Here's the latest
• Europe drawn in: A host of European countries pledged military aid after Cyprus and Western allies in the Gulf were attacked. The UK is sending extra jets to Qatar while France is allowing the US to use a base for non-combat purposes. But leaders remain reluctant to get too closely involved in the war.
• On the ground: There has been no letup in strikes with the war in its sixth day. Israel says it hit Iranian missile sites while Iran carried out fresh retaliatory strikes across the region, with several injured in Abu Dhabi. A CNN team has entered Iran, the first US network to cross into the country since the war began.
• Widening conflict: There are further signs of the war spilling beyond the Middle East. Iran denied its drones struck an airport in Azerbaijan, and Tehran called the US torpedoing of a warship near Sri Lanka an “atrocity.”
• Evacuations ramp up: Stranded passengers are starting to leave the Middle East as airlines schedule new services and governments rally charter flights. But many remain stuck, with travel options limited.
Trump says he must be involved in selecting Iran’s new leader, calls Khamenei's son "unacceptable"
President Donald Trump said Thursday he must be “involved in the appointment” of Iran’s next leader, dismissing the prospect of Mojtaba Khamenei succeeding his father, the late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
“They are wasting their time. Khamenei’s son is a lightweight. I have to be involved in the appointment, like with Delcy in Venezuela,” Trump told Axios, referring to Venezuela’s Delcy Rodríguez, who took over after the US captured Nicolás Maduro.
Trump said he would not accept a successor who continues the policies of Iran’s former supreme leader.
His comments came just one day after the White House suggested that regime change in Iran was not the primary objective of the president’s military campaign.
CNN has reach out to the White House for comment.
Iranian missile struck oil refinery, Bahrain says
An Iranian missile struck a Bahraini oil refinery Thursday, according to a release from the Bahraini government. The government said there were no injuries and the refinery is still working.
Video geolocated by CNN appears to show the moment the missile strike occurred and the fire at the refinery afterward.
“A fire broke out at a unit of the BAPCO Energies refinery following an Iranian missile strike,” the release from the Bahraini government said.
This post has been updated to reflect video geolocated by CNN.
Oil hits highest level since the end of Biden administration
Oil prices in the US have now climbed to the highest level since just before President Donald Trump started his second term.
As of 11 a.m. ET, US crude was up 5.6%, to $78.80 a barrel. Crude climbed to as high as $78.98 a barrel, taking out the prior highs of this crisis.
It’s the highest intraday level for oil since January 16, 2025, the final days of the Biden administration.
The higher price level has a direct impact on the cost of gasoline, which is already at 11-month highs.
The latest oil spike has rattled stock market investors. The Dow is down about 650 points, or 1.3%, this morning.
Trump calls Spain a “loser” and repeats disappointment in UK
President Donald Trump again criticized Spain in a phone interview Thursday, accusing the European country of being a “loser” and “very hostile to NATO” while reiterating his disappointment in British Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
“We have a lot of winners, but Spain is a loser, and UK has been very disappointing,” Trump told The New York Post. “Very hostile to NATO,” Trump added of Spain, going on to complain about the country not meeting alliance defense spending targets.
“Not a team player, and we’re not going to be a team player with Spain either,” Trump added.
After the president earlier this week threatened Spain with a trade embargo, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Spain had agreed to cooperate with the US military mission against Iran — an assessment Spain strongly denied.
“With respect to Spain, I think they heard the president’s message yesterday loud and clear, and it’s my understanding, over the past several hours, they’ve agreed to cooperate with the US military,” Leavitt told reporters at a Wednesday White House briefing.
Spanish Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares pushed back in a local radio interview, saying, “Our position has not changed.”
Exclusive: Qatar shot down Iranian bombers heading toward major US air base
Two sources briefed on the operation tell CNN that Qatari fighter jets intercepted Iranian bombers that came within minutes of striking al-Udeid, the largest US military base in the Middle East.
