanese government to stick to its commitment to disarm the militant group.
“If it does not do so then we will have no choice but to do it in our own methods,” Netanyahu said.
“Whether on the ground or in other ways – I am not going to specify here but I can promise you that as I said, we are going to exert a very heavy toll from Hezbollah.”
Iran thinks it can endure a longer conflict “better than the US” and allies, analyst says
Iran believes that it can tolerate the pain of a longer war better than the United States and its allies, according to Richard Haass, president emeritus of the Council on Foreign Relations.
Although US President Donald Trump has repeatedly claimed victory in his war with Iran, Haass said such claims were “wishful thinking.”
“It’s premature not just to be declaring victory, but to be saying that this is going to be a short-duration crisis, and then we go back to the status quo ante,” he said.
After Chris Wright, the energy secretary, said earlier Thursday that the soaring price of energy was “short-term pain for long-term gain,” Haass suggested the economic pain might last longer than the Trump administration hopes.
Iran-backed group in Iraq says US strikes have killed dozens of its fighters
Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), a state-affiliated paramilitary umbrella group that includes several Iranian-backed factions, says US airstrikes targeting its headquarters in multiple Iraqi provinces have killed at least 27 fighters and wounding dozens of others since March 1.
In a statement today, the PMF Commission condemned what it described as “sinful air attacks” carried out by American warplanes. It called the strikes a “blatant transgression” and a serious violation of Iraq’s sovereignty.
The group said the strikes hit PMF facilities in the provinces of Diyala, Kirkuk, Anbar, Nineveh, Salah al-Din, Wasit and Babil.
According to the statement, a total of 32 airstrikes were carried out, wounding at least 50 PMF fighters.
The commission said the targeted sites were official facilities operating within Iraq’s security framework and in coordination with the country’s Iraqi Joint Operations Command. It denied that the locations had been involved in attacks on US bases in Iraq or elsewhere.
The US Embassy in Baghdad has warned that Iran and Iranian-aligned armed groups in Iraq may be planning attacks on American interests in the country.
In a security alert issued Wednesday, the embassy said groups linked to Iran have targeted hotels frequented by Americans in different parts of Iraq, including the autonomous Kurdistan region. The embassy also warned that US citizens could face risks of kidnapping.
Iraqi police said today that two people were killed in a fresh strike on a military camp south of Baghdad that includes units of the PMF and the Federal Police. The PMF blamed the strike on the US and Israel.
Shiite-led PMF paramilitary groups formed in 2014 to fight the Islamic State have since been integrated into the Iraqi armed forces. While officially under the prime minister, many factions are aligned with Iran and wield significant political, military and economic influence in Iraq.
Key US Senate chairman hopes to soon have first public oversight hearings on war with Iran
Senate Armed Services Chairman Roger Wicker is planning soon to hold the first public oversight hearing of the Iran war with top Department of Defense officials testifying, CNN has learned.
Details on when and who will appear have not yet been finalized.
Asked if he expects Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Gen. Dan Cain to appear, Wicker told CNN, “I can’t give you that information yet, but I hope to have public hearings with top officials from the department.”
“This would be oversight, yes,” of the war itself, he explained. “We will conduct oversight.”
Wicker twice said, “I hope” it will be in public session, making clear there has not been a final decision made on that point.
To date, there have been no open oversight hearings of the conflict in the GOP-led Congress although there have been several classified sessions for members.
Iran threatens to set region’s oil and gas infrastructure "on fire" if its energy sites are attacked
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) warned today that it will set the region’s oil and gas “on fire” if Iran energy infrastructure and ports are attacked.
“We warn the aggressor government and all its allies that the slightest attack on (Iran’s) energy infrastructure and ports will be followed by our crushing and devastating response,” the IRGC said in a statement cited by the official Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting.
“In the event of such aggression, all the region’s oil and gas infrastructure in which the United States and its Western allies have a vested interest will be set on fire and destroyed,” it added.
Iran has been actively targeting international cargo ships in the Strait of Hormuz with missiles and drones, disrupting global energy trade.
Since the start of the war with Iran, the US has hit more than 5,500 targets inside the country, including over 60 ships, according to US Central Command.
Israeli strike kills two academics at Lebanese university, officials say
Two academics were killed by an Israeli airstrike at a university south of Lebanon’s capital Beirut, Lebanese officials said Thursday.
