Here's the latest
• Regional strikes: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the country will heed Trump’s call not to repeat attacks on key energy sites. Iran continued to make retaliatory strikes around the region — including against Kuwait. Meanwhile, Israel Defence Forces struck the area of Nur, east of Tehran.
• Supreme leader’s message: Mojtaba Khamenei, who has made no public appearance since being chosen to succeed his father, said in a written statement security must be denied to all Iran’s enemies.
• Cost of Oil: Prices rose today as energy infrastructure in the Middle East was damaged and the vital Strait of Hormuz remains largely shut. US gas prices rose another 3 cents a gallon to the highest average price for a gallon of regular gas since October 2022.
• Wartime funding: US President Donald Trump confirmed he’s seeking $200 billion in new Pentagon funding, calling it a “small price to pay” to equip the military.
• CNN town hall tonight: US Ambassador to the UN Mike Waltz and a panel of experts will answer questions from CNN’s Dana Bash and a live studio audience about what may come next in the war at 9 p.m. ET.
Iran isn't announcing replacements for officials killed
Iran has not named replacements for the vast majority of senior officials killed by Israeli strikes since the conflict began on February 28.
According to a CNN survey of official announcements, no successors have been named for more than a dozen senior officials whose deaths have been announced in Iranian state media.
The last senior appointments announced in a security role were at the beginning of March.
Ahmad Vahidi was named as the head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps on March 1 and the following day a new interim defense minister was announced. Both their predecessors were killed.
The announcement that a new supreme leader had been chosen came on March 8.
Among the roles for which no appointee has been publicly named are: the chief of the military’s General Staff; the head of the National Security Council; the secretary of Iran’s Defense Council; the intelligence minister; and the head of the Basij, the internal security force that was heavily involved in suppressing nationwide protests in January.
The regime may have decided not to make formal announcements in an effort to protect officials in senior security roles, according to analysts, and some positions may not have been filled.
Most of the positions require the approval of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, or are directly appointed by him.
“It‘s not clear how accessible he is even to top officials,” notes Hamidreza Azizi, visiting fellow at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs.
Israel strikes Iran as country celebrates Persian new year
The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) said on Friday that it has begun to strike Iranian “targets” in the area of Nur, east of Tehran.
Several explosions and the sound of air defense activity in the capital were reported by Asriran, an independent Iranian news website.
The governor of Bandar Lengeh in Iran’s Hormozgan province also said that following US and Israeli strikes on the city’s port, 16 civilian and commercial boats had caught fire.
Iranian media also reported that the Islamic Republic fired missiles towards southern and central Israel, with sirens sounding in the area earlier Friday.
The exchanged strikes are taking place during Nowruz, or the Persian new year, what is normally a time of family, renewal, and the promise of fresh beginnings. This year, however, it is marked by war and conflict.
Trump faces legacy-defining dilemmas in Iran
The question is no longer whether President Donald Trump has lost control of the narrative of his new war in Iran. It’s whether he’s lost control of the war itself.
Wars, once begun, create their own insidious momentum that can outpace a White House’s political messaging. If they defy a president’s capacity to determine their direction, political quicksand beckons.
After the thunderclap opening of the conflict with the assassination of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Trump’s team might have hoped to be in a better place three weeks in. Instead, the way out remains impossible to identify.
While the United States and Israel have undeniably visited huge destruction on Tehran’s military industrial complex and machinery of repression, Iran has seized the initiative by widening the impact of the war. Its closure of the Strait of Hormuz, a vital oil shipping route, threatens to paralyze the global economy. Americans are already hurting, with average gasoline prices heading towards $4 a gallon.
And things could get worse. Regional oil and gas installations across the Gulf region are under attack. Trump insisted Thursday he hadn’t known that Israel planned to attack Iran’s South Pars gas field. CNN sources contradicted his claim – which was hard to square given tight US-Israeli coordination. The president then said he’d told Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “don’t do that.”
