Live updates: Iran vows revenge after U.S. sinks warship; foreign minister rejects negotiations

Adm. Brad Cooper, the commander of U.S. Central Command, shared an update on Operation Epic Fury today, saying: "Combat power is building as Iranian combat power declines.”

He said that in the last 72 hours, the U.S. bomber force struck nearly 200 targets inside Iran, including around Tehran. He added that in the last hour, two bombers dropped "dozens of 2,000-pound penetrator bombs targeting deeply buried ballistic missile launchers."

He said strikes also hit Iran’s equivalent of “Space Command,” which “degrades their ability to threaten Americans.”

The Iranian navy has intensified and more than 30 ships have been sunk or destroyed, Cooper said.

“In just the last few hours, we hit an Iranian drone carrier ship, roughly the size of a World War II aircraft carrier, and as we speak, it’s on fire,” he said.

“So we’re not just hitting what they have. We’re destroying their ability to rebuild and so as we transition to the next phase of this operation, we will systemically dismantle Iran’s missile production capability for the future, and that’s absolutely in progress," Cooper said.

The Republican-controlled House narrowly voted today to reject a resolution that would restrict President Donald Trump’s war in Iran, one day after the Senate blocked a similar war powers resolution.

Taken together, the pair of failed House and Senate votes represent an implicit authorization by Congress for Trump to carry on his military strikes against Iran, which began last weekend, as a majority of Americans say they oppose the war.

The House vote was 212-219. Just two Republicans, Reps. Thomas Massie of Kentucky and Warren Davidson of Ohio, broke with Trump and joined most Democrats in supporting the resolution.

Massie and Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., the same bipartisan duo that successfully fought for the release of the Epstein files, authored the resolution. It would have halted Trump’s military operations in Iran unless Congress voted to declare war or authorize the use of military force there.

Read the full story here.

U.S. Embassy Kuwait City will suspend operations, the State Department announced today, adding that there have been no reported injuries to U.S. personnel at the diplomatic facility.

"The safety of Americans abroad remains the highest priority of the U.S. Department of State," the department said in a statement.

In an interview with Reuters today, President Donald Trump said he was not concerned about rising gas prices related to the war with Iran, adding that the U.S. military campaign was his top priority.

A customer pumps gas at Hatoff's gas station in Boston. Craig F. Walker / Boston Globe via Getty Images file

"I don't have any concern about it," Trump said, when the news agency asked him about increased prices at gas station pumps. "They'll drop very rapidly when this is over, and if they rise, they rise, but this is far more important than having gasoline prices go up a little bit."

In an interview on Fox News last night, U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright insisted the Iran conflict's effect on oil prices would be temporary and a "small price" to pay for the Pentagon's goals in the Middle East.

European Union nations will "pay the price, sooner or later" if they remain silent on the U.S.-Israeli military offensive against Iran, a spokesman for Iran's Foreign Ministry told the Spanish broadcaster TVE.

Esmaeil Baghaei, the spokesman, reiterated his previous statement that Tehran did not launch a missile into Turkish airspace. Turkey is a member of the NATO alliance.

The U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran are not aimed at Russia or China, both of which have close ties with Tehran, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said.

“They’re not really a factor here, and our issue is not with them, it’s with the nuclear ambitions of Iran,” he told reporters yesterday.

Russia and China have criticized the strikes as a violation of international law and Iran’s sovereignty and called for a return to dialogue, but have not offered Tehran any material support. China is sending a special envoy to the Middle East for mediation, Foreign Minister Wang Yi said yesterday in calls with his counterparts in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

China has major investments in energy-rich Gulf nations such as Saudi Arabia and the UAE, both of which have been targeted by Iran’s deadly retaliatory strikes. Wang told the UAE foreign minister that the “red line” of protecting civilians in conflicts must not be crossed and that nonmilitary targets, including those involving energy, should not be attacked.

Since the war began on Saturday, nearly 20,000 American citizens have safely returned to the United States from the Middle East, the State Department said today.

Family members wait at Dulles International Airport in Virginia for their relatives evacuated from the Middle East to arrive on a flight from Abu Dhabi on Thursday. Kevin Lamarque / Reuters

The figures do not include Americans who have relocated to other countries or have departed the Middle East but are still in transit, it added.

"I can say charter flights are underway, but for operational reasons, we’re limited by what we can say in terms of specifics," Tommy Pigott, principal deputy spokesperson for the State Department, told CNN today.

"But it’s flights plural. It’s flights with an S at this point, not just one," he added.

