Iran says strike hit uranium enrichment facility, missile fired at U.K.-U.S. base

In a twist of wartime irony, the United States has moved to ease sanctions on Iranian oil to cool surging energy prices, a potential boon for Tehran as Washington scrambles to contain the economic shockwaves of its military campaign.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Friday the easing of sanctions, first imposed after Iran’s 1979 revolution, would be “narrowly tailored” and only temporary, “permitting the sale of Iranian oil currently stranded at sea.”

“By temporarily unlocking this existing supply for the world, the United States will quickly bring approximately 140 million barrels of oil to global markets, expanding the amount of worldwide energy and helping to relieve the temporary pressures on supply caused by Iran,” Bessent added.

At current prices, the amount of oil Bessent said the measures would bring to the market would be worth more than $14 billion for Tehran.

Read the full story here.

The U.N.'s atomic watchdog says it is looking into Iran's report that a uranium enrichment site has been struck.

The International Atomic Energy Agency said in a post on X: "The IAEA has been informed by Iran that the Natanz nuclear site was attacked today. No increase in off-site radiation levels reported. IAEA is looking into the report."

IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi reiterated a call "for military restraint to avoid any risk of a nuclear accident."

Iran's Natanz uranium enrichment complex was attacked this morning, according to the country's semiofficial Tasnim news agency.

"No radioactive leak has been reported, and there is no danger to residents living near the facility," the agency reported, citing "technical and expert investigations."It said that the strike violated international nuclear safety and security regulations.

Russian President Vladimir Putin congratulated Iranian leaders on Nowruz and said Moscow remained a loyal friend and reliable partner to Tehran, the Kremlin said on Saturday.

The extent of Moscow’s support for Iran, though, is in dispute. Some Iranian sources have said that they have had little real help from Moscow in the biggest crisis for Iran since the U.S.-backed Shah was toppled in the 1979 revolution.

Putin sent congratulations to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on the Iranian new year, the Kremlin said.

“Vladimir Putin wished the Iranian people to overcome the harsh trials with dignity and stressed that in this difficult time Moscow remains a loyal friend and reliable partner of Tehran,” the Kremlin said.

Russia says the U.S. and Israeli attacks on Iran have thrust the entire Middle East into the abyss and triggered a major global energy crisis, while Putin condemned the killing of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as a “cynical” murder.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio held calls with a number of his foreign counterparts this week as the U.S. wraps up its third week of military operations in Iran, according to a senior state department official.

Rubio spoke with foreign ministers from Japan, Republic of Korea, the United Kingdom, the United Arab Emirates, France, Australia, Kuwait, Qatar and Saudi Arabia as well as the NATO Secretary General, according to the official.

Iran fired two ballistic missiles at the U.S.-U.K. military base Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean, the semi-official Mehr news agency reported on Saturday.

The Wall Street Journal reported earlier that Iran had launched two intermediate-range ballistic missiles toward the base but that they did not hit it.

Mehr said targeting the base was a “significant step ... that shows that the range of Iran’s missiles is beyond what the enemy previously imagined”.

United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby said in an email to employees today that the company will be canceling some flights as it prepares for higher oil prices because of the war with Iran.

“Our plans assume oil goes to $175/barrel and doesn’t get back down to $100/barrel until the end of 2027,” Kirby wrote. “Honestly, I think there’s a good chance it won’t be that bad, but as you’ll read below, there isn’t much downside for us to preparing for that outcome.”

Kirby wrote that some less profitable flights are expected to be cut in the short term because of oil prices, like off-peak and red eye flights.

Kirby made the comments in a message in which he said that jet fuel prices have more than doubled in the last three weeks. The war with Iran has caused disruptions to oil markets and increasing prices for energy.

“If prices stayed at this level, it would mean an extra $11B in annual expense just for jet fuel,” he said. “For perspective, in United’s best year ever, we made less than $5B.”

The email also details steps that United Airlines is taking to prepare for the short and long term. Kirby said that the demand for air travel remains strong.

The U.N.’s nuclear watchdog estimates that Iran has nearly 1,000 pounds of highly enriched uranium, enough for 11 nuclear weapons. But securing it could mean putting U.S. troops in harm’s way.

"It would not be a success under any circumstances if we left the material in Iran, where it could be transferred to terrorist groups, to other rogue states, or other malicious actors," John Bolton, former national security adviser during President Donald Trump's first term, told NBC News' Matt Bradley.

Questions arise about Iran's highly enriched uranium amid war

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The United Kingdom’s government has agreed to allow the U.S. military to use its bases to conduct “defensive operations” to protect shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, the office of Prime Minister Keir Starmer said today.

Government ministers met today and “condemned Iran’s expansion of its targets to include international shipping,” the statement from Starmer’s office said.

“They confirmed that the agreement for the US to use UK bases in the collective self-defence of the region includes US defensive operations to degrade the missile sites and capabilities being used to attack ships in the Strait of Hormuz,” the statement from the prime minister’s office said.