But the episode only exacerbated concern among MAGA critics that Israel, and not the US, is running the war.
Oil prices rise despite Israel's vow to halt strikes on Iran energy sites. Catch up here
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel will halt its strikes on Iranian energy sites, after US President Donald Trump reacted angrily to an Israeli strike on a facility linked to the world’s largest natural gas field.
Meanwhile, Trump could soon ask Congress to spend as much as $200 billion to fund the ongoing war, which has sent shudders through the global economy and is showing little sign of stopping.
Here are the latest developments:
- Netanyahu’s address: A day after Israel struck Iran’s South Pars gas field, Netanyahu said Thursday that he would comply with Trump’s demand that Israel refrain from attacking Iran’s important energy sites. The South Pars strike was a major escalation in the war and caused global energy prices to spike.
- Israel “acted alone:” Netanyahu also said that Israel “acted alone” in the strike, seeming to confirm Trump’s claim that the US “knew nothing” about the attack in advance. But US and Israeli sources familiar with the attack told CNN on Wednesday that the US had been aware of the strike, contradicting both leaders’ claims.
- Energy prices: Oil prices dipped early Friday after Netanyahu said Israel will halt strikes on Iran’s key energy sites, but just rose again to $110. Goldman Sachs has warned that energy prices will stay elevated and that a barrel of oil may cost more than $100 all the way through 2027.
- Wartime funding: Trump could soon ask Congress to spend as much as $200 billion to fund the war against Iran, claiming this is “a small price to pay to make sure that we stay tippy top.” Congressional Republicans are not convinced, however, that they have the votes needed to fund the war, according to multiple people involved in preliminary discussions.
- Al-Aqsa closed: The Al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem will remain closed on Friday — the first time since 1967 that the place of worship has been shut during Eid. Israeli authorities shut down the mosque at the start of the war with Iran for “security reasons,” in a move that critics say have deprived Palestinians of the chance to worship at one of Islam’s holiest sites.
- Lebanese flee: A fifth of the population of Lebanon has been uprooted from their homes in just two weeks, according to an official with the United Nations Refugee Agency, leaving families struggling to find shelter during the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah. Lebanon’s health minister also said yesterday that the country’s casualty numbers have surpassed 1,000 deaths since March 2.
Stunning photo shows what appears to be unexploded ballistic missile that landed in family home in Israel
This extraordinary photo shows what appears to be an unexploded warhead in the middle of a family home in Rehovot, Israel following an Iranian ballistic missile attack on Friday morning.
Paramedics with Israel’s Magen David Adom rescue service arrived on the scene to find the ordnance in the middle of a living room, amid shredded furniture. A spokesman for the Israel Police said bomb disposal experts found “part of the missile” in the home.
No one was injured in the strike, with residents taking refuge in a bomb shelter at the time.
Oil rises to $110 a barrel as US gas hits highest price since October 2022
Oil prices rose today as energy infrastructure in the Middle East was damaged and the vital Strait of Hormuz remains largely shut.
Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, rose 1.4% to $110.2 a barrel. WTI, the US benchmark, was up 0.3% at $95.9.
The tick-up in the Brent price came despite Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu saying that his country would heed President Donald Trump’s call not to repeat attacks on key Iranian energy sites. The Israeli strike on Iran’s South Pars field triggered the latter’s retaliation against Qatar’s Ras Laffan, the world’s largest liquefied natural gas facility, sending oil prices surging earlier this week.
Trump also sought to reassure Americans facing the highest gasoline prices in almost two and a half years, saying “it’s going to be over with pretty soon.” He added that, before Israel and the United States launched their war against Iran, he had thought the prices would be “much worse.”
US gas prices rose another 3 cents a gallon overnight to $3.91, on average, Friday, according to AAA. That’s the highest average price for a gallon of regular gas since October 13, 2022.