The State Department added that, through its task force, it has assisted "over 10,000 Americans abroad, including offering security guidance and travel assistance."

The White House yesterday posted a video on X that combines real footage of U.S. military missile strikes with clips from the popular video game franchise "Call of Duty."

"Courtesy of the Red, White & Blue," the White House said in a message accompanying the video.

The real footage, released by U.S. Central Command, shows missiles hitting targets in Iran amid the U.S.-Israeli military campaign there.

In a text message sent to devices across Iran, the regime's Ministry of Intelligence asked civilians to report sightings of drones and fighter jets.

"In order to speed up the follow up of received reports, we kindly request that you specify the location where the drones or fighter jets were seen, their number and their direction of movement," the text message said in part.

The CHIOS crude oil tanker sits anchored off the coast of the Chevron's El Segundo Refinery, in El Segundo, Calif., on Wednesday. Patrick T. Fallon / AFP via Getty Images

In an interview on Fox News, Energy Secretary Chris Wright said the spike in gas prices nationwide will "definitely be temporary" and revert to under $3 a gallon "before too long."

Wright, speaking to Fox News' Laura Ingraham last night, promised the U.S. Navy will "get energy flowing again" in part by escorting commercial vessels through the Strait of Hormuz.

Iran previously said it would attack any ship that passes through the Strait of Hormuz.

The U.S. has officially asked Ukraine for help in countering Iranian one-way drones known as Shaheds, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a social media post. The request marks a tacit acknowledgement of the U.S. and its allies' struggle to counter one of Iran's best-known weapons, which have already hit strategic and civilian targets throughout the region.

Ukraine has ample experience countering the drones. Russia has for years used them in combined aerial attacks against the country's cities and infrastructure. Among the most recent innovations are interceptor drones designed specifically to down Shaheds. Zelenskyy said specialists will be deployed.

"Ukraine helps partners who help ensure our security and protect the lives of our people," he said.

In a post on X, French President Emmanuel Macron called on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu not to widen the war into Lebanon, where the Hezbollah militant group is based.

"At this moment of great danger, I call on the Israeli Prime Minister not to expand the war to Lebanon. I call on Iranian leaders not to further draw Lebanon into a war that is not its own," Macron said.

"Hezbollah must renounce its weapons, respect the national interest, show that it is not a militia taking orders from abroad, and allow the Lebanese to come together to preserve their country," the French president added.

An Israeli tank moves in southern Lebanon near the border with Israel today. Amir Levy / Getty Images

Mehdi Alavi / ISNA via AFP - Getty Images

Mourners carry coffins today in Qom at a funeral for those killed in strikes during the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran, in a photo released by the semiofficial news agency ISNA. Qom is the Iranian seat of Shiite scholarship.

Russia is not capable of stopping the war between its strategic partner Iran and the U.S. and Israel, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said today.

"The war that is going on is not our war," Peskov told state TV channel Vesti. "Are we capable of stopping this war? No, we are not. It can be stopped by those who started it — and we think they must."

Peskov said that Russia may need "to ensure benefits for ourselves wherever possible, however cynical that may sound," adding that "we must do what corresponds to our interests."

Russia's Foreign Ministry said today that it was "deeply concerned that the situation in the Middle East continues to deteriorate" and repeated its assertion that the war was launched by the U.S. and Israel under an "entirely fabricated pretext."

"Russia once again calls on all parties involved in the confrontation to immediately cease hostilities, including the unacceptable strikes on the territory of Arab states of the Persian Gulf," the statement said.

Special Report: NBC News exclusive interview with Iran’s foreign minister on war with U.S.

21:28

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said today that Iran is ready for a U.S. ground invasion of the country as the war between Iran, the U.S. and Israel has quickly spread across the region. He also refused any negotiations with the U.S. and said that Iran had not asked for a ceasefire.

Araghchi spoke with “NBC Nightly News” anchor Tom Llamas in a video interview from Tehran as U.S. and Israeli bombs continue to hammer the country.

His comments came after the U.S. and Israeli military began a sweeping attack on Iran on Saturday, which decimated the country’s military defenses and killed the country’s top authority, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Asked if he was afraid of a possible U.S. ground invasion, Araghchi struck a defiant tone.

Insurance marketplace Lloyd’s of London says it is “engaging constructively” with the Trump administration after the president said on Tuesday that he was ordering the Development Finance Corp. to offer “political risk insurance and guarantees for the Financial Security of ALL Maritime Trade, especially Energy, traveling through the Gulf.”