The statement said that the U.K.’s position on the Iran war has not changed.

The Iran war was heavily criticized during a House hearing in New York today, with Democratic lawmakers calling out the "hypocrisy" of the Trump administration for defunding the U.N. while waging war with Iran.

The hearing, held at the U.S. Mission to the United Nations, was focused on financial reform within the U.N.

“This administration has chosen to defund the U.N., flout its charter, withdraw from many of its initiatives, and begin an open-ended war, a war of choice. This administration is worsening the problems that it blames the U.N. for being unable to solve,” Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., said at the two-hour House Appropriations National Security, Department of State, and Related Programs Subcommittee field hearing.

She cited a Washington Post report earlier this week that the Pentagon is seeking $200 billion in additional funding for the Iran war, saying, "It is remarkable the distance between how much we are willing to devote to war and how little we can spare for peace.”

Sara Elsherbiny was preparing to celebrate her birthday by breaking her Ramadan fast with friends at a restaurant in Dubai.

Instead, as the sun set on Feb. 28, explosions echoed nearby, rattling her home and shaking the city.

“It was loud, actually the house shook, and that was the first time that we’ve experienced something like that,” Elsherbiny told NBC News.

In a different part of the city, Ali and his wife were also breaking fast on the same day — the 11th day of Ramadan. He recalled watching missiles streak across the sky.

Read the full story here.

Saudi Arabia's Ministry of Defense said it intercepted and destroyed three drones in the eastern part of the country today.

Switzerland’s government today said that it is banning the export of war materiel to the United States or other involved nations as long as the war with Iran continues.

“The export of war materiel to countries involved in the international armed conflict with Iran cannot be authorised for the duration of the conflict,” the Swiss government said in a statement.

"Exports of war materiel to the USA cannot currently be authorised," it said.

The U.S. was the second-largest importer of weapons from Switzerland last year, following Germany, according to SWI swissinfo, which is part of the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation.

Switzerland has not granted licenses to export war material to Israel for years, and it does not export war material to Iran, it said.

On March 14, Switzerland's Federal Council said it rejected two military overflight requests by the U.S., citing neutrality.

Israel’s ambassador to the U.S., Michael Leiter, said he agreed with President Donald Trump's comments in which he said Israel will be ready to end the war when the U.S. does.

“We have planned this together, we’re implementing it together and the grand finale will come together as well,” he told Gabe Gutierrez on “Meet the Press NOW.”

Israeli Amb. to U.S. echoes Trump, says Israel will be willing to end Iran war when U.S. does

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Leiter also echoed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, saying Israel will not target more of Iran’s energy infrastructure at Trump’s directive.

Leiter added Israel is not focused on “regime change” but more in support of “regime collapse.” He further said regime change will require “Iranian boots on the ground.”

"The people of Iran have to topple this regime," he said. "We have to set the stage."

The Trump administration says it has lifted some sanctions to allow the sale of oil produced in Iran, its latest move to try to slow soaring energy prices.

Since the war with Iran began, retail gas prices have risen 93 cents per gallon and U.S. crude oil has soared more than 70% since the start of the year.

In a statement, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said this allowance is "narrowly tailored" and only temporary, "permitting the sale of Iranian oil currently stranded at sea."

"By temporarily unlocking this existing supply for the world, the United States will quickly bring approximately 140 million barrels of oil to global markets, expanding the amount of worldwide energy and helping to relieve the temporary pressures on supply caused by Iran," Bessent added.

Since the beginning of the month, the administration has also lifted the Jones Act, which removes some shipping regulations, and has temporarily lifted sanctions on Russian oil as well.

Iranian missile debris fell near the Old City in Jerusalem, according to Israeli police.

“This is the third time during the campaign that weapons containing heavy explosives have fallen in the city of Jerusalem in close proximity to the Old City and the holy places, and parts of them have even fallen in holy places just last week," said Chief Avshalom Peled, the Jerusalem district commander for the Israeli police. "The enemy does not distinguish between a mosque, a synagogue or a church, and therefore the holy places remain closed in order to save human lives.”

The spokesman for the Iranian oil ministry, Saman Ghodousi, said the country has no crude oil left in tankers at sea or a surplus supply available for international markets, despite an earlier statement from U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.

“At present, Iran essentially has no crude oil left floating on water or surplus available for supply to other international markets, and the statement by the U.S. treasury secretary is solely intended to give hope to buyers and to psychologically manage the market," Ghodousi wrote in a post on X.

Bessent previously said the U.S. was looking into removing sanctions on Iranian oil stranded in tankers at sea to help regulate prices.

President Donald Trump said on Truth Social that the U.S. is "very close" to meeting objectives in the Middle East and will be considering winding down military efforts.

"We are getting very close to meeting our objectives as we consider winding down our great Military efforts in the Middle East with respect to the Terrorist Regime of Iran," Trump wrote.

He listed out five objectives for the war.