Qatar says "extensive" damage to natural gas production facilities will take years to fix
Iranian missile attacks have reduced Qatar’s liquefied natural gas (LNG) export capacity by 17%, according to state-owned company QatarEnergy.
“Extensive damage to our production facilities will take up to five years to repair,” the company also said in a post on X Thursday, adding that supply to markets in Europe and Asia would be impacted as a result.
Iran hit QatarEnergy’s Ras Laffan LNG facility, the world’s largest, Wednesday, in retaliation for Israel’s earlier strike on its South Pars gas field.
Saad Sherida Al-Kaabi, Qatar’s Minister of State for Energy Affairs and president and CEO of QatarEnergy, said in the X post that no one had been injured in the attacks, which he called “unjustified and senseless attacks… on global energy security and stability.”
Al-Kaabi said exports to China, South Korea, Italy and Belgium would be affected. “We will be compelled to declare force majeure for up to five years on some long-term LNG contracts,” he added.
Force majeure is a legal term that refers to unforeseeable circumstances that prevent a company from fulfilling a contract.
QatarEnergy’s exports, accounting for almost a fifth of global LNG supply, were already trapped by the Strait of Hormuz near-blockade, and all production had been halted on March 2 after an earlier attack.
Even before the latest strikes, countries in Asia and Europe, which depend on natural gas imports, were scrambling to respond as LNG prices have surged this month, driving up the costs of generating electricity, heating homes and making fertilizer.
Hanna Ziady contributed to this report.
Persian Gulf states likely to strengthen Europe links if war persists, expert says
As Iran continues to surprise the United States and Israel, and escalation of the war in the Middle East persists, the Persian Gulf states grow more likely to form deeper partnerships with European nations, according to a political scientist.
“The Iranians have surprised the United States and Israel, first by their resilience, then the scale of attacks,” Mehran Kamrava, a professor at Georgetown University in Qatar, told CNN’s Becky Anderson earlier. “And every time we think that Iran is done militarily, we are surprised by yet another red line being passed and another attack.”
Kamrava said that Tehran’s robust military response is likely creating “tremendous pressure” for US President Donald Trump, who he said would respond by going to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to press for a prompt end to the conflict.
But while war endures, gulf nations will work to strengthen their ties to European Union member countries to protect their security moving forward, the academic said.
“One of the things we’ve seen over the last several years is that many of the Persian Gulf states… have sought to diversify their security partnership,” Kamrava said, explaining that Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have each built strategic partnerships with the European Union.
“And so, as the war continues to rage and as we see one escalation after another, if this trend continues, I wouldn’t be surprised to see greater reliance and more deepened partnership with the Europeans,” he predicted.
Iran’s supreme leader says security must be denied to country’s enemies
Iran’s new Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei has said security must be denied to all Iran’s enemies, following the killing of a senior intelligence minister in Tehran earlier this week.
Khamenei, who has made no public appearance since being chosen to succeed his father on March 9, said in a message published Friday: “Security may be denied to internal and external enemies and granted to all our compatriots.”
Israel targeted Iranian Intelligence Minister Esmail Khatib in a strike overnight on Tuesday, a day after it killed the country’s top security official, Ali Larijani.
In his message, sent to President Masoud Pezeshkian, Khamenei described Khatib as a “long-serving, self-effacing veteran” and said “his absence must be compensated through the redoubled efforts” of the intelligence ministry.
Iran has lost dozens of senior officials and commanders since the conflict with Israel and the United States began at the end of February.
Iran’s Foreign Minister, Abbas Araghchi, suggested earlier this week that Mojtaba Khamenei himself had sustained minor injuries in Israeli strikes on Tehran but had since recovered.
Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa mosque closed during Eid for first time in 60 years
The Al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem remained closed on Friday, marking the first time since 1967 the place of worship has been shut during Eid.
Israeli authorities shut down the mosque at the start of the Iran war for “security reasons.”
The gates remained sealed on Friday, forcing worshippers to pray as close to its sacred grounds as possible.
