Live updates: Intense Israeli strikes hit Tehran and Beirut; Trump says Iran ground invasion would be a 'waste of time'

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi thanked Sri Lanka for rescuing some of his country's sailors after a U.S. torpedo strike on one of its navy ships, the state-run TV IRIB reported this morning.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the U.S. had torpedoed an Iranian ship in international waters off Sri Lanka's coast in the Indian Ocean.

00:34

Sri Lankan authorities said they have recovered at least 87 bodies from the incident, and 32 sailors were rescued.

Araghchi said the ship was targeted in international waters about 2,000 miles away from Iran’s coast without warning, IRIB reported, adding that Iran will take legal action in connection with the incident in international courts.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said "some countries" have begun mediation efforts to stop the war.

"Let’s be clear: we are committed to lasting peace in the region yet we have no hesitation in defending our nation’s dignity & sovereignty," Pezeshkian said in a post on X. He did not elaborate on which countries were involved in mediation efforts.

"Mediation should address those who underestimated the Iranian people and ignited this conflict," he added.

Pezeshkian's comments came hours after his Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi ruled out negotiations with the U.S. and said that Iran had not asked for a ceasefire in an interview to NBC News yesterday.

Fashes of yellow lit up the dark skies over Tehran in the early hours of the morning, as airstrikes continued to pound the Iranian capital.

Atta Kenare / AFP via Getty Images

A drone was intercepted and destroyed to the northeast of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia’s capital, the country’s defense ministry said in a statement on X.

Saudi Arabia sits across the Persian Gulf from Iran and is among several Middle Eastern that has been on the receiving end of Iran’s retaliatory attacks after the U.S.-Israeli attack that ended Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s rule.

The Israeli military said it had dismantled the underground bunker intended for slain Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei underneath the leadership compound in central Tehran.

The bunker was targeted by 50 Israeli fighter jets a short while ago, the Israel Defense Forces said in a statement on Telegram.

It was intended to be used by the Supreme Leader as a secure emergency command center, the statement said. Although Khamenei was killed before he could use the bunker, senior Iranian regime officials were still using it, the IDF said.

The bunker spanned multiple streets in central Tehran and contained numerous entrances and meeting rooms for senior members of the Iranian regime, the IDF said. Targeting it “further degrades the regime’s command and control capabilities,” it added.

Communication between Iranians and the rest of the world is now limited due to ongoing strikes, a government-imposed internet shutdown, and the escalating war conflict.

NBC News’ Yasmin Vossoughian spoke with a man who described the situation on the streets of Tehran and shared what this critical moment for the nation meant to him.

06:58

The war in Iran is likely to shake up the agenda at Trump’s looming summit with Chinese leader Xi Jinping, potentially upstaging the trade war between the world’s two biggest economies, a Chinese analyst said.

After hitting each other with spiraling tariffs last year, the two countries are looking to extend a fragile trade truce. Trade was “supposed to be the most important topic” during Trump’s visit to China, which the White House says will start March 31, said Da Wei, director of the Center for International Security and Strategy at Tsinghua University in Beijing.

But now, “probably Iran will be the number one issue,” he said today at an event hosted by the University of Hong Kong’s Centre on Contemporary China and the World. “The whole world is waiting for the two leaders to say something about Iran.”

That makes the tariff issue “though still extremely important, maybe a little bit marginalized,” Da said.

The Kurdistan Regional Government denied reports that it is planning to arm Kurdish opposition groups and send them into Iran, calling them “completely unfounded.”

“We categorically deny them and affirm that they are being published deliberately and maliciously,” spokesperson Peshawa Hawramani said in a post on X. “At the same time, the Kurdistan Regional Government and the political parties within it are not part of any campaign to expand the war and tensions in the region.”

He strongly condemned Iran’s “cowardly attacks” in recent days targeting Iranian and Iraqi Kurdish groups in the semi-autonomous Kurdish region in neighboring Iraq. “We call on the federal government and the international community to intervene to stop these assaults and protect our land, our people, and our region,” he said.