"(1) Completely degrading Iranian Missile Capability, Launchers, and everything else pertaining to them. (2) Destroying Iran’s Defense Industrial Base. (3) Eliminating their Navy and Air Force, including Anti Aircraft Weaponry. (4) Never allowing Iran to get even close to Nuclear Capability, and always being in a position where the U.S.A. can quickly and powerfully react to such a situation, should it take place. (5) Protecting, at the highest level, our Middle Eastern Allies, including Israel, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Kuwait, and others," Trump wrote.

Trump went on to say that the Strait of Hormuz will have to be "guarded and policed" by nations that use it, adding, "The United States does not!"

"If asked, we will help these Countries in their Hormuz efforts, but it shouldn’t be necessary once Iran’s threat is eradicated. Importantly, it will be an easy Military Operation for them. Thank you for your attention to this matter!" he wrote.

President Donald Trump said he doesn’t want a ceasefire with Iran and that the U.S. has already “won” the war from a military standpoint.

“We can have dialogue, but I don’t want to do a ceasefire,” Trump told reporters from the White House South Lawn before he departed for Florida today.

“You don’t do a ceasefire when you’re literally obliterating the other side. They don’t have a navy, they don’t have an air force, they don’t have any equipment, they don’t have any spotters, they don’t have anti-aircraft, they don’t have radar, and their leaders have all been killed at every level."

He declined to answer questions on U.S. troop movement in the region.

“All they’re doing is clogging up the strait. But from a military standpoint, they’re finished,” Trump said.

Stocks sold off sharply today as headlines about the Iran war weighed heavily on market sentiment and led major indexes to their fourth straight weekly decline. For the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite, the last 4 weeks have been their worst four-week period since April 2025, when tariffs dominated the news.

The Nasdaq Composite fell 2% today. For the year, it's now down 6.8%. The S&P 500 also tumbled and ended down 1.5%. For the year it's now down 4.9%. The Dow slid 443 points today, putting it down 5.2% for the year.

Oil had a volatile session, with international (Brent) oil jumping to as much as $113 per barrel. As of now it is trading around $111 and ends the week up 8.3%. For the year, Brent is up 84%.

U.S. crude oil ended the week around $99. Year to date, the price of U.S. crude oil has gained 73%.

President Donald Trump told reporters outside of the White House today that NATO, Japan and China should be assisting in clearing the Strait of Hormuz, a critical waterway through which 20% of the world’s oil passes. Iran has effectively closed the strait in response to American and Israeli attacks.

"You know, we don't use the strait, the United States. We don't need it," Trump said. "Europe, needs it. Korea, Japan, China, a lot of other people, so they'll have to get involved."

The president said that it is a "simple military maneuver" to clear the strait, but that it requires a "lot of help."

"NATO could help us, but they so far haven't had the courage to do so, and others could help us," Trump told reporters. "But, you know, we don't use it. You know, at a certain point it will open itself up."

Trump has made similar remarks in recent days urging U.S. allies to clear up the strait, the closure of which has caused global oil prices to skyrocket. But leaders from Berlin to London have rebuffed the suggestion, with German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius telling reporters Monday, "This is not our war. We have not started it."

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said the United Kingdom's Prime Minister Keir Starmer "is putting British lives in danger" by allowing their bases in the Middle East to be used in the war against Iran.

"Vast majority of the British People do not want any part in the Israel-U.S. war of choice on Iran," Araghchi wrote on X. "Ignoring his own People, Mr. Starmer is putting British lives in danger by allowing UK bases to be used for aggression against Iran. Iran will exercise its right to self-defense."

Iran is entering the Persian New Year in “digital darkness,” an online monitoring group says, with the regime's internet blackout now into its 21st day.

Iran cut off online access for its 93 million people after the assault by the U.S. and Israel late last month. That followed another blackout during nationwide protests in January.

The current regime-enforced outage has lasted more than 480 hours, according to NetBlocks, which tracks such countrywide connectivity developments.

“With international connectivity cut and domestic service limited, many families are unable to contact loved ones when it’s most needed,” it said.

The conflict in the Middle East risks causing record levels of hunger as ripple effects from the conflict are felt globally, the World Food Programme has warned in a new report.

"The consequences are not confined to areas directly affected by violence," the U.N.-backed body said. "The Middle East plays a critical role in global energy, transport and trade systems. As fuel supplies, shipping routes and markets are disrupted, the effects ripple outwards, increasing hunger risks well beyond the region."

Regions that could suffer from hunger include the Middle East, sub-Saharan Africa and some parts of Asia, the WFP said.

If the conflict continues, the WFP said, 45 million people could suffer from acute hunger, bringing the global total to 363 million.

"Without predictable access, protected infrastructure and urgent funding, recent gains against hunger in some of the world’s most vulnerable contexts could quickly unravel," the WFP said.

Canada’s federally backed farm lender is offering financial aid to farmers, agricultural businesses and food companies hit by the spike in fertilizer and energy prices, it said on Friday.

