Live updates: No relief from high oil prices despite deal to release historic petroleum reserves

Sirens have sounded in Bahrain, warning citizens to head to the nearest safe location, Bahrain's Interior Ministry said in a post on X. Officials urged people to remain calm.

As the U.S. military expands its use of AI tools to pinpoint targets for airstrikes in Iran, members of Congress are calling for guardrails and greater oversight of the technology’s use in war.

Two people with knowledge of the matter, who requested anonymity to discuss sensitive matters, confirmed the military is using AI systems from data analytics company Palantir to identify potential targets in the ongoing attacks.

The use of Palantir’s software, which relies in part on Anthropic’s Claude AI systems, comes as Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth aims to put artificial intelligence at the heart of America’s combat operations — and as he has clashed with Anthropic leadership over limitations on the use of AI.

Yet, as AI assumes a wider role on the battlefield, lawmakers are demanding greater focus on the protections that should govern its use and increased transparency about how much control is ceded to the technology.

“We need a full, impartial review to determine if AI has already harmed or jeopardized lives in the war with Iran,” Rep. Jill Tokuda, D-Hawaii, a member of the House Armed Services Committee, told NBC News in response to questions about the use and reliability of AI in military contexts.

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The State Department is cutting back charter flight options for Americans looking to leave the Middle East, pointing to a sharp drop-off in demand.

“While commercial flight availability across the region continues to improve, Department of State charter flights and ground transport operations will scale down as seats available on the Department’s charter options are significantly greater than the demand from Americans in the region,” Assistant Secretary of State Dylan Johnson said in a statement today.

Nearly 9,000 U.S. citizens in the United Arab Emirates were contacted by the State Department today and offered a spot on the government-chartered flights, but they still departed with empty seats “due to a lack of demand,” Johnson said.

Two days into the start of the Iran war, the State Department advised U.S. citizens in 14 countries in the Middle East to depart the region immediately even as widespread airspace closures and limited commercial options made it difficult to leave.

The U.S. has hit 28 Iranian ships that have been laying mines as part of the ongoing war, Trump said this afternoon.

"They have drones all over the place — we got many. Now we're knocking out the drone plants, as you know, going fast. They started talking about mines, so we hit 28 mine ships as of this moment," Trump told reporters before touring a science research and pharmaceutical plant in Ohio.

"We did a little excursion. We had to take this little couple of weeks, few weeks of excursion, but it's been incredible. Our military is unbelievable, the job they're doing. I would say, to put it mildly, way ahead of schedule," he added.

Trump's comments came after U.S. Central Command said it had eliminated 16 minelayers near the Strait of Hormuz.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said the only way to end the war is by "recognizing Iran’s legitimate rights, payment of reparations, and firm [international] guarantees against future aggression."

"Talking to leaders of Russia and Pakistan, I reaffirmed Iran’s commitment to peace in the region," he said in a post on X.

Meanwhile, according to Reuters, a spokesperson for the Israeli military said they "are prepared to continue the war with Iran as long as necessary."

Trump told reporters outside the White House that oil companies should take advantage of the Strait of Hormuz.

Asked if he was speaking to the CEOs of major oil companies and encouraging them to use the waterway, the president said, "I think they should use it. Look, we took out just about all of their mine ships in one night."

"Just about all of their navy is gone, at the bottom of the sea," Trump added about Iran.

The White House today responded to Joe Rogan saying supporters of President Donald Trump feel “betrayed” by his decision to strike Iran.

White House spokesperson Anna Kelly told NBC News in a statement that the president “is courageously protecting the United States from the deadly threat posed by the rogue Iranian regime — and that is as America First as it gets.”

“The entire administration is working together to end Iran’s ability to possess a nuclear weapon, use or develop ballistic missiles, arm proxies, or use its now-defeated navy,” Kelly said.

During a podcast episode yesterday, Rogan told conservative author and writer Michael Shellenberger that the president’s move against Iran “seems so insane based on what he ran on.”

“I mean, this is why a lot of people feel betrayed, right? He ran on no more wars and these stupid, senseless wars, and then we have one that we can’t even really clearly define why we did it,” he said.

A humanitarian crisis is looming in Lebanon, where more than 750,000 people have been displaced in the 12 days since the U.S. and Israel launched a war with Iran and its proxies in the Middle East, figures released by the Lebanese government show.