“This unprecedented restriction has prevented thousands of Palestinians from observing one of the most significant religious occasions of the year in one of Islam’s holiest sites,” the Higher Presidential Committee for Church Affairs in Palestine said.
Footage obtained Friday by CNN shows people fleeing a street near the holy site as smoke rose from the road. It is not clear what caused the smoke.
“They got close to the gates and were dispersed,” an Israeli police spokesperson said.
The Al Aqsa Mosque compound, known to Jews as Temple Mount, holds religious significance for both Muslim and Jewish people.
It has become a particular point of tension in recent decades, including restrictions on Palestinian Muslims’ access to the site, as well as Israeli excavation projects in the vicinity and evictions of Palestinian residents in nearby neighborhoods.
Terrified Lebanese families fleeing empty handed: UN representative
Lebanese families - including children and the elderly - are fleeing their homes with “nothing but the clothes they are wearing” in fear of further attacks, a UN representative said, as concerns mount over the war’s toll on the country.
“It’s very, very serious… they’re really terrified to be caught up in these attacks,” Karolina Lindholm Billing of the UN Refugee Agency told CNN’s Ben Hunte.
Finding shelter is a major challenge, Billing said, with most heading to Beirut and the Mount Lebanon area, or staying with friends or relatives in other areas. Others face rapidly rising rents and overcrowded shelters with families “sleeping on the floor.”
A fifth of Lebanon’s population has been uprooted from their homes in just two weeks, with almost 15% of the country under evacuation orders, Billing said. More than a million people are being pushed into a smaller area, putting pressure on services like schools.
Last week, Lebanon Prime Minister Nawaf Salam expressed concerns of a humanitarian catastrophe, as Israel pushes ahead with its offensive against Hezbollah.
IRGC spokesperson Ali Mohammad Naeini killed, Iranian state media says
Iranian state media are reporting that Maj. Gen. Ali Mohammad Naeini, the spokesperson for the powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has been killed.
State broadcaster Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) reported Naeini’s death on Friday.
Oil dips but stays elevated as Goldman Sachs warns prices may top $100 through 2027
Oil prices edged lower on Friday after a tumultuous day that saw the international benchmark surge above $119 a barrel as the Middle East conflict deepened energy supply fears.
But analysts warned prices would stay elevated, with energy infrastructure damaged, and vital oil and gas shipping lane the Strait of Hormuz effectively shut.
Goldman Sachs even suggested that higher prices could last all the way through 2027.
The moderated prices came after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his country will heed President Donald Trump’s call not to repeat attacks on key Iranian energy sites. The Israeli strike on Iran’s South Pars field triggered the latter’s retaliation against Qatar’s Ras Laffan, the world’s largest natural gas facility, sending oil prices surging.
Trump also sought to reassure Americans facing the highest gas prices in almost two and a half years, saying “it’s going to be over with pretty soon.” He also added that, before Israel and the US launched their war against Iran, he had thought the prices would be “much worse.”
Israel says it struck Syrian government targets after attacks on Druze civilians
The Israeli military struck infrastructure sites belonging to the Syrian government overnight, in what it said was response to attacks against Druze civilians.
The Israeli military said it targeted a “command center and weapons in military compounds” in southern Syria and said it will continue to defend the Druze population.
Israel said its strike was in response to an attack on the Druze community in Syria’s southern Suwayda province on Thursday.
The Druze are an Arab religious group of roughly one million people who primarily live in Syria, Lebanon and Israel. In Syria, the Druze community is concentrated around three main provinces close to the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights in the south of the country.
Last year, clashes between members of the Druze minority group and Bedouin tribes killed hundreds of people and drew a military intervention from Syria. The violence also prompted Israel to carry out strikes against Syrian government forces, which it said were to protect the Druze.
Middle East conflict poses risk of "record hunger" across the globe: WFP
With no quick end in sight for the Middle East conflict and key shipping routes being strangled, the World Food Programme has warned of “record levels of hunger.”
