Here's the latest
• Iranian official targeted: Israel says it killed Iran’s Intelligence Minister Esmail Khatib in a strike on Tuesday, in the latest attack on the country’s senior leadership. It comes a day after the killing of Iran’s security chief, Ali Larijani. Tehran has vowed revenge for the killing of Larijani.
• Latest strikes: Parts of Iran’s oil and natural gas facilities were attacked by the US and Israel, state media reported. Meanwhile, the US dropped 5,000-pound guided bombs to penetrate missile sites along the Strait of Hormuz, Israel said it had intercepted Iranian missiles, and neighborhoods in Lebanon were hit by fresh Israeli strikes.
• Strait of Hormuz: US President Donald Trump suggested today that American allies should take sole responsibility for policing the strait if the US causes the Iranian regime to collapse. European nations have rebuffed his demands to send warships to the key Middle East shipping route.
Oil prices jump following first reported attacks on Iranian production facilities
Oil and natural gas prices spiked Wednesday following reports of the first attacks on Iranian production facilities in the war, including the world’s biggest natural gas field.
Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, jumped 5% to near $109 a barrel. WTI, the US benchmark, rose 2.5% to $98 a barrel. Benchmark European natural gas prices surged more than 8% at one point.
Iran’s semi-official Fars and Tasnim news agencies reported Wednesday that some key facilities belonging to the country’s oil and natural gas industry, including refineries, were hit by US-Israeli strikes.
Tasnim named South Pars, the world’s biggest natural gas field, and Asaluyeh, which has oil and petrochemical facilities. South Pars is shared with Qatar, which has already shut down the world’s biggest liquefied natural gas plant.
An Israeli source told CNN Wednesday that Israel had attacked the Asaluyeh facility in southwestern Iran. A separate Israeli official said the Israeli strike on Iran’s South Pars facility had been carried out in coordination with the United States.
The incidents mark a major escalation in the conflict, which has so far largely spared Iran’s energy infrastructure. Earlier in the war, Israel attacked a fuel depot in Tehran and on Friday the United States targeted military infrastructure on Iran’s Kharg island.
“Energy markets are having to continuously price in a more prolonged disruption to oil and gas flows through the Strait of Hormuz,” Warren Patterson, head of commodities strategy at ING, a bank, wrote in a note this week.
Brent crude settled at $103.42 Tuesday, its highest settlement price since the start of the war, as Iran intensified its attacks on energy infrastructure in the Gulf. Crude prices are up more than 40% since the United States and Israel attacked Iran on February 28.
NATO chief says allies discussing how to reopen Strait of Hormuz
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said the military alliance is discussing with its allies how to reopen the Strait of Hormuz as he stressed that the key waterway must “open up again.”
Speaking to journalists in Norway today, Rutte highlighted the importance of the strait – which has remained largely blocked amid the Iran war – and said he was in contact with “many” allies over the issue.
US President Donald Trump criticized several NATO members earlier this week after they rebuffed his demands to send warships to escort oil tankers through the strait.
Iranian president decries "cowardly assassination" of country's top officials
Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian has decried what he called the “cowardly assassination” of some of his country’s top officials in recent days, including Iranian Intelligence Minister Esmail Khatib, who Israel said it killed in an overnight strike.
“The cowardly assassination of my dear colleagues Esmail Khatib, (top national security official) Ali Larijani, and (defense minister) Aziz Nasirzadeh, along with some of their family members and accompanying team, has left us heartbroken,” Pezeshkian said in a post on X.
Israel killed Larijani in an airstrike yesterday, while Nasirzadeh was killed during the first day of US-Israeli strikes on Iran on February 28.
Israel "focused on causing pain," Beirut resident says after strikes
Residents of Lebanon’s capital city have been speaking to Reuters following an Israeli airstrike on central Beirut. One told the news agency there are no fighters in the city and that Israel is “just focused on causing pain.”
Israel has ramped up airstrikes across Lebanon in recent days, issuing extensive evacuation orders across the country. It said it had launched strikes targeting Hezbollah’s “rocket launching cells and launchers.”
Listen to what Abu Khalil told Reuters above.
IAEA chief says nuclear negotiations between US and Iran unlikely while war continues
The head of the UN’s nuclear watchdog will have “lots of high-level meetings” during a visit to Washington, DC, this week, but said that it appeared unlikely there will be a return to nuclear negotiations between the US and Iran while the war continues.