Borrowers from the Farm Credit Canada program will be able to receive a new or additional credit line of up to C$500,000 ($364,670.70), to modify terms and to defer principal payments on existing loans.

The money will come from an expansion of the Trade Disruption Customer Support Program, which was introduced in March 2025 to help agriculture and food borrowers hit by U.S. tariffs.

It will now also provide support to help producers and agribusinesses “manage financial pressures caused by unexpected market shocks,” Friday’s statement said.

For the first time since the U.S. launched a war on Iran, this week top intelligence officials spoke publicly about the conflict. But their testimony before Congress contradicted President Donald Trump’s statements about the potential consequences and goals of the operation, challenging the White House’s effort to shape perceptions about the war.

In hearings on Wednesday and Thursday, intelligence chiefs told lawmakers that the White House was briefed about how Iran would likely retaliate against its neighbors if it came under attack, that Tehran could drive up oil prices and disrupt global supply chains, that regime change was not a goal of the war and that Israel appeared to have different objectives than Washington in the campaign.

Their answers diverged from Trump’s public comments and failed to sync with some of the White House’s talking points about the widening conflict in the Middle East.

Read the full story here.

As Qatar reels from an Iranian attack that has hobbled its giant natural gas company, its boss, who doubles as the country’s energy minister, says he had warned officials and executives of just such a danger should Iran’s own sites be hit.

“I was always warning, talking to executives from oil and gas that are partnered with us, talking to the U.S. Secretary of Energy, to warn him of that consequence and that that could be detrimental to us,” QatarEnergy CEO Saad al-Kaabi told Reuters.

QatarEnergy’s partners include major U.S. energy companies such as ExxonMobil and ConocoPhillips.

“They were aware of the threat, and they were always reminded by me, almost on a daily basis, that we need to make sure that there is restraint on oil and gas facilities,” he said.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi accused the U.S. government of being detached from reality when claiming that it’s winning the war against Iran.

“Americans haven’t forgotten how, even as hundreds of U.S. soldiers were dying in Vietnam, and the outcome was already clear, General William Westmoreland was flown home to reassure everyone that the war was going well — that the U.S. was ‘winning,’” Araghchi said in a series of posts on X earlier today.

“The media haven’t forgotten either; those briefings full of fantasy from the frontlines became infamous as the 'Five O’Clock Follies.' Fast forward to today: same script, different stage; Hegseth steps up, and the message is still detached from reality,” Araghchi wrote, referring to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.

“U.S. government says one thing, reality says another,” he added, as he also questioned Washington’s claims that Iran’s air defenses and Navy have been destroyed.

Hegseth recently said that families of U.S. service members killed in the war told him to “finish” the job in Iran, which one father denied saying. Hegseth had said that “family after family” of service members killed conveyed that message after meeting with the administration.

Kyiv has received signals from the U.S. indicating “readiness to continue working within the existing negotiation formats to bring an end to Russia’s war against Ukraine,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.

“There has been a pause in the talks, and it is time to resume them,” Zelenskyy wrote in a post on X last night. “We are doing everything to ensure that the negotiations are genuinely substantive.”

The peace talks to end the war in Ukraine have been interrupted by the Iran war amid security concerns, with Washington’s attention diverted to the escalating conflict in the Middle East and the growing energy crisis.

“The Ukrainian team — the political members of the negotiating group — is already on the way, and we expect a meeting this Saturday,” Zelenskyy added. He did not elaborate on where the meeting would take place, with some past trilateral meetings between Russia, the U.S. and Ukraine taking place in the United Arab Emirates.

Iran’s Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei said that the country considers “our eastern neighbors to be very close to us” in his statement today.

Iran has launched strikes on many of their neighboring countries, including the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and Qatar, in retaliation for U.S. attacks.

But Khamenei said Iran values its relationship with these countries despite the attacks, which he said is fostered by shared culture and religion. “Each of these elements can strengthen good relations, and we are eager for this,” he said.

Khamenei also blamed Israel for recent attacks on Oman and Turkey, without providing any evidence.

Iran's Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei issued a statement today marking the arrival of Nowruz, or Persian New Year, and Eid al-Fitr, praising the public for standing firm amid repeated attacks from Israel and the U.S.

The U.S. and Israel thought they could achieve dominance by creating “fear and panic among the people” and “assassinating the heads of the system and a number of the most important military figures,” he said in a statement issued via the semiofficial Tasnim news agency.

Instead, he said, the population had “continued your struggle, expanded the defensive front across the country to many fields, neighbourhoods and mosques, and dealt a confusing blow to the enemy.”

“As a result, they resorted to contradictory statements and repeated slogans, which are signs of a lack of awareness and weak understanding,” he added.

A woman shops for flowers yesterday in Tehran ahead of the Persian New Year. Vahid Salemi / AP

The commander of Iran’s Quds Force, who largely disappeared from public view amid online rumors that he may have been an Israeli spy, has issued a statement issued via the the state-affiliated IRIB television network.