A displaced family shelters at the Bir Hassan Technical Institute in Beirut today. Bilal Hussein / AP

The pace of displacement was “unprecedented,” Imran Riza, the United Nations humanitarian coordinator in Lebanon, told Reuters on Tuesday. More than 100,000 people were registered as displaced between Monday and Tuesday alone, the data showed.

The majority come from Lebanon’s south, where the Israeli military has enforced sweeping evacuation orders while launching multiple strikes on the region, a stronghold of the militant group Hezbollah. The U.S. military has not struck Lebanon. 

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U.S. crude oil prices briefly fell to lows on the day on news that International Energy Agency member countries had unanimously agreed to release 400 million barrels of oil from their reserves, but soon climbed higher, passing $88 per barrel around midday.

The U.S. military has warned Iranian civilians to not use ports along the Strait of Hormuz.

“Civilian ports used for military purposes lose protected status and become legitimate military targets under international law,” CENTCOM said in a news release today.

“Iranian naval forces positioned military vessels and equipment within civilian ports serving commercial maritime traffic,” the statement said, adding that American forces would continue “taking every feasible precaution to minimize harm to civilians.”

A spokesperson for the Israel Defense Forces today warned people in six villages in southern Lebanon to evacuate.

“Hezbollah’s activities are forcing the IDF to act against it. The IDF does not intend to harm you,” the spokesperson wrote on X. “For your safety, you must evacuate your homes immediately.”

The villages include Yatar, Qalila (Tyre), Kfar (Bint Jbeil), Jabal al-Batoum, Majdal Zoun, and Haniyeh (Tyre).

“Anyone present near Hezbollah elements, their facilities, and their combat means is endangering their life. Any home used by Hezbollah for military purposes will be subject to targeting,” the IDF said.

The message added that to “preserve your lives,” residents should leave their homes immediately and travel north of the Litani River, a key boundary during Lebanese and Israeli conflicts that has been used as a buffer to protect residents of northern Israel.

Fire erupts in a building targeted by an Israeli airstrike today in the southern Lebanese city of Tyre. Kawnat Haju / AFP - Getty Images

CENTCOM Commander Adm. Brad Cooper said the U.S. has struck more than 5,500 targets inside Iran, including more than 60 ships, using a "variety of precision weapons."

"U.S. combat power is building. Iranian combat power is declining," Cooper said in a video update today. "And we remain centered on very clear military objectives in eliminating Iran’s ability to project power against Americans and against its neighbors."

Cooper said yesterday there were "strike ways nearly every hour from different locations and directions going into Iran." Four ships were "taken out," he said.

"Since the first 24 hours of this campaign, Iranian ballistic missile and drone attacks have dropped drastically," he said, adding that Iran's forces were launching attacks on civilians in Gulf countries from "highly populated" Iranian cities.

Iranian state media are airing footage from what they say is a public funeral for senior military commanders killed on Feb. 28, the first day of the U.S.-Israeli operation in Iran.

Iranians attend the funeral at Enghelab Square in Tehran today for senior military commanders killed in the early days of the U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran. Atta Kenare / AFP via Getty Images

Semiofficial news agency Tasnim said the bodies were transported to Enghelab Square in central Tehran for the ceremony as it showed crowds gathering while carrying state flags.

It came as the Israeli military announced “a wide-scale wave” of strikes across Iran.

A casket driven through Enghelab Square as part of the service in Tehran today. Atta Kenare / AFP via Getty Images

An Iranian man holds a poster depicting Iran's slain supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, top, during the senior military commanders' funeral service today. Atta Kenare / AFP via Getty Images

The United Nations Security Council is holding an emergency meeting this morning on the escalating violence in Lebanon, where hundreds of people have been killed and hundreds of thousands displaced by Israeli strikes.

The Israeli strikes on southern Lebanon came in response to attacks on its territory by Hezbollah, the Iran-backed militant group and political party, which started launching rockets and drones on March 1 in retaliation for the killing of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader.

The fighting comes just 15 months after the last Israel-Hezbollah war ended in November 2024 with a U.S.-brokered ceasefire, though Israeli strikes on Hezbollah targets in Lebanon have continued. The government of Lebanon said after Hezbollah’s recent attacks on Israel that it was banning the group’s military activity, which has also met with backlash from the public.