The strike targeted the Lebanese University in Hadath, killing the dean of the faculty of sciences Houssein Bazzi and faculty member Mortada Srour, Lebanon’s council of ministers said.
Both academics were at the school’s outer courtyard at the time of the strike, Lebanon’s National News Agency reported.
CNN has reached out to the Israel Defense Forces for comment. Earlier, the IDF said it carried out a wave of strikes across Beirut.
Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam has condemned the purported strike on the university, calling it a violation of international laws that prohibit targeting educational institutions.
He extended condolences to the academics’ families, students and colleagues.
CNN’s Mohammed Tawfeeq, Charbel Mallo and Dana Karni contributed to this report.
Smoke billows as Israel strikes Beirut's southern suburbs
A large plume of smoke billows as Israel strikes Beirut’s southern suburbs on Thursday night.
Israel has repeatedly targeted Dahieh, which is in the area and considered a stronghold of Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah.
Eight Muslim nations condemn restrictions at al-Aqsa Muslim holy site during Ramadan
Several Muslim nations condemned Israel’s closure of al-Aqsa Mosque’s gates to Muslim worshippers, especially during Ramadan amid the US-Israeli war with Iran and regional tensions.
The al-Aqsa Mosque compound, known to Muslims as al-Haram al-Sharif, is the third-holiest place in Islam. The site is also the holiest in Judaism, known to Jews as the Temple Mount.
In a joint statement, the foreign ministers of eight countries — Qatar, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, Indonesia, Pakistan, Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Egypt — denounced Israel’s “continued closure (of the al-Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem) to Muslim worshippers, particularly during the holy month of Ramadan.”
The ministers said that Israel has no sovereignty over occupied Jerusalem or its Islamic and Christian holy sites. They stressed that the Jerusalem Endowments and al-Aqsa Mosque Affairs Department, affiliated with Jordan, is the ruling authority.
They called on Israel to halt the restrictions and on the international community to stand against Israel’s “ongoing violations and illegal practices against Islamic and Christian holy sites in Jerusalem, as well as its violations of the sanctity of these holy places.”
Citing public safety concerns, Israeli police said in a statement last week that all holy sites in Jerusalem’s Old City — including the Western Wall, the al-Aqsa Mosque compound and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre — would remain closed, barring worshippers and visitors of any faith.
“Israel is currently facing a complex period that requires personal responsibility from every citizen,” the statement added in reference to the county’s war with Iran.
Israeli police spokesperson Dean Elsdunne told CNN today in reaction to the joint statement that the closure has nothing to do with Ramadan, but “everything to do with safety.”
“Can you imagine dispersing tens of thousands of people during a ballistic missile siren when there is limited to no nearby shelters? And if it became a stampede? If it turned into a mass casualty event?” Elsdunne added.
Iran dismisses Trump's idea of a quick victory. Get up to speed on our latest headlines
Iran’s top security official said today the country will not relent in the war until US President Donald Trump is “sorry.” The comment follows Trump’s claims yesterday that the US already “won” the war.
Here’s what else you should know:
• Read CNN analysis: Trump might be unable to end the war he started with Iran, even if he wanted to, Nick Paton Walsh writes.
• Update on late supreme leader’s wife: Iranian state-linked media outlets are denying reports the late Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s wife died after the United States and Israel’s initial attack.
• Cluster warheads: CNN took a closer look at how Iran’s use of cluster munitions is challenging Israel’s air defenses.
• “Ecological ticking bomb”: Environmental group Greenpeace warns of a potential environmental disaster from oil spills as ships carrying a total of 21 billion liters of oil remain trapped in the Persian Gulf.
• Reaction to Khamenei’s statement: Some members of the Iranian diaspora are doubtful of Mojtaba Khamenei’s purported first public statement, which was read on state media but did not come with an appearance by the new supreme leader.
• The advantage of Iran’s cheap drones: Iran’s Shahed drones cost little to make, but millions to shoot down. CNN’s Bijan Hosseini explains why the drones are so difficult to stop:
Shahed drones have become one of the most disruptive weapons in the US-Israeli war with Iran. The one-way attack drones cost little to make, but the missiles needed to shoot them down cost millions of dollars. CNN's Bijan Hosseini reports.