Brig. Gen. Esmail Qaani praised Iranian troops, telling them they had “drawn widespread admiration and brought joy to believers and freedom-seekers around the world, while causing anger, astonishment and fear among enemies.”

“Be assured that the front of truth will grow stronger each day, and the martyrdom of its commanders and leaders will bring new growth and renewed vitality,” he added.

Speculation about Qaani’s whereabouts had been rife after he reportedly survived the strikes that killed Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei at the start of the war.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has reiterated that his country will show “ZERO restraint if our infrastructure is attacked.”

He wrote on X that the regime has “intelligence on Israeli plans to strike infrastructure,” days after Israel bombed facilities related to its South Pars gas field.

“We are men and women of principles. Iranians do not sneak attack adversaries while engaged in dialogue,” he said. “Only when attacked do we powerfully respond.”

France says it’s taking “appropriate measures” after a naval officer’s use of the Strava exercise app inadvertently enabled journalists to geolocate the aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle that is in the Mediterranean to help protect French and allied assets and interests during the Iran war.

The carrier’s deployment this month was not a secret and its commander has even briefed journalists by video link from aboard the nuclear-powered 42,000-ton vessel.

Still, the French newspaper Le Monde caused a stir by using Strava to locate a naval officer who it said used the performance app during a morning jog on March 13, enabling reporters to then find the Charles de Gaulle in the Mediterranean using a satellite image taken that same day.

The newspaper said Thursday that it believes the officer was either jogging on the carrier or one of its escort ships.

Trump has branded America’s longtime NATO allies “cowards” over their lack of support for the U.S.-Israel war against Iran.

“Without the U.S.A., NATO IS A PAPER TIGER!” he said on Truth Social.

“Now that fight is Militarily WON, with very little danger for them, they complain about the high oil prices they are forced to pay, but don’t want to help open the Strait of Hormuz, a simple military maneuver that is the single reason for the high oil prices. So easy for them to do, with so little risk,” he said.

“COWARDS, and we will REMEMBER!”

U.S. stocks are tumbling in early trading, as headlines about the war with Iran continue to hit market sentiment. As of 10:15 a.m ET, the Nasdaq Composite is lower by more than 1%, while the broad S&P 500 is lower by about 0.8%.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average is down about 175 points. The Russell 2000 index, which tracks small and midsize firms dropped 1%.

Those falls come as energy prices continue to rise, with U.S. crude oil jumping to more than $96 per barrel, up about 1%.

Stocks in Europe are also falling as the international benchmark for crude oil, Brent, rises to around $109 per barrel. The pan-European Stoxx 600 index was down 0.4%.

Two people have been arrested in Scotland for trying to enter the naval base where Britain’s nuclear submarines are kept, officials said.

According to the Press Association news agency, at least one of those trying to gain access to HM Naval Base Clyde last evening was an Iranian national. Neither Police Scotland nor the navy would confirm that detail. Police said that a man, 34, and a woman, 31, were arrested trying to enter the base.

PA said it is understood that they did not try to force their way into the base, but rather asked if they could enter and were refused permission.

Better known to Britons as Faslane, the base is home to the U.K.’s fleet armed of four Vanguard-class submarines, which can be armed with the country’s Trident nuclear deterrent. Though American nuclear weapons are hosted on British soil, the country itself does not have any land-based warheads.

Sri Lanka declined permission for two U.S. combat aircraft to land at a civilian airport earlier this month, President Anura Kumara Dissanayake told Parliament this morning.

The U.S. had requested permission for the two aircraft to land at the Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport in the southern part of the country from March 4-8, Dissanayake told lawmakers.

“They wanted to bring two warplanes armed with eight anti-ship missiles from a base in Djibouti,” he said during a statement. “We turned down the request to maintain Sri Lanka’s neutrality,” he added to applause from parliamentarians.

A successful teenage wrestler was among three people executed by the Iranian regime for alleged involvement in the deaths of two police officers during nationwide protests in January, according to Iranian news agencies.

Human Rights Watch expressed concern about the case of Saleh Mohammadi, 19, who it said was convicted after rushed proceedings and a forced “confession” that he said was exacted under torture.

Mohammadi, along with Mehdi Ghasemi and Saeed Davoudi, were executed by hanging in the city of Qom yesterday, according to the security force-aligned Tasnim news agency. They were the first known executions related to the nationwide unrest and subsequent deadly crackdown.

Last month, Human Rights Watch criticized what it said was a “tsunami of arbitrary arrests” by the Iranian regime. “Those detained are at serious risk of death in custody, grossly unfair trials, and secret, summary, and arbitrary executions,” it said.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has given two different assessments of how long the war might take.

Speaking in English at a news conference yesterday, he said he saw “this war ending a lot faster than people think.”

However, in Hebrew he offered a different sense of the timeline. “You, the citizens of Israel, are asking: ‘How long will this take?’ And I say: it will take as long as necessary,” he said.

Asked for clarification, the prime minister's office told NBC News there was "no disconnect."