The U.N. meeting was called by France, which called on Hezbollah to “end its operations and hand over its weapons” and urged Israel to “refrain from any land-based or long-term interventions in Lebanon.”

Mike Waltz, U.S. ambassador to the UN and president of the Security Council for the month of March, speaks at U.N. headquarters today. Michael M. Santiago / Getty Images

The International Energy Agency says that member countries have unanimously agreed to release 400 million barrels of oil from their reserves in a bid to ease prices that are soaring due to the Iran war.

“The oil market challenges we are facing are unprecedented in scale, therefore I am very glad that IEA Member countries have responded with an emergency collective action of unprecedented size,” IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol said in a news release.

He added: “Oil markets are global so the response to major disruptions needs to be global too. Energy security is the founding mandate of the IEA, and I am pleased that IEA Members are showing strong solidarity in taking decisive action together.”

The IEA has 32 members, mostly developed economies.

Iran cannot participate in the FIFA World Cup after its supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed in U.S.-Israeli strikes, the country’s sports minister, Ahmad Donyamali, said.

“Given that this government has assassinated our leader, we cannot participate in the World Cup. Our players do not have security,” he said. “Certainly, we do not have the possibility of such participation.”

The U.S. will co-host the World Cup with Mexico and Canada, which runs from June 11 to July 19.

Iranian players Omid Norafkan, left, and Saman Ghoddos after a match against Uzbekistan in Tehran in 2025.  AFP via Getty Images

According to FIFA President Gianni Infantino, President Donald Trump had said that the Iranian team was welcome to compete in the U.S.

Infantino said in a post on Instagram that the World Cup was needed “to bring people together now more than ever.”

Two ships ignored warnings before they were attacked today near the Strait of Hormuz, Iran's Revolutionary Guard said in a statement on Telegram.

One of the ships was flying the Liberian flag when it was struck by Iranian projectiles. The Guard said it was “insisting illegally on passing through the Strait of Hormuz,” which Iran has sought to close to all shipping traffic.

“American aggressors and their partners have no right of passage,” it added.

Civilians in the Middle East should stay at least half a mile away from banks and economic centers belonging to the U.S. and Israel, Iran's armed forces warned this morning.

The measure was in response to the U.S. and Israel targeting one of Iran’s banks last night, Iranian state-affiliated news outlet Nour News reported, citing a spokesperson for Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters, the unified combatant command of the Iranian armed forces.

They did not say which banks or economic centers are in the crosshairs.

North Korea denounced the U.S.-Israeli attacks on Iran and expressed support for the country’s choice of new supreme leader after Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed in the initial strikes.

The U.S. and Israel “are destroying the regional peace and security foundations and escalating instability worldwide by mounting illegal military attack on Iran,” a North Korean Foreign Ministry spokesperson said yesterday, according to a report today by state news agency KCNA.

Regarding the election of Khamenei’s son, Mojtaba Khamenei, as Iran’s new supreme leader, the spokesperson said, “we respect the rights and choice of the Iranian people to elect their supreme leader.”

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un inspecting the sea trials of the Choe Hyon warship March 3. KCNA / AFP via Getty Images

State media also reported today that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and his teenage daughter had observed tests of strategic cruise missiles fired from a warship, in what experts said might be a show of force in anticipation of a possible meeting with Trump.

Seven women from the Iranian national soccer team remain in Australia, an Australian government official said Wednesday, as the rest of their team journeys back to a country at the center of a widening conflict in the Middle East.

They had arrived to play in the Asian Women’s Cup before the United States and Israel began striking Iran on Feb. 28, and were knocked out of the tournament over the weekend.

Members of Iran's women's soccer team arrive at Kuala Lumpur International Airport today. Arif Kartono / AFP via Getty Images

Six of the women have accepted humanitarian visas that will allow them to stay in Australia permanently, while the seventh has decided to return to Iran after all, said Tony Burke, Australia’s home affairs minister.

“In Australia, people are able to change their mind, people are able to travel and so we respect the context in which she has made that decision,” Burke told lawmakers in Canberra.

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Trump has said that the Iranian men's soccer team is “welcome to compete” in this summer’s World Cup, according to the president of FIFA, the sport’s global governing body.

