Here's the latest
• Tankers ablaze: Iran has ramped up retaliatory attacks on energy supplies with strikes on two foreign oil tankers in Iraqi waters. The UK’s maritime agency said another vessel in the Persian Gulf was struck, the sixth in the last two days.
• Oil topped $100 (again): Oil climbed above $100 overnight. The jump came despite the International Energy Agency agreeing to release a record 400 million barrels of oil from reserves into the global market.
• Claiming victory: US President Donald Trump has been repeating his claim that the US has won the war, even as the conflict widens. “It’s just a question of when, when do we stop?” he said.
• Girls’ school bombing: The US military accidentally struck an Iranian elementary school on February 28 likely due to outdated information about a nearby naval base, according to two sources. The attack killed at least 168 children and 14 teachers, according to Iran’s state media.
WFH, 4-day week and school closures: Asia scrambles as energy prices soar
Asia is not taking any chances.
The region sources a whopping 60% of its oil from the Middle East. So as the price of energy soars, it’s taking action.
In Bangladesh, there are long lines at the pump as authorities limit supplies. Even universities have been closed to save energy.
India has invoked emergency powers to divert liquefied petroleum gas away from industrial users and toward households.
Pakistan has ordered a range of austerity measures – from closing schools to shifting services online.
Meanwhile, South Korea is imposing a fuel price cap for the first time in 30 years, as it seeks alternative sources of energy beyond the Strait of Hormuz.
Taking the long view, China is accelerating cuts in carbon intensity over the next five years as it maintains its focus on renewable energy.
Elsewhere, Vietnam is calling on companies to encourage remote working.
Thailand has ordered government workers to save energy by suspending overseas trips and working from home.
The Philippines is urging personnel to hold virtual meetings instead. This comes after it rolled out a temporary four-day workweek for some government offices, with air-conditioning set no lower than 24°C (or 75°F).
The United Nations is warning that if disruptions drag on, food and fertilizer prices will skyrocket and hit vulnerable economies in the region especially hard.
Russia's Dmitriev said he discussed energy crisis with US counterparts
Russian presidential envoy Kirill Dmitriev said Thursday he discussed the importance of Russian oil with his US counterparts during a meeting in Florida.
“Today, many countries, primarily the US, are beginning to better understand the key, systemic role of Russian oil and gas in ensuring the stability of the global economy, as well as the ineffectiveness and destructive nature of sanctions against Russia,” Dmitriev said on Telegram.
Dmitriev’s comments came as oil prices surged past $100 per barrel again during overnight trade as the US and Israel’s war with Iran continues to squeeze global fuel supplies.
As a result of the shortage, the US has granted India a 30-day waiver to buy Russian oil, despite Trump’s longstanding pressure campaign on New Delhi to shift away from Russian oil.
Dmitriev said he and representatives from the Trump administration discussed projects that could “contribute to the restoration of the Russian-American relations and the current crisis on global energy markets.”
Video shows fuel depot on fire in Bahrain following attack
Video from the Bahrain National Communications Center shows firefighters battling huge flames at a fuel storage facility in Muharraq following an Iranian strike.
Earlier, Bahrain’s interior ministry said Iranian attacks targeted fuel tanks at the facility in the kingdom’s northern governorate early Thursday and warned residents in four nearby towns and villages to remain in their homes and close their windows.
Iraq shuts down oil port operations after tanker attacks
Iraq’s oil ports have completely stopped operations following Iranian attacks on two oil tankers, which killed an Indian national.
Operations at Iraq’s oil terminals have been totally suspended but commercial ports remain functional, Farhan al-Fartousi, the director general of the Iraqi Ports Company, told the Iraqi News Agency Thursday.
One crew member was killed and 38 rescued from the oil tankers that were left ablaze in the Persian Gulf after being struck by what’s thought to be an Iranian water drone.
