Live updates: Oil prices soar past $100 per barrel; Iran names Khamenei's son supreme leader
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Prices surged past $100 per barrel as the war with Iran intensified, with Israel hitting Iranian oil depots over the weekend and Tehran continuing to strike back across the Middle East.
What we know
- NEW SUPREME LEADER: Mojtaba Khamenei, the hardline son of Iran’s slain supreme leader, has been named his successor. The move is likely to rankle President Donald Trump, who said it would be an "unacceptable" pick by ruling clerics.
- OIL PRICES SOAR: Oil prices surged past $100 per barrel as the war intensifies, a spike Trump said will be “short term” and “a very small price to pay.” Israel hit Iranian oil depots over the weekend, while Tehran has targeted energy sites across the region and throttled the key Strait of Hormuz waterway.
- ANOTHER U.S. CASUALTY: The U.S. military announced the death of another service member, bringing the total killed in combat to seven.
- CEASEFIRE RULED OUT: Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi rejected calls for a ceasefire, telling NBC News’ “Meet the Press” that his country must “continue fighting for the sake of our people.” He declined to say whether Russia has been providing Iran with intelligence support.
- DEATH TOLL: Hundreds of people have been killed across the Middle East. In Iran, at least 940 have been killed by Israeli and American strikes, Iranian state media reported, and 12 have now died in Israel as Iran fired back.
India’s foreign minister confirms deaths of two merchant vessel workers
Two Indians have died while working on merchant vessels amid the ongoing conflict in the Middle East and one other is still missing, Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar said today.
“We have sadly already lost two Indian mariners and one remains missing,” Jaishankar said.
He also defended a decision to let an Iranian vessel, IRIS LAVAN, dock in southwest India’s coastal Kerala state on Wednesday, the same day that the U.S. sank another Iranian navy vessel off neighboring Sri Lanka.
“We believe that this was the right thing to do and the Iranian Foreign Minister has expressed his country’s thanks for this humane gesture."
Iran announces large gathering to celebrate new Supreme Leader
Iranians were told this morning that a large gathering to “renew allegiance” to the newly-selected Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, will be taking place in Tehran and across the country today.
Iran's newly-selected Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei in Tehran in 2024. KHAMENEI.IR / AFP via Getty Images
A blanket mass text message seen by NBC News was sent to say that the gathering will take place at 3 p.m. local time (7:30 a.m. ET) at Enqelab Square in the center of the capital, but also in the main squares of cities across the country.
“The event will be held with the presence of the people,” the text message read.
It’s not clear if Mojtaba Khamenei will attend the gathering, after Israel vowed to target any declared successor to his father.
E.U. calls oil, gas supply group meetings on Middle East crisis
The European Union’s oil and gas supply coordination groups will meet on Thursday, a European Commission spokesperson said earlier today, as oil prices surge to above $100 per barrel.
The groups will monitor the energy impact of the conflict in the Middle East, and E.U. countries’ latest assessments of their oil supplies. E.U. countries are required to hold oil stocks covering 90 days’ worth of consumption.
Having shifted away from Russian energy since its invasion of Ukraine, Europe now relies more heavily on imports from the Gulf region.
It comes as major Middle Eastern oil producers have cut supply because they cannot safely send shipments through the Strait of Hormuz to refiners worldwide. The strait, a key artery accounting for about 20% of global oil and liquefied natural gas supply, has largely been blocked by Iran and the vessel traffic in and out of it has nearly halted following the outbreak of war.
New video shows missile hit area of deadly school strike; it appears to be a Tomahawk, expert says
A new video geolocated by NBC News appears to show the moment a missile hit a former Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps compound where a school in Minab was struck and scores of children were reported killed.
The video published by Iran's semi-official Mehr News was first geolocated by online research group Bellingcat, which said that the missile appeared to be a U.S. Tomahawk.
N.R. Jenzen-Jones, director of the arms intelligence firm Armament Research Services, agreed, telling NBC News the video “appears to show a Tomahawk missile.” He added: “Given the belligerents, this would indicate a U.S. strike.”
The U.S. is the only participant in the war known to have Tomahawk missiles, Bellingcat noted in its reporting.
President Donald Trump claimed over the weekend that Iran was likely responsible for the school strike, while Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said last week that the U.S. was still “investigating” the incident.
The Trump administration’s preliminary findings show it is increasingly likely that a U.S. munition was used in the strikes, a U.S. official and a person familiar with the investigation told NBC News. The U.S. is still looking into whether the strikes were the result of bad intelligence or poor targeting, the sources said.
Belgian synagogue severely damaged following explosion, local broadcaster reports
A synagogue in the eastern Belgian city of Liege was damaged following an explosion, local broadcaster VRT has reported, citing the city’s law enforcement.
The explosion broke the windows of the synagogue and took place at approximately 4am local time (10 p.m. ET yesterday), VRT said, while adding that no injuries were reported.
Liege’s mayor Willy Demeyer called the incident an “extremely violent act of antisemitism” in comments made to French-language public broadcaster, RTBF, according to Reuters.