Gianni Infantino said he had met with Trump to discuss preparations for the event, which will be held in the United States, Mexico and Canada from June 11 to July 19.

“President Trump reiterated that the Iranian team is, of course, welcome to compete in the tournament in the United States,” Infantino wrote in an Instagram post. “We all need an event like the FIFA World Cup to bring people together now more than ever, and I sincerely thank the President of the United States for his support.”

Iran has cast doubt on its participation, particularly after Australia granted six humanitarian visas to members of the Iranian women’s team who expressed concern about returning home this week from a tournament Australia was hosting.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said a team of Ukrainian drone experts is on its way to the Middle East “where they can help protect lives.”

Those seeking Ukraine’s help must continue to assist in Kyiv’s own defense — first and foremost, with air defense, Zelenskyy said in a post on X last night.

He said: “Ukraine has the greatest experience in the world in countering attack drones, and without our experience it will be very difficult for the Gulf region, the entire Middle East, and partners in Europe and America to build strong protection.”

It's hard to tell how long the conflict in the Middle East will last, Zelenskyy added, but “it is important that the protection of life starts working effectively as soon as possible.”

Earlier this week, Kyiv received 11 requests for help from countries neighboring Iran, European states and the U.S., he said.

A Ukrainian soldier holds an interceptor drone during combat missions on March 4. Nina Liashonok / NurPhoto via AP

The Israeli military says it has completed an additional wave of strikes this morning outside Beirut, the capital of Lebanon, targeting “Hezbollah terrorist command centers” and facilities where the group stored weapons.

In addition to the strikes this morning in Dahiyeh, a southern suburb of Beirut, the Israel Defense Forces also attacked what it said was a Hezbollah terrorist command center yesterday in the Lebanese city of Tyre.

Before the strikes, measures were taken to mitigate the risk of harm to civilians, including advance warnings, the use of precision munitions and aerial surveillance, the IDF said.

Hundreds of people have been killed and hundreds of thousands displaced since Israel began the strikes in response to rockets and drones launched by Hezbollah in retaliation for the killing of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader.

Rescue workers check apartments destroyed by an Israeli airstrike in Beirut today. Hussein Malla / AP

Three ships have been hit in separate incidents near the Strait of Hormuz, a key waterway through which 20% of the world’s oil passes, a British maritime monitoring agency said this morning.

The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) said the crew of a cargo vessel evacuated after a fire broke out on board when it was hit by an unknown projectile north of Oman in the Strait of Hormuz.

A photo taken and released by the Thai navy today shows smoke rising from the Thai bulk carrier Mayuree Naree near the Strait of Hormuz.  Royal Thai Navy via AFP - Getty Images

In a separate incident, the UKMTO said a bulk carrier was hit by an unknown projectile in the Persian Gulf, northwest of Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. The crew was reported safe, it said.

Nearby, a container vessel also reported damage from a suspected but unknown projectile, it added.

Iran’s new Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei has been wounded in the war, according to Yousef Pezeshkian, a government adviser and the son of President Masoud Pezeshkian.

A woman poses with a picture of Iran's new Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei during a rally in central Tehran on Monday. Atta Kenare / AFP via Getty Images

In a post on his Telegram channel that he said that had “asked friends who were in touch” with Khamenei about his injury. “They said that by the grace of God, he is safe and there is no problem,” the younger Pezeshkian said.

Khamenei has not appeared on video or in public or issued any written statements since he succeeded his father, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed on the first day of the war.

As fighting spreads across the Middle East, some Americans are choosing to stay in Lebanon despite an onslaught of Israeli strikes. NBC News spoke with one woman who insists she won’t leave Beirut. 

03:26

Israel's military said this morning that it had "begun a wide-scale wave of strikes" targeting regime infrastructure across Iran.

Its was also hitting Hezbollah in Beirut, the Israel Defense Forces said in a statement.

Several countries across the Middle East have reported attacks this morning as the war entered its 12th day.

In Kuwait, the country’s national guard said it shot down eight drones as part of “ongoing efforts to enhance security, protect vital sites, and counter any potential threats.”

The United Arab Emirates also said that it was responding to missiles from Iran, while the Qatari Defense Ministry intercepted a missile attack.

Elsewhere, the Dubai International Airport said in a statement that four people, two Ghanaian nationals, one person from Bangladesh and one Indian national were injured by two drones. “Air traffic is operating as normal,” the statement added.