CNN’s Mostafa Salem reports:
In a CNN exclusive, two sources briefed on the operation say Iranian bombers came within minutes of striking the largest US military base in the Middle East before Qatari fighter jets intercepted them. CNN’s Mostafa Salem reports.
Airlines work to schedule services out of the Middle East
Stranded passengers are starting to leave the Middle East as airlines schedule new services and governments rally charter flights. But many remain stuck with travel options limited.
Here’s what airlines operating in the region are saying:
- Lufthansa: The Lufthansa Group, which includes the airlines Lufthansa, SWISS, Austrian Airlines, Brussels Airlines, and Eurowings, is extending the suspension of its flights to and from Tel Aviv until March 22.
- Emirates: Emirates is operating a reduced flight schedule and “continues to monitor the situation.” Customers transiting in Dubai will only be accepted for travel if their connecting flight is operating, the airline says, urging customers not to go to the airport unless they have a confirmed booking for those flights.
- Qatar Airways: The airline continues to suspend its operations in the region but has a limited number of relief flights planned from Muscat, Oman. The airline has called on passengers not to proceed to the airport unless they have an official confirmation for their flight.
- Etihad Airways: All Etihad Airways’ commercial flights to and from Abu Dhabi remain suspended until Friday, but a limited number of repositioning, cargo and repatriation flights are operating, the airline says.
- Oman Air: Oman Air has canceled all flights to and from Amman, Dubai, Bahrain, Doha, Dammam, and Kuwait. The airline is offering integrated bus transfers from Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates to Muscat, as well as several flights from Oman to destinations like London, Istanbul, Bangkok and Cairo.
CNN’s Eugenia Yosef and Kendall Wright contributed to this reporting.
Reluctant European nations drawn into Iran conflict but maintain strictly defensive position
European nations have faced tough choices about whether and how to get involved in the military escalation in the Middle East, amid wariness of drawing the bloc into the spiraling conflict.
Countries including the Britain, France and Spain have agreed to provide military support to protect the interests of their allies. Cyprus has become a focal point of the conflict spreading beyond the Middle East after a drone strike hit a British Royal Air Force base on the Mediterranean island on Monday.
The United Kingdom announced Tuesday it would deploy a warship to Cyprus, as well as helicopters with counter-drone capabilities and the Royal Navy’s HMS Dragon. Spain is sending its Cristóbal Colón frigate, and France is sending its flagship aircraft carrier, the Charles de Gaulle. Greece, meanwhile, has sent two frigates and four fighter jets.
What else are European nations doing?
The UK: Prime Minister Keir Starmer has stressed the country will not directly engage in offensive operations, but the US has been given permission to launch strikes on Iranian missile sites from British bases, such as RAF Fairford in England and the joint US-UK base at Diego Garcia on the Chagos Islands. The UK has also carried out defensive actions including intercepting Iranian drones targeting northern Iraq and Qatar, and it announced it will send four Typhoon fighter jets to Qatar.
France: The country is allowing the US to use one of its air bases for noncombat purposes. French air defenses have also been shooting down drones targeting Persian Gulf allies.
Italy: The government said Thursday it would send air defense weapons to allies in the gulf, with Defense Minister Guido Crosetto pledging “air defense systems, anti-drone and anti-missile systems.”
Spain: Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has emerged as the bloc’s most vocal critic of Donald Trump, refusing involvement in the war despite the US president’s threats to severe trade ties. Sánchez has also publicly questioned the legality of the conflict.
Germany: Chancellor Friedrich Merz met with Trump on Tuesday at the White House, where he said “there remain many questions” about the US-Israeli operation but was firm in his support for its goals.
Turkey: Partially located in Europe, the country said Wednesday that NATO destroyed an Iranian missile headed toward its airspace. This is believed to be the first time NATO forces intercepted an Iranian missile traveling toward a member country since the conflict started, although Iran’s military leaders denied firing any missiles at Turkey, according to state media.
