Live updates: Iran launches its 'most intense' strikes of the war; Pentagon says it hit 16 mine-laying ships
Catch up with NBC News Clone on today's hot topic: Live Updates Iran War Israel Us Lebanon Tehran Oil Prices Hormuz Rcna262889 - World News | NBC News Clone. Our editorial team reformatted this story for clarity and speed.
Iran fired some of its most advanced ballistic missiles toward two Israeli cities, state media reported.
What we know
- COMBATANTS TRADE STRIKES: The U.S. and Israel traded strikes with Iran across the Middle East with Lebanon and the Gulf countries hit as the war entered its 12th day.
- IRAN'S 'MOST INTENSE OPERATION': Iran has launched its “most intense operation since the beginning of the war,” state media reported, firing some of its most advanced ballistic missiles toward Tel Aviv and Haifa in Israel.
- MINELAYERS ELIMINATED: U.S. Central Command said it had “eliminated” 16 Iranian minelayers, along with multiple naval vessels, near the Strait of Hormuz, a key waterway through which 20% of the world’s oil passes.
- OIL PRICES REBOUND: After a major surge in crude oil prices, global energy prices tumbled and stock markets rebounded as investors bet that President Donald Trump would seek to end the war soon and The Wall Street Journal reported that the International Energy Agency has proposed the largest release of oil reserves in its history.
- SCHOOL STRIKE: 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.
- DEATH TOLL: Hundreds of people have been killed across the Middle East. In Iran, more than 1,200 people have been killed by Israeli and American strikes, according to the Iranian Red Crescent Society, and 13 have died in Israel as Iran fired back. In Lebanon, the prime minister's office said 570 people had been killed in Israeli strikes on Hezbollah targets.
- INSIGHTS AND ANALYSIS: Get exclusive analysis and insight into the Middle East conflict by becoming an NBC News subscriber.
India is helping to keep oil prices stable with Russian oil purchases, U.S. ambassador says
India has been a “great partner” in keeping oil prices stable around the world, according to the country's 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%.
The U.S. line has changed as the war with Iran sends global oil prices soaring and last week, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the U.S. would issue a 30-day waiver to allow Indian refiners to buy Russian oil.
He said it would not provide significant financial help to the Russian government since it authorized only transactions for oil “already stranded at sea.”
Sri Lanka court orders sailors’ bodies be handed to Iranian embassy
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.
Healthcare 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 injured after two Iranian drones fall near Dubai airport
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.
Hundreds killed and over 1,440 wounded in Lebanon
Lebanon 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, Salam's office said in a statement.
Cargo ship on fire in Strait of Hormuz, security firm says
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.
Images taken near Iranian school hit in deadly strikes show fragments of U.S.-made missile
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 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.
Oil prices are volatile amid conflicting reports about security in the Strait of Hormuz
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.