An Indian national died in the attack aboard the Safesea Vishnu, said India’s Baghdad Embassy on Thursday. “The remaining 15 Indian crew have since been evacuated to a safe place,” it added in a post on X. The embassy said it was in regular contact with Iraqi authorities.
There have been six attacks on vessels in the Persian Gulf since Wednesday, as the critical Strait of Hormuz waterway becomes a focal point the war with Iran.
Iraq’s oil marketing company SOMO said the incident “negatively impacts Iraq’s security and economy.”
How Trump’s Iran exposure could hand Putin a lottery win
If Vladimir Putin’s quarter-century of expansionist rule has taught the West anything, it’s that the Russian president shouldn’t be taken at his word.
That hasn’t stopped top US officials from perpetually buying the Russian strongman’s lines. President Donald Trump’s biggest misconception is that Putin wants peace in Ukraine, despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary.
Now, Trump’s team risks falling victim to its own credulity again.
Just as Moscow is helping to target drones threatening US troops in the Iran war, according to a CNN report, the administration may ease more of the sanctions intended to weaken Putin’s Ukraine killing machine. The hope would be to lessen Trump’s political jam over oil prices.
It would be an extraordinary twist if Putin emerged as the first winner of the deepening Middle East crisis because Trump rocked global energy markets by launching his own war.
Read the full analysis by Stephen Collinson here.
Italian military base struck by missile in Iraq's Erbil
An Italian military base in Iraq’s Kurdistan region was struck by a missile overnight, the Italian defense ministry said on X.
Military personnel took shelter in a bunker and all were “well and safe,” said Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani in a separate post.
“Strong condemnation for the attack on the Italian base in Erbil,” Tajani said.
Video shows destroyed Israeli home where couple narrowly escape Iranian strike
An Iranian missile strike badly damaged a home in central Israel overnight into Thursday, blowing out walls, leaving furniture overturned and smashing a bedroom mirror, Reuters video showed.
The missile struck the property in Haniel just after 2:30 a.m. local time, in what fire and rescue services called a “direct hit.”
Homeowner Sigal Kolber, and her husband Dani, narrowly escaped the blast after initially sheltering in a safe room and then fleeing once the house filled with smoke.
“There was an explosion - a huge boom. The door of the safe room really shook,” Sigal told Reuters, recalling how she turned to her husband and said something wasn’t right when she felt “dust, like smoke” in the air.
Video shows Israeli security officers assessing the damage, including an inspection of the attic, while emergency responders secure the scene.
The strike also left a deep crater in the ground and brought down a tree, according to Reuters.
CENTCOM releases video showing strikes on Iranian military aircraft
Video released by US Central Command and geolocated by CNN shows US strikes on three Iranian military aircraft at an airfield in Kerman, southeastern Iran.
The three aircraft appeared to include two American-made planes, a C-130 and a P-3 surveillance plane, as well as a Russian-made Il-76 cargo plane.
In the footage, each aircraft is struck at least once before the video zooms out to show all three burning on the airfield.
In a post on X, CENTCOM stated “The Iranian regime is losing air capability day by day. US forces aren’t just defending against Iranian threats, we are methodically dismantling them.”
For context: Iran’s Air Force does have a number of aging American-made aircraft in its fleet that were acquired before the Islamic revolution in 1979, before the two countries cut ties. Years of US-led sanctions have severely hampered Iran’s ability to maintain a fully operational air force.
Oil jumped over $100 again as Middle East conflict widens
Oil prices surged past $100 per barrel again during overnight trade, three days after it hit a four-year high, as the US and Israel’s war with Iran continues to have a historic impact on global fuel supplies.
The jump came despite the International Energy Agency’s member countries unanimously agreeing earlier on Wednesday to release a record 400 million barrels of oil into the global market.
Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, hovered around $100 a barrel late Wednesday, an 8.7% increase for the day. Meanwhile, WTI, the US benchmark, also soared 8.7% to $94.8.
By 2 a.m. eastern time it was trading nearer the $98.7 mark.