Israel strikes northern Lebanon for first time in conflict
Israel struck the city of Tripoli in northern Lebanon on Thursday for the first time in the six-day conflict, according to Israel’s military.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it struck and killed a Hamas commander responsible for training in Lebanon.
Meanwhile, far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich warned on Thursday that southern Beirut will be turned to rubble after the Israeli military issued an evacuation order for several neighborhoods of the Lebanese capitals.
Smotrich, speaking along the border fence between Israel and Lebanon, said “You wanted to bring hell upon us and brought hell upon yourselves. The Dahieh will look like Khan Younis.” Dahieh is a southern suburb of Beirut that Israel considers a Hezbollah stronghold; Khan Younis is a city in southern Gaza that has been largely flattened by Israeli bombardment.
On Wednesday, Israel issued an evacuation warning for all of southern Lebanon south of the Litani River, an area that makes up hundreds of square miles. A day later, Israel followed that up with an evacuation warning for four neighborhoods in Beirut, telling residents to evacuate north or east.
Stocks fall and oil prices surge as Middle East conflict rages
Oil prices surged Thursday, stoking unease in the stock market as the war in the Middle East continued to spiral.
The Dow fell 601 points, or 1.24%, resuming a slide after stocks closed higher Wednesday. The S&P 500 fell 0.5%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq moved 0.2% lower.
Oil prices jumped and traded at their highest level since mid-2024. US crude oil prices surged 5.5%, to $78.80 per barrel. Brent crude, the international benchmark, climbed 3.96%, to $84.62 per barrel.
The US dollar strengthened against other major currencies, benefiting from investors seeking safe havens. The dollar index is up 1.7% this week.
Treasury yields climbed as investors sold bonds and weighed the potential inflationary impact of higher oil prices. The 10-year Treasury yield hit 4.13%, its highest level in three weeks.
Wall Street’s fear gauge, the VIX, jumped 10%. “Fear” was the sentiment driving markets, according to CNN’s Fear and Greed Index.
Sizable economic impact on international community if conflict persists, expert says
Failure to negotiate an end to the conflict in the Middle East will have immediate economic repercussions for the international community, according to a fellow at the Middle East Council on Global Affairs.
“It appears there has been a shift in the strategy for Iran,” Alanoud Hamad Saud Al Thani, who is based in Doha, Qatar, told CNN’s Becky Anderson. “For not just military attrition, but economic attrition, which can be far more deadly not just for the region but long term for the international community.”
Concern escalated when the Strait of Hormuz was effectively closed on Wednesday. The narrow channel is the transportation route for 20% of worldwide oil consumption and massive quantities of liquefied natural gas (LNG).
“But it’s not just the LNG,” Al Thani warned. “Qatar is responsible for 30 to 35% of the helium internationally,” she said, emphasizing that helium is a component in the production of MRI machines and semiconductors.
The reverberation across the international community cannot be overstated, Al Thani said. “The impacts from this are going to last much longer if we’re not able to find an offramp.”
“If we’re not able to negotiate an end to the conflict very soon, it’s not clear that we have any other solution to be able to get our gas, our helium, our urea, our cargo moving,” she said, adding, “There is no clear or obvious replacement for it in the international community at the moment.”
Loud blasts heard in Abu Dhabi as air defenses respond to missile threat
Air defenses in the United Arab Emirates are responding to “incoming missile and drone threats from Iran,” the country’s ministry of defence said.
A CNN team in Abu Dhabi heard several loud blasts a short while ago.
Iran launches more retaliatory strikes as fresh evacuation orders issued. Catch up here.
As nations around the world ramp up evacuation efforts amid spiraling violence in the Middle East, there are further signs of the war spilling beyond the region.
Meanwhile, a CNN team has entered Iran — the first US network to cross into the country since the conflict began — as the country’s internet blackout passes 120 hours.