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Grossi said Wednesday he would meet with Energy Secretary Chris Wright and other officials who he would not name and is “quite frequently” in contact with Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner.
Grossi underscored the assessment that the Iran nuclear issue cannot be solved militarily, but did not give any indications that there would soon be a return to negotiations.
“For as long as there is a military campaign ongoing, I don’t think there will be a negotiation,” Grossi told reporters.
Grossi said he would discuss Iran, Russia and Ukraine, as well as nuclear fusion during his visit to Washington, which comes a day after Russia and Iran said a projectile hit the Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant compound in western Iran. He indicated that the agency had not gotten independent confirmation of the strike. The agency is looking at images and it “doesn’t seem to be very significant,” but Grossi reiterated that any attack to any nuclear facility should always be avoided.
The IAEA had received “separate information” from Iran and Russia about a drone hit on the premises of the nuclear power plant, and based on the information the agency has so far, it might have hit a small building that contains a laboratory, Grossi said.
“The reactors have not been affected, and there are no casualties,” he said.
Director of national intelligence: US intel assesses Iranian regime "appears to be intact"
The US intelligence community assesses that the Iranian regime “appears to be intact, but largely degraded due to attacks on its leadership and military capabilities,” Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard said today.
“The IC assesses that if a hostile regime survives, it will likely seek to begin a years-long effort to rebuild its military, missiles and UAV forces,” Gabbard told the Senate Intelligence Committee at its hearing on global threats. Her comments come after a number of Iran’s top leaders, including Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, were killed.
Gabbard said, that prior to the start of US and Israeli military operations at the end of February, the IC assessed that “Iran was trying to recover from the severe damage to its nuclear infrastructure sustained during the 12-Day War and continued to refuse to comply with its nuclear obligations.” She did not give details on those recovery efforts or whether Iran was seeking to rebuild its enrichment capabilities.
Iran’s “conventional military power projection capabilities have largely been destroyed, leaving limited options,” Gabbard said. The US “maximum pressure” campaign of economic sanctions and the snapback of European sanctions had “significantly degraded” Tehran’s “strategic position.”
Gabbard reiterated the assessment that Iran “could use” existing technology “to begin to develop a militarily viable ICBM before 2035 should Tehran attempt to pursue that capability,” but said the assessment would be updated to take into account the impact of “Operation Epic Fury.” She did not say there had been a change to the assessment of whether Tehran has decided to pursue that capability.
CIA Director John Ratcliffe noted that “Iran is gaining experience in these larger, more powerful booster technologies through its so-called Space Launch Vehicle program” and “if left unimpeded … they would have the ability to range missiles to the continental US.”
Attacks on Iran gas fields are a "clear turning point" in this war, expert says
Attacks reportedly by the United States and Israel on Iran’s gas fields could trigger “severe Iranian retaliation” and “send shockwaves through global energy markets,” an expert told CNN Wednesday.
Iran’s semi-official Fars and Tasnim news agencies reported Wednesday that some key facilities belonging to the country’s oil and natural gas industry, including refineries, were hit in US-Israeli strikes, with emergency services working to contain fires.
Citrinowicz described the reported attacks as a “clear turning point,” adding that the move may signal a change in US President Donald Trump’s thinking.
And given that Iran’s natural gas is almost entirely consumed domestically, he said, the attacks directly affect electricity generation and cooking gas for millions of ordinary Iranians.
Israel bombs crossings on Lebanon's Litani River
Israel warned earlier it would attack crossings on Lebanon’s Litani River from noon today to prevent the transfer of weapons by the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah into the south of the country.
It has begun doing so, according to Lebanese state media.
“Due to Hezbollah’s activities and the transfer of terrorist elements to southern Lebanon under the protection of the civilian population, the IDF (Israel Defense Forces) is forced to carry out a broad and precise targeting of Hezbollah’s terrorist activities,” IDF Arabic language spokesman Avichay Adraee wrote on X.
“Accordingly, and to prevent the transfer of reinforcements and combat equipment, the defense army intends to attack crossings on the Litani River starting from noon today,” the post continued.
Shortly after the announcement, Israel struck Al-Qasimiyeh Bridge, which runs over the Litani River in the Burj Rahal area and is located near the Southern Irrigation Authority, Lebanon’s National News Agency reported.