India has been a “great partner” in keeping oil prices stable around the world, according to the U.S. ambassador who said that its purchases of Russian oil were “part of this effort.”

“India is one of the largest consumers and refiners of oil and it is essential for the United States and India to work hand in hand for market stability for Americans and Indians,” Sergio Gor said in a post on X. 

India has been one of the biggest purchasers of Russian oil since the U.S. and other Western countries stopped buying it after President Vladimir Putin launched his invasion of Ukraine.

India has said the Biden administration encouraged it to buy Russian oil to keep prices from surging, but this became a source of friction after Trump took power and he doubled the U.S. tariff on Indian goods to 50%.

A Sri Lankan court has ordered that the bodies of 84 sailors killed in a U.S. attack on an Iranian warship off the island nation’s coast last week be handed over to the embassy of Iran, local media reported today.

Health care workers in Sri Lanka carry the bodies of Iranian sailors killed in a U.S. torpedo attack, at Karapitiya Hospital’s mortuary in Galle on March 4. Ishara S. Kodikara / AFP via Getty Images

The warship, IRIS Dena, was hit by a torpedo from an American submarine while it was returning from a naval exercise organized by India.

The court order was issued today, following a request from the Galle Harbour Police in the southern port city of Galle, the media reports said.

The bodies are currently at the morgue in Galle’s National Hospital.

Four people were injured after two Iranian drones fell near Dubai International Airport today, the airport said in a statement. 

The injured include two Ghanaian nationals, one person from Bangladesh and one Indian national, it said in a post on X.

“Air traffic is operating as normal,” it added.

Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam's office said that 570 people have been killed and 1,444 wounded in the country since the start of the war with Iran, which has set off a new round of fighting between Israel and the Lebanon-based militant group Hezbollah.

Smoke rises from the site of an Israeli airstrike that targeted an area in Beirut's southern suburbs today. Ibrahim Amro / AFP via Getty Images

Almost 800,000 people have registered as displaced persons at shelters, his office said in a statement.

A cargo vessel has been hit by an unknown projectile in the Strait of Hormuz, resulting in a fire onboard, the U.K. Maritime Trade Operations Centre said today.

The vessel, which is about 11 nautical miles north of Oman, “has requested assistance and the crew are evacuating,” the maritime authority said.

The UKMTO has also received reports of damage to ships hit by unknown projectiles 50 nautical miles northwest of Dubai and in an unspecified location, adding that the crew members on both vessels were safe.

“Vessels are advised to transit with caution and report any suspicious activity,” it said.

Evidence continues to mount that the U.S. was responsible for the deadly school strike in southern Iran that killed scores of children as images taken near the school have emerged showing fragments of American-made missiles.

A photo shared by Iranian state media purporting to show missile debris from the strike on the Shahjareh Tayyebeh elementary school in Minab, Iran, on Feb. 28.  Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting

The missile fragments purported by Iranian state media to have struck the school bear the markings of an American Tomahawk missile, according to experts who reviewed imagery obtained by NBC News and others, shared by state media, that appeared to show the fragments on a table close to the scene.

The videos obtained by NBC News appeared to show close-ups of the same set of missile fragments. They could not be geolocated as a result, whereas other wide-shot imagery shared by state media appeared to align with previously confirmed video and satellite imagery of the school site. Meanwhile, voices heard in video obtained by NBC News appeared to reflect a southern accent consistent with Minab.

NBC News could not independently confirm where, when or how the missile fragments were found or whether they were connected to the school strike. It was also unclear exactly who recovered them.

Read the full story here.

Oil prices swung sharply yesterday as conflicting reports about shipping in the Strait of Hormuz drove the cost of crude oil down for much of the morning, then higher in the afternoon.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude oil plunged as much as 19%, slipping below $77 per barrel at one point. But the move faded, and West Texas Intermediate climbed to trade around $89 a barrel by 4 p.m. ET. International Brent crude also briefly dropped 17% to below $80 per barrel but later rose back to more than $90 per barrel.

Stocks also closed mixed after a volatile trading session yesterday. The S&P 500 ended lower by 0.21% after having risen almost 1%, while the Nasdaq Composite wrapped up the day flat and the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 34 points.

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