Here are the newest developments:
- Iran’s latest strikes: Iran has continued retaliatory strikes, using drones and missiles to hit various locations throughout the Middle East, as well as allegedly hitting Azerbaijan for the first time — a claim Iran denies. Six Pakistani and Nepali nationals were also injured in an Iranian strike on Abu Dhabi, the United Arab Emirates’ media office said, while Qatari air defense systems intercepted missiles over the capital, Doha.
- Fresh evacuation orders: The Israeli military issued what it described as urgent evacuation warnings for entire neighborhoods in the southern suburbs of the Lebanese capital, Beirut, a significant expansion from previous orders that were typically limited to specific buildings.
- Iranian Kurdish forces: The Iraqi Kurdistan Regional Government said today that reports claiming it is part of a plan to arm and send Iranian Kurdish opposition parties into Iranian territory are “completely unfounded.” It follows reports the CIA was working to arm Kurdish forces, with the aim of fomenting a popular uprising in Iran.
- “An act of terror:” Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has called drone strikes in his country “ugly, cowardly and shameless.” The strikes reportedly injured two people and damaged an airport terminal building in the first attacks on the country since the beginning of the conflict. Iran has denied launching the drones.
- European response: France has permitted US noncombat aircraft to use an air base on the French mainland with the “guarantee” that these aircraft “do not participate in any way in US operations in Iran,” only in defense of regional partners. European nations are working to shore up defenses in Cyprus after a British airbase on the Mediterranean island was hit by a drone attack on Monday. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer also said today that four more Typhoon fighter jets would be deployed to Qatar.
- On the ground: Crowds of women dressed in black chadors and men holding national flags cascaded down the streets of Iran late Wednesday, as they mourned the killing of the country’s supreme leader.
Read more about what we know on Day 6 of the Middle East war here.
Iran says death toll has reached 1,230, as US-Israeli strikes hit "civilian" targets
US and Israeli attacks have killed at least 1,230 people in Iran since Saturday, according to the official Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA), as regional hostilities flared overnight.
That figure, which has now surpassed the 1,190 deaths in US and Israeli strikes on Iran last June, was issued as a growing chorus of world leaders and analysts warned of the hollow legal basis for the US and Israeli military campaign. Elsewhere in the region, dozens of people, including children, have been killed by Tehran’s retaliatory strikes on neighboring countries, according to local authorities.
Now, Iranian authorities say US-Israeli attacks have hit “dozens of civilian centers” including residential neighborhoods, hospitals, schools and heritage sites spanning from the capital, Tehran, in the country’s north, to the southern Minab province.
“In the past five days, following US and Israeli attacks on Iran, a large number of civilian areas have been targeted,” IRNA reported Thursday, quoting Ismaeil Baghaie, an Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson.
In Tehran, a children’s park and the UNESCO-listed Golestan Palace were struck, according to IRNA. The capital’s Gandhi Hospital was also damaged in a strike on Monday, according to Iran’s state broadcaster.
Elsewhere, strikes killed at least 35 people in the southern Fars province, and 27 civilians in residential areas in Maragheh, in northwestern Iran, the agency said. On Wednesday, a densely populated residential complex in the western city of Sanandaj was also struck, IRNA added.
The single deadliest attack in Iran so far took place on Saturday, when at least 168 schoolgirls and 14 teachers were killed in an airstrike on a girls’ elementary school in Minab, according to Iranian state media. The White House did not rule out on Wednesday that US military personnel carried out the strike but insisted that the US “does not target civilians.”
CNN has approached the Israeli military for comment.
Multiple US evacuation flights "underway," State Department deputy spokesperson says
Multiple charter flights are “underway” to evacuate Americans from the Middle East, a State Department spokesperson told CNN, as countries around the world ramp up evacuation efforts.
Yesterday, the State Department said that one charter flight of Americans left the Middle East — the first confirmed US-facilitated evacuation flight — and added that “additional flights will be surged throughout the region.”
The State Department has not given information on where those flights originated, where they are heading or how many Americans were on board.