Last week, Israel’s military said it had struck the Zrarieh Bridge spanning the Litani River, claiming it was being used by Hezbollah militants to move from the north to the south of the country.
A look at where strikes have been reported so far:
Iran's energy production facilities reported attacked, as two killed in Israel
As we’ve been reporting, Iranian state media has said that the US and Israel struck parts of the country’s oil and natural gas facilities today.
Israel has also been bombarding Lebanon again, while Tehran has attacked Israel and launched strikes toward the US embassy in Iraq.
Take a look at where has been hit so far:
- Iran: Parts of Iran’s oil and natural gas facilities were attacked by the US and Israel today, Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency reported, adding that the extent of the damage was yet to be determined. Iranian state media also published video of what it said was the aftermath of a strike on a residential neighborhood in Tehran this morning.
- Israel: Two people were killed in an Iranian ballistic missile attack in central Israel overnight, according to Israel’s emergency response service. Multiple locations in Tel Aviv were also struck by falling debris, Israeli police said, after a wave of missiles launched from Iran was detected.
- Lebanon: An Israeli airstrike destroyed a high-rise building in central Beirut this morning in a district near the Lebanese government headquarters, leaving extensive damage in the surrounding area.
- Iraq: Drone and rocket attacks resumed around the US Embassy in Baghdad early this morning local time, a local security official told CNN.
- Strait of Hormuz: The US military dropped 5,000-pound guided bombs designed to penetrate targets deep underground on Iranian missile sites along the Strait of Hormuz yesterday, US Central Command announced on X.
- UAE: An Iranian projectile hit a road near a military base in the United Arab Emirates used by the Australian military, causing a small fire, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said today.
- Saudi Arabia: The country’s defense ministry said early today that it intercepted a missile launched towards the country’s central Al-Kharj Governorate, resulting in shrapnel falling in the vicinity of the Prince Sultan Air Base. No damage was caused.
- Kuwait: Kuwaiti air defense systems struck down an unspecified number of “hostile missiles and drones” overnight, the state-run Kuwait News Agency reported early today.
CNN’s Dana Karni, Oren Liebermann, Eugenia Yosef, Chris Lau, Mohammed Tawfeeq, Helen Regan, Lucas Lilieholm, Charbel Mallo and Haley Britzky contributed to this reporting.
This post has been updated with additional reporting.
Iran says US, Israel hit its energy production facilities in what would be a first
Iranian state media on Wednesday accused the United States and Israel of attacking parts of Iran’s oil and natural gas production facilities – including the South Pars natural gas field, the world’s largest – in what would mark a significant escalation in the conflict.
Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency reported the strikes, adding that the extent of the damage was yet to be determined.
Alongside South Pars, the agency named Asaluyeh, which has oil and petrochemical facilities.
Meanwhile, Iran’s semi-official Fars news agency, which has links to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), said “powerful explosions” had been heard from multiple refineries in Asaluyeh and that “some storage tanks and gas facility areas in different phases” of the refinery had been hit.
Staff have been moved to safe locations, Fars said, and rescue teams are working to put out fires.
If confirmed, this would mark the first attacks on Iranian oil and natural gas production facilities in this war. Last week, Israel attacked a number of Iranian fuel depots.
An Israeli source told CNN Wednesday that Israel had attacked the Asaluyeh facility in southwestern Iran. A separate Israeli official said the Israeli strike on Iran’s South Pars facility had been carried out in coordination with the United States.
Earlier on Wednesday, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said attacks in Iran were being stepped up and that “significant surprises that will escalate the war” were on the way. The Israeli source and official said Katz meant Israeli attacks on Iranian electricity and natural gas infrastructure.
Wednesday’s strikes were met with a strong response from Iranian media, with state-affiliated agencies threatening to hit oil facilities in neighboring countries.
The IRGC-linked Fars news agency described the attacks as a change in “red lines.”
Meanwhile, the Tasnim news agency published an “urgent warning” for residents of the Persian Gulf region to stay away from oil and natural gas facilities in Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar.
Trump waives Jones Act, the shipping restriction on oil and gas, in bid to ease prices
The White House is temporarily lifting key limits on the shipping of oil, gas and other commodities throughout the US, in its latest effort to counter rising energy prices sparked by its war with Iran.