It said an additional 45 million people could fall into acute hunger as the conflict escalates, pushing the global total to 363 million people.
“As violence escalates, displacement, rising prices and disrupted food systems are pushing families closer towards hunger in the region and far beyond,” the WFP said on its website Thursday.
Fertilizer is crucial for agriculture. The United Nations says a quarter of the world’s supply passes through the Hormuz strait.
South Asia is among the areas most at risk, with the UN raising concerns about future crop yields. And in parts of sub-Saharan Africa, the WFP warns farmers entering the planting season risk being unable to treat their crops, driving lower yields and higher food prices in the months ahead. “Even small increases in costs can push vulnerable families into crisis.”
Across South and Southeast Asia, more than half of agricultural fertilizer used is nitrogen-based, research fellow Robert Walker at the Lowy Institute said, leaving these regions exposed to shortages of urea - a form of crystalized nitrogen used in most fertilizers.
Around 35% of the world’s urea supply passes through the Strait of Hormuz, according to the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
While not officially confirmed by Beijing, Reuters, citing sources, reported that China was clamping down on fertilizer exports to protect its domestic market. That would put additional strain on global markets that were already grappling with shortages caused by the war.
Escalating attacks near the strait have brought ship transits close to a halt, sending oil prices to $115 a barrel Thursday and driving up transport, energy and insurance costs across global supply chains.
Concerns have also been raised for dairy farmers in Australia, which imports around 90% of its transport fuels, said Ben Bennett, President of the Australian Dairy Farmers advocacy group.
“Dairy cows cannot simply be switched off or milk stored indefinitely on farm. If milk tankers stop running because fuel is unavailable or unaffordable, farmers face serious animal health and environmental consequences.”
Work from home and avoid air travel to ease impact of higher fuel prices, IEA says
Working from home, using public transport and avoiding air travel are among 10 recommendations from the International Energy Agency to ease the pain of higher energy prices on consumers caused by the war in the Middle East.
The measures are designed to be implemented quickly by governments, businesses and households around the world, and focus mainly on road transport, which accounts for around 45% of global oil demand, according to a new IEA report released Friday.
IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol said the war was creating “the largest supply disruption in the history of the global oil market.” The measures below provide “a menu of immediate and concrete measures” that can be taken “to shelter consumers from the impacts of this crisis,” she added.
Here are some of the recommendations:
- Working from home where possible.
- Reducing speed limits on highways by at least 10 kilometers per hour.
- Using public transport or car sharing.
- Alternating private car use on roads in major cities.
- Avoiding air travel if alternative options are available.
- Switching to alternative cooking methods such as using electric stoves.
Gas supply squeeze forces some companies in India to cut down operations
A wave of attacks on energy facilities across the Middle East is squeezing gas supplies to the world’s most populous country, forcing some industries to scale back production.
CNN spoke to executives from ceramics and steel companies, who warned of severe financial impacts if normal operations do not resume. Both industries rely on a steady supply of gas to run industrial kilns and blast furnaces.
As the world’s fastest-growing major economy, India relies heavily on uninterrupted energy supplies to fuel its booming manufacturing sector.
The country is a leading global importer of liquefied natural gas (LNG), which is essential for fertilizer production, electricity, and transport. It also relies heavily on imported liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) to meet its much of its domestic cooking needs.
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.
India’s ceramics hub in the western city of Morbi is also feeling the crunch, given the industry’s reliance on natural gas.
The president of its ceramics association, Hareshbhai Bopalia, said 80% of their units have shut down because of LNG disruptions.
Facing uncertainty over future natural gas prices, Nilesh Pramukh, managing director at tile manufacturer Kera Vitrified, has stopped accepting new orders. Production at his factory, which employs about 100 people and relies heavily on LPG, has been halted since March 10, he said.
The government has begun diverting LPG away from industrial users to keep flames alight on household stoves. It’s a compromise Pramukh said he is willing to accept.