Pigott also told CNN that 20,000 Americans have returned to the US since the war began. He claimed 10,000 were directly assisted by the State Department’s task force. A senior State Department official noted Wednesday that they have been offering assistance by offering “critical information, assisting them with transportation options, etc.”
He did not explain why other countries were able to get out charter flights in some cases days before the US, pointing only to the State Department standing up a task force on the same weekend that the strikes on Iran began.
CNN’s Jennifer Hansler and Kylie Atwood contributed to this report.
UK to send extra jets to Qatar as PM plays down rift with Trump
UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer says the “special relationship” between Britain and the US remains intact despite criticism from President Donald Trump over the country’s contribution to the war against Iran.
“The special relationship is in operation right now,” Starmer said at a press conference Thursday.
“We are working together in the region, we’re sharing intelligence on a 24/7 basis in the usual way. That is the special relationship,” he said.
President Trump lashed out at Starmer on Monday for denying the US permission to use British military airbases in the Chagos Islands for offensive strikes against Iran.
“This is not Winston Churchill that we’re dealing with,” said Trump.
But Starmer played down any suggestion of a rift between the two leaders.
“Clearly it’s for the president to take decisions that he considers in the national interest the right decisions for the US,” he said.
“Equally, it’s for me as the British Prime Minister, to take decisions that I consider to be in the best interest of the United Kingdom. There’s nothing controversial about that,” added Starmer.
Assets deployed: The Prime Minister also defended Britain’s preparedness for the conflict with Iran, which has come under scrutiny after a British airbase on the Mediterranean island of Cyprus was hit by a drone attack on Monday.
Starmer said that defensive assets had been deployed to Cyprus in January and February, adding that officials “continue to bolster the capability that we have there to keep our people safe.”
The Prime Minister also mentioned that four more Typhoon fighter jets would be deployed to Qatar, and that the government has chartered an aircraft to help with repatriation efforts for those stranded in the Middle East.
What it's like on the ground in Doha as Iranian missiles are intercepted
Qatar has been subject to another barrage of missiles from Iran, its defense ministry confirmed.
CNN’s Bijan Hosseini reports from Doha’s West Bay:
Qatar has been subject to another barrage of missiles from Iran, the Ministry of Defense confirmed. CNN's Bijan Hosseini reports from the ground in Doha.
Here's how US universities with Middle East campuses are adjusting their operations
As the US State Department urges Americans in the Gulf region to leave immediately, US universities with campuses in the region have adjusted their operations.
American universities with outposts in Doha, Qatar’s Education City — a research hub located roughly 40 kilometers (25 miles) from Al Udeid Air Base — as well as other US schools with campuses in the United Arab Emirates, have transitioned to remote instruction until further notice. Here’s a look at how some universities are handling the ongoing conflict:
- Texas A&M University in Doha: More than two dozen Texas A&M University students were headed to Doha from Texas when the war began and were diverted to Istanbul, Turkey, a university spokesperson told CNN. The university’s building is currently locked down with no access for employees, students or visitors.
- Georgetown University in Doha: Georgetown University’s campus in Qatar has shifted to online instruction until further notice, according to an update posted on its website. The university’s interim president also said a group of graduate business students were set to begin a program in Dubai on March 1, but Georgetown has suspended the course and is working to bring students back home as soon as possible.
- Virginia Commonwealth University School of the Arts in Doha: VCU Arts Qatar’s dean said in a letter that faculty and staff can leave Qatar and teach remotely — a decision made “in the interest of flexibility and personal safety.” The letter said this option is available to all faculty and staff, not just US citizens, and will not affect their employment status. A university spokesperson told CNN there have been no reports of injuries among VCU Arts Qatar students, faculty or staff.
- New York University in Abu Dhabi: NYU’s Abu Dhabi campus is “assisting with the departure of any students seeking to leave the area by identifying and securing travel arrangements, though air travel remains challenging,” a university spokesperson told CNN, adding: “The safety of our students, staff and visitors is our utmost priority.”