A special counter-terrorism team is investigating the incident. It was not clear whether there was any link to the war in the Middle East.
Bahrain’s state oil company declares force majeure after attack
Bahrain’s state oil company has declared force majeure after an attack set its refinery ablaze.
Photos show thick smoke rising from the direction of the refinery after the government earlier said dozens were injured and damage was sustained in the area as a result of an Iranian drone attack.
Reuters
The state-run Bahrain News Agency carried the announcement of the force majeure, a legal maneuver that releases a company of its contractual obligations because of extraordinary circumstances.
It said the company’s operations “have been affected by the ongoing regional conflict in the Middle East and the recent attack on its refinery complex.” It insisted local demand could be met.
Iran soccer team exits Women’s Asian Cup and faces the prospect of a return home
Iran’s soccer team lost its last group match at the Women’s Asian Cup yesterday and had to contemplate returning home to a country embroiled in war.
Iran's soccer team before the AFC Women's Asian Cup Australia 2026 match against the Philippines yesterday. AFP via Getty Images
The Iranian women’s squad arrived in Australia for the continental championship last month, before the war that began with the U.S. and Israel’s Feb. 28 strikes on Iran. Teams ousted during the group stage usually leave within days, but organizers have not announced details for the departure of the Iran delegation.
Their silence during the anthem before an opening loss to South Korea last Monday was viewed by some as an act of resistance and others as a show of mourning. The team hasn’t clarified, but the players sang the anthem and saluted during the anthem ahead of their 4-0 loss to Australia last Thursday and a 2-0 loss to the Philippines yesterday.
Markets in Asia are battered as oil surpasses $100 a barrel
Asian markets nosedived after the war in Iran sent the price of oil surging past $100 per barrel for the first time since July 2022.
Leading the losses was South Korea’s benchmark Kospi, which closed down almost 6%. Earlier, trading was briefly suspended in the second “circuit breaker” since last week, when the index fell 10.6% for its biggest weekly loss since March 2020.
Elsewhere in Asia, Japan’s Nikkei 225 finished 5.2% lower, while Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 pared earlier losses to close down 2.85% and Chinese markets had smaller losses. U.S. futures are down as much as 1.8%, signaling that U.S. stocks will continue to fall when markets reopen.
Trump said yesterday that a short-term rise in oil prices was “a very small price to pay” for ending the nuclear threat from Iran. “Only fools would think differently!” he said in a social media post.
Israel strikes several targets across central Iran
Israel says its military hit targets in central Iran, including its command centers and several missile launch sites.
“As part of the strikes, the IDF struck a rocket engine production facility and several long-range ballistic missiles launch sites that were prepared for launch toward the State of Israel,” read the statement posted on Telegram.
It added that the Israeli air force “completed an additional wave of strikes on infrastructure across Iran belonging to the Iranian regime.”
Europe’s mixed response to Iran war draws Trump’s fury toward U.S. allies
After a year of tariff threats, insults and diplomatic clashes with European allies, Trump is left to wage a war in Iran with only Israel by his side.
“This is not Winston Churchill that we’re dealing with,” Trump said last week after British Prime Minister Keir Starmer refused to allow the U.S. to use British bases as part of its initial strikes, only later allowing the use of its bases for “defensive” actions.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer; U.S. President Donald Trump; Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez. Getty Images
A day later, after Spain barred U.S. military planes from using its jointly operated bases in Andalusia, Trump said the U.S. would seek to “cut off all trade with Spain,” a member of the European Union’s single market.
But the United States’ various requests for European support appear to show some desire for a mutually beneficial relationship with Europe, which at times has appeared uncertain since Trump’s return to office.
Oil hits $100 per barrel for first time since July 2022
Oil continued its recent surge, hitting $100 per barrel for the first time since July 2022 and then soaring higher as the ripple effects from the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran continued to hit global markets.
U.S. crude oil futures rose more than 25%, to nearly $115 per barrel, while Brent, the international benchmark, jumped more than 20%, to $110 per barrel.
In addition to oil’s rise, S&P 500 futures plunged 2.3%, Dow futures plummeted more than 1,000 points, and Nasdaq 100 futures slid 2.7%, indicating U.S. stocks were poised to continue last week’s descent.
Oil’s remarkable jump came despite a record 35% rise last week. In addition to surging oil prices, U.S. retail gas prices also soared to a national average of more than $3.45 per gallon.
Mojtaba Khamenei, son of ayatollah killed in U.S.-Israeli strikes, named Iran’s new supreme leader
A statement from the Assembly of Experts — the panel of Shia clerics responsible under Iranian law for choosing the country’s top leader — said Mojtaba Khamenei had been selected as the third leader of the Islamic Republic, according to reports from IRIB state TV and the Fars, Tasnim and ISNA news agencies.
President Donald Trump told Axios last week that the choice would be “unacceptable” and suggested he wanted to handpick a new supreme leader, a process overseen by Iran’s clerics.
The Israel Defense Forces warned Sunday that any successor to Ali Khamenei would be considered a target.