The move to waive the Jones Act will allow foreign-flagged ships to transport the commodities between US ports for the next 60 days, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed in a post on X. That could ease the flow of energy products throughout the country amid the US’ ongoing efforts to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
“This action will allow vital resources like oil, natural gas, fertilizer, and coal to flow freely to U.S. ports for sixty days,” Leavitt wrote on X.
The waiver was among several options under consideration by administration officials over the last week, as they scrambled for ways to alleviate a supply crunch that has pushed global oil prices sharply higher and raised the cost of gasoline in the US.
The Jones Act typically requires any goods transported between US ports to be carried by US-flagged ships. Energy analysts have projected that lifting that restriction for now could help somewhat ease prices in the short term, though there is little that the US can do to completely offset the loss of supply in the Middle East outside of fully reopening the Strait of Hormuz.
Iran executes Swedish citizen for alleged spying, Sweden's foreign minister says
The Iranian regime executed a Swedish citizen whom it accused of spying on Wednesday, the Swedish foreign affairs minister said in a statement.
Sweden did not name the citizen in the statement. However, Iranian state media named him as Kourosh Keyvani, who was arrested last year and charged with “intelligence cooperation and espionage in favor of the Israeli government.”
“Sweden has repeatedly raised the case at various levels with Iranian representatives since the arrest in June 2025. In these contacts, we have emphasized Sweden’s expectation that our citizen will receive a fair trial and not be sentenced to the death penalty,” Stenergard said in the statement.
Keyvani was a dual national of Sweden and Iran. He is the third man to be executed by Iran for espionage in 2026. At least 13 people were executed on similar charges last year, according to the Norway-based monitoring group Iran Human Rights.
Hundreds of Iranians remain on death row, including many who are considered political prisoners. Many have yet to be sentenced and could face the death penalty.
Kitchens across India scramble for alternatives to gas
In India, fears of cooking gas shortages are fueling protests and panic-buying of alternatives like induction stoves. With much of India’s liquefied petroleum gas imports passing through the Strait of Hormuz, households and restaurants are scrambling as the government works to secure supply through diplomatic talks.
Watch more about the effects from CNN’s Hanako Montgomery:
The war in Iran is rippling far beyond the Gulf. In India, fears of cooking gas shortages are fueling protests and panic-buying of alternatives like induction stoves. With much of India’s LPG imports passing through the Strait of Hormuz, households and restaurants are scrambling as the government works to secure supply through diplomatic talks. CNN’s Hanako Montgomery reports.
Read more about how fuel shortages are impacting India’s beloved samosas and chai.
Israeli strikes on Beirut cause destruction across the city
Fresh Israeli strikes on Lebanon’s capital city have caused extensive damage, flattening multi-storey buildings in residential neighborhoods and lining streets with rubble, as the pictures below show.
Israel has ramped up airstrikes across Lebanon in recent days, issuing extensive evacuation orders across the country.
Zelensky warns that Ukraine will face a missile shortage due to war in Middle East
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has raised fears that Ukraine will face a missile shortage due to the war in the Middle East.
Zelensky said in an interview with the BBC that he believes Russian President Vladimir Putin wants a “long war” between Iran, Israel and the United States because it would weaken Ukraine as well as divert US resources and support.
He said that the US produces 60 to 65 missiles per month, and on the first day of the war in Iran, it used 803 missiles.
The Ukrainian president warned that there will “definitely” be a shortage of US-manufactured Patriot interceptor missiles, creating “a challenge” for Kyiv. The question is now “when will all the stockpiles in the Middle East be exhausted,” he added.
Earlier in March, Zelensky warned that missiles for Patriot missile defense systems were in short supply. He previously made an appeal to obtain more Patriot missiles in exchange for sending interceptor drones to allies in the Gulf who came under attack from Iran.
Trump says US allies should take responsibility for Strait of Hormuz once Iranian regime "finished off"
President Donald Trump suggested today that American allies should take sole responsibility for policing the Strait of Hormuz if the United States causes the Iranian regime to collapse.
“That would get some of our non-responsive ‘Allies’ in gear, and fast!!!” he continued.
Trump has been criticizing European nations after they rebuffed his demands to send warships to escort oil tankers through the strait.
Many leaders said they could be willing to join a coalition to patrol the contested waterway once active hostilities end.
Funeral begins for Larijani, Iran's security chief killed in Israeli strike
The funeral has begun for Ali Larijani, Iran’s top national security official who was killed Tuesday by an Israeli strike in the highest-level assassination since Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei was killed on the first day of the war.