Lloyd's is the global hub for shipping, maritime and war risk insurance.

Since the U.S. struck Iran, ship traffic in the neighboring Strait of Hormuz has come nearly to a complete halt.

But that waterway is a key artery for more than 20% of the world's oil supply. As a result, oil and gas prices have been rising worldwide.

The number of people internally displaced in Lebanon by the recent outbreak of violence between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah has soared this week from around 58,000 as of Tuesday evening to more than 83,000 as of last night, according to government estimates.

"Again, we saw the horrible scenes of people evacuating in the middle of the night with children and backpacks and elderly people and disabled people," Dr. Tania Baban, MedGlobal’s Lebanon country director, said in a phone interview yesterday, reminded of scenes of displacement during similar hostilities in 2024, during which tens of thousands of people were displaced.

Now, Baban said, amid "relentless" Israeli strikes in Lebanon's south, many families being displaced from the area were finding themselves uncertain of where to go.

"They have nowhere to go, and that is quite scary and unfortunate, but this is the reality of what’s happening," Baban said. “They’re upset, you know, they feel humiliated," she said of displaced families.

Girls play today at a school transformed into a shelter for displaced people in Dekwaneh, north of Beirut. Joseph Eid / AFP - Getty Images

The shooting down of a ballistic missile headed for Turkey by NATO air defenses does not provide immediate reason to trigger the alliance’s Article 5 mutual defense clause, its secretary-general, Mark Rutte, has said.

“Nobody’s talking about Article 5,” Rutte said, referring to a clause that specifies that an attack on one of the alliance’s members is an attack on all the others.

Turkey said NATO air defenses destroyed an Iranian ballistic missile as it headed into Turkish airspace, marking the first time the alliance member has been drawn into the Middle East conflict and raising the possibility of an expansion involving its bloc allies.

Iran earlier denied it had fired missiles at Turkey.

Rutte said NATO supports the United States in its strikes against Iran as the country was “close to becoming a threat to Europe as well.” He added that NATO allies will keep supporting Ukraine in its own war with Russia, despite the situation in Iran.

In a post on X, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said he "strongly condemns" the two drone strikes that hit the country.

"Those responsible must be brought to justice without delay," Aliyev said in the post. "The Iranian side must provide an official explanation to Azerbaijan, issue an apology, and ensure that the perpetrators are held criminally accountable."

A school in Julfa, Azerbaijan, damaged today by what Azerbaijan's Foreign Ministry says was a drone attack carried out by Iran.  AP

The Iranian armed forces and the regime's foreign minister denied responsibility for the drone strikes, which injured at least four people.

President Trump said today that he needs to be personally involved in selecting Iran’s next supreme leader, responding to reports that late Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s son Mojtaba Khamenei is set to take the role.

“Khamenei’s son is unacceptable to me,” Trump told Axios, while acknowledging that 56-year-old Mojtaba Khamenei was the most likely successor. “We want someone that will bring harmony and peace to Iran,” he said.

The New York Times reported this week that the Assembly of Experts, a body tasked with selecting Khamenei’s replacement, was considering announcing Mojtaba as his father’s successor after meeting for deliberations. The newspaper cited three Iranian officials familiar with the discussions.

A man hangs a poster featuring the late Ayatollah Ali Khamenei today in Tehran.  Majid Saeedi / Getty Images

On Tuesday, semiofficial Iranian news agency Mehr reported that Khamenei’s son was alive and well after the deadly strikes launched by the U.S. and Israel that killed his father and other family members, including Mojtaba Khamenei’s wife.

But Trump said in the interview: “I have to be involved in the appointment.”

“They are wasting their time,” Trump added. “Khamenei’s son is a lightweight.”

Asked Tuesday who could replace Khamenei, Trump told reporters at the White House that “most of the people we had in mind are dead.”

Israel "struck and eliminated" a Hamas commander in Tripoli, the largest city in northern Lebanon, the Israel Defense Forces said in a statement.

Wasim Attallah Ali was responsible for training and exercises for Hamas' military wings in Lebanon, the IDF said, describing him as a terrorist who "promoted terror attacks that would harm Israeli civilians and IDF troops."

Hezbollah, a militant Iranian proxy group, has exchanged fresh strikes with Israel since the war in Iran blew up.

The Iranian armed forces denied that it carried out two drone strikes on Azerbaijan that injured at least four people, saying in a statement that the Islamic Republic "respects the sovereignty of all countries."

"This action was carried out to falsely accuse the Islamic Republic of Iran," the general staff of the country's armed forces said in a statement to the semiofficial Tasnim news agency, citing "investigations" and without providing evidence.