This post has been updated.
Eight killed in airstrike at Beirut beach housing many displaced people, authorities say
Eight people have been killed and 31 others wounded in an airstrike on Beirut’s Ramlet al-Baida coast early Thursday, according to Lebanon’s Ministry of Public Health.
Video from Reuters showed parked cars with shattered windows, several ambulances and dozens of people gathered at the palm-lined seafront following the strike, which took place at 1 a.m. local time, according to the ministry.
The area comprises a sidewalk and a beach filled with people displaced by the Israeli strikes.
Israel launched “a wide wave of strikes taregeting terrorist infrastructure belongong to Hezbollah” across Lebanon overnight into Thursday, according to Israel’s Arabic-language military spokesperson Avichay Adraee.
Troops located and destroyed dozens of launch sites and eliminated several Hezbollah members who were “planning to launch rocket fire towards Israeli territory,” Adraee said.
He also said that Israel carried out strikes on 10 buildings he said were being used as “terrorist headquarters” in Beirut’s southern suburbs.
South Korean air defense system sees first-ever combat use
In its first-ever use in combat, South Korea’s homegrown air defense missile system, the Cheongung-II, is proving a highly capable counterpart to US and Israeli systems during Iran’s strikes on the United Arab Emirates, a South Korean lawmaker says.
“It is believed that Cheongung-II … has achieved a phenomenal combat striking precision rate of 96% against Iran’s large-scale airstrikes,” said Yu Yong-weon, a member of the National Assembly’s national defense committee.
About 60 intercept missiles are known to have been fired so far from two Cheongung-II batteries deployed to the UAE, he said.
The UAE also operates US-made Patriot and THAAD systems and Israeli-made Barak air defense systems.
Besides the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Iraq employ the Cheongung-II in the Middle East.
Cheongung-II, also known as Medium-range Surface-to-Air Missile Block, is a core asset of South Korea’s air and missile defense system. It is equipped with multi-functioning radar with tracking technology and precise seekers for simultaneous multi-target engagement, according to its developer LIG Nex1.
US airlines face sharper hit as jet fuel prices jump amid Iran war, expert says
Some US airlines could face a sharper profit squeeze after jet fuel prices surged in recent days faster than crude oil following the escalation in the US-Israel’s war with Iran, a travel industry expert told CNN.
Henry Harteveldt, President of Atmosphere Research Group, said many large US carriers have scaled back fuel hedging in recent years, leaving them more exposed to sudden swings in energy prices than some overseas competitors.
Jet fuel prices usually move in tandem with oil prices, but they have doubled since the Iran conflict, far outpacing a one-third rise in crude prices, Reuters reported on Thursday.
Hedging works for the airlines as a risk management instrument against drastic surge of oil prices, for instance through complex derivative contracts such as oil futures. But the tactic can also backfire if prices fall by exposing carriers to above-market rates in financial swaps.
Carriers which have taken the precaution “may be insulated financially from some of the oil shock right now,” Harteveldt said.
“US Airlines in particular are going to feel…the financial pain,” he added.
Jet fuel is typically one of airlines’ biggest operating costs, and sustained increases can pressure margins, especially if carriers cannot raise fares quickly enough or if demand softens.
Travel is starting to feel the impact beyond airlines. World Travel and Tourism Council said in a statement Wednesday the war is costing the Middle East’s travel and tourism sector at least $600 million per day in lost international visitor spending.
Thailand summons Iranian ambassador after vessel hit near Strait of Hormuz
Thailand has summoned the Iranian ambassador after a Thai vessel was hit by an unknown projectile near the Strait of Hormuz on Wednesday, the government in Bangkok said.
Three Thai crew members remain missing after the incident, the government said in a briefing Thursday. They were believed to be on duty in the ship’s engine room where a fire broke out following an explosion.
Twenty crew members were rescued after they evacuated to lifeboats.