Police in Abu Dhabi have arrested more than 100 people for filming and spreading “false information” on social media, the United Arab Emirates government said.

The UAE, of which Abu Dhabi is the capital, did not specify exactly what the 109 detainees had been filming or posting, just that it was “unreliable content or content not issued by official sources.”

The Interior Ministry said that posting such content “can negatively impact community security and the conduct of security procedures.”

Police “urged the public to obtain information only from official and accredited sources and to refrain from filming or publishing locations of events or related videos,” the ministry said. This was “in order to ensure the integrity of the procedures followed and to protect the public interest.”

A senior official in the Iranian armed forces has warned the country's enemies won't be safe in tourist centers around the world.

Gen. Abolfazl Shekarchi, a spokesman for Iran’s armed forces, said that the high numbers of Iranian officials being killed in American and Israeli strikes “is not a sign of the enemy’s strength; rather, it stems from desperation, helplessness and malice.”

Iranian officials “live with the people and among the people,” he said.

(Weeks before the war, Iran was beset by mass street protests, which were crushed with deadly force by authorities.)

Iranian officials, Shekarchi continued in a statement, were not like those in Israel or the U.S. who “have hidden underground and in shelters or use civilians as human shields.”

Iran, he said, was “monitoring your cowardly officials and commanders, your malicious pilots and soldiers” and “even recreational areas, resorts and tourist centres around the world will not be safe for you.”

Part of an Iranian missile sits lodged in a living room in Rehovot, Israel, today after Iranian attacks.

Tomer Appelbaum / Reuters

An Iranian official says that 16 commercial and civilian cargo ships were set on fire after an American-Israeli strike on two of its ports on the Persian Gulf.

Local governor Foad Moradzadeh said the strikes hit Bandar Lengeh and Bandar Kangan, according to the Tasnim news agency.

Moradzadeh said that images from the scene showed "destruction" and a pier fire that burned the boats at one of the locations.

"These vessels played an important role in the livelihood of sailors and local residents, and they were directly targeted, causing significant damage to local workers," he said.

Despite American and Israeli claims that its military is in tatters, Iran continues to launch missiles at its Arab Gulf neighbors. Air defenses were activated across the region as people observed Eid al-Fitr, the end of the month of Ramadan and one of the holiest days in the Muslim calendar.

This morning heavy blasts were heard in Dubai as air defenses intercepted incoming rocket fire. The United Arab Emirates, of which Dubai is the largest city, said that in total it shot down four ballistic missiles and 26 drones, according to its ministry of defense.

In Bahrain, air defense systems shot down “successive waves of heinous Iranian terrorist attacks,” its military said. Falling shrapnel from an interception caused a fire at a commercial warehouse, it said.

In Kuwait, the Al-Ahmadi refinery was “subjected to a number of hostile attacks by drones early this morning, resulting in a fire in some of its units,” the owner, Kuwait Petroleum Corporation, said, adding there were no casualties.

And Saudi Arabia said it shot down 15 drones flying toward its oil-rich Al-Jawf and Eastern regions.

Today is the Persian New Year — known as Nowruz — and people in Iran are hopeful that the next one will be better than the last.

Nima, 35, a resident of Tehran, said that if someone had told him three years ago what was going to happen since then, he would have laughed and called it impossible. Iranians have seen everything, he jokes blackly, and only aliens are left.

He described hearing the loud thud of airstrikes at 3 a.m., as well as the capital’s skies turning black when oil depots were bombed. He is unable to go to work because that area is frequently bombed, but says in general society is functioning well.

People shop for flowers at a market yesterday in Tehran ahead of Nowruz. Majid Saeedi / Getty Images

Ali, 27, is a volunteer with the Iranian Red Crescent Society, a nonprofit emergency response group. He is from a wealthy family but said he chose to stay in the city and help out. Among the scenes he says he has seen, perhaps the worst was recovering the body of a little girl after a strike on the city’s Resalat Square.

He said we was also among the first to witness the aftermath of a senior official being targeted. The attack looked different and more high-precision, he said, with even the leaves around the impact area left untouched.

A joke Trump made about Japan’s 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor has gotten mixed reactions in Asia, where commenters noted the awkwardness of the situation for Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, who was sitting beside Trump in the Oval Office.

Responding to a Japanese reporter’s question about why the U.S. attacked Iran without notifying Japan or other allies, Trump said he wanted to catch Iran off-guard.

“Who knows better about surprise than Japan? OK, why didn’t you tell me about Pearl Harbor?” he laughed, adding, “You believe in surprise, I think, much more than us.”

Takaichi, who is visiting Washington with the aim of bolstering her country’s U.S. alliance, appeared visibly uncomfortable, her eyes widening as she shifted in her seat with pursed lips and appeared to sigh, saying nothing.

Commentators were split on how Takaichi handled what the Asahi Shimbun newspaper described as Trump’s “shallow understanding of historical context.” Other media outlets suggested that Takaichi’s restraint showed she did not want a joke, albeit a sensitive one, to blow up U.S.-Japan relations.