Azerbaijan has said one of the drones hit the terminal building of an airport, while the other fell close to a school in a nearby village in the Nakhchivan exclave. The area borders Turkey, Armenia and Iran.

Four people were hospitalized, the local health ministry said.

Claudia Greco / Reuters

Vehicles fill the streets after Israel’s military issued evacuation orders for entire neighborhoods in Beirut’s southern suburbs today.

Even as the Islamic Republic delayed public mourning for its slain supreme leader, a favorite to succeed him is emerging: the cleric’s second son, Mojtaba Khamenei.

The New York Times reported this week that the Assembly of Experts, a body tasked with selecting Khamenei’s replacement, was considering announcing Mojtaba as his father’s successor after meeting for deliberations. The newspaper cited three Iranian officials familiar with the discussions. 

It is unclear now when a successor might be announced, with the funeral for the late Khamenei postponed. But in searching for its next supreme leader, the regime will be keen to "show Israel, the United States and the world and the Iranian people that the regime isn’t collapsing" under the pressure of U.S. and Israeli strikes, said Javed Ali, a former senior counterterrorism official and now an associate professor at the University of Michigan.

"They are signaling to their own people and to the international community, and especially to the Israelis and the Americans who have been bombing the heck out of the country, that the system is alive and well," added Valentine Moghadam, a professor of sociology and international affairs at Northeastern University in Boston.

Rubble and rebar were strewn across the ground at the scene of a strike early this morning on the town of Nabatyeh in southern Lebanon.

Dust rose and workers milled around the large site where buildings once stood and a single excavator was starting to scoop up the concrete and metal in video sent to NBC News from the scene this morning.

Nearby, other buildings were still standing but had also borne the brunt of the strike. Some of their windows were shattered. Others were covered in debris from their former neighbor. At least one store’s signage had fallen into the street.

The European nations of Italy, Spain, France and the Netherlands will send naval assets to protect Cyprus from Iranian strikes in the coming days, Italian Defense Minister Guido Crosetto told Parliament earlier today.

It comes days after a British Royal Air Force base on the island was hit by a drone.

Spain will send its Christopher Columbus frigate to Cyprus, joining France’s Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier and other Greek navy ships, its defense ministry said in a statement.

British Defense Minister John Healey arrived in Cyprus this afternoon to meet with his Cypriot counterpart and visit the base at Akrotiri. Healey said in a post on X he discussed with Cypriot Defense Minister Vasilis Palmas how the United Kingdom is further reinforcing its air defenses to support “shared security.” 

Iran’s security chief Ali Larijani leveled criticism at President Donald Trump for the deadly strike on a school in southern Iran.

The Shajareh Tayyebeh elementary school in the town of Minab was hit by a series of airstrikes Saturday, killing 168 people, according to the town’s mayor. Many of them were children. 

“With the mass martyrdom of innocent girls from Minab in a school at the hands of American-Israeli criminals, the theory of ‘peace through strength’ has been stained with blood,” Larijani wrote in a post on X, referring to Trump’s foreign policy mantra.

“Mr. Trump! Is this the anthem you composed for freedom in Iran? God exposes deceivers by their own hands,” he added. 

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said today that he stood by his decision not to support or take part in the U.S. and Israeli bombing campaign in Iran — a move that attracted sharp criticism from Trump.

The “long-standing British position is that the best way forward for the regime and the world is a negotiated settlement with Iran, where they give up their nuclear ambitions,” Starmer told a news conference at No. 10 Downing St., his official residence in London.

He added that the decision not to join the military action "was in the national interest, and I stand by it."

Britain has allowed the U.S. to use its air base on the Mediterranean island of Cyprus to launch bombing attacks, but maintains that its own military presence in the region is purely defensive.

Residents of four major neighborhoods which are home to tens of thousands of people have been ordered to evacuate their homes in southern Beirut by the Israeli military.

“Urgent warning to residents of Beirut’s southern suburbs: Evacuate your homes immediately," Israel Defense Forces spokesperson Avichay Adraee said on X.

Smoke rises from the site of an Israeli airstrike that targeted an area in southern Beirut today. Fadel Itani / AFP - Getty Images

“Beware, heading south is prohibited. Any move south could endanger your lives,” he said, before explaining how people in different suburbs should leave their neighborhoods.

Previous evacuation warnings in Lebanon's capital have been for specific buildings that the IDF has then struck.

The latest order covers four major neighborhoods which tens of thousands of people call home.