White House posts Iran strike video montage that includes "Call of Duty" footage
The White House is facing criticism for a social media video that mixed “Call of Duty” game footage with clips of American missile strikes inside Iran.
The minute-long montage, captioned “Courtesy of the Red, White & Blue,” has garnered more than 30 million views on Elon Musk’s X, according to the social network.
Commenters replied with a mix of astonishment, amusement and disgust. Many said they were shocked to see a “Call of Duty” sequence repurposed by the Trump administration.
“They think war is a video game,” wrote Paul Rieckhoff, the founder of Independent Veterans of America and a staunch Trump critic. He called it “inappropriate, juvenile and unacceptable.”
“Left out of this ‘video game’ are the Iranian school girls blown to bits & American troops killed,” Harvard professor and former NAACP President Cornell William Brooks wrote.
The White House has not ruled out that the US military carried out a strike on a girls’ elementary school in Iran during the initial joint US-Israeli strikes, which killed at least 168 children, according to Iranian state media. Six US service members were killed by an Iranian strike in Kuwait.
White House communications director Steven Cheung seemed to welcome the attention last night. He responded to a reporter’s post about the video and wrote, “W’s in the chat, boys!”
The “W” is short for win; the phrase is popularly used by live streamers to celebrate a gaming victory.
Who are the Kurds in Iran?
The Kurdish people are an ethnic minority group in the Middle East without an independent state.
Estimates of their population range between 25 million and 45 million worldwide, with most living in the mountainous region that stretches across parts of Iran, Iraq, Turkey, Syria, and Armenia. But there are no official statistics because many regional countries do not register ethnicity in censuses. About half of the region’s Kurds are estimated to live in Turkey, where they are the country’s largest ethnic minority.
After the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, the Allied powers proposed a Kurdish state in what is now eastern Turkey, but the plan was dropped after the new Turkish government rejected it.
Most Kurds are Sunni Muslims, but the Kurdish population has diverse religious, cultural, social and political traditions, as well as a variety of dialects.
In Iran today, Kurdish people make up an estimated 8% to 17% of the population, according to British government estimates. The Kurdish regions in western Iran have long pushed for greater autonomy or independence, as well as improved rights.
Amnesty International and other human rights groups have detailed widespread human rights abuses against Kurds in Iran. Teaching of the Kurdish language is often restricted, some Kurdish names cannot be officially registered, and Kurdish activists face arbitrary detention.
Armed Iranian Kurdish groups have fought the regime for decades, operating from outposts on the Iraq-Iran border, where they have thousands of forces.
What’s happening now? The CIA is working to arm Iranian Kurdish forces with the aim of fomenting a popular uprising in Iran, multiple people familiar with the plan told CNN. Several Iranian-Kurdish groups have released public statements since the beginning of the war hinting at imminent action and urging Iranian military forces to defect.
Sicily locals confuse earthquake with bombing
The war in Iran is reverberating 2,600 miles away in Sicily, which houses US and NATO bases.
So nervous are locals that on Wednesday when a minor earthquake struck the flanks of Mt. Etna, locals called emergency services asking if the island had been bombed, according to Italy’s Civil Protection authority.
On Thursday morning, Italy’s Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani and Defense Minister Guido Crosetto addressed parliament to reassure lawmakers that regarding US bases, “Treaties govern their use.”
The ministers did not rule out the use of the bases in the future and echoed Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s announcement that Italy would send air defense systems to the region.
“We intend to deploy a multi-domain device in the Middle East, with anti-drone and anti-missile air defense systems,” Crosetto said, adding that they would be ready to consider a request to use the bases.
Sicily is home to the Sigonella, the main base of NATO’s Alliance Ground Surveillance and home to more than 2,000 active-duty US service members.
Ministers were also pressed on concerns that the island could be a target, which has led to some Sicilians evacuating to the mainland.
“Sicily has always been a land of peace and dialogue between peoples and cannot be used as a base for aggression and conflict,” Five Star MEP Giuseppe Antoci said.