“If our industry stays closed for a month, then all of Gujarat’s kitchens will still be able to operate,” he said.
Iran’s attack on Qatar’s Ras Laffan LNG hub, the world’s largest such facility, has also exacerbated the strain of ongoing shortages.
India’s foreign ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal acknowledged India’s LNG supply would be impacted by the latest attacks. “But we are in discussion with several countries,” he said during a briefing Thursday.
Storied A-10 Warthogs taking on key role in Strait of Hormuz
A storied attack aircraft the Air Force had wanted to retire this year is taking on an important role in the war with Iran, Gen. Dane Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Thursday.
“The A-10 Warthog is now in the fight across the southern flank and is hunting and killing fast-attack watercraft in the Strait of Hormuz,” Caine told a Pentagon press conference.
The twin-engine attack jet, officially called the Thunderbolt, became operational in 1976. It made its name during the Gulf War in 1991 and later in Afghanistan for its ability to provide close air support to ground troops in vulnerable positions.
Many troops considered the jets their guardian angels, and the “bbrrrrpppp” roar of their seven-barrel, 30mm Gatling guns attack enemy positions was legendary.
Besides the guns, the single-seat jets can carry missiles, guided and unguided bombs, laser-guided rockets and other munitions, according to an Air Force fact sheet. It notes the mechanical toughness of the platform, which had a mission-capable rate of more than 95% during the Gulf War.
In battle, the A-10 is heavily armored and can take a beating. The pilot is protected by titanium plating, and the jet is designed to fly on one engine and even half of a wing. It can be manually controlled if hydraulics are lost.
Despite those advantages, Air Force leaders had wanted to retire the A-10s to save on the costs of keeping the five-decade-old airframe updated, including all the support staff needed to maintain it. The plan is for the F-35 to eventually assume the A-10s ground-attack and close-air-support roles.
But the plane has supporters in Congress, which called for keeping at least 103 A-10s in the recent National Defense Authorization Act.
Now it appears to be playing a vital role in the Strait of Hormuz.
In another new mission for military aircraft, Caine said AH-64 Apache attack helicopters are being used to take down Iranian drones as well as attack Iranian-aligned militia groups in Iraq.
“More symbolic than substantive”: Analysts react to US allies’ statement on Hormuz
The leaders of seven US allies released a joint statement Thursday condemning Iran for closing the Strait of Hormuz and pledging “our readiness to contribute to appropriate efforts to ensure safe passage through the Strait.”
But the allies – the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Japan and Canada – offered no specifics. Analysts are wondering if the statement is just an effort to mollify US President Donald Trump, who has criticized them for not sending warships to the Persian Gulf, after he insisted that they do so to escort oil tankers.
Alessio Patalano, professor of war and strategy at King’s College London, zeroed in on the word “appropriate” in the allies’ statement.
“It suggests that the conditions and the political context will matter to define what the contribution will be,” Patalano said, but he added there are things the allies can do short of sending warships.
Specialized capabilities like drones to look for mines, planners to work in joint operations centers, or support for maritime patrols could be in the cards, Patalano said.
No matter what, the allies will want guarantees from Washington on how what they offer is used, he said.
Carl Schuster, a former director of the US Pacific Command’s Joint Intelligence Center, said allied warships in the region are a possibility, but well back from the current combat zone “where there is little or no danger.”
That could mean naval escorts in the Gulf of Aden or the Red Sea now that the threat from Iranian proxy Houthi militants in Yemen has subsided, he said.
How striking Iran’s nuclear power plant may impact the entire region
Iran’s only functioning nuclear power plant was reportedly hit by a hostile projectile. Officials say there’s no damage and no radiation leak, but the attack highlights a huge risk for the region.
Iran’s only functioning nuclear power plant was reportedly hit by a hostile projectile. Officials say there’s no damage and no radiation leak, but the attack highlights a huge risk for the region.