Larijani was one of the country’s most important decision-makers. He is thought to have played a key role in the suppression of anti-regime protests in January and led the transition that followed the Khamenei’s death.
Iranian TV showed large crowds gathered in Tehran’s Enghelab Square, waving the Iranian flag and carrying posters of Larijani and Gholamreza Soleimani, the head of the country’s Basij paramilitary force who was also killed in an Israeli strike.
A large truck carried the coffins of Larijani and Soleimani through the packed square, along with those of dozens of Iranian sailors who were killed when their vessel was torpedoed by the United States off Sri Lanka earlier this month.
US gas prices rise another 5 cents to $3.84 a gallon, highest since September 2023
The price of a gallon of regular gas rose another 5 cents, on average, in the United States today. It now stands at $3.84 a gallon, the highest price since September 25, 2023.
Gas now is averaging $4 or more in seven states, and it has topped $5 a gallon in California, Hawaii and Washington.
The nationwide average price has risen by 86 cents in just 18 days – a 29% jump – in one of the fastest spikes for gas prices on record. The rapid increase is on par, on a percentage basis, with the gas price shock during Hurricane Katrina, when the storm barreled into the Gulf Coast in the summer of 2005, knocking out America’s oil refining operations.
Spiking fuel prices could take their toll on affordability, consumer spending and the overall economy if they remain high. If gas prices remain at roughly this level throughout the year, it would add $100 billion in total cumulative additional costs to the economy, said Gus Faucher, chief economist of The PNC Financial Services Group.
Oil prices hold steady as Iraq resumes some oil exports via Turkey
Oil prices have held steady today after Iraq clinched a deal to resume some crude exports via Turkey. It’s not a ton of oil, but it’s what amounts for good news these days as the Strait of Hormuz remains largely blocked.
Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, traded modestly higher near $104 a barrel. WTI, the US benchmark, dropped 1.5% to just shy of $95 a barrel.
Crude exports from Iraq’s Kirkuk oil fields are set to resume Wednesday from Turkey’s Ceyhan port after the Kurdistan Regional Government, which controls part of northern Iraq, agreed to allow oil to flow via the Kurdistan Region-Ceyhan pipeline.
The oil exports will flow at a rate of 250,000 barrels a day, a mere “drop in the ocean,” according to Neil Wilson, a strategist at trading platform Saxo. But the resumption of those flows is still “another positive headline relative to the simmering war,” he said in a note.
For context, Iraq was producing about 4.5 million barrels of oil a day before the war started, according to the US Energy Information Administration. The near-shutdown of the Strait of Hormuz means that around 20 million barrels of crude and oil products from the Middle East, about a fifth of world oil supply, are choked off from the global market every day.
Stock markets also rose for a third day today. In Asia, South Korea’s Kospi climbed 5% and Japan’s Nikkei rose 2.9%, “both helped by tech stocks,” according to Jim Reid, head of global macroeconomic research at Deutsche Bank. European markets were also up in morning hours and US futures pointed to a stronger open.
Israel launches fresh strikes on Iran and Lebanon, as Tehran attacks Israel
Two people have been killed in an Iranian ballistic missile attack on Israel overnight, as Tehran launched fresh attacks on the country today, vowing revenge for the killing of two top Iranian leaders.
Israel has also been bombarding Lebanon and Iran today. If you’re just joining us, here’s what you need to know:
- Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz has just said Israel killed Iranian Intelligence Minister Esmail Khatib in an overnight strike in Tehran, in the latest assassination of the country’s senior leadership. Iran has yet to confirm his alleged killing.
- An Israeli airstrike destroyed a highrise building in central Beirut in a district near the Lebanese government headquarters this morning.
- Iranian state media has also published video showing what it says is the aftermath of a strike on a residential neighborhood in Tehran today.
- Iran’s foreign minister said that Iranian attacks on urban areas in neighboring countries are “not our fault” because the US moved its forces out of military bases and into hotels in those cities.
- Saudi Arabia will host foreign ministers from Arab and Islamic countries this evening to discuss regional security, its foreign ministry said.
CNN’s Dana Karni, Oren Liebermann, Lucas Lilieholm, Charbel Mallo, Helen Regan, Nadeen Ebrahim, Tal Shalev and Ross Adkin contributed to this reporting.