UEFA still plans for Qatar to stage the Argentina vs. Spain game known as Finalissima this month, even as the emirate is targeted by Iranian missiles.

“At present, there are no alternative venues being considered,” UEFA said today about the scheduled March 27 game in Doha between the reigning champions of South America and Europe in a likely matchup of Lionel Messi and Lamine Yamal.

“A final decision is anticipated towards the end of next week,” said the European soccer body, which organizes the game with South American counterpart CONMEBOL.

The number of people injured in two drone strikes on Azerbaijan has risen to four, in the latest expansion of the war.

Azerbaijan said one of the drones struck the terminal building of the airport while the other fell near a school in a nearby village in the Nakhchivan exclave, which borders Turkey, Armenia and Iran.

According to the local health ministry, the four were taken to the hospital where they are in stable condition.

In an interview with Azerbaijani outlet AnewZ, Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi denied targeting Nakhchivan, stating “Iran does not target its neighbors.”

“These attacks will not remain unanswered,” the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry said in a statement.

Flights are leaving parts of the Middle East but it’s going to be some time before airlines have anything resembling a normal schedule. Not great news for thousands of Americans in the region.

Just this morning, Iran targeted its neighbors with another wave of missiles and drones, even those it had cordial relations with before the U.S. and Israel began their assault on the Islamic Republic.

Qatar is still under fire and few, if any flights are leaving Hamad International Airport in the capital, Doha. 

Qatar’s government said Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi called Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani. 

Araghchi said “the missile strikes were directed at American interests and were “not intended to target the gulf state,” Qatar’s readout of the call said, adding that Al Thani had “categorically rejected that assertion.” 

“Sheikh Mohammed described the strikes as a ‘flagrant violation’ of the State of Qatar’s sovereignty and of international law,” the readout said. 

This is not a sign the attacks are likely to end, even if they are much reduced, according to the Pentagon. And today, the residential area around the American Embassy in Doha was evacuated.

Americans are trying to flee the ever-growing war in the Middle East.

Overnight, the U.S. State Department said the first charter flights are starting to take off. Some commercial flights are still taking off intermittently.

Some Americans told NBC News that they feel like the government is not helping them get home, despite messaging from the Trump administration saying that they are using space on military planes along with charters to get citizens back stateside.

Thousands of Americans still stranded as Iran war spreads

02:18

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenksyy said this morning he is concerned that Washington could reduce the deliveries of air defense systems and missiles to Ukraine if it gets bogged down in the escalating conflict in the Middle East.

Kyiv is desperate for air defense missiles as Russia continues to pummel Ukrainian cities with drones and rockets nearly daily. Now, with U.S. assets and allies in the Middle East facing retaliatory attacks by Iran, there is real fear that there won’t be enough to go around to supply both wars.

“There are also concerns due to signals from the United States, both public and unofficial, indicating that this military operation in the Middle East will continue and that, in this regard, they will count on additional air defense systems for themselves and their allies,” Zelenskyy wrote in a post on X.

He suggested a possible weapons exchange with countries in the Middle East, and said they have been seeking Ukrainian “expertise” in warding off Iran’s “Shahed” drones, an Iranian-designed weapon that Russia has consistently used in Ukraine.

A special operations unit of the National Guard of Ukraine prepare to launch a reconnaissance drone last month near Kharkiv. Chris McGrath / Getty Images

The U.S. and Israel are targeting all parts of the Iranian military, its leadership and internal security forces as the war continues to intensify and spread.

Hezbollah, an Iran-backed group, has joined the war, and Israel has retaliated by hurling devastating strikes across the border with Lebanon. Meanwhile, Iran’s method in this war is to keep spreading it, and to make it costly.

Less than a week in, 15 countries have said they have seen strikes on their territories.

Video shows a U.S. submarine destroying an Iranian navy ship in the Indian Ocean. It's the first time the U.S. has used a torpedo to sink an enemy vessel since World War II.

Trump gave his rating of the war yesterday, saying "on a scale of 10, where would you rate it? I said about a 15," he said.

U.S. submarine sinks Iran navy ship as war spreads across Middle East

05:14

Iranian state television aired a message earlier today from an ayatollah in Iran calling for the “shedding” of blood from Israelis and President Donald Trump.

The message came from Ayatollah Abdollah Javadi Amoli and represented one of the few clerical statements coming from Iran as it faces a combined airstrike campaign from Israel and the United States.

“We are now on the verge of a great test and we must be careful to fully preserve this unity, to fully preserve this alliance,” he said in the statement.