Read the NBC News story on Trump's comments here.

More U.S. troops began to make their way to the Middle East this morning after Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan condemned Iran’s attacks on his country. 

The USS Boxer set off from San Diego and is set to carry at least 2,200 Marines, according to two people familiar with the decision. It is leaving sooner than expected, they said.

More than 2,000 Marines head to Middle East as Iran war rages

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The ship set off hours after Faisal said that the “little trust” between Saudi Arabia and neighboring Iran had “completely been shattered.” 

“What possibly military purpose can you have for attacking the refinery of a noncombatant,” he said in response to a question from NBC News.

Muslim worshippers attended early morning prayers for Eid al-Fitr today in Jerusalem, marking the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

People gathered along Salah al-Din street after police blocked them from approaching the Jerusalem old city walls, then used stun grenades to disperse the worshippers.

John Wessels / AFP via Getty Images

Faiz Abu Rmeleh / Getty Images

Faiz Abu Rmeleh / Getty Images

After a spate of attacks on gas fields and refineries across the Gulf, the United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres has said there is "reasonable grounds" that the warring parties may have committed war crimes.

“If there are attacks either on Iran or from Iran on energy infrastructure, I think that there are reasonable grounds to think that they might constitute a war crime,” he told Politico.

Israel has attacked Iran's South Pars gas field and Iran has retaliated by hitting gas facilities in Israel, as well as in Qatar.

An Iranian missile strike yesterday damaged essential infrastructure at an oil refinery in Haifa, northern Israel, the refinery's owner, BAZAN Group Oil Refineries, said in a statement today.

Most of the production facilities were operating normally and the rest were being restarted, the company said in a filing at the Tel Aviv stock exchange.

Some "essential infrastructure" owned by a third party was damaged outside the complex but that is expected to return to normal operation "within a few days," it said. The refinery's electrical infrastructure was also damaged, it said.

No injuries or casualties were reported.

More than 1,000 people have been killed and more than 1 million displaced by Israeli air attacks and ground operations in southern Lebanon, according to government figures.

More than a million people displaced in Lebanon as Israel expands offensive against Hezbollah

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But residents and analysts believe a more significant push into the country is likely imminent.

Read the full story here.

Alternative routes for the transfer of oil, including pipelines through the Arabian Peninsula, should be built to prevent Iran from stopping the flow, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said yesterday. 

Netanyahu told the group of reporters that he was “not going to speak about the full battle plans that we have with the United States.”

“We’re well-coordinated with them,” he said.

Instead of transferring oil through the Strait of Hormuz, which Iran has effectively blockaded since the start of the U.S.-Israel war, and the Bab el-Mandeb Strait where ships have been targeted by Yemen’s Tehran-backed Houthi rebels, he said pipelines should “go west through the Arabian Peninsula, right up to Israel, right up to our Mediterranean ports.”

Kyiv has received signals from the U.S. indicating “readiness to continue working within the existing negotiation formats to bring an end to Russia’s war against Ukraine,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.

“There has been a pause in the talks, and it is time to resume them,” Zelenskyy wrote in a post on X last night. “We are doing everything to ensure that the negotiations are genuinely substantive.”

Security concerns placed talks in doubt as some trilateral meetings between Russia, the U.S. and Ukraine took place in the United Arab Emirates, while Washington’s attention has been diverted to the escalating conflict in the Middle East and the growing energy crisis.

“The Ukrainian team — the political members of the negotiating group — is already on the way, and we expect a meeting this Saturday,” Zelenskyy added. He did not elaborate on where the meeting will take place.

The Israeli military targeted a "command center" and weapons in a military compound in southern Syria overnight, the IDF said today, which came in response to attacks against Druze civilians.

The Druze community is an Arab religious minority, which is concentrated in southern Syria and has found itself at the crosshairs of the increased violence since Bashar al-Assad's ouster in late 2024.

Israel, too, has a large Druze population.

"We will not allow the Syrian regime to exploit our war against Iran and Hezbollah to harm the Druze," Defense Minister Israel Katz said in a statement today.

Iran’s new supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, has sent his condolences to President Masoud Pezeshkian over the death of his intelligence chief, one of a growing list of senior Iranian officials killed in Israeli strikes this week.

Esmail Khatib was killed a day after top national security official Ali Larijani and former Basij militia chief Gen. Gholam Reza Soleimani.

In his message to the president, Khamenei said that “security must be taken away from internal and external enemies and provided to all people of the country.”

Aside from a written message read out on state TV, the country’s new supreme leader has not been seen in public since his father’s death brought about his appointment last week. 

A ceremony was held at Valiasr Square in Tehran yesterday for the Iranian women’s soccer team players who returned from Australia after refusing asylum in Australia, following their participation in the Asia Cup.

Concerns over the safety of the Iranian team arose after they stayed silent during their national anthem ahead of their opening game.