CNN’s Adam Pourahmadi, Michael Rios, Nick Paton Walsh, Jeremy Diamond, Gianluca Mezzofiore, Zeena Saifi, Mohammed Tawfeeq, Hira Humayun and Monica Haider.
See where vessels have been attacked in the Persian Gulf since the start of the war
More than a dozen vessels have been attacked in the Persian Gulf and near the Strait of Hormuz since the start of the war in the Middle East, according to UK Maritime Trade Operations.
Fear of further attacks has effectively halted traffic through the oil corridor, which is the world’s most important energy chokepoint that carries about one-fifth of all crude oil.
Late supreme leader's wife was falsely reported dead, Iranian state-linked media say
Iranian state-linked media outlets Fars News Agency and Nournews are denying reports that the wife of Iran’s late supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, died of injuries sustained when the United States and Israel attacked Iran.
Khamenei, Iran’s second supreme leader, was killed on February 28 during what Iranian officials have described as joint US-Israeli airstrikes on his compound in Tehran.
Fars said the initial reports about the death of Mansoureh Khojasteh Bagherzadeh were wrong and sought to correct what it described as misinformation circulating in the aftermath of the leader’s killing.
Nournews, which is affiliated with Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, said that the “wife of the martyred revolutionary leader is alive, and the initial news published about her martyrdom was incorrect.”
The outlets did not provide additional details about her condition or explain the discrepancy with earlier reports. CNN cannot independently verify the reports.
Earlier this month, other Iranian media outlets reported that Bagherzadeh had died of wounds from the same strikes. The semi-official Iranian Students’ News Agency (ISNA) reported that she had been in a coma after the attack and later died.
Iranians say state media presents a "manufactured reality"
Iran has severely limited communication and internet access inside the country since the start of the war nearly two weeks ago, according to independent watchdog organization NetBlocks. Some Iranians told CNN the information they do receive makes it difficult to sort out facts from propaganda.
CNN’s Leila Gharagozlou explains more:
Iranians have been cut off from the internet for nearly two weeks, leaving many with little access to outside news. Some say the information they receive inside the country makes it hard to sift facts from propaganda. “When the internet shuts down, it essentially becomes state-run,” one man in Iran said. “We can only access state websites and state news like North Korea.”
Democratic US senator argues Iran war is "most incompetent, incoherent" in a century
Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, called the Iran conflict “the most incompetent, incoherent war America has fought in a century.
Murphy also accused the president of being “senile” and “losing his mind.”
“This is the most incompetent, incoherent war America has fought in the last 100 years, and that’s saying a lot. This administration has no idea what they are doing. There is no viable war plan. They change their goals and their aims every single day. I have great sympathy for our soldiers and our military leaders, they are being given directions by a senile old man who is losing his mind,” Murphy said.
Murphy argued the war was going “horribly” and will cost Americans in their pocketbooks and potentially their safety.
“Prices are going up, the Strait is closed. Iran still maintains the capability to hit our regional allies … The nuclear program still exists. It has been an unmitigated disaster, and that is one person’s fault, Donald Trump, who changes his mind every single day about what he thinks this war should be about,” Murphy said.
"Ecological ticking bomb": Greenpeace warns of potential oil spills amid ship attacks
Environmental group Greenpeace is warning of a potential environmental disaster from oil spills as ships carrying a total of 21 billion liters of oil remain trapped in the Persian Gulf.
As ships in the Persian Gulf and Strait of Hormuz continue to come under attack, Greenpeace has mapped 85 large oil tankers that are stuck in the area.
On Wednesday Iran attacked two oil tankers off the Iraqi coast in the Persian Gulf, while several other vessels have also been hit. The country has vowed to keep attacking ships that aim to transit the Strait of Hormuz, the world’s most important energy chokepoint. And in his first purported message since becoming Iran’s new supreme leader, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei said Thursday that the strait will remain essentially closed as a “tool of pressure.”
A simulation run by Greenpeace Germany showed how an oil slick could spread if the stranded tankers were hit.
“The Strait of Hormuz and adjacent waters are home to pristine coral reefs, mangrove forests, and seagrass meadows,” Noelle said. “This is an ecological ticking time bomb and represents an enormous risk that further increases instability and human suffering in the region.”