He called for “the shedding of Zionist blood, the shedding of Trump’s blood.”

“The Imam of the time says, ‘Fight the oppressive America, his blood is on my shoulders,’” the ayatollah added.

An ayatollah is one of the highest ranks within the clergy of Shia Islam. There are dozens in Iran.

The statement represented a rare call for violence by an ayatollah.

Iran’s internet blackout has now lasted for more than five days, according to cybersecurity watchdog NetBlocks. 

“Iran’s internet blackout has now exceeded 120 hours with connectivity still flatlining around 1% of ordinary levels,” it said in a post on X.

Iran continues to carry out attacks on its Gulf neighbors as the conflict in the Middle East expands.

Six Pakistani and Nepali nationals were injured by falling drone debris in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates, the city’s government said this morning.

The UAE’s Defense Ministry said its air defenses detected seven ballistic missiles today. Six were intercepted and destroyed, while one missile landed within its territory. It said 131 drones were detected, with 125 intercepted and 6 landing in the country.

Meanwhile, the Qatari Interior Ministry has raised the country’s security level to “high,” the state news agency QNA reported, as the ministry said everyone was required to stay indoors, away from windows and open areas.

It came after the Qatari Defense Ministry said there was a missile attack underway earlier today, and Reuters reported “multiple booms” in the capital, Doha. 

A plume of smoke rises Thursday over buildings in Doha.  Mahmud Hams / AFP - Getty Images

Sri Lanka is trying to “safeguard lives” on another Iranian ship off its coast, the country’s cabinet spokesperson said this morning, adding that the vessel was in the economic zone beyond the South Asian island nation’s territorial waters.

“We are doing our utmost to safeguard lives,” spokesperson Nalinda Jayatissa said.

The U.S. confirmed that an American submarine torpedoed and sank an Iranian warship off Sri Lanka‘s southern coast yesterday.

Defense Department footage of a U.S. Navy submarine firing on and sinking an Iranian warship in the Indian Ocean yesterday. US Department of Defense / AFP via Getty Images

Iranian sailors who survived were recovering at a hospital in the Sri Lankan port city of Galle, authorities said earlier today. Authorities at the National Hospital in Galle and navy sources said 87 bodies were brought in by military rescuers yesterday.

Search and rescue operations for an estimated 60 people on board who remain unaccounted for would continue today, authorities said.

Despite the intense Israeli bombing of Lebanon’s capital, the Rafik Hariri University Hospital has only received around a dozen patients, the emergency room director told NBC News yesterday.

Dr. Fathallah Fattouh said the most residents will have evacuated a building by the time it is struck. “Either there are minor injuries for those hit at a distance by glass, or they are bombed to pieces,” he said. “If it’s a drone strike, the target is hit with surgical precision.”

A destroyed building following Israeli airstrikes in Beirut's Ghobeiry neighborhood today.  AFP via Getty Images

Fattouh said his team were nonetheless preparing for a mass casualty event as Israel steps up its bombing campaign in Lebanon. The death toll from Israeli strikes on the country rose to 77, the Lebanese Health Ministry said this morning.

"I think that we’ll have a greater number of patients," he said, comparing it to the situation before Israel and Hezbollah declared a ceasefire in November 2024. "We’ll have a great rush of wounded people." 

Some Americans stranded in the Middle East are facing challenges leaving the region as the war with Iran escalates. Many are turning to private companies for assistance. NBC News’ Tom Llamas spoke with Dale Buckner, CEO of Global Guardian, about how his organization has helped people escape the conflict.

How some Americans are turning to private firms to flee the war zone

07:26

Iran has denied firing a missile toward the territory of Turkey, a NATO member, an incident that prompted fresh concerns about conflict in the Middle East increasingly expanding to Europe.

“The Armed Forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran respect the sovereignty of the neighboring and friendly country, Turkey, and denies any missile launch toward its territory,” the General Staff of the Armed Forces said, according to comments carried by Iranian state TV channel IRIB.

The Turkish Defense Ministry said yesterday that a ballistic missile fired from Iran toward its airspace was destroyed by NATO air and missile defense systems over the eastern Mediterranean. There were no casualties or injuries, the ministry said, as it said it reserved the right to respond to “any hostile attitude towards our country.”

The Iranian Intelligence Ministry said it targeted “separatist groups” who intended to enter through the country's western borders, adding that they sustained heavy losses.

The statement, which was carried by state media, said Iranian forces are cooperating with “noble Kurds” to thwart an “Israeli-American” plan to attack Iranian soil.