The Thai-flagged bulk carrier “Mayuree Naree” is one of six vessels struck by projectiles near the key shipping lane in the past two days.
Fuel tanks and oil tankers are being targeted as war spreads to sea. Here's where things stand
The US and Israel’s war with Iran is spreading to the seas, with oil tankers hit by Iranian attacks, an Omani port set ablaze, and three vessels hit by projectiles near the Strait of Hormuz – a critical waterway normally used to transport much of the world’s oil.
Meanwhile, a global body of countries has agreed to release emergency oil reserves to help absorb the shock of the oil disruption. Here are the latest headlines:
- Strikes target oil: Two foreign oil tankers in Iraqi waters were set ablaze in an Iranian attack, killing at least one person, with 38 other crew members rescued. Separately, emergency crews in Oman are battling a fire at a fuel storage facility, after a social media video geolocated by CNN appeared to show an Iranian drone hitting a tank at the port. And, Bahrain said that Iranian attacks targeted fuel tanks in the country’s north early Thursday local time.
- Attacks near strait: Three vessels were hit by projectiles near the Strait of Hormuz, according to the UK’s maritime agency. The strait carries roughly one-fifth of global crude oil shipments. A container ship off the coast of the United Arab Emirates was also struck by an “unknown projectile” that caused a small fire onboard early Thursday. Representatives of G7 nations met on Wednesday to discuss possibly escorting ships “when security conditions allow.”
- Iran, Hezbollah and Israel: Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said it carried out a joint attack with the militant group Hezbollah on Israel, striking more than 50 targets across five hours of sustained fire on Wednesday. Israel later carried out a “wide-scale” wave of strikes targeting Hezbollah infrastructure across Lebanon, including in the capital Beirut, its military said.
- Gulf nations: Iran’s neighboring Gulf states intercepted new waves of Iranian drones and missiles early Thursday morning, including in the UAE’s global business hub of Dubai, where a drone fell on a building near the luxury neighborhood of Creek Harbour.
- Emergency oil reserves: Member countries of the International Energy Agency (IEA) agreed Wednesday to release 400 million barrels of oil into the global market – the largest release of emergency oil stocks in history. Soon after, US President Donald Trump authorized the US to release 172 million barrels of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, beginning next week.
Iran escalates attacks on oil supplies as new strikes reported across the region on Thursday
Iran ramped up its attacks on oil facilities and tankers in the Persian Gulf Thursday morning as multiple Gulf states intercepted drones and missiles and the US, Israel and Iran continued to exchange strikes in the Middle East.
Here’s what we’re seeing and hearing.
Israel said it identified missiles launched from Iran toward its territory. Sirens sounded in central and northern Israel. Iran confirmed it launched a “new wave of missiles” at Israel, according to state media, which claimed Hezbollah also joined in the attacks.
In Lebanon, eight people were killed in an airstrike on Beirut’s Ramlet Al-Baida coast early Thursday, according to Lebanon’s Ministry of Public Health. Israel said it launched another large-scale “wave of strikes” across the country targeting Hezbollah launchers and infrastructure in the southern Beirut suburb of Dahieh. CNN teams on the ground in Beirut heard and felt explosions overnight.
Iraq: Video geolocated by CNN shows smoke rising from the Erbil International Airport in Iraq’s Kurdistan region. Earlier, two foreign oil tankers were attacked by Iranian drones in Iraq’s territorial waters. At least one person was killed and 38 others rescued. Iran claimed responsibility, saying an underwater drone blew up the tankers.
Bahrain said Iranian attacks targeted fuel tanks at a facility in the kingdom’s northern Muharraq Governorate. The interior ministry warned residents in four nearby towns and villages to remain in their homes and close their windows to avoid the effects from smoke and fire.
Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Defense said it had intercepted and destroyed more than 20 drones in the eastern parts of the country, home to the kingdom’s oil fields.
The United Arab Emirates said its air defenses were responding to “incoming missile and drone threats from Iran.” Dubai’s government media office said a drone fell on a building in the vicinity of Creek Harbour and a minor fire was brought under control.