 Saeid Zareian / dpa/picture alliance via Getty Images

Iran Football Federation president Mehdi Taj, center, attends the event. Saeid Zareian / dpa/picture alliance via Getty Images

 aeid Zareian / Sdpa/picture alliance via Getty Images

The spokesman of Iran’s powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Gen. Ali Mohammad Naeini, said earlier today that his country was still producing missiles and that it had some “surprises for the enemy.” Shortly after, his organization announced he had been killed in an air strike.

Israel's military also announced the killing.

Naeini is the latest high-profile Iranian official to be killed this week. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth warned yesterday that anyone stepping into these roles would merely be holding them as “temp jobs” — suggesting they would be assassinated, too.

Naeini, the IRGC spokesman, had rebuffed suggestions by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that Iran was unable to enrich uranium or produce missiles.

“The grade of our missile industry is” at 100% “and there is no concern in this regard,” Naeini said in a statement. “Even in wartime, we continue producing missiles, which is remarkable and there is no particular problem with our stock.” He added, “We definitely have surprises for the enemy. As we move forward, the battles will become more surprising, more complex and include unexpected elements.”

Shortly afterward the IRGC announced Naeini had been “martyred in an aerial aggression.”

Working from home and avoiding air travel are two ways people can insulate themselves from soaring global energy prices stemming from the Iran war, the International Energy Agency said in a report today. 

The agency said that remote work can reduce the consumption of oil used by private vehicles while traveling to and from work, while also acknowledging that not all jobs can be done remotely. 

In the short term, the report added, traveling for work should be replaced by virtual meetings, adding that it would not impact productivity. 

Governments in Asia, which relies heavily on the Middle East for fuel imports, have already begun implementing such measures. The Philippines has initiated a four-day workweek for government employees, while Vietnam has urged its citizens to work from home and limit vehicle usage. 

READ MORE FROM NBC NEWS: Use the stairs, work from home: Asia is already making big changes as oil prices spike

Oil prices today pared earlier gains on the intensifying Iran war, falling back to around $108 a barrel, as Iran strikes Gulf energy facilities, while Asian shares were mostly down following Wall Street losses.

U.S. futures edged up 0.1%.

Oil prices had a roller-coaster day yesterday with Brent crude, the international standard, briefly surging to around $119 per barrel as attacks by Iran on oil and gas facilities around the Gulf escalated after Israel’s attack on Iran’s key natural gas field.

In early trading today, Brent crude fell 0.4% to $108.19 a barrel, following Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s remarks that he would hold off on further attacks on Iran’s gas field at Trump’s request. Benchmark U.S. crude was down 1.2% to $94.40 a barrel.

A fire broke out after multiple drone attacks targeted a Kuwait refinery port yesterday, with no reported injuries, according to the country’s National Petroleum Company. 

Mina Al-Ahmadi refinery in Kuwait today.  AP

In a statement, Kuwait’s army said that its air defense systems were “intercepting hostile attacks.”

Although authorities in Kuwait have not said where the drone attacks came from, the country has previously been attacked by Iran. 

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth met privately Wednesday with the families of six service members who died in the Iran war and, in a news briefing the next morning, said the message he got was consistent and supportive.

“What I heard through tears, through hugs, through strength and through unbreakable resolve was the same from family after family. They said, ‘Finish this. Honor their sacrifice. Do not waver. Do not stop until the job is done,’” Hegseth said.

One of the people he met at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware was Charles Simmons. His 28-year-old son, Tech. Sgt. Tyler H. Simmons, was among the six crew members killed when their refueling plane crashed in Iraq last week.

United States Air Force Tech. Sgt. Tyler H. Simmons, 28.  U.S. Air Force

Simmons recalled his exchange differently. “I can’t speak for the other families. When he spoke to me, that was not something we talked about,” he told NBC News in an interview yesterday.

Read the full story here.

Israel did inform the U.S. that it was planning to strike South Pars, a major gas field in Iran, a U.S. official familiar with the information told NBC News, contradicting Trump’s claim that the U.S. “knew nothing” about it. 

The U.S. and Israel have been coordinating strikes and targets, especially strategically significant ones, the U.S. official said.

The attack on South Pars, the Iranian side of a natural gas field it shares with Qatar that is the world’s largest, is a major blow to Iran, which relies on it for about 80% of its domestic needs. Iran quickly retaliated by striking energy sites in neighboring Gulf states, including a critical natural gas facility in Qatar.

In a social media post, Trump said the U.S. “knew nothing about” the attack before it happened. He said South Pars would not be attacked again unless Iran continues to strike energy facilities in Qatar, in which case the U.S. “will massively blow up the entirety” of the gas field.

• Father of service member killed in Iran war said he never told Pete Hegseth to ‘finish’ the job
• Iran war escalation sets key gas sites, and the world’s energy prices, ablaze
• Iran retaliation is forcing Gulf nations into a stark decision: whether to join the fight
• Justice Department seizes domains linked to Iran hacker group
• Trump makes Pearl Harbor joke during meeting with Japanese prime minister