NBC News reported Wednesday that Trump administration officials are in discussion with Kurdish leaders in northern Iraq and northwestern Iran about potentially arming groups opposed to the Iranian regime, according to three people with knowledge of the discussions and an Iraqi Kurdish official. Kurdish groups say they have faced discrimination and repression by the Iranian regime, but they have also had friction with some opposition activists.

The Kremlin says the war against Iran has fueled a “significant increase in demand” for Russian energy, a pillar of Vladimir Putin's war economy that was hit by global sanctions over his war in Ukraine.

“Russia was and remains a reliable supplier of both oil and gas, both pipeline gas and liquefied natural gas,” spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters earlier today. “And this remains the case. Russia is capable of guaranteeing the stability of all supplies.”

Meanwhile, Peskov said Moscow was “in dialogue with the Iranian side,” without specifying who. He refused to answer whether Russia is propping up Iran militarily.

Russia’s economy depends on oil and gas revenues, which took a hit from sanctions imposed after the invasion of Ukraine in 2022. With the conflict in the Middle East growing and creating potential long-term disruptions in the flow of energy resources from the region, Moscow could stand to benefit.

In Gilavand, a small residential area around 50 miles east of the Iranian capital this morning, people continued with their lives despite more bombs dropping over Tehran from U.S. and Israeli forces.

Amin Khodadadi / NBC News

Street vendors sold fresh fruit by the roadside, grocery stores were busy with well stocked shelves and people walked the streets to run their daily errands.

Amin Khodadadi / NBC News

Amin Khodadadi / NBC News

Amin Khodadadi / NBC News

South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Hyun said earlier today that the U.S. and South Korean militaries are discussing the possible redeployment of some U.S. Patriot missile defence systems based in South Korea to be used in the war against Iran.

Cho was responding to questions at a parliamentary hearing following media reports that units of the U.S. mobile missile interceptor system had been moved to the Osan Air Base in South Korea from other locations in the country.

Cho said he was unable to comment when asked whether the U.S. plan is to move the Patriot missiles soon to use in the conflict against Iran. He said Seoul has not received any requests from Washington for military help.

South Korea hosts a major U.S. military presence in combined defence against nuclear-armed North Korea, with about 28,500 troops and surface-to-air defence systems, including the Patriot missile interceptors.

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has launched a new missile attack at Israel, including the firing of its larger Khorramshahr-4 missiles, Iranian state media is reporting.

"A large number of missiles were launched toward the center of the occupied territories," it said.

Earlier this morning the IRGC launched ballistic missiles and drones at targets in Israel, including central Tel Aviv.

Sri Lanka has taken custody of a second Iranian naval vessel, a day after more than 80 people were killed when the U.S. sank an Iranian warship off the coast of the South Asian island nation.

The Irins Bushehr, which was carrying more than 200 people, was allowed to dock at a Sri Lankan port after it asked for help, saying an engine had malfunctioned.

Sri Lanka says it has a firm position of neutrality and will not take sides in the war in the Middle East.

“Our position has been to safeguard our neutrality while demonstrating our humanitarian values,” Sri Lankan President Anura Kumara Dissanayake said yesterday. “We do not believe any civilian should die.”

American Sasha Hoffman opted to leave Dubai for Oman by road after days of flight cancellations and mounting fears over the escalating regional conflict.

Hoffman, 38, had been in Dubai since January and initially planned to stay for several more months. But the situation changed rapidly over the weekend, with the United Arab Emirates facing Iranian missile and drone attacks.

“I was with friends having dinner,” she said. “That’s when everything just started to, as you know, balloon.”

“You’re seeing fighter jets overhead,” she added. “They’re obviously intercepting missiles.”

Although she said daily life in Dubai appeared largely calm, warnings from Washington pushed her to try to leave.

Trump encouraged Iranian diplomats around the world to seek asylum, promising them “immunity” in exchange.

“I’m once again calling on all members of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, the military and the police to lay down their arms,” he told reporters yesterday. “They’re only going to be killed, and now is the time to stand up for the Iranian people and help take back your country.”