Kuwait’s armed forces said its air defenses intercepted “a number of hostile drones” at dawn after they breached the country’s airspace in the north. Two people were injured after a drone targeted a residential building in southern Kuwait, according to the defense ministry. The attack caused a fire that was later extinguished, Kuwait News Agency reported.
US B-1 bombers being loaded with munitions that can take out targets deep underground
Videos taken Wednesday at an airbase in Britain show US Air Force B-1 bombers being loaded with “bunker buster” bombs, a sign the Pentagon may be ready to send the heavy bombers over Iran to strike deeply embedded targets like missile and drone storage facilities.
The videos also show a missile launcher being removed from the weapons bay of at least one B-1 at the RAF Fairford base.
The B-1 can carry air-launched cruise missiles, which can be fired from hundreds of miles away from their targets, well out of anti-aircraft missile range.
But the cruise missiles are not ideal for reinforced underground targets where Iran may be storing ballistic missiles and drones.
The Joint Direct Attack Munitions (JDAM) seen being loaded onto the B-1 bombers in the UK require the bombers to be around 25 miles from to their targets. Getting them that close, presumably far into Iranian airspace, is a sign that the Pentagon is confident it has mostly eliminated Iran’s antiaircraft ability.
The Air Force has only 40 B-1s in its fleet, according to the World Air Forces 2026 database on FlightGlobal.com, and losing one over Iran would be a huge blow to the US.
That the bombers were being loaded within plain sight of off-base observers sends another message too: Some of the most powerful weapons in the US inventory are coming and Iran can do little to stop them.
Container ship struck near Strait of Hormuz, 6th vessel attacked in 2 days
A container ship off the coast of the United Arab Emirates was struck by an “unknown projectile” that caused a small fire onboard early Thursday, the UK’s Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) said Thursday.
The incident marks the sixth attack in two days on vessels operating in the Persian Gulf as Iran has ramped up its strikes on oil tankers, cargo ships and energy supplies in the region.
The incident happened 35 nautical miles north of Jebel Ali, a major port city near Dubai, according to the UKMTO, the maritime authority with responsibility for the region.
It said a full damage assessment was “impaired by darkness” but that all crew were safe.
Overnight, two foreign oil tankers were left ablaze in Iraqi waters after an Iranian attack. At least one person was killed and 38 crew members were rescued from the vessels.
A Thai bulk carrier also caught fire and its crew were evacuated after being attacked in the Strait of Hormuz early on Wednesday. Two other vessels also reported being struck the same day.
Fake AI war content is spreading widely. Here are some useful tips
After Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, social media was littered with crude fakes presented as fresh images of the war. Those fakes are spreading again with the war against Iran — but this time with the help of artificial intelligence tools.
Fake videos and images of the war with Iran have racked up tens of millions of views on social media in the nearly two weeks since the war began.
We break down some of the videos and share tips for vetting what you might see online:
Countries agree on historic release of crude reserves to shore up supplies
Member countries of the International Energy Agency unanimously agreed Wednesday to release 400 million barrels of oil into the global market – the largest release of emergency oil stocks in history – in a drastic move aimed at shoring up crude supplies and capping a surge in prices caused by the conflict in the Middle East.
Learn more here:
Member countries of the International Energy Agency unanimously agreed Wednesday to release 400 million barrels of oil into the global market – the largest release of emergency oil stocks in history – in a drastic move aimed at shoring up crude supplies and capping a surge in prices caused by the conflict in the Middle East. CNN's Business and Economics Reporter Anna Cooban reports.
Trump's scrambled message on Iran and the economy
CNN’s Kevin Liptak reports from Hebron, Kentucky, where President Donald Trump delivered mixed messaging about the war in Iran.
CNN's Kevin Liptak reports from Hebron, Kentucky, where President Donald Trump delivered mixed messaging about the war in Iran.