It comes after reports that Iranian Kurdish militias have consulted with the United States in recent days about whether, and how, to attack Iran’s security forces in the ​western part of the country.

Ali Larijani, the country's top national security official, said separatist groups should not think that a “favorable wind” has begun to blow and try to take action, the semiofficial news agency ISNA reported. “We will show them no leniency, and the armed forces are fully in control of the situation,” he said, according to ISNA.

Desperate to leave Dubai and facing high hotel bills, twins Shivali and Sheenali Patel told NBC News the U.S. government response has been “very frustrating” as they have sought help to leave the United Arab Emirates and return home to New Jersey. 

Sheenali and Shivali Patel. Sara Monetta / NBC News

“They keep saying to get out of here ASAP, but how can we get out if no one’s helping us get out,” Sheenali Patel said this morning. “We’ve tried calling the embassy, we’ve tried calling the U.S. government. No one has been able to help us to get out of here.”

The situation was “very frustrating because we’re American citizens and we would expect America to help us,” she added. 

“We have our own lives and careers over there, so we do need to, all of us need to go back home,” her sister, Shivali Patel, said, adding that they had to pay for extra nights at the hotel, food and other things,” even though the UAE’s government had agreed to cover the cost.

The hotel was “giving us a very high rate,” she said, adding that the rate changed “every day.”

The State Department said a first charter flight bringing Americans home from the Middle East departed yesterday. More than 17,500 Americans have returned safely from the Middle East, Assistant Secretary of State Dylan Johnson said in a statement. 

A member of the Assembly of Experts, the clerical body tasked with selecting a new supreme leader after the killing of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said the process of selecting a successor is “being completed,” the Iranian semiofficial news agency Mehr News reported this morning.

Mohsen Qomi said the Assembly of Experts is carrying out its assigned duties to introduce a new leader as soon as possible, according to the agency, as he said people should “disregard rumors and obtain the necessary information solely through the Presiding Board of the Assembly of Experts.”

It comes amid growing speculation about who could become the new supreme leader amid a power vacuum in the Islamic Republic for the first time in decades, including whether it could be the assassinated supreme leader’s second son, Mojtaba Khamenei. 

It’s the second time in two months that the United States has taken military action against one of China’s key economic partners, after its surprise capture in January of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.

But China has largely limited its response to stern statements, much as it did after the raid in Caracas despite warm relations with Venezuela.

President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping in October. Andrew Caballero-Reynolds / AFP via Getty Images

Experts say that while China is concerned about the Iran conflict, it may not see it as worth jeopardizing Trump’s upcoming visit, which the White House says is scheduled to begin March 31. Both Trump and Xi are seeking to extend a fragile trade truce between the world’s two biggest economies.

Read the full story here.

The Bahamas-flagged crude oil tanker Sonangol Namibe’s hull was likely to have been breached after being hit by a blast while anchored near Iraq’s Khor al Zubair port, its U.S. representative company said this morning.

It comes after Iran’s Revolutionary Guard said its forces had hit a U.S. tanker in the northern part of the Gulf and the vessel was on fire, though it did not name the ship.

The vessel was approached by an unknown small vessel, which “approached the port side of the tanker and a short time later a loud bang was heard,” Sonangol Marine Services said in a statement.

“The crew reports that a port ballast tank is losing water which suggests some form of hull breach but the ship remains stable and safely afloat.”

The vessel was not carrying cargo and there were no reports of pollution, the company added.

Ishara S. Kodikara / AFP via Getty Images

 Ishara S. Kodikara / AFP - Getty Images

The Sri Lankan navy rescued 32 sailors abroad the Iranian warship IRIS Dena following a U.S. attack off the coast of Sri Lanka. Surviving sailors were pictured at the Karapitiya hospital in Galle yesterday.There were also images of health care workers carrying the bodies of Iranian sailors who died in the attack to the mortuary at the hospital.

 Ishara S. Kodikara / AFP via Getty Images

The Iranian president praised Spanish officials for their stance on the U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran.

Spain had refused to allow the U.S. to use its jointly run bases for the strikes, leading Trump to threaten a full trade embargo on the European nation.

“Spain’s responsible conduct in opposing the Zionist-American coalition’s flagrant human rights violations and military aggression against countries, including Iran, shows that ethics and awakened consciences still exist in the West,” President Masoud Pezeshkian said in a post on X.

The Spanish foreign minister has denied a claim by White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt that Spain has since agreed to cooperate with the U.S. military, saying yesterday that its position has not changed.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he spoke with the U.S. about the possibility of changing the location for the next round of peace talks with Russia and postponing the meeting due to the war in the Middle East.