“You’ll be perfectly safe with total immunity or you’ll face absolutely guaranteed death, and I don’t want to see that,” Trump added. 

U.S. Central Command said today that “Iranian targets are being decimated by U.S. forces,” adding in a post on X that it would continue to attack with "overwhelming" firepower.

The post was accompanied by a 17-second long black and white video showing what it said was attacks on Iranian targets.

An image taken on Wednesday and released by the Sri Lankan President’s Office this morning appears to show Iranian sailors being rescued from the IRIS Dena frigate in the immediate aftermath of a U.S. submarine attack off Sri Lanka’s southern coast in Galle.

Sri Lankan President's Office / AFP - Getty Images

Plans are being made in Iran to introduce the new supreme leader, Iranian state media reported, amid growing speculation about who will replace slain Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

The country has been without a supreme leader for a week after Khamenei was killed in the U.S.-Israeli strikes on Saturday, creating a power vacuum not seen in decades. President Trump told NBC News yesterday he wanted to see Iran’s leadership structure fully removed and that he had some names in mind for a “good leader.”

The Assembly of Experts is a clerical body that was tasked with selecting a new supreme leader, and semi-official news agency Tasnim reported it will form to introduce the future leader, without giving any timelines. 

British police said this morning they have arrested four men on suspicion of spying for Iran on Jewish sites in London.

"The investigation relates to suspected surveillance of locations and individuals linked to the Jewish community in the London area," London's Metropolitan Police said in a statement.

One of the men was Iranian, while three had dual British-Iranian nationality, police said. The arrests were made in Barnet, north London, and Watford, a town north of London.

The arrests are part of "a long-running investigation," said Commander Helen Flanagan, head of Counter Terrorism Policing London, adding it was part of ongoing work "to disrupt malign activity."

Overnight I was woken up by the sound of explosions and my window's were shaking.

I heard 10 massive explosions from the east of Tehran and reports say fighter jets at very low altitude over the city.

But several parts of the capital came under attack including the center of the city, the east and the west.

Even the dogs are scared and they have been barking all morning.

Although the attacks carried on, I was too tired to stay awake.

Beirut streets were congested as families sought safety following the Israeli military’s evacuation order, as IDF strikes target Hezbollah. NBC News spoke with residents attempting to flee, who expressed concern that the violence could escalate. 

One man, his wife and four young children fled north to safer ground.

“I’m putting my faith only in God,” he said.

Thousands flee Beirut after Israeli evacuation order

02:53

Israel has begun a “broad-scale wave of strikes” on the infrastructure of what it called the “Iranian terror regime” in Tehran, its military said.

It did not say anything about damage or casualties.

Satellite imagery obtained by NBC News via Planet Labs shows the damage at the Shajareh Tayyebeh elementary school in Minab, Iran, which was struck on Saturday as the U.S. and Israel launched joint operations.

Iranian authorities said at least 168 people, many of them children, were killed.

The imagery shows multiple impact sites on the school site and the adjoining Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps base it was once part of, with 7 buildings damaged or destroyed in total.

Buildings hit included a clinic, which was opened by the IRGC Navy in 2024, according to Payam Hormozgan, citing the Persian Gulf Central Broadcasting Agency. The clinic’s signage can be read in video geolocated by NBC News.

President Donald Trump told NBC News in an exclusive interview yesterday that he wants Iran “to have a good leader” and he has people in mind “who I think would do a good job.”

His comments came after Axios reported Trump wanted to be involved in picking Iran’s next leader. Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was killed Saturday in strikes by the U.S. and Israel, and ruling clerics will select a new supreme leader. 

“We want to go in and clean out everything. We don’t want someone who would rebuild over a ten year period, they’ve been hit harder than anyone has been hit, but we don’t want someone who would rebuild it in ten years. That’s what it would take,” he said.

He declined to give names of anyone on his shortlist to lead Iran. But asked if he's ensuring the remaining people on the list make it through the war, he said, "We are watching them."

Read the full story here.