The next trilateral meeting between the U.S, Ukraine and Russia was scheduled to start today, Zelenskyy said in a post on X.

The talks have recently involved trilateral meetings in Europe and the Middle East, but the U.S.-led negotiations have reached a stalemate over the issue of Ukraine’s eastern Donbas territory, from which Russia wants Kyiv's troops to withdraw — something Zelenskyy has ruled out.

Videos showing an explosion near Nakhchivan Airport in Azerbaijan circulated on social media this morning and have been geolocated by NBC News, the latest spread of the war beyond Iran.

A hum can be heard overhead before the fiery blast, with black smoke then seen rising in the videos as people flee the area and damage is visible inside the terminal.

Azerbaijan says Iranian drone strike hit airport

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The Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry said it had lodged an official protest with the Iranian Embassy after two people were injured when a pair of Iranian drones flew across the border.

It said one person was injured at the airport, some 6 miles from the Iranian border, and another person was injured at a nearby school.

Baku reserved the right to carry out “appropriate response measures” against Tehran, it said in the statement.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has told Israel to “keep going to the end” in an overnight call with his Israeli counterpart, Israel Katz, according to a readout from the Israeli Defense Ministry. 

During the conversation, Katz told Hegseth that the work being done by their respective leaders is “changing history,” the readout said.

“The cooperation between President Trump and Prime Minister Netanyahu against Iran is changing history,” Katz said, according to the readout. 

It added that Katz also expressed his condolences to the six American soldiers who were killed.

The State Department has not yet confirmed the call.

The Iranian capital is under attack again this morning.

Plumes of white smoke were seen rising over east Tehran as Iranian state media reported explosions in different areas of the city, including in Enghelab Square in central Tehran.

Motorists drive along an expressway as plumes of smoke rise after a strike in Tehran today. Atta Kenare / AFP - Getty Images

Earlier this morning, the Israel Defense Forces said it had launched a "large-scale wave of strikes" across Tehran.

The family of one of the U.S. service members killed in the war with Iran when a drone struck a port in Kuwait on Sunday remembered him as a rock in their lives.

Spc. Declan J. Coady’s family said in a statement that he died on his way to the hospital after sustaining injuries in the airstrike in Kuwait.

“On Sunday, March 1, after trying to check in, we heard nothing. Trying to be positive we all assumed he was just in a situation where he couldn’t message back, but we all knew something was wrong,” the statement, written by his sister, Keira, said. “At 8 p.m. as we all were getting ready to go to bed, the doorbell rang, and the rest of that night will forever be one of the worst nights of our lives. While it’s all blurry, we all knew what the doorbell meant.”

Sgt. Declan Coady  U.S. Army Reserve Command

An American oil tanker is on fire after Iran hit it in the Persian Gulf, Iranian state media is reporting.

The country's Revolutionary Guard said this morning that the tanker "was struck early this morning in the northern Persian Gulf by fighters of the IRGC Navy and is currently on fire." There was no immediate confirmation from the U.S.

It added a warning that "military and commercial vessels" belonging to the U.S., Israel, European countries, and their supporters "would not be permitted to transit, and if detected, they would certainly be targeted" in the crucial Strait of Hormuz.

The Iranian foreign minister condemned yesterday’s U.S. attack on an Iranian warship off the coast of Sri Lanka, calling it an “atrocity at sea” in his government’s first acknowledgment of the incident.

“Frigate Dena, a guest of India’s Navy carrying almost 130 sailors, was struck in international waters without warning,” Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said in a post on X. “Mark my words: The U.S. will come to bitterly regret precedent it has set.”

Sri Lanka’s navy said yesterday that 87 bodies had been recovered while 32 people were rescued. The search is continuing today for about 60 others who remain unaccounted for, Reuters reported.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said yesterday that the U.S. had torpedoed an Iranian ship in international waters in the Indian Ocean, without naming the ship, one of more than 20 Iranian vessels the U.S. says it has struck or sunk. It was the first time since World War II that a torpedo launched from a U.S. Navy submarine had struck a vessel in combat.

• What we know about the U.S. service members killed in the Iran war
• Poll: Majority of voters disapprove of how Trump has handled Iran
• Trump administration under fire as thousands of Americans are stranded in war zone 
• Home loans, gas, groceries: How the Iran war could upend Trump’s touted economic gains
• Who is set to be in charge in Iran now that Khamenei is dead? A powerful hard-line military corps